Rebuttal of Legalizing Doping

Here is a well written rebuttal of my post from yesterday.  Give it a read.  If you haven't read Stu's blog before, you should.  Here is the link.

Legalize Doping?

The Sport of Cheating: Legalize PED's For Our Health

As someone that has loved sports and continues to love sport, the last few weeks have been very thought provoking.  We have had the chance to see the ultimate in human competition with the now concluded London Olympics.  Last week, a prominent baseball player was busted for performance enhancing drugs.  This week the battle between USADA and Lance is over.

I found this article in Forbes Magazine very interesting.  "Why It's Time to Legalize Steroids in Pro Sports."  I would be all for it.  Let them go at it.  We would start to witness what the peak of the human condition could achieve.  Great physical performance's.  Or perhaps, it would just be legal, and not much would actually be different.  It depends on how cynical you are I guess.  I fall on the scale of either super cynical or on a true believing day just very cynical.

Justin Gatlin is an American sprinter that won the Bronze medal in London.  In 2004 he won the Gold.  He was busted for steroids after his Gold medal year.  8 years older he is clean and running as fast as he was juiced?  Hmm...  I think I'm super cynical as I'm writing this.

I guess I don't care if you take 'em.  I'm not a huge baseball fan, but if I go to the park, I'd rather watch a .350 hitter any day over a .250 hitter.  I want to see Herculean efforts on the bike.  I want to watch some guy run 9.58 seconds in the 100m.  (hint hint)  I don't care.

What I do care about is feeling good when I'm 60.  Playing sports with my daughter as she grows up.  Watching my parents age and wanting them to stick around for as long as they can.  If performance enhancing drugs were legal and we have all these people willing to take them, get smart, smart doctors involved and learn what is Minimum Effective Dose.  Are there any real health concerns?  What do you need to take at 55, 65, 75 to keep muscle tissue from wasting away.  Does being on something like HGH for 6 weeks after a surgery increase recovery and successful outcome? Learn, study, investigate on the worlds best and let the trickle down effect happen for the benefit of the rest of us.

I will now step off my soap box.

Breaking News...Michigan is Fat

I didn't even bother to look up who did the study or where the rankings are taken.  I know this, no one measured my BMI. (Body Mass Index)  If they did, I would be classified obese.  But, walk down the street, head to any Mall and you probably won't argue the results.

I think I remember that Michigan has always ranked high in the obesity charts.  It was a title we fought with Mississippi (the new number 1).  Michigan is the only state that isn't down south.

One could argue that it's a reflexion of the health of the economy as well.  Poorer states are usually fat.  Pretty simple.  But it's more about education in my opinion.  There are as many affluent overweight individuals as there are poor.

The Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder, after the results were released, initiated a Pure Michigan Fit program. Four tenants.  A few are excellent, breast feed your babies.  This should be pushed in hospitals.  Having been in a NICU unit for my daughter, I know this wasn't the case.  (They sure did push for my little premie to get a Hep B shot though).  Another is limit juice consumption, a step in the right direction.  Juice is like sugar water.  Push fruit and vegetables as a first type of solid food.  Another step that seems pretty solid.  The last was limit saturated fat. An example was to replace whole milk with skim.  Horrible advice.  Studies have shown that skim spikes insulin more.  Insulin spikes usually result in fat storage.

There lies part of the problem.  There still exists wrong information that is being dispensed as "health."  Diet soda isn't healthier for you.  Eating saturated fat is good not bad.  Low fat isn't healthy.  Butter isn't bad.  Low calorie snacks doesn't make them good for you.  Eating late at night for the majority of your calories isn't detrimental to your health, just as breakfast isn't the most important.  Cereal is not a great breakfast choice.  Fortified means all the good stuff was taken out and had to be put back in.  Vitamin water is sugar.  You probably never even came close to working out hard enough or long enough to justify that Gatorade.

