Sunday, June 20, 2010
the amazing engineering that is the shoulder, part 1: scapula and shoulder girdle
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How does the shoulder really work? What is it, anyway? When we think of working the shoulder, most of us likely think of the delts, maybe the traps (shoulder shrugs and all). When we think about shoulder injuries, the term "rotator cuff" enters the vocabulary and we worry about how to prehab/rehap these little stabilizer muscles. But really, the shoulder, or more particularly the shoulder joint and shoulder girdle is an amazing feat of evolutionary engineering, so much so that most of what we tend to think of as uppert body work is really shoulder work.
Consider that we usually think of the lats, traps, rhomboids all as back muscles, and the pecs and seratus anterior as chest muscles. Yes, ok, that's more about where those muscles are located, but they're all, really really, shoulder muscles. Even the triceps and biceps are involved as shoulder muscles - and require the shoulder as their anchoring points.
Understanding a little bit more about how the shoulder works in terms of where the muscles attach to what and how they act on the shoulder may help enhance our lifting, prevent injury, and help us understand what we're doing - or not - when we think about working out.
So the goal of this set of posts on the shoulder is to offer a wee tour through the shoulder, and provide further resources if you get fired up to look further.
Part 1: the Scapula and Shoulder Girdle
In structural kinesiology - the study of movement in terms of nerves, bones and muscles and joints - there are two main ways to look at the shoulder: the shoulder girdle and the shoulder joint. Both of these views considers one of the weirdest and coolest bones in the body, the shoulder blade or scapula.
In this first of two parts looking at the shoulder, we'll first take a quick look at the multifacetted structure of the scapula and also look at the muscles associated with the shoulder girdle - or the muscles primarily involved with moving the scapula itself.
In part two, we'll look at the muscles acting on the main shoulder joint, the glenohumeral joint (gh), from the rotator cuff muscles to the lats and pec major.
The Scapula: It's a wild wild bone.
This figure above shows three views of the scapula: the front side that faces the back of the ribs, the back side that we can feel or palpate, especially along that honking big spine, and where the magic focuses, the side on view that features the glenoid cavity - the aras where the arm - in particular the humerous fits into the shoulder.
Take a look at the ridges and bumps: every bit of an indentation or edge has a purpose in the muscular rigging that is the shoulder joint and shoulder girdle.
Overview: Let's take a quick look at the shoulder girdle muscles to get a sense of the specialness of the shoulder girdle design and what i mean by this rigging - and possibly why this approach in our design (is so cool).
The scapula first and foremost is situated behind and at the top of the rib cage. It has muscles attached to both sides of it: there are muscles along it's back; and muscles along its front. The ones we're looking at here are the ones that primarily move the scapula, and help keep it in position along the back of the rib cage.
As said, each bump, dip and pointy part of the scapula has a mechanical design purpose. By way of example, the image to the left shows the back view of the scapula. In red, the levator scapula is attached to the superior border of the scapula. This shoulder muscle, while attached up at the top four vertebrae in the neck is not a neck muscle per se, but exists to help pull the scapula up (and a bit towards the spine, elevation and adduction)
If we look back at the image of the scapula bone, we see the medial border on the back/posterior side of the scap. Follow along to the medial border (left side of spine in the image with the levator scap shown) and the minor and major rhomboids are attached there and plug into the bottom of the cervical spine, and top half of the thoracic spine. If we just follow the line of the muscles, which go up diagonally, we can see that when they contract they'll pull the scapula towards the spine and up in elevation, but actually in doing so, can also rotate the shoulder socket down. We'll come back to why this rotation is important.
On the other side of the spine we see another rich and amazing attachment, the trapezius which is considered in three parts. The upper fibers attach along the far end of the clavicle or collar bone and the scapula's acromial process, and also along the start of the big spine on the back of the scapula. Again shoulder elevation helped here as well as adduction. Then the middle fibers which attach a little along the scapula spine, but also this time, rotate the socket up. The lower fibers of this massive muscle which connect on the scapula spine under side-ish area. These also contribute to pulling the shoulder socket up, but also bringing the shoulder down blade down.
To take a quick look at the front-ish part of the scapula, there's the pec minor and the seratus anterior.
The pec minor attaches to the scapula at the coricoid process (the biceps at one point do, too, among others) and then into the ribs. Again, if we follow the line of the muscles, we can see that when contracted, these muscles will pull the scapula, well, rather over the shoulder, rotating the socket downwards. The scapula also gets pulled away from the spine (abducted), and likewise dowward (depression).
The serratus anterior is an amazing set of muscles that connects all along the medial border on the inside/front of the scapula, on the opposite side from the rhomboids.
Where the rhomboids pulls the scap up and towards the spine, the seratus anterior pulls the scapula away from the spine and the scapula up at the same time via the attachment upwards along the sides of the ribs. The joint tension of the rhomboids and the serratus anterior both help keep the scapula down against the ribs in movements like the push up.
Why all this Scapular Movement? RANGE EXTENSION. I dunno about you, but while i've heard about shoulder depression and elevation and rotation, it hasn't meant a whole lot to me until i got to see what the bones actually do relative to what's getting rotated: the arm in the shoulder joint.
