Wednesday, June 17, 2009
begin2dig is a year old: thank you for your readership
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Goodness, just noticed that b2d is a year old - yesterday - the ides of June 08 was the first post.
Time flies, eh? In the past year there have been 89 articles (this being the 90th) and about 63k visits to the site. Looking back over the past year, there seem to (have) be(en) a few themes.
There are the various discussions on the turkish get up, and about the role of cardio and strength and kettlebells (kb and vo2max | cardio and strength).
Likewise, nutrition oriented discussions, from carbs being treated as the new fat (ie evil), and various debates about multiple fuelings (a la precision nutrition. pdf overview) vs IF's various incarnations.
Feet have played a remarkable role, as in Freeing your Feet (with Vibram FiveFingers, mainly,
and how to fit them to do so). Feet freeing and the whyfore's of that relate to the "perfect rep quest adventure" about blending repetitions (how many) with load (balancing volume for strength) for the perfect rep (what's perfect mean anyway?). The perfect rep discussion has in turn been informed by Z-Health and movement efficiency; that has lead into the relationship between reducing/eliminating pain by improving movement.
While there's only been one post so far, learning more about how to get rid of
crap around goals has been pretty powerful stuff for calming down, working out, moving up. Higher up and further in, as it were. Hope to write more about the ongoing experience of "letting go" soon.
In this past blogging year, through b2d, i've met amazing folks who have posted comments or emailed, and you'll see many of their blogs listed on the side bar of b2d. Comments are always appreciated and thanks for reaching out. My work's been enriched by these comments, and a big shout out, please to
Mark Reifkind whose blog inspired me to start this one. Rannoch Donald of Simple Strength, Mike T. Nelson of MTN's Ramblings, Georgie Fear, the redoutable RD of Nutrition Solutions, Adam Glass with hands of steal potentially, Suleiman Al-Sabah and Roland Fisher (who needs a web site), who it's been my pleasure to get to interact with a little more this year through the blogosphere and related.
Please also let me thank all
Belated Happy Site Day, Welcome, Thank you for visiting.
As always, if there's a topic in the b2d sphere that is of interest to you, let me know, and i'll see if i can dig something (or someone) up.
All the best to you as we head rapidly towards the summer solstice and perhaps finally summer weather?
mc Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Time flies, eh? In the past year there have been 89 articles (this being the 90th) and about 63k visits to the site. Looking back over the past year, there seem to (have) be(en) a few themes.
There are the various discussions on the turkish get up, and about the role of cardio and strength and kettlebells (kb and vo2max | cardio and strength).
Likewise, nutrition oriented discussions, from carbs being treated as the new fat (ie evil), and various debates about multiple fuelings (a la precision nutrition. pdf overview) vs IF's various incarnations.
Feet have played a remarkable role, as in Freeing your Feet (with Vibram FiveFingers, mainly,
and how to fit them to do so). Feet freeing and the whyfore's of that relate to the "perfect rep quest adventure" about blending repetitions (how many) with load (balancing volume for strength) for the perfect rep (what's perfect mean anyway?). The perfect rep discussion has in turn been informed by Z-Health and movement efficiency; that has lead into the relationship between reducing/eliminating pain by improving movement.While there's only been one post so far, learning more about how to get rid of
crap around goals has been pretty powerful stuff for calming down, working out, moving up. Higher up and further in, as it were. Hope to write more about the ongoing experience of "letting go" soon.In this past blogging year, through b2d, i've met amazing folks who have posted comments or emailed, and you'll see many of their blogs listed on the side bar of b2d. Comments are always appreciated and thanks for reaching out. My work's been enriched by these comments, and a big shout out, please to
Mark Reifkind whose blog inspired me to start this one. Rannoch Donald of Simple Strength, Mike T. Nelson of MTN's Ramblings, Georgie Fear, the redoutable RD of Nutrition Solutions, Adam Glass with hands of steal potentially, Suleiman Al-Sabah and Roland Fisher (who needs a web site), who it's been my pleasure to get to interact with a little more this year through the blogosphere and related.
Please also let me thank all
- the folks who have said you grok b2d and hit the blogger "follow " button - that's really kind and very much appreciated.
- the folks who follow on rss feeds - thanks for making b2d part of your bit stream.
- the folks who have pointed to articles here to share with others - so glad you've found them useful and usable
- again the folks who take time to drop a line or a comment, and
- of course the folks who drop by from time to time either from searching for something or following someone's suggested link (either of which always amazes me).
Belated Happy Site Day, Welcome, Thank you for visiting.As always, if there's a topic in the b2d sphere that is of interest to you, let me know, and i'll see if i can dig something (or someone) up.
All the best to you as we head rapidly towards the summer solstice and perhaps finally summer weather?
mc Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Why I? Loading for the Real - an Overview/Review Z-Health I-Phase
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In life we have physical things that we do that we'd like to do better. It may be as complicated as getting a technique down for a wicked lick on a guitar or as simple as getting off the steep stairs of a bus with a little more grace. Our goals may be a little more serious: we'd like to move more smoothly, and perhaps take fewer falls when going for a run or even walking about the house. Z-health's i-phase approach provides a suite of strategies to help with these real life movement goals. Before we get into i-phase a bit of z-health context
In an overview i did of Z-Health, focusing on R-phase, i wrote about how Z-Health (Zed for short in this article) focuses on communicating with the nervous system, and why that's important for improved well being, whether that's getting out of pain, or moving better for daily life or an athletic pursuit. For a quick review, R-phase focuses on moving each joint in the body through its range of motion. It does this not just because moving joints about is good for the health of the joint, but because joints have a TON of two particular kinds of receptors in them: noci- (detecting noxious stimulus - not just pain) receptors and mechano- receptors (excellent article overviewing joint mechanoreceptor types).
