“I think I can, I think I can…” We’ve all heard the story of the Little Engine believing it could puff right over that hill. We’ve all heard Henry Ford’s famous quotation, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right.” But have you considered there could actually be a scientific reason for why this works?

Your brain’s number one priority is self-preservation. If it doesn’t function your body dies. So above all else, it prioritizes it’s own protection. Your brain knows what it needs (and doesn’t need):

1. Oxygen
2. Fuel
3. Avoidance of Trauma or Impact

As you can see running a sub three-hour marathon doesn’t appear in this list.

The brain subconsciously uses a number of pathways including the sympathetic nervous system (the “fight or flight” system) to enforce these priorities. Two pathways that are of interest from an endurance and athletic performance perspective are the vagus and golgi nerve pathways.

The Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve is actually part of our parasympathetic nervous system, which controls all organs except for the adrenal glands (part of the sympathetic nervous system). Specifically of interest for us athletes, the vagus nerve lowers cardiac output. Ever wondered what actually controls maximum heart rate? That’s the vagus nerve.

When the brain senses (or more importantly “believes”) it is at risk – through, for example, decreased oxygen in the blood – it will decrease cardiac rate, essentially slowing us down so that more oxygen and blood glucose is available to the brain rather than the muscles. Basically, our brain slows us down whether we like it or not.

Interestingly, your brain will also produce serotonin when your body works hard. But this “runner’s high” isn’t actually meant as a reward; it is our brain’s way of trying to relax us so as not to work so hard.

Golgi Nerve

The golgi nerve controls the maximum contractional force of a muscle. Ever heard stories of people who never went to the gym becoming trapped under a car and suddenly lift a 100kg engine block off their chest? They tear muscles doing it. When this happens, the brain (survival mechanism) is overriding the golgi nerve.

As a personal trainer, I used to see this a lot. A client would struggle to do eight bench press reps and then quit. So, I’d say, “Let’s do four more. I’ll lift the weight off you, and you just lower it.” And then that’s is exactly what we would do – four more reps. Except I wasn’t lifting it off, and sometimes I wouldn’t even be touching the bar. But the brain was placated. It no longer felt at risk due to a bar being dropped on its blood supply (heart) or crushing its air supply, so the client’s muscles were allowed to do the work.

Another example: ever tried standing in front of a box and you really want to jump onto it, but something stops you? You squat down a bit, but physically can’t jump? That’s your brain stopping your muscles from contracting in order to protect itself from possible trauma.

It is pretty clear how this applies to endurance sports. In simple terms, if our brain doesn’t believe we can do something and thinks it is at risk, then it will slow us down and make us less powerful.

Overcoming Our Nervous System

So how do you overcome the parasympathetic nervous system? Is it as simple as just being like the Little Engine and saying, “I think I can”? No, although that doesn’t hurt. Saying something doesn’t mean you believe it, and frankly, your brain has no reason to trust you. You need to convince your brain that it is safe.

Here are three tools you can use to retrain your brain and push past your current limits:

1. Push the limit past failure in a safe environment. Do interval-pace and repetition-pace reps. Hard anaerobic efforts that push the boundary serve to convince the brain that it can safely allow the heart to operate at a higher level. This retrains our vagus nerve.
2. Do forced reps. Like the fake spotter, forcing reps with the help of a partner will also help placate the brain. In addition, negative reps, as well as over-speed work on the bike, on the treadmill, or in the pool all help convince the brain our muscles can work harder. This retrains our golgi nerve.
3. Believe. Self-belief is a hard thing to implement, so first, try trusting someone else. One thing I see in high performers in both business and sports is not a belief that they “can,” but more of a lack of belief that they “can’t.” In other words, high performers don’t have a strong self-belief, but they have a distinct lack of self-doubt. They trust in the science and their belief is in the logic. What is additionally interesting is that when I train these high performers, they are also the least likely to ask, “Why?” Asking why often indicates that doubt exists, which is then used by the brain to validate protecting you.

I like the quotation from the Spinervals guy (who also did a sub-nine Ironman at Kona) Troy Jacobson: “You pass out before you die.” It is often said that endurance sports are 70% mental. As you can now see, this is medically true. Training the parasympathetic nerve pathways can improve our performance more than hours and hours of comfort zone training.

The post The Science Behind Why “I Think I Can” Actually Works appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Rather than feature the latest gadgets (although I am guilty in one instance here), let’s look at the best gifts for improving performance that are also unique ideas. After all, you can have enough cycling socks.

Here are my gift ideas for the endurance athletes in your life.

Finis Tempo Trainer Pro

Price: $49.99

Where to Get It: Finis, Inc.

Description: Over the last couple of years there has been a strong focus on technique and reducing stroke count. Many swimmers consider the benchmark of swim improvement to be the number of strokes it takes them to swim fifty meters.

The issue I have seen, though, is that while stroke length and technique have improved, stroke rate (arm turnover) has decreased as athletes concentrate more on technique and glide. The average age-grouper has a swim cadence in the very low sixties. Compare this to a professional triathlete who is typically in the high seventies and to Olympic swimmers in the nineties. 

The tempo trainer allows the swimmer to find his or her optimum cadence while maintaining good technique. You can also define training sets to continue improvement. It even makes a handy tool for improving run cadence.

4iiii Precision Power Meter

Price: $399.99

Where to Get It: 4iiii

Description: A power meter is the gold standard for improving bike strength. It also allows athletes to race in a zone that optimizes performance without compromising the ability to run off the bike.

Until recently, the issue with power meters was cost, with a unit leaving little change out of $2,500.00. The 4iiii Precision Power Meter changed this by introducing a power meter that is under $400.00 and attaches to your existing crank.

The 4iiii Precision provides the option to attach modules to both cranks (obviously increasing the price) for those who need stats on left-leg and right-leg power. But for the average athlete basing his or her training and racing around functional threshold power, having single leg power measurements will meet his or her needs.

By the way – also check out the Sportiii. It provides a heads-up graphical display of wattage, pace, and heart rate at a cheap price point. It’s on my personal wish list!

Bike Fit Gift Certificate

Price: $100.00 – $350.00

Description: It’s amazing to see how many people clearly have their bike set up incorrectly at races. A $1,000.00 bike fitted correctly will outperform a $10,000.00 bike fitted poorly, especially when the event includes a run. Poor bike position doesn’t just compromise power and aerodynamics, but also contributes to cramping and injuries.

If you purchase a bike fit gift certificate, make sure the fitter understands triathlon fits. Many of the angles – hip flexion, knee extension, knee flexion, and back angle – are different between a triathlon or time-trial fit and a road fit. Fitting systems such as Retul and Specialized BG Fitincorporate a physical assessment as part of the fit, though they are also more expensive than a local bike shop. So make sure you consider the specifics of what your loved one actually needs.