An image may help. Take a look at the relative positions of the scapulae in the picture to the right here (in red the supraspinatus is highlighted, but that ain't important right now). If we look at the left arm, we'll note that the glenoid fossa - where the humerous fits into the shoulder) is in neutral. With the right arm elevated, like in an overhead press, we see that the whole scapula is titled away from the spine and that the glenoid fossa - where the arm connects - is pointed more UP.
Bottom wonderful line is that, by rigging up the scapula so that it's got all these guy wired muscles holding the scapulae as a kind of floating anchor point, we get far greater range of motion with our arms than if we had a more or less fixed ball and socket joint.
That is, if the scapula, which is largely designed to act as an attachment for the upper limbs, were fixed to the spine as a bone such that the socket for the humerus was fixed ( unable to rotate up, down, back and forward), the arm would have far more restricted motion. We'd be unable to press up, cross our arms, do push ups, waltz. Awful to contemplate.
So let's not. Let's sum up where we're at today.
Summing up part 1
In this first article on the shoulder girdle & scapula, we've had a quick look at the muscles that support the movement of the scapula and concurrently the resulting rotation of the glenohumeral joint that allows for the all important rich range of motion of the arm at the shoulder.
Next, we'll look at the muscles acting on the glenohumeral joint, like the giant lats, pec major, teres major, and including those pixie trouble makers, the rotator cuff muscles. Guarenteed once we go over how they work and where they are in the scapula, remembering the names of the four will be simple.
But heck, isn't that scapula an amazing bone or what, eh?
Resources
Some great books to help get into structural kinesiology are
Manual of Structural Kinesiology
really really good source for getting at the complete details on joints, muscles, actions, planes of motion, nerves. THere are great exercises and quizes with the book as well for self-testing
Anatomy of Movement (Revised Edition)
A very personable look at anatomy in the context of not only athletic but every day movements.
And for getting into the actual feel of where these muscles are and how they operate live, there is the very popular Trail Guide to the Body Book
And heck if you've ever tried to figure out whether that groin pull is an adductor magus or gracialis, this is the one for you.
More books that include seeing the real tissue (making the case for illustrations) next time.
Related posts:
Consider that we usually think of the lats, traps, rhomboids all as back muscles, and the pecs and seratus anterior as chest muscles. Yes, ok, that's more about where those muscles are located, but they're all, really really, shoulder muscles. Even the triceps and biceps are involved as shoulder muscles - and require the shoulder as their anchoring points.Understanding a little bit more about how the shoulder works in terms of where the muscles attach to what and how they act on the shoulder may help enhance our lifting, prevent injury, and help us understand what we're doing - or not - when we think about working out.
So the goal of this set of posts on the shoulder is to offer a wee tour through the shoulder, and provide further resources if you get fired up to look further.
Part 1: the Scapula and Shoulder Girdle
In structural kinesiology - the study of movement in terms of nerves, bones and muscles and joints - there are two main ways to look at the shoulder: the shoulder girdle and the shoulder joint. Both of these views considers one of the weirdest and coolest bones in the body, the shoulder blade or scapula.
In this first of two parts looking at the shoulder, we'll first take a quick look at the multifacetted structure of the scapula and also look at the muscles associated with the shoulder girdle - or the muscles primarily involved with moving the scapula itself.
In part two, we'll look at the muscles acting on the main shoulder joint, the glenohumeral joint (gh), from the rotator cuff muscles to the lats and pec major.
The Scapula: It's a wild wild bone.
Take a look at the ridges and bumps: every bit of an indentation or edge has a purpose in the muscular rigging that is the shoulder joint and shoulder girdle.
Overview: Let's take a quick look at the shoulder girdle muscles to get a sense of the specialness of the shoulder girdle design and what i mean by this rigging - and possibly why this approach in our design (is so cool).
The scapula first and foremost is situated behind and at the top of the rib cage. It has muscles attached to both sides of it: there are muscles along it's back; and muscles along its front. The ones we're looking at here are the ones that primarily move the scapula, and help keep it in position along the back of the rib cage.
If we look back at the image of the scapula bone, we see the medial border on the back/posterior side of the scap. Follow along to the medial border (left side of spine in the image with the levator scap shown) and the minor and major rhomboids are attached there and plug into the bottom of the cervical spine, and top half of the thoracic spine. If we just follow the line of the muscles, which go up diagonally, we can see that when they contract they'll pull the scapula towards the spine and up in elevation, but actually in doing so, can also rotate the shoulder socket down. We'll come back to why this rotation is important.
On the other side of the spine we see another rich and amazing attachment, the trapezius which is considered in three parts. The upper fibers attach along the far end of the clavicle or collar bone and the scapula's acromial process, and also along the start of the big spine on the back of the scapula. Again shoulder elevation helped here as well as adduction. Then the middle fibers which attach a little along the scapula spine, but also this time, rotate the socket up. The lower fibers of this massive muscle which connect on the scapula spine under side-ish area. These also contribute to pulling the shoulder socket up, but also bringing the shoulder down blade down.
To take a quick look at the front-ish part of the scapula, there's the pec minor and the seratus anterior.
The pec minor attaches to the scapula at the coricoid process (the biceps at one point do, too, among others) and then into the ribs. Again, if we follow the line of the muscles, we can see that when contracted, these muscles will pull the scapula, well, rather over the shoulder, rotating the socket downwards. The scapula also gets pulled away from the spine (abducted), and likewise dowward (depression).
