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 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.

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).

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!

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.