Then suddenly it happens. You break away and sprint down the court. You are in the prefect position to get a pass from your teammate and score a three pointer. You plant on your right foot and cut hard to the left. Suddenly, your right knee gives way and your body collapses to the floor. Pain shoots through your knee. You are in shock and thoughts flood your brain: I can’t believe I missed that three point shot! How long will this take to heal? Am I going to have to miss next week’s game? This fictitious play-by-play may sound all too familiar if you have injured your knee while playing a sport in the recent past.

Sam’s Knee Injury Forecast

Enter Sam. I met Sam at the mall last night when I was out running some errands. Sam was working at a kiosk next to the food court, and I couldn’t help but notice that Sam’s leg was in a brace, resting on a chair in front of him. I struck up a conversation with Sam, and he told me the story of how he hurt his knee during a basketball game with his friends. He gave me a play-by-play much like the one at the beginning of this article.

Sam has had x-rays done on his knee, which came out negative, meaning there was nothing shown in the x-rays that indicated damage to his knee. He explained to me that the next step is to meet with an orthopedic doctor and possibly undergo and MRI. Since Sam has not yet had his MRI, we can speculate the following predictable chain of events:

Fast forward three months into the future. Sam has gone through the MRI, and no damage was shown to the knee. The ligaments are all intact. There is some minor damage to the meniscus, the doctor says, but nothing worth operating on. The prescription: rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, and then get back to his regular activities when the knee is feeling better.

Fast forward another three months in our prediction of events. At six months since the injury, Sam has been good at following all of the doctor’s recommendations. He has not played a single game of basketball (this has been torturous), and he has gone to physical therapy once per week for eight weeks.

Sam is itching to get back on the court. He has gained some weight since the injury, and after being sedentary for six months, he is not feeling like his old self anymore. He is worried that if he hits the courts again, he will re-injure his knee. Paralysis sets in and Sam does nothing, for fear of the unknown.

If you have suffered a recent knee injury yourself, this scenario may ring a bell. The question is, what do you do at this point? You have exhausted the traditional forms of medical treatment that are available to you. You have done everything the doctor told you to do. You are dying to get out and play again, but you know deep down in your gut that you are just not ready yet. Your knee doesn’t feel normal. What is going on?

An Injured Knee From Sitting Too Much?

Let’s take a step back and revisit my conversation with Sam at the mall. After he shared his story of how he hurt his knee, I asked Sam if the thought ever crossed his mind that his posture could have anything to do with his knee injury. At first Sam looked at me like I was from Mars. I proceeded to ask Sam if he would allow me to show him what I mean by posture. Sam agreed to let me take a picture of him, which I have included here:

Don’t forget the bigger picture—your posture matters. [Photo credit: Maryann Berry]

When I showed Sam his photo, I asked him what he saw and the first thing he pointed out was the curve of his back. He immediately knew that his back was not supposed to be excessively curved like this, and without hesitation he asked me why this happens. I explained to Sam that we all have compromised posture because we don’t move enough.

At first he got a little bit defensive in response to my statement and explained that he used to work out three times per week. My rebuttal was to have Sam calculate how many hours per day he has spent sitting on average since he was six years old. After thinking about this for a few moments, a smile crept onto his face and I immediately knew he understood. He said that when he was a kid he sat in school for about five hours per day. Now he is in school full time to get his MBA, and he is sitting in class or sitting to study nearly all day long. When he commutes from home to school, or from home to work, he is sitting in his car driving. I didn’t have to explain any further, as it was obvious to Sam that the majority of his day to day life involved little to no movement.

I proceeded to explain that when we spend a lot of time sitting, our bodies lose balance and strength and our posture suffers. When we go out to play a fun game of basketball with our friends, our muscles and joints are not in a good position and we are prone to injuries such as the knee injury that he was suffering from.

Time for the posture intervention.

Load Bearing Joints as a System

Let’s talk anatomy and the basic design of the human body. The human body is comprised of eight major load bearing joints: shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. These joints work in unison with one another when they are properly aligned, as shown in the image below of Function Freddie.

Everything is connected. [Photo credit: Egoscue University]

The hip, knee, and ankle joint are designed to stack one on top of the other in a straight line with the feet pointed straight ahead. Now let’s take a closer look at the mechanics of the hip, knee, and ankle:

• The knee joint is a hinge. Just like the hinge on a door, this joint is designed to open and close, thus moving the knee through flexion and extension.
• The hip joint is a ball and socket joint, and is able to move through a full circle.
• The main ankle joint is a hinge, much like the knee, and is able to move the foot up and down. This main joint of the ankle, combined with the subtalar joint, work together to form a system that can move in a full circle, similar to a ball and socket joint.

What happens when a person spends a lot of time sitting (which we all do)? The pelvis loses its ability to move through a full range of motion due to muscle tightness and weakness. Over time, the hips become unbalanced, usually with one side that is stronger or more dominant than the other. Lack of movement, sitting, and shoes can all lead to reduced range of motion in the ankle joint as well.

