Peak Performance
April 30, 2007 8:19 AM   Subscribe

Peak Performance is a website featuring dozens of articles on just about every aspect of sports science, including large sections devoted to cycling, swimming and sports psychology. Some of my own favorites deal with the beneficial effects of Omega-3 fatty acids, the Chinese government’s plan to dominate the Olympics, Veronique Billat’s 30-30 running workouts and how to increase growth hormone levels naturally.
posted by jason's_planet (13 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
This one wouldn't fit on the front page:
The 'new' discoveries about perpetually young runners are lessons which the Lapps - an energetic people who roam the northern reaches of Scandinavia while tending herds of reindeer - could have taught us centuries ago. The Lapps have a rather unusual cultural tradition: upon reaching the age of 55, a Lapp father gives the family's herd of beasts to his eldest son and retires to a life of sedentary reflection and story-telling around the campfire, a transition which transforms even the most wiry, fatigue-proof Lapps into lethargic doughnuts.

When noted Swedish exercise physiologist Bengt Saltin transported treadmills to the tundra as part of a Lapp-testing project several years ago, he found that the herders' aerobic capacities remained at incredibly high levels up to the age of 55 but then plummeted as soon as permanent seats were taken at the fireside. As Saltin concluded, it's really a lack of exercise - not ageing - which makes fitness deteriorate appreciably as we get older.
posted by jason's_planet at 8:21 AM on April 30, 2007


Where's the "SpecialAdvertisingSection" tag?
posted by Oddly at 8:32 AM on April 30, 2007


This site reads much like the 'OMG GET HUGE NOW' sites which are advertising shills for "performance boosting" shakes. It may be the annoying pop ups and the SpecialAdvertisingSection-esque language, but this seems awfully pepsi-blue to me.
posted by casconed at 8:37 AM on April 30, 2007


Wait just a second. Fitness and exercise are correlated?
posted by srboisvert at 9:05 AM on April 30, 2007


So obviously the key to a long and healthy life is...
RUNNING LAPPS!

(I'll show myself out.)
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:24 AM on April 30, 2007


(rimshot)
posted by jason's_planet at 9:31 AM on April 30, 2007


Peak performance is a great site, it's a pity that that fucking pop-up is everywhere.

They're definitely selling some stuff, but the articles they've got up go well beyond the standard fare, almost always grounded in research. The running articles are quite good.
posted by OmieWise at 9:39 AM on April 30, 2007


mmmmmmm...doughnuts.
posted by spicynuts at 10:14 AM on April 30, 2007


I only read it for the articles.
posted by caddis at 10:43 AM on April 30, 2007


yeah, lots of Prevention Magazine sourced info reprinted here where ad space permits.
posted by Fupped Duck at 10:49 AM on April 30, 2007


Thanks for posting this, I've been looking for something similar for a while... the soccer specific section alone kicks ass!
posted by hatchetjack at 11:07 AM on April 30, 2007


They're definitely selling some stuff, but the articles they've got up go well beyond the standard fare, almost always grounded in research.

Yeah, it does have a commercial edge to it. But I always ignored the big ads and the pop-ups and went straight to the library of free stuff at the left-hand side. And it is good shit indeed. Most emphatically not the "GET SUPER-HYOOOGE IN THREE WEEKS" crapola you see in muscle mags.

Thanks for posting this, I've been looking for something similar for a while... the soccer specific section alone kicks ass!

You're welcome! Glad you liked it!
posted by jason's_planet at 2:08 PM on April 30, 2007


mmmmmmm...rimshot

Always like the Fartlek training myself.
Dem nordic folks, hey?
posted by Smedleyman at 2:22 PM on April 30, 2007


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