PATRICK WARD'S BLOG

Blog is moving!!

2008-12-09T21:41:00.001-08:00

Well, I have decided to move my blog from this website to my own website. I appreciate everyone who has been reading over the past few years and hope that you will continue to join me at the new location.

My blog is now hosted on the Optimum Sports Performance server, and can be found here:
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/blog

And the RSS feed is here:
feed://optimumsportsperformance.com/blog/?feed=rss2

Please update your bookmarks and feeds. Thanks for reading!

Patrick

What Happened To My Skills?

2008-12-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

What happens to your sport performance if you don t train regularly?
- Jim

Jim,

Sorry to break it to you, but you either use it or lose it!

If you aren't constantly working on your skills, then you wont get better. If you don't work on your skills and you stop playing altogether, you are definetly not going to be as sharp as you were when you were competitive. Look at a pro-golfer or a pro-baseketball player. If the former doesn't practice working on his/her swing, then they wont improve (maybe this is why I suck at golf?) and if the later (the basketball player) doesn't constantly work on his shot, it will eventually go cold.

The same holds true for lifting weights and strength training. If you don't do a moderate amount of some strength work, you will start to get weaker and lose the ability to display optimal strength.

The take home message is train specifically for what you want - sports performance, strength, power, endurance, hypertrophy etc. - establish a training program that allows you to focus on one of these areas, while maintaining the other areas so that they do not get "de-trained" (you can check out my post on organization of training for more informatino on that).

If you would like more specific help on setting up a program for sports performance, please feel free to register at our free forum - http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/

Hope that helps.

Patrick
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/site/index.htm

Research: Tissue trauma: the underlying cause of overtraining syndrome?

2008-12-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Tissue trauma: the underlying cause of overtraining syndrome?

Smith LL. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2004 Feb ; 18(1): 185-193.

Abstract: An athlete who trains intensely, yet consistently underperforms, is considered to be suffering from overtraining syndrome (OTS). OTS is a complex state that involves a large variety of signs and symptoms. Symptoms include changes in mood or behaviour, decreases or increases in concentration of different blood molecules, and alterations in immune function. Although several hypotheses have been proposed, each only explains a selective aspect of OTS. Presently, the sole agreement is that OTS is associated with excessive training and insufficient rest and recovery. The hypothesis proposed in this paper suggests that excessive training/competing causes repetitive tissue trauma, either to muscle and/or connective tissue and/or to bony structures, and that this results in chronic inflammation. It is further proposed that traumatized tissue synthesizes a group of inflammatory molecules, cytokines. Cytokines have been shown to coordinate the different systems of the body to promote recovery. Suggestions are made to detect, prevent, and rehabilitate the overtrained athlete.

My Comments:

Since my last two articles were training related - Recovery and Regeneration For Strength Athletes (dealing with the aspect of recovery between workouts) and Organization of Training: High-Low and Undulating Periodization (an article on how to organize your training and giving you ideas about spacing out high stress workouts to promote balance in your training program) – I thought it would be fitting to post this article on over training syndrome.

This article went into tissue trauma and the effects it potentially has on other areas of the body due to an increase in chronic inflammation inflammation from overtraining.

Overtraining usually develops when there is an imbalance between work (especially intense work) and rest. In an nutshell, the body doesn't have the ability to catch up to the amount of stress you are placing on it. So it reaches a state of "burnout" or "staleness". It is not uncommon for an athlete to be training very intensely and rather than seeing improvements , they end up seeing a decrease in performance. It is important to note that there is a difference between overtraining and over-reaching. Over-reaching is a temporary decrease in performance, carried out for a brief period of time (a few days) after which the athlete rests and allows for a period of "supercompensation" to take place, the end result being a greater increase in performance (hopefully). Overtraining on the other hand is a condition where the athlete is unable to recover after a few days of rest (almost like a chronic state) and it may even take weeks or months for the athlete to be fully recovered (depending on their level of overtraining).

The paper gave some signs and symptoms of overtraining syndrome. There were a lot, so I will just list a few:

Performance Parameters
decreased performance
inability to meet previous standards
prolonged recovery
reduced toleration to loading
decreased muscular strength
decreased maximum work capacity

Physiological
changes in blood pressure
changes in heart rate at rest, during exercise, and during recovery
increased frequency of respiration
increased oxygen consumption at submaximal exercise intensities
decreased lean body mass

Psychological/behavioral
constant fatigue
reduced appetite
changes in sleep pattern
depression
general apathy
emotional instability
decreased self-esteem
fear of competition
gives up when the going gets tough

Information processing
loss of coordination
difficulty concentrating
reduced capacity to correct technical faults

Biochemical Parameters
rhabdomyolysis
negative nitrogen balance
elevated C-reactive protein
depressed muscle glycogen levels
decreased free testosterone
increased serum cortisol

Immunological Parameters
constant fatigue
headaches
nausea
complaints of muscle and joint aches and pains
gastrointestinal disturbance
muscle soreness tenderness
one-day colds
swelling of lymph glands
bacterial infections
increased susceptibility to and severity of illness, colds, and allergies

The paper then went on to give some recommendations for ways to prevent overtraining syndrome. A lot of these recommendations are things that I have talked about in the past, and some of them are things that recently came up in my past 2 articles. Here are a few of the things they said:

- Keep records of exercises, order of exercises, loads or resistance used, volume or exercise and rest between sets. Endurance athletes should record time trials, training details and racing results.

- Don't increase exercise intensity abruptly. Use periodization and a graded approach to training. Don't increase weekly training loads more than 10%.

- Have at least one complete day of rest each week. Also, be aware of the amount of rest needed between sets and exercises during resistance training.

- Vary hard and light days.

- Avoid to many competitions

- Eat a well balanced diet.

- Psychological stress may add to the physical stress of training. Psychological stressors could include competition, work and family pressure, selection pressure, international travel, funding and other life events. If external personal life stresses are high, reduce training load.

- Rest, active or passive, is probably the most important strategy. Rest withdraws the athlete from exposure to the harmful stimulus (training/competition) and simultaneously allows time for healing of any injured tissue. Rest/recovery should be an integral part of an effective training program.

The take home message from all this stuff is that you need to pay attention to your body and to your training. Properly designed training programs should allow for sufficient recovery inbetween intense bouts of training. It has often been said that "One workout wont make an athlete. But one workout can break an athlete." Trying to beat yourself into a pulp in the gym is not the best (or safest) ways to elevate your level of fitness. Understanding the goals and demands of training and learning how to structure your program is a critical aspect in the development of human performance (whether you are training for competition or just training to be an overall healthy person).

Patrick
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/site/index.htm

Organization Of Training: High-Low and Undulating Periodization

2008-12-05T06:11:00.001-08:00

Organization Of Training: High-Low and Undulating Periodization
By, Patrick Ward, MS, CSCS

Over the past few years I have been reading up on undulating periodization (books, research and attending lectures) and this past year I have read a bit about high-low training (which seems to have some similar principles of undulating periodization – there is so much semantics in all this stuff) and attended a lecture by an NFL strength coach who uses this model for his athletes. Also, James Smith of www.elitefts.com has a High/Low Training Manual that has a lot of his ideas and templates in it as well.

For awhile now I have been using these ideas in my clients training programs and for myself and have been pleased with the results I have been getting in terms of overall increases in level of fitness, strength and power. I have listed a few templates you can try out on yourself or your clients/athletes. If you do try it out, please send me some feedback, as I am always looking for ways to improve upon things and make myself (and my clients) better.

Classifying Your Rep Ranges

Before we get into the definitions of high-low and undulating periodization, we need to first classify our rep ranges. Classifying our rep ranges does a few things for us. First, it lets us know the goal of a certain rep range we are working in. Second, it allows us to understand which rep ranges are more neurologically stressful than others, allowing us to organize our program to prevent over-training or burn out from doing too much to often.

There have been many names given to rep ranges over the past years - max effort, strength, limit strength, endurance, hypertrophy, and on and on. I’ll list a few of the names people may use to describe certain intensities; but for simplicity, I’ll just bold the basic terms that people are familiar with and those will be the terms I use through out the rest of the article.

Power/Dynamic Effort – 1-5 reps with intensities depending on the exercise choosen and the goal. For plyometrics or medicine ball exercises, reps can be 3-10 per set.

Very Heavy/Limit Strength/Max Effort – 1-3 reps per set

Heavy/Submax effort – 4-6 reps per set

Muscle Endurance/Hypertrophy/Moderate/Repetitive Effort – 8+ reps per set

The first three classifications (power, very heavy and heavy) are more stressful on the nervous system and the last classification (muscle endurance) is the least stressful on the nervous system – however it can be demanding on the metabolic system.

Now that we have an understanding of repetition/intensity classifications, we can begin to plan our training in an organized manner.

...If you would like to read the rest of this article, it is posted in its entirety in the Coaches' Corner at our website - Optimum Sports Performance Forum so please register (free) to check it, and some of our other articles out.

Patrick Ward MS, CSCS
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/site/index.htm

Recovery and Regeneration for Strength Athletes

2008-12-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

Scott Bird hosts a really great site for strength athletes and lovers of the iron game - Straight To The Bar.

Everyday he posts a few articles and/or blog entires on strength training. Today, he was nice enough to post my newest article - Recovery and Regeneration For Strength Athletes

So shoot on over to his site and check it out!

If you haven't done so yet, come on over and register for the Optimum Sports Performance Forum.
I am going to start adding some new articles on training and you wont want to miss out.

Keep your eye on this blog for updates!

Patrick Ward MS, CSCS
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/site/index.htm

A big THANKS and a follow up question to the NMT-course I took

2008-12-02T10:18:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to thank everyone who has joined the forum so far. I think it is going to be a really amazing resource for athletes, coaches, trainers, and general population individuals. I plan on putting together a few articles to post on the forum about some of the ideas I have on training and some of the templates I have used in the past.

As a bonus, for the month of december you can join as a premium member for $15 (regularly it is $20/month) to try it out (the rate goes back up to the normal $20 in january) and get some program design assistance and online coaching. The other option is that you can pay for the year for $150 (regularly $200) in the month of december only. These are two generous deals we are offering for the holiday season so act now!

NMT-course Question
what did you think about the whole leptin portion of the lecture? Truth be told, I am nonplussed. While leptin may be the key to every illness known to man, in my state it has nothing to do with massage therapy, - it's out of scope for us. I've taken 2 of Judy's workshops, and I would've appreciated more palpation/assessment stuff, and less leptin.

-Joe

Hello Joe, thanks for reading the blog and asking the question. Personally, I loved the leptin portion of the lecture! However, my general staudy interests center around exercise science and physiology (I am a big nerd!) so leptin is something that I have read a pretty good deal about over the past several years.

I understand what you are saying about it being "out of the scope of practice" for a massage therapist. Judy was pretty adamant about the fact that we NEED to operate within our scope of practice but we also need to understand when to refer out. As she said in her lecture, "if you are doing everything right, and you are not seeing some dramatic results in 4-5 visits, it is time to consider other options." She was also very specific about thinking globally when assessing clients. Don't just think - "shoulder hurts so it must be the shoulder" - you need to look for the why's. Sometimes those why's are in the form of postural issues in other areas besides the shoulder, sometimes those why's are in issues with trigger points, sometimes those why's may be in referral patters from organs and sometimes those why's can be due to dietary and hormonal problems/considerations.

Being able to think critically when assessing your clients is something that sets a great therapist apart from an average one. Unfortunately for me, the two areas of I have choosen to work in - personal training and massage therapy - are over populuated with people who drag the profession(s) down because they don't advance their education enough to understand the science behind what they are doing. This is one of the reasons why trainers and massage therapists get looked down upon in the world of allied health professionals. Just because I am a personal trainer or a massage therapist does not give me a free pass to be uninformed or uneducated! The more knowledge I have, the better results I can get with my clients AND the better understanding I have of their situation to know when to refer out to other health care professionals becauseI can't give them what they need. In addition, I can speak to those professionals on a scientific level, which helps to progress our profession forward and become more accepted in the medical community.

Even though things are out of our scope of pracitce, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't study them, learn about them, and be prepared to deal with them when they show themselves in our treatment rooms. I appreciate what Judith Delany is trying to do for the massage community and I hope that others like her continue to help raise the bar of what is expected from massage therapists.

Patrick
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/site/index.htm
http://pwtraining.blogspot.com/

New Website!!

2008-12-01T05:18:00.001-08:00

The Optimum Sports Performance Website has been re-done! We have re-vamped everything and updated our service page. You can also subscribe to our newsletter on the home page and get updates and information about Optimum Sports Performance:

Optimum Sports Performance

Also, we have started a forum. The forum is free and we hope to get some really great discussion in there, not just about training for sports, but training for general health and wellness. There is something for everyone in the forum, so check it out:

Optimum Sports Performance Forum

We are very excited about the new changes and hope that you like them.

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com/site/index.htm
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/forum/

Saturday 11/29/08 - News

2008-11-29T13:32:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Unfortunately the football wasn't so great this year with 3 blow out games! Oh well.

We have some very exciting stuff coming up from Optimum Sports Performance in the next few days. We are re-doing the website and we are also going to be adding on a free forum. There will be discussion boards on topics like Sports Performance Training, Youth Strength and Conditioning (so if you are a coach, parent or youth athlete, be sure to check in and ask questions!), General Health and Wellness, Nutrition, Posture and Injury Prevention. In addition, there is going to be a forum where you can keep a training log and get feedback and encouragement on your training program and there is a board for Strength Coaches and Trainers to discuss training ideas or brainstorm on programs for clients. We are also adding a "premium members" section to the forum for those that want individual online coaching (the fee is minimal).

It should be a really great discussion board and our main goal is to help people enhance their human performance, whether you are training for a competition or just looking to stay fit. Keep checking back here for updates on when we make the forum public (hopefully in the next few days).

We took all the pictures for my eBook and hopefully it will be ready to go out next weekend.

Since it is starting to cool down here in Pheonix, Optimum Sports Performance is going to be offering outdoor group training. It will be 4-5 people per group ($20 per person) and we will be out at the track or the park - depending on your location. I'll bring everything we need (medicine balls, bands, kettlebells, etc) and it should be a really great time. The training programs are going to be comprehensive and REAL training! Not like the 20-person boot camps you see around the greater phoenix area where they have people just running around doing nonsense. Our programs will have specific objectives for the training day and we want to make sure that you get the most out the session. Please shoot me an email for more details, dates and times. patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com.

Tell your friends too! A great way to kick off the holiday season, or get a jump start on your New Years goals is to grab some friends and do group training, and at $20 a session you wont find a better deal in the city (if you do, then chances are you are in a group of 20-30 people, which means the individual attention and the attention to detail is not going to be there).

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Neuromuscular Therapy for the Cranium and Cervical Region

2008-11-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

Another continuing education course in the books!

I spent this weekend at a workshop put on by the NMT Center. It was Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) for the cranium and cervical region. It was awesome! Our teacher was Judith Delany, the head of the NMT Center and the co-author, along with Leon Chaitow, of Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques vol. 1 and vol. 2. It was a real treat. The first day she lectured about not only neuromuscular therapy, but also about inflammation and chronic illness and how leptin potentially plays into all of that. She really made it a point to drive home the fact that massage therapists (and therapists of all kinds really) need to think global about their clients/patients problems and not just think local and be so myopic. The following two days were a combination of anatomy lecture and hands on work for the cranium and cervical region. It was the first time I have ever worked on the muscles inside of the mouth and it was also the first time I have ever worked directly on the anterior portion of the cervical spine, done so by taking one hand and CAREFULLY displacing the esophagus, hyoid and thyroid cartilage towards the mid line of the body so that you can access the logus coli and longus capitis (intense stuff!). The work was challenging but something that I am really going to strive to be good at because (a) this work is extremely important and a lot of people NEED it and (b) not very many people are doing this work at all.

Overall, I would recommend this course to anyone in the field of massage therapy, chiropractic, physical therapy, osteopathy, medical doctors and dentists. Judith is an incredible teacher with a wealth of knowledge (on far more topics than just massage therapy) and a ton of experience. So far, I have take 2 out of the 4 NMT courses that the NMT center conducts (the other two being lower and upper extremity and then you can sit for the test to be certified) and I must say I am very impressed. These are some of the best workshops I have attended (and I have attended tons). If you are working in a clinical environment, do yourself a favor and check these workshops out. They are more than worth it.

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Thursday 11/20/08 – Notes

2008-11-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

Since I will be in a workshop starting tomorrow and going through the entire weekend, I decided to do this weeks notes today.

Listen To Your Body...

It is trying to tell you something!

I was done at the Staley’s Bed and Barbell today to do some work on Phil’s shoulder, and Charles, Phil and I got into a conversation about pain and how it affects the things we do. Charles said he wished we had recorded the conversation because there was some good information coming out. Basically, listen to your body! Whether you are a runner, a lifter, an MMA guy or a weekend warrior, those aching and nagging pains are there for a reason. The worst phrase in the English language is “maybe it will go away.” Nothing just goes away. Pain has the ability to change the way we move, lift and perform every day activities. Unfortunately, this leads to more pain (usually somewhere else). If something hurts, try and find out why (or find someone who can at least give you an idea as to why it hurts) and give the muscle or joint or whatever is bothering you a break! Don’t try and train through it or hope that “this time it wont hurt as much.”

Paying Your Trainer

I was at the gym working today and I saw the usual trainers doing their usual nonsense. Honestly, with the economy in the dumps, let me help you save some money…If you are paying a trainer to watch you perform exercises on machines…STOP! I can’t think of a bigger waste of money (and time). Seriously, your trainer should be teaching you how to perform real exercises and should be competent enough to coach you through things like squats, deadlifts, push ups, bench press, rows, chin ups, and lunging or other single leg movements. I can’t believe that people are content with paying someone to basically “hang out” with them during their workout, because honestly, that is all your trainer is really doing if you are sitting on a machine and they are counting your reps for you.

Justifying Poor Exercise Programs

I got an email from a girl asking me what she was doing wrong. She had been trying to lose weight for the past 4 years by performing walking and various exercise DVDs (taebo, Jillian Michaels something or other, etc). I read through her email and told her that she should look into changing her program to more resistance training and do some intervals instead of the usual walking that she is doing. I typed out a few ideas for her as far as training and how to set things up. She then replied back “you don’t think those are good DVDs? I think they are good workouts!” She seemed upset with my answer, almost like she was angry because I didn’t validate what she was doing. I really don’t get it. You take the time to email me and ask my opinion. I take the time to answer you and then you want to fight with me about my answer. I emailed her back that I am not familiar with the DVDs, but that clearly what she is doing is not working, and has not been working for the past 4 years. If something is working for you, then stick with it. But if you have been trying to do the same thing for any significant amount of time (like 4 years) and nothing is happening, I think it is time to make a change.

E-Book

I have been typing a lot lately to hopefully release my own E-Book very soon and I will get details more details out about it as quickly as I can.

I’ll be away from my computer for the next three days at a workshop, so don’t be upset if I don’t reply to your emails or questions right away. But, please keep them coming. I have been getting lots of great questions about working out and exercise lately!

Patrick
Patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Some Things Never Change

2008-11-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

An article was published today on http://www.sciencedaily.com/ titled, “Ban on Fast Food TV Advertising Would Reduce Childhood Obesity Trends, Study Shows”.

Basically the study claimed that if we could ban fast food advertising during children and adolescent TV shows, the number of obese youth would begin to fall.

While I wouldn’t mind seeing the fast food advertising taken off the air (or just banned altogether as I find it to be total junk), “some things will never change”:

Even if you stop the advertising during television shows, kids still need to get up and move and get exercise and participate in activities that don’t involve playing video games and sitting there watching television.
Even if you took away fast food advertising and kids ate less fast food than in previous years, they still are going to be eating junk because no one is educating them on proper nutrition.
Their parents are not educating them on proper nutrition! Usually the parents are overweight/obese themselves. The plan needs to be family health plan with everyone on board, making an effort to live healthy, if you want to make it work.
Even if kids see these fast food commercials on television, guess who takes them to the restaurants (if you can even call them restaurants) and pays for the food…the parents!! How hard is it to say, “NO! We are eating a healthy meal at home tonight”?

The only way people are going to make a difference is by getting up and doing it themselves. No one can do your exercise for you and no one can eat your diet for you. You have to take control of your own life if you want to make a difference. All this stuff about banning fast food advertising during commercials and video game systems that have you standing up and moving your arms around or come with a “yoga” video game are silly. Turn the TV off, go outside and play. Be active.

I’d like to believe that we will some day change the trend of obesity in America and people will start to take pride in their health. Unfortunately, I just see people getting lazier and their kids following suit.

Patrick
Patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Friday 11/14/08 – Notes

2008-11-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

1. Buying into the system is important. It doesn’t matter if you are training one client or a team of 20. The athletes (or clients), the coaches and the parents have to buy into what you are doing if you ever want to make some progress. I was talking with a friend who coach’s high school football and he proposed that the 12 and 13-year old boys start lifting this year to prepare for next year. This was met with some resentment from the other coaches, who felt that the 12-13 year old boys were “to young” to lift. This is nonsense! At 12-13 years old, those boys need to begin learning proper movement patterns and working on developing some base levels of strength and conditioning. My friends idea was to have those kids start learning body weight squats, lunges, push ups, and pull ups…the basics!! You don’t need to load them up with a whole bunch of weight at that age. You just need to allow them a platform to learn!

2. Being a strength coach doesn’t just take place in the gym. You need to get out and work with your athletes on the field, track or court. You need to observe practice and see what they do and HOW they do it. Knowing this will help you make modifications to your program, which can help improve the players’ abilities.

3. Speaking of being out of the weight room – I spent yesterday morning on the driving range with golf pro Tim Schrader of Kinetic Golf Systems. I had a great time talking to Tim about his ideas on the golf swing and making people not just better golfers, but better people! Tim is really into the power of the mind and visualizing everything. He took a little red basket and put it out about 30 yards on the driving range. Stared at it and visualized his shot and believed 100% that every time he hit the ball it would go into the basket. Every single shot he took was right around the basket and it was amazing when he was even sinking them. He then took it a step further and grabbed a left-handed club and did the same thing! It was awesome! He is a really passionate and dynamic guy and one of the first golf coaches I have spoken with who actually talks about the biomechanics of the swing and ground reaction force and things of that nature.

4. One more week to go and then I will be doing some more continuing education. I am taking another class in Neuromuscular Therapy (a type of soft tissue modality). This one is on the Cranium and Cervical region and it is put on by the NMT Center (http://nmtcenter.com/). I am really excited! Hooray for education!!

5. Online coaching and consulting is available for anyone interested. I got some really great feed back from a high school football player that I helped out this year:

Patrick has been awesome directing me in the right way to go about training for football this season. I was at a loss for what to do to get ready in the off-season and he set up workouts that worked and were easy to understand. I can tell a great difference from the workouts he set up for me from the ones in previous years, that I just did by my own knowledge.

In my 4 seasons of football 2 out of 4 seasons I suffered injuries that basically ruined my season and this most recent season I can say without a doubt has been the best.

At the start of the season I could immediately see a difference - I was better conditioned than all of my teammates, I had greater strength and endurance, and was just overall way more prepared than anyone on the team. There are two more games left this season and I have been injury free and have dominated opponents with huge size advantages. With proper training I have gained injury prevention, strength, speed, and agility and I am at the best I have ever been thanks to Patrick.

It is really not a good idea to train without the help of someone else. Over-training is very easy to do and you can mess your body up and ruin your season. Instead, get help from someone that knows what they are talking about like Patrick. I did and knowing that I trained correctly and seeing the results on the field was a great feeling.

--Mark Cole-High school athlete

If interested, just shoot me an email: Patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Have a great weekend everyone!

Patrick

Soft Tissue Self Care

2008-11-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

I just stumbled upon the blog of Richard Poley, Feel Better Fast.

Pretty cool blog to check out, as it is all about selft soft tissue work and various ways to work out the "kinks" in your armour.

Check it out!

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Warming Up For A Run

2008-11-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was down at the Phoenix 10K this past weekend doing free stretching/sports massage for the runners. I got there very early to do some pre-event sports massage for some of the runners that I know. Basically the idea is to get the muscles warm, get the blood flowing and get the joints moving. This was especially important because it was kind of chilly that morning (it does get chilly in Phoenix!). Usually after about 10min. of work, I would have them get up and go do the rest of their warm ups (their “running stuff”).

I will say, I can’t believe the amount of people I saw out there still sitting around and static stretching everything (especially since it was cold). The whole idea of the warm up is to WARM UP. You need to increase circulation and do something that challenges the body to “wake up”, not relax (as static stretching does).

Warm ups should start with slower, more controlled movements and then move towards more dynamic movements which get the body ready for competition.

A warm up prior to a run may look something like this:

Ankle circles
Hip circles
Body weight squats
Forward lunges
Side lunges
Hand walkouts
Jumping jacks
Leg swings – forward and backward
Leg sings – side to side
Stride outs (50-60m of about 6-10 reps each building in intensity and focusing on perfect technique)

After the warm up, your body should feel nice and loose and your muscles should feel warm. You should then fuel up and be ready to go race!

Once the race is completed, then you should seek out some stretching and post even massage work to help the tissue recover from the work you just ask it to do.

Unfortunately, just about every person I worked on had some sort of problem! Back pain, knee pain, “sciatica”, and the list goes on and on. Very few people were actually healthy (in terms of tissue/joint health, not cardiovascular health, which obviously most were fine in that department). The other amazing thing about this is that most of these people just assumed that what they were experiencing was something that is going to happen every time they run and that they would just “live with it” if they wanted to continue running.

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me. I was doing a lot of hands on work and a lot of education work: showing people what to stretch and how to stretch it and showing people how to use the foam roller and which muscles to use it on.

Self-care is critical in any sport. You need to make sure that the tissue is healthy so that it can do what you want it to do. Seek out professionals in the field that can help you educate you on this.

A new thing I am doing for runners is track work. I will come out to the track with you and we will do some technique work, some training and movement based work, and flexibility/mobility work to enhance the way that you perform. I’ll teach you exercises, we will talk about your overall program, and I will teach you some things you can do for soft tissue care and flexibility.

If you are interested, just shoot me an email!

Patrick
Patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Sports Massage

2008-11-07T06:28:00.000-08:00

This article from 9/23/2008 was sent to me on sports massage. Pretty nice read. I am trying to get the full study that they quote in the article so that I can do a research review here. Usually studies in sports massage therapy are difficult for a variety of reasons. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

If anyone is looking for this kind of work in the Phoenix area, don't hesitate to contact me!

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Article Located Here

Study: Massage does help with muscle recovery

By Cynthia Billhartz Gregorian

MCT

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps got a massage twice a day in Beijing. His teammate, Dara Torres, had two massage therapists on stand-by.

And a bunch of sedated rabbits in Ohio recently had massage performed on their legs after bouts of intense exercise.

Phelps, 23, made history by winning eight gold medals. Torres, 41, became the oldest swimmer to compete in an Olympic event and win a silver medal.

As for the rabbits? They might have proved scientifically what athletes and trainers have long believed: Massage really does help with muscle recovery.

According to a recent study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at Ohio State University found that Swedish massage helped speed muscle recovery at the cellular level for rabbits who got mechanically intense exercise.

Athletes also use Swedish massage _ stroking, kneading and pressing soft tissue. Thomas Best, professor of family medicine at Ohio State University and senior author of the rabbit study, said it's too soon for clinical trials on humans. But he considers the rabbits a strong start toward confirming massage's benefits to athletes.

Best said he hopes further research "will dictate how much massage is needed, for how long and when it should be performed after exercise."

In the study, researchers used a mechanical device to create a motion similar to the way quadriceps in human thighs move when running downhill.

Afterward, some rabbits got Swedish massage, others did not but were rested. Scientists found that the muscles of the massaged rabbits had improved function, less swelling and fewer signs of inflammation than did muscles in non-massaged rabbits.

WHAT THE RAMS DO

Those findings don't surprise Jim Anderson, athletic trainer for the St. Louis Rams. He remembers players getting massaged 25 years ago. More than half the players get massages now, he said. They hire their own massage therapists, who massage them the day after a game, Anderson said. Many follow up with another the day before a game to loosen their muscles, a process that relaxes them mentally.

"The way their bodies feel after a game, if something can alleviate that pain and soreness, they look at it as something good," Anderson said. "It gets fresh (oxygenated) blood in there, and getting fresh blood to an area helps speed recovery."

Muscles produce lactic acid during intense workouts, said Ethel Frese, a professor of physical therapy at St. Louis University and a cardiovascular and pulmonary specialist. The more intense the workout, the more lactic acid is produced. And the greater the accumulation of lactic acid, the more fatigued _ and painful _ the muscle becomes.

Lactic acid will dissipate on its own, but enhancing blood circulation helps get rid of it quicker. That helps relieve muscle cramps and spasms, she said.

Rams players make six- and often seven-figure salaries so they can afford massages whenever they want. College athletic programs and their athletes, on the other hand, usually can't afford such luxuries.

At Washington University, for instance, a chiropractic-massage therapist visits once a week, providing services to the all student athletes. But the time slots are limited.

Meanwhile Rick Larsen, head athletic trainer, and his team of therapists provide physical therapy, which might include massage of specific body parts, to injured athletes.

"We use it as an adjunct for other types of modalities that enhance the healing process, such as electronic muscle stimulation, heat, cold, ultrasound," Larsen said.

Swim coach Brad Shively estimates that if Washington U. has 300 athletes, a third of them could benefit greatly from massage at any given time.

"Massage makes a great difference," Shively said. "My swimmers use rollers on their legs and shoulders after intense workouts, and it's manual and self-applied, but it works."

