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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine & Performance ft. Exos


We had the great opportunity today to check out Mayo Clinic's Sports Medicine & Performance clinic in Rochester, MN.  This is a smaller version of what they have created at their Minneapolis Square facility in downtown MSP.  It is a one stop shop for everything you could possibly need as athlete no matter what part of your training your in.  


Working with Exos they have developed a fully comprehensive sports performance program that includes sports specific skills and coaches as well as nutrition to bring your training full circle.   Along with having all these performance facilities present on one floor there is also treatment tables and modalities right off the turf and no more than 20 feet away are the examination rooms and small procedure rooms.  


Discussing how they have made this facility so successful the team explained that their main reason for success is the ability to collaborate within profession.  Working with teams of physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, dietitians and strength and conditioning specialists has allowed for immediate collaboration between professionals.  We believe this is extremely important and why we have chosen the name Total Athletic Therapy and that one person can't provide everything and to get the best results for you patients it needs to be a collaboration.  It was great to see this at the highest level.


Enjoy some of the pictures of the facility below.


Monday, June 29, 2015

Mobility Monday: Hip Flossing Tweaks for Anterior Chain Muscle Stiffness


This mobility move is one of my personal favorites.  In the video Kelly Starrett talks about the importance of this mobilization and how it can open up your anterior hip and it a great warm up for a snatch workout and deep squatting.  I couldn't agree more but this is also a movement that would be highly beneficial to anyone that spends a good portion of their day sitting at a desk or being stuck sitting in a car.  The stretch is incredible and you will feel immediate relief from tight anterior hips.



Friday, June 26, 2015

Friday Food: Sausage Gumbo

A classic cajun meal that can be made to be very healthy for you.  Great to customize to your tastes and you can always add things to increase the health benefits of the meal. Enjoy.

Sausage Gumbo

Makes 8 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 30 minutes  TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes

-12 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage links, removed from casings
-2 teaspoons canola oil
-1 large onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-4 cups chopped tomatoes
-4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
-2 1/2 cups frozen chopped okra
-3/4 cup instant brown rice
-1 bunch scallions, trimmed and sliced (optional)


1. Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl lined with paper towels. 

2. Return the pan to medium-high heat and add oil. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and Cajun seasoning and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour and cook, stirring to coat the vegetables, until the flour browns, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to release their juices, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, cover, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. 
3. Return the sausage to the pan, along with okra and rice; reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the okra is heated through and the rice is tender, about 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with sliced scallions, if using.




NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 168 calories; 6 g fat (2 g sat, 1 g mono); 25 mg cholesterol; 18 g carbohydrate; 11 g protein; 3 g fiber; 631 mg sodium; 448 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (50% daily value), Vitamin A (15% dv).
1 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 1/2 vegetable, 2 lean meat

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Study Spotlight: Looking for A Boost at the End of Your Race?

We’ve mentioned before that caffeine can improve endurance performance typically because of its ability to “spare” muscle glycogen (our body’s fuel which is of a limited supply) and help us burn more fat for fuel which we have a near-endless supply of.  Therefore a lot of endurance athletes choose to drink coffee prior to races or similar caffeinated beverages to conserve energy.  Caffeine also acts a stimulant and has the ability to increase alertness while decreasing sensations of fatigue which can also help improve performance.   As a result, supplement manufacturers are looking for more viable ways to help endurance athletes get their caffeine in around or during race time. Hence: CAFFEINE GUM!  Researchers recently designed a study to determine whether or not caffeinated gum could impact endurance performance in cyclists.

Unfortunately a lot these drinks are not reasonable options during a race (Can you imagine sipping on a nice cup of coffee while cycling at 20 mph in the heat? I don’t think so).

