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Sunday, January 31, 2016

Mobility Monday: Neck Pain Improved with Rebalancing Lower Body

By: Joel Luedke


I'm hoping to get into these Total Motion Release seminars in the very near future but for the time being I'm sticking to YouTube videos.  This one is really reaching out there but you can't deny the results.  Can moving your lower body and getting things cleared up in your lower extremity actually help fix your neck pain?  This video shows how it can.


If you can get everything aligned and working properly the results can translate anywhere.  Check out what he does and how it might work out for you.

Things it Can Fix:
-Neck Pain
-Head Position and Posterior Neck Strain
-Tension Headaches




Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Study Spotlight: Will Standing Make you Smarter?

By: Andrew Jagim

It's no secret that we are advocates for standing while at work as the list of potential benefits are endless and range from reduced back pain to increases in calorie expenditure throughout the day.  One area we haven't discussed quite as much are the potential benefits of standing desks for our kids who are generally forced to sit 5-7 hours each day while at school. So the question then becomes, could incorporating standing desks into the classroom also benefit students also? Researchers at Texas A&M University sought out to find the answer...

What did they do?
Researchers followed freshmen who elected to go with a standing desk versus the traditional seated option throughout the entire academic year.  Students completed testing pre and post to assess improvements in cognitive functioning. The research staff had students complete several computer based exams to test skills relating to how we develop academic skills, analyze tasks, and remember information for future use.  Researchers also used a portable brain-imaging device to examine associated changes in brain function during completion of the tasks.

What did they find?
Long story short, results showed improvements in executive function and working memory which corresponded with improvements in brain activation patterns as well.

Take home Message:
This is one of the first studies that has quantitatively examined improvements in cognitive function in students who use a standing desk.  Not only are there behavior, weight and movement-related benefits of standing while at school, it appears as though we can add cognitive function to the list as well!  I know for a fact I will be an advocate for the use of stand-up desks for my kids when they are school age. There is an increasing amount of evidence emerging relating to their benefits.

To find a full list of standing desk options and reviews check out Reviews.com Standing Desk Review

Reference:
  1. Ranjana Mehta, Ashley Shortz, Mark Benden. Standing Up for Learning: A Pilot Investigation on the Neurocognitive Benefits of Stand-Biased School DesksInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2015; 13 (2): 59 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph13010059

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Mobility Monday: Clearing Hip Impingement

By: Joel Luedke


This one starts of with a contraption nicknamed the 'psoasinator' which is quite simply one of the most intense home soft tissue tools I've ever seen.  Now on to the mobility.


Hip impingement is something that has become must more common in the world of sports medicine.  No one is quite sure if it is occurring more now compared to history or if we just happen to be getting more aware of the problem and diagnosing it more frequently.  Either way it doesn't take away from the point that it hurts and is very debilitating.  This is a great video to start with in order to start clearing more room for your hip to move and eliminate pain at the same time.

What It Helps:
-Hip Pain (all areas)
-Upper Hamstring Pain
-Some Mid-Back Idea
-Low Back Pain




Thursday, January 21, 2016

Friday Food: Curried Chicken Thighs w/ Buttery Croutons

So this is by no means as authentic as when I was on the other side of the world but I had a craving so I went to find something that looked good (that I could actually make) and resembled some of the fantastic food I had over there.  Hope you enjoy.

Basics:
Makes: 8 Servings
Active Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 3/4 hours (because good food takes time)

Ingredients
  • 3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
  • 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cup low-fat milk
  • 1 10-ounce bag frozen peas (2 cups)
  • 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4 slices whole-wheat country bread, crusts removed, cut into 1-inch cubes.

  • PREPARATION
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch (or similar 3-quart) baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add half the chicken to the pan and cook until browned on both sides and just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes total. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
  3. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan. Cook, stirring often, until softened and light brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add curry powder, ginger, pepper and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook for 1 minute. Sprinkle with flour and stir to coat. Add broth and milk. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in peas, mayonnaise and lemon juice (or vinegar). Pour the sauce over the chicken.
  4. Wash and dry the pan. Melt butter in the pan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and stir in bread cubes. Toss to coat. Arrange the bread on top of the casserole.
  5. Bake the casserole until it is bubbling and the croutons are golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Study Spotlight: The Effect of Lace-up Ankle Braces on Injury Rates in High School Basketball Players

Research shows that 10-28% of athletic related injuries are ankle sprains and they tend to lead to missing the most amount of activity during the recovery process.  This is obviously not a good thing for anyone involved in sports.  Is there a best way to prevent injuries from happening?  The options are wide such as taping, ankle braces and just training.  Taping is great but can get expensive quickly, there are endless braces and does training really work?

