Purge the Pain - Take Two

Have you ever gone through old pictures of yourself and laughed at how goofy you looked?  If not, let me give you that moment, respectively.



Cowboy Stud



It’s a real knee slapper. Once you’re done choking on your gum from laughter, let’s get in to what I’m really talking about. But don’t rush yourself, it won’t be easy holding the laughter in and trying to read.

So, I recently looked back at one of my articles I posted. I realized that, I didn’t do a real good job of getting my point across. In fact, I did a horrible job. 



You know you look how I feel?



So, I’m going to take another shot at this one. I’ll post the original article and then state the point that I was trying to get across.

Give me a minute as I search for my red pen....


Whether you are a weekend warrior, mother of three, on the verge of getting the big scholarship or you’re just looking to get rid of nagging pain and injuries as you age, this tidbit issue is the one for you.  We all deal with some sort of pain issues, and are curious about ways to improve our performance on and off the court.  I’m going to give you 3 tips to consider for helping your health and performance.

1. No rest for the wicked:  The first thing to consider is that time off is not going to heal the problem.  Yes, the swelling will go down, but the mechanical issues will remain constant.  Inflammation (swelling) is not the cause of the pain.  Rather, it’s the mechanical movement strategies (cheat patterns) our bodies learn through over-compensating movements such as moving, sitting, standing, etc that have developed over years of performing these improper muscle compensations that cause the pain.  Time off might help you “feel” better, but once you start up again those same issues come back again.  Just ask any long distance runner who has issues with their gait.  Obviously, while working out, you never want to move into pain and make it worse, but there are many things you can do to improve the improper cheat pattern mechanics that caused the injury in the first place. Once you accept this concept, you will be on your way to healthier living, and pain free performances in competition.

No rest for the wicked-Take two:



What I was really trying to say, is that, nowadays, most people sit on their butts all day, and look for any possible excuse to avoid exercise. And, an injury should be no excuse either. Obviously, if you have a broken leg you shouldn’t be trying to run a marathon. There are other things you can do while you have a broken leg, such as, working on core stability or upper body strength. Bottom line is you should do whatever exercise you can while avoiding pain and still inducing a positive training effect. This will also keep your routine consistent and help you stay focused on your health.

2. Progression:  Without getting too in-depth on this concept, realize that from doing absolutely no exercise or exercise specific preparation for your muscles, to going on the basketball court (or whatever it may be) is a very high risk.  For example, if you can’t squat properly, you probably shouldn’t be doing explosive jumping.  Your body needs to be able to progress through certain muscle movements first before hand.  Your nervous system is what gets  

your body to move or do certain actions that you tell it, and when you go for months or years without telling these nerves to fire properly, they kind of hit the snooze button a few times before they are ready to be awaken.  Your body then needs to learn how to function properly and fire these nerves.  It’s the same reason why we need to learn to do addition and subtraction before we can multiply.  Adding and subtracting are precursors for multiplying.  For those of us who aren’t accountants and don’t use math every day, this is why we struggle to remember what 9x6/2 is. The answer is 27 if my math serves me right.  My advice before you hit the courts or field is to learn proper movement patterns specific to your competition, and strengthen that core!  Learning core stability with a plank is a good start, and also learn to perform a squat with proper form.  This will promote strength and stability in the hips and lower body.

Progression-Take two:

I liked where I was going with this, but again, I still didn’t get the big picture across. Progression is definitely a good thing for preventing injuries and allowing your body to adapt at improving movement patterns. I was a bit extreme when I stated that “if you can’t squat properly, you probably shouldn’t be doing explosive jumping.” But I’d rather be too cautious than to rush in to it. What I meant was in the long run is where you’re doing harm. If you don’t fix basic movement patterns (squat) that everyone uses on a daily basis and in sports, you’ll get injured a lot faster and a lot easier than someone who addresses their problems. It may not hurt you next time you try jumping or play in a pick-up game. But, the bottom line here is, if you don’t address mechanical movement problems, you are going to eventually lead yourself into injury of some sort.

3. Variety and/or deload:  Add variety to your exercise routine and you will see benefits instantly! This will improve strength, coordination, mental fatigue, and consistency.  The more variety of experiences you get with your exercise the better of an all around athlete you will be, less injuries you will get, and the more your body (and mind) will feel fresh and ready to dominate the task at hand.  If your someone that really likes the routine your in and doesn’t care to try new ventures, I suggest varying rest periods, sets, reps, resistance that you normally do, and be sure to have deload weeks, giving your muscles recovery through movement, decreasing the intensity of your workouts while still working important motor units.  This is something that many struggle with accepting but I assure you, it will benefit you in many ways!

 

Variety and/or deload-Take two:

I just have a little more to add to this one. Bottom line here is, keep a variety of activities and exercises in your training. If you keep doing the same thing every week, your nervous system will not be able to recover quick enough and will not respond approprieately to the exercise.  You’ll hit plateaus with strength. And most of all, you’ll feel more aches and pains rather than if you keep changing up the activity or exercise keeping your body fresh and keeping your nervous system on board . Ask any “meathead” in the weight room who benches every week. He’ll tell you all about how his shoulder’s hurt and his strength isn’t going up. Ask the person you see walking or running  for hours on the treadmill if their hips and knees hurt and they wonder why they aren’t losing weight.

