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Resistance training even as little as once per week benefits older individuals -- ScienceDaily

"But for other measures that are important for older people, such as the ability to perform activities of daily living, once per week seemed sufficient. Muscle strength that is needed for carrying shopping bags, walking up and down the stairs and sitting down on a toilet can be improved with strength training," Walker says. Training also benefits overall well-being Overall well-being, tested through psychological measures, also improved over the 9-month training period. Similarly, there were no real differences whether individuals trained only once per week or two-three times per week. The researchers found that it was very important that people improved their psychological well-being and motivation for exercise during the study period as it was those people who continued training regularly even after the study had ended. The researchers are keen to point out that their studies show the importance of resistance training for older persons; even as little as once per week can go a long way. "We need to remember that these individuals trained hard, and safely, when they were with us. We supervised every training session closely, making sure that they used correct technique and also ensured that they always tried to improve their training loads compared with previous training sessions." Walker added.

Start small

If the science is compelling and if an incremental approach is good enough for the top athletes in the world, then why do so many people still fall prey to a suboptimal cycle of big, in-over-your-head workouts followed by extended time off due to injury and fatigue? Dixon believes there are two primary reasons: a lack of self-confidence, and a lack of understanding the training process.

The happiness project | Science

In 2010, cancer biologist Lei Cao—inspired by a family member who had died of cancer—wondered whether she could combat it by looking beyond drugs or genes. Her team at OSU created a 1-square-meter enclosure filled with so many mazes, running wheels, and bright red, blue, and orange igloos that her daughter dubbed it “Disneyland for Mice.” <img class="fragment-image" src="https://d2ufo47lrtsv5s.cloudfront.net/content/sci/359/6376/624/F3.medium.gif"/> A fish at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor gets to choose between an empty tank and one filled with marbles. PHOTO: AUSTIN THOMASON/MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY When injected with cancer cells, animals housed there developed tumors 80% smaller than those in control mice, or no tumors at all. Cao even discovered a possible mechanism: A stimulating environment seemed to activate the brain's hypothalamus, which regulates hormones that affect everything from mood to cancer proliferation. “We showed that there's a hard science behind enrichment,” she says. “You can't just treat the body—you have to treat the mind.”

The happiness project | Science

Today, lab mice live in shoebox-size cages hundreds of thousands of times smaller than their natural ranges, and rats can't forage or even stand upright. Both spend their days blasted by ventilation and bright fluorescent lighting that disrupts their day-night cycles. “We're doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing to make these animals happy,” Garner says. Lab animals tend to be obese, have weak immune systems, and develop cancer—all before scientists do any experiments on them.

Runners' brains may be more connected, research shows | EurekAlert! Science News

University of Arizona researchers compared brain scans of young adult cross country runners to young adults who don't engage in regular physical activity. The runners, overall, showed greater functional connectivity -- or connections between distinct brain regions -- within several areas of the brain, including the frontal cortex, which is important for cognitive functions such as planning, decision-making and the ability to switch attention between tasks.

How to Run Your First Marathon | POPSUGAR Fitness

"Think of every day between now and your future half marathon as available time to get stronger and improve your endurance." It made so much sense — waiting to start training is like procrastinating on a project you're afraid of. I've already started running a little bit more than usual to get 2017 off on the right foot.

One Weight-Loss Approach Fits All? No, Not Even Close - The New York Times

To help people find an effective way to lose weight, obesity medicine specialists say they start by asking if there is an obvious cause for a person’s excess weight, like a drug that can be switched for something else. If not, they suggest patients try one thing after another starting with the least invasive option, and hope something works. “There are 40 therapies I can throw at a patient,” Dr. Kaplan said. “I will try diets and aerobic exercise and sleep enhancement. I have 15 drugs.”

'Minimal' shoes may reduce running injuries | EurekAlert! Science News

"Our research tells us that becoming accustomed to running with a forefoot strike in shoes that lack cushioning promotes a landing with the lowest loading rates, and this may be beneficial in reducing the risk of injury"

Football Players' Tendons Can't Handle Lockout : Discovery News

Even though scientists can't prove that the extended NFL lockout caused this season's high rate of injuries, the new study lends support to what athletes and coaches already know. To avoid injuries, it is essential to prepare your body in sport-specific ways -- whether you're an elite football star or a middle-aged weekend warrior who plays pick-up basketball or soccer. "One of the reasons people tear their Achilles is that they are sedentary or relatively sedentary and then they step up the intensity," said Bert Mandelbaum, an orthopedic surgeon in Santa Monica, team physician for several Major League Soccer teams, and director of research for Major League Baseball. "Tendons just can't handle that level of stress." And it's not just the Achilles that can blow when put into a high-pressure situation, Mandelbaum said. Bones, ligaments and tendons in the knees and elsewhere are all vulnerable to forces that they're not prepared for. On the flip side, he said, our bodies have an amazing ability to adapt to extra loads when put through a gradual and comprehensive workout program that includes attention to strength, agility, coordination, aerobic fitness, balance and neuromuscular control. Ballistic plyometric exercises, which involve high-intensity jumping, can be particularly helpful, Hewett said -- reducing the risk of joint, ligament and tendon injuries by as much as 50 to 60 percent.

Brain game 'improves lives of schizophrenia patients'

It asks players to enter rooms, find items in boxes and remember where they put them, testing their so-called episodic memory. Better-equipped Prof Barbara Sahakian, from the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and who researched the impact of the game, said patients who played it made significantly fewer errors in tests afterwards on their memory and brain functioning. She said this was an indication that they were better prepared to function in the real world.

It's your path, says Buddha

No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path

Muscle Memory and Endurance

Muscle cells are unusual: because they're so big compared to other cells, they have multiple nuclei within a single cell. When you strength train, your muscle cells get even bigger, so they add more nuclei. When you stop training, the muscles cells get smaller–but the new results suggested that the number of nuclei remains elevated long after the training stops. Then, when you start training again, those nuclei are already there, ready to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.