When the ankle and the hip lose function and mobility, the knee joint, which is trapped in the middle, then gets asked to move like a ball and socket, which we know is not its intended function. This extra demand on the knee can lead to soft tissue damage or an injury like the one that Sam suffered.

It is important to see the bigger picture and to recognize that a knee injury is rarely a knee problem, but rather a hip, knee, ankle problem. Check out the following photos of people who started out with misaligned knees. In all three of the after photos, you will see the misalignments have been corrected or greatly improved.

When the joints don’t work in unison, imbalance is the result. [Before and after photos credit: Maryann Berry]

If you have recently injured your knee, and the connection between your knee injury and your posture makes sense to you, the next step is to go see a practitioner that specializes in posture for an assessment. This practitioner can guide you in the direction of the exercises that you need to do in order to correct your specific muscular imbalances. This customized approach is the best way to eliminate the guesswork, and ensure your long term success.

Exercises for Better Knee Alignment

For some generalized guidance on exercises to balance and strengthen the hips and knees, check out the following program. I personally have overcome knee pain after undergoing an ACL replacement and dealing with chronic knee pain for 10 years. Today, my knee is pain-free, and the following exercises have all been a part of my routine at one point or another.

I recommend starting out by doing the entire series of exercises at least once. Then choose the exercise(s) that you feel target the areas where you need to strengthen or stabilize, and incorporate those exercises into your regular routine.

Now let’s get started!

Inner and Outer Thighs

Sets/Reps:

1 set of 20 reps (on both inner and outer thighs on each leg)

Purpose:

To activate and strengthen adductor and abductor muscle groups.

Instructions:

1. Lie on your side.
2. Rest your head on your hand and brace yourself with the other arm, placing your palm flat on the floor.
3. Bend the top leg and place your foot flat on the floor in front of your thigh.
4. Raise and lower the bottom leg up 3-4 inches off the floor then back to the floor and repeat 20 times to work the inner thigh. You should feel this in the inner thigh.
5. Keep the thigh of the bottom leg tight and your toes flexed back.
6. Switch sides by stacking the legs, then bend the knee of the bottom leg back behind you. Be sure your knees are stacked on top of each other and your thighs are parallel to each other.
7. Hold the top leg straight with your thigh tight and your foot flexed.
8. Raise and lower the top leg 20 times to work the outer thigh.
9. Key point: Keep your heel higher than your toes by slightly internally rotating your leg. This is critical in order for you to activate glute medius. You should feel this in your glutes.
10. Roll to the other side and repeat the entire sequence.

Focus on: Keeping the thigh of the working leg tight and the foot flexed.

Left: Inner thigh, position one; Right: Inner thigh, position two. [Photo credit: Maryann Berry]

Left: Outer thigh, position one; Right: Outer thigh, position two. [Photo credit: Maryann Berry]

Abductor Presses

Sets/Reps:

3 sets of 20 reps

Purpose:

To activate the abductor muscle group (outer hip).

Instructions:

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor pointed straight ahead.
2. Place a strap or belt around your knees. Your knees should be bent and fist-width apart (about four inches).
3. Set your feet hip-width apart with the outer edges of your feet straight.
4. Press outward against the strap and then release. Be sure the knees aren’t wider than hip width when pressing against strap or belt. Continue to press and release for a total of three sets of 20 reps.
5. You should feel this in your outer hip/glute area.
6. Be sure to keep your stomach and upper body relaxed.

Focus on: The set up. You will get the most benefit by starting off with your feet and knees hip width apart and your feet straight.

Abductor press. [Photo credit: Maryann Berry]

Hip Flexor Leg Lifts

Sets/Reps:

2 sets of 20 reps on each side

Purpose:

To promote knee extension and to strengthen the hip flexors and quads.

Instructions:

1. Lie on your back with one leg bent and the other leg extended straight out in front of you.
2. Prop yourself up on your elbows and look straight ahead. Roll a small arch into your lower back.
3. Tighten the thigh of your straight leg and pull your toes back toward you.
4. Hold this tightened position while lifting and lowering this leg from the floor up to the level of the bent leg and down again. You should feel this in your quad and the crease of the hip.
5. After 20 reps, switch legs and repeat.

Focus on: Maintaining the arch in the low back. If you lose the arch the exercise will feel really easy and will defeat the purpose. If you cannot maintain the arch while achieving the proper height of the leg you are working, then lift the leg as high as you can while maintaining the arch in your low back.

Left: Hip flexor, position one; Right: Hip flexor, position two. [Photo credit: Maryann Berry]

Invisible Leg Press

Sets/Reps:

2 sets of 10 reps

Purpose:

This exercise does a lot of things all at once. This works both the quads and hamstrings. This also works the shin muscles and promotes dorsiflexion of the ankle. Finally, this exercise activates the abductor muscles of the hips for an overall total leg and hip workout.

Instructions:

1. Place a strap around your ankles so that your ankles are one fist width apart.
2. Lie on your back and fully extend your legs in the air.
3. Allow your arms to rest at a 45 degree angle with your palms facing up.
4. Maintain constant pressure outward on the strap in order to feel muscles work in your hips.
5. Flex your ankles back so that the tops of your feet are parallel to the ceiling.
6. Slowly bend your knees while keeping your feet parallel to the ceiling. Only go as far as you can go without loosing position with your feet. At this point you should feel a stretch in your claves and muscle work in your shins.
7. Extend your legs back to the straight position and contract your quads at the top to finish the rep and you will feel your quads burn.