At national competitions, he said, it's not unusual for swim teams _ Division I ones in particular _ to bring their own massage therapists.

GOING MAINSTREAM

Cynthia Riberio, vice president of the American Massage Therapy Association, says she has trained several thousand therapists specifically for sports massage. Today, there are more than 265,000 massage therapists nationwide and, of those, 40 percent provide sports massage. Massage therapists have become an established part of many athletes' training teams, which include doctors, chiropractors, psychologists and nutritionists.

Referrals are often made to massage therapists when, for example, athletes complain of sciatic pain that physicians and psychologists can't find an explanation for. Fatigued muscles can get so tight that they press on nerves, producing pain.

But Riberio has seen massage go beyond just helping with recovery from injuries and suggests using it during all phases of competition.

Before athletic events, a massage therapist can help athletes warm up by jostling and stretching the muscles and using circular friction and simple compression on specific body parts. This can continue, only more gently, during competition when the muscles are fatigued. And after an event, Swedish massage is best, Riberio said.

That's up for debate, says Mark Frank of St. Louis Rehabilitative and Sports Massage in Creve Coeur, Mo. He says there are about 200 approaches to massage and that he's had success with myofascial therapy which targets tissue rather than specific muscles.

Whatever the case, experts have long touted other means of reducing soreness and swelling after hard, prolonged exercise, such as icing overworked muscles, taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and properly cooling down. Cool-downs, during which activity is gradually decreased rather than abruptly stopping, prevents lactic acid from pooling in tired muscles.

Frese thinks massage also may do something else: promote the release of endorphins, a natural sedative that alleviates pain and produces a general sense of well-being. Massage is also more beneficial as athletes age, she said.

"The more fit you are, the less lactic acid you produce at a given workload and the faster you clear it," she said. "As you age, you're not as fit. You'll never be at 70 what you were at 20 and you do tend to lose flexibility."

Has anyone told Dara Torres?

Massage Case Study

2008-11-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

It seems that there has been a lot of interest in my last entry on Trigger Points. I have gotten a lot of great feedback and questions (please keep the questions coming!) about how to work certain muscles or what to look for, etc.

Since people seem to be interested in soft tissue work, I decided to post up a case study that I have been doing on Phil, a powerlifter. The case study can be read at Charles Staley's website, http://www.teamstaley.com/

The direct link to the case study can be found here:

Phil's Journey From Lame to Fame

As always, please feel free to ask questions!

Patrick

Trigger Point 101

2008-11-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Trigger Point 101

Training hard comes with a price. That price is usually some sort of nagging pain or injury that we typically just assume will be with us for the rest of our lives.

“Oh yea, it is just my bad shoulder. It always aches after I bench.”

“You know how that knee is. There is usually a dull pain in there all the time.”

Oftentimes, these injuries can be alleviated by some soft tissue work and stretching. There are a variety of different types of soft tissue work:

Active Release Techniques (ART)
Myofascial Release (MFR)
Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT)

And the list goes on and on. I believe that all types of soft tissue work have their place and what may be more important than seeking out a specific type of soft tissue work, is just getting SOMETHING done by a skilled therapist.

A term that gets thrown around by massage therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors and has recently been making its way into the strength and conditioning world, is the term “trigger point.” Since people seem to be talking about trigger points more and more, I decided to give you are run down of exactly what a trigger point is, why we should care about them, and what we can do about them.

What is a trigger point?

While some may tell you that trigger points are tender areas in the muscle, this is actually not entirely true! One key characteristic of trigger points is that they are tender to touch, however, every tender area is not a trigger point.

If an area of a muscle is just tender, but does not have the other characteristics of trigger points, then the area is just a “tender point”. These tender points are areas of congestion, where tissue may be ischemic (lacking blood flow), fibrotic, or there may be a lot of scar tissue matted down in the particular area of stress.

Trigger points are areas of taught, hyper-contracted bands/nodules within a muscle. They are tender to touch and have a predicted pain referral pattern. These hyper-contracted nodules within the muscle are palpable and will often feel like little peas or semi-cooked spaghetti. A visual example, would be this picture of some trigger points inside the Sterocleidomastoid:

As you can see, there are a few small contracted nodules, within the fibers that are at normal resting length.

The trigger points can be either active or latent.

A latent trigger point means that it only sends its pain referral pattern when you touch it. For example, if you take a tennis ball and place it between your scapula and your spine, you may push into a trigger point in the rhomboids, which will give you this radiating or dull ache all over the upper back area. If you didn’t push into that area with the trigger point, you would not know it was there. This is a latent trigger point. It only refers when you press into it.

An active trigger point is one, which is currently referring its myofascial pain response. A good example of this, is if you ever had a headache, and you pinched your upper traps, and in doing so were able to produce your symptoms (IE, the headache or that ache through the top of your head and behind your eyes), congratulations, you found an active trigger point!

Trigger points usually can be found in clusters. So, if you de-activate one (I’ll tell you how in a second), then you have to search out and try and de-activate the others within that muscle. This may take some time, and may be very intense, so you might want to do it over a few sessions.

Another thing to consider is that trigger points are not just located within the belly of the muscle. They can also be located in tendonus attachment of the muscle and, even some trigger point referral patterns have been documented ligaments - good examples of this would be the pain referral pattern for the sacrotuberous ligament, which refers a pain pattern down the back of the leg and into the calf (similar to what people may diagnose as or call sciatica) and the pain referral pattern for the iliolumbar ligament which is can be felt in the groin or pain on the outside of the hip (what some may diagnose as or refer to as trochanteric bursitis).

What Muscles Can Develop Trigger Points?

No man is safe!

Any muscle can develop a trigger point and there are several books documenting where these trigger point referral patterns are (Travell and Simons opus Myofascial Pain and Dysfuction: The Trigger Point Manual; Vol 1 (the upper extremity) and Vol. 2 (the lower extremity) are the most comprehensive and widely accepted books on the topic of trigger points).

A lot of times, trigger points can be found in muscles, which are antagonistic to muscles that are constantly contracted. An example of this would be the infraspinatus, always trying to exert an eccentric force on someone’s shoulder who sits at a desk all day, typing away in a chronically internally rotated position. After awhile, the infraspinatus gets tired and lengthens, however there are bands of that muscle, which stay contracted (trigger points!) to try and counteract the internal rotation force and overtime these bands can present their pain referral pattern. One of the pain referral patterns for the infraspinatus is to the front of the shoulder, where people will often say that they got a diagnosis of bicipital tendonitis or impingement. It is not uncommon for someone to come to see me with pain in the front of his or her shoulder (near or around the biciptal groove) and say that they think they have impingement. Upon inspecting their infraspinatus, I can find the trigger points and when I push into them, and ask how it feels and if they feel pain or sensation anywhere else, they comment that they feel the pain in the front of their shoulders and it is the same pain that they feel through out the day. On more than one occasion, I have de-activated trigger points in someone’s infraspinatus and they left totally pain free.

Trigger points can also be found in muscles that are under chronic contraction. A good example of this may be the upper traps or the sub occipital muscles (or even the pectoralis major from the above example! Another common example would be trigger points in the Psoas with people who are always in an anterior pelvic tilt). The upper traps or sub occipitals may develop trigger points from being over contracted all day as individuals sit at their desk with poor posture. Both of these muscles have pain referral patterns that go up into the head and behind or just above the eyes. It is no wonder that people who work desk jobs get such frequent headaches!!

So basically, any muscle can develop a trigger point for any number of reasons.

From Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques by Leon Chaitow and Judith Walker-Delaney (Vol 2, pg. 20):

Primary activating factors:

- Persistent muscular contraction, strain or overuse (emotional or physical cause)

- Trauma (local inflammatory reaction)

- Adverse environmental conditions (cold, heat, damp, draughts, etc)

- Prolonged immobility

- Febrile illness

- Systemic biochemical imbalance (e.g. hormonal, nutritional)

Secondary activating factors:

- Compensating synergist and antagonist muscles to those housing triggers may also develop triggers

- Satellite triggers evolve in referral zone (from key triggers or visceral disease referral, e.g., myocardial infarct)

- Infections

- Allergies (food and other)

- Nutritional deficiency (especially C, B-complex and iron)

- Hormonal imbalance (thyroid, in particular)

- Low oxygenation of tissues

The key is, knowing where to look and what to do when you find one!

Why Should We Care About Trigger Points?

The first and obvious reason to care about trigger points is BECAUSE THEY HURT! Basically, anything that hurts is going to alter the way that we move. This in turn, leads to other dysfunctions and problems and potentially more trigger point development.

Aside from altering the way that we move, when we are in pain, we psychologically don’t feel good! No one likes to be in pain or miss time playing their sport or training because they hurt.

Common clinical characteristics of trigger points are:

-There may be pain upon contraction – Again, no one likes to hurt. If it hurts to contract, we don’t want to contract.

-Pain during stretching of the muscle at certain ranges of motion – If it hurts to take a muscle through a certain range of motion, then we stop doing it or we limit that range of motion, leading to more problems.

- Muscle weakness – This is a big one!! If muscles are weak, then they can’t optimally do their job. An example of this is trigger points in the Psoas or the glute medius, making those muscles test weak, and causing other problems down the chain. This is also an important aspect, as we often times think of muscles that test weak as muscles that need to be strengthened. However, what happens when you try and strengthen a muscle (causing it to contract more) that has taught bands, which are already hyper-contracted? Not a whole lot, that’s what! You may end up just chasing your tail trying to help that person!

In short, we should care about trigger points because they can negatively affect our performance!

What Can We Do About Trigger Points?

So now that we know what trigger points are, how they develop and why we should care about them, most people are probably wondering, “HOW DO I GET RID OF THEM?”

The method of getting rid of trigger points isn’t that hard. You just have to know what muscles to check, how to access the muscle (not just how to find it, but knowing which direction the fibers run can be very helpful), and how to release the trigger point.

If you are rolling on a foam roller or tennis ball or if you are performing trigger point therapy on someone else, you are going to want to look for trigger points that refer to the area of the body that the person is complaining of pain. A great book that I recommend often is The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your self-treatment guide for pain relief by Clair Davies. It is basically a “how to” book for finding trigger points and where there pain referral patterns are. Each chapter deals with a region of the body and the first page of each chapter has various places that people may feel pain (IE, anterior shoulder pain) and then the muscles and page numbers those muscles can be found on which refer pain to this area (IE, the muscles which can refer to the anterior shoulder are infraspinatus, anterior deltoid, scalenes, supraspinatus, pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, biceps, latissimus doris, coracobrachialis). It then tells you exactly how to work those muscles! It may be the best $20 you ever spend (assuming that you already purchased a foam roller).

Once you have found and confirmed your trigger point, you need to set up a barrier, which breaks apart the actin and myosin (the contractile proteins within the sarcomere) which are bound together due to the chronic contraction in the specific band of the muscle.

This barrier can be created with your fingers (as in the picture) or with any one of the self- care tools available today (e.g. foam roll, the stick, thera-cane, trigger point ball, tennis ball, etc). A lot of people like to take the foam roller and roll back and forth on it. This is okay, as it helps to address the fascia, improves circulation to the tissue and can help to break up adhesions. But, if you want to de-activate the trigger point, you need to stop on the tender area that is referring pain and hold your pressure until it begins to release and the pain starts to dissipate.

The amount of time that you hold the trigger point has been debated over the years, but it appears that approximately 8-12 seconds is the accepted amount of time. It is important to note that if you are pushing and it isn’t releasing, you may be giving it to much pressure and just blasting through superficial tissue and/or more superficial trigger points. Also, if the trigger point doesn’t release after a short period of time, you may want to mark the area (with a pen or something that will wash off) and work other areas of the muscle and come back to it, as trigger point therapy can get very intense and this intensity may not allow the trigger point to release right away. The real key is to give the trigger point just enough pressure to start to feel it release (and confirm that with a slight dissipation of the referral symptoms) and then start to go deeper and work through the next barrier.

How much pressure is enough?

A little bit goes a long way with this. In the past, it was suggested that you hold pressure the trigger point at the individuals’ pain tolerance of a 7-8/10 (10 being excruciating pain). It is now accepted that even a 7-8/10 may be to high to get a proper release, so authors and researchers suggest holding the trigger point at a level of a 5/10 until the individual experiences a decrease in symptoms, at which point you can either go deeper into the tissue (look for trigger points that are in deeper muscles) or move to another location and search for trigger points (the trigger point clusters that I referred to above).

It is important to know that this sustained compression is what will help to alleviate the trigger point. If you only hold for a short period of time, and don’t continue with the treatment, the shortened nodule within the muscle will return to its previous state and very little therapeutic benefit will be gained.

So, to review:

- Find the trigger point

- Hold pressure at a 5/10

- Wait for the tissue to release (you can feel it soften under your skin or, the person will begin to feel a decrease in the pain referral pattern)

- Once the tissue releases and the referral starts to dissipate, either go deeper into the tissue or move on and look for other trigger points in the cluster

Once the trigger points have been de-activated and “order has been restored to the muscle”, you can go ahead and roll the muscle out to promote some blood flow to the area, stretch the tissue (if it is a muscle which needs stretching) and strengthen the tissue.

Things To Consider

- Remember, not all tender areas are trigger points. They may be tender points where tissue is ischemic, scarred up, or fibrotic. This may require other forms of soft tissue therapy.

- Trigger points are not (usually not) the only problem. They are usually part of a bigger problem that has to do with other soft tissue dysfunctions. You should seek out a therapist who can work with you to determine what the underlying problems are.

- Self Care is important! Make sure you are foam rolling and working on your soft tissue. Make sure your training program is developed properly to limit tissue stress and overuse.

- Soft tissue work, foam rolling and proper strength exercises are essential in making sure that your tissue stays healthy and you stay pain free

- Be aware of your activities of daily living and your posture, so that you are not putting un-necessary stress on structures that don’t need it. So much of our pain and dysfunction comes back to how we operate on a daily basis. Altering activities of daily living, while difficult, are crucial in making lasting changes in your soft tissue.

- Just because you de-activate a trigger point, doesn’t mean that it can’t return!

- Always seek medical attention if you feel there is something more serious going on!

References

Simons D. Understanding Effective Treatments Of Myofascial Trigger Points. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2002. 6(2) 81-88.

Chaitow L, Walker-DeLany J. Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques, Vol. 1: The Upper Body. Elsevier Limited. 2000.

Chaitow L, Walker-DeLany J. Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques, Vol. 2: The Lower Body. Elsevier Limited. 2002.

Davies C. The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide For Pain Relief. 2^nd ed. New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 2004.

Archer P. Therapeutic Massage in Athletics. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. 2007.

Lecture notes from: Neuromuscular Therapy – American Version: Care of Soft Tissue Pain and Dysfunction. Judith Delany. International Academy of Neuromuscular Thearpies: NMT Training Center.

About the Author

Patrick Ward is the owner of Optimum Sports Performance LLC. He holds a Masters Degree in Exercise Science and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with the NSCA and a Performance Enhancement Specialist with the NASM. He is certified in Active Release Techniques (ART) for the upper extremity and is a few weeks away from completing the necessary requirements to be licensed as a massage therapist in the state of Arizona (where he currently resides). He has worked with athletes and general population clients of all ages and abilities on both exercise programs and soft tissue therapies. He can be reached at Patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com.

Why do I Get Hurt?

2008-11-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

This article ran a few days ago in the New York Times. Why do some get hurt more than others? I bolded a few things in the article below.

Enjoy,

Patrick
http://optimumsportsperformance.com/

New York Times - "Clues to Help Explain The Frequency of Injuries"

Clues to Help Explain the Frequency of Injuries

By GINA KOLATA
Published: October 29, 2008

The three women are all serious athletes, and they work together at a small research and development firm in New Jersey.

One had a single serious injury when she was a teenager doing gymnastics and skiing. One recently had a hairline crack in the tibia, a serious-overuse injury from running. And the third has had one injury after another for the last five years.

Which do you think is which:

¶Jennifer Davis, 38, runs almost every day, at least 10 miles, and wears her running shoes down to a nub. She has had surgery to remove half the meniscus in her left knee after she tore it exercising, and she is missing that piece of cartilage that stabilizes the joint.

¶Tara Martin, 30, is a triathlete who has competed in many triathlons including the Hawaii Ironman, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.

¶Birgit Unfried, 26, has been running competitively since high school. She also uses an elliptical cross-trainer, swims and takes spinning classes at her gym. She races in 5K and 10K events, never doing the long-distance training that is needed to run a marathon.

O.K., it’s a trick question.

Birgit has chronic injuries — either her knee hurts or she has excruciating shinsplints that keep her from running.

Jen, who is my workout partner, tore her meniscus, the cartilage that helps stabilize the knee, when she was a teenager. She had surgery at 15 and has not had a serious injury since.

And Tara, who is part of a running group that Jen and I belong to, had the hairline crack, a stress fracture, in 2006. The injury, which was devastating and which took three months to heal, occurred just when she was trying to increase her mileage for fall marathons.

And that leads to some of the most difficult problems in exercise science: Why do some people become injured even though, like Birgit, they try to do everything right while others, like Jen, who flout every rule, avoid injury? And how can the injury-prone protect themselves?

Exercise scientists say they have a few answers that can help with some common injuries. But all too often injuries remain a mystery and people may have to figure out how much exercise is too much for themselves and what sort of routines tend to produce injuries.

“We don’t have enough definitive evidence to say, ‘This causes an injury and even if you don’t have an injury you should change it,’ ” said Stephen Messier, who directs the biomechanics lab at Wake Forest University. Much of the work focuses on running injuries. But the same principles apply to swimming, tennis, bicycling or basketball.

“I think that there is a general quality of ‘heartiness’, or ‘robustness,’ that may influence who gets hurt and who doesn’t,” said Carl Foster, director of the human performance laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. “I’ve never seen any systematically collected data, and I’m not even sure what one would measure, but anyone who has worked with athletes for any time at all has seen that there are just some people who are fragile and some who aren’t.”

Sometimes injuries have a simple fix — like making sure your bicycle fits properly or improving your swimming stroke. More often, they do not. And people tend to get the same injury repeatedly.

“My guess is that it is probably your weak link, perhaps due to your structural malalignment,” said Irene Davis, the research director at the Drayer Physical Therapy Institute at the University of Delaware. “You probably have an innate predisposition for that injury.”

For example, people differ in the way their tissues, bones and ligaments respond to increased training, said Dr. Gordon Matheson, an exercise physiologist and orthopedic surgeon at Stanford University and a past editor of the journal Physician & Sportsmedicine.

“You might increase your running 10 percent a week but I might be only be able to handle 8 percent a week,” Dr. Matheson said.

Then there is muscle strength and endurance, which also can vary from person to person. If your muscles tire, more stress is placed on bones and tendons, which can lead to injury.

And there is the alignment of your skeleton. You might be fine running 30 miles a week, but increasing that to 40 miles means the likelihood of an injury also goes up.

In addition, Dr. Matheson said, some people “can handle distance but not pace.” He explained: “It’s a big jump from a 9-minute mile to an 8-minute mile, and shock absorption can decrease substantially making that move.”

But Dr. Davis’s recent research has identified a few biomechanical features of people who tend to get two common injuries — runner’s knee and stress fractures of the tibia — and showed that it’s possible to change peoples’ biomechanics. The investigators, though, have not yet confirmed those findings with rigorous studies.

Dr. Davis said that runners whose knees hurt tended to drop their hip with each step while, at the same time, their knees cave inward by an excessive amount. Using a computer monitor and cameras, she showed runners where their hips and knees were when they were running on a treadmill and where they should be. They learned to change their alignment and, according to Dr. Davis, they said their knee pain decreased.

Stress fractures of the tibia may have a very different cause, Dr. Davis said. Those who get it often have a characteristic gait, she said. The runners tend to strike the ground hard with their heel.

Dr. Davis’s solution is to train runners by having them run on treadmills that can measure the force of each step. The runners can see how hard their feet hit the treadmill.

That still leaves a lot of injuries that are largely unexplained. And that means that for some people, injuries may just be a fact of life.

Jen seems to get by unscathed. She ran the Baltimore marathon on Oct. 11, will run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2, and will compete in a 50-mile race in Maryland a few weeks later.

Tara also ran in the Baltimore marathon, three weeks after competing in a triathlon in Maryland, and is training for a marathon in Harrisburg, Pa., on Nov. 9.

And Birgit is still in spinning classes and on the elliptical cross-trainer, hoping to run soon.

But that does not mean she can’t have fun.

Just ask Dr. Alan Garber, a professor of medicine at Stanford who has a daunting injury history and has learned to cope.

It began in the late 1970s when he was preparing for a marathon and got a stress fracture of his tibia. He sought help, changed his shoes, and thought he had solved his problem. Then, a few years ago, he started running the Silicon Valley Marathon but had to stop because he was in such pain. “I could barely walk,” Dr. Garber said.

This time he had a severe stress fracture near where his calf muscles attach to his tibia. It was so bad that Stanford now uses his X-rays as a teaching tool. “It’s the worst stress fracture they have ever seen,” Dr. Garber said. He spent eight weeks on crutches before beginning his path back to running.

Last year, he fell while running down a steep hill, twisting his ankle so badly that he tore his ligaments. Another long recuperation followed.

Now he’s hurt his hip from vigorous workouts on a rowing machine.

But Dr. Garber learned to cope. “I go into recovery mode,” Dr. Garber said. At each stage of his recovery, he seizes upon the things he can do.

When he had the severe stress fracture, he could not kick when he tried to swim. So he swam with a pull buoy. The day he was finally able to kick was fabulous. He graduated to pool running, jumping into the deep end of a pool and moving his legs and arms as though he were running. He loved it. He could use an elliptical cross-trainer when he got a little better. Sheer joy.

Ordinarily, swimming or pool running or an elliptical cross-trainer would seem like a bore to Dr. Garber. But he finds himself looking forward to those workouts. And, he said, he tells himself: “I’ve recovered before. I just have to switch to exercises that I can still do.”

News & Notes – 10/30/08

2008-10-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

NOTES

It is PF Chang time again!

This means that 100’s of runners are taking to the streets to prepare for the half and full marathon coming up in Mid-January. Unfortunately, as the number of people running starts to rise, so do the injuries. This checklist can help you stay injury free this running season:

1)Warm up

Always warm up before your run. Some light calisthenics and dynamic flexibility can go a long way. I like to have runners start with some body weight squats, lunges and jumping jacks. Progressing to things like skips, hops and then some light jogging.

2)Get quality footwear

I always say, “Never short change yourself when it comes to healthcare or footwear.” What you put on your feet can have a direct impact on whether or not you stay injury free this season. Don’t just go out and buy any pair of running sneakers. Get yourself down to a running specialty store (there are several around the valley) and have them evaluate your running and determine the best make and model for you. If you wear orthodics, be sure and bring the orthodics with you to the store so that they can make sure and get you a shoe that doesn’t cause you to over correct your problem and make things potentially worse.

3)Start Slow and Have a Sound Program

Don’t start out trying to run 40 miles a week. Build up your base before jumping into a full on program. The worst thing you can do is try and accumulate to much mileage to fast. One girl (a total beginner) asked me if the program she downloaded off the internet was a good one. I told her it was a good program for someone more advanced, as it had a lot of hill work and speed work through out the week. She decided to try it anyway, and after the first few runs she came back to me and told me that her entire body felt tight and that her head, shoulders and neck were pounding with strain. SERIOUSLY, get someone who understands this stuff to assess you and help you come up with a concrete program. AZTECH Training is one of the best programs in the state in my opinion and I highly recommend them.

4)Take care of soft tissue work and flexibility

Stretching and soft tissue work are essential to helping you not only perform at your best, but prevent overuse and muscle strain from all the running you are doing. As I like to say, “When it comes to stretching and soft tissue work, you can’t have one without the other!” The soft tissue needs to be cared for before trying to increase the length of a muscle (I touchd breifly on this in my trigger point entry a few days a go). I will be offering 30min flexibility and mobility sessions for anyone interested in working on their soft tissue. For more information, you can contact me through my website, Optimum Sports Performance (more on this in the “news” section).

5)Strength Training

Since it is the “in-season” for runners, a full on strength training program probably isn’t going to be your best bet; and, if you haven’t done any strengthening before in the past, it may make you incredibly sore to start a full program. But, a little bit can go a long way. A few (2 a week tops) strength-training sessions can help ensure that your bones and connective tissue can handle the load you are placing on them. In addition, strength-training can help you to “fix” some biomechanical problems you may be having with your running technique and increase your overall power, which can help enhance your performance and potentially prevent injury. I have written an article about strength training for endurance athletes’ that you can read here. As always, a qualified exercise professional can help assess you and determine what your needs are and then come up with a specific program. Again, if interested you can reach me through my website, Optimum Sports Performance.

6)Schedule rest days

I know you all like to get out there and run and be active, and I applaud your effort. But lets face it, training for a half or full marathon is rough! Your body gets stressed all day at work and then it gets stressed during your runs and workouts. It needs some rest! Remember, we don’t get better when we train. We get better when we rest, as we are giving ourselves sufficient time to adapt to the training stimulus we have placed on our body.

NEWS
Optimum Sports Performance will be re-doing the website and changing the content around. We haven’t done much with it over the past few years, but we are going to open it up a little more and get rid of some of the content on there that is just old and I don’t really agree with anymore.

In addition to the change, we are going to update our services and prices, so if you are interested about these services, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Finally, we are going to start offering some online consulting at an extremely affordable price. Through this coaching, we will go over your current program, determine what your needs are, go over past injuries, evaluate postural photos (if you can get them taken) and come up with a monthly program. I will have more details on this in the coming weeks, but you can contact me if you have some specific questions.

That’s it for now!

Patrick
Optimum Sports Performance

Parents Just Don't Get It!!

2008-10-25T08:38:00.001-07:00

If you are a parent, and your child plays sports, you need to read this!

If you are a coach of youth athletes, you need to read this!

It amazes me that parents can be so pushy with their childrens athletics. This story is what happens when you are playing the same sport year round through out your childhood.

Total Burn Out!

Patrick

What the heck did you do? It worked!!

2008-10-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

That is the question I got the other day from a runner that came in with knee pain. He had knee pain for the past year and feeling that he probably wouldn’t be able to run again he was going to take up biking.

I asked some questions, did some assessments, watched him run, and contemplated what could be going on. I did about 40min. of soft tissue work and some basic strength stuff, and had him stand up and run again to re-assess. And he said…”It feels great! What the heck did you do? It worked! One year of knee pain and now it feels fine.”

This isn’t the first time I have had this kind of response from a runner. Especially distance runners, who typically have poor tissue quality because all they do is run and they don’t make sure to work on their soft tissue, work on their flexibility, and work on their strength deficits (leading to congestion of some tissues that are being overworked).

This appears to be a problem with a lot of people (not just runners) who have chronic, nagging, injuries. It is amazing what a little soft tissue work can do to help alleviate the symptoms.

Oftentimes, with pain there is weakness and just strengthening the weak area, may be a misguided approach, as there may be trigger points or ischemic tissue built up in the muscle which needs to be worked out, before strengthening can happen. If the tissue quality isn’t first addressed, and “cleaned up”, then you may be disrupting the tissue more and creating more tissue trauma (not good!).

A book that I often recommend to people is Claire Davies’ Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. That, along with a foam roller, may be the best $30 you will ever spend in terms of self-care and enhancing your overall tissue quality (aside from a real hands on therapist).

Now go and clean yourself up!

Patrick

Corretive Exercise or Strength Work - What is the Set Up?

2008-10-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

How do I correct my problems but still get stronger? You write about correcting issues and movements, and then you write about strength training programs (like the undulating periodization) and I am wondering how I do both? If I work on correcting my problems, I feel like my program is more like physical therapy or rehab; but, if I work on my strength and muscle size, then I feel like I am not fixing my movement problems and then I end up getting the usual aches, pains, tightness and poor movement patterns that gym lifters tend to get. Where is the middle ground? How do I set it up?

Jon

Hey Jon thanks for the question. I am sure there are a number of people in the same boat as you are and they have the exact same questions.

Due to my interests in training and soft tissue/manual therapies I have a love for both sides of the strength and conditioning coin; the world of enhanced performance (strength, speed, size, etc) and the world of corrective exercise/soft tissue treatments (trying to enhance movement, fix postural distortions, enhance tissue quality, etc.).

For most people, it can be overwhelming when thinking about what to do in the gym. You have to worry about your issues (posture, aches, pains, past injuries, asymmetries) and you have to worry about your goals (get stronger, get bigger, get faster, get more powerful, lose body fat, etc.) that it can difficult to know where to start in the whole process.

When establishing a program, I always use my assessment to determine where the greatest limitations are in the client. I try and look for the elephant in the room, as sometimes correcting the big problems will correct the smaller more annoying problems. Remember, a symptom is nothing more than your body telling you that there is something wrong; but it isn’t telling you exactly WHAT is wrong. That is your job to figure out! After the “elephant” has been determined, the program can be mapped out. For the corrective stuff, I like to use a lot of it in the warm up for two reasons:

A) We are not fatigued in the warm up, so we can properly focus and develop strength and movement in these muscles

B)Warming these muscles up with some exercise/movement gets them primed for some of the things to come.

The other time that the corrective work comes into play is occasionally as a super set to help re-enforce the new movement pattern or we may do some corrective stuff on off days to again, try and re-enforce the movement and make it more automatic.