Magellan Mio Cyclo 505

Price: $499.99

Where to Get It: MagellanGPS

Description: There are many bike computers out there and Garmin seems to have sewn up the market. The Magellan Mio has two features that I love:

1. It provides ANT+ communication to Shimano 11-speed DI2. No other computer at this price point provides this. This feature allows athletes to record and analyze exactly what gear they were in during a training session and compare this to their cadence and wattage to define optimum gearing.
2. The “Surprise Me” feature allows the owner to enter a time or distance and the computer will calculate a ride for you based on commonly ridden routes. It also provides three alternatives in terms of hills. This feature is fantastic when visiting new areas or when you just want to explore.

The Mio also connects via Bluetooth to smartphones to display notifications of calls and messages, allows you to control your MP3 player, and automatically syncs via wi-fi with Strava, Training Peaks, and Facebook.

Garmin Forerunner 920XT

Price: $449.99

Where to Get It: Garmin

Description: Yes, this does fall into the category of “latest gadget,” but the 920XT contains two features that are of massive benefit to runners. First, it contains a metronome that allows runners to work on their cadence. As detailed in my article Cadence and the Muscle Shortening Reflex, running at a higher cadence increases efficiency and economy.

READ: Running Cadence and the Muscle-Shortening Reflex

Second, the 920XT provides detailed stats for analyzing your run – cadence, ground contact time, and vertical oscillation – which allow the athlete and coach to analyze run technique or provide real-time metrics to focus on when training. It can even help with shoe choice!

Perpetual Motion Running by Myself

Price: $9.99

Where to Get It: iTunes

Description: Just thought I would slip this one in. Rather than focus on running programs, this book gets into the mechanics of running and how to run more efficiently with less risk of injury.

The book is specifically designed for the iPad, so it is unique in that the drill and exercises explained in the book are live. The iPad allows for videos to be embedded in the pages of a text to better help the reader understand what is being communicated. And whether it be my book for someone else’s, iBooks provides the ability to gift a book to another person with a personalized message.

Float Session

Price: Varies

Where to Get It: Your Local Floating Tank

Description: Triathletes lead busy lives, balancing training with work and family. A float in a float tank provides them with a time-out for their brains, helps relax pre-race, and reduces cortisol. Float tanks contain hyper-salted water, which allows the person to literally float. The tank can be closed and heated to body temperature for and experience of total sensory deprivation.

RELATED: Floating: It’s For Real, It’s Good For You, and It’s Not Just For Hippies

Although floating is a great tool for relaxation, these tanks can also be used pre-race for visualization sessions. Most tanks allow for playing of sound files for subliminal suggestion sessions or you can just enjoy the complete silence.

iTunes Gift Certificate

Price: Varies

Where to Get It: iTunes

Description: There are many fantastic apps for athletes. Not just exercise apps, but also apps for pacing (Speedometer Gauge), workout planning (Seconds Pro), recovery testing (Oximeter), and even for calculating the right tire pressure for an event (iTire Pressure). Consider gifting these apps or a voucher and a suggested app list.

Training Mask 2.0

Price: $79.00

Where to Get It: Training Mask

Description: Altitude training has been used by athletes for many years with the train-low-recover-high philosophy being the most popular. But not everyone, indeed very few people, have the luxury of this sort of training. The Training Mask simulates altitudes from 3,000-18,000 feet in the comfort of your home, allowing the owner to optimize the effectiveness of his or her training.

When ordering, check out the different skins available. Not only can you optimize your training, but you can also scare the neighborhood children by looking like Bane from Batman.

These are all products I own and actively use in my training and coaching. And I paid retail for them, so my recommendations are real. If you have thoughts on what would make a great gift for an endurance athlete, please feel free to share them in the comments below. Happy holidays!

Stay tuned for more 2014 holiday gift guides!

The post 2014 Endurance Athlete Holiday Shopping Guide appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

After the interval, the cyclists said it was much easier (a much lower perceived rate of exertion), but when we looked at the Garmin reading the watts between the “easy” (95rpm) and the “grinding” (80rpm) session were the same. In fact, some of the athletes generated a higher power output during the easier interval.

Power Explained Through Simple Physics

Let’s look at some physics to explain this phenomenon. The measure of power is a watt. In simple terms this is the rate at which work is done.

Okay. So what is work? Work is the effort (force) to cover a particular distance. In other words:

So, now that we know what work is, we can plug this back into the original formula:

Now, let’s add a third concept – velocity. This is more commonly called speed and a higher rate of speed is what all athletes are seeking.

Within a speeding bike there are two other speed variables besides forward velocity – the cranks (cadence) and the wheels (rotational mass, which is a whole different discussion on why overall wheel weight isn’t the most important factor in wheel speed). So we know our velocity has to do with distance and time (think kilometers per hour or meters per second). Thus:

If we plug this back into our formula we get:

Therefore, in order to increase power, we can increase force (a harder gear) or we can increase velocity (cadence).

The Problem With a Lower Cadence: Fatigue

Force is limited by the fatigue factor of the type 1 muscle fibers. As we progress to using more type 1 fibers for a lower cadence, our rate of fatigue increases and, as shown later, glycogen consumption also increases. But if we use the same force and increase our cadence, then our wattage goes up as was demonstrated at the velodrome and proven by physics.

If you look at the Tour de France riders, you will note they sometimes run very easy gears. Riders like Alberto Contador run a 27-tooth cog on the rear and often compact or mid-compact cranks that have smaller front chain wheels. This allows him to maintain a higher cadence when climbing.

So, why does it matter if you use a high cadence or a low cadence to generate the same power output? Two reasons:

The Problem With a Lower Cadence: Glycogen

In a recent study at University of Wisconsin and the University of Wyoming, eight experienced cyclists were asked to cycle at an intensity of 85% VO2 max for thirty minutes under two different conditions.

In one case, the cyclists pedaled at 50rpm while using a high gear. In the second case, the athletes pedaled in an easier gear at 100rpm. The athletes’ oxygen consumption rates were nearly identical in the two cases, and heart and breathing rates, total rate of power production, and blood lactate levels were also similar. But athletes broke down the carbohydrates in their muscles at a greater rate when the 50rpm cadence was used, while the 100rpm cadence produced a greater reliance on fat.

The greater glycogen depletion at 50rpm occurred only in fast-twitch muscle cells. Slow-twitch muscle cells lost comparable amounts of their glycogen at 50- and 100rpm, but fast-twitch cells lost almost 50% of their glycogen at 50rpm and only 33% at 100rpm, even though the exercise bouts lasted for thirty minutes in each case.

As glycogen stores are limited, using a lower cadence means this store is depleted quicker. Not what endurance athletes like Ironman or Ironman 70.3 athletes want.

Big Watts Do Not Require Big Gears

A lot of studies on cadence are based on cyclists – not triathletes. Typically, good runners use a cadence of around 92-94 (188 steps per minute). By using a higher cadence on the bike, more closely matched to his or her run cadence, a triathlete is better able to maintain a natural body rhythm and more consistent nerve-firing patterns.

