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Monday, August 31, 2015

Mobility Monday:Why Your Mobility is Not Improving

Every Monday we try and bring you a new mobility tool to you to help figure out how to fix whatever mobility problems you have going on.  It's a long and slow process to get it taken care of and we've referenced how making change can take a long as 7 months or possibly up to 2 years to completely rework your fascial system.

This video goes into depth about why things might not be improving and gives you an incredible amount of information to help try and figure it all out.  This is a great video and well worth watching the entire thing.  Happy Mobilizing.


Friday, August 28, 2015

Friday Food: Crispy Turkey Tostadas



Crispy Turkey Tostadas

Makes 4 servings, 2 tostadas each  ACTIVE TIME: 35 minutes  TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes

Ingredients:



1 14-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, preferably with jalapeños
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 cups shredded cooked turkey or chicken (12 ounces; see Tip)
8 corn tortillas
Cooking spray
1 avocado, pitted
1/4 cup prepared salsa
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
1/2 cup shredded non-fat Monterey Jack cheese


Directions:
1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 375°F.
2. Bring tomatoes and their juice to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and most of the liquid has evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Add turkey (or chicken) and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, coat tortillas on both sides with cooking spray. Divide the tortillas between 2 large baking sheets. Bake, turning once, until crisped and lightly brown, about 10 minutes.
4. Mash avocado in a bowl. Stir in salsa, sour cream and cilantro until combined.
5. To assemble tostadas, spread each crisped tortilla with some of the avocado mixture. Top with the turkey (or chicken) mixture, lettuce and cheese.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: 
Per serving: 397 calories; 15 g fat (5 g sat, 7 g mono); 86 mg cholesterol; 34 g carbohydrate; 33 g protein; 8 g fiber; 621 mg sodium; 709 mg potassium.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Junction Boy Days are Over

The Junction Boy Days Are Over 

It's that time of the year again! Football Season is upon us!  This is a revamped article from a rant I had a few years back about the old school coaching philosophy of running players into the ground during training camps or preseason. I'm sure all of you have heard of the term "Junction Boys" in one form or another which was given to those who survived Bear Bryant's summer football camp at Texas A&M University.  The camp was famous for its tough conditioning drills, grueling hot temperatures and extreme field conditions.  Bear Bryant created the camp because when he took the coaching job at Texas A&M he thought the players were soft and needed a summer camp to "toughen" them up.  He decided to host a summer camp in Junction, TX that focused on intense, long workouts with minimal water breaks and recovery time.  The camp was intended to weed out the weak ones and build mental toughness. And it did just that as several players ultimately quit or transferred to another school after the camp but whether or not that was a good thing is up to you to decide. But, is it really worth it to beat your players down and hope they improve?

Luckily camps and practices like this are becoming a dated strategy as they really have no place in today's world of sports.  I'm okay with the idea of building mental toughness but overworking your players and depriving them of necessary things such as water breaks and rest time, is only going to A) Decrease performance and/or B) Injure them. In addition, mental toughness will only get you so far, after that you need to rely on athletic ability and fully rested/recovered players which comes from well structured practices.

I think that coaches are slowly steering away from these old-school strategies and realizing that proper practice management and nutritional strategies are far more effective than running someone until they puke.  It's important for coaches to monitor their athletes and adjust their coaching philosophy and practices accordingly. Just as science evolves with new theories and concepts, sport strategies and practices schemes too need to evolve as well.

I'd say my biggest pet peeve is when coaches deprive their players of water during practice.  Not only will the players continue to get worse without fluids some of them could become severely dehydrated and suffer heat related complications.  Players will perform much better if they are well hydrated which will allow them to execute and finish drills at a higher level.  Another flawed strategy is not providing players adequate rest and recovery time in between practices.  Using conditioning or extra practices as a punishment for poor performance could just be adding fuel to the fire if athletes are over trained and not recovering properly. 

Here at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse we are combining our two favorite things: Sports and Science and are in the midst of an athlete monitoring study during training camp for our football team. We are tracking their daily training load during practice (distance traveled, core temp, heart rate etc),monitoring hydration status, how well they recover from each practice, changes in body composition, power, metabolic rate and what they are eating.  We provide daily reports to the coaching staff on how the guys are recovering and tolerating training camp. Subsequently coaches are then making changes to the practice schedule if need be.  This is the ultimate set-up for getting the most out of the athletes and making sure they are positively adapting to the demands of training. 