Don’t forget to continuously press outward against the strap. Pretend that your heels are sliding up and down an imaginary plate of glass, but you do not want your heels to break through the glass away from you—and keep your feet straight.

In order to practice keeping your feet and ankles in the correct position, place a lightweight, flat object on the soles of your feet. Go through the reps without allowing the object to slant or drop.

Focus on: Keeping the soles of your feet parallel to the ceiling throughout the entire exercise. If done correctly, the range of motion of the legs moving down and up will be about four to six inches. The most important factor is keeping the feet parallel to the ceiling, not how low you can bring your legs.

Left: Invisible leg press, position one; Right: Invisible leg press, position two. [Photo credit: Maryann Berry]

Put Posture Intervention to Use

I hope you have enjoyed and will be able to put this posture intervention to good use. No matter what course of action you choose to heal your knee, don’t forget the bigger picture: everything is connected!

More on posture and alignment:

Two Alignment Fixes to Prevent CrossFit Injuries

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only. The purpose of this article is to promote broad reader understanding and knowledge of various health topics. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

The post Posture Intervention: Healing After a Knee Injury appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Few would argue that there is a connection between workplace stress and illness-related absences from work, and many companies include “work-life balance” or wellness services to try and avoid taking the productivity hit that comes from time off due to stress-induced illness. But the researchers discovered simply that fitter professionals are better protected against a high degree of stress in the workplace. The researchers recorded the efforts from nearly 200 Swedish employees (51% male, mean age 39 years) on a bicycle ergometer. (They also measured an assortment of other known cardiovascular risk factors, like blood pressure, BMI, cholesterol, triglycerides and so on.) The participants were then asked to provide information on their current perception of stress.

The results were inline with the researchers’ predictions: Stressed individuals showed higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors. The connection between cardiovascular fitness and virtually all risk factors was also validated, with fit individuals showing lower risk factors. What this research ended-up showing is that fitness mitigates, to a degree, the relationship between an individual’s perception of stress and their development of cardiovascular risk factors. There were especially large differences among stressed individuals with a high, medium, and low fitness levels.

For example, those who felt highly stressed and had a low fitness level had LDL cholesterol values that exceeded clinically relevant limits. But that was not the case with highly stressed individuals with a high fitness level.

Professor Gerber, resercher from the University of Basel says, “Above all, these findings are significant because it is precisely when people are stressed that they tend to engage in physical activity less often.” The bottom line, as usual, is that it pays to stick with your fitness regimen. And that might be harder to do—but all the more important—when work gets stressful.

Reference

1. Gerber, Markus, Mats Börjesson, Thomas Ljung, Magnus Lindwall, and Ingibjörg H. Jonsdottir. “Fitness Moderates the Relationship between Stress and Cardiovascular Risk Factors.” Medicine and science in sports and exercise (2016).

The post Opposites Distract: Stress Versus Fitness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It’s true that you don’t know what you don’t know, and I’ll be the first to admit there’s a lot that I don’t know. Any coach worth working with will tell just the same (that’s why we have coaches too). But my job as coach is to give you a new perspective. I’m here to get you out of the box.

Draw A Bigger Box

Each of us lives in a box of our own making. Over the years, we draw boundaries on what we perceive is possible. Of course, our culture and upbringing play a big part in defining the edges, but at the end of the day the box you live in is simply the story you tell yourself about yourself.

For a while, the box I lived in was defined by boundaries like:

• I’ll only be successful if I get a “real” job
• I’m stuck with pain
• Men have chiseled abs and huge biceps
• I don’t need help
• I have to be the smartest guy in the room to be worthwhile

That’s all kind of bullshit, right? But we can’t see that when we’re living in it. We look at the boundaries of our box and see hard lines. A coach is there to help you see that those hard lines aren’t so solid after all.

If you’re willing to do the work, you can draw a bigger box for yourself. It comes from a shift in how you see the world. Your performance in life depends on your actions. In turn, your actions stem from your perception of how the world works. If you can shift that perspective, your actions and performance automatically shift as well.

There are three questions we can use to make that change possible. The answers can be uncomfortable, but I encourage you to lean in. Growth happens at the edges.

Where Are We Now?

Change starts with awareness. When you bring awareness to something, you have a choice to act on it. And that’s the most liberating thing in the world. It’s time to take an honest look at your current context. What are the edges of the box? You could keep this physical, and say you weigh however many pounds. lift XYZ pounds in the big three, and your 10k time is such and such.

That’s a fine starting point. Now dig deeper. What do your current habits look like? What’s your mindset like? How are your relationships? How is your environment? As Frank Forencich of Exuberant Animal says, we need to look at “Long Body Health,” a combination of person, habitat, and tribe. You don’t live in a vacuum. Each of these factors plays a role in how you look, feel, and perform.

