Nordic sports are pretty egalitarian, as far as athletics go – but women are still confronted, constantly, with stereotypes about what is and is not appropriate or possible for them to do. In southern France, two researchers are focusing on what effects these stereotypes have on women’s participation and performance in a wide range of sports, and explained their findings in an interview.
There’s a correlation between the use of nutritional supplements and the willingness to dope; but why, and how? Does one cause the other? Plus, quick reads on whether caffeine improves ski performance (hint: it does!) and if minimalist footwear really helps approximate the mechanics of barefoot running.
Scientists have identified a handful of genes that control roughly a quarter of the variation in how people respond to endurance training. What does that mean for athletes – will we now be able to predict who might win a gold medal? FasterSkier talked to one of the researchers, Dr. Carl Johan Sundberg, to find out.
Plus, two different studies look at how different types of muscle used in various athletic activities might inform training. In the first, static stretching is worse for cycling than running; in the second, think about small-muscle strength exercises.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Imagine if Charlotte Kalla or Marcus Hellner were caught this season with a positive test for EPO, or maybe a bag of blood in a hotel room. Or what if Ole Einar Bjørndalen showed up with HGH, [...]
FasterSkier is starting a once-a-month series looking at new research in the field of sports science. Periodically, we’ll flip through some of the world’s best peer-reviewed medical journals and summarize, in plain English, studies that we think will be of [...]
This is the second of two pieces looking at the use of bronchodilating drugs to treat asthma in athletes – and their changing place on WADA’s prohibited list. The first, published last week, examined the potential of Spiriva, a drug [...]
This is the first of two pieces looking at the use of bronchodilating drugs to treat asthma in athletes – and their changing place on WADA’s prohibited list. *** Asthma is far from uncommon in cross-country skiers: a 1994 study [...]
FasterSkier is starting a new, once-a-month series looking at new research in the field of sports science. Periodically, we’ll flip through some of the world’s best peer-reviewed medical journals and summarize, in plain English, studies that we think will be [...]
It’s almost September, and let’s be honest, you’re in great shape. Or you’re almost there. Just a little longer distances, some slightly harder efforts and bam! You suddenly feel a tickle in your throat. Your head’s pounding, your legs are [...]
“Give a Man a Fish and Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man to Fish and Feed Him for a Life Time.” The common metric for the amount of cross-country ski training done in a year is the [...]
Note: This is the third profile in a series about working out with high-performance athletes. The idea is to shed light on the daily routine of someone dedicated to training and share a regular Joe’s story of trying to keep up. [...]
All the way back in 1889, skiing was what originally inspired doctors to examine how sports affect the human heart. “Skiing causes an enlargement of the heart, and this enlarged heart can perform more work than the normal heart,” wrote [...]
(Author’s Note: While some of the athletes and coaches contacted by FasterSkier for this story were willing to openly discuss birth control, many wished to remain anonymous rather than allow the public to make assumptions about their sexual choices, a [...]
Pete Phillips has a coaching resume that is one of the best in North America. He is currently the Head Nordic Coach at Burke Mountain Academy in East Burke, Vermont. The races this last weekend had a lesson in them [...]
