In “part 1″ we showed how an injury that creeps up on you can be trained around for a few days/weeks while it calms down. What about when a traumatic injury like a arm/wrist fracture sidelines an individual for months…?
A young baseball player who trains with us…lets refer to him as Al Sunzoutgunzout suffered a distal ulnar/radius fracture (fractured his wrist) in May. Plenty of kids would have decided to use this as an excuse on why they wouldn’t be able to do regular workouts during the summer to keep getting stronger…not AL! Al kept coming and we kept feeding him with hands free work to strengthen his lower body, balance, footwork etc…
Additionally, we were able to give him wrist strengthening/mobility exercises when appropriate to speed the healing/rehab process. This is important because if an athlete returns to sport after an entire summer of sitting on the coach/beach they are destined for complications either at the site of injury or around it! Since baseball is Al’s primary sport we also utilized this time to progress/maintain positive shoulder range of motion and strength through manual techniques such as PNF and rhythmic stabilization.
Now Al has logged a GREAT summer (despite the fracture) and instead of starting from square one he is prepared to keep breaking records!!!
Summer is a tricky time when it comes to nutrition and eating right. Everywhere you turn is another party or gathering waiting for you with all you can eat buffets of burgers, dogs, potato salad, chips, pasta salad, pies, cakes, and ice cream. Lets face it enjoying summer is hard to do without chomping on a few dogs & some potato salad so stop trying to avoid something that is inevitable. Instead pay closer attention to what you are eating in the days between all of the parties and pot-lucks! When the weather turns chilly and you reach for those jeans in the back of the bottom drawer you will be glad you ate clean in between backyard bbq buffets.
Here are a few ideas that I have enjoyed this summer:
The other night my amazing girlfriend and I went to the local Farmer’s Market to see what was fresh and cheap. Among other things we came back with a handful of perfectly ripe tomatoes, some local fresh mozzarella cheese, a big bunch of basil, and some baby patty pan squash (summer squash) .
Here’s what we did with this group of ingredients:
- Slice the tomatoes (2), squash (4 baby ones)
- Dice half of the fresh mozzarella (1/2C)
- Cut up the basil (as much as you like…you can never have too much basis as far as the studies show that I have seen)
- Quickly saute (not too much…nobody likes soggy squash) the squash in olive oil/butter from cows that eat grass, salt & pepper
- Let the squash cool (so the cheese doesn’t melt)
- Toss it all in a bowl with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and some salt & pepper
- EAT!!!
NOTE: The benefits of summer squash are many! They are packed with omega 3′s (the good omegas), magnesium, vitamin C, B vitamins, phospherus and zinc (among other nutrients). They are a virtual cornucopia of antioxidants, energy producing minerals and anti-inflammatory agents!!
If you are being really careful about how “clean” you are eating between bbq’s you might forgo the cheese but either way it’s going to be scrumptious!
A twist on a classic
Pair this with a grilled lean protein (fish, chicken, beef, etc.) and you have a great summer meal to balance out the bbqs. Try for a few weeks to see if you can make 80% of your meals end up looking like this one and 20% or less look like Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest.
We all have times in training when we get banged up and have a certain area of the body that limits us from our normal routine. There are two kinds of injuries: 1) Contact & 2) Non-Contact. If you suffer unnecessary non-contact injuries then you need to see a performance trainer with a background in physical therapy or one that has experience in quality evaluation and assessment strategies. This person can identify the asymmetries that are causing non-contact injuries and limiting your performance. Once they have been identified and cleaned up by a skilled physical therapist or performance trainer then you are back on track!