Now if you are a coach and don't have access to fancy monitoring equipment, lab equipment and science nerds like us, there is still a way to monitor the training demands of practice: JUST ASK THEM. We have thousands of dollars of equipment to get the data we need however we found that all the physiological responses we monitor correlate very well with subjective markers of recovery. In other words, if you just ask your athletes after practice or the next day "How do you feel or how hard was yesterday's practice?" and then adjust accordingly, you should be just fine.  I agree that in order to improve you must push yourself harder that you did the day before and constantly strive to do better but there is a fine line between working hard and overdoing it.  I also agree that mental toughness is a necessity in sports and often times separates the winners from the losers but it can be achieved through hard work and determination rather than extreme measures.

In summary, if you know of a coach who is stuck in an old-school mindset and refuses to adapt to the evolving world of sports, explain to them they are doing more harm than good and not allowing their players to reach their full potential and tell them to read our research!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Mobility Monday: Fix a Hamstring in 4 Minutes

More of this "voo-doo magic" but it really seems to work.  The theory is very interesting but when it works right before your eyes it can be quite spectacular.  If you've had a hamstring injury and tried everything this is worth trying one more thing.  The stories I've heard about getting NFL players from walking with a limp and being ruled out for weeks to all the sudden they are back jogging in a little over a hour is something worth paying attention to.

See if you are able to help fix your hamstring in sub-4 time.


Thursday, August 20, 2015

Friday Food: Chocolate Strawberry Protein Parfait

We borrowed this one from PureProtein.com but it just looked way to good to not share it with everyone.  Eating healthy and getting your protein in doesn't have to be tasteless and boring, it can be delicious and fantastic and this is just one example.

For more options from check out PureProtein.

Incredients:
-1 Scoop vanilla why protein
-1/2 chocolate protein bar, chopped
-4 oz plain Greek style yogurt
-1/4 cup milk of choice
-5 Fresh Strawberries

Directions
1. In a small bowl, combine the protein powder, yogurt and milk.
2. In a bowl or parfait cup, layer the strawberries and protein yogurt.  Top with the chocolate protein bar pieces and enjoy.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Study Spotlight: Can Cryotherapy Enhance Recovery?

By: Andrew Jagim

It sounds like something out of an Austin Powers movie but believe it more and more people are utilizing cryotherapy as a tool to enhance recovery.  So what is cryotherapy and why is Joe Rogan always ranting and raving about it? Cryotherapy is the cooling of the body for theraputic purposes often exposing the body to temperatures ~110-130 degrees Celsius!  So does it actually work? Recently researchers set up an experiment to see if acute cryotherapy could enhance recovery and influence endurance performance in endurance athletes.

What did they do?

Researchers had 11 elite endurance athletes complete a ramping time to exhaustion protocol, followed by 5 sets 5 minutes of high intensity running on two separate days. After the high intensity running, subjects completed 1 hour of passive rest at ~22 degrees Celsius followed by either Cryotherapy exposure at -110 degrees Celsius for 3 minutes or placebo.  The time to exhaustion test was also then repeated 1 hour after the cold exposure / placebo treatment.  Differences in time to exhaustion, oxygen saturation levels, heart rate, motivation and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were compared between recovery treatment conditions.

What did they find?
The results are actually pretty amazing.  The researchers found improvements in time to exhaustion and oxygen content in the muscles.  They also found reductions in oxygen consumption, heart rate and RPE during the follow up time to exhaustion ride meaning they athletes didn't weren't working as hard to complete the same distance.

Take Home Message:
The results of the study suggest that acute extreme cold exposure may serve as a valuable recovery tool in between multiple training sessions or competition events. Even as little as 3 minutes can facilitate the recovery process and provide a performance benefit. Good news for all of our readers living in Fargo, ND as they can just step outside during January and recover faster!



Reference:
Kruger, M., Marees, M., Dittmar, K., Sperlich, B., and Mester, J. Whole-body cryotherapy's enhancement of acute recovery of running performance in well-trained athletes. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2015. 10, 605-612.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Mobility Monday: Scapular Mobility


You can use ideas from this clip to fix all kinds of problems with your shoulders, upper back, neck and almost any dysfunction of the trunk.  So many muscles working on one area and they can get destroyed by bad posture or poor movement practices.


If you've had any shoulder problems don't forget to address some of these other areas.