The mechano's in the joints are in large part communicating about where that joint is in space, as well as how fast it's moving. The brain processes all the inputs coming in from these joints to create a microsecond by microsecond map of where we are in the environment. Help all the joints move through their whole range of motion, and at least two key things happen:
(ok you too may have wondered why he didn't just step aside, but heh, that means there were a few options rather than just one).
The pay off here is that the more ways we can move the more choices we have to avoid a crisis. The more we practice moving, the more we work our balance and visual system to connect to those movements, the better our coordinated responses, or reflexes have in a given situation. This range of options and heightened reflexes that comes from such agility/balance work has been shown to be an important component as a strategy for people at risk of hip fractures, for instance. Enhance the signals as to where one is in space, practice using them, we give the body more options to adapt and remain vertical, lessen the chance of a fall.
It's a Map - a Map of the World. Eric Cobb talks about what our bodies do in space as Navigation. "And navigation is an action." The better information coming in from the body about position in space, the better off we are. When joints can move, they're sending off more points of information.
Think about the "light bulbs" that people wear on motion capture rigs for computer graphics. Only a few points are needed around the major limbs to be applied to a model of a human form in order for the computer to integrate those points and model to render a pretty convincing motion (movie, 275kb). But look closely at the foot. How "mobile" does it seem in the model?
Thus, entire strips of sensors have to be used to map finer joint movements accurately, like those of the fingers (movie 2.6mg). Way more sensors to give finer detail of movement - but check out how well or not even here, the fingers unscrewing the cap are mirrored in the computer model of same.
In other words, a few points certainly give a general sense of movement, but more points of information are necessary to get a truer picture of the movement. And that's just for a computer trying to render a passable realistic sketch of a anthropomorphic character. My fave work in this space is Mike Chat's from Discovery's Extreme Martial Arts, and mapping the skeleton onto the form (check about a minute into the clip).
Very convincing approximation from gross motor movements.But notice that the light suit to get that degree of movement detail has many more points (the white dots on the skin suits in the image below)
It's these multiple points of information of course that feed into why Zed heads talk about freeing your feet, getting out of non-bendable, twistable, overly squishy shoes: their "support" stops your joints from moving as they're designed, and hence lessens the signal back to the body about the foot's location in space.
It's no wonder that so many runners get sprained ankles: the shoe wear designed to "support" their foot deadens its natural ability to communicate, hobbling the body's ability to respond and get it out of trouble. R-phase therefore is about openning up all the communication channels of the joints to enable a better map, better signal to noise ratio for letting the body respond to the envirnoment. I-phase is training the body to put that new information to work.
Building on the Information Flow: Putting the Map to Work
Eric Cobb talks about R-Phase as learning the vocabulary of movement; IPhase is getting into the grammar - building sentences. What does that mean, practically?
In R-Phase, by learning the drills that move each joint of the body through its range of motion (with the exception of the sutures in the skull - that's T-Phase), we learn about those ranges of motion. Speaking for myself, i started unable to move my thoracic spine in any meaningful, mobile way. Thought it was impossible for me. Turns out not. Lots of practice, et voila: thoracic circles like no one's business. Standing still.
So R-Phase we learn how to move these joints to send off that information with very little load on the joints themselves. Great for learning, and teaching the body to create new patterns of movement. The benefits of this practice alone are legion. I could write idyls of joy to how much R-Phase (with a little T mixed in) has helped my back. Likewise, in working with clients, R-phase drills have wrought out and out remarkable benefits for many clients, helping them either into better performance or out of pain or both.
Once that practice/knowledge is in place to perform perfectly in "neutral" posture and load, I-phase adds load. With lunges. And foot positions. A simple pelvic circle in neutral stance suddenly has a plethora of combinations from 6 lunge positions and 3 foot positions for each of 2 feet. Nice.
Train for the Sprain; the Kobioshi Maru of Movement
So why add all these positions to a given neutral stance posture? Cobb argues that this puts the body in positions that are closer to real life. Get used to working in these postures (80% load on the front leg, feet neutral; shift to 80% load on the back leg, feet turned out), the body is more ready to respond to unusual circumstances, ie, life. This is the magic of practice, or the learning effect of making reaction reflexive rather than cognitive.
We see this practice effect all the time. One of the greatest examples of it was in the early Space program, where astronauts rehearsed and rehearsed multiple variations of space maneuvers in the earliest simulators in order to have that vocabulary of options at their finger tips, but in order to be able to call on them in a variety of less than optimal conditions. Like going for a run on a muddy chip trail (in vibram fivefingers of course. no stupid squishy trail shoes that kill the proprioception here) and starting to slide, but being able to recover.
There is no Spoon: I-Phase as a Template
Another aspect of I-phase work is that "it's a
template." Unlike R-Phase, while the I-Phase and Neural WarmUp II DVDs take one through a variety of combinations of the I-Phase movements, and while they introduce some moves not in R-Phase at all (like the powerful peg board drill), the DVDs are by no means exhaustive. Right elbow circles in a left lateral lunge with neutral foot position are demonstrated. But all the other lunge positions and foot positions are available, too.
To add even more dimensions, head and eye positions can also be part of the mix. How about practicing the elbow circles with a left anterior lunge, head titled left, eyes looking right (up). Sounds like a slightly wacky combination until perhaps looking at the picture on the right.
By following the guidance in the I-phase manual on how to learn and practice these loaded positions, one is not only working mobility, but adding strength/muscle work. The advantages are the same as in R-phase: signal is increased.