One step in the right direction is stressing the need to increase movement.  Move more.  They talk about increasing bike and running races.  Cool.  More events.  That isn't going to help one thing.  If I'm struggling with money, I'm not going to pay 30 dollars to run a 5k.  There are some awesome programs out there like Girls on the Run.  But how about thinking large scale.

How about figuring out a way to put gym class back in school.  Michigan no longer requires it every day.  Growing up we had gym for an hour every day.  These days it may be 30 min every other day.

There is a crazy stat out there that like in 20 years one in three kids will have type 2 diabetes.  It currently costs the US 100 billion dollars.  So not having the money to do something like creating jobs for PE teachers is not logical.  Spend a little, save a lot.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning."

Product Reviews: PUR Filter and Belkin FastFit iPhone Case

I haven't done a product review in a while, so I thought I would highlight a few that I have been enjoying.  First, I bought a PUR 2 stage water filter for 30 bucks that just attaches to the existing kitchen faucet.  I have been very happy with this purchase.  Cleaned up the smell/taste.  I had read some reviews that it breaks, but have had mine for over 6 months with no issues.  Definitely makes my espresso taste better using filtered water.  Big win there.

The next was finding an athletic carrying case for my iPhone.  I purchased the Lifeproof case and strap.  Ended up returning after one use.  The case, guaranteed against drops and water, just felt cheap to me.  Didn't want to keep it in the case when I wasn't using it.  You have to buy the strap for your arm separately and I found that to be very uncomfortable after a few minutes.  If you have bigger guns then 14 inches, chance are you wouldn't like it very much.  All together you are going to dish out close to 100 dollars for the two of them.

After I returned them I purchased the Belkin FastFit iPhone case/strap.  This was 30 dollars and has worked awesome.  I like the fact I can take the phone out easily and the strap is very comfortable.  Rode 3 hours with it and never had any issues.

There is a great app called DownCast.  It is free.  It allows you to download podcasts to your phone without having to sync your phone to iTunes.  Pretty awesome.

Centration by Any Method for a Healthy Body

I started thinking the other day on why pain happens.  The cascading events that lead to pain and also the cascading events that  result from the pain and finally the cascading events that lead out of pain.

What started me thinking was Evan Osars book, "Corrective Exercise Solutions."  I had a chance to meet Evan awhile back at a Strength/Performance Enhancement seminar and have since tried to read all he puts out, great information.

He uses the term centration quite frequently.  Centration is simply the optimal access of range of motion in a joint.  When the body has centration, it has ease of movement, no compensation and no pain.  If centration is lost, compensation occurs, pain is experienced....eventually.

Unless there is trauma, car accident, a football blown knee, falling down some stairs as examples, most of what is felt has had years to develop.  That herniated disc didn't happen from picking that weight off the floor, that was just the last insult the body could handle.

It is possible that actually correct optimal movement of the joint was never learned.  Neuro development is a hot topic and it appears that the crawling pattern that occurs is more important then previously realized.

An old injury that doesn't even come to mind is a possible reason for loss of joint centration.  I can recall so many times athletes telling me that they can't recall how many severe ankle sprains they have experienced.  Ever had a bad ankle?  You limp around for days, sometimes weeks.  That is disrupting your recruitment pattern, the ankle centration has been altered.

For centration to occur, optimal muscle stability must occur.  A joint can not move correctly if there is not stability to allow mobility to occur.  An injury to a muscle will alter joint centration.

This brings us to the old saying, "Methods are many, Principles are few."  It doesn't matter the method, if the principle is achieved.  So whether the method is an adjustment, myofascial work, muscle energy, muscle activation, corrective exercise or a combination, know that ultimately the goal is proper joint centration.

Achieve joint centration, achieve ease of motion,  achieve a pain free body.