It’s a common misconception that big watts require big gears. But, as can be seen, it is possible to generate the same wattage using an easier gear with the added benefit of sparing glycogen.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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When running with a full bladder, this means we are carrying an extra 714 grams. The average amount of urine per void is approximately 400ml. That reduces the weight we carry when running by approximately 410 grams.

But that is not what this article is about. Although it would make for an interesting study.

Creating Consistency in the Non-Running Part of Your Program

Peeing, or going to the toilet, is one of the most consistent things a human, or indeed any animal, does. On average, humans go to the toilet four times per day. It is one of the few things in our lives where consistency is enforced. And in order to become a better runner, consistency is key. Not in terms of running consistently, most people tend to take care of that themselves, but in all of the small things that can make you a better runner.

Very few people are naturally good runners. Most people who take up running later in life have some form of functional issue or imbalance. Drills and functional strength exercises are all important to address these issues and prevent them from becoming chronic injuries. This is where consistency comes in.

Having trained marathon runners for a number of years, most runners seem to have no issue finding time for a long run. They will go out rain, hail, or heat, or happily switch to a treadmill and get up at 4:00am in order to get a run in before work. But put ten minutes of functional strength exercises on their program and all of a sudden they run out of time. 

Part of this is that these exercises can be mundane and not as enjoyable as running, but another issue is that small sessions can easily fall into the “I’ll do it later” basket, as they don’t require the same scheduling as longer sessions. This often causes these sessions to be skipped, creating the paradoxical situation where the sessions that prevent or rehab injuries (or improves run technique) are skipped and the sessions that cause injury, running with bad technique or biomechanics issues, are prioritized.

The key to ensuring these crucial sessions get done is not to schedule them or to keep telling yourself you must do them. Good intentions aside, this behavior is difficult to change. The key to ensuring these sessions are done is to link them to something you do consistently – going to the toilet. I know it sounds peculiar and my athletes laugh at the concept of a pee workout, but it is surprisingly effective.

How Doing Pee Workouts Makes Me Stronger

Recently I found I had developed a biomechanics issue that was causing Achilles aggravation. The solution was to do a variation of an eccentric calf raise four times a day for ten to fifteen reps. These reps take about sixty seconds – a total of four minutes a day. Trying to remember to do these was difficult, but by linking these to going to the toilet they became automatic and the problem was corrected quickly.

This link doesn’t just have to be for remedial exercises. Last year when wanting to develop a stronger core, I linked using an ab-wheel to toilet breaks. For swimming I put a chin up bar on the toilet doorframe and did ten pull ups whenever I went to the toilet.

In summary, trying, even with the best intentions, to schedule or comply with remedial exercises or drills can be difficult. Linking these instead to something you do regularly makes it far easier to make these part of your routine, enabling you to quickly benefit from these exercises. And in terms of how my chin up prescription went? It’s amazing how much bladder control you develop when you can’t lift your arms above your head.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Can Peeing Make You a Better Runner? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

First of all, for sub-maximal intensity events (i.e. a marathon as opposed to a 5km time-trial run) there isn’t much science about performance in heat below 85 degrees Fahrenheit (thirty degrees Celsius). 85 may seem hot relative to where you are training, especially those going between seasons (e.g. traveling between the Southern to Northern Hemisphere), but the point is that although the temperature difference may seem high the actual impact on the body isn’t that great.

A good heat training plan encompasses four areas: cooling, nutrition, dehydration, and acclimation.

Cooling

It is important to understand how cooling works in the body as it directly impacts nutrition. We’ll look at two examples in order to explain this:

Example 1 – Automobiles

The cooling system of a car is pretty simple. Water is pumped around the engine to the radiator, which presents a large surface area for the airflow/wind. The water is cooled by the air and pumped back to the engine to cool it.

In the body, blood is the water and the skin is the radiator. Blood moves to the surface of the skin where it is cooled and circulates back around the body and organs. In other words, the skin acts like the surface area of the radiator and the blood is acting like the fluid that moves around the engine.

Example 2 – Air Conditioners

It is a strange phenomenon that when water evaporates, the surface where it evaporates from is cooled. This is how evaporative (as the name suggests) coolers work. Water evaporates off the cooler’s surface, dropping the temperature. Air then flows across this surface and is cooled. Sweat performs the same purpose. As it evaporates, it cools the skin, which makes the “radiator” of example one more effective.

So sweat, blood, and skin are all part of the cooling process. In essence, our body acts as both a radiator, in terms of fluid (blood) moving around the body, and an evaporative air conditioner, in terms of the body’s ability to sweat and enhance cooling.

The important element here, from a racing and planning perspective, is evaporation. If we can hold fluid on the surface of the skin and allow it to evaporate, then we can actually enhance cooling. This is where clothing helps. Long sleeves are not just about sun protection (although they do help). Wearing long sleeves and pouring water on them can enhance cooling.

A number of companies such as DeSoto and Pearl Izumi make specific sun sleeves that can be used for this purpose. Pouring water on a porous cap like a Headsweats works well, too. It is better to wear a cap and pour water on it than a visor, as a wet cap is much cooler.

There are many examples of people like professional triathlete Torbjorn Syndballe carrying ice cubes to achieve a cooling effect. The palm of the hand is a sensitive area and has been shown in studies to work as a kind of super radiator. The issue with carrying ice is that the extreme cold causes blood vessels in the palm to constrict which translates to less blood flow and therefore less cooling.

Many of the studies disproving carrying ice had the ice applied directly against the skin. But when Syndballe used ice in Ironman Hawaii he was channeling Michael Jackson. He wore a single special glove, which meant the ice wasn’t directly on the skin.

Nutrition

As mentioned, blood is a critical part of the cooling process. In hot weather more blood flows to the skin. This means less blood is available around the organs, specifically the stomach and the liver, which slows digestion.

It is important to note there are only two types of natural sugars – glucose and fructose. (There are actually three, but we don’t care about galactose, as few people carry a carton of milk when training in hot weather.) All other sugars have to be converted to these, including the most common energy source in gels, maltodextrin. This conversion process is called exothermic, which means it generates heat. Not what we want in hot weather.

Foods digest more slowly when we are hot and the process also gives off heat. Therefore, we should choose foods that are easy to digest and don’t require conversion. Solid foods, fruits (bananas), and traditional gels that may work fine on cool days should be avoided. Simple sugars should be used instead.

In hot races, I recommend using dextrose (another name for glucose). You can find this at supermarkets. Brands such as First Endurance are great as their products are dextrose based but also include electrolytes and amino acids. Obviously these are things you should practice with in training in terms of preferences for taste and digestion. In short, never try a product in a race that you haven’t tested in training first.

