Stiff Muscle and Your Ability to Move

Good video were Kelly Starrett of MobilityWOD talks about working on the sticking points within muscle and the need to incorporate tissue mobility work in with just classical stretching.  He makes a great point about "dynamic stretching" and other forms of stretching before working out or competing and that he prefers the use of pure dynamic/movement warm up.  The research has shown that you get a decrease in force with stretching prior to activity.  For the best chance of increasing tissue length, static stretching is most beneficial after activity when your muscle are at their greatest warmth and ability to stretch.

Also talking about stretching is if you do have restrictions or knots/trigger points within a muscle what benefit are you getting from continually stretching that muscle?  Think about a knot in a rope.  If you pull that rope from both sides (i.e stretching) what you're getting is just pulling that knot tighter and making it harder to break up and get ride of.  Do NOT forget about the benefits of soft tissue immobilization and manual therapy.  His idea of using Rolfing type techniques is great but focus on it for one session a day and do not over do it, which can result in more tissue damage and an increased problem.

More on regaining hip flexion range of motion at another time.

Help Your Brain Out....Everyday

This was posted in the Huffington Post (see full article below) and had some really interesting ideas about helping your brain out and getting the most out of it everyday.  Below are my favorites and a summary of each.
Huffington Post: 10 Surprising Things That Benefit Our Brains That You Can Do Every Day

1. Your brain does creative work better when you're tired.
-The theory here is that when you're tired your brain actually does better at tuning out distractions and other things that might get in the way of the creative process.  It also struggles at this point to make old connections between things which is perfect for creativity as we struggle to create new ones.  Best time to be creative: night time or after a long day at work.

2.  Stress can change the size of your brain (and make is smaller)
-Stress is the most common cause of changes in brain function and can actually make the hippocampus smaller.

3. It is literally impossible for our brains to multitask.
-Research shows your error rate goes up 50% and it takes you twice as long to do things.  When the brain tries to do two things at once, it divides and conquers, dedicating one-half of our gray matter to each task (Image)

4. Naps improve your brain's day-to-day performance.
-"Research indicates that when a memory is first recorded in the brain--in the hippocampus, to be specific--it's still "fragile" and easily forgotten, especially if the brain is asked to memorize more things.  Napping, it seems, pushes memories to the the neocortex, the brain's "more permanent storage," preventing them from being "overwritten."

Athletic Trainer Saves Spectators Life

Caught this in my email today and wanted to pass it along.  Athletic Trainers, not just for athletes.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/emergency-response/athletic-trainer-saves-fan-suffering-cardiac-arrest.html?topic=2,100&eid=224259188&bid=822151

Courtesy of Athletic Business

Get Cold!

Not so much in Oklahoma anymore due to our warm up but for all of those still dealing with the arctic cold up north, take

advantage of it while you can.

"If you don't put on a jacket when you go outside you're going to catch a cold...".

Most of us would be rich had we received a dollar every time we heard this.  Regardless of the advice, do you want to accelerate fat loss by up to 15%?  Contrary to popular belief strategic use of cold therapy can have many health benefits including building your immune system as well as assisting in weight loss.

Cold therapy has been shown to boost your immunity by putting your immune system into hyper-drive when it needs to respond to an illness within your body.  Cold therapy can increase this immuno-stimulating effect which is thought to be due to the increase in circulating norepinepherine. Preheating can also enhance the benefits of cold therapy (more on this in a moment).

Cold can stimulate the circulation of adiponectin which is secreted by fat cells and increases the breakdown of fatty acid in the cells while also stimulating the uptake of glucose into muscles (which is perfect for us because it keeps it out of fat cells).  It also stimulates brown-adipsose (fat) tissue (BAT).  This tissue helps dissipate excess calories as heat and is commonly found in the lower neck and upper back areas.

Now, how many people hate being cold?  Yes, that is what I thought but it might be worth the few minutes of being uncomfortable for the results.  See protocols and Video on cold therapy below.

The Kettlebell Swing: Building the Perfect Posterior or Losing 100+ lbs.

The Kettlebell Swing: Building the Perfect Posterior or Losing 100+ lbs.

Everyone in the fitness/strength & conditioning industry knows about the posterior chain.  The chain of muscles that runs from your achilles tendon up the back of your legs, your back and up to your neck.  There are programs out there that target each of these areas individually but only one exercise that will work the chain from top to bottom (as well as hit your abdominals at the same time).  The two-arm kettlebell swing is an exercise that will do just that.  Start out using this exercise just one or two times a week as you build your way into it, doing on average 75 swings.  Attempt as many as you can and if you fail to reach 75 take a minute to relax and then continue again until you hit your mark.    Typically females should start with 20-25 lbs until they can hit 75 swings with no rest and males should aim for 45-50 lbs to start.

This exercise is a great start up for the new fitness nut or a great addition to an already established routine.  Give them a try and see the results that follow.  Below are the basic instructions on how to perform the swing and be sure to look up videos or comment if they are unclear and you need more detail.  Happy Swinging.  