What did they do?
Researchers had 20 cyclists complete a 30km time trial twice. A caffeine infused gum or placebo was administered in a double-blind fashion.  During the 30 km time trial, cyclists completed 0.2 km maximal effort sprints after each 10 km of the time trial.  The gum or placebo was ingested after the first sprint.  Measures of oxygen consumption, power output, heart rate, lactate and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded during the time trial.

What did they find?
No differences in performance or physiological variables were identified between the two conditions after the first 20 km of the time trial.  However, when the cyclists ingested the caffeine gum, they increased mean power by 3.8% and sprint power by 4% during the final 10 km.  These increases in power also resulted in elevated heart rate and blood lactate as the cyclists were working at a higher intensity.

Conclusions:
It appears as though caffeine gum may help with sprint performance during the final stages of a 30 km maximal effort ride. Those who are looking for a final “kick” during endurance races may want to give caffeine-gum a try!


Reference:

Paton, C., Costa, V., and Guglielmo, L. Effects of caffeine chewing gum on race performance and physiology in male and female cyclists. (2015)

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

What Do Ultra-Distance Runners Eat?

Ever wonder how ultra-endurance athletes are able to run, and run, and run and run FOREVER? Obviously a big part of it is training but what about how they fuel themselves? If you are running/cycling for 12-16 hrs+ per day there is a good chance you are burning 12,000-16,000 calories during your competitions. Clearly this places an increased demand on how these ultra-distance athletes are eating as they need to consume enough energy to sustain their performance.  Traditional sports nutrition practices lead us to believe that carbs are essential to provide enough energy during these types of distances and often times individuals are instructed to “carb-load” where then intentionally go above and beyond their normal carbohydrate intake to hopefully maximize their fuel stores aka muscle & liver glycogen (the storage form of carbohydrates within the body).  However new-age strategies are starting to promote a low-carb  / high fat or ketogenic diet which essentially forces the body to adapt and rely primarily on fats for fuel during these types of events. Let’s take a look and see what some top level athletes are actually eating.

A recent study looked at the nutrition practices of elite ultra-distance runners (x3) before and during ultra-distance marathons with an average 100 mile best time of 17 hours (which is just insane by the way).  The runners reported their dietary intakes during the 2014 season which consisted of 16 races.  


The average pre-race meal of these runners consisted of:

70 grams of carbohydrates (280 calories) 48% of total calories
29 grams of protein (116 calories) 20% total calories
21 grams of fat (189 calories) 32% total calories
Total: 585 calories

During the race, the athletes on average consumed:

5,530 calories (333 calories per hr.)

1162 grams of carbohydrates (71 g/hr.) -> 4,648 calories (84% of total calories consumed) at ~282 calories of carbs consumed per hour.

With minimal protein and fat.

The athletes also consumed an average of 912 mg of caffeine with is about 8 cups of coffee!! And  6.9 g of sodium.  Overall all it appears as though commercial products made up 93% of the energy consumed came from commercialized products.

The authors of this analysis concluded that despite the fact that the runners did not seek out professional nutritional advice, their dietary intakes were similar to those in compliance with evidence-based nutritional recommendations.  It appears as though the majority of their calories are coming from carbohydrates, as that is a major fuel source during these types of events.  In addition, they also appear to utilize a fairly high amount of caffeine that has been shown to enhance endurance performance.


Reference:

Stellingwerff, T. Competition Practices of Elite Ultra-Marathon Runners.  International Journal of Sports Nutrition. (2015).

Monday, June 22, 2015

Mobility Monday: Torsion and Trunk Stability


We've talked a little bit about posture and its importance on the blog and we have covered sitting more than once but this video is one of the better ones I've found fully explaining how important posture it.  It goes into great cues to use for yourself to be set up in the right position and not over compensate one way or the other.  Posture and just everyday life is something we take for granted and you can control so many things and make yourself pan free by focusing on it.  Kelly Starrett and Brain Mackenzie do a fantastic job showing why it is so important and giving some great ideas on how to set up properly.