Note: I haven’t mentioned salt. The bottom line is there is virtually no unbiased science supporting the use of salt. I see people after a race wearing salt-covered tri-suits saying they were low on salt. But if the body was in a salt deficit, why would it be expelling it through their sweat, as evidenced by their suit? If you want to take salt for a placebo effect, that is fine, but in the heat it is not uncommon for salt to cause gastrointestinal distress.

Dehydration

Dehydration is one of the biggest myths in sport. For those racing in heat, I strongly recommend reading Waterlogged by Tim Noakes, as much to placate your brain as for any other reason. Because the greater risk is actually consuming too much water, known as hyponatremia.

The best and most simple rule is drink to your thirst. The theory that if you are thirsty it is too late isn’t correct. If that were true mammals such as dogs would die of thirst. But drink to thirst doesn’t mean limit your drinking. It means what it says. In a cool race I might drink 500ml of water. In a hot race like Thailand I might drink three liters.

I recommend (and not just for heat racing) separating your energy/calories needs from your hydration needs. Meaning, use gels for fuel and plain water for hydration. In a hot race where you know you will be drinking more it isn’t as critical, but still should be considered especially when drink bottles heat up. The last thing you want is hot fluid being poured into a hot core. For cooler weather, combining your calories and hydration can mean drinking too much fluid and risking hyponatraemia.

Acclimation

Acclimation is two-fold. First, there are a number of adaptations that happen to the blood. The majority of these occur after four days of heat exposure, so getting to an event four to five days prior is a good idea. You can also simulate the heat (and also improve your cooling systems) by heating up your training. Wearing a rain jacket when running or doing indoor bike sessions in a hot room (laundry room with the dryer on) can help.

Second, a lot of heat acclimation is about tolerance. The brain will try and talk you out of exertion in the heat. Like I’ve discussed in previous articles, the work becomes about placating the brain through progressive exposure.

Here is what I recommend. When you do a hard swim set (or even bike or treadmill) and the gym has a sauna, jump in there. Your core temp will be up already so this makes it more effective. Sit in there as long as you can stand. This may be only ten minutes to start with. When you have to get out, then hit the start button on your watch and sit in there five more minutes. If you want to go hard-core do some star jumps or push ups while you’re in there.

When addressed correctly and smartly, dealing with the heat isn’t difficult. Few people have a plan that look at all aspects – nutrition, cooling, acclimation – so if you get this right, then you have a chance of finishing much higher in your age group at hotter races.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Your Excuses Don’t Work Here

At least this is what a lot of people seem to think would have to happen in order for them to commit to doing a triathlon. “I don’t have time to train” or “I am too busy to train” – these are the most common excuses for why people either don’t commit to events or don’t meet their goals. The simple fact is everyone has the same number of hours in a week – 168.

When committing to an event it is not a matter of adding an extra amount of time into your schedule. You do not take all of your existing commitments and then add an extra amount of time. In order to train for an event, you must find the time in your existing schedule. Here are some tips on how to get around your time blockers:

I Am Too Busy

The first thing that needs to change is the mindset. Everyone is busy. John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia would walk for one hour everyday. It didn’t matter where he was in the world and he would often conduct meetings while walking. The leader of one of the top ten most developed economies in the world could legitimately say he was busy, yet he still made time every day.

The accurate expression is “I chose to prioritize other things.” This simple change of expression creates one very powerful aspect – accountability. Realizing that you have the same amount of time as everyone else (including the leaders of countries) but that you make the choice as to how to prioritize this time instantly changes your mindset from an excuse to an opportunity. You become accountable as to how you utilize your time.

I Have to Travel X Hours to Work

Time commuting is wasted time, but only if you let it be. Commuting represents an excellent training opportunity. Many people say they don’t have time for a long ride or run on a weekend, so use your commute time as an opportunity to do these during the week.

As a simple example of how this works:

• On Monday bring a set of work clothes into work along with a towel, deodorant, etc.
• Tuesday, instead of driving or catching the train, ride or run into work. Plan it out to avoid major roads, but also to make it more challenging by incorporating some hills or efforts.
• If it is too far to run the whole way, then catch public transport until you are a reasonable distance away from your office and run from that point.
• Don’t have any shower facilities? Most disabled toilets in office blocks have a shower or see if you can find a gym nearby to use. Products such as Action Wipes also make an excellent temporary shower.
• Similarly, rather than driving home and then heading out to the gym or pool, choose a center that is on your route.

One common excuse for why this won’t work is an early work meeting. Ask whether you need to be physically in the office for this meeting? Are other people already dialing into it? Rather than waste the time commuting and then attending the meeting, why not do both? Use the time before the meeting to train and then attend the meeting by phone as you are commuting in your car (on hands-free of course).

The use of this commute time doesn’t just apply to work. Want to have a picnic with the family? Get up a little earlier and run or ride to the park and meet them there.

Learn to Say No at Work

Many people say they are asked to do extra work or work on weekends. Are you being asked because it is expected? Are you the only person that could do the work? Here’s a simple trick: if a peer (maybe not your boss) asks you to do something that is in addition to your normal responsibilities, ask them this question, “If I was on annual leave who would you ask to do this?”

Similarly, a lot of people will claim they couldn’t train as the boss asked them to work on the weekend. I often ask them what they would have said to the manager’s request had that weekend been, for example, the weekend of their wedding? Again it is a question of what priority you choose.

United States Senator Paul Tsongas famously said, after being diagnosed with cancer, “No one on their death bed ever said I wish I had spent more time in the office”

Avoid the Time Vampires

In addition to multitasking, some simple planning can help you find additional time. Do you really need to check your work email all day? Try blocking out time for email. For example between 9:00am and 10:00am and 3:30pm and 4:30pm. If it is urgent, then people will call anyway.

Additionally, use the tools available in email clients to help prioritize your inbox so you deal with the important notes first. In the corporate world, I had the following rules set up:

• If I am on the CC the email goes to a folder called “Priority 3.”
• If I am on the To: line, but there are other people on that line it goes to “Priority 2.”
• If I am the only person on the To: line it goes to “Priority 1.” If it is from certain people e.g. your boss it might also go into this folder.

Plan it out. If you are the only person on the To: line and your boss is on the CC line it might go in the “Really Important” folder.

Once you’ve set up these rules, you can read and action email in accordance with their priority. As a coach, I still do this with training feedback from athletes. If their feedback contains words such as “pain” or even question marks these go into a higher priority folder so I deal with them first.

Use auto replies, too. Not just for when you are on leave, but for when you are offline. Setting expectations about your availability also helps manage how people interact with you. Block out lunchtime workout times in your schedule so people don’t book meetings at that time.

Meetings are also typically time wasters. The most common reason meetings are scheduled for one hour is that the scheduling system works that way – not because that is the amount of time required.

After your next meeting, ask yourself whether what was achieved in the meeting could have been achieved in less time. Similarly, at the start of meetings set the expectation of what is to be achieved. For example, decide on a new logo. If the meeting starts to go off track bring it back to this outcome. As a simple example, if four, one-hour meetings were changed to four, 45-minute meetings then one extra hour has suddenly been found.

