Anyone who’s pushed limits in the weight room is familiar with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). The aching can start to kick in anywhere from a couple hours to days after training, and is usually strongest between 24 and 72 hours post-workout. A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research offers two strategies for helping you manage the pain.

Twenty healthy females in their early 30s used a dynamometer to perform eccentric contractions of the upper trapezius muscles. DOMS set in about 48 hours later. Half of these volunteers got a 10 minute massage of the traps muscle group while the rest performed active recovery encompassing 10 sets of 10 reps shoulder shrugs using light elastic resistance. Muscle soreness rated 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 before treatment, and the intensity of discomfort was reduced by both strategies. Unfortunately, the effect only lasted for around 20 minutes.

True Strength Moment: When you’re up against a plateau and looking to push beyond, studies have shown that supplementing with Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) before training can help reduce the impact of DOMS. Try mixing a flavored BCAA powder into water for hydration support, or if you drink a whey protein shake before training stack it with an unflavored version.

Sometimes a simple change can produce meaningful performance benefits. Take peppermint, for instance. A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests that this common natural herb is capable of increasing exercise performance, at least on cardio day.

After consuming 500 mL (about 17 fl. oz.) of water enhanced with 0.05 mL (0.002 fl oz.) of peppermint oil for 10 days, a dozen healthy male subjects were able to increase treadmill running time to exhaustion by an average of 166 seconds. Power and work capacity also increased.

True Strength Moment: Researchers speculate that mint helped increase concentrations of oxygen in the brain while decreasing blood lactate. Whatever the mechanism, if you want to try this experiment on your workouts, the Chocolate Mint flavor of Gold Standard 100% Whey is naturally flavored.

Epidemiologists estimate that approximately 80% of all common diseases are linked to body fat and an inactive lifestyle. Fatty adipose tissues produce hormones that directly influence metabolism. A study from the National Center for Tumor Diseases illustrates how significant this impact can be.

A group of 439 overweight female subjects was divided into three groups: Just diet, diet plus exercise or just exercise. After a year of dieting, working out or both, researchers found that all groups produced less leptin, which plays a key role in regulating energy balance, and more of the anti-inflammatory adiponectin. Changes were greatest in women who lost 10% of their original body weight.

True Strength Moment: Scientists theorized that a combination of diet and exercise would result in a more favorable balance of these two hormones. We’ll assume the intervention also resulted in a better balance of body fat to fat-free mass (muscle).

Spending too much time on a treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical machine can get boring. Change up your cardio day like you do with your resistance training program. An article published in the March issue of NSCA Connect can help you put together a challenging boxing interval training workout for building cardiovascular fitness.

Taking slightly different approaches to punching the bag, you can train all 3 energy systems. The phosphagen system fuels brief bouts of intense effort. Apply quick jabs and simple combinations of punches for about 10 seconds of all-out effort, resting for 2 minutes between sets. Your glycolytic energy system kicks in for efforts lasting up to half a minute, and you can develop it by hitting the bag at about 85% of maximum power for 15 seconds followed by 45 seconds of rest. For efforts lasting longer than a minute, your body relies on a combination of the glycolytic and oxidative systems. Working the bag at about half speed for 2 or 3 minutes followed by around 8 minutes of rest can fine-tune its efficiency.

True Strength Moment: Applying all 3 aspects of this training on cardio day can help keep your routine fresh while giving you more ‘wind’ for all types of athletic challenges. Get some expert instruction on proper form and equipment before you give boxing a try.

Exercise increases your body’s utilization of fat, and high-intensity exercise can enhance the effect. Can sports nutrition help you take it to the next level? A study published in theJournal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition offers some interesting insight into the question.

Using both trained and untrained subjects, researchers had some of these adult men supplement their diet with the juice from cashew apples which contains high amounts of antioxidant vitamin C and Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). They received 3.5 mL per kg of body weight daily for 4 weeks. Other subjects drank a placebo. Blood samples taken after 20 minutes of cycling at 85% of capacity showed a greater increase in fat oxidation and decrease in carbohydrate oxidation in supplemented subjects.

True Strength Moment: Because the juice harvested from cashew tree fruit is hard to come by and doesn’t keep for very long, try mixing a BCAA powder into orange juice or creating another ‘stack’ that combines antioxidants with BCAAs. You might be able to replicate the fat burning boost while preserving more muscle tissue during intense exercise.

Power is generated from the core, so training this muscle group can benefit performance in a variety of team sports. Need another reason to work trunk muscle training into your routine? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests it’s beneficial for injury prevention. With so many exercises to choose from, a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research can help you narrow down the best options.

Ten men and 10 women were randomly assigned to perform 16 exercises targeting the core muscle group. Muscle activity was measured using a variety of scientific instruments. After analyzing results, researchers determined that abdominal and lumbar muscle activation was greatest with exercises that recruited the deltoids and glutes. That makes mountain climbers an excellent addition to your abs training routine. We’re sure you can think of some other exercises to include.