Random Thoughts and Readings this Week

I get the question asked of me frequently of what side I fall on the barefoot or "normal" running shoe debate.  I find this way of thinking fascinating.  First, it makes an assumption there is a correct answer.  I don't think there is one.  If you have wore an orthotic and a reinforced brick on your feet for 20 years, only occasionally jog,  common sense says, don't go buy a minimalist shoe and run.  Perhaps walk.  For many months.  You are unique.  I personally use an orthotic and wear "minimalist shoes." (not together)

(why if they are minimalist, and they really do have nothing to them, do they cost the same or more then other shoes?)

Here is an article talking about perhaps the same concept that not everyone is supposed to run with a forefoot strike.  Journal of Ankle Research.    This dives into energy efficiency, hind strike is more energy efficient.  Forefoot is faster.

For the record, I hate the Merrill version.  I feel like I'm walking on my heels.  When I'm barefoot, I do not.

This pretty much sums up the basics of "Philosophy of Sprint."  Simple, but the meanings behind each takes years of study and dedication to master.

I like Charlie Weingroffs idea of Boyles joint by joint approach where he sees stable segments moving on top of mobile segments.  This makes sense to me.  Muscles have main jobs, brakes and gas pedals.  The ones that propel and the ones that stabilize.  Nothing new here, just more clarity.

I've continued to use the diaphragmatic breath at end ranges of motion, either with A.R.T. in office or with specific exercises I give my patients/athletes.  I'm liking the results.

If I had to sum up the fascial chains for runners.  Keep the back side strong, calves, hamstrings, butt muscles (all).  Keep the front side loose.  Tib Anterior, quad group, psoas(all hip flexors).  You will run more efficiently and have much less chance to get injured.

Documentary "Strong" Cheryl Haworth

Last night I had the opportunity to see the documentary "Strong."  Thanks to Crossfit 616 for the invite.  It was premiered at the UICA in downtown Grand Rapids. This should be available for viewing sometime in late June, early July. 

 "Strong"  follows the exploits of Cheryl Haworth an American super heavyweight Olympic Lifter.  She was the bronze medalist in 2000 Sydney Olympics.  It essentially picks off after a horrific elbow injury in 2003 and ends with her 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  

Through the journey you see a young lady dealing with injury, love of the sport that vacillates, body image (she was 290lb) training and life.  She talks openly about how her weight helps with her sport, but that she doesn't want to be that big in everyday life.  So she talks about the internal conflict she had with this dilemma.  

Throughout the movie you get a nice feel for what Olympic athletes have to deal with and how it's not always the physical side that is the hardest to overcome after a setback like an injury.  There are mental and emotional hurdles that have to be vanquished for the purest form of athletic expression to be achieved.

As with every injury and setback, the sacrifice you put into the goal comes into question.  Is this worth it?  Is a question that looms in the back of your head.  The director did a great job of letting us follow this incredible athlete and Cheryl did an awesome job of letting us into the psyche of an elite athlete.  

"It's a lot easier talking yourself into doubting,  that this weight is to heavy to lift, then I can lift this."

Anyone that's ever picked up a barbell can relate.  Anyone that has had to deal with injury or setback will enjoy this.  Anyone that has had to come to the grips with the notion that you have to move on to the next stage of life will find this well worth their time.

My Experience with Intermittent Fasting

For the past 5 months I did self experimentation with the concept of Intermittent Fasting.  Basically Interment Fasting (IF) is a way of eating that hopes to reset a few hormones in your body, most notably Insulin.  

The easiest way to accomplish this is to go 16 hours between meals.  For example I would stop eating on Monday nights at 10 and not eat again till Tuesday at 2.  This was a 16 hour window.  Initially I found this pretty hard, but with in a week I found it easy.  I found myself actually looking  forward to these days as it took the thought out of scheduling meals.  

I did this on 2x a week.  Every Tuesday and Thursday.  What I realized is that sometimes being hungry is not a real indicator in today's world that you are.  The hormones Ghrenlin and Leptin need to be reset.    Ghrenlin is the guy that tells your system to eat.  It's probably unreliable as you've been taught to eat 3-4x a day with light snacks in between.