One way you can set up your program, is (assuming you have determined your limiting factors):

Soft tissue work (foam roll, tennis ball, the stick, etc)
Warm up (warm up the entire body, but make sure you save time to focus specifically on your movement impairments)
Strength Training
Conditioning (if that is in your program for the day)
Stretching and/or foam rolling – to finish up

The strength work can be things that you normally may do; such as split squats, squats, bench pressing, push ups, rowing, etc. The only distinction I would make would be some of these movements may be contraindicated until you have corrected some of the issues you are having with your overall movement (this would have to be determined by your assessment to see exactly what you can and can not do). The strength work can also sometimes enhance the corrective work that you are doing (IE, Is your glute medius stronger from doing isolated glute medius work or is it stronger from performing squatting movements?).

The main thing to remember with all of this is that the lifting isn’t so much the problem as it is more a function of WHAT you are doing and HOW you are doing it.

With this program you now have the best of both worlds; some corrective work and some strength work. The more proactive you are about the corrective work, the quicker things will get better, allowing you to progress to more difficult tasks and make improvements in your strength training.

The only other thing I would add is that; while foam rolling/tennis ball rolling and the stick are all nice “self-care” modalities for soft tissue work, there is absolutely no substitute for a good - hands on - soft tissue therapist. If you can find someone in your area, and see them once a month, at the least (two times a month is better and once a week is optimal), you will really reap the benefits of your overall program.

- Patrick

Undulated Training

2008-10-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Undulation training for development of hierarchical fitness and improved firefighter job performance.

Peterson MD, Dodd DJ, Alvar BA, Rhea MR, Favre M. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Sep;22(5):1683-95.

Introduction: Firefighters routinely encounter physical demands that contribute to countless musculoskeletal injuries. Seemingly, a progressive prescription for fitness would offer superior protection against intrinsic job risks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of two resistance training interventions on fitness adaptations among firefighters, and to assess the degree of transfer to job-specific tasks.

Methods: Firefighter trainees were recruited for participation in this experimental study. Two distinct, periodized training models-undulation training (UT; n = 7) and standard training control (STCo; n = 7)-were used to determine the differential affects for muscular fitness and transference to firefighter performance batteries. Specific tests were administered to evaluate 1) upper- and lower-body muscular strength, 2) lower-body power output, 3) sprint speed and jumping ability, 4) anthropometry, and 5) firefighter Grinder performance (i.e., firefighter-specific job tests). The 9-week UT experimental treatment prescription was characterized by daily "nonlinear" fluctuations in training to preferentially elicit specific and distinct muscular fitness components, whereas the STCo treatment conformed to a traditional model, in which each fitness component was systematically targeted during a specified mesocycle.

Results: For both treatments, nearly all fitness and performance measures significantly increased from baseline (p < 0.05), with a trend in favor of UT. Further, the UT group experienced significantly greater improvements (p < 0.05) in Grinder performance over the STCo group. Calculation of effect sizes identified meaningful differences in the magnitude of changes in outcomes (effect size > 0.50) in favor of UT for measures of thigh circumference, vertical jump, 1RM squat, Grinder performance, and peak power output. These findings suggest a potentially greater stimulus for multidimensional muscular fitness development with UT, over a periodized STCo.

Conclusions: This study effectively establishes that UT may offer a greater transference to performance for firefighter-specific job tasks.

Some Thoughts: I found this study particularly interesting because I am a fan of programs which follow undulating training variables. So, I am slightly biased. Since the abstract doesn’t reflect the actual training template that the firefighters used, I will post it here for those interested:

Undulating Template
Day 1 – Upper body endurance and hypertrophy/lower body strength
Day 2 – Upper body strength/lower body power and speed
Day 3 – Upper body power and speed/lower body endurance and hypertrophy

Standard Strength Training Template
Mesocycle 1 (3 weeks) – Endurance and Hypertrophy
Mesocycle 2 (3 weeks) – Strength
Mesocycle 3 (3 weeks) – Power and speed

The undulating template in this model is a bit different than the undulating model which some follow, in which the total body is trained using 1 variable for the given training day. For example:

Day 1 – Total body power
Day 2 – Total body strength
Day 3 – Total body hypertrophy/endurance

While I do like the above example, I think that sometimes it can be difficult to train the entire body for strength (or power) because which ever exercise is performed first (IE, squat) will inhibit our ability to display high amounts of strength in the exercise performed second (IE, bench press). Although, this could be slightly offset by alternating exercise order every time you perform your strength workout.

The subjects in the study only lifted 3x’s a week, which is potentially why all three qualities (strength, power, and endurance) were trained with the same amount of volume and frequency through the week. In Kraemer and Fleck’s book Optimizing Strength Training Programs, a book which details undulating periodization program development, they talk about creating daily undulation of training variables, under the back drop of having a specific focus during a given training block. For example, if we were training for maximal muscle development (hypertrophy), we would still have a power training day and a strength day within the training week, however the greater amount of training that week will be focused on hypertrophy specific work and then we would simply switch the focus once that training block has been completed.

I do like the approach that Kraemer and Fleck take; however, I can see the limitations in it. For example, sometimes you have only a short period of time to work with an individual, making blocks of training to short to see the adaptations you seek from them or you may be training an athlete during the inseason for a sport which several qualities need to be accounted for (IE, football would need strength, power and hypertrophy/muscle endurance). Or, you may be training an athlete in a sport which has a long competitive season, made up of several games (IE, hockey), rather than one specific competition to peak for (IE, Olympics). However, if you are trying to have the athlete peak for a certain day or a certain competition, using the block model as detailed by Fleck and Kraemer may be more beneficial.

While some don’t believe that all qualities can be effectively trained at the same time, I think that this study, as well as other studies on concurrent training, gives promise that it may be possible. However, it would be silly to assume one could train for total opposite ends of the spectrum at the same time (IE, training for a marathon and powerlifting meet at the same time). But, I do think that you can use the undulating model in this study with good success; however, know that nothing works for ever and eventually, you may have to figure out another plan of attack to get what you want from your training program.

Patrick

Shin Splints

2008-10-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

Since it is the start of the running season (lots of people getting ready for marathons), Ivonne decided to make a post in her blog on shin splits. If you have had shin splints in the past or want to avoid having them, check it out:

Shin Splints

Patrick

Saturday at the Bed & Barbell

2008-10-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made it out to Charles Staley’s Bed & Barbell in Gilbert Arizona. I got to admit, the place is pretty sweet!

I went out to get a lift in with the Saturday crew and we did some Olympic lifts and tire flipping. Besides the great equipment, the training atmosphere is awesome and intense. You have a few guys (Phil and Troy) preparing for powerlifting meets, Charles training for an Olympic lifting meet (Not just any Olympic lifting meet…The American Masters!) and Gene, a 70 year old guy who has no quit in him (Honestly, the guy should be an inspiration for all 70 year olds. The fact that he comes out there and does deadlifts is really awesome!).

For those unfamiliar with Charles, just pull up a google search as he has written a ton of articles, been on TV, and has several products available; including the ever so popular EDT program. You can learn more about him at his website, http://www.staleytraining.com/.

For those unfamiliar with the Bed & Barbell, let me fill you in. The concept is really slick! Basically, the house operates like a resort/vacation type place. The upstairs are the living quarters where guests stay. The downstairs has some gym equipment in the living room (a squat rack, lifting platform and a concept II rower) and then there is a TV room and full kitchen. Out back there is a pool and jacuzzi for the guests, along with a backyard where med ball work and farmers walking takes place (the back yard also overlooks are really incredible golf course). The garage is pretty much a full service gym. They have everything! A power rack, half rack, a few benches, full dumbbell set, kettle bells, various bars (Olympic bars, thick bars, the log, etc), a big tire for flipping, atlas stones, a harness for truck pulls, bumper plates and weights.

Just like any other bed and breakfast, you come out to stay for your vacation, the only kicker is that you get to workout and get trained by Charles and Phil. It is a really great way to get to hang out in a warm weather climate (Especially now since the temperature is coming down. It is great out here!), enjoy the mountains and everything Arizona has to offer, and get trained by a strength coach who has been in the game almost as long as I have been alive and has worked with athletes of all levels and general population clients alike. It is your opportunity to get to try some things in the gym that you otherwise wouldn’t try, learn proper lifting technique, and push yourself to an entirely new level of fitness that you otherwise would have unattainable. You can stay for as long as you like (Charles told me that have people stay as short as a couple of days and as long as several weeks) and just soak up as much information as you possibly can.

If you are looking for a new type of vacation that integrates the warm weather and beautiful scenery that Arizona has to offer along with your love and interest in health and fitness, then I highly suggest you consider the Bed & Barbell. You wont be disappointed. Just make sure you book in advance!

Patrick

Movement Gone Wrong

2008-10-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest things about being in this field is helping someone move better.

Watching people move, walk and perform skills or tasks you throw at them is always very interesting. Seeing what they can and cannot do is especially important as it tells you what needs to be worked on and what needs to be fixed.

There are several reasons that a person moves poorly. Some potential reasons could be weakness, lack of understanding of the desired movement pattern, flexibility/mobility problems, poor posture, sedentary lifestyle or previous injury.

It is the last one that is so critical to understand. Once we get injured, we really don’t move the same way. Our body unconsciously begins to change patterns in order to protect the area that was injured or in order to prevent us from stressing that area because when we do…IT HURTS! This creates altered movement patterns, changes in lengthen tension relationships around the joints and changes in neurological firing patterns. No longer do we operate the same way, unless we do some homework to actually fix these problems.

In the book Low Back Disorders: Evidenced Based Prevention and Rehabilitation, author Stuart McGill states (pg. 30):

“Several studies have documented a change in muscular function after injury (nicely summarized by Sterling, Jull, and Wright, 2001). These include, for example,

- Delayed onset of specific torso muscles during sudden events (Hodges and Richardson, 1996, 1999) that may impair the spine’s ability to achieve protective stability during situations such as slips and falls;

- Changes in torso agonist-antagonist activity during gait (Arendt-Nielson et al., 1995)

- Inhibition of back extensors in the presence of pain (Zedka et al., 1999) and;

- Asymetric muscle output during isokinetic torso extensor efforts (Grabiner, Koh, and Ghazawi, 1992) that alters spine loading”

While McGill’s summary here is specific for the spine (duh, the book is about the low back!) in Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, Shirley Sahrmann offers two different models of how movement impairments actually develop.

The “perfect world” model (IE, no injuries and no movement impairments) looks something like this:

Kinesiologic Model

Base – Modulator – Biomechanical – Support
|
Variety in Movement & posture
|
Precise movement
|
Musculoskeletal Health

As you can see, the movement system (the top line of the model) is all connected. The system is:

Base = muscles and bones
Modular = nervous system
Biomechanical = kinesiology
Support = muscular endurance

All 4 components of the system are in healthy working order, allowing for optimal movement.

The two impaired models look like this:

Pathokinesiologic Model

Base – Modulator – Biomechanical – Support
|
Abnormality or injury
|
Impaired components
|
Movement Impairment
|
Functional limitation/disability

In the Pathokinesiologic Model we have developed an injury (or have an abonormality in one of the components of the movement system), which in-turn changes the way we perform movement and leads to further limitations as disability (as I eluded to above).

Kinesiopathologic Model

Base – Modulator – Biomechanical – Support
|
Repeated specific movements or sustained postures
|
Impaired components or their interactions
|
Movement impairment syndromes
|
Functional limitation/physical abnormality

As you can see in the kinesiopathologic model, we have a sustained posture (IE, sitting) and/or repetitive movement (IE, typing or bending and lifting all day) and this leads to impairments in one or many of the components of the movement system, leading to our movement impairments (alterations in the way we do things) and finally limitations and physical abnormalities.

Pretty interesting stuff! If nothing more, I hope you take away from this the importance of analyzing your abilities - not just how much can you squat, bench, run a mile, etc. but how WELL can you accomplish these tasks – and determining what you need to do in order to enhance you overall movement system.

More later!

Patrick

Getting Started: The Most Important Part Of Reaching Your Goal!

2008-09-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally starting to cool down here in Phoenix (at least in the morning), so I decided to go out and do some exercise at the track today (instead of doing my cardio on the spin bike in my bedroom...boring!). Here is what I did:

Dynamic Warm up followed by a short jog

6 laps of tempo runs:
100m of sprints 70-80% intensity (working on form)
100m of walking

Bounding up the stadium stairs
I do skip step bounding because I think that running up the stairs, hitting each step is idiotic. it doesn't replicate any of the joint angles in sprinting and you get a ton of little toe touches on each step. With the skip step bounding, you really get to work on driving off that back leg (hip extension), getting the front hip flexed, and getting a forward trunk lean just as you would during sprinting acceleration. I did 6 reps bounding up and then I always walk down (again, running down just seems weird and nonsensical).

Then I finished with a cooldown jog of 400m.

Anyway, the reason for the title of this entry, was that while I was doing my bounding up the stadium stairs, there was a woman (overweight) walking up and down the stairs for exercise. In fact, she was doing it the entire time I was doing my track work as well. She was working very hard from what I could see, and as I was walking down the stairs, getting my rest after bounding up, she told me "I could never go that fast! But, my goal is really endurance anyway. I just want to get in shape." She then went on to tell me that she started doing this 4 weeks ago. She said the first time out she thought she was going to die. Just making it up the stairs one time had her breathing heavy and her heart rate up. She said that after doing it a few times a week it started to get easier and she started to be able to go a little longer, go a little faster, and do a little more in the amount of time that she was exercising. She said that last week she went on vacation (upstate in AZ somewhere) and she hiked a little bit, but nothing to strenuous. She said the hardest thing for her was to come out here this morning and get started again. She told me that missing a week really sets you back mentally and it is hard to get going and get motivated again, but she forced herself to do it.

The reason I bring this up is because I can't help but think of all the people who never even get started! They never take that first step. They are always waiting for something. Or they are always going to start on "monday" or "next week". The most important thing in achieving any goal is that you get started....NOW! Not tomorrow, not next week, but RIGHT NOW. You have to just get out and do it. Throw yourself into the mix and make it happen! You can't finish if you don't start.

Patrick

Bottoms Up: The Deadlift

2008-09-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

A lot of trainers (and even some strength and conditioning coaches) seem to shy away from the deadlift.

I understand their allergy, as this CAN be a dangerous lift is the wrong client/athlete is performing it, if the coaching is bad, and if the technique goes out the window.

I have been using the deadlift, and I like to teach it to people (when I feel they are ready) and here are some of the ways I like to use it to make it a little more “fan friendly” and “safe”:

1)Start with a kettle bell between the legs – This is a great version for starting people out with picking things up off the floor. It allows them to get in a solid position with the load between their legs and work on learning the appropriate deadlift pattern. If you don’t have a kettle bell, then place a dumbbell on the floor. With one side of the bell flat on the ground, you will grasp the other side of the bell (fingers grasping under the weight plate) and lift from there.

2)Trap bar deadlift – I am a huge fan of the trap bar as it places people into a more natural posture since the weight is not in front of their body as it would be in a barbell deadlift.

3)Single Leg RDL – Performing this exercise is a really great test in balance and stability. Hold a dumbbell in the opposite arm of the working leg to load yourself and have at it.

4)Barbell Deadlift – I am still a fan of the barbell deadlift, but I think you really have to be specific with what clients/athletes you have perform the lift. You have to be very specific with your technical cuing and you can’t accept any little slips in technique. Once fatigue sets in and things are starting to get hairy, the set is over. I like to use the pick-up and put-down method explained below) to ensure that the individual is always in a good set up position and ready to break the bar from the floor.

Pick-up and Put-down method

The reason I use this technique is because I was always seeing people either:

a)Bouncing the bar of the floor – this is never good, as you are at risk of torquing your back since you have no idea how (or where) that bar will bounce of the ground and you may start to rotate towards once side or the other.

b)Not getting set up enough before breaking the bar from the floor, ending in an awkward or less than desireable pull.

The way the method works, is the person approaches the bar, squats down and gets into a nice tight position. They perform their repetition and then set the bar down and stand up without the bar in hand. They then squat back down, re-grip and perform their next repetition. I like this because it allows them to concentrate and be totally certain they are always getting into a good start position before performing the rep. I even have people start out their single leg deadlifts in the same way. I set up a low step below them and have them lift the dumbbell off the step, set it down and then come back up (unloaded) before repeating the repetition.

This method is a little more tiring, since you are standing up in between each rep. For example, instead of getting 6-8 repetitions at a given weight, I may only get 3-4 repetitions. But, I can live with that, knowing that I am really focusing on getting a solid start position and maintaining technique; rather than just worrying about how many reps I can get (regardless of how it looks). I would rather focus on quality over quantity. I typically wont have people doing more than 4-5 reps on the barbell deadlift anyway, so the rep range is right were I like it to be with this method.

Hopefully this gives everyone some ideas next time they go to deadlift (or teach the deadlift).

Patrick

New Massage Tool For Better Neck Work!!

2008-09-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

I was at the American Massage Therapy Association’s National Convention last Thursday helping out one of my teachers sell his new product.

The Head Rest Support, is a really awesome invention that makes total sense for any massage therapist, physical therapist, chiropractor, or manual therapist who does a lot of soft tissue work on the neck.

Typically, you would have the client lie supine on the table and have to lift their head, support it, and (oftentimes) wrestle with the table to get yourself in a good position to work their neck. Not only can this limit your ability to work certain muscles but; it also places your wrist in a compromised position (especially if you are doing a lot of neck work).

Now with the Head Rest Support, all you do is drop it right into the head rest and have the client lie their head right on it. This leaves their neck area entirely open, so that you are free to work all the muscles and your hands aren’t bound up against the table (and they can rest comfortably on the head rest support as well!). Another benefit is that, with head rests that can tilt forward and back, you can use the Head Rest Support to place the clients neck into a shortened position, to soften up muscles and work on them in a much easier manner.

Click here to see the product demo.

No more fighting with the table or worrying about straining your wrist. All you do is drop this thing right into the head rest hole and get to work.

If you are a person that does a lot of neck work and really want to take it to the next level, this is the tool for you.

I tried it out for the first time with a few clients and they absolutely loved it. Not only did they say that their massage felt more complete, but they also said that they felt totally comfortable and supported when the head rest was tilted back into extension.

I highly recommend checking out this product if you want to get better results with cervical work, and prevent injuries to your hands or wrists.

Patrick

How do I get started on a diet?

2008-09-16T09:59:00.001-07:00

This question pops up all the time in our clinic and I think, given the amount of information out there today (books, morning news, internet, family and friends), people are a little bit overwhelmed. I mean, each one of the sources above is telling them to do something different, eat something different, and change what they are doing.

One of the biggest problems with people and their attempt(s) to loose body fat isn’t so much in what they AREN’T eating, as it is in what the ARE eating.

Whenever someone asks me how they should start a diet or which diet to choose, I ask them to first explain to me what they are eating. Usually the fumble and stumble around to give me something that is sort of concrete and makes sense. This just confirms to me that they have no clue what they are taking in.

They best way (in my opinion at least) to begin a diet is to first understand what you are putting into your body. Start an easy 7 day journal and write down everything you eat and drink through out each day. Then, look at it and see if you notice any patterns or any areas that may need more work. For example, it is common for people to come back and say things like:

“Wow, I don’t eat very many greens at all!”

Or

“I really should be drinking more water.”

Or

“I never realized how much (or little) I eat!”

Before you ever get into the fancy stuff, understand what you are currently doing and begin by making small changes. The goal isn’t to change everything overnight. Instead, the goal is to change a little each week in order to adapt to a healthier lifestyle. Just like changing our posture or gaining strength or putting on muscle mass, these things take time and like anything, if you try and rush the process, the end product typically comes out watered down and doesn’t have much “sticking power.”

Today is Tuesday. Begin your journal today and track it until next Monday…and don’t forget to note the buffalo wings you eat while watching football. ;-)

Patrick

Doctor's Secrets

2008-09-11T05:58:00.001-07:00

This email came to me yesterday, and I thought it was interesting.
Doctor's Secrets

enjoy,

Patrick

Tendon Pain?

2008-09-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

Treatment of tendinopathy: what works, what does not, and what is on the horizon.

Andres BM, Murrell GA. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2008 Jul;466(7):1539-54. Epub 2008 Apr 30.

Introduction: Tendinopathy is a broad term encompassing painful conditions occurring in and around tendons in response to overuse. Recent basic science research suggests little or no inflammation is present in these conditions. Thus, traditional treatment modalities aimed at controlling inflammation such as corticosteroid injections and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications (NSAIDS) may not be the most effective options.

Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature to determine the best treatment options for tendinopathy. We evaluated the effectiveness of NSAIDS, corticosteroid injections, exercise-based physical therapy, physical therapy modalities, shock wave therapy, sclerotherapy, nitric oxide patches, surgery, growth factors, and stem cell treatment. NSAIDS and corticosteroids appear to provide pain relief in the short term, but their effectiveness in the long term has not been demonstrated.

Results: We identified inconsistent results with shock wave therapy and physical therapy modalities such as ultrasound, iontophoresis and low-level laser therapy. Current data support the use of eccentric strengthening protocols, sclerotherapy, and nitric oxide patches, but larger, multicenter trials are needed to confirm the early results with these treatments. Preliminary work with growth factors and stem cells is promising, but further study is required in these fields. Surgery remains the last option due to the morbidity and inconsistent outcomes.

Conclusion: The ideal treatment for tendinopathy remains unclear.

Some of my thoughts: The authors of this study set out to review literature on tendinopathy treatments. Tendinopathy is a broad term that pretty much means injury to the tendon, which creates pain. The word tendinopathy often replaces the term tendonitis, as tendonitis by definition is inflammation of a tendon, however research shows that there is often times no inflammation present with this type of overuse injury, causing the name tendonitis to by inaccurate. The fact that inflammation is often not present in this condition is interesting to note, as a typical therapeutic treatment for these injuries involves ice and other means to try and decrease or prevent inflammation (a quality that may not even be present).

Another term in this category is tendonosis, which is a more chronic type of tendinopathy. Tendonosis is characteristic of degenerative changes in the tendon and deals with damage to the tendon on a cellular level, creating micro tearing of the tendon and pain. Tendonosis is typically a condition that arises when someone has “tendonitis” for an extended period of time; hence it being a “chronic” condition.

Tendons can also go through several changes, including a thickening or hardening (calcification) in relation to overuse and trauma, which potentially creates greater amounts of friction between tendon and bone, leading to greater pain and irritation.

This study was basically looking at a variety of treatment options available to those suffering from some sort of tendinopathy, and concluded that the idea treatment remains unclear. One thing that I think is difficult with these types of studies is that they are only looking at treatment to the tendon itself. Part of the problem is that if we want to make someone “healthy”, we need to determine WHY the tendon is damaged. A lot of this comes back to postural evaluations and why things get overused or have to work harder than they potentially need to in order to produce movement (whether it is movement in the gym, on the playing field/court, or activities of daily living).

Personally, I believe that a lot can be changed with regard to tendon problems by addressing soft tissue abnormalities and postural distortions. One thing that this study looked at was “physical therapy modalities”, which was a junk bag term (in this study) that referred to things like strengthening and stretching, eccentric exercise protocol, cold laser treatment, ultrasound, iontophoresis and transverse fiber friction. The authors made the note that different therapists will choose different therapies, so it is difficult to determine what you will get when you attend physical therapy. The issue with this is that some therapists are more skilled than others and can bring a lot more to the table with regard to soft tissue treatments and exercise-based programs. Again, the problem is also that these modalities are only treating the tendon itself. They are not performing soft tissue work to the muscle belly of the muscle, which attaches into that tendon; moreover, they are not dealing with the overall movement and posture of the individual to try and prevent the injury from coming back. Just because you make someone asymptomatic, does not mean they are out of the woods! You need address the other issues which are creating the problem.

I have spoken to several skilled massage therapists who get great results with tendinopathy issues because they look to treat the overall person, instead of boiling them down to a diagnosis; a problem with modern medicine and the way it is taught and practiced today in this country. Oftentimes, in rehab clinics, people are simply defined by their one single injury diagnosis and the concept that they are a whole person gets thrown out the door. Medical insurance companies are partially to blame for this as therapists wont perform a treatment that doesn’t reimburse them as highly as another modality might. As well, therapists typically don’t have enough time to treat a patient as they need to increase the amount of patients have to see in a day in order to make enough money to keep their clinic running. Both of these problems create very watered down and “low-grade” treatment for the patient. The final problem is that therapists are taught different things in schools depending on where they go. Some schools do not put as much of an emphasis on soft tissue work as other schools do (and definitely not as much emphasis on soft tissue work as schools over seas), causing therapists skill levels to be all over the map with regard to their ability to treat these issues. In a massage therapy setting, with a skilled therapist who understands clinical, orthopedic or medical massage, they have more time to work with clients (often times treatments will be 60-90 minutes long) and they are not restricted by medical insurance companies (although some may take insurance, most run cash only practices), so they are free to perform their treatments as they please, allowing them to not only address the tendon, but the muscle affecting that tendon and the overall posture and structure of the person; leading to a more holistic treatment.

Physical therapists that have the appropriate amount of time to treat patients and do not allow themselves to be restricted by insurance billing have a greater opportunity to help treat patients with tendinopathy than their colleagues who may be working in a facility that sees several patients an hour and doesn’t take the time to address the whole person.

Patrick

Core Training

2008-09-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

“How many times a week can I do ABS?”

“What is the best core exercise?”

“Should I do high reps on crunches or low reps with heavy weight?”

I have been seeing a lot of questions about “core” training lately, so I figured I would write a little bit about how I approach/think about it currently.

First, we have to remember that the “core” is a lot more than just the rectus abdominus; and for that reason, it encompasses a lot more than just doing some crunches. In fact, it is this short sighted view of core training that often gets people in trouble, as they think they are doing the best they can in order to protect their back/spine.

In reality, the core consists of the lumbo-pelvic hip complex (so everything attaching to the hip), the lumbar spine, thoracic spine and the abdominals. So basically the muscles of the trunk and pelvis. These muscles are responsible for transferring force from our lower body to our upper body, and to stabilize us as we transfer force to our extremities. From here, it is very easy to see that those who are doing crunches as their only means of core training are missing the bigger picture!

So the question now becomes “How do I train my core?”

The answer to that is pretty loaded, as everyone is individual and everyone has different abilities and needs. What I can tell you is that there are some people who are going to need to start with remedial work down on the ground; such as, planks, bird dogs, kneeling chop and lift patterns, rev. crunches, etc; and some people that can go right into performing more of their core work standing up, such as, med. ball throws, standing chop and lift patterns and exercises which integrate the entire body (IE, Squat and DB press, 1-leg squat to cable row, etc.).

“What about Squats and Deadlifts? Those are all you need for core training!”

This is a common question from some and a common mantra for most. Do squats, deadlifts, cleans and other various multi-joint/“big-bang” exercises train your core? Yes, absolutely they do! BUT (and this is a big but), if you don’t have things working properly from the get go, and if you have compensation patterns, things aren’t going to be working properly! The result is usually injury and a trip to physical therapy where you do…CORE WORK!! But, you are doing the remedial stuff, where you probably should have started in the first place.

What about the remedial exercises? This is a funny one. I have tested people that have done pretty well on basic core exercises (planks, bridges and the like) but when they go to do something on their feet, it doesn’t seem to translate. Something gets lost and the movement breaks down. In her book “Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes”, Shirly Sahrmann states:

“Also, some individuals have normal strength of both the internal and external oblique muscles and yet have poor control when these muscles have to work in a coordinated pattern to prevent rotation of the pelvis. The question of task specificity is applicable to all exercises. Does an exercise performed in one plane (e.g., sagittal plane) or under one set of circumstances (e.g., lying supine) participate appropriately in a different circumstance (i.e. performing diagonal movements or performing exercises while standing erect).”

So now…”How do I train my core?”

Again, this is going to come back to your assessment and determination of where your flaws are. If you are very good at core exercises on the floor, in a very controlled and isolated environment, then you should probably be challenging yourself with exercises which ask you to take that isolated stability and begin to use it in a real situation. I like medicine ball throws and exercises which incorporate the entire body into a coordinated task such as squat and dumbbell press or 1-leg squat and cable row or split squat and cable row. Of course, the squat, deadlift and clean are always great choices for exercise in my book as long as you learn appropriate technique and you earn the right to do those movements (meaning you clean up any poor movement or posture problems before trying to develop maximum strength in these exercises).

A short story/lesson on “earning the right” to perform those lifts, which actually applies to our discussion on core training…

I knew an Olympic weightlifting coach who was very selfish. He wanted nothing more than to have a junior national champion; and not for the athlete’s sake, but for his own, so he could walk around and say, “I have a junior national champion that I train!” One day a young 15 year old kid started training with him. The kid was very skinny and wiry but had a tremendous amount of speed. Since the Olympic lifts where his first introduction to weight training and he didn’t have much in the way of strength (and very little in core strength. More on that in a second.), he quickly learned great technique and relied on his amazing speed to get under the bar. He could clean pretty much anything because he was so fast at getting under it and his technique was good enough that he could get into the position properly. The question was always, “Is this kid going to be able to squat out of the bottom once he gets under this weight”, and then “would he be able to fix the weight overhead (in the snatch) or jerk the weight overhead (in the jerk).” It was the last part there that was his Achilles Heel so to speak. He had absolutely no stability! He would put a weight overhead in the jerk and he would be shaking all over the place and about to totally crumble. He would squat out of the hole after getting under the bar in the clean and his back would be rounding and he could not stabilize the load to save his life, which made the following portion of the lift, the jerk, that much more scarier! I watched as the coach would have the kid take singles in training all night long, the entire time thinking to myself “god, I would be having that kid do lots of basic core training and stability training and practicing the technique in the competitive lifts with much lighter weight.” Honestly, if he did that he would probably be a really competitive lifter today because he would have (a) laid a great base level of fitness and stability and (b) learned to have exceptional technique to go along with his strong foundational core strength and blazing speed. However, his coach had a different plan! “If I just keep pushing the weight on this kid, no matter what it looks like, I will have my junior national champion.” Unfortunately, in the second meet this athlete ever competed in, he walked out for his second snatch, pulled the bar from the floor and in the process of trying to fix the weight overhead (and it was always a process because he had zero stability), he blew out his elbow and never competed again.