Get clear on where you are now. Only then can you decide where you want to end up.

Where Do We Want To Be?

Ask yourself: if not this, what else? What do you want your life to look like? My favorite coaching question is simply: what else?

After you run that marathon, then what? When you finally recover from that injury, where do you go next? Be curious about the big picture. You want to deadlift triple bodyweight… what else?

There’s never a top to the mountain. Each summit just gives us a better vantage point for the next peak. How high do you want to climb? Give yourself permission to be a giant. “Realistic” is an interesting word we throw around, but we’re talking about going past your current context. Who cares if your big picture goal is a bit unrealistic?

When you’re already redefining what you think is possible, why settle for goals that are “realistic?”

How Might We Bridge That Gap?

This choice of wording is deliberate. We’re not looking for definite solutions or the “right” answer. Look for all possible answers. This is where you can get creative. How might you go from Point A to Point B?

What’s keeping you from bridging the gap? Are there external limitations? Or are they internal? What can you do to get past them? Nobody can do the work for you. The hardest part about bridging the gap is realizing what’s blocking you. When you do, moving forward gets much easier.

The Real Secret Of Coaching

Coaches know quite a bit more than most folks, but the magic isn’t in any technique or trade secret. For me, the best part of being a coach is the moment people realize they don’t need a coach.

The power of having a coach lies in the fact that they help you see things from a new perspective. They challenge your preconceived notions about what you’re capable of, and they provide space to grow. They help you show up as a better version of yourself.

Until you hire a coach, you can use these questions to bring awareness to the edges of your box. You can start to do the work yourself and take active steps to change your perspective. When you do, you’ll be amazed at where you can go in your movement practice.

Are you just doing stuff, or are you training with purpose?

What’s the Point? Check In With Your Goals

The post Go Big: Be Your Own Coach appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“This study starts to unravel and provide some insights into one of the real urban myths about soy protein and resistance exercise in men,” said Dr. William J. Kraemer, the lead researcher of the study.

Examining the effects of soy and whey protein supplementation on testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and cortisol responses to an acute bout of resistance exercise, required 10 resistance-trained male participants in their early 20s to follow a strict and closely monitored training and diet program.

The participants were divided into three supplementation treatment groups: (1) whey protein isolate, (2) soy protein isolate, or (3) a maltrodextrin placebo control. No other supplements were allowed. Vegetarians, vegans, or subjects who consumed high-protein diets were excluded from this study.

For 14 days, these individuals would ingest 20g of their assigned supplement at the same time each morning. The participants would then perform 6 sets of 10 repetitions in the heavy squat exercise at 80% of the subject’s one repetition max.

Researchers found lower testosterone responses following supplementation with soy protein in addition to a positive cortisol response with the use of whey protein at some recovery time points, which can help the body respond better to stress as well.

SHBG did not differ between experimental treatments. More importantly, there were no significant differences between groups in changes in estradiol concentrations.

“Our main findings demonstrate that 14 days of supplementation with soy protein does appear to partially blunt serum testosterone. In addition, whey influences the response of cortisol following an acute bout of resistance exercise by blunting its increase during recovery,” researchers concluded. “Protein supplementation alters the physiological responses to a commonly used exercise modality with some differences due to the type of protein utilized.”

Reference:

1. Taylor & Francis. “The effects of soy and whey protein supplementation on acute hormonal reponses to resistance exercise in men.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 September 2014.

The post Unravelling the Urban Myths of Soy Protein appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.”

A very common notion in training athletes who want to improve speed that one must press into the ground. In fact, this is so engrained in how we train people that we never, ever question it. It is a method employed by a huge number of coaches and trainers when trying to increase speed. It seems to follow Newton’s 3rd law of motion, in that when one body exerts a force on another body, the second body experiences a force equal in magnitude in the opposite direction. Basically, if you press back and down into the floor, then you move forwards and up, sounds completely logical.

The problem here is that sprinting doesn’t work like that.

The Myth of Triple Extension in Sprinting

Science has dealt a fatal blow to the triple extension theory. The triple extension or push off simply does not occur. It has been observed since the 1980’s that, during sprinting, the extensor muscle groups of the lower extremities (gluteus maximus, quadriceps, gastrocnemius, etc.) associated with this so-called triple extension are silent during the period of the stance phase in which they are supposed to be active.¹ The musculature of the leg has been observed using intramuscular and surface electromyographical (EMG) electrodes, and Figure 1 below displays a visual representation of muscle activity during running.

Fig. 1: Muscular activity during each phase of running. The darker the muscle, the more activity. Reproduced with permission from Dr. Mick Wilkinson and Lee Saxby.

Calves 

The gastrocnemius (calf muscle) is active during the foot descent, foot contact, and mid-support phases, but appears to shut down shortly after plantar flexion begins, just after mid-support. It is likely that the gastrocnemius is active to aid in foot stability in preparation for ground contact, and to control dorsiflexion during the mid-support phase by eccentrically contracting. A mere 6° of ankle plantar flexion from an available 33° is caused by a concentric contraction; simply not enough to create forward locomotion.

