Flexibility Extras

After receiving some feedback on my last post, I wanted to add in a few extra notes concerning flexibility and flexibility training:

1: When performing a static stretch, make sure to hold the position for 20-30 seconds to make it worth your effort. If you are especially tight, go for 2 sets of 30 seconds.

2: Self-myofacial release, aka foam rolling, has been getting more recognition these days and for good reason. There are many benefits to massaging your muscles, but because most of us cannot afford a personal masseuse, the foam roller is a cheap substitute that can still have beneficial effects on the muscles. I recommend using this when you have a knot, but some people liking using it for every warm-up. Either way, the goal is to roll over the muscle at a slow rate, and if you do find a knot, use your weight to put pressure on the tight area for 20-30 seconds, then continue rolling. If you have never done this before, be warned, it can be a little painful the first few times, but it gets easier the more you do it.

3: Pre-workout stretching should consist of dynamic stretching. Save static stretches until the end. Dynamic stretching means that you are taking your body through various ranges of motion while staying active. An example would be air squats or lunges. You are stretching out the muscles but you are moving too, trying to get your core temperature up before exercise.

4: In explaining the problems that can arise because poor range of motion, I left out a key factor. While I mentioned that having a tight muscle can restrict its own ability to move functionally, I failed to explain that this also inhibits the surrounding muscles. This means that you now have a multi-directional dysfunction, which can only lead to further alterations in movement patterns. In turn, you end up with weakened muscles surrounding the joints, leading to poor joint mechanics, and making injury all the more likely to occur.

5: The last thing I would like to say is that with the major factor in all of this being injury prevention, we must recognize that along with an injury taking us out of the gym, it also makes future injury more likely to occur. Unless you change your stretching habits after an injury, the reasons that the injury occurred in the first place will only get worse, only now you have another area that will be adding dysfunction to your movement. It turns into a cycle that can only be broken by altering the training program.

If there are any more questions or concerns, feel free to ask, I am always open to elaborate on a topic. Thanks for checking me out, I hope you come back soon!

-Colin

Flexibility First

Thinking back to my high school days, I can remember first learning about exercise and instantly finding an interest in the subject. Training with weights was always my favorite, as is often the case for men and adolescent boys alike. Get to the gym, get those guns pumped up and get out of there after you can no longer lift the weight off the stand. While there is nothing wrong with weight training (though my opinion on the exercise choices of most will be coming soon), many do not see exercise in the holistic light that it should be seen. People have specific goals in mind when they go to the gym and spending even a second on something that is not directly related to toning / bulking / endurance training would in their eyes be a waste of time. While there are probably a number of things that I would like to see emphasized more in the gym, the most neglected, yet one of the most important, is flexibility.

Reminiscing again on my early days of weight training, I was the same way. I would never stretch after a workout because I had gotten the “important” exercises out of the way, and I just wanted to get home. Sometimes I would get in a quick stretch or two between sets if I was tight, or maybe in the morning when I could barely walk, but I was obviously being reactive to the tightness that my training was causing. The result: sore muscles, restricted movement, bad technique, pain in my lower back, inability to play sports well, and problems in my shoulders during lifting. Looking back, it now makes so much sense! All of these issues, and more, can come from lack of flexibility. When your joints cannot go through their full range of motion, a number of key things happen. First, muscles will not be able to stretch to the length required to allow for full range of motion. What this means is that your body will be unable to move properly, which affects your performance in everything from washing your car to maintaining proper technique during exercise. As you continue to work through these faulty movement patterns, your body will have to compensate and eventually be put into a compromised position, resulting in injury. Second, you will lose power in movement. Your ability to move weight is based on your muscles ability to fully utilize the muscle fibers available. When you have tight muscles, the fibers are stuck in a semi-contracted state, preventing them from having a full contraction. The more bound up the muscles become, the less capable your muscles will be to live up to their full potential. This will clearly be detrimental for lifting weights, but it will more importantly inhibit your ability to perform more fundamental movements, such as running, jumping, and squatting. Finally, your body will feel downright tired. Think about how much harder it must be for our bodies to move through the world when there is resistance against every movement you try to make. Every step, every reach, and especially every time you try to pick something up, your body will be fighting against those tight muscles that aren’t allowing it to move the way it knows it should!