Now…Do squats, deadlifts, cleans and snatches build a strong core? YES! Are they the only thing that you need to do? NO. Are they the best starting point for most people? Absolutely not!

In a perfect world, I like to start people with the basics as we learn technique in our main lifts. Once they have mastered the basics, those exercises are integrated into the warm up just as a way to make sure everything is “fine tuned” before we move to the core exercises on our feet which we described and then the heavier loading in the main lifts.

Disclaimer: These are just some of the ideas/opinions I currently hold with regard to the topic of core training. The reason I highlighted the word some is because I am only talking about one aspect of core training (stability) and haven’t talked about the muscles of the pelvis (IE, hip mobility/flexibility) and the muscles of the thoracic spine. That isn’t to say that I may change my mind down the road as I continue to read, learn and develop what I do. In all honestly, these ideas I have shared today are a far cry from what I believed/did a few years ago. The most important thing is to continue to read and develop your ideas so that you can better serve those you work with.

Patrick

Interval training and martial artists

2008-09-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Impressive anaerobic adaptations in elite karate athletes due to few intensive intermittent sessions added to regular karate training.

Ravier G, Dugué B, Grappe F, Rouillon JD. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2008 Aug 5.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adding a high-intensity intermittent session twice a week during a 7-week karate training (KT) on markers of aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms in elite class karate athletes.

Methods: Two groups were studied: a KT group (n=8, age 20.1+/-0.9 years, 70.0+/-8.8 kg) that followed traditional KT, and a group that followed combined traditional karate and a high-intensity intermittent training (HIT group, n=9, age 24.4+/-3.1 years, 67.0+/-7.8 kg). The subjects undertook a supramaximal exercise and a maximal oxygen uptake test before and after the training. Blood lactate, pH and plasma ammonia were determined at rest, immediately at the end of the supramaximal exercise and during the recovery period at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 15 min.

Results: After the training period, no changes occurred in the KT group. However, in the HIT group, the time to exhaustion, MAOD and in the maximal oxygen uptake test were significantly improved by 23.6%, 10.3% and 4.6%, respectively. A clear-cut discrepancy was observed in the time course of lactate and pH in the supramaximal test after the training in the HIT group. We observed a significantly higher peak for lactate and a lower extreme value for pH with a shorter delay of appearance. At the end of the test, the lactate concentration increased significantly (+53.7%) and pH declined significantly, when compared with the values obtained after the same test before the training period. Ammonia was not influenced.

Conclusions: The addition of high-intensity intermittent sessions twice per week during the period of KT induced beneficial physiological adaptations in athletes, allowing improvement in the duration of intense physical exercise before a state of fatigue is reached.

Some thoughts:

Really nothing-new here that we don’t already know or that I haven’t already talked about in past entries. I thought that it would be nice to throw this up in the blog since there are so many people these days that train in MMA or other types of “combat sports”. They always seem to be coming onto the forum and asking how they should train, what they should be doing, or IF they should be training at all! Obviously, doing the whole long slow endurance thing that boxers used to do is now a thing of the past. It would be a waste of time to throw on the old running suit and head out for a 5 or 6 mile run 3x’s a week, as we now know that this type of training can deter from out anaerobic endurance and power (not good if we want to avoid getting kicked in the head!). Besides, interval work has been shown to concomitantly increase both anaerobic and aerobic abilities at the same time. Even with as little frequency as twice a week, as used in this study, the beneficial properties were evident.

Hope this gives you some ideas when you head to the gym after your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu session!

Patrick

New Training Facility in Scottsdale

2008-08-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

I have moved locations in Scottsdale (same company, we just expanded one of our locations) and we are now much more accessible to everyone in the east valley; just off the 101 at the corner of 90th st. and Via Linda.

In light of the move, I am offering free movement and posture assessments. I will not be providing you with a training program during this session. I will gladly watch you move and look at your posture and determine how things could be potentially better or ‘more efficient’.

I am opening this up to anyone who is interested in doing some personal training and may be on the fence about how to get started or who to work with and where to go. This is a great opportunity to get an introduction to me, my system, and my philosophies/thought processes to determine if we would be a good fit together.

If you are just coming to get a free assessment and think that I will give you a free program or tell you what to do with all the information, this is not for you. This is how I make my living and I have clients who pay for this service. It would not be fair to them (or to me) to just give it away for free. We do offer a variety of different training plans; everything from 1-on-1 training to the most affordable option, group training.

If you are interested, please contact me at 480-272-7638

Patrick

The Impact of Training

2008-08-27T22:12:00.001-07:00

I was at the gym working out this morning and happened to watch this trainer training one of his female clients. I always see them training together on Wednesday mornings. Wednesday happens to be leg day!

I see him put her through a whole bunch of smith machine squats (the legs are strategically placed way out in front of her center of gravity to ensure that spine is loaded in poor position) and then they go outside and do some sort of nonsense with a sledge hammer. Then they do RDLs and then they superset leg press and hack squats and finish with leg curls.

They pretty much do the same thing all the time and vary the rep range. Today was 50-rep day on all exercises (for whatever reason I don’t know).

Now, at first glace, some of the things that are strange with this workout are:

a) 50 rep sets for all exercises (heck, 50 rep sets in general!)
b) All bilateral work and no single leg work
c) Aside from the RDLs, everything was on a fixed machine
d) This lady doesn’t have great movement patterns at all and it doesn’t seem that they are doing things to help correct this.

One thing that seems to be a little hard for people to grasp is the concept that training has a very profound impact on our bodies. I am not talking about the impact of weight loss or muscle gain here. I am talking about the impact it has on our posture, our movement patterns and potentially our pain.

That last part there is probably the easiest of the three for people to understand as when we do something foolish in the gym (let our technique get a little sloppy, over train or sustain an overuse injury), our body lets us know about it in the form of pain. This usually leads us to taking some time off or maybe seeking some sort of physical therapy or chiropractic care and then once that is all taken care of, we are back at it again.

The other two examples though (posture and movement patterns) are really the critical ones to grasp, as oftentimes, if they are taken care off, example three (pain) can be avoided.

Something that I would really like trainers to consider (or anyone who work out for that matter) is the fact that every workout, every set, and every rep, we are making changes in our posture and movement patterns. We are directly impacting soft tissue and creating changes in our posture and those changes can be either good or they can be bad. This is one of the reasons why a good assessment is so critical before beginning a training program. You want to make sure that what you are doing in the gym is moving you closer to your goal and not pushing you further away.

When we go to train someone (or ourselves), we really need to understand the possible implications that certain exercises will have on our individual posture and movement patterns. Are we doing too much of one thing and not enough of another? Maybe we need to drop a few exercises from our program for a few weeks as we focus on something else? These are questions you need to ask yourself when you are determining the best exercise protocol for you. Remember, exercise is not cookie cutter! We can’t go onto a website and download “the daily workout”, or pick up the latest “insert your favorite exercise magazine here” and jump right into a workout program they are suggesting for the masses. We need to determine what our body needs and what is appropriate for us as individuals.

Patrick

Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) Seminar

2008-08-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend I attended my first Neuromuscular Therapy seminar, focusing on the torso and pelvis. There are 4 courses (upper extremity, lower extremity, pelvis/torso, cervical/cranium) that need to be taken before one can test to become NMT certified.

The courses are conducted by the NMT Center (aka NMT American Version) and are based on the teachings of Judith DeLany. Those who have read things that I have written elsewhere may recognize that name as I have recommended two books that she co-authored with Leon Chaitow, Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques Volume 1, Upper Extremity and Volume 2, Lower Extremity. Both books are a MUST HAVE if you are in this industry.

Neuromuscular therapy is a type of massage/manual therapy, which addresses the causes of neuromuscular pain patterns. It is a very specific type of massage and is centered around six factors that may create pain:

1. Ischemia
2. Trigger Points
3. Nerve Entrapment/Compression
4. Postural Distortions
5. Nutrition
6. Emotional Well Being

This weekend we focused on the muscles of the pelvis and torso (specifically those muscles which attach to the axial skeleton). Teacher Don Kelley was excellent. He had a lot of education and experience and it came through in his lectures, demonstrations and instruction of how to properly treat the body’s soft tissue. There were two things that Don said that I felt were incredibly professional and honest. The first was the fact that “There are lots of different types of soft tissue treatment and ALL of them are effective. NMT is one tool but it is not the only tool.” I felt that was important because often when I attend seminars (and I have attended a ton), no matter what field (massage, strength and conditioning, or nutrition) the speakers will often times speak as if what there are presenting is the ONLY way to do things. The speakers can be very dogmatic and very defensive of the way they do things, failing to acknowledge that there is more than one way to skin a cat. The second thing that Don said that struck me was when he told us, “I don’t tell you stories about people that I have helped to make you think that I am some great therapist that can help anyone. I tell them simply to show you how powerful this type of work can be. In all honesty, there are a percentage of people that I help, a percentage of people that I can manage their pain better than other health care professionals, and a percentage of people that I can’t help at all.” I really appreciated the honesty in that statement as again, when attending seminars, lecturers will go out of their way to talk about and tell you stories about those that they have helped or “cured”, and they fail to give you the honest truth and say “While I can get some really great results, it doesn’t work all the time.”

This type of work is highly specific and is incredibly valuable for anyone who works in a rehabilitation setting, with people who have pain or faulty movement/posture. This work is also extremely helpful if you are working in a sports performance setting as athletes beat their bodies down like no one else and need this sort of specific soft tissue work to address their issues.

Whether you are a massage therapist, physical therapist, chiropractor or doctor, if you are serious about helping people, I highly recommend the courses from the NMT Center as part of your continuing education.

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Well, after 2 weeks of continuing education (Friday-Sunday this weekend and Thursday-Sunday last weekend) and being totally sleep deprived from staying up to watch all the Olympic action, I realize I have not had much time to post regular blog entries. This week I hope to get back on track and post some information on movement training (based on some things I have been doing with a few teenaged girls soccer teams I have been working with) and reporting on some research on interval training for karate athletes (since everyone seems to be so into mixed martial arts these days). As always, I welcome reader’s questions, so feel free to send them in!

Patrick

Active Release Techniques - Upper Extremity

2008-08-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have made my last entry (a full week in fact!). I just got back in town last night from the Active Release Techniques (ART) Upper Extremity course in San Antonio. I am happy to say that I passed the hands on portion of the exam which certifies me to pracice ART on the upper extremity.

It was a lot of fun. I learned some really cool things and I am pretty excited to add the things I learned to my "soft-tissue tool box."

The learning doesn't stop there though! This weekend I am attending a Neuromuscular Techniques (NMT) workshop specific to treatments of the pelvis and spine. This should be really interesting and I hope to take the other 3 (upper extremity, lower extremity, cervical/cranium) NMT workshops with in the upcoming year.

All of these techniques are various ways to appoach soft tissue treatment and the whole goal of this, for me, is to have a systematic way of approaching a client that allows me to analyze faulty movement patterns and posture, correct movement asymetries with exercise, and use soft tissue work to decrease pain and improve stucture and balance.

I am really excited to put all these things into play as I slowly come up with my own methodology of how everything will work together.

Patrick

Becoming a Better Coach….

2008-08-10T18:40:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest things you can do to become better in your profession (whether it is strength and conditioning, sports coach, personal trainer, physical therapist, etc) is to seek out those whom have more knowledge than you and learn from them.

For as long as I have been working in the health industry, I have always tried to find people to “talk shop with”. I strive to get better every day and by communicating with those that have more experience than me and who are great at what they do is one way in which I have enhanced my knowledge in this field.

This past Saturday was one of those incredible opportunities. This Saturday was the Trevor Brown High School/AZTECH training group running clinic. It was a full day (7am-2pm) of workshops and exhibitions.

Coach Bill Strachan, the director of the AZTECH training group has been training runners for more years than I have been alive. He has worked with some of the best of the best in terms of athletes and coaches in the running and track and field industry. Obviously the man is a tremendous resource and I have had tremendous opportunities over the past 2 years working with him personally and the runners of the AZTECH team. I am truly grateful for these opportunities as they make me better at what I do.

This weekend was no different! I helped out with the event by doing some speaking and question and answer sessions for parents and coaches. However, the real treat for me was the 2 hours I spent outside on the track with Coach Bill videotaping runners and then critiquing their form and technique. We would have the individual run about 50 meters and video tape them from the front, the back and the side. As the person was running, Coach Bill was running the video and he and I would make comments about things we were seeing (or weren’t seeing). It was an amazing opportunity to learn from someone who has really perfected his skills in watching people run. I would comment on and pick up a lot of things, but Coach Bill was a juggernaut. Nothing would get by him and oftentimes he would see something, comment on it and then follow up the comment with “but why is that happening?” Then, he would look longer, have the person run the 50m again, look harder and all of a sudden he would say, “I got it.” Once the person was done getting video taped and we had made our comments, we would talk to the person about what we were seeing and why it was happening. After that, Coach Bill would make some recommendations on how to begin to fix the problem and then have them run the 50m again. It was awesome to see him make corrections and give his technical cues. I learned a ton.

If you are in the industry of strength and conditioning, personal training, physical therapy or sports coaching, I urge you to seek out people like Coach Bill. People who can help make you better at what you do.

I think one of the reasons I love the Olympics so much isn’t just because of the incredible athleticism, but because of the incredible coaching behind the athleticism. Unlike American sports (baseball, basketball, football), where the coach is fired after a season or two if the team doesn’t do well or were strength coaches may take a more short sighted view of sports preparation (IE, we have 12-16 weeks to get ready for this season). Olympic coaches are there for 4 years with the athlete. The are there for the long haul and they understand what the long term goal is. To be able to take an athlete and visualize those 4 years of training leading up to the Olympic games is truly amazing and a real gift.

Patrick

Preseason Football and More Olympics Stuff…

2008-08-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Coaches in NFL are notorious for bombarding the athletes with tons of training in the pre-season. Two a day workouts have been around since football existed, and the philosophy behind them seems to be one of “increase mental toughness” and punishment (if they can’t run fast enough, then we will make them run more!

However, it seems that this season there are some coaches wising up to two-a-day practices after looking into more research on human performance. A Sports Illustrated article talked about how Eric Mangini, head coach of the NY Jets, has actually lowered the amount of practice time for the athletes this offseason after analyzing some research from the researchers at the Australian Institute of Sports and the Tour De France. My only hope is that some of the high school coaches read this and actually realize how stupid and potentially dangerous their programs are.

Mangenius?

Speaking of the Australians and the Olympics, check out this link and click on the picture that is titled “winning edge” to read about some of the cool things going on at the Australian Institute of Sports.

The Australians have some cool stuff going on. I wonder if it will translate to more medals? Only a few days to find out!!

Enjoy!

Patrick

Olympic Stories...

2008-08-04T16:04:00.001-07:00

I always look foreward to the Oympics and I would be lying if I didn't say I am pumped that the opening ceremonies are only a few days away!

I especially can't wait to see how the 100m turns out as it is setting up to be something very exciting.

Aside from the amazing athletics displayed in the Olympic Games, one of the other reasons I love watching is for the stories. The things that some people endure to become an Olympian is just incredible and inspiring.

This story came into my inbox today and I thought I would share it with everyone. The situations that the athletes' in Sudan are training under are extremely less than adequate and the fact that they are "using paint cans and cinder blocks for the exercise", speaks volumes about their dedication and determination.

The Olympics are about more than just athletics.

More on the Olympics later,

Patrick

How Sharp Is Your Axe?

2008-07-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Lots of people post their training programs on various forums, or they email their programs to me and say “Is this good? What do you think about this program?”

As everyone knows, I will be the first to say “It is impossible for me to tell if that is a good program for you unless I put you through a proper assessment to determine what you can and can not do.” However, there is one common thing that the majority of these programs have in common:

“They don’t include the important first phase of training.”

The first phase of training is our base phase. It is were we develop the proper work capacity in order to handle heavier loads and more volume in later phases of training. As well, for those of us that have been training for years and are more advanced, this phase of training is needed in order to unload our bodies (joints, nervous system, etc) and give us a break from the heavier loads that we may be accustomed to.

Most of the time, the programs in question (those posted on internet forums or those sent to me for my “critique”) just jump right into the real “sexy” training. To quote Abe Lincoln:

"Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first 4 sharpening the axe.”

Basically, we can’t do the more advanced stuff before we take care of the important things that come before it. In this case, sharpening the axe is critical to cutting down the tree, as it will make your job a lot easier. Of course there are people out there who are going to just run out with their dull rusted axe and try and jump right in and start chopping (everyone wants to go right to the competition without practice), but not Abe. He understood that we need to prepare (and the preparation in this example is double the time it will take to complete the job. 4 hours of sharpening; 2 hours of chopping) if we want to achieve the goals we set out to reach.

So, what exactly should the first phase of training include?

In most personal training textbooks, or books on periodization, that first phase of training typically looks something like, 2-3 sets x 12-15 repetitions per set. While I will not deny that this is going to increase work capacity and muscular endurance, I tend to disagree with this set up as I think there is something to be gained by focusing on less repetitions (not necessarily high weight), especially for beginners. It has been my experience that as beginners fatigue, they tend to get very sloppy with their repetitions. 12-15 rep sets of squats, tend to look more like 8 reps of squats and 4-7 reps of good mornings or round back “something-or-others.” It would be more advantageous to take those larger, multi-joint/total body exercises and perform them for 3-4 sets of 5-6 repetitions in the beginning phase. This doesn’t mean that you are using a 5-6RM or trying to max out however. What you are looking for is 5-6 clean repetitions, with good form and decent bar speed through the concentric partition of the lift. To help increase learning (and keep load down) you can slow down the eccentric portion of the lift and/or add an isometric hold at the bottom of the lift before performing the concentric portion. It is this later option that I use in my training when I go back to my base phase of training. To create overload each week, I will do things like increase a rep, increase a set, or put more weight on the bar. I usually will do a two up, one down sequence. Meaning, that for every two weeks of increases, I will back off for a week and then repeat the sequence.

In this base phase of training, since increasing work capacity is key, I typically superset these multi-joint movements with either mobility work (this comes back to the assessment partition to understand exactly where you need to increase mobility/flexibility) or some core exercises (planks, bird dogs, various chop lifts). Once the main exercise is completed, I then perform my accessory work (anywhere form 8-12 per set), using supersets or circuits.

This phase of training typically lasts me 4-6 weeks and once the axe is nice and sharp, I progress to something more intense and changing the focus.

What are you doing to sharpen your axe?

Patrick

Clinic Update

2008-07-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

For anyone interested, I am speaking on August 9th in Phoenix at Trevor Browne High School.

The clinic is part of a Running and Walking Fitness Expo taking place there from 6am-2:30.

I will be speaking on the topic of Weight Training For Runners: Increase Performance and Decrease the Potential For Injury.

Just wanted to throw it out there for any who are interested.

Patrick

Stress and Training

2008-07-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

Strength Gains after Resistance Training: The Effect of Stressful, Negative Life Events.

Bartholomew, John B; Stults-Kolehmainen, Matthew A; Elrod, Christopher C; Todd, Janice S. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 22(4):1215-1221, July 2008.

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effect of self-reported, stressful life events on strength gains after 12 weeks of resistance training.

Methods: Participants were 135 undergraduates enrolled in weight training classes that met for 1.5 hours, two times per week. After a 2-week period to become familiar with weight training, participants completed the college version of the Adolescent Perceived Events Scale (APES), the Social Support Inventory, and one-repetition maximal lifts (1RM) for the bench press and squat. Maximal lifts were repeated after 12 weeks of training.

Results: Median splits for stress and social support were used to form groups. Results indicated that the low stress participants experienced a significantly greater increase in bench press and squat than their high stress counterparts. Strength gains were, however, unrelated to social support scores in either the low or high stress group.

Conclusion: High life stress may lessen a person's ability to adapt to weight training. It may benefit coaches to monitor their athletes' stress both within and outside the training setting to maximize their recovery and adaptation.

Some of my thoughts:

One thing we often under-estimate is our daily stress and how that affects our training program. Exercise is viewed as a stressor because we are breaking down the body, forcing it to adapt and ultimately grow stronger/bigger. The adaptation part of this is the critical key. We don’t grow in the gym; we tear down! Progress happens when we rest.

Stress, as shown here and in other studies, can impair our ability to adapt to the loads imposed on our body during our workout. We have a number of stressors that we deal with on a daily basis; everything from emotional stress to family stress, relationship stress, financial stress, work stress and so on and so forth. At times in our life, all of those stressors can be firing on all cylinders at the same time! This causes the water to boil and rise and sometimes the added stress of intense exercise may be just the thing to force the water over the pot and onto the stove. We then lose the ability to adapt to the workout, our bodies begin to break down and we get sick or injured.

If you are a strength coach working with athletes, a trainer working with general populations, or a general population person working out on your own, it would be helpful for you to understand exactly were you stand that day (or where you athletes/clients stand if you are the one writing the program) and be sensitive to it. Sometimes we write out our training program and we feel that we NEED to stick to it in order to be successful. In reality, it is this mentality that can push us into an over trained state, because those days when our body is beat down or when it “just isn’t there”, our bodies are telling us something! We need to back off a little bit and allow the water in the pot to cool off. This can often actually aid in our recovery from our last training bout (we are allowing our body to get the rest it needs) and in fact help us make continued progress and not risk burning out.

Dr. William Kraemer, a respected researcher in exercise physiology from the University of Connecticut, presented at the NSCA Nation Convention last week about Non-Linear periodization and took it a step further to talk about Flexible Non-Linear Periodization.

For those that don’t know, what Non-Linear periodization, sometimes referred to as undulating peridozation, is, basically it takes various fitness qualities and organizes them into a plan that allows us to modulate between these qualities over our workouts within the week. This is different than traditional linear peridoization. For example:

Linear periodization would look something like this:

Week1-3- 2x12-15
Week4-6- 3x8-10
Week7-9- 5x3-5

Non-Linear or Undulating Periodization would look like this:

Mon- strength (3x3-5)
Wed- muscular endurance (2x12-15)
Fri- power (5-8x2-3@50-70% intensity)
Mon- hypertrophy (3x8-10)

Obviously that is just an example, and if you were to try and use this, you would want to establish which quality you want to emphasize during a specific block of training (say 4-6 weeks) and then that quality would show up more often in the 4-6 week block of training than the other qualities (which at that time you are trying to retain, while focusing more on the specific quality in that block of training). Remember, we can not serve too many masters! Don’t try and get better at everything at the same time (it won’t happen). Focus on one quality and maintain the others.

Flexible Non-Linear periodization is the same as non-linear periodization, with the main different being you have the option to revert to an active rest day or a lighter day (or take a day off) should you not be feeling 100% to train. So, if your client has had a high stress day at work or your athletes just got done with an extremely hard practice, and today is your maximal strength day (which is extremely high on the stress scale) you may want to revert to an active rest day or a light day and put the strength day off until later in the week when the client/athlete is not as stressed out and fatigued, and will have a more productive workout and be able to recover adequately from the intense training.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas when planning your training and working around life stress and gym stress. Remember, sometimes life gets in the way, and you need to just back off the intense training for a little bit to allow your body to catch up.

Patrick

Runners and Weight Training

2008-07-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Running-Specific, Periodized Strength Training Attenuates Loss of Stride Length During Intense Endurance Running.

Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 22(4):1176-1183, July 2008.
Esteve-Lanao, Jonathan 1; Rhea, Matthew R 2; Fleck, Steven J 3; Lucia, Alejandro 1

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a running-specific, periodized strength training program (performed over the specific period [8 weeks] of a 16-week macrocycle) on endurance-trained runners' capacity to maintain stride length during running bouts at competitive speeds.
Subjects: Eighteen well-trained middle-distance runners completed the study (personal bests for 1500 and 5000 m of 3 minutes 57 seconds +/- 12 seconds and 15 minutes 24 seconds +/- 36 seconds).

Methods: They were randomly assigned to each of the following groups (6 per group): periodized strength group, performing a periodized strength training program over the 8-week specific (intervention) period (2 sessions per week); nonperiodized strength group, performing the same strength training exercises as the periodized group over the specific period but with no week-to-week variations; and a control group, performing no strength training at all during the specific period. The percentage of loss in the stride length (cm)/speed (m[middle dot]s-1) (SLS) ratio was measured by comparing the mean SLS during the first and third (last) group of the total repetitions, respectively, included in each of the interval training sessions performed at race speeds during the competition period that followed the specific period.

Results: Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in mean percentage of SLS loss between the 3 study groups, with the periodized strength group showing no significant SLS change (0.36 +/- 0.95%) and the 2 other groups showing a moderate or high SLS loss (-1.22 +/- 1.5% and -3.05 +/- 1.2% for the nonperiodized strength and control groups, respectively).

Conclusion: In conclusion, periodized, running-specific strength training minimizes the loss of stride length that typically occurs in endurance runners during fatiguing running bouts.

Some of my thoughts and how we can use this information:

I have written about and posted some research regarding strength training for runners in the past, but this is the first study to look at a running specific program and its potential effects on the runners’ ability to maintain stride length (a marker for fatigue) during training sessions which were at competition speed.

Runners’ are notorious for destroying their bodies with...MORE RUNNING! They typically feel that if they just run and do nothing else, their problems will just magically go away! Not only that, but they also feel that running is the only thing they need to do. Occasionally, you will see a runner who justifies their well-rounded training program by stating that they do yoga or pilates. Nothing against yoga or pilates, but they are not strength training! You are not loading your body and, in the case of yoga, things are performed slowly and in a static position (often times lying down), which has little specificity to runners or anyone that pretty much stands up and moves. Similarly, a lot of the pilates core exercises are performed lying down. While lying down and trying to activate the ‘core’ musculature is helpful, you eventually need to get up and try and integrate that into some real movement, as things that fire in isolation need to re-learn how to fire during actual movement. The other issue I have with runners and yoga is that, in a yoga class you go in and just stretch out everything. The entire body! Realistically, it would be more beneficial to stretch the muscles that need to be lengthened and leave the muscles that are currently at a normal length alone. Not that these disciplines are bad. I think they can have their place in a well-rounded program. However, they are only a small part of that program and that is all you are doing, then you really need to re-evaluate and plan out something that focused and specific to you.

That basically brings us to this study which looked at a periodized running program and its potential benefits to runners. One thing that I did like was that they looked at a group who performed a periodized program and a group who performed a non-periodized program.

The non-periodized approach seems to be a common mistake that runners who venture into the gym make. Oftentimes, they may feel that just being in the gym and doing something is okay. While doing something; is better than nothing, it would be optimal if we made that “something” more specific.

All subjects began with the same 4-week preparatory period and then broke into two groups (periodized and non-periodized) for their 8-week specific (intervention) training period and then finished with their 4 week competition period (which was the same training for all groups).

The program for the periodized group looked like a typically linear type of periodization. Basically, the subjects started with a 2-week block of circuit training (base training or work capacity training). They followed that with a 3-week block of plyometrics, hills runs, more lifting (they even used snatches, cleans and squats!) and circuit based stuff (so that was more like their strength phase of training or intensification phase). They finished with a 3-week block of specific resisted speed work (this would be their power or peaking phase of training).

The non-periodized group performed the same workout, except the workouts weren’t performed in any sort of sequential week-to-week order (hence the reason they are non-periodized).

Obviously the group that performed the periodized program saw the greatest gains from the training as they saw a lower loss of stride length during the re-test portion of the study when compared to the non-periodized and control group.

So, what does this conclusion mean for runners?

1)Those who do nothing have a harder time maintaining their stride during a fatigued state, which can potentially lead to injury

2)Those who did something, but weren’t specific about it saw some improvements, but those improvements could be better if they had planned more.

3)Those who had the best plan saw the greatest improvements as the plan was specific to their goals and the sport they train in.

Runners need to:

1)Be evaluated

2)Have a concrete plan of what they need to do in order to perform better and prevent injury.

Patrick

Research Review: Concurrent Training vs. Strength Training Alone

2008-07-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

Effect of concurrent endurance and circuit resistance training sequence on muscular strength and power development.

Chtara M, Chaouachi A, Levin GT, Chaouachi M, Chamari K, Amri M, Laursen PB. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Jul;22(4):1037-45.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the sequence order of high-intensity endurance training and circuit training on changes in muscular strength and anaerobic power.

Subjects: Forty-eight physical education students (ages, 21.4 +/- 1.3 years) were assigned to 1 of 5 groups: no training controls (C, n = 9), endurance training (E, n = 10), circuit training (S, n = 9), endurance before circuit training in the same session, (E+S, n = 10), and circuit before endurance training in the same session (S+E, n = 10).

Methods: Subjects performed 2 sessions per week for 12 weeks. Resistance-type circuit training targeted strength endurance (weeks 1-6) and explosive strength and power (weeks 7-12). Endurance training sessions included 5 repetitions run at the velocity associated with Vo2max (Vo2max) for a duration equal to 50% of the time to exhaustion at Vo2max; recovery was for an equal period at 60% Vo2max. Maximal strength in the half squat, strength endurance in the 1-leg half squat and hip extension, and explosive strength and power in a 5-jump test and countermovement jump were measured pre- and post-testing.

