Dr. Paul Laursen of ECU writes. I recently attended the Biannual Australian Association for Exercise and Sports Science Conference in Sydney Australia in early October this year. It was a great conference where I enjoyed sharing ideas with ultra-athletes, adventure racers, coaches and sports scientists from around the globe intent on pushing the boundaries of human endurance. But I’ve got to tell you about one of the most interesting presentations I attended. It was from a fellow colleague of mine, Dr David Bishop, a Sports Scientist from me here in Perth, whom I usually wouldn’t be giving any mention to except that his findings were just so damn interesting. In fact they could change the way we prepare for our interval training in the future.Before I delve into David’s findings, I should give you a bit of background first. What I’m going to talk a bit about here is muscle buffering capacity. Muscle buffering capacity is the ability of our muscles to mop up excess hydrogen ions, which are produced of course when we perform high-intensity exercise.

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Cryotherapy is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy. Cooling for performance and recovery in an athletic setting is commonly used. Precooling, if used appropriately can be of benefit before events where thermal strain can become an issue such as in hot humid conditions. Hot and cold cooling after exercise is also used to aid recovery. The most effective and practical method and timing of both precooling and hot and cold recovery is still an area of current investigation and the success or otherwise of their application will depend on the situation and sport in which they are being utilised.

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How many of you actually regard training as fun? Who looks forward to interval sessions? Hands up if you are tired of being over prescribed, measured and assessed! Don’t switch off, help is at hand.

In the days before winning medals equated to an instant Lotto win, the Swedes under the leadership of then national (XC) coach Gosta Holmer instigated a training pattern known as ‘fartlek’ or “speed play” to improve speed and endurance. It is a pattern that can be applied to running, riding, paddling, xc ski racing and snow shoeing. In essence, it encourages the athlete to vary pace during a session in a form of self-policed free form intervals.

The amount of time you allocate to going “fast” increases with your fitness levels and you can concomitantly adjust your recovery times.

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If you have read the MOTUS review then the fundamental building blocks of the MOABS are covered quite fully; structurally they are true siblings.The MOABS are a slightly longer cut and use a purpose-designed Italian made seamless, single piece MTB-specific chamois.

The MOABS actually owe their roots to the original and near retro ‘eager-NINJAS’ as worn with such distinction by World 24 hr Champion Craig Gordon. Apart from the base fabric and the patent-pending Pocketplex system the new, evolved MOABS are better.

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Water recovery training is an excellent method of restoration not only physically but also mentally. When you are tired and sore, the idea of a pool session triggers positive and relaxed thoughts; the idea of a chance to chill is always enticing.
According to the C.H.E.K. Institute Ref 1 the major therapeutic benefits to be had by incorporating water-based recovery in your program are:

• Facilitated Venous Return
• Sensory Modulation of Pain
• Therapeutic Decompression (more…)

I’m not usually very ‘prescriptive’ when I’m giving nutrition and lifestyle advice. I think that health practitioners - both natural/alternative and traditional, can fall into the trap of looking at illness and treating the symptoms of it using either drugs, herbs, nutrition therapy or many other modalities. It is an easy thing to do….our whole medical system is based around identifying symptoms - most illnesses have names that are merely identifiers of where symptoms (usually inflammation) occur for example labyrinthitis (infection of the inner ear), sinusitis (sinus infection) etc.

Symptoms based medicine however is crucial for correct diagnoses and subsequent treatment of the symptoms of illness. What it doesn’t do in isolation is allow for treatment strategies that focus on the whole person to create the most resilient, robust and vibrant person - someone who is less likely to succumb to illness.

Nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and most importantly mental, emotional and spiritual health are the keys to this robust and resilient state of health. Sometimes though regardless of how well we are able to manage our total health we can be afflicted by an illness.

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i-RULE has managed to carve out a niche for itself on the back of a remarkable pair of knicks known as NINJAS. You can not go to an AR event in Australia or a Coast to Coast in NZ without seeing a predominance of the NINJAS in the field. So how do you improve on a best seller?

In typical i-RULE style you do it in conjunction with the customer and world class athletes. The i-RULE crew in kicking off the MOTUS development wanted to retain the winning features of the NINJAS but lift performance over multi-days.

Grammes have been shaved and comfort optimised with the incremental improvements. The heart of the MOTUs remain true to i-RULE’s winning design principles namely specificity to multi-disciplines, maximum protection from the environment, durability and peerless athlete comfort.

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