During my experiment with IF I found it to be enjoyable.  I think it does a good job of letting you become more sensitive to Insulin.  I didn't lose any strength during the 5 months and did lose a little bodyfat.  I raced 2 mountain bike races and didn't feel I was hindered on this.  On one of the days I did lift weights and didn't feel a drop in Max Effort strength.  

I took a break from IF recently, for the simple fact that I developed bad habits while on it.  It was very easy to feel justified in eating anything you wanted after fasting for 16 hours.  Hello, Pain de Chocolate croissant.  Without the bad habits, I think IF is great to experiment with.  I'm reigning in my bad habits and creating more of a planned eating recipe/meals.  

There is a lot of research out there with IF, lots of experts.  A simple google search will give you plenty of information.  My suggestion, just try it for a month.  Have a plan of action for meals post fast so that you don't fall into the lazy/deserve this mentality that I did.  Teach your body what true hunger actually is.  

Boosting Premi Babies Vision and Brain Development with Massage

I had my first kid born last week, Piper Cruz Ross.  She was 8.5 weeks early!  To say that it scared us, was a bit of an understatement.  She was born 4lb 9oz and 18" long.  We were very fortunate that her lungs were fully formed and she didn't need any external help with breathing.

Many of my friends that I have played sports with over the years, from rugby to bobsled have started to have kids and we have always joked about how we are going to train our newborns.  Resisted baby crawls, 1lb dumbell deadlifts, ect.  Don't worry we are just kidding. (I think!)  One thing I've always remembered though is a trainer by the name of Marv Marinovich talking about doing very gentle mobility work on the hamstrings.  Marv has some crazy ideas, but I think some have merit.  Why not pursue a few things that produce no harm?

Dealing with a premi, I started reading and looking into some things and came across this study.  Massage Accelerates Brain Development and Visual Acuity.    You can read the whole study there.

In it they looked at premi babies born between 30-35 weeks of gestation.  They had no other health problems.  3 sessions were done per day.  Each was around 10 min.  First was tactile stimulation, baby laid prone and light stroking was done with the pads of the fingers.  Head, back, buttocks, legs, calfs were done.  2nd was kinesthetic.  Baby was laid supine and flexion/extension was done with the arms and legs in sequence.

The results showed an increase in IGF-1 hormone.  This had direct effect on improvement of visual acuity.  EEG activity of brain function improved.  This was measured by the time from discontinuous to continuous activity.  Cortisol levels also showed a decrease.  Pretty impressive.

Results showed improvement at 3 months of age and started to level off at 7 months between those that received massage and control babies.  At 3 months of age this was 2 months after the massage sessions ended.

 One wonders what could happen if massage had continued, not only with premi's but with babies born on time.  As anyone that has a baby in NICCU knows, you spend a ton of time just sitting there.  This at least shows some promise of something concrete you can do with your baby as you sit there.  At best, you will help brain and vision development and at worse nothing but the development of a stronger bond.  Sounds like a win, win to me.

Rakowski Seminar Recap: Nutrition and Kinesiology

This past weekend had the opportunity to travel to Minneapolis, MN to learn some awesome information.  It was taught by Dr. Bob Rakowski.  Dr. Rakowski is a pretty amazing practitioner.  His patients consist of everything from Olympians and Professional Athletes to the opposite spectrum, cancer patients.  Some patients come to him as a last resort, including pancreatic cancer, Parkinson's and other cancers.

It would be pretty hard to list everything I learned, but I will try to give some highlights that I found very interesting.

Everything that has unexplained ear, eyes, nose and throat can potentially be coming from a cranial nerve.

The importance of eating organic food.  This video below will help drive the point home.  Our soil is depleted, no longer has the ability to impart all of life's nutrients to it.  30 some minerals in soil.  We put back just 3.



We have had Genetically Modified Food in our country for years.  It was banned in 6 months in Europe after it showed it caused severe health problems in rats.  The most GMO is corn.  The average American eats 52lb of corn in their diet per year.  (see the documentary King Corn)  Corn is like in everything!