The serratus anterior is an amazing set of muscles that connects all along the medial border on the inside/front of the scapula, on the opposite side from the rhomboids.
Where the rhomboids pulls the scap up and towards the spine, the seratus anterior pulls the scapula away from the spine and the scapula up at the same time via the attachment upwards along the sides of the ribs. The joint tension of the rhomboids and the serratus anterior both help keep the scapula down against the ribs in movements like the push up.
Why all this Scapular Movement? RANGE EXTENSION. I dunno about you, but while i've heard about shoulder depression and elevation and rotation, it hasn't meant a whole lot to me until i got to see what the bones actually do relative to what's getting rotated: the arm in the shoulder joint.
An image may help. Take a look at the relative positions of the scapulae in the picture to the right here (in red the supraspinatus is highlighted, but that ain't important right now). If we look at the left arm, we'll note that the glenoid fossa - where the humerous fits into the shoulder) is in neutral. With the right arm elevated, like in an overhead press, we see that the whole scapula is titled away from the spine and that the glenoid fossa - where the arm connects - is pointed more UP.Bottom wonderful line is that, by rigging up the scapula so that it's got all these guy wired muscles holding the scapulae as a kind of floating anchor point, we get far greater range of motion with our arms than if we had a more or less fixed ball and socket joint.
That is, if the scapula, which is largely designed to act as an attachment for the upper limbs, were fixed to the spine as a bone such that the socket for the humerus was fixed ( unable to rotate up, down, back and forward), the arm would have far more restricted motion. We'd be unable to press up, cross our arms, do push ups, waltz. Awful to contemplate.
So let's not. Let's sum up where we're at today.
Summing up part 1
In this first article on the shoulder girdle & scapula, we've had a quick look at the muscles that support the movement of the scapula and concurrently the resulting rotation of the glenohumeral joint that allows for the all important rich range of motion of the arm at the shoulder.
Next, we'll look at the muscles acting on the glenohumeral joint, like the giant lats, pec major, teres major, and including those pixie trouble makers, the rotator cuff muscles. Guarenteed once we go over how they work and where they are in the scapula, remembering the names of the four will be simple.
But heck, isn't that scapula an amazing bone or what, eh?
Resources
Some great books to help get into structural kinesiology are
Manual of Structural Kinesiologyreally really good source for getting at the complete details on joints, muscles, actions, planes of motion, nerves. THere are great exercises and quizes with the book as well for self-testingAnatomy of Movement (Revised Edition)
A very personable look at anatomy in the context of not only athletic but every day movements.
And for getting into the actual feel of where these muscles are and how they operate live, there is the very popular Trail Guide to the Body Book And heck if you've ever tried to figure out whether that groin pull is an adductor magus or gracialis, this is the one for you.
More books that include seeing the real tissue (making the case for illustrations) next time.
Related posts:
- part 2 of the amazing shoulder: glenohumeral joint, rotator cuff and big movers.
- eccentric exercises - approaches for tendonopathy
- kettlebell swing - why we fire the lats (whether we want to or not)
- volume in press to go heavy: threat reduction; practice prep for heavy
- windmill/press 100s - not just working the shoulder, but the obliques
PDF
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Vacance - short break at b2d
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just fyi, there'll be a wee hiatus at begin2dig till after June 18.
Time for a wee break from all things plugged in - a Health Act, as it were.
Hope to see y'all again in a couple weeks, and that your practice continues great in the intervening period.
best to you,
mc
Tweet
Follow @begin2dig
Time for a wee break from all things plugged in - a Health Act, as it were.
Hope to see y'all again in a couple weeks, and that your practice continues great in the intervening period.
best to you,
mc
Friday, June 4, 2010
One less Rep - It's ok NOT to finish a set. Really. Less is hard but can be more
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Workouts are about work, about sufficient challenge for adapatation, about getting more perfect in each step of our practice. So why so many overuse injuries? Why so many of us getting jacked up? I wonder if it's at least in part from the reluctance to quit when we need to quit? So let me all fellow workout heads ask this quesiton:
when you workout, if you have 10 reps of a set to do, or 5 sets to do, you WILL DO those reps; you will DO those sets. Even if you don't feel perfectly happy with yourself, entirely, especially if there's only three more reps, you're gonna do those reps. Or one more set, you're gonna do that set. Well are you, punk? your inner voice inquires?
Fave example: you're doing viking warrior conditioning - you have your 8 reps per 15 secs to do - ok wait, that's me, let's just own it: i'm doing VWC, these are my reps and sets, the timer is ticking, i have 3 more sets to do, the blister is forming on my hand - i can feel it - but will i quit? NO, because i HAVE TO FINISH MY SETS.
What's the Value of Having to get That Last Rep? Um, question to self: Why? Is this a competition? does someone have a gun to my head? What do i get out of a big fat crap-technique-showing blister except nearly a week off snatch practice? All i get is wow, i finished my sets. great. So what? i'm now looking at a several day hit to my training?
You know, saying this i'm thinking, this is just so obvious, isn't it? Hand starting to blister: stop. Duh. But the Duh has not been there, at least for me in the set, while the set is happening.
At the RKC II cert in Feb, Pavel Tsatsouline, frech off the research for his Power to the People Professional, gave a related lecture on old time strong man training. A big part of that was strong men staying away from 1RM work; staying fresh. This theme is nothing new to Tsatousline's training approach. Stay fresh, gas in the tank, perfect form.