I Like to Watch MasterChef

So do I. I also spend about eight hours a week reading medical studies and even playing on Facebook. Again, these are not in addition to training, but in combination.

Watching shows while on the treadmill or reading while on the elliptical means I can do both things and often makes the time go much quicker. And watching shows this way is far more efficient. Did you know that a one-hour show aired on television is actually comprised of twenty minutes of advertisements (a thirty minute show has ten minutes of adverts)? That means that one third of your time is actually wasted on adverts. By watching shows online this time usage becomes much more efficient.

In simple terms, it is never about finding additional time for your training. It is about finding how that time can fit into your existing schedule. As Lucille Ball said, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Why Your Excuse About “Not Having Time” Is Just Wrong appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

How to Raise Your Red Blood Cell Count

Athletes aim to raise their hematocrit as high as possible, but in legal manners. Indeed, the banned drug erythropoietin (EPO) does just this thing – raises hematocrit so more oxygen is provided to the muscles.

There are a couple ways to raise the RBC volume through training, but both are based around reducing oxygen saturation. Long slow distance increases base fitness by increasing RBC, and minimalist coaches like myself use anaerobic intervals to elicit the same response. Anaerobic work (work done without oxygen) triggers the brain to release erythropoietin from the kidneys. Yes, the same hormone that is illegally injected.

The irony, though, is that while training causes the body to need more red blood cells and to release the hormone to trigger their creation, there is one more building block that is commonly deficient in an athlete’s diet: iron.

EPO doesn’t trigger the release of red blood cells, as such. It triggers the release of erythrocytes that bind with an iron atom to produce a red blood cell that contains hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the actual oxygen-carrying component of the red blood cell. At the nucleus of hemoglobin is an iron atom. Thus, without iron an athlete cannot produce oxygen carrying red blood cells.

Yet, most athletes and indeed a lot of sports nutritionists overlook iron in the diet. Indeed one of the main causes I see for lack of energy in an athlete is a lack of this element. He or she may consume plenty of “energy” foods, but is deficient in the other fuel source the brain and muscles need – oxygen.

Iron is also used in the creation of ATP for the contraction of muscles and low iron is also linked to a weaker immune system – a common reason why athlete become sick during taper. Iron is arguably the most important element for endurance athletes.

How Much Iron Do I Need?

One of the issues with standard tests for iron is that the ranges are based off standard people. A hematocrit of 39% might be fine for an average person, but it’s very low for an endurance athlete. That athlete should actually be aiming for a measurement in the high 40s.

• 400g of Broccoli is a lot – close to five cups. 100g of red meat is very little. Most vegetarians don’t eat this much broccoli every day and the average serving of red meat is closer to 300g.
• Bioavailability. Just because a food contains a nutrient doesn’t mean your body can absorb it. Vegetable-sourced Iron (also called non-heme iron) is only around one quarter as well absorbed as meat-based iron (heme iron). To match a 300g piece of grass-fed beef, you would need to eat close to five kilograms of broccoli.

Seek out good, bioavailable iron sources. For vegetarians, choose chickpeas, legumes, and eggs. For omnivores, include grass-fed red meat in your diet.

Enhancing Absorption

This absorption rate of iron can be increased through consuming absorbic acid (vitamin C) at the same time. Interestingly, vitamin C has been shown to increase absorption of non-heme iron but not heme iron, so omnivores don’t really need to do this.

While adding vitamin C to increase iron absorption is reasonably common knowledge and most iron supplements include the vitamin, some common foods actually inhibit iron absorption. Foods that contain polyphenols inhibit iron absorption, as polyphenols bind to iron molecules in the intestine. Polyphenols have positive effects on the body in other areas, so they shouldn’t be discounted, but the irony (pun intended) is that polyphenols inhibit the absorption of non-heme iron and polyphenols are commonly found in vegetables.

So plants are not only a poorer source of bioavailable iron but also block its absorption, making the iron even less available. Phenolic acid found in apples, peppermint, and some herbal teas, and tannins found in black teas, coffee, cocoa, spices, walnuts, and fruits such as apples, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries all have the ability to inhibit iron absorption. Polyphenols have not been shown to have the same inhibitory effect on heme iron.

Conclusion

If you find you are not getting faster and are tired, don’t automatically blame your training. You may in fact be selling yourself short simply by missing one nutrient in your diet. If you are feeling fatigued, check your iron intake. Iron levels and hematocrit can be easily tested and are one of the most overlooked culprits when it comes to energy levels.

The ultimate irony is that for those training to become an Ironman they are commonly missing just that. So it’s time to put the iron back in Ironman.

References:

1. Hurrell RF., Reddy M., Cook JD., “Inhibition of non-haem iron absorption in man by polyphenolic-containing beverages.” Br J Nutr. 1999 Apr;81(4):289-95.

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#1: Go to a Professional Right Away

Find out what the problem is quickly and from a professional. Don’t go see a general practitioner, don’t see a physio, and don’t spend hours checking out Doctor Google.

Four weeks ago it was a nice morning so I decided to go for a run. It wasn’t a tempo run or an interval run, just a nice run to enjoy the sunshine and the beach. About 2km into the run – BANG – a searing pain in my right foot. By the end of the day I couldn’t even put weight on the foot.

#1: Go to a Professional Right Away

Find out what the problem is quickly and from a professional. Don’t go see a general practitioner, don’t see a physio, and don’t spend hours checking out Doctor Google.

Surely life was over, my fitness would evaporate, and I would become morbidly obese by the end of the week (this seems to be the thinking whenever an athlete gets an injury). So the next day I went to get it checked out at a podiatrist I know whose partner is a runner. An ultrasound scan revealed a 17mm tear and inflammation in a tendon in my foot.

#2: Find a Professional You Can Work With

Find out what you can do rather than just what is off limits.

According to the podiatrist, I shouldn’t run for six weeks. Weight bearing was out, and even swimming was to be avoided (due to plantar flexing). Rather than focusing on what I couldn’t do, I asked him what I could do. There is an important difference between pain and damage. For example riding a bicycle in a carbon-soled shoe was painful, but according to the podiatrist, it wasn’t going to cause further damage. Riding up hills (additional stress on foot) was out, but flat riding was fine.

#3: Heal the Injury, Don’t Just Mask the Pain

Would you just take painkillers for a broken arm or have it reset in place?

For most of the day I wear an air boot. One of the keys to healing is to make sure you don’t create a situation that will cause you to re-injure, meaning you don’t want to heal in a shortened state. This is an important one for things like Achilles injuries. Simply having a cortisone injection would mask the problem (pain), but would not allow for proper healing. The boot keeps the foot flexed, which means the tendon doesn’t heal in a shortened state. I also roll the foot on a hockey ball to facilitate blood flow. (Note: I also avoid anti-inflammatories due to the direct link to gut issues and COX-2 inhibitors.)

