Mechanistic Effects of Resistance Exercise on Cancer-induced Muscle Atrophy

Muscle atrophy is a hallmark of cancer cachexia, a complex multifactorial wasting disease highly associated with mortality. In recent years, we have learned a lot about the protective effects of exercise during cancer. Resistance exercise is now recognized as a…

What Factors Put Runners at Risk for Exertional Heat Stroke During a Marathon?

Exertional heat stroke (EHS) can develop in participants at running events. A runner with EHS overheats beyond their capacity to cool and can suffer organ damage, and even death, if not rapidly cooled. Understanding the factors that may lead to…

Active Workstations Encourage Seated Workers to Sit Less, Move More

Prolonged workplace sitting has emerged as a major risk factor for chronic diseases. Standing and treadmill desks have become popular solutions among office workers to decrease workplace sitting. However, little is known about the long-term success of these desks in…

Exercise Reduces Medication for Metabolic Syndrome Management

Chances are that as we age, we will need to correct our blood pressure, blood sugar or blood fat with the help of medication. Thanks to such medication, an individual’s health span is extended by reducing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases…

Learning a New Exercise Can Improve Cognitive Function in Children with Autism

Cognitive deficits are commonly found in children with autism. Research shows that exercise could be an effective intervention to lessen such deficits, yet why and how physical activity impacts cognitive function remains unclear. Investigators believed that apart from physiological factors,…

Arlington, Va., Named ‘Fittest City’ in 2021 American Fitness Index Ranking of Top 100

CSM and the Anthem Foundation release the 2021 American Fitness Index, ranking America’s 100 largest cities on health behaviors, chronic disease and community infrastructure indicators. Arlington, Va. earned the title of “America’s Fittest City.” Minneapolis, Minnesota; Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.; St. Paul, Minnesota; Irvine, California; Portland, Oregon; and Atlanta, Georgia; round out the top 10 fittest cities.

True Grit? Doesn’t Matter for Resistance Training in Men or Women

A study is the first to examine the relationship between grit and a muscular endurance performance task – specifically, the grueling back squat. The expectation was that a “gritty” person would perform more repetitions in a resistance training set. Interestingly, grit did not predict muscular endurance during the back squat in well-trained men and women. Both males and females independently failed to show a relationship between grit and repetitions performed.

June 5 Research Highlights for ACSM Annual Meeting

ACSM’s comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science conference takes place virtually from June 1 to 5 with programming covering the science, practice, public health and policy aspects of sports medicine, exercise science and physical activity. View program highlights.

June 4 Research Highlights from ACSM Annual Meeting

ACSM’s comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science conference takes place virtually from June 1 to 5 with programming covering the science, practice, public health and policy aspects of sports medicine, exercise science and physical activity. View program highlights.

ACSM Announces 2020 Paper of the Year Selections

The ACSM Publications Committee established an annual Paper of the Year Award in 2020 to recognize one scientific article from each of ACSM’s five journals. Award-winning articles are selected based on impact, research significance, conceptual design and/or technical innovation.

ACSM Annual Meeting Research Highlights for June 3

ACSM’s comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science conference takes place virtually from June 1 to 5 with programming covering the science, practice, public health and policy aspects of sports medicine, exercise science and physical activity.

ACSM Annual Meeting Research Highlights for June 1

ACSM’s comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science conference kicks off June 1 with programming covering the science, practice, public health and policy aspects of sports medicine, exercise science and physical activity. View program highlights.

Prenatal Exercise and Cardiovascular Health

Prenatal exercise is associated with a 40% reduction of developing high blood pressure during pregnancy, yet the underlying reasons for this are not known. Investigators performed a randomized controlled trial to determine the effects of an aerobic exercise training program…

Measuring the Feasibility and Effectiveness of an Individualized Exercise Program Delivered Virtually to Cancer Survivors

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in social distancing limitations not previously experienced, forcing practitioners to adapt exercise programming to a virtual model. The purpose of this investigation was to measure the effectiveness of a virtual exercise oncology program in 491 participants…

Exercise to Improve Health: Fast, Furious and Infrequent or Slow, Steady and Sustainable?

Exercise is well-known to reduce the risk of chronic diseases like hypertension, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. While moderate-intensity continuous exercise (END) has traditionally been recommended to achieve these meaningful benefits, the time-effective alternative of sprint interval training (SIT)…

Research Highlights from Upcoming 2021 Virtual ACSM Annual Meeting: Athlete Care and Clinical Medicine

If you’re looking for new story ideas, here is a selection of talks on athlete care and clinical medicine-based topics that will be presented during ACSM’s Virtual Annual Meeting, June 1-5.