Adaptation for the Unexpected or the Fairly Usual.
If you've ever tried to hold a position that's new, you may feel your muscles shaking. That's a neurological adaptation happening: you may be entirely strong enough to hold the move but the muscles/nervous system are figuring out optimal firing patterns to adapt the muscles to that move. There can be quite a bit of initial shake in I-phase. But as the positions become practiced, neural paths are developed to get used to these positions.
What happens at the same time is again, more signaling information is brought to the body's central processor; better mapping happens. The muscles, like the joints have tons of mechanoreceptors too telling the body about limb position and the stretch position of the muscles. The more patterns practiced, the more the brain gets used to those new positions, the better it can navigate by putting just the right resources there (no more shaking) and having more available for elsewhere. Go from clutz in learning a move to grace in practice of a move; from conscious effort to unconscious response.
Faster Learning?
Another benefit to the I-Phase template approach is enhancing the rapidity of being able to learn new moves/adapt to new situations. Cobb talks about this kind of learning as that of the "natural athlete" - someone who has such unconscious body awareness that they can readily move their bodies into the forms demanded of that work. With I-phase practice in its varied positions, the body habits of natural athleticism can be learned.
One might protest, but i am a desk jockey, not an athlete.
Phooey!
If one has to walk stairs, open a car door in a rainy oil slicked parking lot, shovel snow or sweep a floor, reach for something rolled under the couch, stay vertical on a moving British bus, then one needs these I-phase teachable athletic skills for simple survival (especially in the case of the British bus. sheesh!).
I've personally noticed that my reflexes have improved without consciously working on them - when i can catch a bottle that's coming off the counter towards the floor, grab my hat 2 feet in front of me as the wind's whipped it off my head, or beat my cousin at a video driving game without ever having played the game, something's funny here. Especially when my previous image of myself was always of the person who was lucky if the lid to the jam landed sticky side up.
So when do I do I?
Some folks ask "when should i do I-phase?" I've also heard some people say, after a year or more of focusing on R, "i'm not ready for I; i still haven't mastered R."
My view? based on my experience and working with folks? Really being grounded in R is a very good idea. Doing the 12 week program that's in R-Phase to learn R-Phase is a very good idea. I worked on R-phase for about 6 months before really getting into I. I also did the R phase certification 3 months into that cycle, so i got a lot of attention on how to do R properly (get a coach; it's worth it). This is not to say all that time was necessary; it's just what i did. Your mileage may vary, as a colleague says. What i would say is if and as you've been practicing R-phase, do connect with a Z-health coach to check your form. As with anything, getting the form right makes huge difference in performance/experience. Those simple toe pulls go from "oh ya, ok" to "ahhh. wow" when you really get 'em. And that's what you want every time.
That said, R-phase is not a martial art; it's not yoga. It's learning how to hit particular targets cleanly and effectively to recover function and "clear the map." While one can do R forever fruitfully, getting into I, as i hope has been shown above, is doing your body a favour to take that knowledge and get into some Astronaut Training Time. That is, I-Phase's addition of load and position challenge is prepping the body for Life; it's the simulator to train for the sprain. My opinion? based on my experience and working with folks? If you've been doing R for awhile, have gone through the 12 week programs, have met with a coach to optimize your target hitting, you owe it to your body to get into I-phase.
We can Work it Out
And if you'd like to work with me on some of that Zed mojo, either in person or online (yes that too is possible), please feel free to contact me. My email's in my profile, and there's some feedback here, mainly from other trainers with whom i've had the pleasure to work. Otherwise, hope you'll check out the I-phase Neural /WarmUpII package. As with R-Phase, the I-Phase DVD goes through the suite of I-phase Drills in some of the lunge/foot combinations. The Neural Warm Up II is a power boost subset version of I drills and is more of a work out. It also has several new (and intense) super chargers, body openers and eye drills.
Later, let's talk about S, too?
:)
(update 1: review of S-Phase DVD, the Complete Athlete, vol.1, posted) Tweet Follow @begin2dig
In an overview i did of Z-Health, focusing on R-phase, i wrote about how Z-Health (Zed for short in this article) focuses on communicating with the nervous system, and why that's important for improved well being, whether that's getting out of pain, or moving better for daily life or an athletic pursuit. For a quick review, R-phase focuses on moving each joint in the body through its range of motion. It does this not just because moving joints about is good for the health of the joint, but because joints have a TON of two particular kinds of receptors in them: noci- (detecting noxious stimulus - not just pain) receptors and mechano- receptors (excellent article overviewing joint mechanoreceptor types).
The mechano's in the joints are in large part communicating about where that joint is in space, as well as how fast it's moving. The brain processes all the inputs coming in from these joints to create a microsecond by microsecond map of where we are in the environment. Help all the joints move through their whole range of motion, and at least two key things happen:
- more options to respond to the environment because there's more mobility;
- the brain gets a better picture or "map," as Z-Health founder Eric Cobb puts it,of where we are because more signals are firing;
(ok you too may have wondered why he didn't just step aside, but heh, that means there were a few options rather than just one).
The pay off here is that the more ways we can move the more choices we have to avoid a crisis. The more we practice moving, the more we work our balance and visual system to connect to those movements, the better our coordinated responses, or reflexes have in a given situation. This range of options and heightened reflexes that comes from such agility/balance work has been shown to be an important component as a strategy for people at risk of hip fractures, for instance. Enhance the signals as to where one is in space, practice using them, we give the body more options to adapt and remain vertical, lessen the chance of a fall.