We look at a study that shows the effectiveness of ankle bracing in reducing ankle injuries in high school basketball players.

What They Did:
This study included 1460 male and female high school basketball players.  Players were assigned to a group where they wore the brace or the control group where they didn't wear anything.  Throughout the course of a season athletic trainers recorded brace compliance, athlete exposures and injuries for both groups.

What They Found:
The rate of acute ankle injuries showed an injury rate (per 1000 exposures) was 0.47 in the braced group compared to 1.41 in the controlled group.  For players that had a history of previous ankle injury the incidence of injury was 0.83 in the braced group and 1.79 in the control group.  For players that did not have previous injury the incidence of injury was 0.40 in the braced group and 1.35 in the control group.

What It All Means:
Long story short through all the numbers is that the use of ankle braces in this study significantly reduced the incidence of ankle injury in both the group that had previous history of ankle injury and also the group with no history of injury. They also found that there was no change in the incidence of knee injury and wearing an ankle brace did not cause more injuries to the knee.  The amount of money that can be saved over the course of someones health history with something as simple as an ankle sprain can be staggering.  It is well into the 10's of thousands of dollars over the coarse of a lifetime.  A simple $50-$60 investment could be a game changer.

Recommendations:
Mueller 'The One' Ankle Brace
McDavid Ankle Brace


Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3213051/pdf/nihms329688.pdf

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Healthy Eating with Kids...The Struggle is Real

By: Andrew Jagim

Disclaimer: If you do not have young kids this may not be of interest to you. What follows is a depiction of my rollercoaster journey of healthy eating with young kids.

Before I had kids I remember thinking to myself: "Self, one day you will have kids and they will grow up eating healthy nutritious meals with an optimal assortment of fruits, vegetables and protein.  I'm sure all of you out there with older kids are chuckling to yourselves as once I had kids I soon also realized that this vision would need some serious reconsideration.

Lets take a few steps back and start at the beginning: My vision of healthy eating started at the just as does everything in this life with the journey of pregnancy.  Again, what I thought would be a diet plan consisting of lean protein options, tons of fruits and vegetables, later seemed to revolve more around hunger cravings and quick fixes supplemented with the occasional healthy choice than perfectly crafted nutritious delicacies 24/7. Right out of the gate and my plan is already foiled.  Granted it didn’t help that our house at this time was down the block from a homemade ice cream parlor that was way too convenient and delicious not to stop while out walking our dogs. However, we would occasionally add Muscle Milk protein powder to it, so maybe it evens out in the end??? Maybe that’s why my wife gave birth to nearly a 10lb baby.

And then the baby was born, and we chose the route of breastfeeding so we knew our daughter was getting the highest quality food source available to her. Later when we started introducing whole foods into the picture, things started looking great. Our daughter's first food was whole avocado, which she loved. She also enjoyed cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, green beans and gnawing on the occasional chicken or steak. As parents we were thrilled that our kid enjoyed fruits and vegetables. However, from here things took a turn for the worse and our daughter entered the dark years more commonly referred to as toddlerhoods. The real struggles were just beginning.

Our daughter soon developed her own opinions on foods. Green foods were off the table… literally… she fed them to our dogs at any given chance. Orange foods though, were some how ok. We quickly adapted and started stockpiling orange vegetables and are still currently eating a lot of sweet potatoes and butternut squashes… pretty much at every meal.   And don't even get me started with a trip to the grocery store. We can't even make a trip by the deli counter without our daughter darting off to fill up her own bag of yogurt pretzels in the bulk foods area.  Of course, a lot of these food battles are fought  by some dirty fighters aka marketing strategists.  These evil geniuses know exactly where to place every piece of candy so that it temps us down every aisle and our daughter is instantly enchanted by  cartoon characters endorcing sugary snacks with bright colors and toys attached. Very rarely do we make it through the checkout aisle without multiple "No, you have to put that back" or "No, we don't need 9 packs of gum and Tic Tacs right now."  Now, even though we want our kid to eat more healthy foods than non-healthy foods, we aren't the parents that don’t allow any “treats” and snacks from time to time, especially considering we as adults divulge in the occasional cookie or piece of cake; okay let's be honest lots of cookies and cake... On a side note, having young kids around does really force you to take a hard look some of your regular snacks or food options.  If you tell your kid not to eat it, you probably shouldn’t be eating it either or at least not a lot of it (just one of my general observations). Unless it's beer, than it's okay of course.