Journalists: Be our guest at the 2021 Virtual ACSM Research Conference

Gain story ideas and learn about cutting-edge science at ACSM’s comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science conference that covers the science, practice, public health and policy aspects of sports medicine, exercise science and physical activity.

Greening the Earth and Improving Health through Human-Powered Transport

Driving has become a way of life for people throughout the world. However, heavy reliance on gas-powered vehicles contributes to three problems (global climate change, air pollution and physical inactivity) that result in millions of deaths per year. As developing…

Can the Gut Cope with Night Exercise?

Gut issues are common with endurance exercise, ranging from mild discomfort to severe debilitating symptoms warranting reduced exercise workload or even cessation from activity. Considering the recent exponential growth of nighttime endurance and ultra-endurance events, athletes anecdotally report having more…

Train the Brain: How Stroboscopic Training Speeds Up the Brain’s Visual System

The brain’s visual system is a crucial performance determinant in elite sports. To reach a high level, athletes must rapidly transfer visual information into movement (i.e., fast reaction time). Consequently, this raises the question – how can we train the…

Insights about the Genetic Basis for Concussion

Despite significant advances in treatment, sports-related concussion continues to plague athletes. Part of the reason for this is that the biological basis of concussion is poorly understood. Genetics play a key role in the biology underlying concussion. In this study,…

Does a Ketogenic Diet Impair Athletic Performance?

A low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) or “ketogenic” diet has grown in popularity due to its ability to increase the rate of fat burning during exercise. For elite athletes this comes at the expense of athletic performance. The LCHF diet also increases…

Lifestyle Interventions to Reduce Blood Sugar: Don’t Forget Resistance Exercise

In the past 30 years, prediabetes (elevated fasting or post-meal blood sugar below the levels required for diagnosis of type 2 diabetes) has grown into a major epidemic affecting nearly one in three adults. Previous studies have shown that combining…

ACSM Publishes New Guidance for Safer Practices in Weight-Category Sports

American College of Sports Medicine shares new guidelines for safer practices and more equitable competitions for athletes in weight-category sports. New statement updates and replaces previous guidelines released by ACSM in 1996.

CUR Health Sciences Division Announces 2021 Mentor Awardees

The Health Sciences Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research announces the 2021 recipients of its Mentor Awards, which honor exceptional mentoring and advising by higher education faculty across all subdivisions of health sciences.

CUR Health Sciences Division Announces 2021 NCUR Presentation Awardees

CUR’s Health Sciences Division announces the 2021 recipients of its NCUR Presentation Awards. The awards cover the cost of registration for undergraduates presenting original research at the 2021 National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

ACSM and Technogym Partner to Promote Physical Activity, Improve Quality of Life

ACSM and Technogym renew long-standing partnership to promote the importance of physical activity and combat chronic disease and illness. The agreement focuses on expanding impact of global Exercise is Medicine initiative.

Does More Physical Activity and Less TV Viewing Reduce the Risk of Death?

Insufficient physical activity and sedentary behavior are both associated with higher risk of chronic disease and death. However, the long-term benefits of interventions to increase physical activity and reduce sitting time are unknown as randomized controlled trials are often infeasible…

Blood-flow Restriction Training Delay the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is recognized as a public health problem, affecting more than 15% of the population. Although CKD can drastically impair health, it is rarely diagnosed early due to its silent revelation. Identifying and proposing treatments to attenuate…

Reduced Sitting Time Improves Blood Flow in Brain and Legs

During a regular day, the average person sits for eight to 10 hours. These high levels of sitting time seem linked to an increased risk for both cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. First, researchers found that three hours of sitting results…

Attenuated Rapid-Onset Vasodilation to Forearm Muscle Contraction in Black Men

Kaur and colleagues reported that rapid onset vasodilation induced by a single contraction of the forearm muscles was significantly attenuated in non-Hispanic Black men, compared to white men, and this attenuation was evident even at low intensity muscle contractions. The…

Time-restricted Eating Reduces Body Weight in Runners without Impacting Performance

Intermittent fasting is becoming increasingly popular due to its simple advice: Don’t change what you eat; simply change when you eat. One popular method of intermittent fasting, 16:8 time-restricted eating (TRE), involves 16 hours fasting and eight hours eating each…