It's a Map - a Map of the World. Eric Cobb talks about what our bodies do in space as Navigation. "And navigation is an action." The better information coming in from the body about position in space, the better off we are. When joints can move, they're sending off more points of information.
Think about the "light bulbs" that people wear on motion capture rigs for computer graphics. Only a few points are needed around the major limbs to be applied to a model of a human form in order for the computer to integrate those points and model to render a pretty convincing motion (movie, 275kb). But look closely at the foot. How "mobile" does it seem in the model?Thus, entire strips of sensors have to be used to map finer joint movements accurately, like those of the fingers (movie 2.6mg). Way more sensors to give finer detail of movement - but check out how well or not even here, the fingers unscrewing the cap are mirrored in the computer model of same.In other words, a few points certainly give a general sense of movement, but more points of information are necessary to get a truer picture of the movement. And that's just for a computer trying to render a passable realistic sketch of a anthropomorphic character. My fave work in this space is Mike Chat's from Discovery's Extreme Martial Arts, and mapping the skeleton onto the form (check about a minute into the clip).
Very convincing approximation from gross motor movements.But notice that the light suit to get that degree of movement detail has many more points (the white dots on the skin suits in the image below)
It's these multiple points of information of course that feed into why Zed heads talk about freeing your feet, getting out of non-bendable, twistable, overly squishy shoes: their "support" stops your joints from moving as they're designed, and hence lessens the signal back to the body about the foot's location in space.
It's no wonder that so many runners get sprained ankles: the shoe wear designed to "support" their foot deadens its natural ability to communicate, hobbling the body's ability to respond and get it out of trouble. R-phase therefore is about openning up all the communication channels of the joints to enable a better map, better signal to noise ratio for letting the body respond to the envirnoment. I-phase is training the body to put that new information to work.
Building on the Information Flow: Putting the Map to Work
Eric Cobb talks about R-Phase as learning the vocabulary of movement; IPhase is getting into the grammar - building sentences. What does that mean, practically?
In R-Phase, by learning the drills that move each joint of the body through its range of motion (with the exception of the sutures in the skull - that's T-Phase), we learn about those ranges of motion. Speaking for myself, i started unable to move my thoracic spine in any meaningful, mobile way. Thought it was impossible for me. Turns out not. Lots of practice, et voila: thoracic circles like no one's business. Standing still.
So R-Phase we learn how to move these joints to send off that information with very little load on the joints themselves. Great for learning, and teaching the body to create new patterns of movement. The benefits of this practice alone are legion. I could write idyls of joy to how much R-Phase (with a little T mixed in) has helped my back. Likewise, in working with clients, R-phase drills have wrought out and out remarkable benefits for many clients, helping them either into better performance or out of pain or both.
Once that practice/knowledge is in place to perform perfectly in "neutral" posture and load, I-phase adds load. With lunges. And foot positions. A simple pelvic circle in neutral stance suddenly has a plethora of combinations from 6 lunge positions and 3 foot positions for each of 2 feet. Nice.
Train for the Sprain; the Kobioshi Maru of Movement
So why add all these positions to a given neutral stance posture? Cobb argues that this puts the body in positions that are closer to real life. Get used to working in these postures (80% load on the front leg, feet neutral; shift to 80% load on the back leg, feet turned out), the body is more ready to respond to unusual circumstances, ie, life. This is the magic of practice, or the learning effect of making reaction reflexive rather than cognitive.
We see this practice effect all the time. One of the greatest examples of it was in the early Space program, where astronauts rehearsed and rehearsed multiple variations of space maneuvers in the earliest simulators in order to have that vocabulary of options at their finger tips, but in order to be able to call on them in a variety of less than optimal conditions. Like going for a run on a muddy chip trail (in vibram fivefingers of course. no stupid squishy trail shoes that kill the proprioception here) and starting to slide, but being able to recover.
There is no Spoon: I-Phase as a Template
Another aspect of I-phase work is that "it's a
template." Unlike R-Phase, while the I-Phase and Neural WarmUp II DVDs take one through a variety of combinations of the I-Phase movements, and while they introduce some moves not in R-Phase at all (like the powerful peg board drill), the DVDs are by no means exhaustive. Right elbow circles in a left lateral lunge with neutral foot position are demonstrated. But all the other lunge positions and foot positions are available, too.To add even more dimensions, head and eye positions can also be part of the mix. How about practicing the elbow circles with a left anterior lunge, head titled left, eyes looking right (up). Sounds like a slightly wacky combination until perhaps looking at the picture on the right.
By following the guidance in the I-phase manual on how to learn and practice these loaded positions, one is not only working mobility, but adding strength/muscle work. The advantages are the same as in R-phase: signal is increased.
Adaptation for the Unexpected or the Fairly Usual.
If you've ever tried to hold a position that's new, you may feel your muscles shaking. That's a neurological adaptation happening: you may be entirely strong enough to hold the move but the muscles/nervous system are figuring out optimal firing patterns to adapt the muscles to that move. There can be quite a bit of initial shake in I-phase. But as the positions become practiced, neural paths are developed to get used to these positions.
What happens at the same time is again, more signaling information is brought to the body's central processor; better mapping happens. The muscles, like the joints have tons of mechanoreceptors too telling the body about limb position and the stretch position of the muscles. The more patterns practiced, the more the brain gets used to those new positions, the better it can navigate by putting just the right resources there (no more shaking) and having more available for elsewhere. Go from clutz in learning a move to grace in practice of a move; from conscious effort to unconscious response.
Faster Learning?
Another benefit to the I-Phase template approach is enhancing the rapidity of being able to learn new moves/adapt to new situations. Cobb talks about this kind of learning as that of the "natural athlete" - someone who has such unconscious body awareness that they can readily move their bodies into the forms demanded of that work. With I-phase practice in its varied positions, the body habits of natural athleticism can be learned.