Quadriceps

The quadriceps become active about 50msecs after maximum hip flexion, yet knee extension begins 100msecs before maximal hip flexion. The higher the speed of gait, the more degrees of knee extension are achieved by the quadriceps. The quadriceps continue to contract concentrically until foot contact. Then, just as the gastrocnemius performed, the quadriceps eccentrically contract. This is to resist the maximal ground reaction forces and gravity, which at mid-support are applying force from below and above, squashing the runner. Once the mid-support phase is over, the quadriceps shut down.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings are by nature a biaxial muscle, crossing the knee and hip, and therefore create movement at both. Both groups of hamstrings are largely identical in terms of activity.¹ The hamstrings likely undergo an eccentric contraction to control the rapid hip flexion during the forward swing phase as well as rapid knee extension during foot descent and foot contact. This could also explain why hamstring eccentric strength training plays such an important role in reducing hamstring injury risk factors.² A lack of eccentric strength appears such a strong indicator of hamstring injury that even age and previous injury risk factors are decreased with increases in hamstring eccentric strength.³

Glutes

The gluteus maximus is assumed to play a vital role in sprinting, with most seeing this as a big part of the engine that drives us forward. Another blow to the triple extension or push off theory is that as the speed of running increases, the gluteus maximus shuts down earlier. The gluteus maximus is actually the first of the tested muscles to switch off on the stance leg after foot contact during sprinting. The magnitude of activity of the gluteus maximus increases during foot descent as the speed of running increases. It is therefore likely that the gluteus maximus controls the rapid hip flexion during the forward swing phase with an eccentric contraction, then a concentric contraction during the foot descent. In addition, it brings the pelvis back from a posterior tilt to neutral after the toe off phase. It should be noted that this control of torso angle during running is probably why humans have such highly developed gluteal muscles in comparison to other primates.⁴

How Sprinting Actually Works

Previously it was mentioned that the ‘push off’ theory involving triple extension seems a logical thought process when considering Newton’s 3rd law that each action has an equal and opposite reaction. Such reactions are visually represented in Figure 2, below. Ground reaction forces upon foot contact travel up and back in line with the virtual pivot point (see Figure 3), not the center of mass.⁵ The greatest ground reaction forces are seen during the mid-support phase, where the runner is squashed between the ground reaction force and gravity. But once the runner passes this midpoint, the ground reaction force rapidly drops, and thus creates insufficient force to propel the body forward. 

Fig. 2: Ground reaction forces magnitude and direction. Runner is running left to right; greatest forces are applied at mid-support phase, and rapidly decrease as the runner falls forward. Reproduced with permission from Dr. Mick Wilkinson and Lee Saxby.

By now, the lack of a ‘push off’ is clear from the scientific literature. The extensor muscle groups switch off well before any triple extension can increase linear speed. In addition, ground reaction forces again provide insufficient force to propel the body forwards.

So what exactly is the driving force behind sprinting or indeed any forward locomotion? 

The mechanism behind locomotion is all around us. You have interacted with it every second of your life—unless you have a habit of leaving the atmosphere. It’s gravity. Gravity is the driving force behind locomotion, via a rotational movement. Stand a pen up on your desk, let go. It fell over, and its center of mass fell in a certain direction. A rotational movement using gravity. An oversimplification in which lies a problem: the higher the angle of forward lean, the faster the center of mass will accelerate towards the ground, causing constant-acceleration running. This of course is not possible, and will certainly involve the runner picking themselves up off the ground.

The current leading theory regarding how forward locomotion works without constant acceleration is the virtual pivot point model. This model suggests a virtual, not physical, pivot point located above the center of mass. The exact location differs from person to person and can range from 5-70cm above the center of mass.⁵ As stated earlier, ground reaction forces travel back and up through this pivot point. During the mid-support phase, the ground reaction force is vertically aligned with the hip, center of mass and virtual pivot point. As the runner is squashed between gravity and the ground reaction force, some of this energy is stored in elastic tissues such as the foot spring and Achilles tendon.⁶ A gravitational rotation then occurs, with the passive release of stored energy from the connective tissues, creating forward locomotion. The virtual pivot point and center of mass form a pendulum, allowing the center of mass to swing underneath the virtual pivot point, creating a virtual pendulum. This creates a stable method of moving for an upright biped, stopping us becoming ‘top heavy’ by having most of the mass under this pivot point.

Fig. 3: A visualization of the virtual pivot point.⁵ 

What to Train Instead of Triple Extension

The research base provides evidence that sprint training involving triple extension drills by pressing into the ground may be ineffective due to a lack of push off phase in running. From muscle activity during varying speeds of sprinting, emphasis on rapid hip flexion from the psoas and iliacus should be placed as a priority. In addition, ankle complex training should mimic that which is observed during sprinting, i.e. to minimize vertical displacement of the center of mass and create joint stiffness. The ankle flexion angle changes only 8° in upon foot contact in sprinting, compared to 18° in jogging.¹ Skipping with a rope could be such an activity.⁷ In addition, since eccentric contractions were observed in muscles previously thought to push off, ensuring eccentric strength, force absorption, and tendon elasticity is essential, using exercises such as Nordic hamstring curls, improving landing mechanics, and as previously mentioned, skipping with a rope.