In the end, if your body cannot move properly, nothing else in exercise matters. The movement you put on top of faulty movement patterns only reinforces that dysfunction, and this dysfunction can lead to injury. And if the work you do to stay healthy is getting you injured, then what’s the point! So as a quick guide to what type of stretching is important, we need to think about the major movements of the body. The foot goes up and down (though the focus would be on moving it up), so here we would want a calf stretch. The leg bends at knee, which would require a quad stretch. The legs go forward, backward, and side to side, meaning that we will need to include exercises such as the butterfly, toe touch, lunge and pigeon. The trunk bends forward and back, so we can include the toe touch again, plus a cobra stretch. The upper back twists, bends, and extends, so will want to hold the hips straight and work on rotating the upper back in both directions, and then work on some cat and horse stretches. The arms go up, down, and side to side, so make sure to hold your arms in each of these positions. You could use your other arm or a wall to help put pressure on the stretch, but know that each direction is just as important as another.

If you could stretch in all of these directions after every workout you would be a gymnast! The goal, however, is not to spend hours stretching every day, so focus your time on stretching those muscles that were used that day. Start paying attention to the movement that you are doing in your workout and think about what muscles are being activated, so that when you finish up, you can put together a ten good minutes of stretching. We need to lengthen those muscles that have inevitably tightened up from exercise, and get them prepared for our future activities. Trust me; even if you need to skip a whole exercise to make sure that you stretch, your body is going to thank you. Fitness is not about any single workout, it’s about how long can you continue to exercise throughout the rest of your life. Good luck everyone and let’s get flexible!

-Colin

Core Training Part 2- Posterior Core

As promised, this week’s post will finish up my discussion of the core, and what we can do to properly train it without risk of injury. One of the main points from last week was that the abdominal muscles are responsible for resisting extension in the lower back, which is why we need to train them in that role. This week, I would like to focus more on the gluteal muscles (the butt), as well as the muscles in the lower back, and discuss function and exercise relating to these areas.

First I would like to say that the majority of people out there probably do not have nearly enough strength in their glutes, and too much in their low back. This can be most attributed to the atrophy of muscle and movement that people experience as they spend more and more time sitting, and less time moving. While the abdominals working properly can help to resist over extension or rotation, normal extension is still needed, such as when you pick something off the ground. This would be the major role of the gluteus maximus, with support from its partners; if this group is undertrained, however, the low back muscles must compensate and help the back to extend. This is a dysfunctional movement because the role of the low back muscles is NOT to extend the back. Its role is to stabilize the back, making sure that the spine is kept in proper alignment both in static and dynamic situations (holding and moving). So, if we see that the low-back muscles are over-training, then we know that there is poor movement resulting from weak supporting muscles. This type of movement is putting a lot of strain on the back, and these little stabilizing muscles that run along the spine are picking up the work. In fact, just an 80 lb. weight lifted completely by your back can place 1500 lbs. of pressure on the spine, simply due to the angle from which that muscle must pull. This is not how these muscles were meant to be used, so let’s get those glutes back into action!

Before I go over exercises, I want to quickly touch on the role of the gluteus medius, the muscle most responsible for lifting your leg to the side. While this movement in itself is only at times important, from a functional stand point this muscle also helps to keep your knee in alignment during movement. As it weakens, your knee can become susceptible to inward movement, therefore putting stress not only on the ligaments, but also creating negative effects elsewhere in the body. Remember, the body is a chain of muscles, bones, and nerves, and when something is going wrong in one area, you can bet more problems are on there way.