One might protest, but i am a desk jockey, not an athlete.Phooey!
If one has to walk stairs, open a car door in a rainy oil slicked parking lot, shovel snow or sweep a floor, reach for something rolled under the couch, stay vertical on a moving British bus, then one needs these I-phase teachable athletic skills for simple survival (especially in the case of the British bus. sheesh!).
I've personally noticed that my reflexes have improved without consciously working on them - when i can catch a bottle that's coming off the counter towards the floor, grab my hat 2 feet in front of me as the wind's whipped it off my head, or beat my cousin at a video driving game without ever having played the game, something's funny here. Especially when my previous image of myself was always of the person who was lucky if the lid to the jam landed sticky side up.
So when do I do I?
Some folks ask "when should i do I-phase?" I've also heard some people say, after a year or more of focusing on R, "i'm not ready for I; i still haven't mastered R."
My view? based on my experience and working with folks? Really being grounded in R is a very good idea. Doing the 12 week program that's in R-Phase to learn R-Phase is a very good idea. I worked on R-phase for about 6 months before really getting into I. I also did the R phase certification 3 months into that cycle, so i got a lot of attention on how to do R properly (get a coach; it's worth it). This is not to say all that time was necessary; it's just what i did. Your mileage may vary, as a colleague says. What i would say is if and as you've been practicing R-phase, do connect with a Z-health coach to check your form. As with anything, getting the form right makes huge difference in performance/experience. Those simple toe pulls go from "oh ya, ok" to "ahhh. wow" when you really get 'em. And that's what you want every time.
That said, R-phase is not a martial art; it's not yoga. It's learning how to hit particular targets cleanly and effectively to recover function and "clear the map." While one can do R forever fruitfully, getting into I, as i hope has been shown above, is doing your body a favour to take that knowledge and get into some Astronaut Training Time. That is, I-Phase's addition of load and position challenge is prepping the body for Life; it's the simulator to train for the sprain. My opinion? based on my experience and working with folks? If you've been doing R for awhile, have gone through the 12 week programs, have met with a coach to optimize your target hitting, you owe it to your body to get into I-phase.
We can Work it Out
And if you'd like to work with me on some of that Zed mojo, either in person or online (yes that too is possible), please feel free to contact me. My email's in my profile, and there's some feedback here, mainly from other trainers with whom i've had the pleasure to work. Otherwise, hope you'll check out the I-phase Neural /WarmUpII package. As with R-Phase, the I-Phase DVD goes through the suite of I-phase Drills in some of the lunge/foot combinations. The Neural Warm Up II is a power boost subset version of I drills and is more of a work out. It also has several new (and intense) super chargers, body openers and eye drills.
Later, let's talk about S, too?
:)
(update 1: review of S-Phase DVD, the Complete Athlete, vol.1, posted) Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Porous with Travel Fever: Eating on the Road - what do you do?
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Many of us travel for business - whether frequently or infrequently. And many of us have strategies to deal with the anticipated Crappy Food at the Destination. Or sometimes worse: crappy food on the plane (or in the airport).
Here's an example: 8am breakie at the meeting will be bagels and cream cheese, with some fruit (if lucky). And i'll be honest with you - i only had the sauce for a ten minute body weight workout so not actually burning up the carbs in my system to require a carb reload, as per one of the nutrition habits of Precision Nutrition: starchy carbs after a workout only. (If you're not familiar with the Habit based approach to Nutrion that is PN, you can check it out here.)
Lunch will be more sandwiches. Now if you're a vegetarian or vegan, there may be wraps. "um, what's the protein for the vegheads?" "Oh, there isn't any; vegans don't eat protein" oh my. So there's veggies in the wrap but no protein.
Get back to the hotel after long day in a business district. THere is no green grocer in site and beyond that, do i (or you) have the vim and vigour to forage at what the body thinks is 3am? No, my friends, i in any case do not.
Coping Strategies
One thing i have found truly helpful is traveling with
a) protein powder
b) bcaa's
c) creatine
d) some kind of carb thing like malto/dextrose or cytomax - tho this isn't essential
e) flax seeds (there's often a fridge in the hotel room)
f) greens+ (again, fridge in hotel room)
g) shaker cup.
h) vitamins like a multi, a big fat d and algae/fish oil, maybe zma to help stay asleep
All of the above can fit into wee glad bags stuffed into the shaker cup, stuffed into a carry on. Fab. This set of fixers is great i find particularly later at night or before sleep if i'm getting hungry.
If you do have yogurt offered at breakie and can secret some of it up to your room fridge for the next day or later that day, stirring in some greens and flax see is kinda nice
It's grand to pack a lunch for a flight, but what to do going back? On long flights, raisins, nuts and Lindt chocolate can help for munchies and sometimes there are wraps available in airports - not always. Sometimes, it seems, one just has to suck it up and Eat a Sandwhich (sometimes in lieu of the disgusting in flight meal)
What do YOU do for food when you travel?
Those are some of my Travel Nutrition Survival Strategies.
What, b2d readers, are yours?
mc
en route from NY from one meeting to London for another, about to weep having forgotten the bag of nuts, raisins and critically, lindt 85% bar. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Many of us travel for business - whether frequently or infrequently. And many of us have strategies to deal with the anticipated Crappy Food at the Destination. Or sometimes worse: crappy food on the plane (or in the airport).Here's an example: 8am breakie at the meeting will be bagels and cream cheese, with some fruit (if lucky). And i'll be honest with you - i only had the sauce for a ten minute body weight workout so not actually burning up the carbs in my system to require a carb reload, as per one of the nutrition habits of Precision Nutrition: starchy carbs after a workout only. (If you're not familiar with the Habit based approach to Nutrion that is PN, you can check it out here.)