Could your pre-race breakfast ruin your stride?

You Move as Well as You Eat: The LInk Between Food and Gait

References:

1. Mann, R. A., Moran, G. T., & Dougherty, S. E. (1986). Comparative electromyography of the lower extremity in jogging, running, and sprinting. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 14(6), 501-510.

2. Opar, D., Williams, M., Timmins, R., Hickey, J., Duhig, S., & Shield, A. (2014). Eccentric hamstring strength during the Nordic hamstring exercises is a risk factor for hamstring strain injury in elite Australian football: a prospective cohort study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(7), 647-648.

3. Opar, M. D. A., Williams, M. D., & Shield, A. J. (2012). Hamstring strain injuries. Sports Medicine, 42(3), 209-226.

4. Lieberman, D. E., Raichlen, D. A., Pontzer, H., Bramble, D. M., & Cutright-Smith, E. (2006). The human gluteus maximus and its role in running. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209(11), 2143-2155.

5. Maus, H. M., Lipfert, S. W., Gross, M., Rummel, J., & Seyfarth, A. (2010). Upright human gait did not provide a major mechanical challenge for our ancestors. Nature Communications, 1, 70.

6. Bramble, D. M., & Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature, 432(7015), 345-352.

7. Brown, T. D., & Vescovi, J. D. (2012). Maximum speed: Misconceptions of sprinting. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 34(2), 37-41.

The post Sprinting Biomechanics and the Myth of Triple Extension appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In these videos, I took pro rider Tom Dillon through a few drills that I knew would help address some issues he was having. BMX is brutal on the body, and these guys are very seldom paying attention to rehab or supplemental exercises to insulate the process.

Many BMX riders and action sports athletes overlook/ignore the need for the type of simple maintenance we ran Tom through in the first video, but it isn’t just them that can benefit; anyone can adopt this self-maintenance approach to movement and mobility. Many people in all walks use similar exercises to help improve whatever their chosen activity, and attempt to remain injury free.

In the second video, I jumped into the shoulders and forearms; constant tension, lots of impact, and so much strength required – that means greater risk of injury, and also greater need for off-the-bike attention.

And finally, in the third video, we look at some simple pre-riding movements geared to warm up the most vulnerable parts and patterns. BMX is like gymnastics plus jarring concrete impacts. It’s often overlooked how truly athletic an activity it is, which is a mistake. Take these movement and mobility ideas, start thinking of yourself as an athlete, and do some work!

The post Everyone Can Learn From Mobility for Bone Jarring BMX appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The study surveyed a random sample of adults (between the ages of 20 and 80) from around the country. The adults were given questionnaires to fill out regarding their physical activity, education, socioeconomic position, diet, rurality, and other factors. All participants had their BMI measured.

In India, the prevalence of underweight is high: 22.7% of the population surveyed. However, obesity and overweight were also high: close to 35% of the population were overweight or obese (Class-I and Class-II).

The following factors were seen to contribute to higher obesity rates: higher intake of Omega-6 PUFAs, high wealth index and higher caste, low physical activity, low rurality index (people who lived in the city), more time spent watching TV, the ownership of a TV, low consumption of animal fat, and a lack of livestock.

Simply put: the wealthier Indians were the ones most likely to be obese. Not only did they have access to more food, but they had a wider variety of food choices—including unhealthy ones. They spent less time moving around (caring for livestock or engaging in other activities of rural life), and spent more time relaxing (watching TV). The result was a higher rate of obesity.

It’s a well-known fact that the Western lifestyle and diet encourages obesity far more than the Oriental lifestyle and diet. However, as more people from around the world adopt Western attitudes towards life (more wealth and affluence= less activity, more downtime), the rates of obesity will continue to rise. It’s vital for Westerners to take stock of their lifestyle and diet and determine what they’re doing wrong.

Changing dietary patterns—adding more Omega-3s instead of Omega-6s and eating more animal fat, in addition to balancing macronutrients and consuming high-fiber foods—and adding more activity can help to decrease obesity rates around the world. It’s time we all start looking for ways to improve our lifestyles and diet.

Reference

1. Little, Matthew, Sally Humphries, Kirit Patel, and Cate Dewey. “Factors Associated with BMI, Underweight, Overweight, and Obesity among Adults in a Population of Rural South India: A Cross-Sectional Study.” BMC Obesity 3 (2016): 12. 

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In the initial round of research, the P75 neurotrophin receptors were experimentally removed in a group of mice. These receptors are what allow the neurotrophin proteins to do their job, and without the receptors, the proteins were rendered useless. Then these mice and normal mice were fed a high fat diet to see what would happen.

The diet the mice ate was enough to make the normal mice obese, with large fat cells, higher insulin levels and insulin sensitivity, and the beginnings of fatter liver disease. So the diet wasn’t great for their health to say the least. But the mice with their P75 neurotrophin receptors removed had no such effects. Remarkably, they remained healthy, without liver or insulin problems, and they resisted weight gain, even remaining lean.