Thursday, August 13, 2015

Friday Food: Slow Cooker-Honey Orange Chicken Drumsticks


Makes:
 6 servings
Serving Size: 2 drumsticks
Active Time: 
Total Time: 
Equipment: 5- to 6-quart slow cooker

INGREDIENTS



    • 1/3 cup honey
    • 2 teaspoons orange zest
    • 2 tablespoons orange juice
    • 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
    • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
    • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
    • 12 medium chicken drumsticks (3-3 1/2 pounds), skin removed (see Tip)
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
    • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
    • PREPARATION

      1. Combine honey, orange zest, orange juice, soy sauce (or tamari), garlic, ginger, vinegar and crushed red pepper in a small bowl.
      2. Coat a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Add drumsticks, pour in the sauce and mix to coat. Cover and cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F when inserted into the thickest part of the meat without touching bone, 2 to 3 hours on High or 4 hours on Low.
      3. Transfer the drumsticks to a bowl. Very carefully pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a medium skillet. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil until reduced and syrupy, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour the sauce over the drumsticks and stir to coat. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and sesame seeds.

      TIPS & NOTES

      • To remove the skin from chicken drumsticks, grip the skin from the meaty end of the drumstick with a paper towel and pull down toward the exposed bone until it comes off completely. 
      • For easy cleanup, try a slow-cooker liner. These heat-resistant, disposable liners fit neatly inside the insert and help prevent food from sticking to the bottom and sides of your slow cooker. 

      NUTRITION

      Per serving: 245 calories; 7 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono); 150 mg cholesterol; 18 g carbohydrates; 15 g added sugars; 16 g total sugars; 28 g protein; 0 g fiber; 404 mg sodium; 362 mg potassium.

    Wednesday, August 12, 2015

    Study Spotlight: Are Fitness Apps Leading Us Astray?

    The incorporation of technology into the fitness world may be a blessing and a curse. On the one side, Apps like MyFitnessPal and Supertracker have made it incredibly easy to monitor calorie intake and overall daily energy balance. In addition, FitBits and Garmins are taking over the world in terms of activity monitoring and have development social arenas for challenging fiends and family to movement battles. But are these Apps providing us with accurate information? Are they able to provide evidence based recommendations for exercise programs? Recently researchers designed a study to find out.

    What did they do?
    Researchers compared 30 mobile fitness coaching Apps to guidelines put forth by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) for sound principles of exercise prescription by using the following strategy:

     "A weighted scoring method based on the recommendations of the ACSM was developed to generate subscores for quality of programming content for aerobic (0-6 scale), resistance (0-6 scale), and flexibility (0-2 scale) components using the frequency, intensity, time, and type (FITT) principle. An overall score (0-14 scale) was generated from the subscores to represent the overall quality of a fitness coaching app."

    What did they find?
    The results are very surprising.  Only 3 apps scored above 50% on the endurance component, while 4 scored above 50% on the resistance/strength component and no app scored above 50% on the flexibility component.  As a measure of its overall quality only 1 app had an overall score (64.3%) above 50%


    Take Home Message
    So what information can you take away from this study? You may want to exercise caution (see what I did there?) when looking to mobile apps for advice on exercise programming. Sure they point you in the right direction or give you a generic template for a workout plan but that's all it will be is generic. Mobile apps have limitations and this stems from their inability to create individualized programs based on YOUR needs, YOUR fitness level, YOUR availability, YOUR injury history, YOUR equipment availability....you get the point.  Sure you can just head over to a commercial fitness center, open up your smart phone and follow whatever program that pops up, hoping you are completing the movements properly and progressing appropriately, But that's like walking into a gourmet kitchen expecting to create an elaborate 5 course meal because you have your iphone out and you watch a lot of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals.

    So don't be afraid to see out the advice of a QUALIFIED personal trainer or fitness professional to benefit from their educational background, knowledge, experience and expertise when it comes to exercise programming as mobile apps may not be as great as advertised.

    Reference:
    Modave, F., Bian, J., Leavitt, T., Bromwell, J., Harris III, C., & Vincent, H. (2015). Low Quality of Free Coaching Apps With Respect to the American College of Sports Medicine Guidelines: A Review of Current Mobile Apps. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 3(3), e77.

