Research Bulletin
Filed under: Nutrition, Training
There are always interesting new developments in the research world, and I wanted to share a few fun ones with you guys today.
Many of you know how I dislike unstable surface training – ie. training on a Bosu ball or physioball, etc. EC’s Master’s thesis showed that unstable surface training actually decreased strength in athlete’s who were only using it for a very small percentage of their training.
Bosu for the Core?
Well, many people argue, these exercises are not about strength, they are about increasing the activity of your core and improving balance. However, Spanish researchers recently tested this theory and they found that performing total-body movements on an unstable surface (Bosu in this case) actually worked the core muscles less than doing the exercises on the floor. This was due to the fact that doing the exercises on the Bosu ball forced the exercisers to use less weight, requiring the core to work less hard.
If you want to read more about this, check out EC’s Truth About Unstable Surface Training.
Fruit – The Ultimate Pre-Workout Food?
I hope many of you read my recent article on Optimal Intakes of Protein and Carbs to Enhance Your Training. In it I outline why having a mixture of fructose and glucose is superior to glucose alone before, during or after training. Since they have different uptake mechanisms, it was known that this allowed the sugars to be oxidized more rapidly, which should lead to improved performance, however this had not been definitively tested. Until now.
More Spanish researchers went to work and found that a combination of fructose and glucose consumed before training decreased fatigue compared to glucose alone. This is due to the increased uptake of the sugars, increase oxidation, and the increased replenishment of muscle and liver glycogen.
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Posted on March 14th, 2011 by Brian St. Pierre
2 Comments
March 17th, 2011 at 12:35 am
Any shot you have a link for that Spanish research? I’m in an ongoing debate with my sister-in-law about BOSU balls and would love to send those research results her way! While she understands most of the arguments and agrees with the way many people use them, she still holds onto the “core activation” argument. Thanks.
March 22nd, 2011 at 7:11 am
Kasey,
Check this out – http://www.t-bow.net/articles/deadlift_stable_unstable_Bratislava_Congress_Chulvi_Psalman_Ribera_nov_2010.pdf