SportsGeezer

Wii Fitness Gets Real, Kind of, (watch video)

The market for home exercise gear is set for what dot.com business pundits used to call "a major paradigm shift."  And while few people had any idea what in the world dot.com pundits were talking about, this likely shift is very clearly rendered in a New York Times video clip, in which two women allow Nintendo’s latest brainchild, Wii Fit, to put then through their paces. Lots of paces. Geezer is definitely intrigued. Check out the video here. And the Times article, in which many people offer their assessments of Wii Fit, here.

Is Artificial Turf Safe in the Long Term?

Geezer has long preferred artificial turf to real grass, at least when it's cool outside. Artificial turf is fast, balls bounce straight, and there are no chemicals required to keep it green. Now it appears that the chemical advantage may be scratched, as questions about the health risks of the lead, zinc and arsenic used in some synthetic turf roil the recreation boards in several towns. Newsday reports on the controversy, in which (apologies for stating the obvious) manufacturers insist that the fields are safe; and parents and environmental advocates voice concerns that cancer could result from long-term exposure to chemicals through skin contact, accidental ingestion, and breathing dust kicked up by players. The paper reports that small-scale laboratory tests commissioned by environmental and consumer protection groups in Connecticut and upstate New York found the crumbs contained volatile organic compounds such as tetrachloroethene and carcinogens known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The studies could not conclude how likely humans were to be exposed to the compounds under normal playing conditions.
Read more about the health risks of artificial turf in Newsday.

See what the Connecticut Department of Public Health has to say.

Good-bye Nalgene, Hello Whatever

Now that the potential for a class action lawsuit has persuaded the Nalge Nunc International Corporation to phase out the manufacture of Nalgene sports bottles, Geezer thirsts for an answer to one question: What will replace the colorful flock of Nalgene bottles that gathers on the sidelines of soccer fields shortly before game time? Beer bottles, which are often consulted in the aftermath of Geezer's games, would render play even more laughable. Jot your favorite replacement in the comment function below. In the meantime, here's the lowdown on Nalgene's demise.

7 Things to Check Out Before Joining a Gym

A curious reader of the L.A Times asks the newspapers' fitness answer man what to look for when choosing gym. Jay Blahnik comes up with seven areas of investigation:
location
hours
reputation
class schedule
contracts and fees
personality
cleanliness and maintenance
and one very useful piece of advice: Most gyms with any self-confidence will let you try out the place, gratis, for a week or so.  Take them up on this. You will never regret it.
Read more about how to choose a gym from Jay Blahnik in the L.A. Times.

Minimal Agreement About Maximum Heart Rates

The New York Times' Gina Kolata confesses that she suffers from maximum heart rate envy of her husband, even though her husband will not disclose his maximum heart rate.  Geezer confesses that he has always been confused by notions of maximum heart rate and target heart rate (calculated by the Karvonen method or the  Zoladz method?) and wonders if all of that math is worth the effort. Alas, Kolata reports that many others are also math-averse, or just skeptical of the value things like the "notoriously inaccurate" formula for determining your maximum rate: 220 minus your age.  One problem with heart rate monitoring, Olympic marathon coach Kevin Hanson tells the Times, is that it can play mind games with you: if your heart rate is very high, you may worry yourself to a slower pace when a slower pace is not necessarily beneficial. Another problem is that monitoring heart rates can make athletes anxious, and that anxiety will further increase heart rate. So should we monitor, or not? In the end, this piece suggests that it doesn't really matter, as long as we don't worry about it. Read more in the New York Times.

How to Buy a Recreational Bike

For those of us who are not ready for the Tour de France, and by that Geezer means not ready to watch news reports of the Tour de France on TV, there are bicycles that cost less than used cars. How to find them? This piece in the Boston Globe offers some basic and practical advice, explaining for example, the differences between a road bike, mountain bike, and a hybrid. One great suggestion: ask the bike shop if you can borrow the bike before buying. Many of  the better merchants will have no problem with that.
Read more on how to buy a recreational bike in the Boston Globe.

Some Works, Some Doesn't: Speedy New Gear for Triathletes

Running shoes that do not need socks; "Performance-enhancing" shorts designed for both running and biking; A waterproof clock that counts laps and lap times; and a long-sleeve wetsuit equipped with special (and possibly illegal-in some races) water-grabbing panels. Which of these wondrous advances in race technology do you need least? Roy M. Wallack, writing in the Los Angeles Times, puts the clock, which he declares nearly impossible to use properly by swimmers who do kick turns, at the top of the least wanted list. Wallack seems most impressed by the high velocity swimsuit. His advice: "Buy one before its banned."

How to Buy Running Shoes

This three-part series in the Washington Post may do what decades of encouragement from Mrs. Geezer failed to do: persuade Geezer to spend more than $60 on his next pair of running shoes. The piece offers a new understanding of the influence of pronation on foot comfort and health, explains another meaning of the word "last," and tells us how to know when it's time to retire a pair of running shoes (at the 500 mile mark). Helpful stuff. Read more in the Washington Post.

Weightlifting Debates Gets Heavy

Geezer is so impressed with his ability to perturb so many readers with a simple report from the New York Times that Stretching Doesn't Work that he can't wait to do it again. This time, he chooses a story written by Gina Kolata that questions the value of lifting weights, at least for those of us who just want to be better athletes, not body builders. Kolata mentions one recent study involving middle-distance runners that found that three months of resistance training improved leg strength and running efficiency. She quotes experts who argue that lifting weights also can increase endurance and reduce the risk of injury, especially to connective tissue. But Kolata also gathers the thoughts of Patrick O’Connor, an exercise scientist at the University of Georgia who points out that the weight-lifting studies are small, and that each seems to examine a different regimen, to measure outcome differently and to study different subjects — trained athletes, sedentary people, recreational athletes. O'Connor argues that is is impossible to draw conclusions.
Like most of her work, Kolata's piece is a great read, but the most informative part of it may be the many comments from readers.
Read more from Gina Kolata in the New York Times.

Working Out: The Surprising Benefits of Instability

In the office, instability is generally considered a handicap. In the gym, according to this piece in the Washington Post, it's a way to jack up the benefits of a resistance workout. Howard Schneider reports on the several advantages of adding "complexity" to a workout. "Complexity," writes Scheider, "whether in the form of unstable surfaces that challenge balance during exercise, or dynamic movements that involve more of the body -- can produce a variety of benefits. It strengthens the core muscles of the abdomen and back, helping lessen the need for a separate abdominal routine, and burns more calories than conventional weightlifting."
Read more about the benefits of instability in the Washington Post.