#4: Don’t Panic, Instead Make a Plan

Check the fine print on events. Most major events will allow you to defer your entry if you have a medical reason.

I have a number of events coming up that I entered and paid for. Rather than panicking about missing them, I checked whether it was possible to defer my entry, what the deadline was for, and what the cancellation fee was. That way I knew how long I had to fix the problem and at what point I needed to decide it was a go or no go.

#5: Get Strict With Your Nutrition

Don’t work against your body. Don’t “distract” the healing by creating other problems for your body to deal with. Be stricter on an anti-inflammatory diet.

Most injuries cause inflammation. Inflammation can be a good thing as it martials the body to the fix the damaged area. However, if we are introducing additional inflammation into our body, then we slow the healing processes. My diet is pretty good, but after the injury I decided not to work against my body and instead focused on cutting out inflammatory foods even more. I focused on completely cutting out wheat (even hidden wheat in gravies, hamburgers, or crumbs) and refined sugars. I essentially followed a ketogenic diet.

#6: Take the Right Supplements

Look at supplements that can help you body recover from injury. Look specifically at the type of injury you are dealing with, e.g. tissue, bone, etc.

There are several supplements that can aid with healing. Colostrum and lactoferrin are two I use to help the body heal faster, as well as curcumin for pain relief and for dealing with inflammation.

#7: Use High Intensity Intervals

Do what you can to get that heart pumping. Krank cycles, single-leg riding, whatever maintains or increases your fitness without loading the injured area.

Fitness can be simply broken down into two factors:

1. The blood’s ability to carry oxygen
2. Strength

The blood’s ability to carry oxygen is measured by the red blood cell count (hematocrit). Studies, such as this one have shown that high intensity, anaerobic intervals cause an increase in red blood cell count even more efficiently than long boring miles.¹ But surely you need to run or ride to do intervals, right? Enter the Krankcycle. The Krankcycle allows me to do high intensity intervals with zero impact on my foot. My protocol was thirty seconds hard, followed by three minutes of recovery, done ten times.

I also kept on top of my iron intake so as to not waste the intervals. The net result is my red blood cell count has gone from forty up to 44 in four weeks. To give context, professional cyclists aim for a count of fifty, often using artificial means to get there. So, in essence, I have actually become fitter while injured.

#8: Work the Uninjured Body Parts

If like me, you have an injured leg, then work the uninjured leg. You will still get an increase in strength in the other leg and also reduce atrophy.

Obviously it is hard to do strength work for the legs without using the legs. Or is it? In a number of studies it was found that when working a single leg that growth was also shown in the other, unused leg.² It wasn’t as much growth, but your body does like to try and balance itself. Single leg squats, leg extensions, and lunges can all be used to build and maintain strength, and at the same time develop hip and core stability.

#9: Consider Using Alternate Tools

Tools such as electrical nerve stimulation, isometrics, and aqua jogging can create muscle contractions without loading the injured area.

The TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) tool I use is made by Compex. These devices have come a long way since the old days of simply placing the electrodes on your chest and hitting a button. Modern units have variable levels and even specific programs. For example, the unit I use has an endurance program that uses shorter duration shocks. I use this to build strength, but also to fatigue my legs before a flat ride to solicit greater fiber recruitment. (It’s also good justification to keep shaving my legs. Pulling the electrodes off hairy legs is not a highlight of my day.)

As you can see, dealing with an injury is holistic. You should look at diet, look at alternate tools, and work with a professional. Trying to do this on your own is difficult and time consuming, especially with the amount of misinformation out there so this leads me to the final and most important point.

#10: Tell Your Coach

Your coach won’t (or shouldn’t) think you are soft but he or she should work with you.

References:

1. Satish, Sharma et al, “Effect of Intensive Interval Training on Red Blood Corpuscles and Cardiovascular Endurance,” International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering 06 (2012): 111-117.

2. P. Kanus, et al, “Effect of one-legged exercise on the strength, power and endurance of the contralateral leg,” European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 64 (1992): 117-126.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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1. Gluten Free Isn’t Gluten Free

The most common form of gluten is the wheat gluten, gliaden. However, there are a number of other forms of gluten such as secalin that is found in rye and avenin that is found in oats. When companies advertise products such as oats as gluten free (usually with an asterisk), the truth is they are taking a bit of marketing license. Gluten can also be hidden in products such as hamburger, sausages, gravies, sauces, and even in custard, as a thickener or binding agent. I always find some irony in watching people eat gluten free pasta with a cheese sauce, given that the base of the cheese sauce – the roux – is typically made from butter and flour.

Be cautious, too, of products that have names of gluten-free grains such as “quinoa and chia bread.” A quick check of the ingredients will sometimes show that less than 10% of the ingredients are these two things – and the remainder is often gluten-rich white flour. The same goes for a lot of wraps labeled rice or corn wraps. To be named as such, these products need to be predominantly those ingredients (i.e. 50.1%), but the remainder can often contain wheat.

2. Gluten Isn’t Just in Foods

Gluten is not restricted to foods. The majority of hair-care products also contain gluten. Some products declare this as wheat protein, but the majority hides the offending ingredient under other names. Look for ingredients such as:

• Triticum vulgare (wheat)
• Hordeum vulgare (barley)
• Secale cereale (rye)
• Avena sativa (oats)
• Wheat germ oil
• Hydrolyzed wheat protein
• Stearyl dimonium hydroxypropy (hydrolyzed wheat protein)
• Laurdimonium hydroxypropyl (hydrolyzed wheat protein)
• Colloidal oatmeal
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (may contain wheat)
• Dextrin palmitate (starch, possibly gluten-based)

The two mouthfuls – stearyl dimonium hydroxypropy and laurdimonium hydroxypropyl – are extremely common in shampoos and conditioners, and the gluten can be readily absorbed by the body’s largest organ, the skin. It’s possible that although you are reducing the gluten in your diet, that you are actually getting a greater amount through your skin.

3. The Solution Can Be Worse Than the Problem

For people who don’t have gluten issues, choosing gluten-free products can actually be a worse option. Even for people with gluten intolerance, eating these products may not be healthy. Gluten-free in the sense of baked products really means “gluten replaced” and herein lies the issue. White rice flour, milled corn flour, and even potato- or cornstarch are all used as alternatives to wheat flour. Even chemicals with bigger names than stearyl dimonium hydroxypropy will find their way into gluten-free products.

These compounds are often worse in some ways than the product they are replacing, and here’s why. The glycemic index of these flours and starches is often much higher than the original gluten-filled product, causing a rise and crash in blood sugar and also a greater storage of adipose tissue. Add the fact that these products often have less fiber (which would reduce the glycemic index) and the problem is made even worse. Quite often, gluten-free products not only have a higher glycemic index but also more calories. So, if you are eating gluten free in this fashion in order to lose weight, it won’t work. In addition, these compounds can be more inflammatory than the original product, causing issues with the immune system and exacerbating other inflammatory problems like arthritis.