Today I want to highlight contact based injuries. Things like getting tackled and spraining a knee, or falling on a wrist while playing hoops. These injuries are often not able to be avoided but can turn very ugly if you simply work through them and try to ignore them in your training. The alternative to ignoring them, working through them, and making them worse is to say “ok well now I sprained my wrist so I guess I can’t go train for the next week…”
The trick in this case is to work AROUND your contact injury, let it heal while still maintaining other gains, and then when it is healed get back to your normal routines. A perfect example of this came during the last 2 weeks here at TDAE when one of our clients re-injured a wrist that he had injured while playing hoops for Kenyon College. Instead of taking the week off he came in and we created a “hands-free” workout plan for him for that week.
Here are a few ideas of “hands-free” training:
JB was able to utilize these and exercises like these to maintain gains he has made this summer without losing an entire week of training due to a cranky wrist! Don’t you worry when JB doesn’t have a bad wrist he will get back to his usual tricks (190lb Retro VS Lunge):
This is a quick and random post to share my new favorite pair of running shoes and a great new performance snack for kids and adults alike!
I don’t run long distances very often (when I say long distances I am talking more than 1 mile) but when I do I know what pair of shoes I will be wearing! I was recently introduced to Karhu – a Finnish shoe/performance wear company. They recently came out with a model of shoe that has a low profile but not so low that my feet are sore after long distances on uneven terrain.
I am certainly involved in the minimalist footwear revolution and have a pair of Nike Frees, a pair of Vibrams 5-Fingers, and have tested the New Balance Minimus. I believe in a low profile/minimally supported shoe as they allow your foot to maximally react to the training/training surface. Additionally, a shoe with minimal support/low profile allows the foot and ankle a larger/more natural range of mobility while tending to encourage more of a forefoot running pattern.
What I have found is that different activities require more or less support/profile in a shoe. It is important to note that minimally supported/low profile shoes are NOT for EVERYONE and must be gradually introduced if appropriate. I use my different brands of minimalist shoes for different things. I have found that I really enjoy the new Karhu Flow Fulcrum Rides for when I do get out and run longer distances on terrains that require some support but not too much.
Now how about this new snack!
If you haven’t checked out the little packets of natural nut butters by Justin’s then get on it! They make these great little packets of healthy, natural nut butters that are packed with protein, good fats, and slow burning calories. They are great to toss in your drawer at work, your gym bag or just for at home. Some of the flavors will remind you more of dessert than snack but my sweet tooth has no problems with that! When you are on the run and have no time for a pre-workout power snack, a midday snack, a power dessert or an express breakfast this is a great answer!
What do a 14 year old baseball player, a 20 year old college basketball player, a 30 year old MMA athlete, a 45 year old weekend warrior, and a 60 year old former workout warrior have in common??? They all train at TD Athletes Edge and they all have benefited from what we call primitive pattern training.
Primitive pattern training is probably the most important piece to our system at TD Athletes Edge. Life has become crazy and it allows/requires us to spend a lot of time sitting or avoiding strenuous activity. Lets look at a snapshot of the daily routines of some of the different clients we see:
14 year old baseball player: Get up in the morning; go to school with a big heavy backpack in a slouched posture while texting; sit in class at school; get picked up by mom/dad and sit in traffic to go to their baseball game; sit on the bench in between innings of the game; get back in the car to go home; have dinner while slumped on the couch watching TV; go to bed; do it again the next day. 45 year old weekend warrior: Get up in the morning; grab the kids and drop them off at school while sitting in the car; sit more in the car on the way to work; get to work and sit in meetings/at a desk for 8 hours; get back in the car to sit in traffic; pick up the kids to bring them to their practices; hop on a bike so they can sit while getting exercise for 20-40 miles; get off of the bike and sit down for dinner; sit and watch the evening news in a slumped posture; go to bed; do it again the next day.
Anyone see a pattern here…anyone see something that sounds familiar?
Through no fault of anyone in particular we live in a society where we sit on our butts (even when we exercise) and do NOT do a lot of good old fashioned hard work. Here’s what happens when we sit a lot and avoid hard work:
- our glutes get weak
- our core shuts down
- our hamstrings, hip flexors, piriformis, achilles, pecs, traps get tight
- we get sore backs, hips, knees, and shoulders
how are this cat's glutes & core doing?