Fastest growing specialty in America is Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery.  Simply put, our kids are falling apart.  Poor diet passed on to the next generations.  (see summary of Deep Nutrition and google Pottenger Cat Study)

The number one quality that elite athletes posses when asked in a survey was....drum roll.    FOCUS
Focus means the brain is functioning optimally.

Food in this country is designed to be addictive.  When dealing with problematic issues, things that won't resolve, whatever it is, wipe the slate clean.  Detox for a week.  He has specific protocols for the week.
Support during this week is provided what is classified by medical foods.  The FDA gives a food that label if it meets 4 requirements.
1.  Whats on the label is on the label and nothing else or more.
2.  Guaranteed Purity.
3.  Proven effective in Human Trials.
4.  Every nutrient in the food is recognized as safe.

Cancer has been shown to eat sugar.  Hence, the PET scan.  Cancer's perfect storm, is low Oxygen, low nutrients and high acidic environment.

Cool trick that I want to try.  Walk 15 feet in shoes.  Test ROM.  Walk 15 feet in sand.  Test ROM.  See the difference?

Bodies respond to Frequency, Intensity, Duration, Quality and Timing.  (found this to be simple, but profound)

The joints are the most important relayer of information to the brain.

Ikegai=Purpose for waking up in the morning.  This is vitally important for long life.

You don't poison the body to good health.

Waist should not exceed 1/2 your height in inches when measured.  If it does, you are looking for health problems.

Toxins inhibit Mitochondrial function.  See Terry Wahls awesome video to give you an idea about feeding the mitochondria and beating MS.

Sprinters, when you are alkaline you don't slow down from 60-100 meters.  Test your sprinters blood pressure on the table and as they get off the table.  If it doesn't raise, they will be slow out of the blocks.

Better breast milk for your future kids has the recipe of organic foods and lots of cruciferous vegetables.

Rhubarb is a great antagonist for estrogen.  Guys we should be eating this stuff.

Obesity shrinks the brain, trans fats shrink the brain, nutrients preserve the brain.

Need Protein while you detox.  This is important and is often overlooked.

All in all, this was a great seminar.  This was predominately just the nutrition we discussed and not the muscle testing and function part.  Can't wait to try to get back for another.

New Fat Bike World Champion

Big congratulations to Train Out Pain athlete and new Fat Tire World Champion, Danielle Musto.   This past weekend, she travelled up to Marquette, MI to take on the 25k course.  If you haven't seen these bikes around, you will.  These monster 4" tires are part of the new craze that is sweeping the Midwest.  I did get a chance to ride one this summer and was surprised at how well it actually handled.

Danielle has been training hard since winning the 24 hour single speed National Championship this past fall.  The goals we outlined for her in building her training program was building up more upper body strength (as evidenced by being able to do unassisted chin ups now) and also increasing power output in the hips.

You can read Danielle's race report on her blog.  World Champion has a pretty cool ring to it.

Continuing Education for CSCS

Never stop learning is one of the more important concepts to grasp when looking at your career or job.  To be able to grasp that what you learned a few years ago, won't be good enough, in a few years, will keep you from getting in a rut.  Lately, it seems every concept or product, has a learning or certification that goes along with it.  What to do?

Continuing education is a slippery slope.  There are certain credentials that have meaning, for instance your professional licence.  There are others that may or may not mean anything to you or the population that you work with.   I had debated whether to get recredentialed in my CSCS certification for awhile.  Lately, many strength coaches have been letting that cert slide away.  In the end I decided to recert for the following two year cycle.

I think the reasoning was because I still enjoy going to strength coaching clinics, that I may or may not commit to doing without it.  There are some discrepancies that show up with recertification that I find a bit off putting.  For instance, buying a seminar in Boston, flight out to Boston, hotel in Boston, sitting and learning for a whole weekend is the same as buying a 2 twenty minute quizzes online.