Hopefully I did a better job at getting the big picture across. I’ll try to keep the embarrassing moments to a minimum from now on.

Only The Strong Survive

We all have many reasons we exercise and take time out of our busy schedules to focus on our health. But, I believe, that we all have one thing in common when it comes to choosing our health and fitness goals. Looking and feeling good is really what we all want. Everyone wants to look good, and everyone wants to feel good. It’s plain and simple. There’s one very important component that many people try to avoid at all costs when it comes to achieving this.

I’m talking about strength training. Weights tend to be the least used equipment in most exercise routines. Go in to any commercial gym and you’ll constantly see people all over the cardio equipment like two frisky teenagers all over each other in the back of the movie theatre. These are usually the people (not the frisky teenagers, or maybe, who knows) that always wonder why they aren’t losing weight or getting tone when the elliptical machine or treadmill says they burned 1,379 calories. These are usually the people that are always complaining about their back and/or knee hurts from all the repetitive motion day in and day out without any attention to building stability or mobility in their joints. Now, don’t get me wrong, steady-state cardio is definitely a great form of exercise and it has a place in everyone’s routine, respectively. But, we can all benefit from doing a little strength training. I’m not saying everyone should go to the gym and pick up the biggest dumbbell they can find and try to lift it (trust me, you don’t want to do this, you’ll just end up with black and blue toes!), but preferably something heavier than your purse.

"Plus it's not a purse, it's called a Satchel.  Indiana Jones wears one."

So, let’s take a look at the benefits of resistance training.

Let’s take a look at strength training can benefit someone who wants to look good, or what most people label as “tone” or lose weight. First off, there’s no such thing as “toning” your muscles. Your muscles are either anabolic (growing, but not necessarily bulking) or catabolic (breaking down). The “tone” look your body may get is from improving body composition, or in other words, decreasing body fat and improving lean muscle tissue! Secondly, the following equation explains whey resistance is so important for “looking good”

Work = Force x Distance

Whether you’re a science guru or not, you can see that this equation demonstrates that the greater the force (strength) needed to move the weight, the greater the work (energy expenditure) that is being done by your body. Therefore, this greater force being used by your body, the greater the energy expenditure (calories) used. To give you a visual, simply plug in someone who lifts 20lbs of force on any given exercise/lift, and then compare it to if that individual could lift 40lbs of force on the same given exercise.

Work = 20lbs x distance

Work = 40lbs x distance

And, when your strength is improved, not only are you using more energy while you are actually exercising, this increase in lean muscle tissue also increases your metabolic activity throughout the day! Meaning, you’ll burn more calories throughout the day compared to if you had less lean muscle tissue!

Now that you know that increasing strength can lead to opening the floodgates to greater metabolic demands, imagine how much easier it is going to be to keep the weight off once you focus on getting your strength up first rather than trying to do the typical steady-state cardio or the common “light weight with high reps” routine, or any routine for that matter. (Also, note that is been shown that strength training 2-3 times a week can improve aerobic capacity as well!) Whether you are doing steady-state cardio, or you are doing resistance training, increasing your strength will induce a greater metabolic demand before, during, and after your workout than someone who has less lean muscle mass.


Now, let’s take a look at how resistance or strength training can help make you feel good. Honestly, I could go on and on about the benefits of strength training, but I’ll focus on a few. Some of the benefits to note right off the bat is how it can reduce signs and symptoms of such diseases and chronic conditions as arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, back pain, heart disease and depression. You’ll notice, most of these conditions I just listed (if not all of them) require medication of some sort. Strength training has similar improvements on signs and symptoms to medication. The only difference is that strength training is cheaper! Pretty, pretty, pretty powerful stuff if you ask me!



 It also decreases the aging process. One of the main reasons for this is how it improves bone density and strengthening of bones. The stronger your muscles and the greater the amount of lean muscle mass, the stronger the bones have to be. Also, post-menopausal women can and usually do lose bone mass (1-2%) annually. And, another reason it decreases the aging process is its positive effects on balance, stability, and flexibility. So, no more falling and cracking your hip!


Another great benefit is improved sleep quality. Falling asleep quicker, deeper sleep, waking up less often, and longer sleep are all interrelated with people who regularly exercise. Again, this shows that exercise is a helluva lot cheaper than sleep medication or comparable treatment. Just sayin’.




The low-down on the sitch (situation)

Strength training can be (if properly instructed how to do so) and is beneficial to all who participate in it. Two to three days a week of strength training has been shown to be more than enough frequency to the get positive results listed above. Frequency should vary depending on individual goals. One general rule of thumb is to never strength train the same muscle groups on consecutive days, allowing 48 hours of rest for your muscles. Before participating in a strength training program, consult a qualified professional and get proper instruction, especially if you are inexperienced or have any injuries or limitations. Working out with a group of friends can make it enjoyable and more productive, and also can help improve consistency.


Alright, ‘nuff said. Does anyone know where the weight room is?