Results: No significant differences were shown following training between the S+E and E+S groups for all exercise tests. However, both S+E and E+S groups improved less than the S group in 1 repetition maximum (p < 0.01), right and left 1-leg half squat (p < 0.02), 5-jump test (p < 0.01), peak jumping force (p < 0.05), peak jumping power (p < 0.02), and peak jumping height (p < 0.05). The intrasession sequence did not influence the adaptive response of muscular strength and explosive strength and power.

Conclusions: Circuit training alone induced strength and power improvements that were significantly greater than when resistance and endurance training were combined, irrespective of the intrasession sequencing.

Some of my thoughts on how we can use this:

1) There were 4 groups to look at in this study (5 if you count the control group who did nothing, but since they made no improvements, obviously, I will not bother talking about them) and they all had a slightly different sequencing of training over the 12 week block.

The endurance group performed a high intensity interval protocol based around 5 high intensity runs at Vo2max (measured prior to the start of the program. Their rest interval was performed at 60% of their Vo2max and the duration of the sprint interval and the recovery interval were based on one-half of the subjects’ time to exhaustion at their maximal speed (measured prior to the start of the program).

The strength training group performed circuit training workout broken down into 4 three-week blocks. The first two blocks focused on strength endurance and the third and fourth blocks focused on strength and power.

The other two groups performed both training sessions (concurrent training) and the only thing that changed was the sequence of the work completed. So, one group performed the endurance workout followed by the strength workout and the second group performed the strength workout followed by the endurance workout.

2) While the researchers concluded that the strength group out performed the concurrent training groups in strength and power, I thought it was interesting to note that both concurrent groups made similar improvements in strength and power, regardless of whether they performed the endurance training first or the strength training first. I think this is important for a few reasons. First, people seem to always get into the debate of when to perform their aerobic work, “Should I do it after I lift or before I lift?” When we look at athletes who need to perform speed and agility work, it is probably best to perform this stuff BEFORE lifting, as the last thing you want to do is fatigue the lower extremity and then have the athlete go out and try and sprint or do agility work and blow out an ACL or pull a hamstring. I am generally not a big fan of running (more importantly intense running, as used in this study) after a weight training workout. If you are going to perform aerobic work (or sprints) after your weight training and your goal is general health and fitness or fat loss, then I would rather see you hop on the bike, row machine or versa-climber to get the work done as you don’t have to balance yourself and interact with the ground (of the moving ground if you are on a treadmill) and worry about decelerating yourself.

3) This study gives us some good background for planning or periodizing training. As I have said before “You can’t serve too many masters.” Basically what I mean is, it is tough to try and make great improvements in both strength and endurance or speed at the same time. You don’t see powerlifters performing long slow distance running on the weekends and you don’t see marathon runners performing heavy singles and doubles during the week. You have to be specific to what you are training for. Oftentimes people will ask me to look at their workout and it will have some Olympic lifting, some cardio, some heavy strength training and some hypertrophy training all in the same week. Realistically, there is no way they are going to make great improvements in any of those because they are trying to focus on to much. Pick one thing to focus on and attack it. This doesn’t mean that you have to stop doing the other things, but they should make up only a minimal amount of your total training volume (or to paraphrase Zatsiorsky says, “While focusing on one quality, train other qualities at retention loads.” However, in this study the concurrent training group did make improvements, just not as great as training strength alone (if pure strength is your goal, then you should know what to do). Zatsiorsky also says that you should try not to focus on more than two qualities in one training block. This was adhered to in this study as the first phase of training focused on anaerobic endurance (with the sprints) and then strength endurance, followed by the second phase of anaerobic endurance and strength and power. Which leads me to my next point.

4) Going along with our periodization and how we structure our training programs, this study can be helpful as we know that we can make improvements in strength and conditioning (again, not as great as if we only trained strength alone). This can be helpful if we have only a short period of time to work with an athlete (which is obviously not optimal, but does happen). As well, this can help us out in planning as we can focus on our strength and power in earlier phases of training and then as we near the competitive season, begin to transition over to a combination phase (concurrent training) of the qualities need to be successful in the athletes given sport.

5) The fact that similar increases were made in both concurrent training groups can be of some interest to endurance athletes, who in the offseason, may opt to focus on strength and power prior to their endurance work (split into to workouts a day; strength in the AM and run in the PM) and then, as they shift into the competitive season and their marathon prep, they would want to focus mainly on endurance work first (since it is most important at that time) and perform their strength work second in the workout.

6) The subjects in this study were not elite athletes, so it would be difficult to know how the genetically elite would respond. However, there is some good information that everyone can take from this study and apply to their own training program.

Patrick

Question on Stretching

2008-07-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've brought this up before, but resources for designing an adequate stretching program just don't exist, at least not good ones anyway (from what I've found)

For example, I can stretch as much as I want but I still seem to have tightness in those areas. Maybe that's indicative of another problem, or maybe I'm just doing the "wrong" stretch. I really don't know, and short of going to a PT it seems like it will stay that way.

-Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for writing in! Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this as I just got home after being at the NSCA National Convention for the past 4 days. What a great time! I learned a ton.

Anyway, to your question…

As far as resources go, the Aaron Mattes Active-Isolated Stretching stuff is really great. If you haven’t checked that out yet, I would take a look at it.

When you are stretching, it is important to focus on structures that are tight and NEED to be stretched. We don’t need to increase length in structures that already have good length. One thing you have to do, is determine where the areas of tightness are. This really goes back to having a good assessment plan and determining where your greatest restrictions lie. Another resources that I have talked about, if you haven’t checked it out yet, is Gray Cook’s Athletic Bodies in Balance. It is an excellent book that tells you how to movement screen yourself and find out where the limitations are. This can then help you plan a flexibility program and start correcting some of these limitations.

Sometimes, things that feel tight are not tight at all. In fact, they may have proper length, however we perceive them as tight do to issues with the way that we move or how we test them.

A good example of this is the test were, you lie on the ground and lift your leg straight up in the air to look at your hamstring flexibility. This may show you that your hamstrings are tight, or you may have a false positive (meaning that you test positive for hamstring tightness but, the hamstring length may actually be unaffected). This can be due to tightness of the hip flexors on the opposite leg (the leg on the ground) and weakness in the rectus abdominus. This will cause the pelvis to anteriorly rotate as you bring the leg up in the air. This will limit the amount of hip mobility (in this case hip flexion) you can attain and give the appearance that the hamstring is tight, when in fact it may not be.

On the flip side of that, if you have weak hip flexors on the leg which you are testing, as you bring the leg up off the ground straight, you may not approach a normal 80-90 degrees of hip flexion and may think that the hamstrings are tight. However, the hip flexors on that leg may just be weak and not able to sufficiently pull your leg up any higher.

Another thing to consider with this test is that often times, people will have adequate hamstring length, but feel that the muscle is tight. They may actually be feeling more neurological stiffness as they may feel a stretch in their dura mater (this is the outer most sheath that surrounds the spinal cord). This can sometimes give you that “tight” sensation.

Something else to consider with this test is where are you feeling the stretch? Some people will feel their first sensation of this stretch in their calves, indicating that the gastrocnemius muscle may be tight (but, the straight leg raise test would give the impression that the hamstring is tight). This would mean that you need to stretch the gastroc first to the test and/or stretch the hamstring. Others may feel this stretch first in the front of their hip, indicating that there is a possible bunching up of fascia in the hip flexor region. In that case, you would want to go and perform some soft tissue work on those structures to allow proper movement to take place.

Also know that there are several methods of stretching, and static stretching is only one modality in the toolbox. Dynamic stretching, contract-relax, contract-relax-contract antagonist or active isolated stretching can all be very helpful and you may find that you respond better to one form of stretching than another. Soft tissue work (massage, ART, myofascial release or foam rolling) can be helpful prior to stretching as they can have a positive impact on the fascia by releasing adhesions and helping allow the tissue to relax before it is taken into a lengthend position.

Finally, remember that flexibility is a neurological problem as much as it is a muscular problem. If something is tight (or if something is weak) it will be relaying info to the nervous system that will affect other muscles (synergists and antagonists). When we are working on flexibility (or even soft tissue work) it is important to make sure that we try and re-integrate our flexibility back into normal movement to “re-program” the nervous system to remember that it is okay to move through these new ranges of motion.

Thanks for the Question. Hope that helps give you some ideas.

Patrick

Runners Are A Funny Bunch

2008-07-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Only July 4th, I spent my morning down at a 5K race in Peoria. I set up a massage table and performed post event sports massage and stretching at the AZ Tech training tent. I was there from about 6am until 8:45. I don’t know exactly how many people I saw, but it was a lot.

Some things I noticed:

- Before the event started, there weren’t a whole lot of people performing an adequate warm up. Rather, opting to just go out there and run once the race got underway.

- After the race, there weren’t a whole lot of people performing an adequate cool down (aside from those who where in line to get on my table that is); stretching or using the foam rollers (that were available there) to take care of soft tissue problems.

- I would say the majority of people I got to work on had some sort of problem that was chronic. This wasn’t, “I my calf cramped up today” or “My hips were just really tight this morning. It was more like “My Achilles tendon has been hurting for the past 3 months” or “My lower back always hurts and it has been this way for a few years.”

- When asked what these people do for their problems, aside from maybe a half-hearted stretching program, there was not much else! No soft tissue work, no specific stretching or mobility protocol and no specific strength training program to help correct some of the issue they may be having. Rather, most of them just opted to “run through it”, in the hopes that it just goes away.

Some thoughts:

This type of behavior is very typical of runners. Most of them only look at one aspect of their training program…running! In all honesty, I more comprehensive and well-rounded program would serve them better as it would (a) prevent over training and (b) work along with their running program to prevent injury and increase performance by fixing problems (weakness, compensation patterns, etc) and helping to keep them healthy.

Something that the AZ Tech training group does that really sets them apart from other running groups in the valley is they look at the athletes posture and running technique and come up with some stretching and strengthening program that can help develop the athlete (be it an elite or recreational athlete). This is in-line with my beliefs, as these problems don’t just go away! You need to be proactive about taking care of them, before they manifest into something potentially worse.

Being proactive is all about going through a proper assessment and then taking the time through out the week to work on the weak links in your chain. Wouldn’t you like to know what it feels like to run without pain? Don’t you want to have a healthy running career, free of injury?
Stop pushing through the problems, and start looking for solutions!

PS, this week I will be out of town, In Las Vegas for the National Strength and Conditioning Associations National Convention. It should be a great time and I hope to learn a lot from the lectures. Next week I will be back with some more Q&A’s. If you have any questions, please leave them in the ‘comments’ link at the bottom of each blog entry.

Patrick
Optimum Sports Performance

Product Review: James Waslaski’s 6 DVD set- Sports and Orthopedic Massage

2008-06-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

James Waslaski is a sports and orthopedic massage therapist who has helped to treat injuries and chronic pain with everyone from the general population to elite, Olympic and professional athletes.

I heard about James Waslaski from a great Scottsdale based massage therapist, Don Miller. Don is a really smart guy and when he talks I listen. So per his recommendation I went to Mr. Waslawski’s website, read the published articles (which were informative and interesting) and decided to make a purchase. I know I could have bought just one of the DVDs and checked it out first; but, when it comes to my continuing education I don’t believe in doing things on small scale. So I purchased the entire 6 DVD set. I want all the knowledge, not just 1/6th of it!!

Honestly, if you are a massage therapist, physical therapist, athletic trainer, chiropractor, orthopedic surgeon or anyone working in the sports medicine field, these DVDs are a must have! The best part about these DVDs, which sets them apart from other DVDs of its kind, is that Mr. Waslaski doesn’t just give you some protocol to follow. He gives you his thought process! This is huge in this field because when treating people, it is important to remember that no two people are alike. Individual differences are going to create changes in your treatment protocol, and those that watch and follow a protocol based DVD are not going to be able to pick up on these difference, ultimately leaving them with a half-hearted treatment.

I feel that the review of this product is fitting given that my last blog entry was a research review centered on functional assessment and some of my feelings on proper assessment in the field of strength and conditioning. As everyone who reads this blog knows, I am an assessment junkie. It was refreshing to see that Mr. Waslaski is the same way! Most massage therapists don’t do a proper assessment and just go and “dig right in.” It was great to see Mr. Waslaski go over his process of assessment and treatment. Really focusing on assessing posture, active ROM, passive ROM and muscle strength testing. This really helps to make the treatment specific to the client’s needs, and again, a feature that those who view more protocol based DVDs are going to miss out on.

I enjoyed how Mr. Waslaski went through his treatment process and talked about various techniques of soft tissue therapy and how and when to use which ones depending on the feedback from the client and how the tissue feels (palpation assessment). This is critical as I feel that a lot of people get so wrapped up into one thing. For example they only do Neuromuscular Techniques or the only do Myofascial Release or they only do Active Release Techniques. All of these techniques are great, but they all have different places in a treatment program, and it is really up to the therapist to determine which one is the proper technique to use and when to use it. Again, it is essential to get away from protocol based work and more into interpreting what the clients’ needs are.

It was also excellent to see a massage therapist stress the importance of stretching (especially contract-relax-contract antagonist) following soft tissue work. This is really a missing link in a lot of massage therapists’ treatments of soft tissue injuries. Restoring proper length and helping to re-align collagen fibers is essential in facilitating a healing environment. While stretching is an integral part of most treatments in physical therapy, athletic training and strength and conditioning, massage therapists seem to overlook this modality. The other great thing that was stressed in these DVDs was to only stretch what needs to be stretch! To often people try and go in and stretch everything, using what I call the “shotgun approach.” IE, if you just stretch everything, one of them will work. This really comes back to having a good assessment and then being specific with the treatment. The more specific you can get, the better your treatment will be (just as in Strength and Conditioning, the more specific we can get with our assessment and program design, the more efficient we will be in helping athletes’ correct their weak links and movement impairments).

I really can’t say enough good things about this product. If you are in this field, you really need to have this product in your collection!

I’ll be back later this week with more research and training info! As always, if you have a question (or comment) for the Q&A segment, please use the ‘comment’ feature at the bottom of each blog entry.

Patrick

Assessing your Clients

2008-06-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

Core strength: a new model for injury prediction and prevention.

Peate WF, Bates G, Lunda K, Francis S, Bellamy K. J Occup Med Toxicol. 2007 Apr 11;2:3.

OBJECTIVE: Many work in injury prone awkward positions that require adequate flexibility and strength in trunk stabilizer muscle groups. Performance on a functional movement screen (FMS) that assessed those factors was conducted and an intervention was designed.

METHODS: A battery of FMS tests were performed on 433 firefighters. We analyzed the correlation between FMS performance and injuries and other selected parameters. An intervention to improve flexibility and strength in trunk stabilizer or core muscle groups through a training program was evaluated.

RESULTS: The intervention reduced lost time due to injuries by 62% and the number of injuries by 42% over a twelve month period as compared to a historical control group.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that core strength and functional movement enhancement programs to prevent injuries in workers whose work involves awkward positions is warranted.

Some of my own thoughts: If you read this blog regularly, you will know that I am big on assessments, especially assessments which look at how the athlete or client moves. Gaining information about the way in which your athlete/client movements (or how the DON’T move) is extremely valuable because it allows you to determine where things are breaking down, were possible energy “leaks” are in their movement, the quality with which they move and areas that injury may potentially occur.

I use several different tests when I perform an assessment and the things that I have used over the years have sort of evolved as I have learned more or learned better ways to assess things I am looking for. Part of my assessment consists of the 7-test functional movement screen (FMS) as developed by Gray Cook. If you are a strength coach, personal trainer, physical therapist, or anyone that works in the field of sports medicine, I highly recommend Gray Cook’s book Athletic Bodies In Balance. It is just about the best $15 you can spend. The book was written for the general public (coaches, trainers and athletes’ alike) so it doesn’t get to “heady” or overly complicated. The book was written with the athlete in mind, so that the athlete could perform the tests on themselves (which can be tough, as assessing yourself is not always the best way to go), so only 5 of the 7 tests are detailed in the book. Regardless, the book is an excellent resource and will help you really understand movement.

This particular study was of interest to me because it utilized the functional movement screen (and I like to be as evidenced based as possible in my work) to assess firefighters. Because there was a decrease in lost time due to injuries, the authors concluded that a core strengthening program and functional movement training were beneficial to firefighters. The functional movement screen was used in this study to evaluate the firefighters and then they were enrolled into a training program designed by a sports medicine team. The program was designed to emphasize movements list bending, lifting and squatting that the firefighters may encounter in a work situation. The firefighters were taught “exercises which help to increase core strength and decrease mechanical load on the affected parts of their musculoskeletal system during ergonomically challenging job tasks”.

Aside from injury rates being lowered, the movement screen was also helpful in recognizing movement impairments of firefighters who had suffered injuries. A history of a past musculoskeletal injury lowered a firefighters score by 3.44 points (there is a total of 21 points available on the functional movement screen test). As well, the odds of failing a functional movement screen were 1.68 times greater for firefighters with a history of any injury.

This study gives us an idea of just how powerful a movement screen can be. Often times we get so caught up in performance based tests. What do you bench? What do you squat? What is your 40-time?

A more important question to ask would be “Why is that your bench/squat/40-time and what can we do to make it better? What are your limiting factors?”

Another thing that you can take away from this study as a strength coach or personal trainer is that, those who have been injured do not move properly! Remember, the body is all connected. Injury in one area can cause problems in another. Increased or decreased movement at one joint; will lead to increased or decreased movement at another joint. As we can infer from this study, those that have had an injury (be it sports injury or work injury) are going to need special attention when it comes to designing their program, as care must be taken to ensure that proper movements are re-learned and understood before progressing to more advanced training.

Patrick

Coach's Q&A: Middle Distance Runners

2008-06-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Q: What is better for training, especially for middle distance - speed or miles?

A: Middle distance can be a real bear, because it is a little to long to be considered a sprint and a little to short to be considered a distance run. You really need to have the best of both worlds as far as energy system development goes. So, in this instance, there is no “better”. Rather, you need to be prepared to break your training up through out the week into more intensive days, where you are training shorter/more speed distances with full rest/recovery in between repetitions and extensive days, where you are doing longer runs and working on developing work capacity. I really like tempo runs for this as they help to develop work capacity, but allow you to get rest in between your sub-maximal runs so that you can focus on form and not allow high amounts of fatigue to destroy running technique.

Typically, because of the intensity of the speed work and the high amounts of neurological fatigue it can induce on the bodies system, you want to keep the volume of this work low through out the week. I feel that 2x’s a week of intense sprint work will be sufficient. The other days you can perform your tempo work and/or distance work (since I am unsure if you are a recreational runner that likes to just go out and run sometimes with the running groups in town. Not everyone is training to be a high performance athlete, and that is fine). So, at a weeks glance, your running program may looks something like this:

Monday- Speed work
Tuesday- tempo runs
Wednesday- off
Thursday- Speed work
Friday- tempo runs
Sat- easy run (or long distance if you typically run with a running group on a Saturday, as most do)
Sun- off

That would be a generic little program to follow. Another thing that you may want to keep in mind is that depending on where you are in the season, the amount of speed work and tempo runs or longer distance work may shift, as you can not and should not, train maximal speed year round. This is a great way to burn out and potentially get injured. The planning of your program should be set up by a qualified coach to ensure that the variables are set up properly.

Of course there are other things that you would want to consider. You may want to think about adding in some resistance training in order to help increase your strength and power and to fix any movement problems or technique flaws that you may have. This will not only increase your performance in the middle distance events (or in longer or short distance events), but also will help to prevent injuries.

A proper assessment is needed in order to understand what your limiting factors are in the race so that a solid training program can be set up. Again, just like with the running, strength, power and muscular endurance work are going to shift in volume through out the season in order to prevent over training and ensure that you are fresh and ready to run when it comes to race day. Also, when you add lifting into the schedule above, the schedule becomes very “busy”. It would be best for you to sit down with a qualified coach to determine the best way to set up your schedule for your goals and for the amount of time each week you are able to train.

The worst thing you can do is attempt to do too much and over-train yourself into a ditch. When it comes to speed training, the “less is more mantra” is always a great philosophy to follow. Always opt for low volume/low amounts of higher quality work rather than a high volume/high amount of low quality/poorly executed work. As they say, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!”

Good luck,

Patrick

Coaches Q&A: Warming up

2008-06-17T10:48:00.001-07:00

Q: I know it is important to warm up, but I am concerned about it affecting my performance in the race. Should I not warm up and just start out running in order to have fresh legs and try and set personal bests.

A: Warming up is extremely important. It prepares our bodies to move and helps facilitate an environment in which we can perform at our best. Going out and trying to exercise or compete (especially if you are trying to hit a PR in a run) is never advisable.

If a true concern of yours is that the warm up will detract from your performance time then, not trying to be mean here, you probably shouldn’t be running the race anyway. You probably need to develop your work capacity and general health and fitness.

The goal of the warm up is to get the body warm. You need to raise your core temperature and properly warm up the joints and muscles that are going to be stressed in your event. Exercise physiology textbooks will tell us that we need approximately 10 minutes to warm up our body and prepare it for training or competition. For runners, this can start by simply standing in place and loosening up the joints (ankle circles, hip circles, shoulder circles, planks, bridges, lunges, etc.) and then taking brief warm up jog to help prepare the body for running.

The main thing is that the warm up should not be extremely stressful! This is not a time to get out there and see how fast you can run 100 meters or do anything silly like that. It should however, be adequate enough to raise your temperature and make you break a little bit of a sweat. After the warm up, you should feel primed and ready to go.

No go warm up and set some PRs!

Patrick

Coaches Q&A: Why does my shoulder hurt when I run?

2008-06-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

I was asked to participate in a coach’s panel today at a 5K race in phoenix. It was part of a series that Aztech Training is conducting to help runners get educational information with regard to their running, program, and nutrition. This will be taking place at several of the runs this summer and then during the weekend long runs in August in preparation for the Phoenix PF Chang Marathon. So, if you are planning on running any of these races, please stop by and say hi! Also, if you need a team to join for the PF Chang Marathon, AZtech really is the best in the city!

I have decided to take some of the questions and answer them here since some that are reading this blog may benefit from it. I will tackle a few of the questions each week and hopefully, they will spawn other questions from my readers (if you have any questions, just leave it in the ‘comments’ section at the bottom of each entry and I will try to get to it).

Q: Why does my shoulder hurt when I run, and what can I do about it?

A: This is a great question and one that I happen to get a lot. I will say that without being there to see you run or do a proper assessment, it is tough to pin it to just one thing. As well, I am not a doctor or physical therapist, so I do not (ever) diagnose anything. I do put people through assessments (both movement assessment and, now that I have been working on completing my massage licensure, more specific soft tissue assessments). From there, I try and get any idea of what may be causing the pain and determine whether or not I can help you with this problem. When I need to, I do refer out to the physical therapist for a specific diagnosis. So, to answer the second part of your question, what you can do about it is go to see a professional to determine what the problem is and get on some sort of treatment plan. This can be a trainer who has a solid assessment, a massage therapist (specifically someone who focuses on orthopedic massage and neuromuscular techniques) or a doctor or physical therapist (for a specific diagnosis).

As we say, never chase pain. All that means is that if you have some sort of pain, it may (or may not) be due to the specific structure that is giving you the problem. You really need to look at everything when you are analyzing why someone hurts. Symptoms are nothing more than presentations of a problem. They don’t tell us WHY you hurt, they just tell us that SOMETHING is wrong. It is up to the professional to figure out what that something is. When it comes to shoulder ‘pain’, there are a few things that I look at:

1) Breathing patterns- Is the person an upper chest breather? This tends to create lots of tension in the shoulders and chest and can cause postural problems or exacerbate already existing postural abnormalities (especially late in a race when you are more fatigued).
2) Thoracic spine mobility
3) Cervical spine mobility
4) Scapular movement and position
5) Soft tissue assessment
6) Shoulder mobility and flexibility
7) Scapular stabilizer strength
8) Core strength
9) Posture- Not just upper body posture or thoracic spine posture, but the entire body. Remember, if something is off in the foot, it will affect everything above it. Sometimes, the pelvis can be out of position, causing posture to change all the way up the chain. Total body posture is a big one and it is always the first thing I look at when assessing someone (even though I didn’t list it first here).

As I stated earlier, it is also important to look at how you run late into the race, in a fatigue situation. Runner’s, especially distance runners, don’t always like to do strength training as they feel that it will hinder their performance. I do feel that some of the problems they have can be alleviated with proper strength work. Again, seeing a professional to help determine areas of weakness is really critical to ensuring that you are on the right program at the right time in your training season.

In other news…Tiger Woods Ya’all! Tiger Woods! What an incredible US Open it has been so far. I can’t wait for the playoff round tomorrow. It is almost unfair that I have to work. I feel like it should be some sort of holiday!

Patrick

Plyometric Training Frequency

2008-06-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

Low and Moderate Plyometric Training Frequency Produces Greater Jumping and Sprinting Gains Compared With High Frequency.

de Villarreal ES, González-Badillo JJ, Izquierdo M. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Mar 22(3):715-25.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 3 different plyometric training frequencies (e.g., 1 day per week, 2 days per week, 4 days per week) associated with 3 different plyometric training volumes on maximal strength, vertical jump performance, and sprinting ability.

Methods: Forty-two students were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: control (n = 10, 7 sessions of drop jump (DJ) training, 1 day per week, 420 DJs), 14 sessions of DJ training (n = 12, 2 days per week, 840 DJs), and 28 sessions of DJ training (n = 9, 4 days per week, 1680 DJs). The training protocols included DJ from 3 different heights 20, 40, and 60 cm. Maximal strength (1 repetition maximum [1RM] and maximal isometric strength), vertical height in countermovement jumps and DJs, and 20-m sprint time tests were carried out before and after 7 weeks of plyometric training.

Results: No significant differences were observed among the groups in pre-training in any of the variables tested. No significant changes were observed in the control group in any of the variables tested at any point. Short-term plyometric training using moderate training frequency and volume of jumps (2 days per week, 840 jumps) produces similar enhancements in jumping performance, but greater training efficiency ( approximately 12% and 0.014% per jump) compared with high jumping (4 days per week, 1680 jumps) training frequency ( approximately 18% and 0.011% per jump). In addition, similar enhancements in 20-m-sprint time, jumping contact times and maximal strength were observed in both a moderate and low number of training sessions per week compared with high training frequencies, despite the fact that the average number of jumps accomplished in 7S (420 jumps) and 14S (840 jumps) was 25 and 50% of that performed in 28S (1680 jumps).

Conclusion: These observations may have considerable practical relevance for the optimal design of plyometric training programs for athletes, given that a moderate volume is more efficient than a higher plyometric training volume.

Some thoughts: A lot of times, coaches load up their athletes with plyometric work, especially if they are in jumping sports (IE, basketball, volleyball, etc.). The more is better philosophy still holds true today.

This study set out to evaluate whether or not you can get the same benefits from plyometric work with lower amounts of training volume.

The researchers concluded that the moderate amount of plyometric frequency/volume (2 days per week) group had better results that the high frequency/volume plyometric group. This study may be helpful to coaches who are planning their training programs that include plyometric exercises, specifically if the athletes are preparing for sports which require high amounts of jumping already.

One of the times when coaches run into problem is during inseason workouts. Usually, they continue on with the same training program that the athletes’ were performing in the pre-season phase of training. The problem with this is that not only are the athletes’ still doing the same workout, they have just increased their activity by including practices (usually 5 days a week) and games! This leads to a great amount of overload. This is especially true for those who play in a jumping sport and are trying to balance practice and a high frequency/volume plyometric program.

The main thing I tell coaches in these situations is that they need to drop the plyoemtric training volume so that the athletes’ are fresh and ready to perform properly in practice. This study should give those coaches some insight into how their program can be set up to accommodate the training stress of practice and competition.

Additionally, this program was conducted on physical education students (42 subjects in all) and not elite athletes. At the elite level, the athletes may require high a frequency/volume of training in order to get the same neural benefits that plyometrics provide. The determination of training volume/frequency/load should be established by the strength and conditioning specialist and the athlete should adequately be prepared to handle this level of work by completing prior phases of strength and conditioning to help enhance their training base.

Happy jumping,

Patrick

News and Notes

2008-05-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

News and Notes…

First off, if you are in the Phoenix area on June 8th (that is a Sunday), I will be speaking at the USA Volleyball AZ state coaches seminar, which will be held at South Mountain Community College. I am presenting on movement preparation techniques. This is going to be broken down into two parts. The first part is a lecture and the second part will be hands on where we are going to go through some of the exercises and teach coaches how to cue them. I will also be talking about assessment and some common movement faults we see with young athletes. If you are in the area, please drop by and say hello!

Second, over the next few entries, I have some recent research on plyometrics that I will post about that I found interesting and hope you all like.

Finally, I was talking with Andrew Fitzgerald today. Andrew is a good friend and I had the pleasure of working with him back in NYC when I lived there. Andrew also happens to be the owner of E3 sports (http://e3sports.com/). E3 sports is an up and coming sports performance company in the tri state area, working with athletes of all ages (youth, college, amateur and professional).

We were talking about sports performance training and about how a lot of strength coaches seems to only prioritize STRENGTH. Now, I am not saying that strength is not important; because it is. It is very important. The more strength you have, the greater potential to display power you have. Also, most kids need more strength. However, the key is to not prioritize strength and forget about the importance of other qualities. We have to remember that we are preparing athletes. Not powerlifters and not Olympic lifters. It is almost like a paradigm shift. About 20 years ago (maybe even less) coaches seemed to focus primarily on aerobic conditioning in order to prepare their athletes for the competitive season. Now, we have the total opposite, and coaches are focusing on the other end of the spectrum. I guess, as with most things in life, the true answer can be found somewhere in the middle. If you focus on strength, don’t forget about the conditioning (and vice versa).

