I hope those of you in the U.S. and Canada had a great Labor Day weekend. I sure did! We had a lot of BBQ and spent time with the family. It’s always hard to jump back into work after getting a break, even if it’s only one extra day than normal.
We’ve got a lot of great stuff to talk about this week!
This week we’ve got an article from Ben Greenfield about how an athlete might use marijuana to get more (or less) out of their workouts. It’s a great read with a lot of science behind the mechanisms of THC and CBD.
I also found a post about the health benefits of drinking 3-5 cups of coffee per day. Who’s going to argue with that? I’m not!
Oh and did you know that one out of two women over the age of 50 will break a bone due to the skeletal weakness? Weight-lifting can increase bone density, so whether you’re a woman or a man, it’s a great time to get started with a weight training routine. There are four more benefits on weight lifting for women listed below.
NYTImes.com published an article about the diseases someone might catch from a public drinking fountain, and it seems like it’s not much to worry about.
And lastly, an article on why you need to incorporate the “hollow-body hold” into your exercise routine. By increasing your strength and stability in this position, you’ll increase your power for things like “squatting, throwing, pushing, pulling, jumping, hitting, kicking, or sprinting.”
The Effect Of Weed On Exercise
There’s a lot of science in this post, but also a lot of theoretical speculation. Lab studies have shown some interesting results, but these studies were performed using enormously unrealistic doses of THC. There are many things we already know about marijuana through research, for example, it decreases reaction time and disrupts hand-eye coordination and perception.
So if you’re about to do something that requires fast reflexes or quick decisions, marijuana is not going to enhance performance. But if you’re an endurance athlete or if you’re trying to get through a tough workout that you’ve done a million times, the pain-numbing effects of marijuana might help you through it.
Proof You Should Drink 5 Cups of Coffee a Day
According to this article, studies show that drinking 3-5 cups of coffee per day is the magic number to protect your body from all sorts of things, like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and even back pain. That’s pretty good! 5 cups of coffee per day would make me way too anxious and jittery, but I could probably handle 3 cups.
5 Benefits of Weightlifting for Women (with The Blonde Ethos)
One of the most surprising things I learned from reading this article is that 1 in 2 women over the age of 50 will break a bone due to skeletal weakness. That’s crazy! That’s a huge reason to lift weights to increase bone density.
What Diseases Can You Get from a Water Fountain?
If you’re afraid of drinking water from a public water fountain out of fear of getting sick, your fears are for the most part, nothing to worry about. Even if your mouth touches the water spout! Gross, but it’s not likely to get you sick. The germs you should bs cautious about are more likely to exist on the water fountain rim or the push button, but it’s still unlikely to get you sick. That doesn’t stop me from using my shirt or back of hand from pushing the button though 😉
The Genius Ab Exercise That All Gymnasts Use, but Everyone Else Ignores
It’s probably true that most people ignore the hollow-body hold, but anyone who has done P90X will know this one as “banana!” P90X doesn’t make you do it for 30-90 seconds, though. That’s rough!