What We're Reading 10/1/13

Who Says You Can't Get After It at 80?  Short and sweet article by Tony Gentilcore outlining an 80 year old's journey from "You want me to do what?" to Strong.

A Simple Technique for Beating Blisters Another short one for on how to treat blisters.  This one is by Rob Panariello and was posted on Bret Contreras' blog.

Are Bulgarian Split Squats Superior to Regular Squats? This is a longer article comparing the dreaded bulgarian split squat with the barbell squat in terms of strength development.  Ben Bruno starts by discussing generally accepted concepts relating to the subject and follows it up with his own "experiments" with clients getting incredibly strong with both movements.  As with all the longer reads, I highly recommend this one.

Aging and Functional Decline

I used to be able to…
 

While playing, kids run, jump, climb, crawl, throw, and perform hundreds of other actions for hours without planning or worrying about overtraining. The volume of exercise, while non-specific, is tremendous. Unfortunately, once we get jobs, cars and other responsibilities the amount of general activity decreases substantially. Going from high activity to low activity is detraining.

Use it or lose it. Maintaining muscle and bone density is metabolically expensive-- unless it is being used regularly the body will break it down to repurpose the stored energy. The extreme example of this is the rapid atrophy that astronauts experience from going into space. In a zero-gravity environment, there is no physical stress on the body. Some of the first astronauts on longer trips had problems walking when they returned to earth.

The same thing happens when someone has very little daily activity. Our bodies are built to be physical. Sit in the car to go to work. Sit at a desk all day. Sit in the car to go home. Sit in front of the TV until it is time for bed. This is common. This provides little to no positive physical stress to the body. On the flip side, tennis players are one of the only examples of major bilateral bone density differences- the dominant arm can often have up to 20% more bone density due to repeated training and constant bone remodeling.

Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands

 image credit vinelandheritagehealth.com

If you sit all day, and your body gets very good at sitting. You don’t need much muscle or strength to plop on a couch. Bone density? Nope let’s get rid of that too. Cardiovascular conditioning? Haha... right, those stairs look like Mt. Everest.

Even worse, when one spends most of their waking hours sitting down the body starts to mold itself to a seated position. Shoulders slump forward. Hip flexors shorten. Abs no longer fire to stabilize the spine. This is the all too common “desk guy” posture.

The poor posture coupled with sedentary lifestyle is worse than being simply deconditioned. The lack of joint alignment predisposes one to injury, making even simple, every day movements inefficient and sometimes painful, thus harder to perform. The normal reaction to something being hard/painful is to do less of it. Moving less leads to further detraining and the cycle continues.

Well Now What?

The longer the period of low to no activity, the simpler the exercise program needs to be. Usually there are many aches and pains with origins that can be traced to poor posture. Range of motion for most joint actions is limited (i.e., arms can’t be held above the head, hips only move a few inches downwards before people collapse into a chair). This can be from not having the strength to support that movement or something is so tight that it prevents a joint action.

At Cascade Peak Performance, we start with foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and other items that can be very effective at improving range of motion and decreasing general achiness. These self massage techniques - or properly referred to as self myofascial release (SMR) – work by releasing knots in muscles and loosening the facial sheath that surrounds each muscle.

Next specific stretching and activation exercises are selected for each member’s program. The goal in this phase is to improve posture and range of motion. Depending on a client’s conditioning level this may allow them to do normal physical activity, or if they have had a longer period of inactivity special programming might still be needed.

Finally exercises are chosen to develop strength over the new range of motion. If this is not done mobility is not improved. In fact, expanding range of motion but not developing strength to support it can lead to injuries.

Well What Does That Mean?

When someone wants to get back in shape but hasn’t been active in years it is still possible, it just requires a different approach. When someone is healthy and carrying a few extra pounds changes to food intake and activity levels can produce the desired weight loss. This is not the case with the deconditioned. They no longer have the ability to expend much energy (lack of muscle, and can’t do anything for more than a minute or two). They get injured very easily or are already injured. All this is very discouraging. They have to exercise, but jumping into any regular activity leaves them exhausted and broken.

Start Small

For some this might mean only doing a couple of workouts each week that focus on SMR, specific stretches and activation exercises (essentially come into the gym and warm-up), and only a few strength exercises. Over time the emphasis of the workout shifts from most of the hour dedicated to the warm-up to primarily strength exercises (40min warm-up:15min strength to 20min warm-up:35min strength). On non-gym days increasing daily activity level such as only sitting for 12 hours a day instead of 15 hours.