And yet...
Even when i believe i'm focusing on Pavel Tsatsouline's guidance to "stay fresh" - always end the set feeling fresh rather than ever going to failure, see i'm thinking i'm not - or haven't been. Why? Because i have been recovering from what has been called an "overuse injury" - tendinopathy in the shoulder. Painful arc syndrome. What ever.
There are lots of reasons for overuse injuries: lots of reps being one of them, but usually that's lots of use that is beyond the capacity of that tendon. And what wears into overuse? Form issues? And what happens to form on the weaker side when going with the stronger side? Fatigue? And with fatigue comes injury. We know this. This is basic.
Pain is the Last Warning for Change, not the First. The ugly side of overuse injuries is that they don't show up as pain until there's been some damage. Imagine pain being like an oil gage that only tells you when there's a teaspoon of oil left in the engine: there's no funky needle showing you the oil steadily leaking out of the system. And by the time that needle is in the red, well ya know something has likely been hurt in the engine, too.
Another analogy - this time with the human body, but same "if you feel it, it's gone too far" effect is like thirst. Waiting to hydrate till we're thirsty - especially on a hot day out in the sun - is too late. By the time we're thirsty symptoms of sun stroke/dehydration have hit our systems.
Pain is really our LAST warning. And as i've written about before, from the pain literature, pain is a warning (or signal) to change. Figuring out what to change can sometimes be an issue, but in working out with weight
And in working out, it seems we need to get better at developing our early warning system. What is that early warning system? Learning to trust ourselves. How might we do that? Let me offer an example.
Test It. The other day i had a write up to do 10 sets of X for my particular routine that day. By set five i was feeling a bit fatigued. So i thought wow this is too early to quit, surely, but let me test it. So i did a fatigue test (described here) - waited my normal recovery time - and retested. Nope. Not ready. Wait, retest. Good to go. Did the next three sets, and when going to do set 9, i had to own i felt not quite fresh. Like i'd be pushing it. So i didn't push.
What's the difference between 9 sets or 10? Let's see. That's 90% of the workout instead of 100%. 10% less volume. Let's put this in context: 10 fewer reps out of 100. Once in a week. What's the performance difference? My recovering shoulder was not saying the next day "don't do that again," so i was able to go ahead with my next day's plan. Great.
For folks not doing rehab/recovery for an injury, you may be wondering what does this have to do with me? I'm going to push hard. Bien sur. No one is saying don't work hard. We have to work hard for an adaptation. Work smart and hard.
After all, has my body lost anything by those 10 fewer reps in one workout session all week? In terms of absolute total volume, sure, but in terms of adaptation, i *don't* know. My guess is, not likely. Indeed, maybe for me i just optimised my load, doing the best for me at that moment by doing a few less today than what was an arbitrary number on a piece of paper. Ranges are better than absolutes, perhaps; intensional rather than extensional.
Pain is the Last Signal, not the ONLY signal. Every workout since then i've been trying to *listen* to my body to hear the signals that are there before pain happens. Rather than ignoring them as "nothing" i've been asking "what if?" - what if this tiny tiny bit of lost form, or this teeny weeny bit of fatigue may actual be more than i want to give it credit as being?
The cool thing is (and it took me a long time to put together this simple 2+2 is 4) i have a suite of self-assessments i can use to self-test whether or not this is an "ok, just pause the set here - not even quit; just pause, do some recovery and then continue" kind of issue or a "bag it" one.
Now personally i do not test every set, every exercise, and perhaps i'll learn that that is less than optimal. Right now, what i'm testing is simply that set of question marks i would simply have ignored before and carried on to GET MY NUMBERS complete my workout.
Practicing Less(ness) - towards overuse prevention. What's interesting for me at least is that part of this practice is practicing a different perspective: letting go of the last rep. I have been consciously trying even if i feel fine going for X planned reps, just once in a while - usually at the end of the workout - to do X-1. Or one set in the block (if this is a volume day) to do a set that's half or two-thirds the no. of reps for that set.
Why? because i'm thinking it's kinda stupid to be so obsessed with getting in numbers - i'm pretty sure my "overuse shoulder injury" is not practicing a true focus on perfect quality rather than arbitrary numbers.
I may have thought oh ya i'm still fresh my form is still dandy, but my shoulder has told me something else, like "you blew it." I don't want that to happen anywhere else. So gonna listen - and lessen.
Less is Hard. Right now, i have to say, doing a set of 5 rather than 10 (in ten sets), finishing a set of 100's instead as 99's still causes a twinge in my brain. I still kinda clench my teeth, like somehow that means what? my whole workout is toast? i'm not as great as if i'd done the full count? That somehow without that weary adherence to numbers i'm a loser? can't cut it? oh dear. What would i say to someone i was coaching who was expressing such concern?
I guess i just decided i don't want to be that person anymore - who "has to do it" when there's no good reason why to do so and a potential raft of better reasons not to do so, or at least be flexible.
I'm not there yet - i'm not at a place where that less than planned sits well, but i'm working on it.
Take Aways Pain from overuse injuries shows up after the injury has happened. It may help therefore to learn to listen for other signs in the body to help suggest when actions that may contribute to overuse are happening.
