Ask anyone who plays in sports like AFL football and basketball how tough it can be to train for speed and power, yet at the same time try to improve your fitness endurance capacity. Many sports demand that you have high levels of strength and power and be able to sustain these repeated bursts in games that last between 2-3 hours. Physiologically the two processes of building strength, power, and speed versus endurance are completely opposed to each other and training both methods at the same time cancels out their effectiveness. This is the equivalent of trying to be a 100m sprinter and a marathon runner at the same time! All good strength coaches and elite athletes are aware of this principle and know that to improve performance these two opposing methods are best trained on their own which is known as periodization. Unfortunately, sporting codes that run for several months of the year do not allow for this perfect recipe to be adopted. Compromises must be made, and usually, it is strength, power, and speed sacrificed for fitness and endurance. But is there a way you can minimize the losses of strength and power by adopting smarter implementation of your fitness training? This is the question we explore in this article and provide you with some simple ideas you can implement into your training that could be a real game changer.

The amount of hip and knee related injuries we see with people over 40 is becoming increasingly common. We know that exercise can be a great way to prevent the onset of these injuries but being able to train when you have hip and knee injury or stiffness can be very painful. Doing nothing is not a solution either as the joint will become weaker and more unstable resulting in a much bigger problem and a continuation of more pain. In one of our previous articles we provided some great ideas for training with severe knee pain (see best exercises for severe knee pain) which prompted many emails asking about the relevance of these exercises if you had a hip problem. There is a direct link with hip dysfunction to knee pain. For many surgery may seem like the best solution, yet I have met several people in their late 40's and early 50's who have had knee replacements only to be left in more pain than they had before the operation. Or worse still, developed other injuries and complications as a result of the surgery! This article we look at the reasons behind chronic problems at the hip and the knee and what you can do about it and try to avoid surgery if you can. Sometimes it may be all you can do, but it should be the last resort and the only option left after all alternatives have been tried first.

If there is one thing that really changes the quality of life with older adults it is the loss of balance and fear of falling. Statistics in the US show that one adult over the age of 65 is treated in the emergency room for a fall every 18 seconds (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Quite an alarming statistic and even more scary when you consider that hip fractures are the most common injury from a fall and the number one cause of nursing home admission. Approximately 50% of those who suffer a hip fracture never fully regain their mobility and independence, and 50% of those die within the first year! Falling for an older adult is a very serious matter, and a life-threatening situation. The good news is it can be easily prevented by adopting exercise strategies that utilize the skills of reflex stability, balance, agility, and even speed. This article we will explain exercises and methods you can use to prevent falls and provide several real-life examples of these in action.