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Saturday, June 28, 2014

T-Nation: 10 Mistakes Women Make in the Gym

Found this article, 10 Mistakes Women Make in the Gym and for the most part couldn't agree more.  There are a lot of mis-conceptions out there that it appears most women have about the gym.  The main one, I don't want to bulk up and this article does a good job dispelling some of the myths/mistakes that women make in the gym.  Here is a summary of the 10 mistakes and the full article link here.

1. Fear of Appearing Butch
-The amount of time and effort it would take to occur this is not accomplished by many people.  Most men dream of getting here but struggle with it.  Lift some heavier weights, make it tough.
2. Fear of Making an Ugly Face
-This goes along with lifting heavier, it's all good and I promise you it will get you some good attention.
3. Absession
-If you focus on big movements and more complex movements your abs with get taken care of.  Don't over stress doing abs and sidebands, it just won't get you that far.
4. Working the Abs Like a Powerlifter
-Everyone has a six pack hidden somewhere.  To get it out focus on easy ab movements without a lot of weight, you don't need a lot of muscle size for them to come out.  Focus on diet more, this will help with the reveal.
5. Balancing on the BOSU
-Great for balance training for athletics but other than that no functional purpose.  It may make certain exercises appear more difficult but it really isn't doing much to help you with your gain goals in the gym.

Gym Mistakes six through ten on the following page.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

NATA National Provider Identifier

This was posted a while ago from the NATA and yes it is biased to athletic trainers but I think it is very important as they state in post.  As our profession moves into the future I believe this is going to be an extremely integral part.

National Provider Identifier (NPI)
Importance to the Athletic Training Profession?
By Clark E. Simpson, MBA, MED, LAT, ATC
National Manager, Strategic Business Development
National Athletic Trainers’ Association

My expectation is that the National Provider Identifier (NPI) is not news to you. If this assumption is correct, then one out of every two of you have not grasp the importance of the NPI to the profession of Athletic Training, or to yourself. Why do I say that? Well, according to NATA’s database, iMIS, currently only 52% of active ATs have their NPI. (For a breakdown per state and district, see table at end of article).
So, you say, “What is the big deal.   I am an athletic trainer working in a secondary school, college/university, administrative or even a healthcare setting with no intentions of billing for services I am providing. Fifty-two percent seems pretty good to me, as I am sure that covers the percentage of ATs working in settings that are interested in billing third parties for services provided”.
If those or similar thoughts, went through your mind after the first paragraph, let’s do some review.
All of the following information was gathered from www.cigna.com.gfb
What is the NPI, and why was it created in the first place?

The National Provider Identifier (NPI) is a unique identification number for use in standard health care transactions. It is issued to health care professionals and covered entities that transmit standard HIPAA electronic transactions (e.g., electronic claims and claim status inquiries).

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began issuing NPIs to health care professionals who applied and qualified in May 2005. Health care professionals and covered entities may apply for NPIs through the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) established by CMS for this purpose.

The NPI fulfills a requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and was to be used by health plans and health care clearinghouses for HIPAA standard electronic transactions beginning May 23, 2007. Health care professionals and covered entities were given an additional year to become fully compliant with the NPI rule. The contingency period expired May 23, 2008.


The NPI is intended to:
§  Replace other identifiers previously used by health care professionals and assigned by payers (e.g., Unique Physician Identification Number [UPIN], Medicare or Medicaid numbers);
§  Establish a national standard and unique identifier for all health care professionals
§  Simplify health care system administration
§  Encourage the electronic transmission of health care information
So my question to you, is the above mentioned not what everyone in the Athletic Training profession is striving for, regardless of setting – recognition as health care professionals? It would seem that 100% of active ATs would want an NPI to improve the brand of the AT as a health care professional regardless of the practice setting.
Secondly, seeking recognition as health care professionals is a numbers game. When seeking recognition from CMS, other health care insurers, as well as federal legislators, the question comes up as to just how large is the organization. How many health care professionals are we talking about? For comparative purposes, the following are estimated numbers of health care professional colleagues:

Medical Doctors - 954,000
Nurse Practioners - 106,100
Physician Assistants - 70,400
Physical Therapists - 198,600
Occupational Therapists - 108,800

Compare to AT:
Athletic Trainers - 42,000 (30,455 NATA members, remainder are non-members)

Given that nearly 100% of the health care professional colleagues listed have a NPI, it is very simple for the federal system to determine their size, and perceptually, their impact. With athletic trainers, our lobbyists & governmental affairs activists tell the story of our size, and potential impact, but there is not an objective means available since only 52% of our profession has an NPI. This, combined with being significantly smaller than any of these comparative colleagues, makes our story for recognition weak. Getting ATs closer to 100% enrolled with NPI will only strengthen our case.

Finally, recognition of ATs by insurers as health care professionals affects us all, regardless of practice setting. College/university sports medicine and athletic programs are looking for additional revenue due to the economy and funding cut-backs. Secondary school athletic trainers with squeezed budgets are looking to insurer payment opportunities. Athletic trainers working in professional sports and performing arts have opportunities to treat and bill for Workers’ Compensation. Plus there are athletic trainers working in health systems, rehabilitation clinics and physician offices, all of which are receiving pressure to justify their value and/or generate revenue. Additionally, recognition can potentially lead to other types of  insurers or corporations, i.e., Workers’ Compensation, Third Party Administrators and/or corporations, realizing the true value of AT and eventually pay for prevention, wellness & education.  Having an NPI is important for this recognition!

So, my question for you – “What else can you do for your profession, and yourself, that is free, takes less than 20 minutes, needs to be done only one time lasting a lifetime and truly has a national impact for your profession? I cannot think of anything. Can you?”.

More after the jump:

Active vs. Passive Warm Up

Comparison of Metabolic and Biomechanic Responses to Active vs Passive Warm Up Procedures Before Physical Exercise.
Brunner, Strasser, Haber

This study compared the effect of active vs. passive warm up procedures before exercise on energy supply and muscle strength performance.  It was found that light warm up (at 30% VO2 max) proved to have the most favorable influence on heart rate and oxygen consumption during exercise.  Passive warm up (hot pack, etc) has been shown to modify metabolic and circulatory responses to exercise in similar as active warm up.

Active warm up was found to be superior may be due to the vasodilatory effect of active warm up on the pre-capillary resistance vessels, which speeds up the blood flow to the working muscle, by decreasing vascular resistance.  This study found that short term performance after active warm up was increased compared to passive warm up.  



My Take:  It has been shown in several research studies that active warm up produces the best ready state for the body and allows it to perform at it's peak level.  This type of warm up, often called dynamic warm up, is essential for optimal performance and should be implemented alone.  Along with these findings it has been found that static stretching (stretch and hold) can decrease performance.  Active warm-up is a must and a good program should be implemented for all athletes and active individuals.  This is truly the best way to go for warm up and things such as “rolling” and stretching before should be saved until after the workout as it prepares your body to get into a state of recovery and will not affect performance.