The Three Most Important Medicines

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"You know what to do.  It is time to do what you know."  Read more from Martin Rooney's latest post.

The Three Most Important Medicines by Martin Rooney

Your body.  Your training.

Isolation Training

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Think those dumbbell curls are only for your biceps?  Think again.  While David Lasnier doesn't expand much further on this concept, he does state his point in regard to isolation training from a muscle perspective.  AND, I agreed with just about everything he wrote, up until his last sentence.  But nevertheless, check out this article for more, and in the next couple of weeks I'll go into further detail on this subject.

Isolation Training by David Lasnier

Your Body.  Your Training.

Five Self-Made Steps To Improving Your Digestion

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In yesterday's post, Charles Poliquin gave his five tips to help improve your digestion.  While it is a solid list, I have created one of my own that is much more, well, self-made.  Without further ado, here they are:

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1) Sleep

This may seem hypocritical coming from a guy who usually sleeps less than six hours a night, but in fact I am talking about quality, not quantity.  If I don't sleep soundly I am much more apt to alter how I should eat, which in turn throws off my digestion and, subsequently, how the rest of my body functions.  For some tips on improving the quality of your sleep, check out my blog post "Get Your Sleep Right".

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2) Eat according to your metabolic type

In its most basic sense, metabolic typing looks at how you as an individual metabolize the three macronutrients--carbohydrate, protein, and fat.  Then, based on, among other things, a questionnaire in which you describe how you feel after eating certain foods, you are given an ideal macronutrient ratio that you should try to eat every day.  I am a Protein Type, which means I function very well when I eat a lot of fat and protein.  I can handle some carbs, but give me a few slices of pizza and my body is a wreck.  Look for my post next week in which I detail more about taking the metabolic typing quiz, but in the mean time, check out the book The Metabolic Typing Diet if you would like to know the ins and outs of this approach.

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3) Find out what's going on on the inside

Do you have unknown food sensitivities?  Do you have a parasite?  Do you have a fungal infection?  Are your hormones in balance?  All of these are contributing factors to how well you can digest as well as how well you feel and function.  For this, I would look into a practitioner who runs the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition tests.  Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness is my main source for this type of information and is a FDN practitioner himself.  I would contact him for more info regarding FDN as well as where to find a practitioner.

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4) Limit stress and anxiety

Commonly, when people get stressed out about something, their digestive system goes completely whack.  Gas, diarrhea, and nausea are not uncommon side effects of nerves and anxiety over an upcoming event.  You could put cotton mouth in this same category.  Try your best to stay relaxed and calm throughout the process and your digestive track will thank you.

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5) Don't be afraid to poop

Kind of funny, kind of awkward, but it's true!  Poop is meant to be excreted and yet social pressures cause us to hold it all in.  That is ridiculous.  For a great video on pooping, check out Sean Croxton's work:

Your body.  Your training.

Charlie Cates, MATs, CSCS

Self Made_®, Owner and Founder

Charlie Cates is a Muscle Activation Techniques_® specialist and a strength and conditioning specialist.  He is the owner and founder of Self Made_® (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL.  He has worked with competitive athletes and everyday people of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP’s to 85-year-old retirees.  He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

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Five Simple Steps to Improve Your Digestion

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Needing help with your digestion?  Check out this article by Charles Poliquin for some easy ways to improve it, and then check back tomorrow for my own list!

Five Simple Steps to Improve Your Digestion by Charles Poliquin

Your Body.  Your Training.

Is The Maximal Effort Method Killing Our Athletes?

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How strong is strong enough for the competitive skilled athlete?  Check out this article by Anthony Mychal, as posted on Bret Contreras' blog.

Is The Maximal Effort Method Killing Our Athletes? by Anthony Mychal

Your Body.  Your Training.

Superman Drill (5/18/12)

Your Body.  Your Training.

Four Step Plan For Success

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Want to reach greater heights than where you are now?  Martin Rooney lays out some big time advice on how to go about it.

Four Step Plan For Success by Martin Rooney

Your Body.  Your Training.

Principles or Methods?

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"As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few.  The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods.  The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this quote, for a multitude of reasons, but first and foremost is its absolute truth.  You see, not so long ago I had a head full of exercises with specific names for specific body parts that had specific rules which had to be followed in order for each rep of the exercise to be valid.  You could say that I had my entire Exercise Index and then some on file in my head, with exercise variations just a flick of the proverbial Rolodex away.  Better yet, I was, as my RTS123 instructor, Greg Mack, said, a "Pez dispenser" of exercises, spitting out new flavors of exercise whenever the situation called for it.

There was a problem, though.  If I didn't have a flavor of pez that was palatable to a client, I was out of luck.  And even as I tried to expand my flavors, I would often times find myself dispensing the same handful of pez session after session.  I was a man of methods, and while I didn't realize it at the time, those methods were my downfall.

Methods:  How my brain used to work.  Image courtesy of innovativelyorganized.com

Then I started to learn principles.  The more familiar I became with the principles the easier it was for me to prescribe exercises that were appropriate for a specific individual at a specific point in time based on their neuromuscular and structural capabilities at that moment.  I started seeing the different potential lines of force I could create as well as the opportunities to manipulate moment arms to different joints.  Essentially, I went from having my ability to apply a force and conduct a training session dependent on how extensive my mental exercise index was to my ability to assess the current situation and individual and manipulate the physics of each in order to create the exact scenario I wanted.  Instead of having to memorize hundreds of methods to fit a range of possible scenarios I could encounter, I began learning very basic principles that would allow me to design and choose my methods accordingly.