4. Gluten Isn’t All That Is Taken Out

By removing flour from a product, the presence of a number of other minerals is also removed. Vitamin B, zinc, and iron are either no longer present in the replacement or are added back into the ingredients in a synthetic, often non-bioavailable form.

So for non-gluten-intolerant people, going gluten free is not necessarily a healthy option – in fact, it can be quite the opposite depending on the choices you make. Even for gluten-intolerant people these products discussed above are not a good option. Instead, look for grains that are truly gluten free like quinoa and millet, which also still contain the other nutrients you need.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Is Gluten Free as Healthy as You Think? 4 Aspects to Consider appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Besides, simply reducing calories does not mean you will lose weight. The storage of fat is based on the work of insulin to manage blood sugar. In fact, two studies on super low-calorie diets – one in which participants ate only a thousand calories and the other where participants fasted – showed that people on a thousand calorie diet could actually gain weight:

So, simply restricting calories may not help with weight-loss goals. Furthermore, the issue for athletes is that they typically want to achieve three things with their training and diet:

1. Improve performance
2. Achieve the ideal racing weight
3. Improve performance

While restricting calories may cause a reduction in weight, extreme calorie reduction has a greater impact on performance and actually creates a body composition that is often the opposite of what an athlete is trying to achieve. Over a period of time, extreme calorie reduction places the body into what is labeled “starvation mode.” The primary fuel source for the brain is ketones that are derived from body fat (which is why a ketogenic diet “works”). But if the brain believes that the volume of calories being burned far exceeds the amount being consumed, then it starts to worry and a number of things happen:

Low glycogen stores. We can store about 1,500 calories of glycogen and this is our primary fuel source for high-intensity training. If we are not consuming enough calories to reload this, then our tank empties and we have no fuel to push our hard efforts. Ever been in a race or a hard session and you try and push harder, but your heart rate is dropping and you just cannot push? This is because the glycogen tank is empty. Glycogen takes about 24 hours to reload.³ If you run out during a race, it’s going to be a long day.

So the effect of a large gap between calories consumed and calories expended can be summed up in two statements:

1. You don’t improve or you get slower.
2. You maintain fat and lose muscle tone.

Both are the exact opposite of what most people set out to achieve. So, the question becomes, “How many calories should I consume if I want to lose weight without impacting performance?”

First ask yourself, do you need to lose weight? I hear so many endurance athletes say they want to lose 5kg (five seems to always be the magic number for some reason). Why? Is it a super hilly course? Are you trying to reduce stress on joints? Look at the performance reason before the number. I often say that this number is derived using the REM technique – the rectal extraction method.

If you do determine that you want to lean down use this method:

• Start with 1,700 (the average base metabolic rate for men, use 1,410 for women).
• If you have a hard session of one-hour in duration, add 800.
• If you have an easy session (long run/ride), add 600 per hour.
• If you are doing weights, add 600.

Take your weight in kilograms and multiply it by 4.8 (i.e. 70 x 4.8 = 336). This is the amount of protein you must have. The remaining calories (2,764) are energy – whether this is derived from good fats in a ketogenic diet or low-glycemic carbohydrates.

These numbers may be slightly incorrect when it comes to your individual factors. This can be adjusted based on how your body responds, but always try and keep within the range of around 400 calories maximum deficit.

A focus on reducing calories is extremely common with triathletes who focus on weight as a metric of progress. But a focus on fueling the training with the right nutrients and a small calorie reduction where needed can produce a far greater overall outcome.

References:

The post Calorie Restriction for Endurance Athletes: Why It’s Not Always A Good Idea appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Setting of goals is considered basic common sense in the business world and it’s reinforced by research. Like that study done on the Yale Business School class of 1953 you may have heard of, in which only 3% of the graduating students wrote down clear goals. Twenty years later, those 3% had a greater combined net worth than the other 97%. Compelling, right? There are literally over a thousand articles that cite this study, and people like Anthony Robbins quote it as the basis for their books and seminars.

It would be compelling if it were true. But it isn’t. That study doesn’t exist. It’s pure urban myth. In fact, even Yale’s own library site advises it is a myth.

So what does it matter if this study wasn’t actually true? Everyone knows that successful people all set goals. Or do they?

In the mid 1990s, an article was published in an Australian magazine around what makes successful people successful. It looked at high-flying business executives, champion sportspeople, and media personalities to try and find what common traits they possessed. One of the common traits regarded the setting of goals.

They didn’t.

This is a trend that continues with modern organizations such as Google, who also do not set annual goals beyond those required by the SEC. In Google’s case, they don’t set corporate goals as it decreases their agility – the ability to respond to what the market is doing (which is often outside their control anyway). There are many famous quotations from individuals or, often now defunct, companies who “knew” exactly what the industry was going to do.

• “Man will not fly for fifty years.” – Wilbur Wright, 1901
• “This band’s going nowhere.” – Pete Best, Original Beatles Drummer, 1962
• “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their house.” – Ken Olsen, Head of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

How is it possible to set realistic goals when it is impossible to predict all those factors outside of our control that could influence these?

There have been lots of studies on what makes successful people successful, such as those referenced in Stephen Covey’s book Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. These people demonstrated traits like single mindedness, focus, and total commitment to a goal. The issue with this research, as documented in Jerker Denrell’s 2003 study Vicarious Learning, Undersampling of Failure and the Myths of Management is that the study group is quite selective. In this case, only successful people were studied.

Not surprisingly you don’t see many books on what makes abject failures unsuccessful, but in some studies, mostly anecdotal, it has been found that these people actually execute the same habits. Single mindedness and total commitment to a goal can make the person oblivious to reality, unable to deal with changes to their market or environment. Indeed in the 2013 “documentary” Jobs, the reason that made Steve Jobs successful – a single-minded focus on quality – was also the reason he was ultimately ousted from Apple, in that this focus made him oblivious to the other factors required for his company to succeed.

So if the value of setting goals is questionable or debatable, is there really a problem or potential harm with setting goals and what is it? Indeed the successful people interviewed in the magazine were asked why it was they didn’t set goals. The answer was simple and very relevant for athletic performance.

“Defining goals defines your limitations.”

As an example, picture a four-hour marathon runner whose goal it is to run a sub-3:30 marathon. He works out what needs to be done – train to that specific pace and come race day run a 3:29. Goal met. This is a great example of where the goal setting worked. Didn’t it?

Now imagine a four-hour marathon runner who commits each week to follow a balanced program of muscular endurance, weights, and track work. Each week he meets this commitment – a commitment to continuously improve. Come race day he runs 3:19. In this case, setting a goal of 3:30 would have meant he didn’t get the best out of himself – he sold himself short.