The other thing we spoke about was the importance of really having good progressions in your training programs and making sure that you are correcting faulty movement patterns that your athletes are producing (this comes back to having a comprehensive assessment). This can be very difficult when it comes to working with teams and groups of athletes. You need to be really creative in terms of understanding what each person in the group needs and be flexible with your program in order to incorporate those needs. A lot of times, this can be accomplished by not wasting time in between sets and exercises, by having the athlete perform a mobility drill or corrective exercise to help refine the movement pattern they are working on for the day. Also, the warm up time is a great time to address these needs, as is the cool down. Being proactive about trying to correct your athletes’ movement faults will really help set you apart from other coaches.

Patrick

Heavy Circuit Training vs. Traditional Strength Training

2008-05-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Physical Performance and Cardiovascular Responses to an Acute Bout of Heavy Resistance Circuit Training versus Traditional Strength Training.

Alcaraz PE, Sánchez-Lorente J, Blazevich AJ. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Apr 15.

Purpose: Circuit training effectively reduces the time devoted to strength training while allowing an adequate training volume to be achieved. Nonetheless, circuit training has traditionally been performed using relatively low loads for a relatively high number of repetitions, which is not conducive to maximal muscle size and strength gain. This investigation compared physical performance parameters and cardiovascular load during heavy-resistance circuit (HRC) training to the responses during a traditional, passive rest strength training set (TS).

Methods: Ten healthy subjects (age, 26 +/- 1.6 years; weight, 80.2 +/- 8.78 kg) with strength training experience volunteered for the study. Testing was performed once weekly for 3 weeks. On day 1, subjects were familiarized with the test and training exercises. On the subsequent 2 test days, subjects performed 1 of 2 strength training programs: HRC (5 sets x (bench press + leg extensions + ankle extensions); 35-second interset rest; 6 repetition maximum [6RM] loads) or TS (5 sets x bench press; 3-minute interset rest, 6RM loads).

Results: The data confirm that the maximum and average bar velocity and power and the number of repetitions performed of the bench press in the 2 conditions was the same; however, the average heart rate was significantly greater in the HRC compared to the TS condition (HRC = 129 +/- 15.6 beats.min, approximately 71% maximum heart rate (HRmax), TS = 113 +/- 13.1 beats.min, approximately 62% HRmax; P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Thus, HRC sets are quantitatively similar to traditional strength training sets, but the cardiovascular load is substantially greater. HRC may be an effective training strategy for the promotion of both strength and cardiovascular adaptations.

My Thoughts: Okay, so when the subjects performed the circuit training routine, it placed a greater amount of cardiovascular stress on them, forcing that adaptation. This is really the whole point of cardiovascular training, right? The interesting thing was that when the circuit training was performed, there was no difference in bar velocity, power and number of repetitions in the bench press. It should be noted that the exercises that they chose for the circuit training session, aside form the bench press, were single joint exercises (a knee extension and a calf raise) which would have be much less fatiguing than if the subjects performed the bench press, rested 35 seconds, performed a set of squats, rested 35 seconds and performed a set of chin ups. If this were the case, perhaps the results, with regard to bar velocity and power and the number of repetitions achieved per set would have been totally different; and, perhaps the cardiovascular system would have seen an even great adaptation.
There is something we can take away from this study. Now, I am not going to shun performing 1 heavy set, resting 3-5min. and then performing it again. If your sport is centered around a single maximum effort, than this is the way you NEED to train! However, for those in other sports and those of us who just train to be healthy, I really feel that we waste a lot of time in the gym. If we look at the results from this study, we can make a case for performing our strength exercise (say bench press) and then instead of sitting around for 2 minutes doing nothing, we could perhaps use our time efficiently and do some less fatiguing exercises, mobility exercises or stretches for things that are tight or may have been trained the day prior. This is when the super-sets, tri-sets and quad-sets can really come into play. If we properly plan, we can get the best of both worlds when it comes to strengthening ourselves and raising our work capacity.

If you are short on time, need to be more efficient, or not seeing the results you would like. Take a look at your training program and see if there may be a way that you can better plan your workouts and increase your level of fitness.

Patrick

Core Training

2008-05-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

The role of core stability in athletic function.

Kibler WB, Press J, Sciascia A. Sports Med. 2006;36(3):189-98.

Abstract: The importance of function of the central core of the body for stabilization and force generation in all sports activities is being increasingly recognized. 'Core stability' is seen as being pivotal for efficient biomechanical function to maximize force generation and minimize joint loads in all types of activities ranging from running to throwing. However, there is less clarity about what exactly constitutes 'the core', either anatomically or physiologically, and physical evaluation of core function is also variable. 'Core stability' is defined as the ability to control the position and motion of the trunk over the pelvis to allow optimum production, transfer and control of force and motion to the terminal segment in integrated athletic activities. Core muscle activity is best understood as the pre-programmed integration of local, single-joint muscles and multi-joint muscles to provide stability and produce motion. This results in proximal stability for distal mobility, a proximal to distal patterning of generation of force, and the creation of interactive moments that move and protect distal joints. Evaluation of the core should be dynamic, and include evaluation of the specific functions (trunk control over the planted leg) and directions of motions (three-planar activity). Rehabilitation should include the restoring of the core itself, but also include the core as the base for extremity function.

My thoughts: This was a great paper. If anyone is interested, as with all papers I talk about in my blog, please just shoot me an email and I will be sure to get it out to you.

One of the ideas covered in this paper is injuries, more importantly upper extremity injuries, typically can be traced back to some problem with the core muscular and/or a poor transfer of force from the lower extremity to the upper extremity, causing the upper extremity to compensate by doing more work than it needs to.

This is an important concept to grasp. Often times, we become very myopic with injuries. “If it hurts in the shoulder, it must be a shoulder problem.” This article is really teaching us to look elsewhere. Not that there isn’t a problem at the shoulder, because there very well could be, but to look for WHY there is a problem at the shoulder. What is creating this problem?

These questions should be answered in your initial assessment (IE, movement screen) and help give you information about how to attack the issue and prevent it from happening in the future. As I have stated before, the number one goal of training is injury prevention. Too many of us go in with the mentality of, “if I just get stronger the problem will go away,” or “this will work itself out.” NEWS FLASH: Problems don’t take care of themselves. We need to be proactive in our approach when it comes to addressing our movement faults and the faults of our clients.

Figure out what the problem is. Why it happens. Devise a plan to fix it. And carry out my plan.
More tomorrow,

Patrick

What are you getting from your (insert any health care provider)?

2008-05-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

If you are working with a trainer, strength coach, doctor, physical therapist, etc., really ask yourself, “What am I getting from this person?”

The reason I bring this up is because I heard something incredible yesterday. Incredible from the standpoint that it was hilarious (to me) and sad (for his clients) that he is actually ripping people off like this.

This trainer, when his clients come in to work with him, starts the session by saying “what do you want to work on today?”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..

What a joke! Seriously, are you running some sort of restaurant? Is this an ala carte menu? “I will have some core work, a little bit of legs, and some biceps curls to day. Hold the stretching.”

Honestly, this guy is a total joke. If you are a trainer and you are not developing a program for your clients,’ which focuses on their needs and limitations (which you should be determining; not them) then you are wasting their time and their money. If you are a client that is accepting this sort of treatment from your trainer, then you need to stand up and let this person know that you deserve better. It is YOUR health after all.

It is really sad that there are those in the field of health and wellness, and the entire medical field really, that prey on people who (a) don’t know any better and (b) assume that because you have credentials and fancy letters after your name you must know what you are talking about (despite asking them what THEY want to work on when they come to see you). I’ve said it once and I will say it again; some of the dumbest people I know have a PhD or Doctorate. They have all the fancy certifications and they pretend like they know what they are talking about. They even believe so much in their credentials (which means they passed a test really) that they have an ego about it and speak down to others, despite the others having more experience and knowledge than they do. It is really sad.

If you are working with someone, and this can be anyone really, not just your personal trainer; this can be your doctor, physical therapist, nutritionist, chiropractor, etc, ask yourself “what is this person doing for me?” Do they have my best intentions at heart? Are THEY making an effort to get ME better? Or, are they simply taking advantage of the situation?

Think about the situation for a second. You are going to these people because you have a problem. Maybe your are sick, in pain, need to become more active and lose weight; either way, you have a problem. You are in a vulnerable state of mind. You are turning to these people for help and it is very easy to accept what they say as gold, since you really don’t have anywhere to turn. At some point, just step back and ask yourself if this is the right person for you. Look for the truth!

Till next time…..

Dishing you your daily dose of the truth,

Patrick

Functional Limitations/Training Experience/Goals

2008-05-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Log onto any website forum that discusses exercise and weightlifting and you will see people talking about the 5x5 program.

“How do I set up a good 5x5 routine?”

“Can I do rows instead of powercleans?”

“Can I use the deadlift instead of the squat?”

While these questions are easy to answer, they are actually the wrong questions. The real question should be:

“How do I know if 5x5 is the right program for me?”

Now that is LOADED question!

First of all, that question would be virtually impossible to answer without being there to assess the person and determine what their functional limitations are and what is appropriate for them. I know there are books out there that are written on the 5x5 program and all sorts of templates based of the original, but really, you have to make sure the program is right for you. Programs in books are only as good as the paper they are written on. The templates give you a good outline to work from and after that, it is up to you to add or subtract exercises or movements in order to personalize the program to your needs. THERE IS NO PERFECT PROGRAM!

Part of taking a program and individualizing it is having a good assessment (which is really tricky if you don’t have someone to conduct the assessment) and the other part is having a clear idea of what your goals are and what you are looking to get out of the program.

Here are two examples of poor application of this program that I have seen lately:

1) I am preparing for an Olympic distance triathlon and I want to use the 5x5 program as my lifting program.

This is situation an issue of serving to many masters. On the one hand, you have this goal of completing an Olympic triathlon, an event that is totally endurance based. On the other hand, you want to train for strength using a 5x5 program. Obviously, if you try and do both you are either (a) not going to have great results for either goal or (b) end up getting injured because you are overtraining.

If you have a goal of doing an Olympic triathlon (or a marathon or a distance bike event or something along those lines), the most important part of your training is preparing for the event. You have to get into the pool or lake and swim, you have to long time in the saddle on your bike and you have to get out and do your miles running. You can’t worry about trying to hit a 5 rep maximum each week. Your body can not work in all directions at once, and choosing two goals that are on opposite ends of the spectrum is a great way to stay mediocre (at best).

Pick your goal, construct your plan, and achieve.

2) I am doing 5x5 but I don’t have great technique on the lifts and lack fundamental strength to properly execute them.

This situation is all about rushing into things, not analyzing your functional limits and thinking that you are more advanced that you really are. I know, most people think they are total experts when it comes to training. NOTE: IT IS OKAY TO BE A BEGINNER!! Being a beginner is great! You have this wonderful opportunity to do things right and to really develop a solid base of strength and fitness. It is that base that is going to allow you to keep exercising (injury free) for a long period of time.

This situation is actually a situation that I saw at the gym for the past 3 weeks (although I haven’t seen the kid after that?). This kid would come in and bench 5x5, deadlift 5x5 and perform 1-arm DB rows, 5x5. All of the exercises were done with horrendous form. He would un-rack the bar, bounce it off his chest and grind out rep after rep with his elbows and shoulders moving all over the place, absolutely no control whatsoever. Then he would pull these miserably slow deadlifts with a rounded back that made him look like a question mark (good thing he was wearing his weight belt!). Finally, he would walk over and do some 1-arm DB rows with the 100lb DBs, using all the momentum he could muster to get the DB moving and up towards his abdomen (plyometric rows?).

Obviously, he was not advanced enough to be performing these exercises and had some significant limitations. He lacked core strength (something I will talk about in the next entry) and couldn’t maintain a tall and tight posture. He lacked shoulder stability and was unable to control the weight on the bench press. He was unable to properly row the DB (something that I see all the time. A really abused exercise is the 1-arm row). He didn’t understand the technique of these exercises.

This kid would have benefited more (after a proper assessment) from doing basic things, dropping the weight and really learning the technique. He would have built a solid base and would have easily progressed over the weight he was currently using in a very short time. But, his ego got in the way (as it does with most of us) and he ended up, in my opinion at least, wasting a ton of time in the gym.

When putting together your program, really think about these things:

1) What are your limitations
2) What is your goal
3) What is your experience level
4) How big is your base

If you can answer those questions honestly and ego free, you are going to be way ahead of about 95% of all the people in the gym.

Patrick

Distance Education vs. In Person Education

2008-05-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

I know that this blog is about exercise science related things, but I felt that I would address the situation of distance education (learning primarily via online courses) vs. in person education (going to class every day, etc).

There have been a huge amount of distance programs popping up all over the country in the field of exercise science, kinesiology, nutrition, dietetics, and public health. Since I have gone through school both ways (I have been going to school for what seems like forever), I figured that this entry would help some of those that may be on the fence or looking for alternatives to their continuing education.

First, I will say that going to school (in person education) is essential for undergraduate students just out of high school. In my opinion, being there and having the experience of going to class and getting some hands on education is needed to help spring board your career in any field. There is really no substitute for being there and learning in person when you are just starting out.

Once you have completed your undergraduate work and you have been working in the field of your choice for a few years, you may find that continuing your education is critical to your professional life. While going to school has a lot of great perks, sometimes it can be extremely difficult to attend classes and work a full time job. If you have a 3 hour class on Monday, you really have to figure that the class will take up about 5 hours that day, since you can’t schedule clients or patients on either ends of that three hour class in order to allow you to travel to and from school. If you do the math that means you have 3 hours left that day to see clients/patients. I don’t know too many people that can live on 15 hours a week of work. Now, if you have a large financial backing, then this option may work very well for you, in which case you should go for it. Some of the perks of going to graduate school at an in person program are:

- potential for grad assistance work

- industry contacts through professors and fellow students

- internship opportunities

- hands on work with faculty members (especially if you are conducting research)

- potentially better placement opportunities once the program is finished

Obviously, those are great perks; however, as I said above, this option may not be for everyone. A distance option may serve you much better as it:
- allows you more flexibility

- allows you to make your own schedule

- some programs allow you to go at your own pace (faster or slower depending on how you want to do it)

- the ability to still work and make a living

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a walk in the park. You have lectures to watch, books to read, papers to write, tests to do, and forum questions to respond to, where you interact with your professor and other students. Also, you have to be a very self motivated person to make distance learning work for you. You have to set aside time each day to take care of your assignments and study and you have to be proactive about asking questions when you don’t fully understand something (since you are not face to face with the teacher or in a lecture where you can stop and ask questions, you are watching the lecture online rather, you really have to make sure that you are understanding everything fully). While the pro’s of making your own schedule are nice, there are some con’s to the distance education:

- you don’t have direct contact with the professors, so you don’t always have the opportunity to develop a real professional relationship

- you don’t have direct contact with the students so you again, don’t always have the opportunity to develop a real professional relationship

- you typically don’t have internship opportunities and since you aren’t at the campus, there are no graduate opportunities available to you

- since you are studying on your own via the internet, you may not have any placement opportunities once the program is over

You really need to weigh the options between the two if you are making a decision to go down this road. I will tell you that I really did enjoy my distance classes because of the fact that I could check in and answer the forum questions and do my homework when I had time. Now that I am in school (again) and working fulltime, I can honestly say that I am tired as heck as I work a full day and then have to get down to school for 4 hours 3 nights a week and 3 hours on Saturday. It can be really draining. Also, when I did my distance program, I did have a number of years of practical experience (7 years), so it wasn’t as if I was trying to learn something totally new. While I am a very self motivated person when it comes to my education, I did at times miss the opportunity of being in classes and having in person discussions (something that I am enjoying right now in my courses).

No matter which way you go about it, you are going to need to work hard and study hard. If you want to be good at something, you need to take the time to really learn it. Whether that learning is via a distance program or an in person program is for you to decide.

Patrick

Wanted: Competent High School Strength Coach

2008-05-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

I was out at the high school track this afternoon running some sprints (just having fun and working on technique. Not training for anything particular), when a high school coach came out with one of his female athletes to do some track work.

I understand the situation that schools are in. They have a limited budget to devote to athletics and a lot of high school teachers played sports when they were younger, and some even played on the collegiate level, so naturally it is easier to just hire from within and let the teachers coach the athletes. The problem with this is that the teachers, while they may have been good athletes, have a very little understanding of how to coach the sport and how to properly progress and teach the athletes.

What I watched made my head want to explode. This girl warmed up and then began working on her starts. Now, I am not a great track and field coach by any stretch of the imagination, I do love the sport and I am striving to get better as I would like to coach more sprinters in the future, but I can see common flaws in running technique. This girl was terribly slow off the start and some of it was do to the way she positioned herself. She had very little leg strength, as she had no push off the ground, not just at the start but, through the entire run. Her knees would buckle in with each step and she had a very slow stride rate. It was like the track was covered with flypaper and she just stuck to it with each step. Gravity was defeating this poor girl. Her arms were coming across her body and she held an incredible amount of tension in her hands. She also ran with a pretty good anterior tilt and her torso sort of swayed back behind her center of gravity.

Now, I am trying to put this girl down at all, she was working very hard and really seemed like she wanted to improve. The reason I am stating all of this is because the coach chose to fix none of it! He didn’t comment on any of the technique flaws. After each start, all he would say is “Gotta be faster off the start. Move your legs quicker.” I don’t get how that is supposed to help anyone? There are reasons that she is not able to move faster!

After working on starts for a while they moved on to a maximum effort 400m run to end the workout. The coach took out his digital camera to get the action on tape. It was unreal. She started out running like mad and by the final 100m straight, she had absolutely no kick. I honestly thought she was going to not be able to finish. And, if her form wasn’t bad at the start of the run, by that final 100m, it was horrendous! The coach seemed pleased with the video however. He just said, “good job. Just need to get faster.” Seriously, if that is the only thing that he picked up from that video, he should be shot.

After that final 400m, the girl also commented that her ankle hurt, to which the coach replied, “Well, you have tendonitis, that’s all. Just have to walk it off. That is all you can do.” That last bit put me over the edge. Seriously, and this guy is in charge of people’s kids every day? That is horrible. What bad advice.

The problem is that things like this go on all the time. I would say that most coaches at the high school level have very little understanding of what is going on as far as coaching the sport and more importantly, how to effectively develop the athletes and their strength and conditioning program. I would love to see a day when competent strength and conditioning coaches are hired by schools to handle these issues and help to develop these young athletes. Who knows, we may have a lot better athletes and a lot less injuries if that actually happened.

If you are in the Phoenix area and looking for great coaching in the sport of track and field or cross country, I support the AZtech training team 100%. The coaching staff have years of experience and Head Coach/Exercise Physiologist Bill Strachan is one of the most knowledgeable people in the sport that I have ever met.

Patrick

Free Weights vs. Machines: Research Review

2008-05-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Strength outcomes in fixed versus free-form resistance equipment.

Spennewyn KC, J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Jan;22(1):75-81.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare measures of strength and balance between subjects using fixed form or free-form resistance training equipment to determine whether there is a difference in strength or balance outcomes.

Methods: Thirty previously untrained subjects, mean age = 49 (+/-3.7 years), were randomly placed in either a free-form strength group (FF n = 10) utilizing a commercially available free-form plate loaded resistance device, a fixed form strength group (FX n = 10) utilizing a commercially available fixed range selectorized resistance device or a control group (C; n = 10) who did not exercise. All groups were assessed during a pretest (T1) and a posttest (T2). The exercise groups were asked to exercise over a 16-week period, increasing resistance based on a standardized 8-12 repetition protocol. The same muscles were targeted in both exercise groups, all groups were instructed not to change their dietary habits.

Results: A one-way ANOVA was used to detect differences among the groups using baseline and end results data. FX group increased strength 57% from baseline while the FF group increased strength 115% from baseline. A statistically significant difference (P = 0.000001) was detected for strength production in the FF over the FX group and (P = 0.0000144) over the training and control groups. Balance improved 49% in the FX versus 245% in the FF groups. Testing revealed a statistically significant difference (P < or = 0.003). The control (C) group did not show significant improvement in either strength or balance.

Conclusions: Results of this study indicate a greater improvement in FF over FX in strength (58%), and balance (196%). Additionally, the FX reported increased pain levels while the FF group reported lowered overall pain levels.

Thoughts and Ramblings:

I ran across this study in one of the recent Journal of Strength and Conditioning publications and thought that it would be a good one to post up. Obviously, for those that read this blog on a regular basis, you can probably guess that I am more of a free weight guy than a machine based guy. In fact, I currently work in a facility where we don’t have machines. The closest we have is 2 free motion cable towers, a seated row and a seated lat pulldown (both cable based machines). Other than that, we have the standard, benches, barbells, dumbbells, power rack, and bumper plates. So yea, I am not much of a machine guy.

Anyway, this study set out to test a variety of different things. The subjects were sedentary, which the study defined as not having participated in a regular exercise program in 6 months or more. Also, five subjects with in both exercise groups (the free weight and the machine group. I will throw out the control group for my comments, obviously since they did no exercise and made no changes to daily living, they made no improvements) experienced headaches 2-4 times a week (for unknown reasons).

Before I go on, the term in the abstract, Free Form (FF), refers to the subjects in the group who performed their exercises on a free motion type machine. Free Form does not mean free weights (IE barbells and dumbbells), even though I do use the term free weight from here on out. So just keep that in mind.

The group that performed the free weight exercises saw great improvements in strength and balance (however the machine group also increased their balance through the study, although it was not significantly greater than the free-weight group). The frequency of headaches in the two groups also dropped and this reason was unknown (perhaps, exercise is just good for you!).

What they didn’t tell you in the abstract above, which you do learn in the study, is that joint pain was measured on a scale of 0-10. Subjects that were in the free-weight group whom had know pre-existing, but not debilitating, joint pain prior to this study, as determined by a pre-study questionnaire, experienced a 30% DECREASE in joint pain! However, the subjects in the machine group reported having an 111% increase in joint pain, when no one in that group had reported joint pain before the study began!

So what does this all mean? Machines are bad; free weights are good….blah, blah, blah.

The last point about the joint pain I found very interesting. Part of the issue was probably in the fact that these were sedentary people who had not participated in an exercise program in a very long time (and they were all over the age of 30, so not too old, but they weren’t spring chickens). One of the problems with using machines and performing a repetition maximum test (in this case it was 8-12 repetitions to failure) is that you can load up the machine a lot more than you can with free weights (or in this case, the free motion machine) which means you put your joints under a lot more stress and, since you are on a fixed plane of movement, you are able to compensate, or overcompensate, to a greater extent with other muscles that might otherwise not come into play (although when you are working to a maximum, you start to really reach with everything you have). So, the situation of being sedentary and having the ability to load up a machine, which stabilizes the weight for you and allows you to go to town with a maximum effort, is not a god combination from a joint health perspective.

Do I think machines are bad? Not really. Do I think they have their place? Yea, at times I think they are okay. I try and not speak in absolutes and try to be more of a “middle of the road” type of guy when it comes to this stuff. Machines, although they should not make up the bulk of your training, can have their place if you goal is hypertrophy, since they do allow you to load up the weight a little more than you would under a free-weight conditioning, and allow you to be stabilized and just worry about making a strong contraction. Obviously, these conditions don’t lend themselves well to sports performance (or even real life), since our muscles don’t operate in an isolated manner, but rather function in harmony with one another. However, from a bodybuilders perspective, I could see machines having some place. As well, since the weight is stabilized for you, later in the workout, as fatigue sets in, they may be a safer option, especially if you are dieting for a contest and you need to maintain a certain level of intensity (defined as the load being lifted in relation to your 1 repetition maximum) which would be otherwise difficult with a free weight type exercise (IE a leg press vs. a squat), since there is some strength loss as you cut calories, diet down and lose body weight.

What I will say is that if you do use a machine in your training from time to time, make sure you use proper technique. Since the load is stabilized for you, it is very easy to let your ego get in the way. Just this night at the gym I saw some guy doing a hammer strength chest press. He had it loaded up way past his limit and every rep he would arch his back like crazy, his elbows would flare out to the sides and his shoulders would shrug like mad. Obviously none of this is healthy by any means. What made it even better was that he was only doing about 3 reps per set. Why the hell would you bother with a 3 rep max on a machine exercise? That seems like a great way to tear yourself up.

So, the take home message:

I don’t really use machines a whole lot (occasionally I will rep out on a hammer strength piece, I am pretty fond of the iso-lateral row) and I don’t use them for clients (especially since we don’t have access to any in our facility), although in some rehab situations, a leg press may not be a bad option. Even though I am not a big fan of machine based training, I could see if you were a bodybuilder, some machine work being of benefit to you. However as always, the basics rule in my book. So squat, bench press, row, pull up and deadlift first. If you want to do some “cute” stuff, do it after the important work is done.

Patrick

Good Intention/Bad Idea

2008-04-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

I did an assessment on a guy a couple days ago that was a total mess. He had terrible neck pain and stiffness and he was a postural nightmare. He told me what he does with his trainer, which consisted of 60min. of working out.

Not a 60min. personal training session. But, 60min. of working out! 60min. of non-stop exercise.

When I asked what they did as far as stretching and flexibility goes and if they do anything to address his soft tissue (foam rolling, etc), he told me that all that stuff is “up to him to do on his own.” He said his trainer wants him to get a full 60min. of the workout, so they don’t really have time to do the “other stuff.”

Well, it isn’t my job to police other trainers and “expose them,” nor do I care to do it! I tried to explain to the gentlemen the type of situation it seems that his trainer is in. A lot of times in these chain gyms, trainers feel that if a person is paying for a 60min. workout, they should get a 60min., butt kicking, beat you into submission workout, and nothing less. The other stuff (stretching, soft tissue work, mobility exercises, etc) is not as important because that is not what you are paying for. I let him know that he needs to tell his trainer that being pain free is part of his goal of overall health, as it should be! I mean seriously, who cares if they look great if they have chronic pain?

Also, realistically, who needs to be doing a full 60min. of non-stop weight training anyways? I would think you could be more efficient than that.

Anyway, the point is that when you are working with someone really take the time to analyze what his or her problem areas are. Then, take the time to develop a good program, which aims to correct some of these problem areas. Be efficient in your program set up, and make sure to include the necessary components that are going to be needed to correct these problems (whether that is flexibility work, mobility exercises, or soft-tissue work, is up to you to decide. Usually it is a combination of all of them.). Being a healthy person is more than just losing some body fat and looking good at the beach. It is also about feeling good, moving well and being pain free. Whether you are training for a sport, or training for the game of life, everyone deserves to operate at his or her highest potential.

Patrick

Knuckleheads in The News!

2008-04-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Too many eggs are risky?

Too many eggs can kill you?

These are the questions that I have been seeing after this article, http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080409/too-many-eggs-risky, was posted on WebMD last week. The article was reporting on a study of 21,300 male doctors, followed for 20 years after the age of 54. Each year the men reported their egg consumption, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, consumption of vegetables and breakfast cereal, diabetes, high blood pressure, and use of asprin. “Participants weren't asked to change their diets. The typical participant reported eating one egg per week. Older, heavier, less active men who smoked, had high cholesterol, and had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure tended to eat more eggs.”

The study went on to conclude, “Even after adjusting for other risk factors, men who reported eating seven or more eggs per week were 23% more likely to die of any cause during the study; the risk rose among those with diabetes.
But egg consumption wasn't linked to increased risk of heart attacks or strokes, even among men who ate more than seven eggs per week.”

I haven’t seen the entire study, but after reading this article, there are several things I would question about the study, as it wreaks of stupidity:

1) How did they adjust for “other risk factors” when interpreting the results of this study.

2) Participants were not asked to change their diets. So that begs the question, “What else were they eating?” People are notorious for under-reporting their calories in studies where diet is not controlled for. It sounds like, from the article, that these individuals were not the “healthiest” of subjects to begin with either.

3) The participants reported their physical activity. While people are notorious for UNDER reporting their caloric intake, they are also notorious for OVER reporting their physical activity. Subjects typically say that get more activity/exercise than they really do and they over estimate the amount of calories burned during their workouts.

4) Older, heavier, less active men who smoked, had high cholesterol, and had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure tended to eat more eggs. I wonder if most of the subjects that this line is refering too were also made up the 5169 deaths counted by the researchers during the follow-up period. Honestly, I don’t know where the researchers were going with that statement. Was the idea to draw some sort of obtuse connection between fat people who smoke and have other health risks and egg consumption? How could you even conduct a study on people that are this unhealthy and come to the conclusion that only ONE of the things they are doing (or not doing) is what killed them?

5) The article also states, “But egg consumption wasn't linked to increased risk of heart attacks or strokes, even among men who ate more than seven eggs per week.” So, then what killed the men that led the researchers to conclude it was egg consumption? Maybe the men died of old age, or it was just their time to go. I just don’t get how they concluded that egg consumption was risky, when they were looking at people who were already out of shape, deconditioned, had other health risks, smoked, didn’t control for their diet and didn’t have some sort of exercise regime to follow. To then go on and say that the egg consumption did not increase the risk of heart attack or stroke (even amongst the men who ate higher amounts of eggs), what the heck were the people dying of?

As you can see, there seems to be some loop holes in this study. The sad part is that authors report on stuff like this and people read it and get scared. Pull up any health article on an internet news page (msn.com, google news, etc) or look at any health article in your daily news paper and you will be bombarded with articles from authors (most of whom have no idea about how research is conducted and no background in the health/science field) saying that “recent research states (insert some stupid new trend).” The problem is that the authors don’t understand the research any more than the general population who reads their article in the latest publication and yet, they are ones reporting on it! Like the blind leading the blind, these kinds of articles leave people asking lots of questions and being more confused and losing direction with their diet/health and wellness programs. It’s unfortunate, but the American media is doing a great job of helping people stay un-fit.