Except that they obviously burned more fat, it isn’t entirely clear why the p75 depleted mice resisted weight gain. The mice all ate the same diet, and had the same amount of physical activity. And yet they still had greater energy expenditure, perhaps through some mechanism like Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). In humans, NEAT is the major factor in adaptive thermogenesis that changes with alterations in diet. Essentially, you fidget less, and make fewer energy burning choices outside of exercise which eventually add up. For the mice without P75 neurotrophin receptors, it added up to enough of an effect to remain lean on a diet substantial enough to cause fatty liver disease.

Now this was a study done on mice, so we don’t know what effect a P75 neurotrophin intervention would have on people. Theoretically, without experimentally eliminating this receptor, humans could take a drug which blocks the receptor to find out if the effects are consistent.

A possibly alarming effect in human beings could be that, in the human brain, P75 neurotrophin is involved in neuron growth and neuron survival. Whatever effects it has in mice, this seems to be a pretty important receptor in human beings. Although some drug or genetic therapy might reduce the negative effects of high calorie diets in humans, we’d have to know at what cost.

As if anticipating the possible harm to human beings, the researchers conducted a follow up experiment in which the receptor was removed only from fat cells in the body of the mice, but not in the brain. “Since neurotrophins and their receptors control the communication between the brain and peripheral organs, they could be new therapeutic targets with implications in both metabolic and neurologic diseases,” said the senior investigator, Katerina Akassoglou. So it is possible to essentially remove this signal while leaving the P75 neurotrophin receptors in the brain intact. This could theoretically reduce some of the potential side-effects.

Indeed, the experiment to remove the P75 neurotrophin receptors in just the fat cells was as successful in eliminating metabolic disease and body fat as the initial experiment.

The researchers suggest that the development of a drug to perform this task would be the next step. Presumably, the tests would be performed in animal experiments long before something was developed for human use. Should it prove successful, we could have a human drug that eliminates some lifestyle diseases. Of course, there would be further uses for the drug, like helping athletes stay lean while on high calorie diets that promote longer-duration exercise.

As incredible as the possible benefits to athletes and non-athletes could be, we are still a very long way off from knowing if this could be safe or effective in humans. Until then, good old-fashioned hard work and healthy eating will do the trick.

Reference:

1. Gladstone Institutes. “Brain receptor regulates fat burning in cells: Decreasing levels of p75 neurotrophin receptor prevented obesity and metabolic diseases in mice fed a high-fat diet.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 January 2016.

The post This Protein May Keep You Lean on Any Diet appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But new research¹ suggests that these effects on our brains may be evolutionary adaptations, driven at least in part by humans shifting to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle that rewarded aerobic capacity over two million years ago.

Specifically, researchers looked at one set of neurotransmitters, Endocannabinoids

(eCBs), that seem to be involved in producing these neurobiological effects. They proposed that eCB signaling brought about by exercise is a product of our evolutionary history.

To test this hypothesis, researchers started by examining exercise-induced eCB signaling among different species. Specifically, for example, humans and dogs are species that evolved the capacity to run long distances. In these animals, moderate-intensity aerobic activity does indeed cause a significant increase in eCB circulation. But looking at taxa without an evolutionary history or high aerobic capacity, aerobic activity seems to have no effect on eCBs. Ferrets, for example, are not adapted to long-distance running and thus show no change in eCBs as a result of aerobic activity.

For researchers, this indicated the possibility that increased eCB signaling from aerobic activity may be an adaptation for endurance athletic performance. Researchers then went on to examine two hypotheses to explain the evolutionary connection to aerobic capacity and brain function.

The positive cognitive effects of running may be a byproduct of evolution.

The first hypothesis is that the mood-enhancing effect of increased eCB circulation (“runners high”) was a kind of reward or motivation that encouraged individuals to engage in long periods of aerobic activity. In other words, rewarding or making pleasurable this physically taxing activity may have encouraged extended hunting or foraging.

The second hypothesis is that cognitive improvements from aerobic activity made fro more effective and efficient hunters and gatherers. Successful foraging may have been, for example, the result of better spatial memory, a known result of increased eCB activity.

The researchers conclude that although more work is necessary, the addition of an evolutionary understanding of the effects of aerobic activity and exercise on the human brain may bring us ways of delivering better interventions and treatments. In addition, they suggest that differences in species-level evolution in this regard should be considered with using animal models to study exercise physiology.

Reference

1. Raichlen, David A., Adam D. Foster, Alexandre Seillier, Andrea Giuffrida, and Gregory L. Gerdeman. “Exercise-induced endocannabinoid signaling is modulated by intensity.” European journal of applied physiology 113, no. 4 (2013): 869-875.

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It is generally thought that ALS patients have a higher level of physical fitness and lower body mass index (BMI) than average, but there has been little examination of any relationship

between cognitive fitness and ALS risk. In a new study¹, however, researchers took a look at both physical and cognitive fitness in relation to future risk of ALS.

Researchers used data on 1,838,376 Swedish men aged 17–20 years at conscription during 1968–2010. This data included physical fitness, BMI, intelligence quotient (IQ) and stress resilience, and their subsequent ALS diagnoses were identified through the Swedish Patient Register.