Imagine again if for our four-hour runner a 3:30 marathon was never realistic anyway based on time until the event and available training time? Had he focused on improvement over the goal, he may have run 3:39, which is still a huge personal best. Instead he “missed” his goal and is disappointed or, worse still, is injured from trying to push for an unrealistic goal and can’t run the marathon at all. This is also common in business where specific goals lead to people cheating or producing poor quality output so as purely to tick the box of meeting the goal.

The same is common for people trying to lose weight. They set a goal, instead of focusing each day on eating smart and exercising properly. For weight loss the issue can also be that a long-term goal is harder to be motivated for and thus slip-ups in nutrition become okay and self-justifiable as the people in question have months left to go. Weight loss is typically not linear, especially with obese people who have lost their insulin sensitivity. This creates a conundrum where a long-term goal isn’t motivating, but a short-term goal isn’t an accurate reflection of progress.

So rather than defining your own limitations through long-term goals, perhaps just make a commitment to continual improvement. Successful people may not all set long-terms goals, but they do commit to growing as an individual. They look at what they can do each dayto make a small improvement that, over time, adds up. In fact a 1% improvement, over 68 days means you will be 100% better than you were yesterday.

In Japanese this term, continuous improvement, is called kaizen. The tattoo of which I have on my ankle.

References:

1. “Yale Business Research FAQ,” Yale LIbraries.

2. Steven Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

3. Jerker Denrell, “Vicarious Learning, Undersampling of Failure and the Myths of Management,” Organization Science 14 (2003):227-243.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

Google Logo by Google INC (https://www.google.com/images/srpr/logo11w.png) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Why Successful People Don’t Set Goals and You Shouldn’t Either appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Muscle-Shortening Reflex

Muscles and even tendons within the body work in exactly the same way. When they are compressed, they automatically spring back to their original length. This is called the muscle-shortening reflex. In the same way as with the exercise ball or tennis ball, this stored energy in our body is automatically released.

Try this simple drill:

Stand up, and jump up and down with your body relatively straight. Essentially, bounce on a spot like you would when jumping rope.

Now try the same thing but with a slight pause between jumps.

Which feels easier?

In the first set of jumps, we are initially required to generate power (energy) to leave the ground. But as we land, energy that is created by gravity is stored in the body and then released by the muscle-shortening reflex to allow us to spring back up. This continues for as long as we continue jumping.

In the second set of jumps, we are required to generate power (energy) in order to leave the ground. When we land and pause, the energy created by gravity is dissipated or wasted into the ground and we now need to create all of the energy required to jump off the ground again. The pause causes us to waste the natural energy

By storing energy created by the action of gravity on our body we have a free energy source that we can tap into when running. The best example of this is the Australian kangaroo, which can hop at up to 70kph using this natural energy. This stored energy can, however, dissipate and be wasted quickly and this loss of energy, like the jumping example, be attributed to one thing – ground contact time.

Ground Contact Time

Like the example, the longer we stay on the ground the more of this energy is wasted. However, in order to reduce contact time we actually need to negate, or rather placate a built-in safely switch in our body. Because our brain won’t let our body leave the ground until it feels safe and secure.

Within the mid-foot are a large number of nerves that are essentially the pressure sensors for our brain. When these nerves register that we are secure, then the brain will then allow other muscles to contract for the foot to leave the ground. The time it takes for these nerves to a) register they are secure and b) tell the brain can be enough to waste the precious energy stored within the muscles that is waiting to be released.

There are two ways we can improve this:

1. Choice of Footwear

This may sound strange but our choice of footwear can delay the pressure-sensing nerves from registering. Shoes with a softer, spongier mid-foot actually cause the foot to press harder into the foam in order to register as it searches for the ground. While obviously these shoes are softer on the bones, the ligaments within the foot in a thicker, softer mid-footed shoe typically have higher ground contact time than with a thinner shoe. Part of the science behind shoes like Newtons is using a thinner membrane under the mid foot to rapidly register with these nerves that the foot is good to go.

Coach’s Tip: Use a shoe with a thinner or firmer mid foot to more rapidly register solid ground contact

2. Higher Cadence

Higher leg turnover facilitates lighter ground contact. With less force through the foot, the need for a secure base is less. Higher cadence also facilitates the muscle-shortening reflex in other muscles such as the deltoids, providing further free speed. Higher cadence doesn’t necessarily mean running faster, though. Think about a bicycle – it is easy to change speed while maintaining exactly the same cadence simply through the choice of gears. Similarly, small steps in endurance running allow for a higher cadence and better usage of the muscle-shortening reflex.

Most studies on the live time of the muscle-shortening reflex – the time before this reflex dissipates – show it is best enabled using a cadence of around 180-190 steps per minute. Most modern running watches support using a foot pod that can display cadence and provide alerts when cadence is too low or high. But an investment in a foot pod isn’t mandatory. Simply count your steps for fifteen seconds when running and aim for 45-46 steps in this time.

Coaches Tip: It is often easier to just count one foot striking the ground. Just halve the number of steps you are aiming for.

A logical thought is that if a higher cadence is good, than a higher cadence is even better. To a point this is correct, but there is a natural limit on how fast a muscle can move or respond. High-speed firing of a nerve for an extended period of time leads to nerve fatigue. Trying to maintain a cadence close to 100 for an extended period of time is close to impossible.

“The faster the cadence, the faster the runner” isn’t quite correct. It would be easy to think that if you are running at 188 steps a minute at 5:00min/km, then an Olympic marathon runner running at 3:00min/km must have a much higher cadence. The truth is that Olympic marathon runners also have a cadence of 188 steps a minute. The difference is in how far they travel with each step.

We can illustrate this with a simple math problem:

At 5mins/km it takes you about 3 hours and 31 minutes to run a marathon (211 minutes). This means you take 211 x 188 = 39,668 steps to cover 42,200m, which means each step is 1.06 meters long

An Olympic marathon runner at 3min/km takes 2 hours and 6 minutes to run a marathon (126 minutes). This means he or she takes 23,688 steps to cover 42,200 , which means each step is 1.78 meters long.

So, the difference between an Olympic runner’s stride and an average runner’s stride is 72cm!

Before we discuss how to increase your cadence and increase your stride length, let’s have one more look at those numbers, especially when it comes to choice of footwear. Consider a normal running shoe weighs around 300g. A marathon-racing shoe (not a sprinter’s or 5km runner’s shoe – they are even lighter) weighs around 200g. This may not seem significant. 100g isn’t much, but when we consider we need to lift this 39,668 times, then the difference between the two shoes is actually 3966kg of extra weight you need to move. In fact, it’s actually a bit worse than this as the foot and shoe are moving in a circle and therefore have rotational mass. So a lighter shoes is not only better for assisting the muscle-shortening reflex, but also puts a lot less load on the hip flexors.

By raising cadence, a runner’s efficiency increases greatly. It’s a common misconception that a higher cadence requires more energy where, as can be seen from the muscle-shortening explanation, reality is actually the opposite case – a higher cadence is more efficient.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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