As our daughter has gotten older she now has entered the stages in which she understands “two more bites and then you can have this”.   What we've found is that the key is for “this” to be something that our kid thinks is a treat but isn’t all that terrible for her. Our daughter’s favorite thing to barter with is pita chips, coincidently.  This type of compromise has inspired us to become more creative ways of how we can sneak vegetables and fruits into her diet. It's no secret that toddlers are picky, if it looks looks like broccoli… it’s broccoli, but it looks like a fry it’s a fry. So when we stumbled upon broccoli and carrot sticks shaped and baked like a fry… we thought we hit the jackpot. Broccoli bites shaped like chicken nuggets were also a hit.  When we make cookies (which we do frequently) we try to use ingredients like bananas, peanut butter, oatmeal and organic protein powder versus butter, sugar and flour. To our daughter they taste like a treat but are also packed with nutrients so we don't have to feel guilty letting her have a couple. 


For those of you out there who are parents, I am sure you are waiting for the part when I say, “What happens when none of these options work?”. What happens when your kid refuses to eat the meal you’ve made for them or? They have seen through your tricks, hidden foods and go-to pinterest recipes?. They flat out won’t eat anything except for their left over Halloween candy. So then what? Do you let them go hungry? Do you let them have some sort of snack food just to get some calories in? For this scenario, I don’t know what to tell you. We have done both. I don’t know which is right, and if I had a magic solution. I would probably be a millionaire.  I will say that perseverance is key. Everything with kids is a phase. Keep offering those healthy choices and one day hopefully they will pick it up.  Stay tuned for an update on this post in 10 years when hopefully I will have some better tips.  Feel free to comment with any other tricks or strategies that have worked for you in the past!

Monday, January 18, 2016

Monday Mobility: The Pelvic Fault and Low Back Pain

This is our first post with the new website, kind of exciting.  Which means you can now find the free blog in two places, one being totalathletictherapy.blogspot.com and also at www.totalathletictherapy.com.  Same content, same price (free that is) just now with some updated features.

Now onto the mobility.  Pelvic faults sound terrible and a lot people (me included before learning) think the pelvis doesn't really move.  Well it moves quite a lot and can easily get moved out of place due to a bad step or a shift in weight or any small movements.  The great thing about it is that most of the time it is a very simple fix and that is what we address with this video.

Simple evaluation you can check on your own and also very easy quick fix using your own musculature to help reset yourself.  Give it a try, it could help lingering back pain that other things weren't quite getting.

What It Helps:
-Low back pain/tightness
-Tight/sore anterior hips
-'Shooting' pain down the leg



Credit: Mobility WOD

Friday, January 15, 2016

Friday Food: Spiced Baked Apples

A great dessert option and follows the 'Bulletproof Diet'.  Simple and tasty and if you wanted to switch it over to applesauce, you just have to blend the baked apples and juices until it is smooth.

As with most of the recipes, the better quality and cleaner products you put into it, the better the result of the recipe.

Ingredients: 
-1 1/2 tbsp ghee, melted
-1 tsp MST or coconut oil
-1/4 vanilla powder (as best quality as you can find)
-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
-1 cinnamon stick
-1 1/2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger
-2 organic apples (Honeycrisp, Mutsu, or Crispin are good choices), peeled, cored, and quartered

Prep:
Preheat the oven to 325 deg F.
In a large 9 x 13 inch baking pain, combine the melting ghee, MCT/coconut oil, vanilla powder, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, and ginger.  Stir to combine.  Add the apples and toss to coat.  Turn the apples flat-side down.  Cover the pan with foil and bake, turning halfway, until tender when pierced with a knife, 35 to 40 minutes.
Serve Warm

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Study Spotlight: Sleep "LOW", Perform Better but Don't Worry About Elevation

By: Andrew Jagim

People often use the phrases "Train low, live high" to describe a style of training that utilizes the benefits of our body's ability to adapt to living at altitude as a result of several physiological adaptations. However, recently investigators have taken this same catch phrase and applied it to the idea of training or sleeping in a "low carb" state or more specifically a glycogen-deleted state.  Typically our bodies rely on digested carbohydrates with are stored within the body as muscle and liver glycogen for energy during periods of training and recovery.

