Chocolate Milk, Sqauts and Sitting: Science Behind Sports

I was driving in my car earlier this week, trying to find something other than Adele on the radio, when I stumbled upon Terry Gross on NPR talking about exercise. She was interviewing Gretchen Reynolds, who writes the New York Times Phys Ed column. Ms. Reynolds has a new book out which questions some long held fitness-related notions. The book is called The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer.

Reynolds began the interview by noting the many negative effects of sitting all day. The solution for those of us stuck in front of a computer? She recommends simply standing up every 20 minutes. A short walk around the office would be ideal, but at a minimum, a two-minute standing break is sufficient.

After work is done and it's time to head to the gym, Reynolds says to throw out the conventional wisdom that you need to stretch before exercising. In fact, pre-workout static stretching may be damaging. Instead, Reynolds recommends doing a dynamic warmup to get your muscles and tendons ready to work. If you're going to run, start with a light jog. If you're going to play tennis or swim, jog for a little bit and then move your shoulders around, maybe with jumping jacks. 

I have to say, I'm a big believer in dynamic warmups. My triathlon coach always made me do a set of them before every workout. The routine including many moves that made me look like an idiot, such as jogging with knees high, jogging on my toes, walking on my heels, and so on. All of this, of course, was after a 15-minute warm-up jog, so inevitably I'd find myself in front of some random person's house doing lunges and butt-kicks. I'm surprised no one called the police on me. But once I got in the habit of doing dynamic warmups before every run, I managed to get through an entire season injury-free, something I'd never been able to do before. That almost made up for the fact that I felt like a complete fool skipping down the street before my runs.

For post-workout recovery, Reynolds advocates that beverage that so many of my running and cycling friends swear by: chocolate milk. Yes, I've heard it many times before, it's the perfect blend of fats, proteins and carbs. Still, after a hard workout, chocolate milk is pretty much the last thing I want to drink. But hey, if it works for you, go for it, knowing that science is your side.

When Terry Gross asked Reynolds if there were any exercises that she started doing after reading the studies mentioned in her book, Reynolds said that she began doing squats. She noted that they build leg strength and can actually help minimize knee injuries by keeping the muscles around the knee strong and supportive. From my own personal experience, I can say that when I was using my regularly, my legs felt stronger and my running stride felt more stable. If I needed a reminder to get back on the Squats program, I guess I just found it.

Reynolds covers many more topics in the book, so if you are interested in the science behind exercise, and some of the new and surprising advice, check it out. In the meantime, I'll take note of one fact she mentioned, that running at a slow pace helps keep injuries to a minimum. Run slower? Now that's a directive I can surely follow.