There are ways to help hone this awareness - self-tests that we can leanr and practice when wanting to reality check how we're doing - lots of them in the essentials of elite performance dvd. BUT in order to hear something at all to trigger a test, speaking at least for myself, comes a willingness to do LESS than was scheduled for a day. And like any other performance skill, less needs to be practiced.
On the plus side, i'm finding that actually practicing less, learning less, has let me do more and in this recovery phase where doing anything has been a bonus, my better self is pleased with that progress.
How you doing with less is hard, but less can be more?
Related Resources
when you workout, if you have 10 reps of a set to do, or 5 sets to do, you WILL DO those reps; you will DO those sets. Even if you don't feel perfectly happy with yourself, entirely, especially if there's only three more reps, you're gonna do those reps. Or one more set, you're gonna do that set. Well are you, punk? your inner voice inquires?Fave example: you're doing viking warrior conditioning - you have your 8 reps per 15 secs to do - ok wait, that's me, let's just own it: i'm doing VWC, these are my reps and sets, the timer is ticking, i have 3 more sets to do, the blister is forming on my hand - i can feel it - but will i quit? NO, because i HAVE TO FINISH MY SETS.
What's the Value of Having to get That Last Rep? Um, question to self: Why? Is this a competition? does someone have a gun to my head? What do i get out of a big fat crap-technique-showing blister except nearly a week off snatch practice? All i get is wow, i finished my sets. great. So what? i'm now looking at a several day hit to my training?
You know, saying this i'm thinking, this is just so obvious, isn't it? Hand starting to blister: stop. Duh. But the Duh has not been there, at least for me in the set, while the set is happening.
At the RKC II cert in Feb, Pavel Tsatsouline, frech off the research for his Power to the People Professional, gave a related lecture on old time strong man training. A big part of that was strong men staying away from 1RM work; staying fresh. This theme is nothing new to Tsatousline's training approach. Stay fresh, gas in the tank, perfect form.And yet...
Even when i believe i'm focusing on Pavel Tsatsouline's guidance to "stay fresh" - always end the set feeling fresh rather than ever going to failure, see i'm thinking i'm not - or haven't been. Why? Because i have been recovering from what has been called an "overuse injury" - tendinopathy in the shoulder. Painful arc syndrome. What ever.
There are lots of reasons for overuse injuries: lots of reps being one of them, but usually that's lots of use that is beyond the capacity of that tendon. And what wears into overuse? Form issues? And what happens to form on the weaker side when going with the stronger side? Fatigue? And with fatigue comes injury. We know this. This is basic.
Pain is the Last Warning for Change, not the First. The ugly side of overuse injuries is that they don't show up as pain until there's been some damage. Imagine pain being like an oil gage that only tells you when there's a teaspoon of oil left in the engine: there's no funky needle showing you the oil steadily leaking out of the system. And by the time that needle is in the red, well ya know something has likely been hurt in the engine, too.
Another analogy - this time with the human body, but same "if you feel it, it's gone too far" effect is like thirst. Waiting to hydrate till we're thirsty - especially on a hot day out in the sun - is too late. By the time we're thirsty symptoms of sun stroke/dehydration have hit our systems.
Pain is really our LAST warning. And as i've written about before, from the pain literature, pain is a warning (or signal) to change. Figuring out what to change can sometimes be an issue, but in working out with weight
And in working out, it seems we need to get better at developing our early warning system. What is that early warning system? Learning to trust ourselves. How might we do that? Let me offer an example.
Test It. The other day i had a write up to do 10 sets of X for my particular routine that day. By set five i was feeling a bit fatigued. So i thought wow this is too early to quit, surely, but let me test it. So i did a fatigue test (described here) - waited my normal recovery time - and retested. Nope. Not ready. Wait, retest. Good to go. Did the next three sets, and when going to do set 9, i had to own i felt not quite fresh. Like i'd be pushing it. So i didn't push.
What's the difference between 9 sets or 10? Let's see. That's 90% of the workout instead of 100%. 10% less volume. Let's put this in context: 10 fewer reps out of 100. Once in a week. What's the performance difference? My recovering shoulder was not saying the next day "don't do that again," so i was able to go ahead with my next day's plan. Great.
For folks not doing rehab/recovery for an injury, you may be wondering what does this have to do with me? I'm going to push hard. Bien sur. No one is saying don't work hard. We have to work hard for an adaptation. Work smart and hard.
After all, has my body lost anything by those 10 fewer reps in one workout session all week? In terms of absolute total volume, sure, but in terms of adaptation, i *don't* know. My guess is, not likely. Indeed, maybe for me i just optimised my load, doing the best for me at that moment by doing a few less today than what was an arbitrary number on a piece of paper. Ranges are better than absolutes, perhaps; intensional rather than extensional.
Pain is the Last Signal, not the ONLY signal. Every workout since then i've been trying to *listen* to my body to hear the signals that are there before pain happens. Rather than ignoring them as "nothing" i've been asking "what if?" - what if this tiny tiny bit of lost form, or this teeny weeny bit of fatigue may actual be more than i want to give it credit as being?
Now personally i do not test every set, every exercise, and perhaps i'll learn that that is less than optimal. Right now, what i'm testing is simply that set of question marks i would simply have ignored before and carried on to GET MY NUMBERS complete my workout.
