Podium Talk

Powerlifting and weightlifting shoes have been around for quite some time and are used by elite athletes and recreational lifters. Stability and greater force production are something that is always talked about as an effect of using these shoes. Specialised weightlifting gear is often expensive, and shoes are no different. In this case, many lifters also use flat-bottom sneakers or a small weight plate under the heel. The reasons for the two alternatives are very different from each other. The flat bottom shoes are mostly used for stability, whereas the plate is used to elevate the heel. In this article, we will be discussing the effects of using weightlifting shoes or a plate under the heel while performing barbell back squats. We need to understand the reason behind using any form of heel elevation while performing squats. The most probable culprit is poor ankle mobility, because of which the athlete is not able to effectively move the knees ahead and then compensates by leaning for...

Almost everyone involved in physical exercise has experienced muscle cramps at some point in time. It can be explained as a painful and involuntary muscle contraction that locks the joint in place. They occur mostly in longer muscles that span two or more joints. Once experienced, athletes may continue to cramp unless adequate rest is provided. There are many theories as to how muscle cramps occur and what can be the possible solutions to relieving them. They are sometimes inaccurately termed as heat cramps. Exercise-associated muscle cramps do not have a relation with body temperature and do not recover with an external cooling modality, like an ice pack. If the theories of muscle cramps do not interest you, skip to the last part where you can learn how to deal with muscle cramps. One of the oldest theories is based on dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that occurs during exercise. It states that sweating alters the chemical balance of the fluids present in the body, which affects...

There are people who believe that exercise alone can help you lose weight as long as you don’t ‘overeat’. This view is evident by the sheer number of people who purchase gym memberships specifically for weight loss. Whilst physical activity is beneficial, there are a myriad of risks involved when people follow the advice of gurus who aren’t educated about the anatomy and physiology of the human body. At the other end of the spectrum, there are believers in nutrition who could swear by its effectiveness in weight loss. It’s easy to blame a particular macro, be it fats or carbohydrates. It’s much harder to back that claim with evidence. Does that mean we leave everything to chance and do whatever we feel is right? Absolutely not. Looking at the basics of nutrition content, a low carbohydrate diet has been shown to help with maintaining a low energy uptake, which in turn will reduce your weight (As carbohydrates and sugars are well known to be empty calories). Although fat was given a bad...

Caffeine is originally obtained from coffee, which seemed to be discovered and put to use in Ethiopia in the 15th century. Coffee beans made their way around the globe through mysterious trade routes and a treasury of interesting stories. At this point, this super drug is commonly found in kitchens all around the world and enjoyed as a beverage by a large number of people. Caffeine was first extracted from coffee in 1819 and has opened up many possibilities by which it can be consumed. The cultural history is just amazing, but I wouldn’t attempt to explain the history for the sake of relevance. What we are concerned about is how the contents of this bean is critical to the performance of professional and recreational endurance athletes. At first glance, knowing caffeine’s effect on the heart rate, one would assume that it would not be beneficial to begin a long run with your heart racing before your feet get a chance to catch wind. However, this cannot be further from the truth. Caffei...

We always hear about how important movements like the squat, deadlifts, cleans are for lower body development, having a stronger historical foothold. In these, it’s generally about raw strength and power, and the topic of discussions in changing rooms, where people claim extraordinary personal records or targets.   Lifters are underwhelmed about unilateral (single leg/arm) exercises as a whole. We rarely hear people discuss about how amazing a particular lunge was for their gains. If we look at any isolated movement from a functional activity or competitive sport, it is almost always a unilateral one. Think about it. Running, jumping, vertical and horizontal leaps, changing direction, they are all predominantly unilateral. Granted, the weight on the bar while performing a split squat, lunge or any single leg movement isn’t anything to brag about, whereas the effects these produce on the overall strength and power is astoundingly comparable and is sometimes seen to exceed that of th...

We can all agree on the importance of water in our bodies. Having an adequate level of hydration ensures optimum operation of the various systems of the body. Water content is also important for physical and mental performance in sports. Excessive water loss through sweat is very common in athletes, especially in endurance sports. Hence, every athlete, professional and recreational should be aware of this aspect of sports physiology. A dehydration of even 2% has been shown to significantly compromise physical performance and work capacity. This applies not only for endurance events like the marathon, but also for activities requiring strength, power, and high-intensity endurance. Dehydration has also been linked with impairing mental functions like attention, working memory capacity, reaction time, coordination, decision-making, and mood. The effects are experienced differently based on ethnicity, level of fitness, gender, previous hydration levels, and individual adaptation to environ...

Are you losing weight for likes and comments on the transformation post that you would upload on your social media, only to regress a few weeks later? Do you want to just let it be; or quit the weight loss program? Of course not. Nobody will agree to either of these. Although reality paints a different picture about the adherence and dropout rates, despite fully knowing the risks and dangers of obesity. Adherence and compliance are crucial in successful obesity management. It refers to the behavior of an individual relative to the medical and professional advice including diet and lifestyle modifications, and physical activity participation. Many individuals don’t end up completing their journey. It’s not an easy process as it is, and a few additional factors make it worse. You might be wondering why are we talking about the negatives at all, but trust me. Knowing about the reasons will help you relate and understand that you’re not alone here. Mental stress, anxiety, body shape concer...

The world is tired of hearing doctors’ advice for weight management, even if it is true. Many know of its seriousness from within. Moments before stepping on the scale, the majority of us feel nervous, anxious, and even terrified to see the number it would display. We start recalling all the instances where we picked up an extra serving, didn’t plan our meals, and ordered takeout. Here is some tough love coming your way. It has been known for decades that being obese or overweight increases the risk of other diseases like diabetes, cancer, and coronary heart disease. It also alters biomechanics and increases the load on joints while even performing daily activities like walking and stair climbing, which in turn increases the chances of injuries like ligament sprains. It can even cause you to suffer from early osteoarthritis. Not surprising that patients with this degenerative joint disease are medically advised to manage their weight. It also takes a toll on respiration, by causing exe...

It's prevalent to encounter lifting advice in the gym. This one is as old as it gets. Let's examine it and see if it is a myth or a scientific truth. In my opinion, the squat is the godfather of all the lower body exercises. It has numerous variations and is an exercise that, once perfected for an individual, can be overloaded very effectively. It’s relatively safe to perform, with some equipment like the safety bar and the smith machine amplifying this quality. Although being a fundamental movement that is so essential to us even in our daily lives, there are many misconceptions around it which I need to face as a healthcare professional and a lifter. Somebody once decided that the knees going past the toes is apparently harmful and risky for the knees. Rationalisation was provided on the basis that this will limit the compressive stress and tension on the tendon of the quadriceps muscle, which in turn should prevent the inflammation of the tendon and knee pain. Even large res...

Many questions come into our minds before we can even take our first step toward fitness. Physical exercise might be the simplest yet one of the most efficient and consistent way to improve mental health, productivity, creativity and prevent illnesses. You might have been told several times about how good it is, and you’ve finally started out. Or you have been exercising for quite a while already. Wherever you are on your journey, I think it's always a great idea to cover the foundation, take a look back and reflect, if need be. The Why First and foremost, you must be aware of the why. Why is it that you are working out? Is there a goal? It can be very specific (eg. to have a body fat percentage below 15), or vague and abstract (eg. to become stronger). There is no golden formula, so pick what speaks personally to you. Having this covered would help you move forward consistently, and we can focus on more technical things from here on. Learning basic movement patterns and mastering ...