So, how do we train these muscles? Well instead of looking to hyperextensions and overloaded deadlifts (I like the deadlift, but many people think they can do much more than they are capable of, leading to a break in form, and increased stress on the back) let me suggest some exercises that can help the situation without risk. First: the maximus. When training, you can decide to focus on an isometric contraction (no movement), a concentric contraction (shortening the muscles) or an eccentric contraction (lengthening the muscle). The first exercise is an isometric exercise, and if any of you have ever done yoga, you are probably familiar with the bridge. This one is performed by lying on your back, knees bent, and pushing your butt off the ground so that your shoulders, hips, and knees are all in a straight line. This is a great way to start on your way toward better strength, and if you want to make it a challenge, try straightening one leg, leaving only one leg of support.

Another great exercise is the single leg deadlift. This allows you to work on extension of the trunk using the glutes and hamstrings, balancing, and keeping your knee in line with your toe all at once. It’s also great because you don’t need to load it as heavily as you would a regular deadlift, meaning you are not going to overload your back. Here you are doing the deadlift motion, but with a weight either in both arms or in the opposite hand of the foot you are standing on. Keep that back straight and drive through the hips to straighten your body.

The last exercise I will mention is one to hit the glute medius. Here we are using a band, placed under our feet, then crossed, and held up overhead. This is called an X-band walk, and you basically walk side to side, without swaying your upper body. It is a strict abduction (movement away from the body to the side) of the leg, and it is a great way to target the medius.

I hope this core information has been useful. It is all extremely important no matter what your level of activity. As I said before, without the core, no movement is possible, and if we want to keep our lower backs in good shape, both the anterior and posterior core need to be fully functioning and strong enough to support our movement. Thanks for checking in and I’ll be back again in a week. Happy fitness!

-Colin

Core Training Part 1- Anterior Core

The anterior core, more commonly known as the abs, is the single most important muscle group in the body. It is actually made up of a two main muscle groups: the rectus abdominis (responsible for flexion and resisting extension) and external obliques (responsible for both rotating and resisting rotation). No functional movement in the body can take place without the core activating first, so it is no wonder that core training is such an integral part of any exercise program. Unfortunately, most information concerning core training comes from infomercials and health magazines that rarely explain any research behind their products or suggestions, and base their claims on what will get the most emotional response out of the buyer. This is why every ab product on the market still claims that it will burn fat and turn that gut into a 6-pack. The truth is, you could do a thousand crunches a day and never get a 6-pack. The only way to do that is to move more and eat less. What I want to talk about today, however, is not how to lose weight. What I would like to focus on are the types of exercises that are going on out there today—what works, what doesn’t, and what could actually be dangerous if kept up.

The first thing I would like to say is that hollowing has now been shown to not only be inefficient, but also potentially dangerous. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, hollowing is where you suck in your stomach or draw in your belly button before an exercise. Originally, the idea was that by tucking it all in, you would increase the internal pressure of the “core” and therefore better stabilize your movements. What has been found, however, is that this movement actually lessens the tension, and in turn reduces the amount of load the spine can handle without injury. What is more appropriate is to contract the abs enough to stabilize the body, while not over contracting, which would lead to dysfunctional movement.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about exercises. The latest research in the world of core training has shown that flexion (bending forward) and extension (bending backward) of the lumbar spine (low back) should be limited if not removed from practice. In terms of anterior core, flexion is what we will need to be carful with. What this means is that some of the most common movements in training your abs need to be either eliminated or modified. Most notably: the sit-up and the crunch. The sit-up should be avoided because it puts too much strain on the lower back resulting from high levels of flexion in the lower spine. According to Stuart McGill, a highly respected spine biomechanics professor at the University of Waterloo, sit-ups place a devastating amount of load on the disks, which over time can lead to back injuries. The crunch, while better, can also result in flexion unless you are able to strictly flex at the mid-spine, also known as the thoracic spine. What most people do, however, is try to curl up the head, and as a result, flatten the back against the ground, again resulting in a flexion of the lower spine. If you want to do it right, McGill has his own suggestion. Start with one knee bent, both hands under your lower back and only lift your head and shoulders. Make sure that your back does not flatten, and be sure not to hollow! Other exercises that he suggest include the side plank, and the “bird dog”, where from all fours, you raise alternating arm and leg. You can find out more of Stuart McGill’s work in his books, Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation and Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance.

