The ESP TipCast covers quick tips for the latest health, fitness, nutrition and training science.  On our final Tipcast of 2013 I review my article series on periodization and how to make the most of your season with the right plan!

Thanks to our sponsors: Rudy Project, Honey Stinger, and Stan's No-tubes.

Special Thanks to Damian at the Semi-pro cyclist for the inspiration to finally revisit this topic.

On the first podcast of the fall season behavioral scientist Dr. Susan Swithers from Purdue University will be joining me to discuss new concerns raised about artificial sweetners. Forget the cancer warnings, scientists are questioning the impact that artificial sweetners (NNS) on both our body’s response to sugar, but also our brains ability to determine what to do as food comes in. NNS appear to increase our risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseseases, like diabetes, and do little to aid in weight loss. What is worse, thin people, like athletes, may actually be at greater risk than overweight individuals. If you’re interested in health as well as fitness, you’ll want to stick around for our discussion. 

Also on the podcast, Dr. Swithers and I discuss how perception of sweetness can be applied to exercise and whether you really do need to drink that sports drink to benefit from it.

We also want to remind everyone to head over to iTunes and write a review! 

ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS PRODUCE THE COUNTERINTUITIVE EFFECT OF INDICING METABOLIC DERANGEMENTS. Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Don't miss our next podcast and article series where I update the latest on periodization!

Approximate show time: 1:04

In the final installment of our three past series covers five tests you can and should do yourself to optimize your performance. Rather than focus on testing for marginal gains, like functional threshold, ESP recommends addressing the bottlenecks. Some of the most important assessments include:

Assessing strength specific for good movement and balanced muscle development

Estimating maximum 30 sec and VO2 max (run) pace or (bike) power

Sweat rate

From this list, you can easily see that the last three can be easily ascertained during actual training sessions. 

Not all test facilities and services are created equal. On part 2 of our three part series, I discuss the questions, and answers, needed for making the best choice for testing services. Don't be fooled by flashy websites, lots of scientific lingo, or athletic prowess. The fact is the best testing is done by qulaified professionals with both the education and experience to test. When in doubt, err on the education side because anyone with money can buy and use expensive equipment, very few are skilled enough to analyze and advise from the data you provide. Some important things to look for include:

If your test center cannot provide at least 4 of 5 listed, its best to look elsewhere.

With fall approaching and off-season planning coming to fore, many athletes begin thinking about if, when and how to test their fitness. There is often a great deal of confusion on testing, including what tests to run, how often and where to go for testing. In part one of this three part series, I breakdown the basic reasons for testing, what to test and when including:

On this TipCast we discuss our top 5 tips for winding down your season to help enhance your off-season.

1. Assess - what worked, what didn't. What goals did you achieve?

2. Test - if you don't test, compile all your data for review later

3. Plan - an off-season plan is essential

4. Recover - recovery is active, rest is passive. Stay active!

5. Train

The ESP TipCast covers quick tips for the latest health, fitness, nutrition and training science. On this TipCast we discuss how a little resistance training can reverse a nagging pain or issue before it can become a full blown injury.

On our 40th podcast we talk with evolutionary biologist and Harvard researcher Dr. Dan Lieberman. Best known for his research on barefoot running, and reference to that research in the best selling book, "Born to Run", Dr. Lieberman's research extends well beyond running shoeless. With publications in Nature and citations by numerous other authors, Dr. Lieberman's work has been instrumental in understanding why the human species may be the greatest athlete the world has ever seen.

Also on the podcast, I recap the last couple months of racing by our RVA XT team, including my XTerra World's Qualification, and my top 5 tips for prepping for your next race, no matter how your most recent race went!

Finally, we have more Stan's No Tubes Clinics coming up, and a new podcast project in the works!

The podcast wants to thank our great sponsors:

Stan's No Tubes

Rudy Project

Honey Stinger

Gu Energy

Lucky Foot

Run time:~1:35:00