Practicing Less(ness) - towards overuse prevention. What's interesting for me at least is that part of this practice is practicing a different perspective: letting go of the last rep. I have been consciously trying even if i feel fine going for X planned reps, just once in a while - usually at the end of the workout - to do X-1. Or one set in the block (if this is a volume day) to do a set that's half or two-thirds the no. of reps for that set.
Why? because i'm thinking it's kinda stupid to be so obsessed with getting in numbers - i'm pretty sure my "overuse shoulder injury" is not practicing a true focus on perfect quality rather than arbitrary numbers.
I may have thought oh ya i'm still fresh my form is still dandy, but my shoulder has told me something else, like "you blew it." I don't want that to happen anywhere else. So gonna listen - and lessen.
Less is Hard. Right now, i have to say, doing a set of 5 rather than 10 (in ten sets), finishing a set of 100's instead as 99's still causes a twinge in my brain. I still kinda clench my teeth, like somehow that means what? my whole workout is toast? i'm not as great as if i'd done the full count? That somehow without that weary adherence to numbers i'm a loser? can't cut it? oh dear. What would i say to someone i was coaching who was expressing such concern?
I guess i just decided i don't want to be that person anymore - who "has to do it" when there's no good reason why to do so and a potential raft of better reasons not to do so, or at least be flexible.
I'm not there yet - i'm not at a place where that less than planned sits well, but i'm working on it.
Take Aways Pain from overuse injuries shows up after the injury has happened. It may help therefore to learn to listen for other signs in the body to help suggest when actions that may contribute to overuse are happening.
There are ways to help hone this awareness - self-tests that we can leanr and practice when wanting to reality check how we're doing - lots of them in the essentials of elite performance dvd. BUT in order to hear something at all to trigger a test, speaking at least for myself, comes a willingness to do LESS than was scheduled for a day. And like any other performance skill, less needs to be practiced.
On the plus side, i'm finding that actually practicing less, learning less, has let me do more and in this recovery phase where doing anything has been a bonus, my better self is pleased with that progress.
How you doing with less is hard, but less can be more?
Related Resources
- The Perfect Rep: revisiting the kettlebell front squat
- The perfect rep quest series
- Why not move through pain?
- What's going on with chronic low back pain - and possible approaches.
- Rannoch's 100
- Should i do this next set?
Thursday, June 3, 2010
660 seconds (11 mins) of minimal resistance training = a HUGE difference for fat burning
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We know pretty unequivocally that the biggest part of a fat loss program is nutrition. That's first. BUT we also know that exercise can really help with keeping that program going. If we look at work on obesity and the role of exercise, we're looking at 5 hours of exercise a week (along with diet and expert support).
5 hours may be a good and healthy norm, but do you know any geeks who will say ya you bet i can get that 270-300 mins a week in. You bet. Not.
So a question might be, what's the minimal amount someone - especially someone at risk of being obese - can do in terms of working out to achieve a metabolic difference - where that metabilic change is to a boost start burning more calories in a day, and in particular burning more fat calories.
Researchers in 2009 took a look at just this question. The answer is - we're not entirely sure, but here's something that looks really promising:
Just to be clear about what the program included:
So not what anyone would call a super arduous program or one that folks without mobility/pain issues could perform as these moves are all done on machines. Some of us might have chosen different moves - like only compound moves without machines - but let's leave that aside. These have the advantage of also being seated, which for an inactive overweight population may be a good thing.
Main Pluses. The main thing is that after 6 months, the folks doing this very simple, every-other-day program had significantly greater fat free mass (FFM) - or lean mass (eg, muscle) than the Control group. That's nice. But what is associated with this in terms of potential fat loss support? An upped metabolism, as measured by various metabolic resting rate measures. Faster metabolism is a known associated outcome with exercise; that means more fuel will get used more quickly. For example, 24hr energy expenditure went up from 13091 kJ's a day to 13618. That's a big deal.
And one more finding - the RQ measure - checking expiration gasses - showed that the (resistiance training) RT group seemed to have an upped "fat oxidation" level - that is, burning more fat for fuel, as opposed to carbs. That's what we want from exercise: more fat burning.
Reality Check. Working out alone doesn't cut it for fat loss. In the results, both groups over six months had their weight go up and their BMI go up. That's not good. BUT the fat mass increase in the RT was "non-significant" at 3.3% but definitely significant in the C group at 8.8%. Note, there was no specified dietary intervention in the study; the only mandated change was the exercise program:
Take Aways. So what are the possible take aways from this study? One the authors suggest is that 11 mins. of resitance trainging might pose an interesting alternative to cardio/aerobics. As the authors state "the positive influence of even a small amount of RT on fat oxidation suggests an important role of RT on body mass management."
So imagine the benefit of combining a minimum 11mins of resistance training with some simple non-calorie-counting nutrition habits (like those found in precision nutrition) and who knows how the world might change?
Simple Program for fat loss? workout: 11mins of resistance, 3 days a week + nurtition: Change one thing a month with say the PN habits (download), and suddenly persistence of simplicity carries the day.
If you try this approach or know someone who will, pleaes let me know how it goes.
Citations
We know pretty unequivocally that the biggest part of a fat loss program is nutrition. That's first. BUT we also know that exercise can really help with keeping that program going. If we look at work on obesity and the role of exercise, we're looking at 5 hours of exercise a week (along with diet and expert support).5 hours may be a good and healthy norm, but do you know any geeks who will say ya you bet i can get that 270-300 mins a week in. You bet. Not.
