FitRep for Feb. 27 - Off Duty, Military Health and Fitness - Navy Times

FitRep for Feb. 27

App of the week

Motion Traxx is another beats-per-minute collection of workout music, featuring a 120 to 200 beats-per-minute range. The app ($2.99 on iTunes) consolidates all the free podcasts into one convenient place, without making you download the tracks to your device. Because the app streams content, surfing the library for tracks is much faster than waiting for each to download. It’ll also let you speed up the tempo of any mix up to twice as fast. Podcasts are available outside of the app with a free subscription through iTunes.

Massage is good for the cells

A massage after strenuous exercise not only feels good, it reduces inflammation in muscles at the cellular level, researchers say. Massage also appears to promote the growth of new mitochondria in skeletal muscle. Mitochondria are cells’ energy-producing “powerhouses,” explained the researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. They found that massage reduced the activity of inflammation-inducing proteins called cytokines in muscle cells, according to the study published in Science Translational Medicine.

Cycling or sex?

Many biking enthusiasts are really enthusiastic about their hobby — more than half would rather go without sex than give up their wheels. The finding comes from a poll in the March issue of Bicycling magazine, asking readers about everything from bike brands to leg-shaving. When asked which they’d rather give up for a month, sex or cycling, 50 percent of men and 58 percent of women said they’d rather give up sex.

Science: Workouts make you happy

People who are more physically active have been proven to be more enthusiastic about their lives, according to a report from ScienceDaily. A Penn State study of college students published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology found that students who were more physically active recorded more “pleasant-activated feelings” — excitement and enthusiasm — and fewer feelings such as anger, anxiety and depression.