Lunch will be more sandwiches. Now if you're a vegetarian or vegan, there may be wraps. "um, what's the protein for the vegheads?" "Oh, there isn't any; vegans don't eat protein" oh my. So there's veggies in the wrap but no protein.
Get back to the hotel after long day in a business district. THere is no green grocer in site and beyond that, do i (or you) have the vim and vigour to forage at what the body thinks is 3am? No, my friends, i in any case do not.
Coping StrategiesOne thing i have found truly helpful is traveling with
a) protein powder
b) bcaa's
c) creatine
d) some kind of carb thing like malto/dextrose or cytomax - tho this isn't essential
e) flax seeds (there's often a fridge in the hotel room)
f) greens+ (again, fridge in hotel room)
g) shaker cup.
h) vitamins like a multi, a big fat d and algae/fish oil, maybe zma to help stay asleep
All of the above can fit into wee glad bags stuffed into the shaker cup, stuffed into a carry on. Fab. This set of fixers is great i find particularly later at night or before sleep if i'm getting hungry.
If you do have yogurt offered at breakie and can secret some of it up to your room fridge for the next day or later that day, stirring in some greens and flax see is kinda nice
It's grand to pack a lunch for a flight, but what to do going back? On long flights, raisins, nuts and Lindt chocolate can help for munchies and sometimes there are wraps available in airports - not always. Sometimes, it seems, one just has to suck it up and Eat a Sandwhich (sometimes in lieu of the disgusting in flight meal)
What do YOU do for food when you travel?
Those are some of my Travel Nutrition Survival Strategies.
What, b2d readers, are yours?
mc
en route from NY from one meeting to London for another, about to weep having forgotten the bag of nuts, raisins and critically, lindt 85% bar. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Renegade Row: dynamic strength and balance
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An exercise complex that has recently become a favorite of mine is the renegade row (with push up).
Why? Rows in general are great upper body workouts. Stuart McGill has recently done an article on rows comparing inverted, standing bent over and one arm cable rows for back activation patterns. They are powerful core workouts.
The renegade row is likely closest to the standing bent over row with a few differences - a biggie being balance/control of the weight.
The renegade row, is shown above with Power Blocks. For added strength/stability challenge, put your feet only shoulder width apart, and get out a couple of kettlebells. Why kb's? It takes a bit of extra coordination (ie muscles firing) to keep them steady. That means you're adding a wee bit of balance to the workload.
mc's Renegade Row Sequence
Just to review, here's how i do a renegade row sequence - it may vary from yours.
Pull Part
Push Part:
Now, other variants of this row are, pull left, push up, pull right. Personally, i find it more effective to focus on the pulls, L/R and then the pushes. Your mileage may vary.
Sequencing:
I like to EDT the renegade rows into a set with some lower body work. Somedays its goblet squats, or double KB front squats, or romanian single leg dl's or yesterday it was double kb single leg deadlifts for the lower body work. EDT means going for max sets of each pattern within 15 mins, using a 10RM weight going for only five reps.
Muscles Worked: why i love this excersise.
I love how this sequence makes me feel for the next few days:
A bit of Stability; A bit of Form; a bit of kalos sthenos (beautiful movement)
I also like the momentary loaded, dynamic balance / strength aspect of
Mr. mahler, pictured above, has his feet nice and close - shoulder width at most. He seems, however, to be torquing to the side here. I'd suggest stay more in the level plank and get the hand right up to the waist. You'll note the guy in the vid at the top of this story above doesn't torque but his feet are quite spread.
Get both these parts together and you'll be very pleased with yourself. For instance, take a look at this version: nice level trunk; feet only shoulder width apart; neutral neck position; no torquing on the up.
Now some folks what don't know better may say these are "sissy weights" pirctured, but they may want to reserve that appellation if they can't hold this form with their KB of choice themselves.
As you can see if you have given this sequence a go, it's not easy to get in this kind of dynamic upper body/trunk work, and the RR is way cool.
Practice staying tight (as pavel might say) in the core. You may want to practice doing planks first, or getting used to balancing in form on the bells and just bringing your hand up to your side while maintaining your plank form while one side is off the bell.
Challenging form: balance
I mention that we're working to hold balance when using the KB's rather than the very stable powerblocks. And for me that little bit of stabilization required is just right: not too much instability. What do i mean by "too much"?
Some times you'll see folks using medballs for their pushups - i'm not crazy for that much of a stability challenge - i personally don't test stronger after that; with kb's i do.
By "test stronger" - i mean something zhealth teaches: if you're wondering if a particular
form of an exercise is working for you, do a muscle test (you may need a partner for this) before the test; do the excercise; retest. If you're weaker, there may have been something saying to your nervous system that's not a happy thing.
Ok. what's a muscle test, since there are different ways this term is used. Here, it's pretty straight ahead: it's simply a test to see if your muscles are functioning properly. If you hold your arm up, and your wrist out in extension, i shouldn't readily be able to pull your hand down if everything is firing properly.
Another good example - testing hamstring strength: all's well, you standing with your hands on the wall, looking straight ahead, bent knee, i should have some good resistance pushing down on your calf. Indeed i shouldn't really be able to press a big guy's leg to the ground (as per me here, pushing on Kenneth Jay's calf as Mike Cheatham kindly plays "the wall" for this muscle test at the Denmark09 RKC). I've written before about this kind of thing with the arthrokinetic reflex.