So a question might be, what's the minimal amount someone - especially someone at risk of being obese - can do in terms of working out to achieve a metabolic difference - where that metabilic change is to a boost start burning more calories in a day, and in particular burning more fat calories.
Researchers in 2009 took a look at just this question. The answer is - we're not entirely sure, but here's something that looks really promising:
Long-term resistance training (RT) may result in a chronic increase in 24-h energy expenditure (EE) and fat oxidation to a level sufficient to assist in maintaining energy balance and preventing weight gain. However, the impact of a minimal RT program on these parameters in an overweight college-aged population, a group at high risk for developing obesity, is unknown. PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the effect of 6 months of supervised minimal RT in previously sedentary, overweight (mean +/- SEM, BMI = 27.7 +/- 0.5 kg x m(-2)) young adults (21.0 +/- 0.5 yr) on 24-h EE, resting metabolic rate (RMR), sleep metabolic rate (SMR), and substrate oxidation using whole-room indirect calorimetry 72 h after the last RT session. METHODS: Participants were randomized to RT (one set, 3 d x wk(-1), three to six repetition maximums, nine exercises; N = 22) or control (C, N = 17) groups and completed all assessments at baseline and at 6 months. RESULTS: There was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in 24-h EE in the RT (527 +/- 220 kJ x d(-1)) and C (270 +/- 168 kJ x d(-1)) groups; however, the difference between groups was not significant (P = 0.30). Twenty-four hours of fat oxidation (g x d(-1)) was not altered after RT; however, reductions in RT assessed during both rest (P < 0.05) and sleep (P < 0.05) suggested increased fat oxidation in RT compared with C during these periods. SMR (8.4 +/- 8.6%) and RMR (7.4 +/- 8.7%) increased significantly in RT (P < 0.001) but not in C, resulting in significant (P < 0.001) between-group differences for SMR with a trend for significant (P = 0.07) between-group differences for RMR. CONCLUSION: A minimal RT program that required little time to complete (11min per session) resulted in a chronic increase in energy expenditure. This adaptation in energy expenditure may have a favorable impact on energy balance and fat oxidation sufficient to assist with the prevention of obesity in sedentary, overweight young adults, a group at high risk for developing obesity.
Just to be clear about what the program included:Participants performed 1 set of 9 exercises designed to train all major muscle groups (chest press, back extension, lat pull down, triceps extension, shoulder press, leg press, calf raise, leg curl, and abdominal crunch) using a resistance of 3–6 1RM, approximately equal to 85–90% of 1RM.
So not what anyone would call a super arduous program or one that folks without mobility/pain issues could perform as these moves are all done on machines. Some of us might have chosen different moves - like only compound moves without machines - but let's leave that aside. These have the advantage of also being seated, which for an inactive overweight population may be a good thing. Main Pluses. The main thing is that after 6 months, the folks doing this very simple, every-other-day program had significantly greater fat free mass (FFM) - or lean mass (eg, muscle) than the Control group. That's nice. But what is associated with this in terms of potential fat loss support? An upped metabolism, as measured by various metabolic resting rate measures. Faster metabolism is a known associated outcome with exercise; that means more fuel will get used more quickly. For example, 24hr energy expenditure went up from 13091 kJ's a day to 13618. That's a big deal.
And one more finding - the RQ measure - checking expiration gasses - showed that the (resistiance training) RT group seemed to have an upped "fat oxidation" level - that is, burning more fat for fuel, as opposed to carbs. That's what we want from exercise: more fat burning.
Reality Check. Working out alone doesn't cut it for fat loss. In the results, both groups over six months had their weight go up and their BMI go up. That's not good. BUT the fat mass increase in the RT was "non-significant" at 3.3% but definitely significant in the C group at 8.8%. Note, there was no specified dietary intervention in the study; the only mandated change was the exercise program:
Differences in reported dietary intake (total energy, carbohydrate, fat, protein) were not significant between the baseline and intervention periods for either RT or C, or between the 2 groups during the intervention. The mean intakes for total energy, and percent of dietary carbohydrate, fat and protein were 9538 kJ/day, 50%, 34%, and 16%, respectively. There was no difference for either group at baseline and 6 months between energy and macronutrient intake during the three days of standardized food prior to or during the calorimeter stay.In other words, eating habits didn't change BUT over six months, these folks gained lean mass, had there metabolic rates go up, and instead of losing fat free mass as in control, had their fat free mass go up.
Take Aways. So what are the possible take aways from this study? One the authors suggest is that 11 mins. of resitance trainging might pose an interesting alternative to cardio/aerobics. As the authors state "the positive influence of even a small amount of RT on fat oxidation suggests an important role of RT on body mass management."
So imagine the benefit of combining a minimum 11mins of resistance training with some simple non-calorie-counting nutrition habits (like those found in precision nutrition) and who knows how the world might change?
Simple Program for fat loss? workout: 11mins of resistance, 3 days a week + nurtition: Change one thing a month with say the PN habits (download), and suddenly persistence of simplicity carries the day.
If you try this approach or know someone who will, pleaes let me know how it goes.