These imbalances were originally identified and described by Dr. Vladimir Janda aka the “Father of Czech Rehabilitation”. He referred to this as Crossed Pelvis Syndrome. It can manifest in the upper body, lower body or both (layered).
Dr. Stuart McGill discusses this in his book titled Low Back Disorders. He explains that in his extensive investigation of low back disorders he has discovered that these patterns tend to be present in one form or another. Both experts explained that over time non-use and poor posture results in certain muscles becoming weak. In an effort to balance this weakness opposing muscles become tight. This turns into a recipe for disaster and helps to stimulate unnecessary non-contact injury development. McGill explains that people who have developed a version of Crossed Syndrome find it impossible to activate the core/glutes even when they are doing something that focuses on the core/glutes like a squat or a dead lift!
So what are we supposed to do about this??? That is where primitive pattern training comes in! Primitive patterning is taking the body back to patterns that it has not performed since it was 2,4,6…months old. This approach takes the body out of the tight/weak patterns it gets stuck in and reboots the system. As a baby develops from the head and neck down the body systematically fires the appropriate muscle groups at just the right times to create the developmental stages that we take for granted. In other words babies want to move and in order to do that it needs an efficient core with good mobility around it.
First the head and neck develop strength, then the obliques and other primitive core musculature. The next thing you know they go from rolling, to crawling, to kneeling and finally to standing. Why is a 4 month old baby’s core more effective and efficient than yours or mine? Simple: because they want to move and we don’t. We spend our days figuring out how we can avoid movement (anyone else ever realize you passed on 40 open parking spots to get 20 feet closer to the door of the gym or the mall?).
Babies roll, crawl, kneel, and do their own versions of TGU’s because this is all they can do but they also know it is the only way to stimulate development and avoid imbalances like upper, lower, or layered crossed syndrome. Maybe we should take a few pages out of their books more often! Ask any client at TDAE and they will tell you that wherever they are at currently they started at the primitive level. Here are a few examples:
References:
http://www.jandaapproach.com/
McGill, S. Low Back Disorders. Champagne, IL Human Kinetics, 2007.
That may not mean much if anything to you but to us here at TDAE that is a huge milestone!!! Unlike some gyms we actually quantify our client’s results and help them see on paper the gains they are making. We call this our Performance Number (P#). The P# consists of:
- 185lb Bench Press (1 point for every rep)
- 3RM Hex Bar Dead Lift (1 point for every pound you lift)
- Vertical Jump (1 point for every inch you jump)
- Broad Jump (1 point for every inch you jump)
- 3RM Narrow Grip Chin Up (1 point for every pound you lift)
- Side Plank on Elbow (1 point for every second you hold – both sides are scored)
- Push Ups – chest touch tennis ball (1 point for every rep)
- Functional Movement Screen score
What if you can’t do 185lb Bench Press – no worries…we have a separate category for you as well as a U-16 category. Our baseball athletes don’t spend much time under the bench (if any).
As you can see the scoring system is weighted towards certain tests. Some people say – “well you can get a high score simply by getting really good at HB DL’s and Side Planks”….our response: “GREAT!!! What’s wrong with being able to lift heavy numbers on a HB DL and hold a Side Plank for a long time??? If you can do that you are on your way to being a healthy athlete/client”. We test for what we want to train for!
So who was our 1st 1,000 point scorer???
Matt Bouvier – he currently plays basketball at Endicott College (it is NOT surprising that our 1st 1,000 point scorer came from Endicott – go Gulls)
Our 1st 1,000 Point Scorer
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We don’t do a ton of olympic lift work but for Matt we make an exception!! What a ham!
Matt has worked very hard for this and will go down in the TDAE history books!!!
His exact score is: 1115.5
Where did he get his points?