    Tuesday, August 11, 2015

    The Number on the Scale Really Doesn't Matter

    We recently conducted a pilot study examining the benefits of combining a low-carbohydrate diet and strength training program on body composition and resting metabolism.  As subjects were returning for post-testing we were noticing some very impressive changes over the course of only six weeks. However, some comments by one of our subjects caught my attention and provided the inspiration for this post. I don't mean to embarrass this individual as I've heard similar comments in the past.  To preface this a bit, most of the subjects were experiencing significant weight loss with decreases in body fat and increases in lean muscle mass.....which is essentially best case scenario and something that people are constantly seeking to do.  We had a diet intervention group which consumed a low-carb diet and a control group that could eat whatever they wanted with both groups completing 3 days a week of strength training.  One subject that was initially in the diet group returned to the lab for post-testing and said that they decided to change groups because they weren't losing any weight and even gained a pound.  Now first of all, as a researcher this is obviously frustrating as the data becomes worthless because they flip flopped treatments however as a fitness professional I became even more frustrated as her reasoning for changing groups was based off of a misconception that I hear far too often. When we looked more closely at her body composition results, she actually lost ~6 lbs overall and 3.5% body fat. She also put on 5 lbs on lean muscle mass and lost 12 lbs of body fat! recomposition that she managed to pull off is amazing!


    So, she may have been less than enthused with her 6 lbs of weight loss however her overall body
    composition changes were incredible and she should have been proud of that.  As I mentioned earlier, a lot of people have the misconception that the number on the scale is all that matters and then get too focused on losing weight instead of changing their body composition for the better.

    In fact, a lot of times people will go on crash diets and lose a lot of weight with great success however they are losing both fat and lean muscle mass which will result in some negative consequences, several of which making them more susceptible to regain that weight right back!  So when you are told you are overweight and/or are beginning your weight loss journey, make sure you try and focus on losing body fat, by monitoring changes in your body fat percentage. If you don't have access to this kind of equipment you can always use visual tests such as progression photos in the mirror or the clothes tests. You should be able to tell that your body is changing shape and you appear leaner.  This will help you maintain that weight/fat loss over time and improve your body composition rather than just making a number on a scale go down.


    Monday, August 10, 2015

    Mobility Monday: The Lower Extremity Basic List

    We just got done doing a small talk to the River & Valley Coaches and discussed lower body mobilizations and how helpful they can be.  We wanted to share our lower extremity mobility guide with everyone (email us here) and also share the Basics for this Mobility Monday.  These are some of the main go-tos before you get started into the more specific areas that might be causing you problems.


    Friday, August 7, 2015

    Friday Food: Chipotle Sauce & Ground Meat

    This is a recipe from Tim Ferriss that follows his Slow Carb Diet.  It's very paleo-esk and also like most of ours very adaptable.  We recommend trying to find grass fed beef or free range chicken as they nutritional content goes up significantly and the taste is all around just better. Enjoy.


    Here is the recipe from Tim Ferris:

    I didn’t want to use the crappy, overly salty seasoning packets and wanted to try for something a little more authentic.  Here is the recipe I used:


    1 7.5 oz. can of chipotles with adobo sauce
    1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
    ½ medium onion
    2-3 cloves garlic minced
    1lb Ground beef/Ground Turkey/Chicken
    1 Tbsp chili powder

    A typical can of chipotles will have probably 8-10 chipotles in it.  You can control some of the heat by using more or less of the can.  I used a whole can.  Put all ingredients in a blender and puree/blend until mostly smooth.  I recommend trying it at this point – if it’s too spicy you can dilute it with a bit of water.  This will make approximately 2-2.5 cups of sauce.  The leftover sauce can be frozen and used as needed. Just thaw and add to your recipes.

    Brown meat in skillet until almost fully cooked (it should be only slightly undercooked).  Add 1 to 1.5 cups of chipotle sauce and 1 tbsp of chili powder.  Mix in and let simmer until all liquid is boiled off.  If mixture seems too dry add 1-2 tbsp of water if necessary.  Once liquid is boiled off meat is ready to serve.

    I cooked up a can of black beans, sauteed the remaining half onion and 1 green pepper.

    I ate it as one big chipotle taco salad – shredded lettuce, tomato, black beans, onions and peppers, guacomole, and beef.

    Wednesday, August 5, 2015

    Study Spotlight: Does Texting While Walking Influence Your Gait?

    More and more people are partaking in the annoying habit of texting or facebooking while walking down the sidewalk, clumsily not looking where they are going, obliviously strolling their way into traffic. I wish I could blame teenagers for this ridiculous behavior but I myself have also committed this mobile device infraction. But can phones disrupt our gait patterns and influence our ability to make decisions? Researchers recently attempted to find out.