With range of motion increasing along with strength, the workouts can become more intense and more frequent. The body also becomes better at expending calories so the original weight loss goals are now more possible. Slow progressions in intensity and difficulty of exercise need to be observed. Continuous small improvements need to be the goal, not fixing everything at once.

It’s Not That You Are Getting Older

Recovery rates are slower. The tissues of the body become less pliable. But that’s not why you can’t move. Not moving took it away. With the correct exercise programing, virtually anyone can get stronger and move better regardless of age. At Cascade Peak Performance we have helped many people in their 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s do exactly that. Age is not the limiting factor some think that it is. Nor should it be used as an excuse for not living the active lifestyle that you want.

So you want to lose weight?

There is so much information on how to lose weight. Headlines from magazines, stories in the news all bombard us with magic pills at promises of effortless results. Most of it is junk. Some of it is just confusing. Follow this list to drop unwanted pounds and inches. Start from the top and work down. Missing one of the steps can slow or stop progress.

Stop eating junk

I know it tastes good, but this is an easy way to start. Dessert, fancy coffees, alcohol… whatever junk that you can drop, removing those calories (often sugar loaded) will drop a few pounds.

Want to drop a few more?

Add daily exercise. Whatever you enjoy and will do regularly without too much protest. Burn some calories, improve energy and mood. It will also keep you away from the fridge.

Not at your goal yet?

Cut calories. For most people, take goal weight and multiply by 10 (i.e. 140lbs * 10 = 1400cal) dropping below 10 calories per pound of goal weight isn’t sustainable. It can slow down your metabolism, and often leads to bingeing.

Next

Add 2-3 days of total body resistance training every week. This will support muscle (which burns more energy) helping you move better and tighten-up.

Want more?

Limit starchy carbs to a 1-2 hour window around harder workouts. The rest of the day, focus on quality proteins and veggies.

If you have time

Add interval based conditioning. This can be as simple as run a block, walk a block or a conditioning circuit in a gym.

Magic Pill

Let me know if you find one.

This is not a complete program, but it will work for most people most of the time. Often people do well at a few of the points, and awful with one or two. This situation can be frustrating. The person might just focus on the changes that have been made, ignore the limiting factors that still exist, then claim that what they are doing just doesn’t work or that they just can’t lose weight. Remove the limiting factors to remove the weight.

Please come see us at Cascade Peak Performance in Springfield if you need help with these or anything else regarding your fitness goals.

What We're Reading 9/7/13

Today we have a couple short ones and a long boring one!

 Easy Thai Chicken Meatballs - Easy recipe with just a few ingredients by Colin Richmond.

Cleaning Up Kettlebell Swing Technique -  Tony Gentilcore puts together a couple quick, easy to implement fixes for the kettlebell swing.

Research Review: Older and Inflamed? Try Exercise - This is a longer article with quite a bit of anatomy terminology, but of the three I chose this week, this one was easily my favorite.  The title of this article written by Helen Kollias as accurate of a synopsis as you're gonna get so I won't spoil anything else for you.  Read it!

Labor Day Hours

The gym will be open 8am-6pm tomorrow, 9/2/13, for Labor Day. Have a happy and safe holiday. Drop in and get a workout before the last barbeque of summer.

Articles for Thought 8/30/13

Part of our job here at Cascade Peak Performance is to sift through the vast amounts of health and fitness information that bombards us on a daily basis.  Here are a few articles that we have found particularly interesting.

Does Your Program Match Your Goals? Part 1 - In the first part of this article, Molly Galbraith explores the drawbacks a few popular programs people explore when starting on a fitness program to reach an aesthetic goal.

Does Your Program Match Your Goal? Part 2 - The second part of Molly Galbraith's article offers tips to guide those who are new to fitness in the right direction.

Expose Your Weaknesses to Get Strong! - Bret "the Glute Guy" Contreras writes about the benefits of focusing on your weaknesses.  Lifting weights isn't about moving as much weight as possible every time you're in the gym. Leaving your ego at the door, dropping the poundages, and hitting those movements you may not like can help you out quite a bit in the long run.

July 4th

We will be open from 9am to 2:30pm.