Citations
KIRK, E., DONNELLY, J., SMITH, B., HONAS, J., LeCHEMINANT, J., BAILEY, B., JACOBSEN, D., & WASHBURN, R. (2009). Minimal Resistance Training Improves Daily Energy Expenditure and Fat Oxidation Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41 (5), 1122-1129 DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e318193c64eTweet Follow @begin2dig
Miller, W., Koceja, D., & Hamilton, E. (1997). A meta-analysis of the past 25 years of weight loss research using diet, exercise or diet plus exercise intervention International Journal of Obesity, 21 (10), 941-947 DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0800499
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Why wait after eating to work out? empathetic to the parasympathetic?
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SO, here's a thought.
You know how your folks say don't go for a swim till an hour after eating? ever wondered why?
Here's a thought: turns out that eating triggers our peripheral nervous system, in particular, the parasympathetic nervous system aka "rest and digest" - so blood is going to digestion (the GI tract is pretty long. that's a lot of blood flow).
That means the energy going to the digestive system is not going to be as available for the rest of the peripheral nervous system actions (sympathetic), like moving muscles. So when we try to workout while we're digesting, something's gotta give - our bodies aren't optimized to do both things happily at once. Parasympathetic trying to say relax, lie down, digest. WHen working out, the sympathetic is going "fight or flight" - as you can imagine it's not a happy thing. Conflicting chemicals everywhere.
Now some folks say they have no problem working out right after eating. Anything is possible. But generally speaking, what i'm starting to think is "give my body a frickin' break" - rather than try to force it to split its energy across two demands - digest on the one hand; workout on the other - why not give it a chance to rest and digest before switching gears?
What i've also been experimenting with is, while i support my rest and digest, and since digestion starts in the mouth (especially with carbs), i'm also trying something learned at the Sustenance course last summer, and that's focus on tasting the food. For me, that means no working while eating. It also means not trying to talk and eat concurrently.
The idea is that chewing food, while it does help break down food for digestion and thus improve the likelihood of getting more nutrients/less getting processed into waste, also helps improve the taste experience which means usually eating less at one sitting - satiation is related to a taste experience. Part of my hypothesis as to why good quality chococalte means less is more because of flavour.
So how does this chewing and attention relate to digestion? Potentially longer time spent in pre-gut processing of food - which means less time needs for the gut, means less effort by the gut, means easier job for the gut, means getting to a workout sooner?
And you know what? Well i'll tell you - it's actually nice to take a bit of a break after the meal to chit chat or gaze out the window or sit for a minute - if i need an excuse i have the excuse of "i need a few minutes to digest my food - i'm going to sit for a minute" - but it's quite zen or delightful. I like delight.
I find generally speaking i can have breakie (some sprouts, veggies, oil and vinegar - being sure to get protein/greens/fats in) and comfortably be doing good cardio (rowing say) within 20 mins of eating. Not an hour. Perhaps because of the attention on chewing? And really less food does seem like more: when less is on the plate - even if it's spinach leaves - i'm going to linger over the leaf as it were.
So all we are saying is, give the parasympathetic nervous system a chance: provide opportunities to enjoy food. When we're trying to lose weight, chewing, tasting longer; using flavourings like balsamic or seasoning, indulge the flavour, all good. and the workout can be well energised. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
You know how your folks say don't go for a swim till an hour after eating? ever wondered why?
Here's a thought: turns out that eating triggers our peripheral nervous system, in particular, the parasympathetic nervous system aka "rest and digest" - so blood is going to digestion (the GI tract is pretty long. that's a lot of blood flow).
That means the energy going to the digestive system is not going to be as available for the rest of the peripheral nervous system actions (sympathetic), like moving muscles. So when we try to workout while we're digesting, something's gotta give - our bodies aren't optimized to do both things happily at once. Parasympathetic trying to say relax, lie down, digest. WHen working out, the sympathetic is going "fight or flight" - as you can imagine it's not a happy thing. Conflicting chemicals everywhere.
Now some folks say they have no problem working out right after eating. Anything is possible. But generally speaking, what i'm starting to think is "give my body a frickin' break" - rather than try to force it to split its energy across two demands - digest on the one hand; workout on the other - why not give it a chance to rest and digest before switching gears?
The idea is that chewing food, while it does help break down food for digestion and thus improve the likelihood of getting more nutrients/less getting processed into waste, also helps improve the taste experience which means usually eating less at one sitting - satiation is related to a taste experience. Part of my hypothesis as to why good quality chococalte means less is more because of flavour.
So how does this chewing and attention relate to digestion? Potentially longer time spent in pre-gut processing of food - which means less time needs for the gut, means less effort by the gut, means easier job for the gut, means getting to a workout sooner?
And you know what? Well i'll tell you - it's actually nice to take a bit of a break after the meal to chit chat or gaze out the window or sit for a minute - if i need an excuse i have the excuse of "i need a few minutes to digest my food - i'm going to sit for a minute" - but it's quite zen or delightful. I like delight.
I find generally speaking i can have breakie (some sprouts, veggies, oil and vinegar - being sure to get protein/greens/fats in) and comfortably be doing good cardio (rowing say) within 20 mins of eating. Not an hour. Perhaps because of the attention on chewing? And really less food does seem like more: when less is on the plate - even if it's spinach leaves - i'm going to linger over the leaf as it were.
So all we are saying is, give the parasympathetic nervous system a chance: provide opportunities to enjoy food. When we're trying to lose weight, chewing, tasting longer; using flavourings like balsamic or seasoning, indulge the flavour, all good. and the workout can be well energised. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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