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HUMANS BORN TO RUN, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS SAY
The thousands of people who will run marathons this year can thank evolution for a number of distance running adaptations - not least of which is what Harvard evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman calls our hypertrophied gluteus maximus. That's the technical term for big butts.
Or more precisely big butt muscles. The glutes are the largest muscles in the human body. They are massive compared with those of other creatures, and research shows they're essential for running. They give runners balance that other bipedal creatures get from having a tail.
"They don't call it training; they call it living."
It's true most people can't even run a quarter marathon today, but that likely wasn't the case for most of human existence. Pontzer studies hunter-gatherer populations, including the Hadza of Africa. They're in great aerobic shape, he said, due to their lifestyle.
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There's a more effective way to prepare your body for physical activity. It involves going through a series of dynamic movements that increase your core temperature, prepare your nervous system for activity, and activate key muscles that you'll use in your training session. The word "warm-up" doesn't really cover it. That's why we call it "movement preparation," or "movement prep." More than getting warm, movement prep decreases your injury potential and improves your training. And it only takes about 5 to 7 minutes. Get started with this sample routine. Read more...
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THE BEST CORE EXERCISE YOU'RE NOT DOING
Looking for a new core exercise? Try the overhead squat. While this may sound like a strange recommendation if you’ve never tried it—after all, squats are best known for building the legs, not the core—research in the lab has shown that squats and deadlifts can activate the ab muscles far better than many traditional ab exercises. Read more...
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