- 19 reps at Bench 185
- 345 on 3RM HB DL (this will be higher when he isn’t in-season)
- 23.5in Vertical
- 97in Broad
- 70lbs on 3RM Narrow Grip Chin Up
- 457 total seconds on side plank (you do the math)
- 83 push ups
- 21 FMS
A few weeks ago Brijesh Patel – the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Quinnipiac University ran a blog that I put together about “systems” and “warm-ups”.
I have taken that post and done some plastic surgery on it by adding some great videos….check it out:
According to dictionary.com the definition of a system is as follows:
sys·tem
–noun 1. an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole.
Have you ever wondered how a good cook can take a good recipe and tweak it to make a GREAT recipe? Take pizza for example: We all like pizza but there is one person or one pizza place that just makes the BEST pizza you have ever had! It is so good you would eat it if your dog licked it after licking it’s own tootsie roll maker!!!
Have you ever wondered why/how that pizza is so damn good? Well the answer is simple they have a system and they plug the right things into the system to get an amazing result – the pizza you LOVE! A recipe is a system and a great cook can take a basic system such as:
1. Dough
2. Sauce
3. Toppings…
and make it into the most complex whole pizza you have ever tasted by plugging an assemblage or combination of things or parts into each category. If that didn’t make sense then go back to the top of the page…read the definition and now re-read that awkward sentence…tricky stuff eh?
Good cooks can take that basic system or recipe and plug in the ingredients they know will get them the results they are looking for. The same goes for a good training program or more specifically a good movement prep portion of a workout program. Movement prep is just a fancy name for warm-up. I didn’t coin the term but it makes me feel cool when I call our warm-up “movement prep”. Look at it this way – before pizza was called pizza they probably called it something boring like “doughy-sauce & cheese”. Then some trailblazer came through and called it pizza – how cool did that guy feel???
We all know that a good workout or training session is only as good as it’s warm-up or movement prep! You ever find yourself skimping on the warm-up and just jumping into your workout/training session? If you don’t know what I am talking about then here’s what you have to do: Go to the local community gym ONE TIME when it opens and you will see what I am talking about – you will see a collection of people who have already been awake for like 4 hours (gym opens at 6am – you do the math) sitting in their cars waiting for any sign of the poor 15 year old kid who is getting paid $2.00/hr to open up and work the front desk at 6am. There will probably be about 3-5 of these die-hards waiting and when the 15 year old kid arrives the rest is classic:
1. They all jump out of their cars as if the gym is only open this one day during the entire year and it is only going to be open for 10 minutes.
2. They do this weird loping movement toward the gym doors because one leg is asleep from sitting in the car for so long and the other knee, hip or ankle is all busted up from the “killer” boot camp that they did at 5am the day before.
3. The 15 year old kid starts to panic because he is still half asleep and can’t remember the alarm code but finally he remembers because the creepy janitor (already inside???) reminds him it is 1-2-3-4.
4. They all throw their keys at the kid at once and lope (now faster) to the locker room.
5. They get to the locker room, throw stuff in a locker and then for the next few minutes talk about odd personal issues and do some combination of the following weird stretches…
- Hug one arm across their chest
- Prop one heel up on the bench and step away from it as far/hard as they can
- Grab the corner of the lockers and then lean past the locker until they can’t breath
- Kick their heel up towards their butt 2-3 times until they catch it from behind and then hold it as they attempt to dislocate their own ankle
- Face the lockers, press both hands into them and push down through their heel as if they are trying to drive the lockers through the wall
- Then they do this funky jog in place thing for like 12 seconds and finally they are all warmed up and ready to go!!!???!!!
This is their warm-up/movement prep!!! Now do you know why these people are all hurt, have had 2-3 surgeries, and can never do more than 2-3 resistance machine exercises followed by 5 minutes on the treadmill?
There is so much you can accomplish in a short time with a good quality movement prep session prior to your training session but only if you have a good system associated with it!
