Gunnar Borg and Your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
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Gunnar Borg and Your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)

Exercise intensity can tell you if you’re working too hard or not. And your Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a common way to walk the fine line between overtraining and underperforming. What Is Rate of Perceived Exertion? Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is the subjective measure of the intensity of physical activity, or more…

Improve Your Basketball Shot with Battle Ropes, Plyometrics, and Grit
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Improve Your Basketball Shot with Battle Ropes, Plyometrics, and Grit

When the shot clock ticks down and the defense in a full-court press, every great basketball shot is similarly different. Athletes must make the most of every opportunity and skill set. The basket is always 10 feet above the ground, but the type of shot always changes. To be successful and score in bunches, you…

High Intensity Interval Training for the Win
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High Intensity Interval Training for the Win

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is one of the best ways to improve your fitness level. It’s a very efficient way to train because HIIT minimizes downtime and maximizes benefits. A few minutes of exercise performed correctly, goes a long way. The concept is to work in your target heart rate zone’s upper ranges during the…

Long Slow Distance When and Where Appropriate
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Long Slow Distance When and Where Appropriate

Long slow distance, or LSD as it’s known in the running community is generally considered to be a workout with paces slower than race pace, approaching race durations, at or between 60-75% of the runner’s maximum heart rate. The key is to perform long slow distance at a constant pace and not worry about the…

Why the Karvonen Formula is Important to Intensity
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Why the Karvonen Formula is Important to Intensity

The Karvonen formula is the most common means to calculate your exercise intensity through your training heart rate. It’s an equation that blends your maximum heart rate, resting heart rate, and target percentage into one easy-to-use calculation, ideal for endurance athletes. And while it can over or underestimate the exercise intensity in some individuals. The output…

Aerobic Exercise for Athletes of All Ages and Abilities
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Aerobic Exercise for Athletes of All Ages and Abilities

Understanding aerobic exercise and its role in lifestyle and athleticism is a critical early step to unlocking performance and health. And developing a tailored, personalized plan you can consistently accomplish is key to building the foundation for fitness. So move from the couch to 5k or beyond by learning how aerobic exercise improves mental focus,…

OBLA di, ob-la-da, the Lactate Must Go On and On
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OBLA di, ob-la-da, the Lactate Must Go On and On

What happens when a group of well-trained middle and long distance runners of a certain age get together? The rhythm of the Beatles carries you just a bit further after OBLA takes over a workout. When lactate production exceeds the rate at which it can be broken down in the cell, the blood lactate concentration…

Can VO2 max Indicate Athletic Potential?
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Can VO2 max Indicate Athletic Potential?

Fitness testing, which includes lactate threshold, anaerobic power, and VO2 max measurements, has become synonymous with human performance’s outer limits. And the dedication to it has become almost an almost cult-like infatuation with analytics. A desire to quantify and rank all things sports, frequently without understanding all the features required for athletic performance. The story of Norwegian…

Understand, Find, And Challenge The Lactate Threshold
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Understand, Find, And Challenge The Lactate Threshold

The lactate threshold is one of the most common and effectively used performance markers in sports. Many athletes and coaches use them to discover the highest sustained intensities at which they can compete and train before hitting the proverbial wall. In simple terms, the lactate threshold (LT) is when the body produces more lactate than…

Understanding Anaerobic Exercise for Every Athlete
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Understanding Anaerobic Exercise for Every Athlete

Anaerobic exercise requires short, fast, high-intensity workloads where the body does not need to use oxygen as a source of energy. And it is a great way to build muscle, lose weight, and train for sustained bursts of speed or explosive power. Who needs oxygen? Anaerobic exercise creates energy without oxygen as a prerequisite. The…