Key takeaway Placebo and nocebo effects are real neuropsychological influences on pain, recovery, and movement confidence. Expectations, past experiences, clinical language, and treatment context can either help reduce pain and fear or reinforce disability, avoidance, and chronic pain behaviors. What if we could affect someone’s treatment outcomes without a pill, injection, or procedure—but by uttering […]
You can train a six-year-old. You can train a 96-year-old. The adaptive response to resistance training is the same at both ends. In one of the most-cited trials in geriatrics, ten frail nursing-home residents with a mean age of 90 enrolled in eight weeks of high-intensity resistance training. On average, they gained 174% in quadriceps […]
In 1989, in a research ward at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Boston, Dr. Maria Fiatarone enrolled ten frail nursing home residents in a strength training protocol that ran against the clinical consensus of the era. The mean age was 90. The youngest subject was 86. The oldest was 96. Eight of the ten had […]
Scientifically reviewed by Austin Baraki, MD, FACP In Chicago in 1944, in an army hospital ward at Gardiner General Hospital, Thomas DeLorme experimented with a rehabilitation approach his colleagues considered unorthodox. The patient was Sergeant Walter Easley, a paratrooper who had ruptured both his anterior cruciate ligament and his medial collateral ligament when he landed […]
After two decades of research, no controlled study has ever produced overtraining syndrome under experimental conditions. Here is what that means, and what to do when your training is actually not working. 0 controlled studies have successfully produced overtraining syndrome under experimental conditions. Based on the research summary presented in this article There is a […]
“Cardio will ruin your gains!” We’ve all heard some version of this phrase from a veteran of the iron game. Right or wrong, the idea that cardio will negatively affect strength and hypertrophy adaptations from lifting has persisted for the better part of a century and has been dubbed the interference effect. This idea is […]
Whether you’ve been working out for years or are just starting, you’ve likely seen the term “progressive overload” billed as a foundational concept in exercise. It’s the magic bullet, the secret sauce, the one universal truth that every coach and trainer agrees is necessary for making progress. What they don’t agree on, however, is what […]
It’s a deceptively simple question that determines the success of your entire workout: How long should you rest in between sets? There are several training variables we can adjust to get the most out of our program. We may carefully manipulate the load we’re lifting, the intensity of each set, and our total weekly volume […]
If you’re a fitness enthusiast then you have, at one point or another, daydreamed about leaving your job and becoming a full-time coach or personal trainer. Maybe you’ve even thought about opening your own gym. For some, the idea of pursuing a career in fitness is so appealing that they’ll actually take action. I’m one […]
Key Points The Limited Effect of Exercise Alone on Weight Loss Energy balance represents one of the fundamental principles of human metabolism. This physiological mechanism measures the relationship between caloric intake—the energy we obtain from food and beverages—and caloric expenditure, which occurs through basic metabolic processes and physical activity. When caloric intake exceeds expenditure, the […]