In the end, a certification, doesn't really mean a whole lot.  But, it can be a clue that whoever holds it, may indeed have some interest on the subject and has taken a few extra steps in time and money to pursue it.

Article on Performance Enhancement for Magazine

Here is an article I wrote that was published I think in Bare Essentials Magazine.  Yea, I didn't know they cared for this type of information either!  Enjoy.

"Training and Recovery of the Bobsled Athlete"

Pain and Pain Free Manual Therapy Paradigms

Last night I had my first baby class.  My wife and I are expecting our first kid in April.  One of the topics covered were pain, fear and tension.  It got me thinking about how this triangle represents well the manual therapy and coaching paradigm.   The picture up top diagrams two sets of paradigms  The top, shows how fear brings tension, tension brings pain, pain brings more fear.

Now, the second triangle shows how knowledge leads to intervention, intervention leads to being pain free and pain free often brings more knowledge.  Now as a coach or manual therapist our role is to bring knowledge to the patient or athlete.  The intervention is what happens, whether it's and adjustment, soft tissue work or homework of foam rolling.

Probably the most important aspect of this triangle pain free paradigm is the Knowledge.  Knowledge can be things such as "Hurt does not equal Harm."  Just because it hurts does not mean you're damaging anatomy, can be a powerful affirmation.  Explaining what exactly Degenerative Disc Disease is and what it is not.  Learning how to breath correctly and what it can do.  Why sitting is bringing about the low back pain.

One of the big things that was covered in the baby class was breathing.  Again, this thought process aplys greatly to the manual therapy and coaching world.  Proper breathing is a great example to use.  Tension, brings less oxygen to the muscles.  Less oxygen leads to more pain in the soft tissue.  Faulty breathing can also lead to decreased thoracic mobility.  Knowledge.  Intervention (practice belly breathing), Pain Free,less pain in the Scalenes as an example of the Pain Free Paradigm.

2012 Is Here: What to Keep, What to Change

Every year you are probably bombarded with suggestions for new years resolutions.  Why so fatalistic?  Didn't we get anything right in 2011?  What about thinking of things we did well and maintaining them!

So my suggestion is start there!  List the good stuff, the stuff you're proud of, the stuff you got right and want to continue to do.  Be specific.  Don't say I will continue to drink water.  I will continue to drink 100oz of water.  I will continue to do three 20min workouts per week.

Now if there is something you want to change, apply the 3 rules for successful transformation.
1.  Find out where you are.  If you want to lose weight.  How much do you weigh?  Body fat percentage?  If you want to eat more vegetables, how much are you eating now?  What type?

2.  Pick one or two and go for it.  Listing 10-15 may sound great, but change is hard, so pick out one or two and prioritize them.  Anything is possible, just not everything at once!

3.  Reverse engineer your goal.  List specifically where you want to be and start working backwards to your present state.  Be very specific.  Smaller steps, perhaps 5-10 mini-goals that lead you from your goal to where you are now.  This makes Rule number 1 very important.  Be honest with yourself and where you are.

Here's to a(nother) great year.  2012.

Health Benefits of Donating Blood

I had been contemplating becoming a blood donor for some time.  Some positives about giving include the altruistic component.  It feels good to do something so simple that may indeed save a life.  You also get your blood pressure checked, another health preventative strategy.  It got me wondering if there are any other health benefits.

Going back in history, blood letting was a common "remedy" for all kinds of maladies.  It was used for over 3000 years.  This is just me guessing, it probably helped someone and that is why it persisted.

Excess Iron can actually be a health problem for men, why you see multivitamins for men without Iron. Women menstruate so they usually don't have the problem of excess iron. (they may in fact have the opposite)

Excess Iron can be a contributor to premature aging, cancer, heart disease and perhaps most problematic, inflammation.  When there is preexisting inflammation in the body, free iron in the blood accumulate there and accelerates the inflammation.   Excess Iron has been shown to be a problem with heart disease and for increasing LDL cholesterol (the bad).  The aging process of skin has a correlation related to the amount of iron in the body.