So when our bodies have low carbohydrate availability it is then forced to look elsewhere for alternative fuel sources.  By forcing the body to use alternative fuel sources it may stimulate some physiological and metabolic adaptations (i.e. increase aerobic enzyme content, increase mitochondrial density etc.) to occur that better allow the body to utilize fat as a fuel source for example which could provide a performance advantage during competition.

Recently a team of investigators sought out to determine when was the best time to train, in regards to the availability of carbohydrates for fuel.

What did they do?
The researchers divided 21 triathletes into two groups: A diet manipulation group which underwent a 3-week training/diet intervention and a control group. The diet group completed a 3-week training/diet period which consisted of train-high interval training, overnight carb restriction "sleep low" and 3) "Train-low" sessions with low endogenous and exogenous carb availability. The control group followed the same training program but with high carb availability throughout the training sessions.

What did they find?
The researchers found a significant improvement in delta efficiency during sub-max cycling in the "Sleep low" group versus the control.  They also found an improvement in the supra-maximal cycling to exhaustion test at 150% of peak aerobic power and 10 km performance in the "sleep low" group.  Not to mention, the "sleep low" group also experienced a significant reduction in fat-mass.

Conclusions
The authors concluded that short-term periodization of dietary carbohydrates around periods of training may positively influence performance in cycling energy efficiency and time to exhaustion during a maximal cycling test.  Try completing some HIIT training first-thing in the morning before you have breakfast to take advantage of this apparent "sleep low" phenomenon.  WARNING, this may take several weeks for your body to adapt and your first couple of training sessions may be a struggle as you get accustomed to the "low-carb" state.

Reference Article Here

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Importance of External Rotation

By: Joel Luedke

You've probably been told more times than you care to remember to "not slouch", "stand up straight", "hold your head up".   If we work into the fitness world it may go more towards "look up" and "keep your core tight."  All of these are important and have good intentions but are we missing something that might make these easier or make a much greater difference?

Welcome to external rotation.  There are lots of important areas surrounding this 'motion' and often time we hear about it when it comes to the shoulder.  Often time restriction in this motion can lead to both short and long term injury in overhead athletes.  We also hear about it in the hips and the lack of it when someone is 'knocked kneed' and their knees cave in.  Here we talk about how important the somewhat subtle motion can be in both pain relief and in performance.

The Shoulders
Pain Relief:
Rounded shoulder posture is so common today I think we often just accept it as a standard posture.  It leads to all kinds of problems with your shoulders by becoming short and tight in the anterior musculature (pec minor/major, lats) and long, weak and tight in the posterior musculature (traps, rhomboids, rotator cuff).  A simple fix to help start the process of correcting all this is by focusing on

putting your shoulders into external rotation.  Doing so will help reset where the humerus (upper arm bone) sits in the shoulder joint (glenoid fossa). and get the musculature at lengths that or closer to optimal.


The best way I have found to do this (from Kelly Starrett) is think about turning your shoulders out and then place your hands together at the base of your sternum and hold them there.  When you do this you aren't able to easily fall back into a rounded shoulder posture.  Try it when you're standing and you can find ways to make sure your hands aren't awkward when you rest them on your sternum.

Performance:
Pavel Tsatsouline is a phenomenal strength and conditioning coach and is one of the forefathers on kettlebell use.  He has great cues to help increase strength in the middle of a set if you're struggling.  We will use bench press in this example and his cue is to try and 'bend the bar'.  What this cue is creating is external rotation in your shoulders which is putting them into the most stable position possible and allowing for more torque generation through the shoulder.  This can be applied to doing push ups and the process of 'screwing your hands into the floor.'  Doing this by trying to rotate the base of your palm inwards to create that tension in your shoulder.  If you're struggling with your press  or having shoulder pain with it, try narrowing your grip and 'bending the bar' or 'screwing in' and work back to your normal weight (the technique takes a little bit to get used to).

