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Grappling as a Woman
Heather Gibbons
| February 23 2007 |
Training: General
When you find yourself down on your hands and knees in a room full of SWAT officers, you’re bound to question some of the decisions you’ve made. When one of those officers is tucked in behind you and draped over your back, those questions in your head are asked more earnestly. For that split second five years ago, I questioned what I was doing in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class. Then I rolled him into a leg lock.
The truth is, man or woman, grappling can be awkward and that’s s......
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The Romanian Deadlift
Gabe Rinaldi
| January 31 2007 |
Training: Weightlifting
History
The Romanian Deadlift (RDL) is one variation out of several to lift or pull the barbell up the body. Other pulls include conventional deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, snatch pulls, clean pulls, straight leg deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, and high-pulls to name a few. Due to the seemingly infinite number of ways to pull the barbell and the variety of naming systems employed for this family of exercises, the Romanian Deadlift is often misunderstood or criticized.
From my readings and discussi......
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The Olympic Weightlifting Squat
Greg Everett
| November 15 2006 |
Training: Weightlifting
The squat is foundational to the Olympic lifts as a position, a movement and a strength exercise. Without a well-developed and consistent squat, neither pulling technique nor pulling power will produce entirely successful Olympic weightlifting. The great natural physical variation among athletes dictates that there will never be a universally perfect prescription for body positioning, but irrespective of this variation, the fundamental principles remain consistent. Continued reliance on them wil......
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Training Weaknesses with Dumbbells
Michael Rutherford
| June 12 2006 |
Training: General
As you will discover, training with dumbbells offers multiple benefits. Their universal application makes them perfect for athletic training.
As a coach, one of the most potent applications for the dumbbell is the use of unilateral training to address weaknesses on one side of the body. Unilateral training is simply working a single side of the body with one dumbbell.
Most all of us have a weaker side. These weaknesses are generally on the non dominating side of the body. The weak......
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The Shoulder - Back Flexibility Connection
Greg Everett
| May 22 2006 |
Training: General
Inflexible shoulder girdles are a commonly overlooked cause of lower back injuries and pain. If the shoulders are unable to open fully (extend the arms vertically), the overhead position is not actually overhead. Therefore, when attempting to lift the arms overhead, the lumbar spine tends to hyperextend, rotating the torso backward to allow the arms attached to the partially opened shoulders to extend vertically. The ability to fully open the shoulder, then, is integral to long-term functionalit......
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Dietary Cure for Acne: Interview with Dr. Loren Cordain
Robb Wolf
| May 5 2006 |
Nutrition
In this months Performance Menu we have a brief interview with Prof. Loren Cordain regarding his new E-book The Dietary Cure for Acne: http://www.dietaryacnecure.com/. (we managed to pester him with a few other questions as well).
Professor Cordain, please tell our readers about your new E-book, The Dietary Cure for Acne. How is this information different than the information one might get from the dermatologist?
Although the medical and dermatology communities generally have gone on ......
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Diet and Stature
Robb Wolf
| April 28 2006 |
Nutrition
Nicki and I were shopping in Trader Joe’s the other night and the woman ahead of us was having an interesting conversation with the cashier. She was buying a whole slew of soy products and the cashier said he just read a news piece about the possible health downsides of soy. The woman (about 5’ tall) said she was from Japan and that soy products had been part of the diet for thousands of years and if there was a problem with soy she would have heard about it by now. I chimed in that ......
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Skin Condition as Indicator of Health
Robb Wolf
| April 25 2006 |
Nutrition
Art Devany has made the point for years that aesthetics are key indicators of health status and have potent evolutionary underpinnings. Here is a classic example of this concept with regards to the skin condition vitiligo. For those unfamiliar with the condition, vitiligo is a loss of pigmentation in sections of the skin.
This first paper points to vitiligo occurring amidst several other autoimmune conditions:
1: Indian J Dermatol Venereol Lep......
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Dr. Who?
Robb Wolf
| April 19 2006 |
Nutrition
Today lets have a little fun and see who can figure out a few mysteries. The questions that need to be answered will be a “who” and a “why”. Here is the background:
One of my clients was formerly under the care of a fairly well known physician (this is the “WHO” question). Now here are some clues about who this Dr. is: he/she is diametrically opposed to the Paleo Diet, he/she windsurfs a bunch and he/she recommends virtually an ALL STARCH DIET. That sho......
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Antioxidant Megadoses
Robb Wolf
| April 18 2006 |
Nutrition
This is a fascinating article that throws a paradoxical spin on one of the main suspects in the ageing process, namely oxidative damage. It is fairly clear that consumption of a broad spectrum of antioxidants offers important health benefits (frequently these antioxidants offer benefits beyond their ability to mitigate free radical damage) however mega dosing may be ill advised. Not only can a very large dose of a given antioxidant pose a risk as a pro-oxidant, high levels of antioxidants may su......
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