Fitness, Training, Health & Conditioning

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK WORKOUT #4

RUNNING WARMUP

Here is the complete Running Warmup for you to follow. Give it a shot the next time you are headed out for a run. We have taken the time to put together an intelligent warmup that incorporates the various components necessary to promote an efficient stride. Here is the extra descriptions for each move along with the number of repetitions of each.

Standing 3 Position Arm Raises – 10x each position (Stand with feet at hip width, arms relaxed by sides. Lift arms to the 12 o’clock position (arms straight overhead pointing behind). Repeat arm lifts at 10 and 2 (arms halfway between overhead and straight out from sides) and finally at 9 and 3 (arms straight out from sides.)

Windmills – 10x each direction (Stand with your feet out much wider than the hips and your feet pointing forward. Now place you arms straight out to the side at shoulder height. From this position bend and twist from the waist as you bring your right hand down to your left foot. Stand all the way back up, then go to the other side)

Standing Cats & Dogs – 10x (Stand feet hip width apart, hands on thighs, and knees bent. Arch back up like a scared cat and push chin to chest, then lower back toward floor and raise head up. Repeat alternating between the two positions.)

Standing Quad – 30 seconds each leg (Stand in front of a chair on left leg, place left hand on chair for support; bend right knee and pull heel toward glutes, reach down with right hand and hold right foot. Keeping knees even and hips square to chair, squeeze right glute and slightly press hip forward and hold. Switch legs and repeat.)

Runner’s Stretch – 30 seconds each side (On hands and knees, place left heel directly in front of right knee, stand up keeping your feet in place and straightening both legs. Keep both thighs tight and bend over front foot. Rest hands on floor or chair and hold.)

Standing Hip Flexor Stretch – 30 seconds each side (Stand with hands on hips, right leg out in front of you and left leg behind. Bend both knees allowing your left knee to drop toward the floor. Hold this position with left leg a few inches above the ground and then without raising your hips, try to straighten your left leg. Switch legs and repeat.)

Rotational Stork Walk – 20 steps (stand with hands behind head. Pull left knee outside and up to 90 degrees and bring knee back to shoulder width while keeping foot under knee (one fluid motion). Step forward while lowering left foot toward the floor and repeat with right leg.)

Lateral Lunge Walk – 15 steps each way (Stand with feet under hips and hands behind head, bend right knee and take a big step to the side with your right leg. Standup by straightening right leg and bringing left leg underneath hips. Repeat then switch directions.)

Full Squats – 10x (Stand with feet directly under hips and toes pointing forward. Place hands behind head and pinch shoulder blades together. Without letting heels come off the floor, squat down as far as is comfortable and back up; repeat.)

Just a quick note to say that our team was officially accepted into the 2010 Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon. This is the one of the most unique and exciting running events in the World. It is a 197 mile trek  from the Top of Mount Hood to the Beach at Seaside Oregon. There are 1,000 teams accepted each year and we were lucky enough to be included. With 12,000 runners and over 3,500 volunteers, it is a spectacle to say the least.

We will update you regularly about our progress as a team and share our experiences with you as well. If you have never had the chance to see the Hood to Coast relay it is something you will never forget. For more information on the Relay, follow this Link to Hood to Coast.

Some of the Athletes I coach were discussing this topic today. They were doing a workout for our winter track program in our indoor training center. At the end we went outside to do some sprints to open up their stride and it turned out to be significantly colder than I had anticipated. I was worried this would be a detriment but they all said it was a relief since the training center was getting pretty humid from the sweat and heaters.

I laughed when I heard this because I understand my runners well enough to know they would not choose to run in the very cold temperatures. From there the debate continued as to when the best temperature or time of year was to run.

I personally am a fan of late summer and early fall. The Spring in Oregon tends to be still quite cold and usually very wet. I remember a few years ago during a High School Track and Field Season we had 12 days of nice weather. Thats 12 out of about 90. The summer in Oregon is typically very nice but I do not run long distances as well in the heat. Late summer or early fall ends up being just about perfect. Not only is the scenery incredible with the changing of the leaves but the temperature is right around the 60 degree mark most days.