Detection of Blood Transfusion

Autologous blood transfusion is performance enhancing, and detection of abuse remains a major challenge in sports. To address this issue, investigators transfused a group of men with either blood or saline, and evaluated whether metabolites collected in urine before and…

BFFs: How Physical Exercise Impacts Brain Blood Flow, Memory after Paralysis

Thanks to advances in health care in the past several decades, more than 90% of people who have had a spinal cord injury survive beyond the first year. The focus now is managing the long-term impact of spinal cord injury…

Break Up Your Work Day with Healthy Stair Climbing Exercise Snacks

Sitting for long periods is known to have negative effects on metabolic and cardiovascular health. Building on recent work showing that brief bouts of vigorous exercise (exercise “snacks”) can improve fitness, investigators from the University of British Columbia in Canada…

New Year, New Weight Loss Program? Exercise More Important than Protein for Muscle Function in Older Women

In the U.S., most older women are overweight or obese, which can harm functional health like rising from a chair. Weight loss diets that are higher in protein are popular as they often cause greater body fat loss while keeping…

ACSM Updates Education Requirement to Maintain Gold Standard Certifications

The American College of Sports Medicine Committee on Certification and Registry Boards announces substantial changes to the educational requirements for its two highest level certifications, the ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist and the ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist.

Move More or Sit Less: How to Maintain a Healthy Brain

Worldwide, a person is diagnosed with dementia every three seconds. Regular physical activity and limited sedentary behavior (i.e., time spent sitting or lying down) are two important lifestyle strategies for maintaining good brain health. However, we do not know which…

Menopause May Affect Improvements in Exercise Fitness

All women go through menopause, usually between the ages of 46 and 54. Their periods stop, and they can no longer get pregnant. Postmenopausal women also have lower heart function. This study investigated whether menopause influences heart function and exercise…

Quantity and Context of Physical Activity: Important Factors in the Relationship with Pain

Many people are affected by painful conditions like low back pain, arthritis and cancer. Pain can be difficult to treat, with few safe and effective options. Some research suggests that being physically active can reduce the severity and impact of…

Hourly 4-s Cycle Sprints Prevent Inactivity-Induced Impairment of Fat Metabolism

It is well known that daily exercise has health benefits, and physical inactivity is unhealthy. Inactivity, typically characterized by daily sitting time, needs to be interrupted periodically with physical activity. However, the most effective amount and type of activity have…

Exercise in Type 2 Diabetes: Does the Dose of Exercise Matter?

For people with type 2 diabetes, both aerobic exercise training (like walking or jogging) and resistance exercise training (strength training) lead to improvements in blood sugar control, and a combination of aerobic and resistance training results in larger improvements. In…

Retirement Modifies Daily Physical Activity

Retirement changes daily routines. Time previously used for work and commuting is replaced by leisure time. In this study, more than 500 employees from Finland wore motion sensors before and after retirement. The results show that women’s physical activity decreased,…

Is L-citrulline Supplementation Combined with Exercise Training an Effective Strategy to Improve Vascular and Muscular Function in Older Adults?

Aging is associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and loss of muscle fitness (i.e., mass, strength and exercise capacity). Endothelial cells lining the wall of blood vessels maintain normal blood pressure…

Army Scientists Propose an Elegant Theory that Could Lead to Stronger Bones for All

Skeletal fragility can affect people of all ages, whether it be young military recruits at risk for stress fractures, astronauts at risk for bone loss in space or adults at risk for osteoporotic fractures due to weakening of bones with…

Plasma Lactate as a Marker for Metabolic Health

Lactate concentration in the blood is commonly measured in relation to athletic performance and as an index of metabolic alterations in critically ill patients. As a result, numerous and relatively inexpensive methodologies exist to accurately and rapidly measure blood lactate…

Strong and Fit Older Adults Have Younger, Less Stiff Arteries

Large arteries like the aorta are flexible tubes that should easily stretch to accommodate blood flow. They tend to get less flexible with age and chronic medical conditions, a process called arterial stiffening that strongly predicts future cardiovascular disease like…

Athletes Should be Vaccinated Against Influenza

Athletes often fear undue side effects or a training-induced deficient immune response to vaccination – in particular when vaccination is carried out during ongoing training/competition. However, influenza is a virus disease which can lead to large health problems and interfere…