The Hips
Pain Relief:
We referenced above how your knees caving in can be due to a lack of external rotation in the hips.  The reason why is that your knee has to follow the direction of either your foot or your hips and we can influence this greatly (unless a pathologic and traumatic prevents it).  Your knee can track inward (valgus) if your femur is internally rotated and from there that change in posture continues down the kinetic chain and can lead to your arch collapsing and causing more problems.  

If you try just standing in your normal posture and just squeeze your glutes (causing external rotation) you should be able to feel everything rotate through your leg from top to bottom and if you have an arch that is somewhat flat you can start to recreate it.  Now, it's very hard to keep a full contraction all day but it doesn't take that much, as little as 20% tension when you are standing up can help maintain that posture.  Another benefit to this is that engaging your glutes can help restore a posterior tilt to your pelvis and bring it to a neutral position and possibly eliminate back pain as well.

Performance:
When we talk about performance in this section I'm mainly focusing on lower body pressing (i.e.
squat and deadlift).  We often see when people squat or deadlift that the first joint to 'break' is the knees to start the facilitation of the movement.  This robs you of force and torque production out of your hips.  Your glutes are some of the strongest muscles in your body and should be utilized, especially in this big mass movements.  

Simple cues such as 'screwing your heels into the ground' can be hugely beneficial just like in doing presses or push ups for the upper body.  Doing so and then 'breaking' at the hips by pushing them backward at the start of the movement engages the glutes and allows for much great strength and torque production by utilizing this substantial muscle group.


The same goes for jumping and landing.  If we don't focus on getting our hips into a stable position it allows for excess knee motion that could be catastrophic.  The classic mechanism for ACL tears is a valgus (inward) force on the knee and internal rotation.  We can control all of that by focusing on our external rotation of the hips both in take off and landing.



These seem like simple things but we tend to forget them and just think we have the exercise down and that we don't need to continually practice or refine our technique.  So many things can be helped both in pain relief and prevention to performance by simple things that then allow you to move on to other parts of the picture.  Make sure you continue to externally rotate and use it in your performance and daily lives.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Mobility Monday: Upper Neck and Back Pain


We switched up to another movement and pain release specialist this week, Miss Jill Miller of 'Role Model'.  Miss Miller is a an expert yoga instructor and has brought out many fantastic ideas of relieving pain but being able to do that on your own.


Now to how this helps.  This video focuses on upper back and neck pain and she addresses how you can help that with a yoga tune-up ball (or a tennis ball, baseball, etc).  She does a great job looking at the whole picture and the kinetic chain for why you might have neck pain.  Check out all the options.

What It Can Help:
-Upper back/trap pain
-Headaches (mainly from tension)
-Head/neck posture



Thursday, January 7, 2016

Chicken Nachos w/ Homemade Pico De Gallo

The ingredients list and prep looks intimidating but it all comes down to what you want on your nachos.  It may go without saying but the more vegetables on it the better off you're going to be.  Cheese is hard to make super healthy but at the same time buy organic, get it is natural as possible and it isn't the worst cheat meal you could have.  Enjoy this one folks.