So once you do this test, you may find that you test a little more weakly (muscle is overcome) in a test than before doing pushups on wobbly surface. This is going to get onto a whole jag about instability training, but why jump on a wobbly surface if, say, we have trouble keeping balance with one foot off the ground and we then turn our head sharply? give it a go - how'd you do? Try a few other sports positions and then turn your head (as you might in real life or in a sport); try them with your eyes closed and a good head turn.
Here's a great one: one foot in front of the other, toe touching heel. Stable, or surfer dude? Now close your eyes. More stable or more surfer?
That's our proprioceptive system working really hard since our balance comes from vision, vestibular (inner ear) and proprioception (the nerves in our joints ligaments and muscles saying where in space we are). Apparently 80% of that VVP load comes from the eyes. Take those away, you can give yourself a whole LOT of balance training very quickly.
So why not get good at that, in motion (we move in real life) before going for that wobble board or med ball or swiss ball?
So if you want to work balance, fabulous. get on one leg, turn your head. One leg, close your eyes, turn your head. When you're awesome at moving and balancing, go a bit squishier. Remember, the idea is not to be stable on a wobble board, but stable in motion.
A lot of studies about wobble board adaptations don't demonstrate translation OFF the board into real activities (note, we are NOT talking about swiss ball work in the context of rehab, but regularly fit folk doing their workouts on unstable surfaces.) Here's a great example: this is a super article at the sports injury bulletin on the relationship of the proprioceptive system's mix with the visual and vestibular for balance work. Once you finish the intro though, here comes the wobble stuff. Does it translate off the board?
McGill was one of the first to show that sitting on swiss balls doesn't actually help strengthen the low back. Likeiwise, this is eric cressey's beef with unstable surface training and athetics. All this bosu ball stuff - so what you can balance on one of these - what happens when you get off them? From the actual research Cressey's done, the answer is not alot to less than nothing. A fast muscle test pre and post will tell you the same thing.
At least the recommendations at the end of that sports injury bulletin article is to start balance training on stable surfaces; master that before adding any kind of load - and load can be doing sums while balancing - it doesn't have to be a wobble board (aside: these concepts are all very much part of the z health i phase certification, so if you're looking for a trainer sensitive to improving your atheltic performance in the real world, look for a zhealth trainer with I in the list of their certs).
Summary: Renegade Rows Rock.
Hmm. well. didn't expect a description of the renegade row to become a treatise on the evils of the bosu. The intent was to say, if you're looking for something new to challenge your workouts, the renegade row with its pull and push, done with kettlebells, and especially as part of an EDT upper/lower body set workout, can be simply awesome.
You'll love all the places you're aware of your muscles over the next few days. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Why? Rows in general are great upper body workouts. Stuart McGill has recently done an article on rows comparing inverted, standing bent over and one arm cable rows for back activation patterns. They are powerful core workouts.
The renegade row is likely closest to the standing bent over row with a few differences - a biggie being balance/control of the weight.
The renegade row, is shown above with Power Blocks. For added strength/stability challenge, put your feet only shoulder width apart, and get out a couple of kettlebells. Why kb's? It takes a bit of extra coordination (ie muscles firing) to keep them steady. That means you're adding a wee bit of balance to the workload.
mc's Renegade Row Sequence
Just to review, here's how i do a renegade row sequence - it may vary from yours.
Pull Part
- pull up one bell to belt line and belt height
- put it down
- pull up opposite side put it down
- repeat 5 times.
Push Part:
- follow the pull sets with 5 perfectly level push ups on the bell handles.
Now, other variants of this row are, pull left, push up, pull right. Personally, i find it more effective to focus on the pulls, L/R and then the pushes. Your mileage may vary.
Sequencing:
I like to EDT the renegade rows into a set with some lower body work. Somedays its goblet squats, or double KB front squats, or romanian single leg dl's or yesterday it was double kb single leg deadlifts for the lower body work. EDT means going for max sets of each pattern within 15 mins, using a 10RM weight going for only five reps.
Muscles Worked: why i love this excersise.
I love how this sequence makes me feel for the next few days:
- it hits the abs, but the obliques it seems in particular
- Lats are loved
- pecs can be quite buzzed
- traps and rhomboids of course get some attention.
- well it's the whole core, holding that plank, isn't it? (word doc about up/low core) - tall, neutral spine throughout.
A bit of Stability; A bit of Form; a bit of kalos sthenos (beautiful movement)
I also like the momentary loaded, dynamic balance / strength aspect of
- just staying stable with both hands on the bells - i think Mike Mahler who's Aggressive Strength hybrid EDT routines introduced me to this fab move once said don't do this with anything smaller than a 16k bell cuz the base of support is too small. Ha! i say. i use 12s.
- staying level in the trunk while pulling up on the bell - muscle control to stay planked and again keep stable on the balance hand/bell combo.
Mr. mahler, pictured above, has his feet nice and close - shoulder width at most. He seems, however, to be torquing to the side here. I'd suggest stay more in the level plank and get the hand right up to the waist. You'll note the guy in the vid at the top of this story above doesn't torque but his feet are quite spread.Get both these parts together and you'll be very pleased with yourself. For instance, take a look at this version: nice level trunk; feet only shoulder width apart; neutral neck position; no torquing on the up.
Now some folks what don't know better may say these are "sissy weights" pirctured, but they may want to reserve that appellation if they can't hold this form with their KB of choice themselves.As you can see if you have given this sequence a go, it's not easy to get in this kind of dynamic upper body/trunk work, and the RR is way cool.