Vitamin C increases the absorption of Iron.  Orange Juice has been shown to really skyrocket your iron levels.  Tim Ferris in his book, The Four Hour Body, talks about this.  This is one reason they give you OJ after donating blood.  It is also easier to absorb the iron in meat then in plants.  Some things that block absorption are coffee, milk and eggs.

This brings us back to donating blood.  I went down to the Red Cross Donor Center here in Grand Rapids, MI and went through the screening process.  I was denied.  A trip to Brazil earlier this year to work with a sprinter, disqualified me, as it was a hot zone for Malaria.  I later found out that only 37% of Americans are currently estimated to be eligible to donate.

Donating blood is a good way to get rid of excess Iron and there is enough evidence that excess Iron is not a good thing.  I haven't been able to give any first hand (n=1) knowledge of the donation process, but don't let that stop you.  As their ad says, Be a Hero, Donate Blood.....and reap some health benefits as well.

What Do You Need Coaching In?

This article called "Personal Best," in the New Yorker was sent to me by a friend and strength coach.  It's a bit long, 15 min read, but well worth it.  It talks about how top level performers from athletes to musicians have coaches and ask the question why not you and why not me.

Often times, when school or professional training is done, you're done with having someone tell you what worked or needs working on.  Whether you are a teacher, doctor or a councilor, this article paints a poignant picture  how we keep getting better with the use of a coach.

Congrats to a New National Champion

Huge congratulations to Train Out Pain athlete Danielle Musto.  Over the weekend she won the 24 hour Mountain Bike National Championships out in Colorado.  She is now the proud owner of "The Stars and Bars" jersey that only USA National Champions can own.  Pretty Awesome!

Case Study at Train Out Pain Chiropractic: Burning with Sitting

The last few months I have been seeing a 50 year old female for burning pain along the sit bones while sitting.  Upon standing the burning pain immediately leaves.  She had a lumbar fusion L4/5 fifteen years ago.  She had been experiencing the discomfort for about 3 years.  She is an avid golfer.

Five visits later.  No improvement.  I had worked through the hip rotators checking for adhesions along the sciatic nerve.  I had followed tension lines from the upper back all the way down to the calves.  I had dug on the psoas muscles bilaterally.  I had followed tension lines in the front side, shins to pecs.  I had checked and rechecked, sacral/pelvic alignment and multifidi/rotator muscle quality.

Finally, I asked her to stand up brace the abs, sit back down with the brace still intact.  Wonders, no burning, no pain.  Turns out there wasn't any pathology, just lack of strength in the core.  She is also a golfer.  So the prescription became, building up strength endurance in the core muscles.  Burn free sitting.  

My Heart Adaptations from Cyclocross Race

One of the things I enjoy is biking.  This fall I'm racing in the Kisscross series in Grand Rapids.  I've introduced the sport of cyclocross in a previous post.  These races, though fun, fight my physiology.  I'm a fast twitch guy.  Football player.  Sprinter.  Lift heavy stuff.  During bobsled, 60 meters got to seem pretty far!

I struggle on anything that lasts longer then a minute.  That's why my goal for cyclocross is improvement and enjoyment.  Last year, the first race I think I was last by about 3 minutes!  This year, I think I'm beating a few people.  I started to structure my workouts this summer to prepare for a better chance at doing well in these races.  The competitor started to come out.

The first race lasted 38 minutes for me and my heart rate average was 184 bpm.  The second race lasted 29 minutes with a 179 hr average.  So what happens when you train or race at this pace physiologically.

Teaching the heart to pump more blood.  It does this by teaching the heart to pump for forcefully.  There is an increase in mitochondria in the heart muscles.  This will also increase the endurance capabilities of the heart.

A stronger heart, will fatigue slower at higher heart rates.  This will keep the oxygen flowing to your muscles.