See directions and video below:

Athletes Don't Wear Flip Flops

I could not agree with this more.  The lack of support and the amount of extra work that your foot is required to do to walk in sandals does nothing but put you in a bad spot to increase your risk of chronic injury, tightness and general terrible biomechanics.  You'd be better off bare foot.  Great point in this video.

Link
Athletes don't wear flip-flops

Credit to: MoblityWOD

IT Band Syndrome

Possibly one of the most frustrating chronic injuries in athletes it iliotibial band friction syndrome.  The unrelenting lateral knee pain that no matter what you do will not go away unless considerable time is taken off from training.  Time off from this injury can range from a couple weeks to several months. "The Surprising Iliotibial Band" looks at the anatomy of the IT band and challenges the long thought idea that the band flips over the lateral part of your knee and thus causes you pain.  As it turns out, they found that the IT band does not move front to back across the outside of your knee (femoral condyle) but in a inward and outward motion that occurs when the knee is flexed and extended (see picture).  Along with this the authors found that the band actually wraps around the lateral quad and attaches deep to the femur showing the immense connection is has to the lateral side of the leg and why it causes so many issues and pain.



Continue on the next page.

Allergies, Pain & Hangovers....at Home Acupressure Fixes.

I posted this on another blog and while the allergies and pain ones are helpful the end of the post "Curing a Hangover" may be most beneficial for people after this Super Bowl Sunday.

Have allergies that you've tried every kind of medication for?  Tried every hangover cure there is and none seem to work (other than continuing)?  Stubborn knee pain that nothing seems to get rid of.  Try the world of accupressure points.  It's easy, you can do it yourself and hey it won't cost you anything.

Allergies:

Step I:  Open your left hand in front of you with your palm down.  An antihistamine point is located at center of the webbing between your thumb and index finger.  Place your right thumb on top in the middle of the webbing with your right index finger underneath the palm and apply pressure by squeezing into the webbing (Point: LI 4).  Apply that pressure toward the bone of your hand.  Take 5-10 long, slow, deep breaths as you keep firmly pressing into the point.  Repeat same protocol for the right hand.  Hold pressure for 1 minute.

Step II: Use index fingers to press between the bone of on the top of your feet between your big toe and second toe (Point: Lv3).  Firmly rub in the troughs and angle toward the second bone.

Knee Pain: Who doesn't have this?

Start by sitting comfortably on a rug or mat with your back against the wall or couch.  Extend legs in front of you.

Step I: Use a tennis ball and place it in the middle of the back of your hurting knee. Keep this ball in position as you complete the rest of the steps .

Step II:  Place the palms of your hands on both side of your knee cap (patella) and rub both sides for a minute to create a warming effect (Rub: Lv8, Sp9, K10, B53, and GB34).

Step III:  Use your thumbs and index fingers to press around both sides of your patella, applying the pressure to the under side of it.  Lean your weight forward to apply for 10 seconds then relax.  Rotate your fingers slightly and reapply pressure (St35).  Do this several time for about 2 minutes.

Step IV: Grasp your patella with the palm of your hand and slowly rotate in one direction 10 times then the opposite 10 times.  (You will get minor rotation (it won't spin and shouldn't)  and if you ever have pain, STOP).

Hangovers: The incurable self inflicted ailment (but everyone likes to have fun)

Start by just sitting comfortably.

Step I: Spread your thumb and index finger apart and apply pressure into the muscles in the web as you angle the pressure towards the first bone of the hand.  Stimulate each side for one minute. (Point: LI 4) to Left

Step II:  Curve your fingers and firmly press into the thick ropy muscles on the back of your upper neck.  Breathe deeply as you hold for a minute. (Point: B10)

Step III:  Place thumbs underneath the base of your skull in the hollow points on the back of your head.  Close your eyes and tilt your head forward as you continue to apply firm pressure for at least a minute or until you feel a regular, even pulse on both sides.

Step IV: With one hand, place your thumb and index finger on the upper ridge of the eye socket near the bridge of your nose.  Simultaneously press up into the indentations in your eye socket.  Then spread the index finger and middle finger up underneath your cheek bones directly beneath your eyes.  Hold combination for 1 minute with eyes closed as you breathe deeply. (Point: GB20)

Step V:  Place your right thumb in the center of the skull (back) pressing into a large hallow. Use the third finger of your left hand to press into the indentation between your eyebrows. Hold these points for a minute with eyes closed.  Breath deeply to relax your mind. (Point: GV16 with GV24.5)

Step VI (this one is a little out there): Sitting down with shoes off.  Reach down to place your index fingers between your big toe and second toe.  Slide your finger two inches toward your leg.  press firmly on an angle toward the bone that attaches to the second toe.  Supposedly an excellent decongestant point for clearing your head. (Point: Lv3)