Practice staying tight (as pavel might say) in the core. You may want to practice doing planks first, or getting used to balancing in form on the bells and just bringing your hand up to your side while maintaining your plank form while one side is off the bell.
Challenging form: balance
I mention that we're working to hold balance when using the KB's rather than the very stable powerblocks. And for me that little bit of stabilization required is just right: not too much instability. What do i mean by "too much"?
Some times you'll see folks using medballs for their pushups - i'm not crazy for that much of a stability challenge - i personally don't test stronger after that; with kb's i do.
By "test stronger" - i mean something zhealth teaches: if you're wondering if a particular
form of an exercise is working for you, do a muscle test (you may need a partner for this) before the test; do the excercise; retest. If you're weaker, there may have been something saying to your nervous system that's not a happy thing.Ok. what's a muscle test, since there are different ways this term is used. Here, it's pretty straight ahead: it's simply a test to see if your muscles are functioning properly. If you hold your arm up, and your wrist out in extension, i shouldn't readily be able to pull your hand down if everything is firing properly.
Another good example - testing hamstring strength: all's well, you standing with your hands on the wall, looking straight ahead, bent knee, i should have some good resistance pushing down on your calf. Indeed i shouldn't really be able to press a big guy's leg to the ground (as per me here, pushing on Kenneth Jay's calf as Mike Cheatham kindly plays "the wall" for this muscle test at the Denmark09 RKC). I've written before about this kind of thing with the arthrokinetic reflex.
So once you do this test, you may find that you test a little more weakly (muscle is overcome) in a test than before doing pushups on wobbly surface. This is going to get onto a whole jag about instability training, but why jump on a wobbly surface if, say, we have trouble keeping balance with one foot off the ground and we then turn our head sharply? give it a go - how'd you do? Try a few other sports positions and then turn your head (as you might in real life or in a sport); try them with your eyes closed and a good head turn.Here's a great one: one foot in front of the other, toe touching heel. Stable, or surfer dude? Now close your eyes. More stable or more surfer?
That's our proprioceptive system working really hard since our balance comes from vision, vestibular (inner ear) and proprioception (the nerves in our joints ligaments and muscles saying where in space we are). Apparently 80% of that VVP load comes from the eyes. Take those away, you can give yourself a whole LOT of balance training very quickly.
So why not get good at that, in motion (we move in real life) before going for that wobble board or med ball or swiss ball?
So if you want to work balance, fabulous. get on one leg, turn your head. One leg, close your eyes, turn your head. When you're awesome at moving and balancing, go a bit squishier. Remember, the idea is not to be stable on a wobble board, but stable in motion.
A lot of studies about wobble board adaptations don't demonstrate translation OFF the board into real activities (note, we are NOT talking about swiss ball work in the context of rehab, but regularly fit folk doing their workouts on unstable surfaces.) Here's a great example: this is a super article at the sports injury bulletin on the relationship of the proprioceptive system's mix with the visual and vestibular for balance work. Once you finish the intro though, here comes the wobble stuff. Does it translate off the board?
McGill was one of the first to show that sitting on swiss balls doesn't actually help strengthen the low back. Likeiwise, this is eric cressey's beef with unstable surface training and athetics. All this bosu ball stuff - so what you can balance on one of these - what happens when you get off them? From the actual research Cressey's done, the answer is not alot to less than nothing. A fast muscle test pre and post will tell you the same thing.
At least the recommendations at the end of that sports injury bulletin article is to start balance training on stable surfaces; master that before adding any kind of load - and load can be doing sums while balancing - it doesn't have to be a wobble board (aside: these concepts are all very much part of the z health i phase certification, so if you're looking for a trainer sensitive to improving your atheltic performance in the real world, look for a zhealth trainer with I in the list of their certs).
Summary: Renegade Rows Rock.
Hmm. well. didn't expect a description of the renegade row to become a treatise on the evils of the bosu. The intent was to say, if you're looking for something new to challenge your workouts, the renegade row with its pull and push, done with kettlebells, and especially as part of an EDT upper/lower body set workout, can be simply awesome.
You'll love all the places you're aware of your muscles over the next few days. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Vibram Five Fingers Free Foot Massage
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This weekend, found another asset to wearing Vibram Five Fingers. I've written about how in my experience, they, along with z health, improve gait and are great for getting through airport security without shoe removal. This weekend i also discovered another bonus: foot massage when walking on gravel.
That's right: VFF's afford a great foot massage when walking on stones.
There was a pile of stones/gravel around where i was working this weekend, and just standing, walking around IN the stones felt FABULOUS. It was like a free foot massage. I've started looking out for gravel pathways for the experience, and figuring out optimal stone types for the best foot work.
I felt pretty lucky, actually: all these folks where i was walking around the same stuff and likely missing the benefits of connecting foot to path.
It reminded me again how much fun it is to explore with one's feet, and how close, when doing so, off the beaten path can be.
Added Bonus:
For some great inspiring photos and tales of VFF, please check out Justin Owings beuatifully designed birthdayshoes.com site. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
That's right: VFF's afford a great foot massage when walking on stones.
There was a pile of stones/gravel around where i was working this weekend, and just standing, walking around IN the stones felt FABULOUS. It was like a free foot massage. I've started looking out for gravel pathways for the experience, and figuring out optimal stone types for the best foot work.
I felt pretty lucky, actually: all these folks where i was walking around the same stuff and likely missing the benefits of connecting foot to path.
It reminded me again how much fun it is to explore with one's feet, and how close, when doing so, off the beaten path can be.
Added Bonus:
For some great inspiring photos and tales of VFF, please check out Justin Owings beuatifully designed birthdayshoes.com site. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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COACHING with dr. m.c. 
