Athletes train for years to overcome pain, exhaustion, and fatigue. But some people take it too far and are never the same again. In this episode from 2019, Outside contributor Meaghan Brown started looking into this strange phenomenon, and found a bunch of frustrated athletes, and confused doctors. The post The Runners Who Went So Hard They Were Never the Same appeared first on Outside Online ..read more

There are people reading this—you may be one of them—thinking, “Of course cycling is good for your knees, you idiot. Why do you think I switched from running?” I hear you. But there’s a big difference between something that’s “not bad” for your knees and something that’s actually good for them. The claim in a new study is that people with a history of cycling are less likely to develop osteoarthritis in their knees, and that’s a claim with some interesting implications both for cycling and for how we think about osteoarthritis. The study was published last month in Medicine & Science in S ..read more

In the last few years, women’s sports have been a highly visible arena for the broader cultural and political debate over the rights and inclusion of transgender people. As transgender athletes come out, pursue gender-affirming medical care like hormone therapies, and try to compete in the division that aligns with their gender identity, many sports’ governing bodies have developed policies restricting participation on the basis of sex assigned at birth or other biological markers. Sometimes, these policies amount to outright bans on transgender women competing in the women’s category. E ..read more

Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia almost did the unthinkable at the Boston Marathon on Monday morning, while American Emma Bates sure tried to. The 33-year-old Sisay not only ran away from a very strong field to win, but he briefly teased spectators and fans with an unfathomably fast pace. Lemma, who entered the race as the fourth-fastest marathoner in history (2:01:48), came through the halfway point in 1:00:19, which meant he was on sub-2:01 pace and ahead of world-record pace. Although he slowed considerably over the second half of the race, Lemma held on to win in 2:06:17, the 10th fastest time in ..read more

“You have to learn the rules before you can break them.” —Miles Davis I first heard those words from one of the most innovative and influential jazz musicians of all time during the How I Built This podcast. In the interview, chef Daniel Humm explained how understanding that quote shaped his approach to creating Eleven Madison Park, his world-renowned, plant-based restaurant in New York City. That type of thinking may seem counterintuitive to creativity. But numerous other groundbreaking creatives also cite a respect for basic techniques as the reason they were later able to challenge the rul ..read more

Pre-race yoga sessions. Training guides and support from female Olympians. Chocolate milk toasts. Tampons stocked in every Porta-potty. You’ve never seen a race quite like this before—and it’s changing the face of running for rookies and elite athletes alike. Every Woman’s Marathon, powered by Team Milk, is a U.S. marathon designed by women, for women. It was born of a clear need: the dire lack of female-centric marathon experiences available for distance runners. Though almost half of American marathon participants are women, 60 percent of female runners feel that endurance races cater more ..read more

Our lungs and airways are “overbuilt,” according to exercise physiologists. Though we gasp and pant during heavy exercise, that’s not what actually slows us down. Instead, the bottleneck is the heart’s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles, or the muscles’ ability to make use of that oxygen. That’s why the heart and muscles get bigger and stronger in response to training, while the lungs stay the same: we already suck in more oxygen than we’re able to use. Or maybe not, according to a new study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise that takes a fresh look at what it me ..read more

No matter what kind of athlete you are—from casual dabbler to elite competitor—you’ve likely experienced the soreness that follows a strenuous workout. In medicalese, it’s called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it usually peaks 48 hours after exercise. It’s a normal consequence of pushing yourself to get stronger or tackling a big goal like riding a century, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. It can be especially frustrating when you’re just starting out and push too hard before you build up your fitness. Despite the near-universal experience of DOMS—runners, cyclists, hike ..read more

We all know that, in theory, we’re supposed to sleep a lot. After all, it boosts performance, protects against injury, accelerates recovery, improves free-throw shooting, and all sorts of other wonderful things. But sometimes there’s a gap between theory and practice. Are champion athletes also champion sleepers? Or is good sleep in the “nice to have” rather than “need to have” category for ascending the heights of athletic prowess? A new study in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, from sports scientists at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee led by Travis A ..read more

Earlier this year, I wrote a column on the “minimal effective dose” of strength training. Remarkably, newbie lifters can make gains with as little as one set of six to 15 reps per week—on average, at least. But average results don’t tell the full story. Some people will gain more than average; others will gain less. If you’re a typical endurance-focused Sweat Science reader, there’s a good chance you’re in the second category. What does it take to put on muscle for those who don’t respond to the minimum? A new study in the Journal of Applied Physiology, from researchers at the University of S ..read more