    What did they do?
    Researchers had 30 participants complete 3 different trials: 1) Normal walking, 2) Texting and Walking, 3) Texting and walking whilst being cognitively distracted via a standard math problem and negotiating an obstacle course.  During the walking trials, researchers monitored the gait characteristics of each person using a 3D Motion Analysis System.


    What did they find?
    Researchers found that people took longer to complete the course while texting (~5 sec) and during cognitive distraction (~5 sec) compared to normal walking.  No differences were noted for barrier contacts during the obstacle course however step frequency, step time, lateral deviation and double leg support time increased during the texting and distraction trial.

    Conclusions: 
    The authors concluded that texting while walking and/or being cognitively distracted significantly influenced gait characteristics which is similar to the phenomena of being on your phone and walking city sidewalks.  Altogether this appeared to result in a more cautious gait pattern, which is good from a safety standpoint but not a time-efficient way to travel.

    So keep your head on a swivel! And please, stop riding your bike with no-hands while texting and listening to musics, that's just stupid.

    Reference: 
    Licence, S., Smith, R., McGuigan, MP., Earnest, CP. Gait Pattern Alterations during Walking, Texting and Walking and Texting during Cognitively Distractive Tasks while Negotiating Common Pedestrian Obstacles. PLoS One. 2015, 10(7).

    Tuesday, August 4, 2015

    Gatorade: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

    Gatorade is one of the most popular commercial sports drink on the market today and has been a powerhouse in the realm of athletic performance for several years. However there appears to be some confusion surrounding its potential benefits. Can it improve performance? Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? In this post we explore Gatorade and why it can be your best friend and your worst enemy depending on who you are and what you're doing.


    The Good
    It's delicious and nothing hits the spot more after an intense workout or race when it's 90 degrees out and you've been sweating for 2 hours straight. One of the reasons it tastes so good is because of the sugar content. Sugar often gets a bad rap because of its obesogenic behaviors and the role it has played in the rise of metabolic related disorders such as Type II Diabetes. However, Gatorade was designed as a sports drink and athletes have unique nutritional needs compared to sedentary individuals. During intense bouts of training or athletic competitions, the body relies heavily on muscle glycogen for fuel which is the storage form of carbohydrates within the body.  Therefore, during and after training it is important to replenish these used fuel sources and a great way to do that is by drinking them in sports beverages as then you are also replenishing any lost fluids during training. In addition, Gatorade also contains several electrolytes that we also lose during sweat and are important to get back in our system.  So during periods of intense training or in a hot environment, Gatorade can be a great way to re-fuel and re-hydrate to prepare for subsequent training sessions or competitions.


    The Bad
    As was mentioned above, Gatorade has a fairly high amount of sugar which if you’re competing in a lengthy event can improve performance. However, a lot of times people drink Gatorade when they don’t necessarily have to. For example, I see a lot of young athletes drinking the 32 oz. Gatorades during a 40 minute basketball game when there is no way they are A) Utilizing enough of their glycogen stores (stored sugars) to require an external energy source (sugar) during their game; or B) Sweating enough to the point where they would need to replace lost electrolytes. Throughout the course of a multi-game tournament they could probably benefit from 1, 32 oz. Gatorade just not 3 as is often common practice.



    The Ugly

    A lot of people look at Gatorade or Powerade as a “healthy” alternative to soda. I saw this all the time in College and people opted for Gatorade because it was “lower in sugar…” Let’s take a look at the sugar content and compare:



    Essentially there isn’t much of a difference.  If anything you may as well opt for the soda and get some caffeine. Gatorade can be a good thing for certain people.... in certain situations.  However when you are sitting down for a meal or at work, Gatorade IS NOT a healthy option.

    Save it for when you are on a run!

    Monday, August 3, 2015

    Mobility Monday: IT Band Hell


    IT band issues are quite possibly one of the most frustrating injuries any athlete can have, especially runners.  It's extremely painful and can take a long time to resolve.  The IT band is an extremely thick and strong band of connective tissue that can support the weight of a VW before it snaps.  The key to avoiding dealing with injury is to get in front of it and make sure everything is mobile and your range of motions are normal in both your knees and hips.  Here are some great ideas to get after your idea band so you hopefully never have to deal with this injury.