Here is the basic system that works for us with a few basic video options of what you can plug into the different categories:
1. FR (Foam Roll):
FR
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FR
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2. DS (Dynamic Stretch):
JG_RLR
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3. CA (Core Activation):
JG_TGU_80
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4. GA (Glute Activation):
SSC_Mnb
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5. RSP (Reactivity/Speed Prep):
AWil_lat_sprint
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6. PTP (Power/Training Prep):
AWil_SMB
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It’s no different than 1. dough, 2. sauce and 3. toppings – we just plug whatever we see fit into each category based on the individual, on the training focus for that day, and on what we want for results and voila they are ready to train! Keep in mind that some people require a more complex movement prep including table/manual work, correctives, and then floor/primitive work but a good cook/performance trainer knows when/how to improvise and how to tweak the recipe/system to get the desired result!
It is only fitting that the acronym for “standard American diet” is SAD! The “standard American diet” is very sad because it revolves around mass produced processed foods. Most people don’t even know that a majority of what they are eating is not nutrient dense and even if they think it is healthy for them it simply isn’t.
For example: You do realize that oatmeal the way you buy it (if you buy it) is processed…right? When they harvest the oats they don’t come out of the ground as a flat flake that is ready to microwave in 90 seconds. Oat groats my friend is what oat meal starts out as and then the transformation to what you know as oatmeal begins: First it is turned into steel cut outs, then stripped of nutrients as it is rolled into oat flakes, then mashed into instant oatmeal, and finally oat flour. This is important because you want to eat natural foods and more importantly natural foods in their most WHOLE form!!! They are much more nutrient dense and they act as long lasting energy sources this way. This is just one example but the nutrient difference between instant oatmeal (most people think it’s healthy) and whole oat groats is enormous!!! I am not saying that you need to eat whole oat groats every morning instead of instant oatmeal but I am saying you are wasting your time with instant oatmeal – hey it’s your breakfast and your body!
Lets list several grains in their whole form and see if you recognize them:
- Barley
- Amaranth
- Kamut
- Kasha
- Millet
- Oat Groats
- Quinoa
- Wheat Berries
- Rye Berries
- Spelt Berries
- Teff
- Brown Rice (there are over 19 varieties of rice in the bulk aisle we visited)
Out of these 12 whole grains how many do you cook, eat, or even recognize other than brown rice???
Here is Ron Kafker (Natural Food Nutrition Coach & bulk aisle expert) on the sad “SAD”:
SAD
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See the list below to see some of the other items you can find in the bulk aisle outside of the grain category:
- Almonds
- Brazil Nuts
- Cashews
- Chestnuts
- Hazel Nuts
- Macadamia Nuts
- Peanuts
- Pecans
- Pine Nuts
- Pistachios
- Walnuts
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Adzuki Beans
- Anasazi Beans
- Lima Beans
- Black Beans
- Black Eyed Peas
- Cannellini Beans
- Chick Peas
- Cranberry Beans
- Fava Beans
- Flageolets
- Great Northern Beans
- Mung Beans
- Navy Beans
- Pinto Beans
- Red Beans
- Red Kidney Beans
- Lentils (many different variations)
Now do you see why the bulk aisle should be where you spend most of your time in the grocery store??? The items above are all whole natural foods that are jam packed with nutrients at a great price!!! Stay tuned for part 3…
Who can honestly say they have used the “bulk-aisle” to shop from and not as a short-cut to the meat department in the last month??? I’m not talking about that huge bag of chocolate-covered raisins you bought either!!! The bulk-aisle is probably the most underutilized section in every grocery store yet it arguably has more to offer than any other aisle in the store.
