Eric Heiden

Weight lifting is an effective — if often overlooked — exercise for achieving a number of different fitness objectives. It can help you lose weight, build endurance and strength, or serve as an aerobic workout. The ideal weight that you, in...

The link between learning and exercise is now well established. As kids return to the classroom this fall, and as more parents discover that school recess and P.E. have been cut back or eliminated entirely, families are making exercise an after-school...

Improving performance and reducing the risk of injury during exercise is not just a matter of building your strength or endurance. Efficient movement also plays a role, and that comes only with repetition. In that sense, practice does make perfect. When...

Things are heating up for those of us headed to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I am looking forward to being there as team physician for the U.S. Speedskating team. In that role, I take care of team members' injuries and their basic medical needs....

Despite the health profession clamoring for everyone to exercise, primary-care physicians are often responsible for quashing the very fitness efforts they purport to embrace. Many people report having gone to their personal physicians to seek treatment...

When summer vacations roll around, folks often leave their exercise routines behind with their cares. But studies show that after 10 to 20 days without exercise, most people begin to display symptoms of detraining on all physical fronts. So it's important...

If you're overweight, you're not alone. According to research by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 66 percent of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Losing weight is a goal of nearly everyone who exercises, and...

Muscle soreness 24 to 48 hours after you exercise is a good sign. It means that you have challenged your muscles and are getting stronger. This is called delayed onset of muscle soreness, or DOMS, and everyone experiences it, even elite athletes. Here's...

When I was skating, we skated exclusively on outdoor ice, and there was ice for only a fraction of the year. As a result, we had to do a lot of cross-training to stay in shape: lifting weights, running — which I discovered through Allan Claremont,...

Longer days — at least for me — mean time for long evening workouts, but I need to be careful. Enthusiasm for exercise is fabulous, but athletes can sabotage their fitness goals if it causes them to hit the sack much later. New findings by...

Exercise can be uncomfortable when beginning any new type of training or when getting back in the saddle after a long break. In last week's column I talked about the discomfort of exercise when starting out and also when competing at the elite level. It'...

In the world of fitness, practice doesn't just make you perfect, it also makes you more comfortable. As you first dig into a new fitness regimen, as many people do this time of year, the discomfort of exercise can be, well, uncomfortable. The burning...