Runners might get a kick...

[wyst]

...out of this.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/nike_pr.html

Funky scifi training for marathoners/distance runners. Obviously it's not our kind of training, but I do wonder if any of it might carry over to BB/PL training (hypo/hyperbaric chambers to increase red blood cell count, etc), and what people thought of it...if any of it sounds like more than hooey.

I want one a Nemes "neuro-mechanical stimulator," lol. Wonder how much those bad boys cost.

xoxo

Wyst

 

[wyst]

Physics or abtronics?

For people who don't want to read the whole article, this is the thing about the Nemes machine:

Perhaps the most curious device in Salazar's tech arsenal, a vibrating platform, was set up in the living room back when the athletes moved in. The neuro-mechanical stimulator, called Nemes, looks like a mutant bathroom scale with a telescoping handlebar for support. To "work out" on the machine, athletes stand on the motorized platform for several 1-minute intervals while it agitates just 4 millimeters up and down - an imperceptible movement unless you're along for the weird, leg-tingling ride.

Studies published in periodicals like the European Journal of Applied Physiology report that athletes who incorporate vibration training into their regimens make significant power gains. The Nemes, which is used by Austrian skiing star Hermann Maier, increases the amount of electricity running from the brain to the muscles and recruits greater strength by firing up usually dormant muscle fibers. The brain also learns to dispatch more electricity in subsequent physical efforts. "It seems to be reprogramming the brain or rewiring the nervous system. We don't exactly know yet," says Henk Kraaijenhof, a Dutch track coach who works with Nemes inventor and former Italian track team physiologist Carmelo Bosco. Kraaijenhof and others have evidence that Nemes workouts help, with elite athletes improving their vertical leaps - a measure of lower-body power - by up to 5 inches.

Salazar figures improved jumping ability could lead to a longer running stride, which could produce big payoffs: A 1 percent gain in distance covered per second saves a competitive runner about 80 seconds in a marathon. "It's all physics," he says.

 

[msboss]

Re: Physics or abtronics?

For people who don't want to read the whole article, this is the thing about the Nemes machine:

Perhaps the most curious device in Salazar's tech arsenal, a vibrating platform, was set up in the living room back when the athletes moved in. The neuro-mechanical stimulator, called Nemes, looks like a mutant bathroom scale with a telescoping handlebar for support. To "work out" on the machine, athletes stand on the motorized platform for several 1-minute intervals while it agitates just 4 millimeters up and down - an imperceptible movement unless you're along for the weird, leg-tingling ride.

Studies published in periodicals like the European Journal of Applied Physiology report that athletes who incorporate vibration training into their regimens make significant power gains. The Nemes, which is used by Austrian skiing star Hermann Maier, increases the amount of electricity running from the brain to the muscles and recruits greater strength by firing up usually dormant muscle fibers. The brain also learns to dispatch more electricity in subsequent physical efforts. "It seems to be reprogramming the brain or rewiring the nervous system. We don't exactly know yet," says Henk Kraaijenhof, a Dutch track coach who works with Nemes inventor and former Italian track team physiologist Carmelo Bosco. Kraaijenhof and others have evidence that Nemes workouts help, with elite athletes improving their vertical leaps - a measure of lower-body power - by up to 5 inches.

Salazar figures improved jumping ability could lead to a longer running stride, which could produce big payoffs: A 1 percent gain in distance covered per second saves a competitive runner about 80 seconds in a marathon. "It's all physics," he says.

In China, part of there daily regimn is to stand in place and jump up and down for a few minutes. Just little jumps. This has been practiced for centuries. It supposedly helps the body with it's motabolism. They do this in conjunction with their daily exercise routines.
msboss