While McGill has had a profound influence on how core training is now perceived, his exercises are limited and are just a start to how we should train. One of the oldest yet most effective tools out there for anterior core training is the ab wheel. What makes this such a great tool is that we are getting away from the old paradigm of training the abs through flexion, and now training them through anti-extension (Anti-extension, along with anti-rotation, are now thought to be the primary function of the anterior core, meaning that its job is to stop your low back from extending too far or rotating too much). While this is a simple piece of equipment, the abdominal strength required to use such a tool is remarkable. It’s so difficult, in fact, that most people should not even use it at first! But don’t worry—there are other exercises that mimic the movement that provide for a workable progression for the abs. Start out by working on your plank. If you can get your hold up to a full minute, then it’s time to move on. Next is rolling out with a stability ball. Start with your hands on the ball when it is close to you, and then roll out until your elbows are on the ball and your arms are fully extended overhead. From here roll the ball back toward you using your abs to pull your body back from your extended position. You will probably want to perform these movements from your knees, though if you really want a challenge, attempt them from a standing position. Next, we can perform this same action using an ab-dolly, getting us closer to the ground, and then finally advance to the wheel. If you do get to where the wheel is not enough, use an Olympic bar with weight to roll out (and good luck with that!).

Starting postition for rollout (use whichever method is best for you)

End position (Make sure you don't let your body touch the ground!)

Other effective exercises include medicine ball anti-rotations, medicine ball chop and lifts, or single-arm rows from a push-up position (make sure you don’t let your torso rotate).

Medicine Ball Anti-Rotation (don't let your hips turn)

Medicine Ball Chop and Lift

Push-up Anti-Rotation

While these are not all of the options out there, I want to provide enough so that you can get a solid ab workout without reverting to the old way of training. Next week I will talk about the “posterior core” including the gluteus maximus (Butt), gluteus medius (Outer hip), erector spinae (Lower Back), and how this group is just as important as the anterior core. Good luck working the core, and remember—easy on the flexion!

Fitness Through Motion

If you’ve ever wanted to get into better shape, the first thing you would probably do is figure out where you can workout and when you will have time for it. What I have come to learn, however, is that fitness does not necessarily have to come from a gym, or from a strict exercise routine that must not be broken. In fact, I think that a lot of people who start out in that kind of mindsets end up falling off in the end. It’s like the January 1st syndrome. Everyone wakes up, resolutions in hand, and gets out there for a run. This will be the day for change! Then after a week or so, they realize that they are sore, tired and don’t have the time to keep doing this, so they stop all together. But this is not what health or fitness is about. Fitness is about living a sustainable lifestyle that is beneficial to your health. It’s about taking the stairs to your apartment, finding a sports league to revisit your favorite sport, or just taking a walk every night and enjoying the warm summer evenings. It’s about making healthy decisions one day at a time, which after years of maintaining, you realize, you’re in much better shape than all those people that always wanted to exercise, but just never stuck with it. It’s about movement (though nutrition is going to be a big part too!), and the more you move, and the more you stay active, the better you feel and the more fulfilling your life can be.

Now don’t get me wrong, the gym is important and it is a staple in my daily routine, but my point is that you don’t NEED the gym. Yes it is an excellent tool, from sports performance, to physical aesthetics; it is a haven for the fitness enthusiast. But not everyone likes the gym and not everyone has the time or money to regularly attend an established “fitness center”. Don’t let this stop you. There are too many people out there today that are in serious need of physical activity, and the less you do, the less likely you are to get back into it. As our country becomes progressively more sick, it is going to be my job and the job of all others in the health industry to reach out and help people to see just how important physical health is to all areas of life, and to show them that fitness is not about who can lift the most, look the best, or run the farthest; it’s about who can be healthy, happy and injury/disease free the longest.

Good luck to all of you in your own health and fitness goals; I’ll be back again next week with another post, so stay posted and keep moving!

-Colin