Is "laziness" a medical condition? Pictures...

A doctor at the Mayo Clinic recently published some thoughts on a subject that I find intriguing: should "deconditioning" (a fancy term for being out-of-shape) become a medical diagnosis? An excerpt from his article in the Journal of Physiology:

"Physical inactivity and lack of exercise – deconditioning – is one of the most common preventable causes of morbidity and mortality known for an impressive array of diseases (Thyfault & Booth, 2011).   . . .   If deconditioning were a recognized syndrome or diagnosis . . . it would be easier to educate the general public and medical community about the one universally effective treatment for it – exercise training."

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Yesterday we trained at the Range on a perfect Vermont summer day. We were lucky to have 2 awesome MNC graduates back: Eric and Ben Lustgarten (Burlington HS alums that now ski at St. Lawrence and Middlebury, respectively). They've been training out in Sun Valley for most of the summer. Ben was one of the best XC runners in the state in '09 as well as State Champ in skiing in 2010. Eric has come on full-bore in the past year, winning 2 Junior National Championships in one season! As a sophomore at Middlebury this past year, Ben qualified to represent the United States at Junior World Championships in Turkey! These guys represent some of the "old guard" that paved the way for the expansion of the Mansfield Nordic Club. Along with Peter Hegman [UVM], Jared Supple [Colby], John Dixon [Colby] and Emily Stitt [Middlebury], this crew of folks is kicking ass in the collegiate ranks. It goes to show just how much talent we have in this area.

The coaches set up technique and skills stations and the athletes did a continuous rollerski with stops to do the drills. We practiced sprint starts, 1-ski downhill balance, running uphill, striding through an uphill slalom, kick double pole, jumping on rollerskis, and bounding up a grassy hill with rollerskis on.

After no-pole warm up and about an hour of drills, everyone did some specific strength work. The big boys double-poled about 3 loops and the gals did a variety of double-pole and single-stick repeats. We ended with some max-power drills on a gradual up: go as far up the hill as possible in 10 poles.

Bounding on skis: notice the different body positions of Eric/Ben (left) and the younger guys

Sprint starts

Craig Calhoun working on the specific strength

Destyni catchin air! That takes confidence, power, agility, balance

Ethan Thibault - specific strength

Molly, Sienna, Leslie sprint starts

Most people do slalom downhill... we do it uphill (diagonal stride)

Bounding

Jordan Lamay catching air

Liam John working on the power

Junior National champs (and BHS grads) Ben and Eric Lustgarten are going to ski fast this winter!

Sienna looks excited - like Michael Jordan

Will Kay has got some power for a young guy - not to mention wicked determination.