For many, the bell curve might be a faded memory from a college statistics class. It might be a painful memory at that! But it can also serve as the foundation for many discussions in the health and fitness world.
For those who may have forgotten, S.E. Smith notes that “a bell curve is a graph which depicts a normal distribution of variables, in which most values cluster around a mean (average), while outliers can be found above and below the mean”. A bell curve indicates that the variables are within normal expectations and behaving in a predictable manner.
Although the context and relevance of a normal distribution are well known, it is amazing how these can be selectively forgotten in the health, fitness, and sport worlds. We could put a lot of training myths and fallacies to rest, once and for all, by rigorously testing our assumptions and using what we know about the bell curve.
First, we need a brief refresher class in statistics. Then, with bell curve in hand, we will dive headlong into myth-squashing and envelope-pushing.
There are days when you really have to wonder about what government, in any shape or form, truly accomplishes anymore. Today - the last day of the 82nd Texas legislative session, otherwise known as Sine Die – is one of those days.
As it stands, legislators in Texas will be called back for a special session because they have yet to finalize a budget. They have come to a standstill regarding the $27 billion budget deficit. Of course, they all knew what the economic situation was like long before they arrived in Austin for this session. But after their obligatory 140 days of work (every 2 years), they still have no solutions.
I you had a bill or piece of legislation that died in committee, or was left pending ... guess what? You get to wait 590 days or so ... before you get to start the process all over again. More money, more time, and less accomplished – again. And more often than not, it has absolutely nothing to do with what is right for the constituents.
Republicans and Tea Partiers nationwide proclaim the need for “less government”. Republicans have a majority in the Texas House and Senate. My question is, can anything less be accomplished by government than already occurs? Were the founding fathers aiming for representation by population? Or representation by campaign contribution?
But wait – there were some things accomplished this session. It’s a rather interesting list indeed.
The United States, owners of what is considered by many Americans (and Congressional leaders alike) to be the “greatest health care system in the world”, spends 50 percent more on health care than any other country in the world. In 2006, US health care expenditure was over $7,000 per person. Expenditures have also tripled since 1990. Ouch.
So what does this money get us? How about an international ranking of just 15th in preventable death, 24th in life expectancy, and 28th in infant mortality. Money well spent?
More than 75% of US health care spending is on people with highly preventable chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes. And to make matters worse, 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year are from these same chronic conditions.
But it gets even worse. We have Generations X and Z on deck, ready to push the envelope of both chronic medical conditions and health economics. Fortunately, we have a solution – if only we choose to use it.
The world did not end on Saturday May 21. I repeat, the world did not end.
I am sure there were plenty who gave up most of their worldly possessions with the end of the world rapidly approaching. That would have made this past Monday a really rough start to the week. Time to get back to work and make a buck or two, I suppose. Everyone needs a little cash to get by until the “next” end of the world, currently scheduled for December 21 or something like that. Does that mean I won’t have to do any Christmas shopping this year?
In the meantime, the sporting world kept right on rolling, No-pocalyspe or otherwise. And as always, there has been more rhubarb than you could shake a syringe at. A syringe, you ask? Let’s get started on the next episode …
1. Was Sunday May 22nd the beginning of the end for Lance Armstrong?
It was a memorable Looney Tunes cartoon. You might remember it – the one in which we hear Bugs Bunny’s witty repartee with Christopher Columbus - "the world, she's a round" ... "no, the world she's a flat"! It might be as funny now as it was when I was 10 years old.
The perceptual debate that underlies this snippet of animated humor is a common challenge in the world of health and fitness and just about any topic of conversation or study. And it never seems to go away.
Let’s just give this phenomenon a name and call it "Flat Earth Syndrome". Better yet, so that it looks more “medical”, or perhaps more imposing, let’s give it an acronym – FES. Ohhhhhh. Ahhhhhhh, The power of the acronym.
But why a syndrome? It has a consistent pattern of symptoms that are characteristic of a particular disorder – a disorder of thinking, a fight between evidence and belief. It could be the shape of the earth, the treatment you receive for your back pain, or the fitness program you use to lose weight.
The Top 10 list of endurance sport training errors covers, in my estimation, about 99% of all training errors. Imagine if there were ways to deal with these 10 training errors. We might just find ourselves in training nirvana. Optimal training, fewer injury risks, and improved performance – I think they call that a win-win-win situation.
The basis for any discussion of training needs to begin with a simple concept – there must be a specific intent for each and every workout in the training plan. A training plan’s primary purpose is to build sports performance capacity, and to do so by applying the principles of the sports sciences. When we do so, we then find that the top 10 training errors can be addressed effectively via just 5 simple adjustments to the training plan.
I could be completely wrong. Maybe this time is for real.
May 21 is predicted to be the end of the world. Christians tell us that Judgment Day is upon us.
Wow. Is that a buzz kill for a Saturday or what? Exactly what time should I put on my Outlook calendar? I do not want to be late. And I guess that means that I should cancel all upcoming appointments?
Let’s not forget that Judgment Day has come and gone a number of times before. Wasn’t there something written about a boy that cried wolf? Or am I just being a tad cynical?
It is all this focus on the negative that disturbs me. Over and over, we’ve been presented with countless potential “endings”. But somehow, through all of them, the world just keeps on spinning and people keep on waking up and drinking their Starbucks and heading off to work and coming home from work and dying of natural (and not-so-natural) causes. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Or - it could all end on May 21. Either way, let’s make a deal. I have a proposal.
Up to 60% of runners will sustain an injury within any given year. Poor running mechanics, in conjunction with poor, ineffective and outdated training methods, can pose a significant injury risk. "RunSmart" was written to address these issues in the running community.
"Running Injuries: Etiology And Recovery- Based Treatment" (co-author Bridget Clark, PT) appears in the third edition and fourth editions of "Clinical Orthopaedic Rehabilitation: A Team Approach" by Charles Giangarra, MD and Robert C. Manske, PT.
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.
Top 5 finalist in three categories: "Best Overall Blog", "Best PT Blog" and "Best Advocacy Blog".
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