Sports:Nutrition: Multivitamins the Downside

A recent study tracking the health choices of subjects consuming a multivitamin showed subjects who thought they were taking a multivitamin made less healthy choices.  Healthy choices included eating and exercising. 

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Scientific American Podcast

Sports:Nutrion: Substitutes to Sugary Sports Drinks - Coconut Water

In a recent podcast about coconut water, the issue of consuming coconut water instead a sugary sports drink, like Gatorade or Powerade, was discussed and the following was concluded.

Depending on the athlete the switch to coconut water can be beneficial.  The athletes who will benefit the most from the switch are those athletes who workout for longer than average periods of time and/or at intensity levels above those of the average person.  The resulting benefits are consuming comparable amounts of carbohydrates and electrolytes without the consumption of refined sugars and artificial coloring. 

The podcast went on to conclude that consumption of either coconut water or a sports drink is generally not necessary because, for most people, the intensity levels of their workouts are too low and their workout periods are too short to warrant consuming a sports drink.
  

Sports:Injury: Drawbacks of Playing the De La Riva Guard

The very popular and effective guard known as the De La Riva Guard (DLR) may be damaging to your knees.  According to Ethan Kreiswirth, Director of Athletic Training Education at Concordia University, Irvine, the practice of the DLR may damage your knees by creating ligamentous laxity.

Ligamentous laxity is the loosing of ligaments, and can occur after accidents or a sports related injury. In the case of the DLR guard, a player is not exposed to a definitive injury per se.  Instead, the player is exposed to repeated torquing of the knee at an abnormal angle. On a typical athlete, ligaments remain taut.  This tautness works to restrict a joint from moving beyond its natural or normal range of motion.  When the DLR guard is used, the knee begins to lose its tautness by being repeatedly stretched beyond its normal range of motion.

In practice, this is how it works.  When the top player attempts to pass the bottom player's open guard, the bottom player prevents the pass by using the DLR guard.  The top player counters the DLR guard by applying a sort of downward pressure on the bottom player's knee.  This downward pressure acts to create a torquing motion, which causes discomfort in the bottom player's knee.  The pressure generated is similar to pressure generated from a toe-hold submission.  Despite the pressure, the bottom player can  resist the minimal discomfort and keep the leg hooked on the top player's leg.  By resisting and maintaining the position, the ligaments are forced to stretch to stabilize the knee.      

This constant stretching of the ligaments, will overtime, result in ligamentous laxity in the knee.