What You'll Need:
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (pounded for tenderizing)
  • 9 oz. bag of Tostitos® Natural Blue or Yellow Tortilla Chips
  • 5 oz. Kraft fat-free shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 5 oz. Kraft fat-free shredded cheddar cheese
  • 6 oz. fat-free sour cream
  • 6 oz. fat-free refried beans
  • 1 large tomato (cut into small cube segments)
  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves (minced)
  • 1 garlic clove (minced)
  • 1/2 cup chopped olives
  • 1/2 cup sliced jalapeño peppers
  • 2 medium jalapeño peppers
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • PAM® cooking spray
Preparation:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine pico de gallo ingredients (tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt, whole jalapeño peppers and ground black pepper) and pulse until the salsa is mostly smooth, but still slightly chunky, about six pulses. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside until you're ready to serve the nachos.
In a serving bowl, pour out sour cream, cover with plastic and chill in refrigerator.
In a microwave-friendly bowl, heat refried beans for two minutes (make sure to cover with wax paper!) and transfer to a serving bowl when complete and let stand.
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and turn stove top burner on to medium heat.
Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with PAM® and cook chicken on high heat for five minutes each side. Once both sides have cooked, cut the thickest portion of the chicken to determine if it's done. Once fully cooked, transfer to a cutting board. Chop chicken into smaller, "nacho-friendly" sizes.
Spray PAM® on a large baking sheet and spread the Tostitos® Natural Tortilla Chips evenly across the entire baking sheet. Evenly lay all the shredded cheese and all chopped chicken over the chips. Then top with 1/2 cup chopped olives and 1/2 cup sliced jalapeño peppers. Bake for five minutes, or until cheese starts to crisp and begins to melt. Make sure to pull the baking sheet out immediately when at this stage, as burnt cheese tastes absolutely horrible!
Transfer nachos to a large serving platter. Add the fresh pico de gallo, the sour cream and the refried beans.
Serving & Nutrition Info:

  • Makes 6 servings
  • 41 grams of protein, 48 grams of carbs and 13 grams of fat/serving

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Study Spotlight: Nutritional Support for Exercise Induced Injuries

By: Joel Luedke

Injury is never something anyone wants to deal with and the process can be very frustrating.  Rehab and treatment techniques continue to improve and advance people through injuries more quickly and safely than ever before.  But what is the next step?

Nutrition needs to be one of the next things you address in your recovery from an injury.  It often times goes overlooked and people forget the importance because they aren't out working out anymore.  This study spotlight looks at a couple simple recommendations that can help you in your injury recovery.


What They Did:

This is a review article so they didn't actually conduct a study but instead went back and reviewed a plethora of research articles that looked at nutrition with regards to injury and then summarized the results.

What They Found:
The reviewers found just about as many nutritional claims as there are research articles out there and a lot of them had just the start of solid research to support.  What they did find is that an increase in protein during injury, especially injury that requires immobilization, can play a significant role in maintaining muscle mass during that time.  They recommend 2-2.5g/kg/day during that injured period.  They also found data, although preliminary, about use of Omega-3s and possibly creatine supplementation to help maintain muscle mass during injury and aid in the healing process.  All of these nutrients are important throughout training and general recovery but might play a bigger role in injury recovery.

What It All Means:
Overall, as with most things, a good healthy diet that limits processed foods and gets as much nutrition as possible from whole food sources is going to be your best bet.  Often athletes or athletic people are concerned that during periods in which they are injured will be a time of weight gain and they switch up their diet and may restrict food amounts.  This can be detrimental to the healing process and can cause more problems down the road as you try to rest and recover.

As we mentioned there are plenty of other things out there that are touted to help with injury recovery and they might very well work but be careful to not get caught in gimmicks and quick fixes, the basics work best to start.

Don't restrict good nutrition during injury, immobilized or not, to help aid in your recovery and return to your activity faster.

Source:
Tipton, K. Nutritional Support for Exercise-Induced Injuries. Sports Medicine. Nov. 2015, Vol. 45 (1). p 93-104. 2015

LINK to whole article




Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The 'Core'

By: Joel Luedke

What is this mystical being?  The Core, with more definitions than anyone wants to count and even more ways to 'train' it things begin to get overwhelming.  But it doesn't have to.

Now, it would be naive to think I could cover everything about the core in one simple blog post and I'm not even beginning to pretend to do so but my goal is to outline a few things that are beneficial  to training and hopefully shed some light on exercises that either aren't benefiting you or could be setting you up for chronic problems.

What does the core consist of?

It is more than than just the abdominals (recturs, obliques, transverse) it is all the musculature that affects the trunk of your body.  Often forgotten are the hip muscles with the main ones being the glutes and the smaller stabilizing muscles of the hip.  The 'core' can also extend to the quadratus luborum (lower back (QL)) and the latissimus dorsi (Lats).  Think much more global than your six pack.

Again, just to be clear, these are just some ideas and don't even begin to scratch the surface of what you can do to train the 'core' or what can be beneficial but the discussion is welcome and we look forward to it.  We didn't even touch on training muscles up and down the kinetic chain or whole body movements.

