Research can provide golden information to health & fitness professionals. If you’re a personal trainer, here are some recent findings to help you get ahead of the pack: Resistance Exercise is Effective for Cancer Patients “Resistance exercise is effective to increase lower-limb muscular strength, increase lean body mass, and decrease body fat in cancer patients…

Each year you should test your strength levels not only for structural balance, but also to determine the optimal frequency of training. Choose one major lift to test per month like the squat, deadlift, bench press, pull-up, or parallel-bar dip. Perform the test using low reps the 1st week, moderate reps the 2nd week, and…

Here’s a program that I designed to assess structural balance while training. Built into this routine are tests that involve specific norms from various strength authorities, including Al Vermeil, Bill Hartman, Charles Poliquin, Dan Wathen, Mike Boyle, and Dr. Stuart McGill. Here’s what it looks like: Day 1 A1. Close-Grip Bench Press: 6 x 3…

The other day I was horsing around with my 5-year old son. We were wrestling for a bit and when the fun was over, I noticed that my nose was bleeding. He must have scratched me by accident. No big deal. It healed, but I noticed that it took a full week before it was…

Stretching can be used as a diagnostic to test for possible impingement of spinal nerves. Straight leg raising, for instance, is often performed to stretch the hamstrings and calves, but it can also test for sciatic nerve irritation as outlined in the text Modern Principles of Athletic Training by Daniel Arnheim. “Straight leg raising (affected…