Question everything you read,

Patrick

Strongman Contest in Garden City Long Island (NY)

2008-04-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ther Professional Performance Athletic Center (www.professionalperformance.net/index2.php) in Garden City Long Island will be hosting the first of 2 strongman events this summer on June 7th.

The details can be found here:

http://www.use-ny.com/eventplanning/strongman.html

For those that don't know, the Professional Performance Athletic Center is a state of the art sports performance facility. The best way I could describe it is "an athlete's playground." If you don't go to compete in the contest, I highly suggest you get down there and check the place out. If you are an athlete (high school, college, pro) or a weekend warrior looking to enhance your performance in the game of life, this is the place to do it! Aside from the amazing equipment, indoor sprint track and turf field, the staff is well educated and brings a wealth of experience to the table.

Check it out!!

www.professionalperformance.net/index2.php

Patrick

Skill Based Games vs. Technical/Tactical Training Part 2

2008-04-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

The reason I posted yesterday’s study was two-fold. First, to give everyone another idea to think about when preparing training for their athletes; and second, to help give some coaches ideas to break up the monotony of training.

If you read the study (for those that emailed in and requested it) or even just the abstract, it is pretty easy to see what is going on. Basically, the researchers took a group of junior elite volleyball players and put them into two groups. One group performed training that was regimented and instructional. Their training had to do enhancing the technical aspects of the sport by taking rep after rep of a number of drills. The other group performed more skill based games, which allowed them to interact in athletic ways, rely on quick decision making, as they would in a game situation, and execute movements in response to what the other people in the game where doing. The volleyball players’ performance was then tested to see which group had the greatest improvements. The girls in the instructional group showed significantly greater improvements in all measurements of skill as well as spike jump and speed. The girls in the skill based game group showed improvements in vertical jump, spike jump, speed, agility, upper body muscular power, and estimated maximal aerobic power. This led the researchers to conclude that a combination of both skill based games and instructional training are needed to elicit the greatest performance benefits from junior elite volleyball players.

One-thing kids hate, is sitting there and taking rep after rep of some technical drill. While I will be the first to say that drilling technique is crucial to the development of an athlete, I will also say that at a young age, this can be overkill. Aside from the fact that athletes these days specialize in sports at way to young of an age, most kids want to have fun and being out there and getting harped on about technique sometimes can get old real fast. I think this study is excellent at showing us that there is a lot of merit to allowing kids to play games that enhance their skills. In volleyball, soccer, basketball or hockey, it can be something as simple as three-on-three. Just letting the kids play and interact in between the technical aspects of training can help them develop their skills by putting into play some of the things they have learned in their technical training, while also giving them an idea of how to think on their feet and help them get “game ready.” Other games that work really well are things like tag, or freeze tag and dodge ball. These games help teach kids athletic movements and agility, while getting them away from the things they do everyday (sometimes year round) in practice.

One way you could use this information is by having a few days of the week devoted to technical and instructional practice and then a few days of the week devoted to athletic or skill based games. These games, aside from what I have said above, are also great for conditioning as they get the kids up and moving and can be used in place of a regular conditioning practice that you may have scheduled. Another way may be to have the kids spend some of the practice doing technical training and then the other part of the practice doing skill based games, basically trying to implement what they have learned. For example, doing some skill work for basketball for half the practice and then breaking them down to play 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 to try and use some of the new ideas they acquired during the technical training, while developing their ability to think on their feet in game like situations.

However you use the info in this study is up to you; but, when you are planning practice, just remember that you can have all the technique in the world, but if you don’t know how to use it in a game situation or can’t call on it when the time is right, you probably will have a hard time getting to the next level of play. So, don’t neglect the importance of allowing kids to develop sports skills (and enhance conditioning) with other types of games.

Patrick
http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com

Skill Based Games vs. Technical/Tactical Training

2008-04-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

A study recently published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, looked at skill based games vs. instructional training in a strength and conditioning program for junior volleyball players.

Below is the abstract for your review (please email me if you would like a full copy of the text). Tomorrow I will comment on this study and talk a little bit about how we can apply this to training athletes (especially youth athletes) as a means to enhance conditioning/work capacity and hopefully prevent some of the overtraining and injuries we are seeing from year round specialization in today's youth sports programs.

Patrick

http://www.optimumsportsperformance.com

If you would liek the full text or have questions/comments regarding training please shoot me an email at optimumsportsperformance@gmail.com

Do Skill-Based Conditioning Games Offer a Specific Training Stimulus for Junior Elite Volleyball Players?

Gabbett, Tim J, Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 22(2):509-517, March 2008.

Purpose: This study investigated the specificity of skill-based conditioning games and compared the effectiveness of skill-based conditioning games and instructional training for improving physical fitness and skill in junior elite volleyball players.

Methods: Twenty-five junior volleyball players (mean age +/- SE, 15.6 +/- 0.1 years) participated in this study. Heart rate data were collected on all players during the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships. After the competition, players were randomly allocated into a skill-based conditioning games group (n = 12) or an instructional training group (n = 13). Each player participated in a 12-week training program that included 3 organized court training sessions per week.

Results: No significant differences (P > 0.05) were detected between competition and skill-based conditioning games for the percentage of time spent in low-intensity, moderate-intensity, and high-intensity activities. Skill-based conditioning games induced improvements in vertical jump, spike jump, speed, agility, upper-body muscular power, and estimated maximal aerobic power, whereas technical instruction improved only spike jump and speed. Conversely, instructional training induced meaningful improvements in all measurements of skill, whereas improvements in technical skill after skill-based conditioning games were uncommon and typically small.

Conclusions: The results of this study show that skill-based conditioning games offer a specific training stimulus to simulate the physiological demands of competition in junior elite volleyball players. Although the improvements in physical fitness after training were greater with skill-based conditioning games, instructional training resulted in greater improvements in technical skill in these athletes. These findings suggest that a combination of instructional training and skill-based conditioning games is likely to confer the greatest improvements in fitness and skill in junior elite volleyball players.

Cardio…

2008-04-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Over the past few entries, we looked at some research on cardio. Some of it applied to athletes and some of it (yesterday's entry) applied to more general population clients. So, how do we bring this all together? How do we set up our training so that we are efficient and not wasting time on things that we don't need to do?

Cardio and Fat Loss

If we are talking about fat loss, I think the biggest place people go wrong is that they try and do too much in the face of a massive caloric deficit. In order to lose weight/body fat, we lower calories. This in turn inhibits our ability to recover from strenuous exercise. Coincidently, people also try and do MORE exercise than they previously did (during a period where they were eating more and able to better recover from the higher amounts of work). I hear it all the time, people have their resistance training program set up as either something like an upper/lower/off/upper/lower/off/off split and they also throw in high intensity interval-training 3x's a week. Even better, some people will opt to train total body 3x's a week (so working out the legs 3x's a week) and then they will perform their high intensity interval-training on the in-between days. The problem with this is that they are over-training the heck out of their lower body and inducing high amounts of fatigue (again, during a caloric deficit, when they can not recover from it). Now, I am not opposed to interval training and I am not opposed to the training splits outlined above.

One thing that you need to consider is that you have to leave time for recovery. The best way to do that is to program your strenuous training on the same day and then recovery training or active rest on the off days. Since I will assume that most don't have the time to perform AM and PM, I will lay out two different training splits (from above) and add the cardio and the weight training on the same day:

Option 1 (upper/lower)
Day1- upper body/steady cardio
Day2- lower body/high intensity intervals*
Day3- off or low intensity activity
Day4- upper body/steady state cardio
Day5- lower body/high intensity intervals*
Day6- low intensity activity or off
Day7- OFF

*Don't run or do anything that takes coordination here. After lifting legs, there is a lot of fatigue and the possibility of injury is too great. Instead, opt for something like the rowing machine, the versa climber, the bike or an elliptical trainer. If you have the option of performing AM cardio, you can do some running there. The other option would be to do your sprinting before leg training and then perform a low volume leg workout. Again, with the later option, care must be taken as the lower extremity is fatigued from running.*

Option 2 (total body workouts)
Day1- total body resistance training/intervals*
Day2- moderate intensity cardio
Day3- total body resistance training/intervals*
Day4- moderate intensity cardio
Day5- total body resistance training/intervals*
Day6- moderate intensity cardio
Day7- off

*Like the above situation, you would not want to perform hard sprinting or something that deals with lots of coordination (agility training) at the end of a workout where you have just trained your legs hard. If agility and speed work (running) are something you need to work on, you could manipulate two of the total body days to have lower intensity/lower volume leg work and perform the speed and agility work on those days. While the 3rd day could be a more high intensity leg workout and intervals on a piece of equipment that is not the treadmill.

One other idea for your interval work, before I move on. You don’t have to perform your interval work on a piece of equipment. You can use body weight exercises (body weight squats, jumping jacks, hill climbers, squat thrusts, push ups, etc.) instead, and often they give you a nice change of pace from sitting on a bike and chunking out 15-20min. of 30sec hard:30sec easy.

Cardio and Athletics

Cardio for athletes is a bit different (as evident by the 2 studies I had recently posted). You don’t want to waste time performing long/slow duration cardio when there are other things that need to be focused. However, as stated above, you run the risk of overtraining if all you ever do is weight train and perform hard intervals. Your body needs to rest. There are a few ways to make things work.

1)Tempo training- Tempo training is a great way to get your cardiovascular work done while not having to jog for 60min. As well, tempo training can be extremely valuable for working on things like technique. I like to think of tempo training as just less intensive intervals. You aren’t going all out during the work interval, but you aren’t just plopping along and taking it easy either. If I had to put a number on it, I would say around 75% intensity. This can be something like going out to the track and running the straights and walking the turns (or whatever distance you would like to use. You an also go for time instead, run for 60sec:Jog for 60sec). The rest intervals don’t have to be jogs or runs either. You can perform your tempo run and then perform body weight calisthenics or abdominal/core circuits for equal or double the amount of time you ran your tempo interval for (1-2 units of rest for every 1 unit of work).

2)Circuits- Circuits can also be helpful in giving the athlete a break from intensive training, while having them improve work capacity and other adaptations that take place from this sort of training. I don’t do circuit training in the typical manner. Usually, I use body weight movements for circuit training, and focus on a combination of core exercises, body weight exercises that work on areas that need improvement or areas that are typically injured in the athletes given sport, and some stretches for tight muscles. Basically, we are doing some corrective work with the circuit. The time interval that I use for circuits is usually something like 40-45sec. continuous work followed by 15-20sec. rest (to get ready for the next movement. This method can also be used for clients just starting out who are de-conditioned and need to work on overall health. You can start with 30sec work: 30sec rest and slowly progress up to 45sec work: 15sec rest as they increase their level of fitness) and I repeat the circuit for the desired amount of time.

An example would look something like this:

45sec work: 15sec rest
Repeat 5x’s (6 movements x 1min. per movement x 5 rounds = 30min total)
1a)plank
1b)YTA (3 reps of each; keep repeating the sequence for the entire 45sec)
1c)lunge matrix (3 reps on each leg in all three planes, keep repeating for
45sec)
1d)Side to side tube walking (5 steps to the right/5 steps to the left back-and-
forth for 45sec)
1e)Active hip flexor stretch right leg
1d)active hip flexor stretch left leg

3)Active rest- sometimes the athletes just need active rest from hard training. In this instance, I like to go for the easy cardio and typically do it in a cross-training fashion that gets them away from what they typically do (IE, if they are a runner, they may perform active rest in the pool, or on the rowing machine or the elliptical).

Here are a few options as far as training splits go:

Option 1 (upper/lower)
Day1- speed and agility/low volume leg work
Day2- Tempo work/upper body training
Day3- off or active rest or low intensity body weight circuits
Day4- speed and agility/low volume leg work
Day5- Tempo work/upper body training
Day6- off or active rest or low intensity body weight circuits
Day7- OFF

Option 2 (total body)
Day1- speed and agility/Total body training
Day2- tempo work
Day3- speed and agility/total body training
Day4- tempo work or body weight circuits
Day5- speed and agility/total body training
Day6- off or circuits
Day7- OFF

Obviously there are a lot of ways to make it work and split it up. I will say that for Option 2 (total body), you need to be careful about leg work and speed and agility work in the same day. You may not do all your speed and agility work on the training day, opting to place it the day after lifting (and potentially after a day where the legs where not trained as hard). This would take some sequencing of the workouts as far as what is focused on (upper or lower body) and to what intensity, in order to make it work and do speed work on the in-between days. Your situation may be different, so it is tough for me to be totally concrete about what you may do. Evaluate the position you are in and what will work best for you. An example of what I am talking about may look something like this (an example of lifting twice a week):

Day1- heavy upper body day/lighter lower body day
Day2- speed and agility work
Day3- Heavy lower body day/lighter upper body work
Day4- tempos or circuits
Day5- Speed and agility
Day6- tempos or circuits

Other than that, with athletes; don’t waste time! You need to be efficient with your programming to help the athletes get what they want from their training. If it is a hard training day (and the athlete is mentally and physically prepared for it) then train hard! If it is a day that is active rest, then rest.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Patrick

Got questions? In the Phoenix area and want info on training prices/packages? Need help with your program?

Email: optimumsportsperformance@gmail.com

Fat Burning Zone?

2008-04-06T18:39:00.001-07:00

I know we always say, “there is no such thing as the fat burning zone.” This was an interesting study that was recently published and I thought I would share it with those who read my blog:

Endurance training and obesity: effect on substrate metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

Michelle C. Venables, Asker E. Jeukendrup, Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Mar;40(3):495-502.

Purpose: Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus are disease states associated with hallmark features such as insulin resistance and an impaired ability to oxidize lipids. It has recently been reported that an optimal exercise intensity for fat oxidation (FATmax) exists; we hypothesize that continuous exercise training at this specific intensity can lead to greater improvements in fat oxidation and insulin sensitivity than a eucaloric interval training program.

Methods: In a counterbalanced, crossover design, eight sedentary, obese, but otherwise healthy male participants performed two 4-wk blocks of endurance training, either at a predetermined intensity eliciting maximal fat oxidation (TPCON) or at 5-min intervals of ± 20% FATmax (TPINT). During the week preceding the exercise training and 48 h after the final exercise bout, an OGTT, test, steady-state exercise, and measurements of body composition were undertaken. Diet was controlled the day before all trials (50% carbohydrate, 35% fat, and 15% protein; ∼2900 kcal·d−1). Variables were compared using two-way repeated-measures analyses of variance.

Results: It was shown that fat oxidation rates were increased by 44% after TPCON (0.24 ± 0.01 vs 0.35 ± 0.03 g·min−1, P < 0.05) but not after TPINT, and the whole-body insulin sensitivity index was increased by 27% after TPCON (P < 0.05). These changes occurred despite no change in body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), percent body fat (%BF), or .

Conclusions: A continuous exercise training protocol that can elicit high rates of fat oxidation increases the contribution of fat to substrate oxidation during exercise and can significantly increase insulin sensitivity compared with a eucaloric interval protocol.

Pretty interesting study; I will say a few things:

1) They weren’t looking at fat loss in this study. They were looking to see which protocol (the interval method or the steady state method) elicited the greatest amount of fat oxidation and the greatest increase in insulin sensitivity.
2) The subjects were not athletes by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, they were obese males (who had no major health issues; other than the fact that they were obese). So, this may not apply to your athletic clients. However, those of you who are working with over-weight/obese individuals who need to improve overall health may be able to extract some useful information from this study with regard to programming their cardiovascular exercise (especially at the beginning of an exercise program, when they are very de-conditioned and unable to tolerate high amounts of work).
3) The intensity for the interval-training group was hardly what you would classify as “intense,” 65% of Vo2max. Where as other studies showing greater benefits in the high intensity interval-training group used much higher intensities. Again, this probably will not apply to your athletes.

So what can we take from this study:

1) According to the study, there may very well be a fat burning zone. It would be hard however, to take this study and apply it to healthy athletic people.
2) While they weren’t looking at fat loss in this study (which has been looked at in other studies comparing interval training and steady state cardio), they were looking at markers of overall health (fat oxidation during exercise and improvements in insulin sensitivity).
3) The study showed that the steady state group showed significantly greater improvements than the interval group in all of the tests in question. So, there is some benefit of regular cardiovascular work, despite what the “just do HIIT and don’t ever do steady state because it will make you fat and make you lose muscles and decrease testosterone” camp says.

How does steady state cardio fit into our training programs? That is the million-dollar question, and I will get to that this week.

Patrick

Do Hockey Players Need Aerobic Fitness? Relation Between Vo2max and Fatigue During High Intensity Intermittent Skating.

2008-04-03T21:31:00.001-07:00

Do Hockey Players Need Aerobic Fitness? Relation Between Vo2max and Fatigue During High Intensity Intermittent Skating.

Carey DG, Drake MM, Pliego GJ, Raymond RL J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug;21(3):963-6.

Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to assess the relationship between aerobic capacity, as measured by the VO(2)max test, and recovery from high-intensity intermittent exercise.

Methods: Eleven female collegiate hockey players agreed to participate. Subjects skated 5 1-lap intervals around the hockey rink at maximal intensity with a 30-second recovery period between skates. The VO(2)max test was performed on a motor-driven treadmill after a modified Bruce protocol. A fatigue index was calculated by measuring the total increase in skate time from trial 1 to trial 5. This fatigue index was then correlated to VO(2)max.

Results: This correlation coefficient (-0.422) was not significant (p > 0.05) and indicated that only 17.8% of the variance in VO(2)max could be explained by the fatigue index. It was concluded that ability to recover from high-intensity intermittent exercise is not related to aerobic capacity.

Conclusions: Coaches and trainers probably do not need to include aerobic training in their practices, because the high-intensity interval training commonly seen in hockey training also improves aerobic capacity, as reflected in the high VO(2)max values of these subjects.

My Comments:

Another study looking at aerobic exercise and its possible conflict when added to a strength and conditioning program for athletes in a power sport. Consistent with other studies, stating that interval training can increase Vo2max, the authors have concluded that time spent in training may better be served by doing things that are more specific to the sport (IE, interval training specific to the work to rest ratio of hockey).

I do agree that interval training is helpful for sports performance and can benefit your athletes greatly. The big question really is; where does aerobic training fit into sports conditioning? Should it be used at all? I mean clearly, we are seeing studies showing that athletes are getting a tremendous bang for their buck performing interval work. Why would anyone spend time doing regular, moderate intensity, steady-state cardio? The answer to that lies in the amount of stress and fatigue that is gained by high intensity interval training and heavy resistance training. How many days a week can an athlete keep something like that up before burn out happens?

Part of the problem is that research is great for what it is. It gives us information that we can hopefully take and apply to a group of people we are working with. It suggests statistical significance and helps us to make conclusions about the training programs that we use with our athletes. I am all for being evidence based and I always try and seek out research to support the things that I do. However, there are limitations to research, the main one being, what happens in the lab and what happens in the gym are not always the same thing and the environments can sometimes be hard to recreate. As well, those that are conducting research are researchers and not necessarily the ones that are out working with athletes, so their interpretation of what works may not always be the best for your situation. As a coach you need to learn to read your athletes, and understand when to “push” and when to “hold back,” depending on the feedback that athlete is giving you that day about how they are feeling (verbally) and the feedback the athlete is giving you that day by observing how they are performing (visually) and then adjusting. Just something to think about. That said, research is extremely valuable and it is important to be evidenced based and not just work on conjecture or “something someone told you.” To many coaches read research (often times out of context from the population they are working with) and use it to support their ideas (even if it is out of context). When they are then called on their B.S., they like to say that what they do is “real world,” and that is all that is important. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You are either evidenced based or you are not. Only quoting research when it supports what you are saying (again even if it is out of context) and failing to recognize research that disagrees with you is silly.

I am going to continue talking about cardio over the next few entries and touch on ideas of aerobic training and how it can work in an overall program (when used properly). Also, I will be posting a very interesting study that just came across my desk regarding “the fat burning zone”……GASP!

Until next time!
Patrick

Research: Noncompatibility of Power and Endurance Training Among College Baseball Players

2008-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Rhea M, Oliverson J, Marshall G, Peterson M, Kenn J, Ayllón FN , Noncompatibility of Power and Endurance Training Among College Baseball Players, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research:Volume 22(1)January 2008pp 230-234

Purpose: Exercise professionals seeking to develop evidence-based training programs rely on several training principles demonstrated through research and professional experience. In an effort to further research examining these principles, an investigation was designed and completed to evaluate the compatibility of cardiovascular endurance and neuromuscular power training.

Methods: Sixteen Division-I collegiate baseball players were divided into two training groups with lower body power measured before and after their college playing season. The two groups differed in training in that one group performed moderate- to high-intense cardiovascular endurance training 3-4 days per week throughout the season, while the other group participated in speed/speed endurance training.

Results: A significant difference between groups (P < .05) was identified in the change in lower body power during the baseball season. During the season, the endurance training group decreased an average of 39.50 ± 128.03 watts while the speed group improved an average of 210.63 ± 168.96 watts.

Conclusions: These data demonstrate that moderate- to high-intense cardiovascular endurance and neuromuscular power training do not appear to be compatible when performed simultaneously. For baseball players, athletes who rely heavily on power and speed, conventional baseball conditioning involving significant amounts of cardiovascular endurance training should be altered to include more speed/power interval training.

My Comments:

Basically another study looking at the potential effects that aerobic exercise can have on a training program for athletes in power sports.
Both of the groups performed their regular periodized weight-lifting routines (2-3x’s a week), which consisted of compound free weight movements (squats, power cleans, step ups, lunges, etc.), as well as plyometric movements like resisted jumps, hurdle jumps and bounding). The only area that the two groups different was in their metabolic conditioning program; one group performing moderate to high intensity jogging (12-18 on the Borg RPE scale) 3-4x’s a week for 20-60min. (the average being 45 minutes); while the other performed a sprint protocol of 10-30 sprints, 15-60 meters in length, with 10-60 seconds rest between sets, performed 3x’s a week.
As the results say, the group that performed the more endurance based program tested lower in power output when compared to the group that performed the more anaerobic sprint program at the end of their 18-week season.
I don’t think aerobic exercise is bad. I think that it has its place in a program, and during an 18-week competitive season is probably not the best place to emphasize it (ie 3-4x’s a week/20-60min). I think that aerobic exercise can be helpful for recovery, following intense training or competition; as well as in the off-season when the athlete is trying to raise work capacity and reach a higher level of fitness (and all the adaptations that go along with increasing aerobic capacity).

I don’t particularly like jogging and lean more towards tempo runs and/or circuit training (body weight circuits or calisthenics) as a means of conditioning in the off-season (Although some jogging isn’t going to kill you. Would I do it 3-4x’s week….probably not).

Over the next couple entries, I will post some more research that I have been reading, and talk more about cardiovascular work and using it within your overall training program. I will give some ideas as to how I have been using it (for myself and others) on days in-between my main training days and hopefully it will give you some ideas for your own training or those you are working with.

In Other News….

I am currently on spring break for two weeks before my next semester begins. I have been in school what seems like forever, and I have to say, every-time I go on spring break, I am always disappointed because it is not like my first spring break. You know, that spring break where you head out to some hot, sunny, beach like destination with your friends, get drunk and hit on girls. Now it is more like, “Spring Break. Work more, study more, etc.” Well, it isn’t all that bad. I do get to exercise more (and I am well-rested when I do it, which is great!!). The thing that I learned today as I went in to do my conditioning was that stretching after your workout feels pretty damn good! I advocate it to my clients all the time and we stretch after our training sessions, but rarely do I take the time to do it for myself; “Do as I say, not as I do.” Today I took the time, and it felt great! So, lesson of the day: Stretch, It Feels Good.

Patrick

Getting After It

2008-03-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

One thing I have noticed when working with youth athletes (and even general population clients) is that most of them never “get after it” when they are lifting.

What I mean by “get after it” is putting forth a maximum effort to drive the weight through the concentric portion of the lift. A lot of times, they just seem to go through the motions and perform the repetition with enough effort to move the weight.

I don’t know if it is being apprehensive or nervous about the weight on the bar, or if it is just that they are not 100% mentally focused on the lift; but it drives me nuts to see someone take a lazy rep. Things like power cleans, DB snatches, Squats, Deadlifts, and bench press are not about “taking it easy.” You need to focus on the lift, get violent with the bar and try and accelerate and put forth as much force into the bar as possible.

Just explaining the concept of “getting after” each repetition to your athletes can help to boost numbers and help to teach them how to put forth a maximum effort (even if the weight is not maximal weight).

Take a look at some of your athletes and explain the concept of getting after it to them and see if you can maybe set some PR’s in the gym next workout.

Patrick

Hello Everyone!

2008-03-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Things have been really busy. I was out of town for a little bit and this week I have finals at school, so I haven't had much time to post a new blog entry.

After this week, I am looking at a 2 week break before the next semester begins, so I will be back to regular posting. I have been reading a bunch of research lately, so I will do some research reviews that will hopefully be helpfull to you.

In other news, I just signed up for my first ART course (later this summer). For those that don't know, ART stands for Active Release Techniques and it is a soft tissue technique which deals with scar tissue and adhesions. So, I am really pumped about that. Also, starting next semester, I will begin my student clinic work at the school, which should be really exciting! It will give me a great opportunity to work with different people every week and apply some of the soft tissue treatments that i have been using with my clients now, on a much great scale. Should be a fun learning experience.

Other than that, I have just been training people, reading and learning.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Patrick

Trouble Shooting Your Speed Workouts

2008-03-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

As the track season is just beginning in the high schools, I have been speaking with some coaches and athletes about their current training programs. I wanted to get an idea about the type of workouts the athletes are being asked to perform and the reasoning behind their current set up. There are a few common flaws I have been seeing in the workouts, so I will outline a few trouble shooting tips to hopefully help you better prepare your athletes. These ideas don’t only have to apply to track athletes, but can also be used for athletes in any sport where speed is a necessary quality for success.

1) Warm Ups

I have seen both extremes when it comes to warming up for your sprint workout (or any workout for that matter). Everything from not enough warm up to too much warm up (consisting of long distance jogging). The important things to target with the warm up are first doing something general to help raise core temperature and promote blood flow (I like calisthenics or anything that gets the kids up and moving), followed by some very specific (like teaching proper sprint mechanics and working on technique based drills). Always be sure to choose movements in the warm up that re-enforce good sprinting technique, as the last thing you want to do is program bad habits into your runners. Put some thought into what you are doing and why you are doing it. I can’t emphasize enough how important warms ups are.

2) Teach Arm Action

Arm action can help dictate lower body mechanics when sprinting, so it would be wise to spend some time teaching your athletes about proper arm mechanics. This can be part of the warm up (the specific part) and can help to trouble shoot problems your athletes may be having with their sprint. Remember that the arms want to be moving in a straight line (not across the body), with the elbows bent at about 90 degree angles (there is some variability here, as the elbow angle may open up more during the back swing), and the movement should be coming from the shoulder. The movement should look relaxed and comfortable. Try and teach the movement by having the athletes do slow at first and really learn what it feels like to have proper arm mechanics, before asking them to bring it up to full speed.

3) Sprinting and Running Are Not the Same Thing

A lot of coaches have their sprinters run some distance in order to help enhance their overall conditioning. While I understand the importance of conditioning, running (or should I say jogging) and sprinting are not the same thing. They have different mechanics and they utilize different energy systems. Instead of having your sprinters run distance, it would be more advantageous to have them perform tempo runs to increase their overall work capacity. Tempo runs, for those that are not familiar, are sub-maximal runs interspersed with either walking/jogging or body weight movements (medicine ball circuits, abdominal training, mobility exercises, etc.). They can be performed for time or for distance and it is important that during the running portion (even though it is to be sub-maximal) that the athletes obey proper sprinting mechanics and try and make each run as perfect as possible.

4) Poor Organization of Intensive Training

Coaches of all high school sports seem to break this rule a lot. They believe that they are working on “speed training” when they are having their athletes doing maximal effort sprints everyday. In reality, this is the equivalent of performing maximum effort squats everyday. How many days in a row do you think you can do this before your body finally breaks down and revolts against you? Along with running their athletes hard everyday, coaches seem to think that it is important to have them run their actual event distance everyday (again at maximal speeds). What is really happening is that the coaches are breaking down their athletes and, instead of working on “speed training” (the true intent of the program), they are just teaching their athletes to run with poor form and programming poor motor patterns. Instead of burning your athletes out with hard maximum effort sprints for competition distances, it would be wiser to use sub-maximal runs at a pace that is your athlete can maintain proper technique, but is not a 100% all out sprint. Also, use shorter distances to help the athletes achieve technical mastery in their chosen event. As well, look at your overall training program. Are the athletes doing 100% effort every day? If they are, you may want to consider organizing training in a way that places their intensive training on one day (sprints and weight training) and then their less intensive training on the next day (tempo runs, body weight movements, abdominals) to ensure that your athletes are fresh and each training day is of high quality. The quality of training is essential.

5) To much training

Overtraining is a huge problem in high school athletes these days. Coaches need to be more efficient when organizing the training day. Have a plan, be specific and carry the plan out. Try and be detailed down to how much time you have to spend on certain tasks. Don’t spend unnecessary time in the weight room. I have seen everything from high rep circuit training for 60min. straight to high volume strength training on machines or using exercises that are a waste of time (biceps curls and triceps pressdowns for sprinters). Choose your exercises wisely, and remember that the athletes are going to be lifting after their sprinting workouts. There is no need to do a million sets or a ton of exercises. Choose a couple of important exercises, use low volume, and get right to work. Just like with sprinting, teach proper technique and enforce that technique (don’t let the athletes get away with anything. If you give them an inch, they will take a foot). Keep in mind Tip# 4, that intensive training should be organized on the same day to allow for optimal recovery between training bouts.