The Basics:
Abdominal Bracing
It used to be that performing the 'vacuum' maneuver was the best way to train your deep abdominal musculature (mainly the transverse abdominis).  Research has come out and thinking has changed about with this and people are finding that the best way to train these deep stabilizing muscles isn't to 'vacuum' but to practice bracing your core by tightening all the musculature in the area.  Practicing this exercise can help you train the reaction of your 'core' musculature to help with spinal bracing and help with injury prevention as well as force generation.  A great place to start.
VIDEO (also some great progressions)

Planks (& Variations)
Planks build on the concept of abdominal bracing but add other musculature into the picture.  The variations of planks are endless.
Example include:
-Side Planks
-Front Planks with Hip Extension
-Side Planks with Hip Movement (Ext, Abd)
-Side Planks with Trunk Rotation
Building on the plank with these other movements can help bring the kinetic chain together and get more musculature involved in stabilizing and creating a solid base for movement.

Taking It to the Next Level:
Counter-Rotation
These movements are meant to train everything in your 'core' by making it resist against movement.  It is a great progression from the plank as it can add your hip musculature into the mix and work on your body's ability to balance itself against a resistance.  You can continue to increase the intensity with the band resistance and improve your ability to counter its pull.  Great place to start to increase your intensity.

Rotation Exercises
These exercises start to move into the 'functional' realm of 'core' training.  Working on rotational movements either in a chop motion or a lift motion begin to mimic common movement patterns for life and sports.  These are highly customizable and the progressions are endless starting from kneeling, to half kneeling to standing and changing the position of the resistance.  Check out the video below where it breaks down both lifts and chops.
VIDEO

Things to Avoid and Why:

Crunches

This exercise focuses on what most people refer to as the 'core', the abs or rectus abdominis. While these muscles can look great and are what most people shoot for there is little to no (leaning more to the no) benefit functionally to this exercise.  Even with all the inventions in the world to take stress off your back and neck and shoulders it still doesn't make the exercise worth while.  Performing these over and over can be hard on your neck and back and put your spine into a terrible position.  It also adds to the long-term over flexion of your hips and can contribute to tight hip flexors.  It just isn't worth it.

Side Bends
Please just don't do this one.  It can get a good burn started but what are you actually working?  Laying supine or doing these standing people will argue that the obliques are getting hit and again you might feel a burn but if you really want to hit those muscles use the rotation exercises above, either the chop or the lift.  This one hurts to watch.

Leg Raises
This one is commonly used and often creates a good burn in the lower abdominals, either from a lying position or hanging (suspended) position.  When we think about the 'core' again you could argue that this works the hip flexors (psoas) and that should count but we tend to work these muscles more than we need to.  But if we call it an ab exercise it doesn't quite make sense. The movement of the abs occurs by brining the rib cage and pelvis closer and this motion plays second fiddle to the massive hip flexion that occurs. This again adds to your anterior hips getting tight and setting you up for a long list of chronic problems.

The 'core' can be a very confusing muscle group to train but the basics are always a good place to start and come back to.  A lot of your training for 'core' work can be done by bracing and setting yourself up for the rest of your training and that is all you need.  If you have favorite exercises please add them and feel free to start a discussion.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Mobility Monday: Don't Go Into the Pain Cave

By: Joel Luedke


This an early on video from one of our favorite sites to follow, Mobility WOD so excuse the long boarding antics at the beginning but Kelly Starrett touches on a lot of important areas in this video.

This is a great video for starting your work on your anterior hips which unless you've been doing this for awhile you are inevitably tight throughout this area.  Whether is be from poor posture or sitting for 8-10+ hours a day your anterior hips get wrecked and the two moves at the end are a great place to start.

The second major point in this video that is great is the talk about the PAIN CAVE.  I run into this all the time when I am describing foam rolling and self soft tissue work to someone.  You have to make it intense, that is the only way we are going to get something accomplished but you can't make it so intense that it causes you pain.  How do you know if it is that intense, too intense?  You make a "pain face"!  If you have to scrunch up your face because the pressure is too much, back off and start over again.  You'll get to those deep tissues, it just take a little time.  Happy rolling.

Areas of Help:
-Anterior hip pain
-Low back pain
-Tight/Stiff quads