Running is actually good for your knees, if you haven't suffered knee injuries in the past. [D]espite entrenched mythology to the contrary, runners don’t seem prone to degenerating knees. An important 2008 study, this one from Stanford University, followed middle-aged, longtime distance runners (not necessarily marathoners) for nearly 20 years, beginning in 1984, when most were in their 50s or 60s. At that time, 6.7 percent of the runners had creaky, mildly arthritic knees, while none of an age-matched control group did. After 20 years, however, the runners’ knees were healthier; only 20 percent showed arthritic changes, versus 32 percent of the control group’s knees. Barely 2 percent of the runners’ knees were severely arthritic, while almost 10 percent of the control group’s were.
posted by caddis on Aug 18, 2009 - 81 comments

Mistress Krista says: Only YOU can stop gym dorkery! Stumptuous, one of AskMe's favourite fitness sites, has both a spiffy new design and a bunch of new content (Why your excuses are crap; Lies in the gym; Things you should not lift if you want to look like Madonna). Beginners will find plenty of smart and blunt information about eating, starting and refining a training program, avoiding and recovering from injuries, and developing a home gym one way or another. But Stumptuous has also extended its domain to YouTube. Part of the original Dork to Diva web series on correct technique is now up at YT (deadlifts; biceps curl) thanks to the support of The Prevention of Gym Idiocy Society (Ladies' Auxiliary), but you can also find some more unorthodox exercise ideas.
posted by maudlin on May 7, 2009 - 21 comments

"At Stanford University two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred. Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing" - from Christopher McDougall's forthcoming book "Born to Run" which looks at the story the growth of the $20 billion running shoe industry. Starting form Bill Bowerman's Cortez in 1972 onwards runners have seen a steady flow of innovations to improve performance and reduce injury rates. Only it would appear they may not work. By way of contrast the book includes coverage of the Mexican Tarahumara tribe who run ultramarathons with shoes made from car tyres on their feet.
posted by rongorongo on Apr 20, 2009 - 38 comments

Cleaning hotel rooms is a strenuous business. However, when Alia Crum and Ellen Langer talked to 84 maids, most were under the impression that they did not get enough exercise. Furthermore, when they were measured for tests such as BMI and blood pressure, their results were typical of couch potatoes. The researchers let half the group in on the knowledge that they were getting more than enough of a daily workout and kept the rest in the dark. After a month results showed the former group were healthier on every single one of the objective health measurements tested - despite claiming to have been doing no more exercise or to have changed their diet. The study raises the possibility that mindset alone can influence our metabolism. Christopher Shea in the New York Times and Ben Goldacre in The Guardian have articles discussing the original paper.
posted by rongorongo on Aug 25, 2008 - 48 comments

A runner's primer
posted by nthdegx on May 29, 2008 - 78 comments

Why most of us believe that exercise makes us thinner—and why we're wrong.
posted by miss lynnster on Sep 25, 2007 - 125 comments

“What is fitness?”(large PDF) is an essay by the leaders of the CrossFit movement. The ideal they propose is an athlete who is “equal parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter, and multi-modal sprinter or ‘sprintathlete.’ Develop the capacity of a novice 800-meter track athlete, gymnast, and weightlifter and you’ll be fitter than any world-class runner, gymnast, or weightlifter.”
posted by jason's_planet on Jun 20, 2007 - 51 comments

Pole dancing? It's the new Yoga. Just ask the people behind PoleTricks 101: "Women all around the country are finding out that pole dancing is a sexy way to entertain your man (or men!) Not only that, it's good exercise and just plain fun. PoleTricks 101 is dedicated to bring you the training, the equipment, and the satisfaction of dancing with the sexiest of all props... the pole!" Just $549.00... [via linkdump]
posted by feelinglistless on Mar 7, 2004 - 14 comments

Couch potato lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking Poor diet and lack of exercise cause more illness than smoking, new figures show. The lifestyle of couch potatoes has overtaken smoking as the major cause of ill-health in EU countries for the first time, the World Health Organisation says. Great, now reading Metafilter is bad for me.
posted by Coop on Sep 4, 2002 - 12 comments

Uncle Sam Sez: Sheesh! Get Some Exercise!! A new National Center for Health Statistics survey shows that only seven out of 10 Americans get enough exercise every week. About four in 10 get practically no exercise whatsoever. How much do you exercise, and if so, are you one the three in 10 who do so enough? Is the report full of it? Should I go swimming now, or in an hour? Ride the bike there or take the car? Isn't driving a car to a nearby gym kinda stupid? But I digress. (Pauses, gets his bearings.) Isn't this pathetic?
posted by raysmj on Apr 7, 2002 - 71 comments