Hope these tips give you some ideas when planning for your next competition,

Patrick

Responses to the “You Can’t Handle The Truth” entry

2008-03-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I made a blog entry titled, “You Can’t Handle TheTruth.”

I got some feedback on that entry, so I decided to talk a little bit about it:

I can’t believe that you posted that. It really is harsh and you come across as very negative and cynical. Even if it is the truth, it is really mean.

-Ivonne

Ivonne, thanks for the feedback. I understand that it does sound negative and cynical. Then again, show me a trainer that has been working with overweight housewives for several years that ISN’T negative and cynical. I don’t know what it is about that population, but they really drain the hell out of you. Oh wait, I do know what it is about that population but I don’t want to sound “really mean.”

In all honesty, I don’t think the statements were mean. They weren’t meant to be mean or hurtful towards anyone. The intention of the post was to voice an opinion that many people in this field have…People who don’t want to work hard and complain SUCK. They are a drag to work with and you shouldn’t have to put up with them. I sure as hell don’t want to. Most people get in this field with the intention of helping others reach their goals and attain optimal health (with the exception of a few, like myself, that get into it to work with athletic populations and work towards a specific goal or competition). It is really upsetting to show up at work everyday with the idea that you want to help change someone’s life, only that person doesn’t want it as much as you do (AND IT IS THEIR LIFE!). How can you get excited about that? I know I don’t.

I don’t mind working with weekend warriors or general population clients, as long as they come in knowing that we are going to WORK and not play games. When they start annoying me, they have got to go.

I really do wonder what would happen if they did hear the truth? I wonder if these very same people have walked through life without people being straight up honest with them. Their families and friends have made excuses for them or felt bad for saying something. Maybe we are all at fault here for being too gentle, too politically correct, and too damn dishonest with them.

-Nick

Nick thanks for your reply. I agree 100%. Their families and friends have made excuses for them their entire lives. They have allowed them to be lazy and go through life acting like nothing is their fault. It is always someone else’s fault that they are overweight and out of shape. No one takes responsibilities.

I think we may be a little at fault for being too gentle with them and to politically correct. I mean, what is the worst that happens if we told them the truth? Maybe that would actually light a fire under their ass to get up and do something. If I am going to be working with an athlete and I tell him something like “wow, you are pretty athletic but you are weak as a kitten,” or “your work capacity really sucks.” Do you think they want to hear that? If anything, they want to do whatever it takes to improve. Their question is along the lines of “What do I have to do to get better? That is why I am here.” So maybe you tell “miss insanely obese twenty something year old” that she is 50-pounds over fat and totally deconditioned. Maybe for once in her life, she would say “Your right. I am not happy with my body. Help me make it better.” I think that when working with these people the first step is making them see what their problem is, and the second step is making them commit to a concrete goal and then give 100% effort to get there.

It's a damn shame is what it is - I wish I had that kind of money where I could afford to train with a good trainer.

Obviously I do what I can thanks to IM forums, but it's still nothing compared to what I could be doing with someone who does it for a living.

-Dan

Dan thanks for writing in. I applaud your efforts. Not only are you in the gym training yourself; but, you are reading and educating yourself on how to improve on what you are doing. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Now that we have this squared away, I think my next few entries will be back to training and discussing some program design ideas.

Until next time,

Patrick

Perform Better Seminar: Phoenix

2008-02-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

I spent the entire day at the Perform Better “Learn by Doing” Seminar in Phoenix today. For those that don’t know, the Perform Better “Learn by Doing” Seminar is a seminar for trainers, which is half lecture (morning), followed by half practical (afternoon).

Today’s speakers were Alwyn Cosgrove, Mike Boyle, Craig Richardson from Athletes Performance, who was filling in for Gray Cook who got the flu (at first I was a little disappointed because I wanted to see Gray speak, but Craig did a very good job in his place), and Juan Carlos Santana.

I go to lots of seminars and continuing education workshops because I enjoy learning and trying to make myself better. I spend a lot of time reading and studying, so I tend to formulate my own opinions and philosophies on the subjects of training and sports preparation. It is difficult to agree 100% with everyone on every thing. It is often times nice to hear a few different opinions than your own as it makes you think and re-evaluate what you are doing or what you currently believe to be true (which changes from time to time as you learn more and gain more experience).

The one thing I take away from seminars like this, that always keeps me coming back, is that there are guys out there that are doing what I do, and are much better at it. They have more experience and are willing to share that experience with everyone in hopes that people will someday attain the level of mastery in the subject that they have. I appreciate them for it.

As Boyle says “You have 2 eyes, 2 ears and 1 mouth. It is like that for a reason; start listening and observing more and talking less.”

Knowledge is power,

Patrick

Developing a sports training program

2008-02-20T07:56:00.000-08:00

As a strength coach, sometimes it can be very easy to just group all your athletes together and train them using the same program.

Athletes have to train like athletes, right?

To a certain extent, I would say yes, athletes are going to be doing similar things. For example, most will need some sort of strength work, some sort of power work, and some sort of sport specific conditioning. However, the amount that each of those qualities needs to be developed may vary greatly from sport to sport.

Whenever I think about training for sports performance, there are a few things I look at with regard to the athlete and the sport in question. Hopefully, the list below can give you some things to think about with regard to program design for your athletes (or anyone really, provided you know what their goals are and what they are looking to accomplish).

1)Assessment: First, I always want to do an evaluation just to see what I am working with. This is a great opportunity for me to gather both subjective and objective information about the athlete and any potential problems and mechanical faults that they may have, which we would need to work on.

2)What is the Sport: The next thing I want to look at is what sport the athlete is training for. This is essential, because from that I can gather information about that sport and what is required to be a great athlete.

3)What are the typical injuries of the sport: Knowing what the typical injuries of the sport and the structures and joints involved in those injuries is helpful for your program design as it allows you to write in some pre-habilitation exercises.

4)What are the energy systems specific to the sport: Having an idea of what the main energy systems involved in the sport is helpful to programming so that we aren’t (a) wasting time training energy systems that aren’t of top priority, and (b) we aren’t training and eliciting adaptations that aren’t specific to the sport in question. This is a big difference between most sports and knowing when to adjust your conditioning for athletes. What is the work to rest ratio of the sport in question? Even more specific, how does that work to rest ratio change between position players in the same sport? How does this affect our program design?

5)What are the joint angles specific to the sport: What joint angles are of most important to the sport the athlete is playing? How can we make sure to develop optimal strength and power at those joint angles? Training through a full range of motion is important. At what phase of training do you chose to emphasize joint angle specific training (or what some call target range of motion)?

6)Where in the year is the athlete: Are they 16 weeks away from pre-season? Are they mid-season? Are they training for next year (offseason)? This can be helpful in your programming because it lets you know how much time you have available and, more importantly, how much time can be allotted to specific blocks or phases of training to help plan which training effect you are trying to target and at which times.

With a little bit of research, a lot of these questions about the sport we are training for can be answered. Once you have an idea of the sport and gather information about the specific athlete, it becomes a lot easier to plan your training program and help the athlete achieve their training goals.

Hope that gives you some ideas,

Patrick

You Can't Handle The Truth

2008-02-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

That phrase goes through my head whenever I am talking to people about training or diet.

This weekend I got word that two great trainers where thinking about getting out of the industry. They were hanging it up. Their reason for this was that they just can’t stand working with general population clients anymore. They are sick and tired of going over diet and training with people; only to have those people perform about 10% of their recommendations and then complain that they are only getting 10% results (you get what you put into it people). I mean seriously, what a waste of time!

I feel their pain. I honestly do not like working with general population clients at all, because they just don’t get it. They don’t have what it takes to put in the necessary work to reach their goals (if they even have concrete goals at all). More importantly, they want instant gratification, without ever working for anything. They want to lose weight, be more fit, and look better without working for it. They complain about how hard it is to eat healthy or how they don’t have enough time to exercise. They come in and train with you 1-2x’s a week and expect to see miracle results (I mean honestly, 2x’s a week of training is maintenance at best). And worst of all, if you tell them the truth, they think you are a jerk or they get angry with you. THEY CAN”T HANDLE THE TRUTH.

I don’t understand why it is so hard for people to set a specific goal and then come in and say, “This is what I want to do. You are the expert; tell me how I can do it.” My only guess is that these people don’t really want to put in the hard work and effort it takes to be in shape. They make every excuse and then, they believe that somehow, it is your fault that they can’t lose weight. If you work with someone 2 hours a week and they aren’t willing to do what you say on the other days and help you help them, then how the heck do they ever expect things to change?

One of the main reasons athletes are so fun to work with is because they come in with a specific, concrete goal. They have a time frame in mind and they are willing to do what it takes to get there. They know what they want and you just have to help them get it.

“I have 12 weeks to get ready for spring training. What do I have to do?”

That is a heck of a lot different than,

“I want to lose weight and look good for my cruise in 4 weeks. I can train 2x’s a week with you but I don’t have time to train any more than that. I can’t eat healthy because I don’t have time to cook healthy food and I have to go out to eat for lunch everyday with my co-workers.”

What the heck am I supposed to say to that? “Okay, well let’s do the best we can?” I mean honestly, I would rather say “Never going to happen. You are 50lbs over-fat, you have no interest in putting in the work to get your goal and that goal is not going to be achieved in 4 weeks. It took you 10 years to become a disgusting slob; you can’t fix it in 4 weeks.”

If you are a trainer working with general population clients, I know what you are going through. If you are a general population client who is wasting someone’s time (and wasting your own money), then seriously re-evaluate your goals and what you are willing to do to get there. Otherwise, suck it up, don’t complain, and accept the truth that you are overweight and out of shape and things are not going to get better. I am at the point where I would rather have no money, than take on those lazy clients and baby-sit.

Patrick

Are stupid coaches blowing up your athletes?

2008-02-15T19:43:00.000-08:00

I swear. I am getting more and more disappointed with the quality of coaches running youth sports these days. I am currently working with a pole-vaulter who’s track coach told him “sprinting has nothing to do with technique. You just have to be able to run.”

What the f#ck does that mean? This coach’s philosophy is that in order to be a good sprinter you have to run more. So, that is what they do! They run for about an hour and a half straight. They basically just sit there and do high intensity interval training in order to “condition.” Never mind the fact that the should be developing good sprint mechanics and work on their starts and developing special work capacity for their given event. What is even better is that following the hour and a half marathon, the coach then takes them into the weight room to do circuit training for 30min. Nothing says great sprinter like triceps press-downs and biceps curls!!

I don’t know what is worse, the fact that this man is a teacher at the school and parents trust them with their kids. Or the fact that this guy is so stubborn he honestly believes that what he is doing is the best training program for a track athlete.

The pole-vaulter who trains with me has expressed his disgust for the coaches training principles and I have offered to help him write programs for his athletes; however, the guy won’t call or talk to me. He thinks that he knows everything and is not open to hearing other ideas.

I also train a couple of 10-year old soccer players. They have a strength and conditioning coach who is contracted to their team and comes out and works with them. They told me that when he is there, all they do is go through tones of speed and agility work with no rest and it makes them incredibly sore. Even better, he doesn’t allow them to have water breaks. I don’t know what is reasoning is behind this, but I am pretty sure it is rooted in the fact that he is a complete moron who understands nothing about physiology, let alone the sport of soccer.

It is a shame that these people are in a position to coach kids. I don’t claim to be the greatest coach ever (in fact I am far from it) and I don’t claim to know everything (in fact, I am only scratching the surface). But, what I do know is that I strive to give my athletes 100% and have their best intentions at heart. That means reading about the sport and trying to get a full understanding of the qualities, which make athletes in that sport great.

Having an understanding of what energy systems primarily dominate the sport, typical injuries common to the sport, and the joint angles and positions that apply to the sport are essential to being a good strength coach. As well, understanding how the qualities change between different positions in the sport (or between different events if we are talking about something like track and field). Finally, understanding the qualities of the athletes you are working with; age, sex, training age, preparedness, work capacity, strength and weaknesses, etc.
If you are in this field and working with athletes, hopefully this is not new to you and you are already considering this stuff.

If you are one of the coaches I just described, I hope this gives you something to think about. If it doesn’t, I hope you are fired from your position because you don’t deserve to be there.

Patrick

More Weight On The Bar Does Not Always Equaly Better Results

2008-01-12T19:34:00.001-08:00

At the gym today I saw a father lifting with his son (couldn’t have been more than 16 or 17 years old). They were squatting and you could tell the father really meant well as he was teaching his son the exercise.

The father kept on coaching the boy by telling him not to let his knees buckle in (good advice). But, every time the kid squatted, his left knee kept bucking in. Rep after rep, the father would yell out “don’t let your knee buckle in!” and after each set the father would say the same thing “don’t let your knee buckle in.”

The funny thing is that no matter how much the father told the boy to not let his knee buckle, he still couldn’t stop it from happening. What was even funnier was that after each set the father would increase the weight. I guess he thought that if he put more weight on the bar, his son’s form would get better and the knee would stop buckling in. Well, as you can imagine, the boy’s form didn’t get any better (in fact it got worse because as the weight increased his squat depth decreased) and the knee kept on caving inward.

The point I am trying to make is that more weight does not equal better form. More weight on the bar is not always the best option. If you are unable to squat down (or do any exercise for that matter) without good form, then lower the weight and work on it. For this kid, he would have probably got more benefit from either:

a) Performing a slower eccentric and an isometric in the hole, with lighter weight and working on staying tight and keeping his knees lined up over his toes.

Or

b) Working on squatting to a box and again focusing on staying tight and keeping everything in good alignment.

The father fell into the trap that most un-experienced strength coaches make:

He wanted his young athlete to get really strong really fast. Even if that strength came at the expense of technique.

As we know, you can’t rush strength. It needs to be developed over time. Be patient with your athletes and coach good form. Allow them to develop their abilities over a set period of time and remember, they have their whole life to get strong!

Teach them; don’t rush them,

Patrick

Treating People as Individuals

2008-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

I was speaking with a client the other day that used to train at another performance facility. We were doing an exercise and she commented about how she liked that her program was individual to her. She told me that at the place she used to go to, they would take athletes in specific sports and just group them together and they would all do the same workout. I said that didn’t make sense as each athlete is individual and has different needs. She said that was a problem because when she felt like something wasn’t a good exercise for her they would tell her that they can’t change the program for everyone; so she would just “stick with it.”

I find that half funny and half stupid. I find this to be the trend amongst other strength coaches that train groups of athletes (2 or more at a time). “We have a program and everyone is on board for it.”

My first issue with this is what the heck is the point of assessing athletes if you are going to ultimately do the exact same program with all of them? I mean honestly, if we are doing assessments and looking for asymmetries or functional issues that are keeping the athlete from better performance, then those things need to be addressed.

My other issue with this is that everyone is individual and while the basics work and there are some fundamental lifts that we can all agree on, you still need to figure out which lifts are going to be best for the individual athlete and at what time in the program those lifts should be utilized (ie, when will said athlete be ready for a specific exercise).

While training groups of athletes can be tough as you have a lot of people to supervise, I think if you can strive to make programs as individual as possible, you will be on the right path.

A guy that I think has gotten it right and does a great job is Nate Shaw, head strength coach for the AZ Diamondbacks. I had the chance to meet with him before a game last season and then I saw him speak as part of a seminar that the entire Diamondbacks medical team were doing (the head ATC, team chiropractor and team massage therapist). I have to say, I am really impressed with the job that he (and the rest of the Diamondbacks staff) does as he assess his athletes and really tries to make the programs individual as far as each athletes needs. Even though he may have 24 athletes to train, he really seems to approach it with the idea of 24-individual, one-on-one, athletes. His postural assessment is comprehensive and from that, he evaluates which corrective exercises will be most beneficial for the athlete, as not all of them present with the same problems.

Whether you are training one athlete or thirty just remember, different people have different needs.

Patrick

2008 Goal Setting

2008-01-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

Walking into gyms around the city, it is easy to tell that the New Year is underway. The gym is filled with “resolutioners” determined to make this year “their year to get in shape!” While I applaud their efforts, I don’t know what is more comical, the number of years they have set out on this goal only to repeat themselves year after year OR the fact that I can almost always pick out which ones will not be in the gym next month.

I don’t mind if they don’t come back; in fact, I love it. One of the worst times of the year to work out is the month of January. There is nothing worse than a bunch of people in your way and wasting your time as they half-heartedly try and get focused to embark on a goal, only to quit 3 weeks later.

That brings me to this month’s article. What type of person will you be this year? Have you set goals yet? Do you have an idea about what kind of health or fitness level you want to reach this year? If you have, do you know how to go about those goals in the right way? If you haven’t, maybe you should think about setting some. Are you happy with your current health and fitness? Are you happy with the way you look and feel?

Many of you are probably sitting there wondering “how do I do it? How can I make my goal become a reality?” I am going to give you a little piece of advice that can go a long way this year in helping you attain the goals you have set for yourself.

BUY A JOURNAL

That’s right, go out and buy a journal or a notebook. Make sure it is one of the really larger sized notebooks though because you are going to need it for the entire year. This notebook it your one way ticket to getting in shape this year. On the first page of the journal you are going to write a few things:

1)Your name
2)Your long term, year long, goal
3)Your short term, 3 month goal
4)Your stats (body weight, measurements, body fat percentage, strength on specific exercises, endurance, etc. Basically anything that you feel is important to measure and that will help you gauge your progress, or lack there of.)

After the first page, you are going to begin recording. You are going to want to record anything that will help you measure whether you are moving closer or further away from your goal.

The two most important things to record are going to be your workout and your diet.

For your workout, you are going to want to know
- Date
- Location of the workout (gym, backyard, home, mountain, street, etc)
- What you did (run, bike, lift weights)
- The amount you did (3 miles, 40 minutes, 25lbs/3 sets x 12 reps, etc)
- Any other info that may help you know where you stand (how you felt that day, were
you rested or tired, are you sore, etc).

For your diet, you would want to know things like:
- Date
- Number of meals eaten
- What you ate and drank at each meal
- Portion size
- Calories consumed at each meal
- Grams of carbohydrates, protein, and fats at each meal
- Total calories at the end of the day
- Total grams of carbohydrates, protein and fats at the end of the day
- How much water you drank that day

All of this information is vital towards reaching your goals this year, as it tells you what you are doing and whether or not it is working for you (don’t expect changes over night, things take time! Formulate a plan and then give it several weeks to see changes). As well, this journal keeps your accountable to yourself. If you aren’t hitting your goals or if you are a little depressed about things happening to slowly, you can look in your journal and see that you have missed 3 workouts that week and that your diet has not been perfect and you have been missing meals and eating too many calories. The journal keeps you honest and you can look back and see exactly where you went wrong and have strayed off course.

Will 2008 be your year? Or, will you be reading this same email next year? That is for you to decide. All I can do is give you the tools. If you don’t use them properly, then it is nobodies fault but your own. I hope that you can take this information and put it to good use.

Good luck with your goals,

Patrick

My current training outline

2008-01-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

I just got back from doing my cardio this evening. As much as I hate to admit it, I kind of like it. Well, let me re-phrase that, I hate DOING in; but when I am done I really like how I feel. There is this strong sense of accomplishment there. It feels really good.

I am enjoying these three weeks off from school. I have felt really rested during my training and I have had time to read a lot of things that I have been sitting on my desk that I didn’t have time for during the semester (only 44 more weeks of school to go…not that I am counting).

Anyway, for those that are interested, I thought I would post up the current training program I am doing now. It is a daily undulating program based around 3 total body workouts per week. The qualities that I am training are as follows:

Day 1: Muscular Endurance
Day 2: Strength
Day 3: Power

On the endurance and power days I typically do some sort of interval training at the end of the workout as well. I also do some cardio on in between days. I will stick with this program for the next two weeks and then change it when I start back up at school.

More tomorrow,

Patrick

Which shoe do you like?

2008-01-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

Your next blog post should be about what shoes you recommend wearing in the gym. I know it's a question I've pondered from time to time, especially this week, as I left my gym shoes at home and borrowed a pair of running shoes from my father and loved the extra support I had with them while squatting.

There has been a lot of discussion about which type of shoes are “best” for lifting over the past couple of years. I think it is a tough debate due to the fact that, like everything, there is a lot of individuality in foot and ankle control and comfort.

Some strength coaches feel that lifting shoeless is optimal. I am generally not a fan of this as I feel there should be some support (especially when lifting heavier weights). Also, for those that have a tough time controlling the arch of their foot they can have a difficult time lifting in a shoeless environment. This can causes faulty or dysfunctional movement and possibly stress structures that are trying to compensate for lack of joint alignment. It has been argued that this type of training can help to teach those individuals how to properly control their foot and perhaps “correct” some of the issues that they currently display. This may be so for athletes who have a functional issue with foot control and may need corrective exercises. However, corrective exercises are not the same as all out lifting.

Other coaches seem to favor the Nike free trainers, which put our foot into pretty much the same environment as the shoeless option. The soles of the shoe are segmented to allow for free movement of the foot, while giving us some padding (as opposed to standing in bare feet). I have tried the shoes and I don’t mind them for training. However, these shoes are not for everyone. Some individuals who have problems with their foot or ankle are going to benefit from something that offers them a little more support. It is hard to use a “one-size-fits all” approach (no pun intended) and just say that everyone should train in these shoes.

Chuck Taylor’s and the Adidas soccer shoes are popular amongst lifters as well. These shoes don’t have much support, like the free trainer, however differ in the fact that the bottom of the shoe is not segmented, but is one long sole. I like to lift in Adidas soccer shoes personally. I find them comfortable. As with the other options, your individual foot may not lend itself to training in these shoes though.

Training in running shoes, as you suggested, is pretty popular if you look around the gym. Some strength coaches feel that training in running shoes is not optimal as the soles are thicker and padded, which absorb some of the force we push into the ground with, ultimately decreasing some of our force out put. How much? I don’t know. I don’t think it is enough to actually make a HUGE difference to someone training in the gym, as I have seen guys clean big weight in nothing more than sneakers. If you were a competitive lifter, obviously this wouldn’t be an option for you, as you are going to want to get the most out of your body/equipment as possible. Also, running shoes can be purchased with different support structures, to allow us the option to buy a shoe, which works properly with our foot type. This can be extremely helpful for those who need the support in the foot and ankle to ensure that everything up the kinetic chain is properly in line.

Picking shoes can be tricky. Not everyone will be able to use the same shoe, as there are many differences in foot type and preference. Having your foot evaluated and taking the proper steps to train or “re-train” the muscles of the foot and ankle can help to correct some impairments that you may have developed along the way. The more strong and stable you can make the foot and ankle complex, the less you will need to rely on getting this stability via external sources (special running shoes, orthotics, etc). Some may have structural problems with their foot, which can’t be changed through corrective exercises; causing them to lean more towards a shoe which gives them optimal support for their individual foot.

Happy Shoe Shopping,

Patrick

Happy Holidays!!

2007-12-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is having a happy and healthy holiday season.

Do worry folks, I have NOT abandoned my blog! I have just been really busy with school and holiday season, so I have not been able to make a post in the past 10 days.

But don't worry, next year I am going to commit myself to this thing and hopefully update it a few times a week with some of my random thoughts on training.

Looking forward, I have some excellent news. The Optimum Sports Performance team (http://optimumsportsperformance.com/) is going to be starting our newsletter up (right now looking to begin in February). We are going to try and keep the newsletter monthy and pack it full of sports training info for you. I will keep everyone updated on when and how we are going to have the sign up to get on the list to have the blog emailed to you monthy.

Talk to everyone soon!

Patrick

Hypertrophy Rep Range?

2007-12-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

“What is the best rep range for hypertrophy?”

This question gets asked all the time. I know that if you crack open any personal training manual you will probably see a nice little chart that gives rep ranges and what they specifically target. Depending on the book you are reading, it usually looks something like this:

Strength: 1-5
Hypertrophy: 8-12
Endurance: 15+

So, are 8-12 reps per set the most optimal rep range for muscular growth?

In my opinion, there is no optimal rep range for hypertrophy. I believe that the two key elements needed for increased size are:

1)Overload- Increase the reps, sets, or weight you are doing. You need to progressively overload your body in order to spark an adaptation.
2)A hyper-caloric diet- If the calories aren’t there to facilitate growth, then you can’t grow.

Knowing that, I believe that no matter what rep range you are working in, you can see hypertrophy if you adhere to both of those rules. If I had to break up the rep ranges into specific qualities that they enhance, I would probably do so into two groups. A strength group (reps 1-6), which is more neurologically fatiguing; and, a metabolic or mechanical group (reps 8-15), which induce more metabolic/mechanical fatigue, due to their longer muscle time under tension.

Both the strength group and the metabolic group can be effective for increasing muscle hypertrophy and it would be wise to use explore both rep ranges in order to illicit the greatest adaptation possible. As well, both groups can kind of feed of each other. The strength work can help you increase the amount of weight you use during your metabolic work and the metabolic work can help you increase your work capacity and maintain a higher volume of strength work. If nothing else, rotating between the two rep ranges provides variety in your training program, and variety can be a huge stimulus to promote new growth. Using these rep ranges can be accomplished by either cycling and doing a period of higher reps (less intensity) and then a period or lower reps (more intensity). Or, you can opt to perform a concurrent training program which looks to enhance both qualities simultaneously, by training them either on the same day or on different days within the training week.

Hope that helps,

Patrick

How Much Is Too Much?

2007-11-29T15:49:00.001-08:00

I constantly get asked questions like:

“How many times a week can I train?”

“Can I train twice a day?”

“How long should my training session be?”

The answer to these questions is a pretty simple one, “I don’t know.”

The amount of training that one can handle is dependant on several factors, some of which are training related (IE, the individuals training age, what their training program looks like now and what their training program has looked like over the past few months) and some of which are lifestyle related (how much stress does the individual have in their family/social life, work stress, financial stress, etc.).

I am definitely a “less is more guy.” Some trainers or strength coaches will just throw the book at their athletes. Everything AND the kitchen sink. It is sort of a “sink or swim approach.” I guess they figure that if they bury the client with work, they will just be forced to adapt. This is true to an extent, but there is only one problem. What happens when progress slows? Where do you go from there? Do you throw more fuel on the fire? How do you progress?

If you are sitting at home thinking about your next training program, or if you are a trainer or coach about to write a new program for a client, I think you need to first take stock in what is going on with that individual.

I’ll give you an example:

I can usually handle a pretty good volume of training, and I cycle through periods of higher volume and lower volume. But, now that I am in school all night (6:30-10:30) and at work all day (7-5:30), I have to adjust things in order to allow my body to recover. Stress-resistance is our bodies’ ability to resist a stressor. However, our stress-resistance is dependant on the factors I spoke about above (training and lifestyle) and we can only resist so much stress before something breaks down. If we think about Selye’s model, we have a stressor introduced in our life, we adapt and go through resistance to that stressor and, if that stressor continues long enough, we reach a period of exhaustion or over-training.

So, in my situation, if I continued to try and train like I did prior to school starting, eventually my body would begin to breakdown, as I over-trained. What I am saying is that I had built up my training to a certain level, and adapted to handle that amount of stress. Then, my life changed (school started) and I got less sleep (less recovery) and that increased my overall stress, ultimately lowering my stress-resistance. If I continued on the same program, there would be no way that I could balance all that stress. So, in order to accommodate to this situation, I had to turn down my training a little bit (less volume, more recovery).

Now, if I were looking at a client, I may consider things like how many hours a week they are practicing their sport, upcoming competitions, school, recreational activities, etc. When assessing your clients, this subjective information is critical to get before writing the program, as it will dictate just how much the person should be doing.

I know we have to make money and if a client is eager to train a bunch, it would be easy to just say “lets do it!” and take the money and run; but, I have never been the guy to do that. I have no problem telling people “you are training to much” or “we need to back off your training in order to allow you to handle this other stuff you have got going on.”

Hopefully this gives you all some food for thought and makes you think about what your current exercise routine is like and the routine of your clients. For those that are just starting to get back into exercise after a break, hopefully this gives you something to think about with regard to SLOWLY working your way back into an exercise program.

Train, Rest, Progress!

Patrick

Another Weekend; Another Continuing Education Course

2007-11-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am a continuing education junkie. I easily spend over $1000 every year on continuing education (seminars, courses, classes, books, etc.). I am really of the mind that in order to be good at what you do, you have to constantly keep on learning and gaining knowledge. As stated in the course this weekend “The more we know. The less we find we know.”

This weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing a continuing education course given by the Arizona Diamondbacks strength and conditioning staff. It was the head strength coach, the head athletic trainer, the team licensed massage therapist, the team chiropractor and massage guru Sandy Fritz. The seminar was excellent! I place it up there as one of the best seminars I have ever attended. The idea behind the seminar was to allow the attendees a glimpse into the multidisciplinary approach to team training and rehabilitation. They talked about everything from player assessment, training, and chiropractic to the soft tissue work they do with the athletes. They are REALLY big on soft tissue work and discussed how they use it with the players. It was great to attend a seminar like this when the speakers are so generous with the information they give about their program. If they do this seminar again, I highly suggest everyone go and check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

In other news, I am still super busy working on my massage therapy license. I have learned a ton over the past few weeks about soft tissue work and I am really enjoying myself. Knowing how to do this stuff is extremely important and I encourage all trainers to find a good program and enroll.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Study as much as you can,
Patrick