Saturday, June 20, 2015

Weekend Workout: Mass Attack

Based on your training goal, you will need to design your workout accordingly as different workouts will stress the body in different ways ultimately eliciting different training adaptions.  For example, if your goal is to maximize muscle growth you will generally need to use a greater total training volume in order to:

1. Maximize time under tension and the mechanical load placed upon the muscles.
2. Induce a high amount of metabolic stress.
3. Increase blood flow.
4. Induce a moderate amount of muscle damage.

There is obviously more to it than this but these are some of the proposed mechanism as to why muscles grow and in particular why high-volume / hypertrophy training has been shown to be so successful. With that being said check out the workout below that could be a part of an upper/lower body training split to maximize muscle growth:


When choosing a weight, select a weight that allows you to complete the desired repetition goal and maybe one or two more if you had to (i.e. not quite to failure). Also go with 90-120 seconds of rest in-between sets to increase metabolic stress (aka not fully recovered meaning it won't feel very good).

Enjoy and remember to eat enough protein to promote increases in protein synthesis and muscle mass!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Friday Food: Chipotle Chicken Fajita Casserole

Great to feed the entire family or to feed someone for a week.  Healthy, delicious and as always highly customizable to you liking.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:
  • 3 bell peppers, seeded & diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • olive oil
  • 1 lb chicken breasts, sliced into strips
  • 1 (15 oz.) can beans, drained + rinsed
  • 1 (15 oz.) can fire roasted tomatoes
  • 6-8 whole wheat tortillas
  • 2 cups shredded mexi blend cheese
Homemade Fajita Seasoning:
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • pinch of cayenne (more if you like spicy)
Directions:
Prepare/mix the fajita seasoning in a small bowl.  Use half of it to season the chicken.  Set aside the rest.
Heat a large skillet, on medium high, with 1 tsp olive oil and saute the peppers and onion in two batches until they JUST start to soften (3 minutes).  Don't forget to season with salt and pepper (I also use garlic powder).  Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
In the same skillet, lightly drizzle the pan with olive oil and cook the chicken strips, on medium heat.  About 4-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear when thickest part is sliced.  Remove the chicken from pan and cube into bite sized peices.  
In a large bowl, combine the beans, tomatoes and the remaining fajita seasoning.  Add the chicken and peppers & onions and mix all together.  
Place 1/2 cup or so of the mixture on the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish, and spread out.  Next, place 3-4 tortillas on top (its okay if they overlap).  Then add more chicken mixture on top - covering all tortillas.  One more layer tortillas on top of that and then top with the remaining chicken mixture.  Finally top with cheese, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.  Slice like lasagna and serve warm.  I topped with avocado and highly recommend doing so.
Yields 6-8 servings.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Study Spotlight: "PF Flyers, Guaranteed to Make a Kid Run Faster and Jump Higher"

As a kid who grew up watching the movie Sandlot, I always wanted a pair of PF Flyers, shoes guaranteed to make you run faster and jump higher according to Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez. 
Was Benny on to something or do shoes provide false hopes as to how they can influence performance?  Recently researchers designed a study to determine if footwear influenced jumping ability in 15 males.

What did they do?
Researchers had the subjects complete a vertical jump and standing long jump under 3 different conditions:


1    Wearing cross-trainers
2    Wearing minimalist shoes
3    Barefoot.

Researchers then assessed subjective measures of comfort, jumping ability and muscle activation during the jumps.

What did they find?

Subjects reported higher levels of comfort during the jumps when they were wearing cross-trainers compared to the barefoot and minimalist conditions.   However there were not any differences in jumping distance between any of the conditions suggesting that the type of footwear likely will not have an impact on how far/high you can jump.  Some differences in muscle activation of the lower legs did occur during the jumps however they did not impact the jumps.  Over time these differences in muscle activation could lead to altered training adaptations but it’s difficult to know for sure based on this study. Don’t tell the shoe market but maybe the kind of shoe doesn’t matter?