{{current_date_full}}
|
Good morning. A new study shows what a dedicated performance staff did for Army fitness, interesting evidence that training one arm strengthens the other, and a contrarian take on whether athletes really need electrolytes. Let's get into it…
|
📸 Sorinex
In a new Translational Journal of the ACSM study, Army researchers found that soldiers with access to a dedicated sports medicine team - strength coaches, physical therapists, and dietitians inside the unit - outperformed those without after roughly a year of training.
By the numbers:
Soldiers with a team added nearly 18 pounds to their deadlift on average
Their two-mile run improved 31 seconds more than peers - despite similar weekly mileage
The gains tracked with more resistance training, HIIT, and plyometrics, not just more running
In a separate Stryker-brigade study, the on-site staff evaluated 63% of injuries within a week and managed 59% with no lost duty time
The Army plans to expand its Holistic Health and Fitness performance teams to every unit.
Here's a strange one: train only one arm, and the arm you never touched still gets stronger. A new Physiotherapy Theory and Practice meta-analysis of 31 trials and 1,214 people confirmed the effect, known as cross-education - unilateral upper-body resistance training produced small but real strength gains in the untrained arm, with bigger effects when that arm was immobilized.
Muscle size didn't budge, so the gains are neural: the nervous system learning to drive the other side harder. The practical hook: it may help athletes hold onto strength in a casted or injured arm they can't train.
In a new mysportscience post, sports dietitian Alan McCubbin makes the case that the electrolyte messaging aimed at athletes is mostly hype. His argument: sodium's real job is balancing body water and blood osmolality, not preventing some "deficit" - and since the body stores sodium and the modern diet is loaded with it, "running out" is highly unlikely.
The popular cramping link, he says, keeps failing to hold up; cramps look more like a multi-factor neuromuscular issue than a salt shortage. His take: targeted sodium replacement mostly matters past four hours of hard effort with aggressive fluid intake - for shorter events, it's about taste, not need.
AI Playbook
🤖 Put AI to Work in Your Program
AI Is Constantly Changing. Stay On Top of It. The S&C AI Playbook delivers a new Claude lesson every week - plus full access to the newly reworked S&C Career Hub: jobs, salary data, and CEU tracking.
University of Dayton
Dartmouth College
Ball State University
Events
The AI Playbook & Career Hub
Upgrade your subscription to get access to the AI Playbook & Career Hub
Weekly Claude courses built for S&C coaches.
Track job opportunities. Stay certified. Stay ahead.
Sponsorship
🤝 Work with us
Sponsor Morning Rep and put your brand or business in front of 1,900+ strength coaches every day.