This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
When it comes to improving our physical fitness, the time you don’t spend exercising (often known as “recovery”) is as important as the exercise and training you do. Not only is recovery important for anyone who wants to build muscle mass, but taking enough time to recover between training sessions is also important for avoiding “overtraining” – a form of extreme fatigue where recovery can take weeks to years to occur.
Imagine you begin pedaling from the start of Stage 17 of this year’s Tour de France. First, you would bike approximately 70 miles (112 km) with a gradual increase in elevation of around 1,300 feet (400 m). But you’ve yet to hit the fun part: the Hautes-Pyrénées mountains. Over the next 40 miles (64 km) you would have to climb three mountain peaks with a net increase of a mile (1.6 km) in elevation. On the fittest day of my life, I might not even be able to finish Stage 17 – much less do it in anything remotely close to the five hours or so the winner will take to finish the ride. And Stage 17 is just one of 21 stages that must be completed in the 23 days of the tour.
Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.
The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.
When it comes to weight loss, diet, and exercise are usually thought of as the two key factors that will achieve results. However, sleep is an often-neglected lifestyle factor that also plays an important role.
Andy Miah, University of Salford
Elite sports events are still largely closed to the world – but July 2020 has still been an unprecedented month for the global sporting calendar thanks to the world’s first Virtual Tour de France, which – despite the name – was based nowhere in particular, as riders took part from their homes in all parts of the world.
Craig Fry, Victoria University
My father Lindsay Fry passed away suddenly eight months ago. He had end stage cancer, which was found well advanced on his lung and spine. Sadly, my father died just seven weeks after his diagnosis. He was two weeks short of his 70th birthday.
Jim Cherrington, Sheffield Hallam University
Lockdown and socialising restrictions have led to many people increasingly appreciating the great outdoors. In many areas there has been a sharp increase in the number of people out cycling and walking every day.
Analysis from the UK Department for Transport compares the risk of being injured when you are cycling, driving, or walking. Motorcyclists have an especially high risk of death, followed by pedestrians and cyclists. Those in vans, buses, or lorries are safest.
Rachel Aldred, University of Westminster and James Woodcock, University of Cambridge
Blood-flow-restricted training: strapping a band tightly around your limbs to reduce blood flow while training may seem like an odd way to boost athletic performance, but our latest study suggests that it does just that.
I confess I’m a MAMIL (Middle-Aged Man in Lycra). In fact, at my stage of life, I’m a SMILEY (Senior Male in Lycra/Elastane, Yo).