For many of you I would imagine that your climate determines a lot about when you prefer to run. Pleas share with us what is your favorite time of year to run wherever it is you live. If you have pictures, send those over as well and we will feature it in a future post.

A few weeks back in a tip on stretching we wanted to make sure you hold your stretches for at least 30 seconds or more. We talked a bit about the physiology behind muscles and the nervous system and how they play a role in flexibility. To go along with this last post, I would like to give you another tip for your stretches that is essential to getting the most out of your flexibility routines.

When you are stretching, you need to be sure that you are contracting the antagonist muscles to the ones you are lengthening in order to make the stretch functional and fully lengthen out the fibers of the muscle you’re attempting to stretch. The antagonist is the muscle that does to opposite function of a certain muscle.

A good example of this is the standing quad stretch. The most overlooked component of most stretches, and especially ones like this, is the contraction of the antagonist. In the standing quad, the muscles of the front of your leg, the quadriceps, are being lengthened. In order to ensure you are really getting the full benefits of the stretch, you must make sure you are flexing the glutes and hamstrings of that leg in order to push the hip forward.

Doing this makes it a more functional move, and helps develop greater range of motion in your joints as well as flexibility in your muscles.

Loren Sheets

The ability to maintain mobility in your back or more specifically for this post, your spine, is something that when you are in your 20′s you do not think about all that much. Well ok I actually did think about it quite a bit in my 20′s but I am fairly passionate about health and human performance. Most people in their 20′s do not give it a lot of thought. But I am wondering how many people in their  50′s. 60′s 70′s and even older wish they would have spent more time on it when they were in their 20′s? I will go ahead and answer for them and say most.

There are a significant number of factors that can affect our posture and ultimately our spine. Genetics may be the biggest but also injuries, jobs, lifestyle, physical training we do or do not do, and sports we play can all impact the health of our spine. The key to keeping a healthy back is to keep it moving. The two major directions of the spine are the flexion/extension, and the rotation. Here are a couple of great moves you can use on a daily basis to keep, restore, or simply improve the flexibility in your spine.

The first is the Sitting Twist. It is a simple move that is very popular in the aerobics and yoga circles. Simply put both legs out straight, then cross one over the other and place the opposite elbow on the knee and twist. Hold it on each side for 30-60 seconds.

The second move is what we call a Kneeling Roller Coasters. Others call them dive bombers or even hindu push-ups. This is a fantastic move for the flexion and extension of the spine. Not only that but it will also help to maintain mobility in your shoulders as well. Start on your hands and knees and pull your hips towards your heels, then bend your elbows as you roll trough lowering your chin, chest, stomach, and hips along the floor. Once you reach the extended position, pull your hips back and roll trough again.

Mix these two moves into your daily routine to help keep your spine healthy. If you are looking for something more complete check out our Low Back Program and our AM/PM Program in our Store.

With the latest poll we asked you which of several different sporting events yo would want to be a champion of.
Here are the official results:

If you Could Win One of the Following, Which Would it be?
Iron Man Triathlon: 29% (5)
Boston Marathon: 0% (0)
Olympic 100m Dash: 35% (6)
Super Bowl: 24% (4)
NBA Championship: 6% (1)
World Series: 6% (1)
Total Votes : 17

It was close but being the Olympic 100m Champion is the winner. I actually think I would agree, I love to go fast. I dream of owning fast cars and that thrill of being able to run fast is unmatched. It is why Track and Field is such a passion of mine. I love to watch people be able to go fast, jump far, jump high, throw far, and all the other components of track.

The thing that actually jumped out in the poll results is that only single vote was given to Baseball and Basketball. Obviously with only 17 votes I am not about to make any type of bold definitive statement but I do think is shows that Football is still king in the United States. No other sport captivates an audience like the National Football League.  Events Like the Olympics gather large audiences for a short time but I wonder what the ratings wold be if we televised all track and Field meets. The Ironman is not a great television watch but it is the Gold standard for human achievement. Being the IronMan Triathlon Champion means you are at the pinnacle of human performance.

