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Same Course, New Challenges
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There’s a benefit to having a regular golf course. You learn the contours. You memorize the distances. You play with the usual foursome. But the downside is that you end up playing the holes in the same way, and everything becomes stuck, from your shot selection to your swing patterns to your score. Laird Small, director of the Pebble Beach Golf Academy, has some ideas to move things forward:
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Build Strength for Swimming
Refine your stroke—it's the number one thing you can do to improve your swimming. The more efficient your technique, the less energy it requires to travel more distance in the water. Another way to think about it: If your stroke is inefficient, it takes you more energy to travel the same speed with more strokes. Of course you also need total-body strength and stability to maintain proper technique. Here are a few strategies for the gym to boost your performance in the water.
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Jogging isn't a Walk in the Park
emples on flickr
Forrest Gump may have kept running (...and running) without ever a hint of injury, but in the real world, joggers get jacked up often. The usual suspects: shin splints, stress fractures, pulled muscles, ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and hip and back issues.
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Weak Side? What Weak Side?
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Success in soccer is like in basketball and tennis—develop your weak side and become more dynamic, balanced and threatening. The initial steps might feel awkward, but you'll improve quickly with the plan that follows from Scott Piri, director of soccer performance at Athletes’ Performance. He lays out drills for the gym and the pitch to become a symmetrical beast.
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Explosive Speed Drill for Tennis
(Alex Livesey / Getty Images)
In tennis, like many other sports, it's not just speed that's important, but the ability to decelerate and then rapidly accelerate in another direction. Your body must repeat this stop-and-go series thousands of times during a match, and it's the decelerating part where technique most often breaks down. It's also the part that's most demanding on your body.
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Q & A: Exercises to Surf Without Shoulder Pain
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Q: What exercises should I do to prevent soreness in my shoulders from paddling when surfing?
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Two-a-Days Debate Heats Up
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It's football tradition to endure two-a-day practices each summer to prep for the upcoming season, but with the sun beating down and players wearing more than a dozen pounds of gear, these practices have come under fire.
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"Hitting either slice or topspin will take the pressure off and will force your opponent to have to make decisions about how to handle heavy, high bounces or low, short shots."
—Brad Dancer, University of Illinois men's head tennis coach in "5 Tips to Win a Tiebreaker"
"The biggest determinant of calorie burning is your metabolism. And the biggest factor in that is your lean muscle mass. Build more lean muscle, increase your metabolism. "
— fat loss expert Alwyn Cosgrove in "5 Keys to Fat Loss".
Master the World's Greatest Stretch
Performance specialist Nick Winkelman explains why this is our favorite movement.
Click here for more videos from our experts.
"While alcohol can make you sleepy initially, it should never be used as a sedative because it disrupts your sleep cycles, especially REM. This stage is particularly important to athletes because it’s when you consolidate and commit to long-term memory what you learned during the day."
— from "6 Ways Alcohol Disrupts Performance".
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One Small Change
6 Ways Alcohol Disrupts Performance
Before you reach for a drink, consider how alcohol affects your muscles, metabolism, and sports performance.
Live Better
Strong Thighs, Healthy Knees
A new study found that strong thighs can decrease the likelihood of painful knee arthritis in women.
The Performance Life
How One Guy Eased Pain and Raised His Golf Game
After waking up in a world of hurt, Jay Lavender decided to finally commit to his health.
News
New Core Performance Book for Women Coming Soon!
Core Performance founder Mark Verstegen and noted author Pete Williams have written a new book specifically for women.
Secrets to Success
Tony Stewart on Taking Charge
NASCAR driver Tony Stewart shares his tips for making the jump from employee to owner.
