Seven Numbers

Often the catch-all "men's magazines" fitness stuff is hit or miss, but I took away a couple useful things from the Seven Numbers piece from Men's Health.

Apparently 24 is the magic number when it comes to L&HF-favorite almonds. The notion of pinning it to a specific number is silly, but if you're like me and you tend to overeat at dinner the concept of "front loading" with something densely nutritious seems reasonable.

Also, as a big fan of preventative icing, this caught my eye:

10 Minutes: Spend this amount of time icing after a run to save your knees from osteoarthritis. Weight-bearing exercises, such as running or playing rugby, draw blood and a lubricant called synovial fluid to your joints. And that's good ­ while you're exercising. But if extra synovial fluid and blood stick around for too long, the cartilage can crack and osteoarthritis will eventually develop. That's why post-exercise icing is so critical: "The ice makes the extra fluid run away from your joints, and then your lymphatic system filters it out," says physiotherapist Kevin Olds.

« via HealthHacks »