Principles: How my brain is now working. (c)RTS123, Greg Mack, Weekend 2, Day 2

Since I began learning and applying these principles to my clients' training there has been nothing but positive feedback.  Clients are recovering better from their training and seeing greater improvement, as well.  And because I am no longer trying to fit all shapes of pegs into only square holes, people are actually feeling legitimately good after their training instead of beat up and drained.  Additionally, I am able to train specific tissues without stressing out and further degrading problem areas, such as injured backs, shoulders, and soft tissue.  It is not longer a matter of, "Let's see if this exercise (a.k.a. a complete guess) feels any better for you," but rather has become a scenario in which I can see potential correct answers and it is just a matter of me choosing which one is appropriate for them at this moment.

Since I am no longer subjected to the constraint of certain methodologies, I am able to apply whatever tool or movement is appropriate for the individual based on their abilities and goals without reservation or bias.  Do I still have exercises that I personally enjoy performing more than others?  Absolutely, but that is no longer an influence in what I feel others should do.

Almost all of us start any endeavor or practice from a methods-based approach as this is usually the easiest to learn in addition to being the most readily available information.  As discussed in RTS classes, most of us are short-order cooks before we are chefs, which is fine if all you want to do is cook foods that are on the short-order menu.  But if you have any desire to consistently create amazing dishes of all different types, you have to learn the principles of cooking and preparing food.

Many of us have things in our lives in which we desire to achieve a certain level of mastery, proficiency, excellence, or greatness.  While the methods will provide an introduction into the area, to reach where you are wanting to go you will have to learn the principles.  That will be the only way to truly start creating for yourself instead of living off the ideas that others, who (allegedly) understand the principles, have created.

Your Body.  Your Training.

Charlie Cates, MATs, CSCS
Self Made_®, Owner and Founder

Charlie Cates is a Muscle Activation Techniques_® specialist and a strength and conditioning specialist.  He is the owner and founder of Self Made_® (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL.  He has worked with competitive athletes and everyday people of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP’s to 85-year-old retirees.  He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

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Stop Foam Rolling Your IT Band

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I have written about this topic before (here and here), but here is an outside article by Dr. Greg Lehman discussing his viewpoint on foam rolling, in particular its use on the IT band.

 

Stop Foam Rolling Your IT Band by Dr. Greg Lehman

Your Body.  Your Training.

Moment Arms

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**While all of this information can be found throughout various books and other texts, my experiences with the information have all come through different RTS lectures, study groups, workshops, courses, and discussions.  It is because of these experiences that I am able to write this post, in addition to many of my past and future posts.**

In Monday's post I wrote about the importance of seeing moment arms as they relate to joints and tissue when discussing joint motion during exercise, but I never actually defined what a moment arm is.  So, today I will give you a very brief overview and introduction to moment arms.

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A moment arm is defined as the shortest distance from the axis of motion to the line of force that is perpendicular to the line of force and runs through the axis.  It is the measure of a force's ability to produce rotation of a lever around an axis, i.e. the greater or longer the moment arm the greater the force's ability to rotate a lever around an axis.

If we are going to divulge into moment arms then I should also explain what a line of force is.  A line of force is 1) a line, that is 2) created by a force (internal--mainly muscles, although other tissues can/may play a role; external--machines, free weights, tubes, bands, etc).  Remember, a line is infinitely long and goes in both directions, meaning the line of force created by gravity goes both up and down even though the vector will only go straight down.

One of the main reasons for knowing the length of a moment arm is to be able to calculate torque, which equals the force times the length of the moment arm an is a measure of rotational force.  This would be considered the resistance for that weight in that one position.  Once the weight starts to move you need to not only recalculate any changes in the length of the moment arm but also take into consideration any changes in the force, as well, which equals mass times acceleration.  That is beyond the scope of this post, though.

So, when looking at moment arms in relation to joints in the body you need to find the axis of the joint in the desired position, the line of force, and then draw a line that is perpendicular to the line of force and have it intersect the axis.  An example of the moment arm (rough estimate) to the coxofemoral joint (hip) at the starting position of a deadlift can be seen below:

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Actually, you would need to lower the red line until it actually intersected with the axis of the coxofemoral joint, but hopefully the visual gives you a slight understanding of how moment arms can be found relative to the body.

Now, what if there is no moment arm to the joint, meaning the line of force goes directly through the axis of the joint?  A basic but crude/not completely accurate example of this would be at the top of a seated dumbbell shoulder press.

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In the picture on the right you can see that if you were to draw a straight line going up and down (ceiling to floor) through the middle of the handle of each respective dumbbell, that line would almost go right through each  respective axis of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint.  This means that in this position there is almost no torque on that joint.  There are still joint forces, but there is almost no force that is creating rotation around the axis of that joint.
Compare that to this video:

 

Here we also have a shoulder press movement, but a completely different moment arm to the glenohumeral joint (GH).  Instead of there being a moment challenging humeral abduction et. al, there is now a moment challenging predominantly the external rotation capabilities of the GH, even though the motion is the same.  Can you see how the two moment arms are different?
Drop a comment below if I need to still clear some things up.

Your Body.  Your Training.

Get big or die tryin'.

Charlie Cates, MATs, CSCS
Self Made_®, Owner and Founder

Charlie Cates is a Muscle Activation Techniques_® specialist and a strength and conditioning specialist.  He is the owner and founder of Self Made_® (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL.  He has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP’s.  He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.
This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.