The bulk aisle is like the high school classmate that you had a crush on but never could muster up the confidence to ask out. Every once in a while you would go strike up some pointless small talk with this person but that was it! I’m not going to lie…I have always had a crush on the bulk-aisle but never had the guts to go up to it and ask it out on a date! I would walk through and browse (pointless small talk) but never walked away with anything (a date). I didn’t know what half of the stuff was and the idea of manually scooping my food into a bag that wasn’t already pre-packaged/sealed was not something I had confidence in!!! Hopefully this blog series will help you build up the confidence and knowledge that you need to go ask your high school crush on a date or maybe it will just help you take advantage of all that the bulk-aisle has to offer!!!!
As we set out to help build a guide/map for the bulk-aisle we thought it would be a good idea to go and find an expert. It couldn’t have been any more simple…by walking into a local/natural food grocery store and asking for someone who was knowledgeable about the bulk-aisle we were directed to an EXPERT! Ron Kafker was the person we were sent to and he didn’t disappoint! We aren’t talking about some shelf-stocking, bib-wearer just collecting a pay-check here folks…this guy is legit! Not only does he help run the bulk aisle at this store but he is also a Natural Food Nutrition Coach. He has extensive experience in natural/whole foods and nutrition coaching but more importantly he has simply been in the trenches. If there is one thing I have learned about learning from experts it is that you want to find the experts who have been in the trenches not the ones who have just been sitting at their desk writing books!
Meet Ron and stay tuned for part 2:
We may get a few more hot days sprinkled between the crisp air of fall, but we are starting to hear/feel/smell the last call on summer!!! That being said, it is NOT too late to enjoy some of the amazing fresh foods that go along with summer. Challenge yourself to go find any local farm stands or local produce providers that are still up and running and get whatever they have left. If you don’t, you will be kicking yourself in about six weeks when the snow starts falling!!!
This doesn’t have to be complicated!!! As you can see from our previous blog – we here at TDAE think that simple is GOOD! Sometimes I hear from people that they don’t have enough time, or they don’t know how to cook, or they don’t know how to shop for the right stuff….you are kidding me right??? Come with me as we explore those lovely little excuses for not eating fresh and healthy food during the summer:
1. “I don’t have enough time” – My response: Oh really!?? What about the 2 hour finale of dancing with the stars that you sat down and watched last night, or the 45 minutes on facebook that you spent creeping on your old friend who you know you still have a crush on??? Make time – don’t be an idiot!!
2. “I don’t know how to cook” – My response: I understand that not everyone grew up with a mom who is a culinary master running a catering business or a dad who is a working man’s version of an iron chef as he single handedly has run the kitchen at Dartmouth College over the past 30 years but….COME ON give me a break!!! Can you start a grill? Can you turn on a stove? Can you hold a knife in your hand? Use a pair of tongs???? I mean how hard is it?? If you can’t do some of that stuff and don’t have a doctor’s note to back it up – then get off of our blog!
3. “I don’t know how to shop for the right stuff” – My response: Get in your car, go to the local market or farm stand that has fresh produce/meats/dairy, park your car, get your wallet, go to the produce/meat/dairy section, pick out what is fresh or ask someone who works there, put it in your grocery cart, proceed to the registers in the store (typically in the front), hand the stuff you chose to the 15 year old who is texting his buddy while running the register, pay the total, and leave. Does that help?
Look – I’ll even give you a practice test with all of the answers on it:
Go Buy:
- Eggplant
- Melon
- Fresh Figs
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Fresh Full Fat Mozzarella Cheese (not talking Kraft here)
- Fresh loaf of bread (ideally whole wheat or whole grain)
- Chicken Sausage
Fire up your grill and throw on the:
- Eggplant
- Peppers
- Fresh Figs
- Chicken Sausage
- Slices of bread
….Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on before you throw them on
Slice up the:
- Cheese
- Tomatoes
- Melon
Throw all of that on a platter and serve with some hummus or other non-Ranch dip of choice….now everyone just start grabbing whatever combination of the above looks good….a few minutes later it will be gone and you will have to clean up….that’s outside of my scope so sorry can’t help you there!