Check out the latest poll and let us know your opinion.

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK #38

FULL SQUATS

Full Squats or Free Squats are one of the more common exercises we use at the end of warm-ups and cool-downs to introduce proper loading into the hips, knees, and ankles. With the progression of the warm-up exercises leading into this one all designed to properly align the skeletal system, this moves help to reinforce this anatomically correct position.

Next week we will be putting together the complete video warm-up with each of the exercises along with the number of repetitions or time to do each one.

Great exercises can go terribly wrong if you do them from an anatomical position that is not safe for your body. Overhead press moves like Military Presses are a great tool for adding strength to the muscles of the deltoid and thoracic back. However many people choose to do these moves from either a seated or standing position, both of which can cause more harm then good.

The danger in doing moves like this in a seated position is the amount of compression and tightness it can cause in your lower back. Many trainers believe you should do them sitting to help reduce this issue and in regards to a comparison against doing it standing, this may be true. However, We feel that sitting is actually the most dangerous and really takes away from a great exercise. Not only do you tend to put very high levels of stress into your lower back, you train your muscles from a poor postural position. I know trainers will argue this and say they make sure their clients backs are straight and shoulders are up but still your in a seated position which your body never requires strength from so why do it?

Truly we are not a fan of doing any strength moves in a chair or seated position. Can you name a time when your going to need to move heavy objects around in a seated position? Is there a sport I am not aware of where you can just it there and push weight around? Sitting to do your weight training is a bad idea. You will ultimately create high levels of muscular imbalance in your body that will lead to poor posture and eventually pain and injury.

Standing is the second most common way we watch people do this move. The real danger here is that your lower back is now even more compromised. I have seen this used in aerobic classes that emphasize strength and if you watch the instructors do a good job of first setting the move up by making sure that the individuals in the class have completely prepared their core to handle the move. Whenever you do an overhead move from a standing position you put the back and knees at high risk for compensation and injury. However done correctly and with the proper amount of progression into the move, standing does present some great overall strength benefits.

The best way to do overhead presses in our opinion is kneeling. In a kneeling position you still can gain the similar strength benefits that you would from a standing position but by taking your lower legs out of the equation it lessens the demands placed on the lumbar spine and knees if your body is not in the anatomically correct position.

We did a video on this awhile back, here it is again showing what we feel is the best form for you to have to do overhead press style moves. If you are currently doing your overhead moves seated, we highly encourage you to watch the video and begin to do them kneeling. The benefits are significant and your back will thank you for it.

Proper breathing techniques are often overlooked when it comes to lifting weights. Most people never think about their breathing when they are lifting weights; it usually never crosses their mind. For the most part, it doesn’t seem to be a big factor. Yet, using the right breathing patterns as you lift will have a big effect on how the lift will affect your body.

There are two parts to a repetition: the eccentric and concentric contractions. During the concentric contraction, the primary muscle fibers involved in the lift shorten. So, if you were doing a dumbbell bench press, the concentric contraction would occur when you are pressing the weight up, moving it against the force of gravity. The eccentric contraction occurs as you bring the weight back to its starting position. A general rule to help you understand which is which is the concentric contraction generally occurs when the weight, or your own body weight, is moving against the force of gravity.

So what does breathing have to do with lifting weights? Well, remember that your entire body, not just the muscle you are primarily working, is involved in stabilizing the joints and holding them in their proper anatomical alignment as you lift in order to perform the move correctly and with the most power. So, a great rule to use when lifting is to exhale when you exert. That is, during the concentric contracting, you should be breathing out. This will ensure that your core muscles are being engaged as you exert the most force during the move. Inhale when you are returning the weight to its starting position.

Never hold your breath when performing heavy lifts. In some cases, people have actually passed out when holding their breath while trying to lift near their max. In general, it’s just not a good idea. Also, remember to perform lifts slowly and under control. Follow this link to learn more about our philosophy on strength training.