The connection beween one’s physcial and cognitive state at 17-20 years of age and the risk of ALS later in life became clearer. Of the 439 ALS cases found during follow-up, the mean age at diagnosis was 48 years old, and the generally accepted view of physical fitness seemed to hold true: individuals who were fitter in youth were more likely to get ALS. Those who scored above the highest tertile in physical fitness had a higher risk of ALS before the age of 45 years compared with others. Conversely, individuals with BMI ≥ 25 tended to have a lower risk of ALS at all ages compared with those with BMI < 25.

On the cognitive side, those who scored above the highest tertile for IQ also had a statistically significantly increased risk of ALS, but at an age of 56 years and above, whereas individuals with stress resilience above the highest tertile had a lower risk of ALS at an age of 55 years and below.

Although more research is needed, the bottom line from this study is that physical fitness, BMI, IQ and stress resilience in young adulthood might be associated with the development of ALS at an early age.

Reference

1. Longinetti, E., D. Mariosa, H. Larsson, C. Almqvist, P. Lichtenstein, W. Ye, and F. Fang. “Physical and cognitive fitness in young adulthood and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at an early age.” European Journal of Neurology(2016).

The post Fitness in Youth May be a Predictor for ALS in Later Life appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

If I lined up 20 fitness professionals and asked them to define what “functional training” is, I would bet that I would get 20 different responses. The buzzword is used to describe pretty much everything in the industry: functional fitness is done with functional exercises with functional movement, functional equipment, and in functional footwear. Then you can rehydrate with your functional water and recover with functional nutrition. If I read it one more time to sell me something, or if someone tells me they are doing anything “functional” in the gym again, I may respond a little like Master Ken’s “hurticane.”

The term itself isn’t even a new thing. It was used by Edith Buchwald, a physiotherapist who wrote about “functional training” in The Physical Therapy Review in 1949. That’s a long time before the term became fashionable like it is now. But what the hell does it mean?

• Function has been defined as “an activity that is natural to or the purpose of a person or thing.”
• Wikipedia will tell you that “functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.”
• Elsewhere, we find that “functional movements are based on real-world situational biomechanics. They usually involve multi-planar, multi-joint movements which place demand on the body’s core musculature and innervation.”

With that in mind, let us look at the “functional training” tribes.

The Rehab Tribe

Functional training has its origins in rehabilitation, where physical therapists select exercises for their injured patients. The exercises closely mimic the movements and patterns those patients need to be able to perform at home or at work, and are meant to correct movement disorders, dysfunction, and asymmetries, or rehabilitate from injury.

This basis of training saw us go down the rabbit hole. People started using all sorts of unstable surfaces (dura discs, BOSU balls, swiss balls, wobble boards) and contraptions like Pilates reformers, which are meant to improve core and lower back function. Training on unstable surfaces can be extremely helpful for someone to improve body awareness, proprioception, balance, core function, and stability (motor control).

Fortunately for those of us who enjoy YouTube fail compilations, this type of training made its way to the mainstream gym environment. Understandably, it’s copped a lot of flak. But only because it hasn’t been used in the goal-centric way specialists use it.

Slapping the word “functional” on an exercise does not make it so. [Photo credit: Gregor | CC BY 2.0]

The Old-School Strength Tribe

One of the biggest criticisms of the rehab perspective when it comes to “functional training” is that it tends to overlook the value of traditional principles of strength training. The general consensus with this group is that a stronger muscle is a more functional muscle. They generally advocate multi-joint exercises, done while standing.

The problem is that function can vary from joint to joint, and exercises done seated can be extremely functional, as Mike Boyle discussed some years ago. He discusses the interesting paradox that has come full circle where targeted work on the deep abdominals, hip and scapula stabilizers, if neglected, can be detrimental to an athlete’s performance.

Who’s Got It Right?

Science does show that training on labile and unstable surfaces for the most part is a futile pursuit for developing strength and power. But strength training advocates fail to recognize two things. First, all strength training is underpinned by good quality movement. Second, strength has neuromuscular balance and control prerequisites to it, and when these are dysfunctional even our strongest people end up in pain. So a stronger muscle is not always the most functional. Just look at the strongest athletes on the planet—gymnasts and Olympic lifters—and you will find they all have great quality movement.

Conversely, what the rehab tribe fails to realize is that you must restore normal movement patterns by actually learning normal movement patterns. At some point, many rehab professionals have missed the part where their job is to get people off the reformers and away from unstable surfaces into normal movement patterns. The truest criticism of the rehab tribe is that their adherents spend all their time on “prehab,” and no time actually lifting heavy stuff and getting strong.

The Modern Gym-Goer and the Search for Functional

Most gym-goers believe that the functionality of their workout comes from working the battle ropes, hitting a tire with a sledgehammer, using a suspension training system, swinging a kettlebell, and doing multi-planar, multidirectional exercises. This current form of functional training attempts to incorporate as many variables as possible (balance, multiple joints, multiple planes of movement), increasing the complexity of motor coordination and flexibility.

Often, we see people doing functional training also trying to mimic the skill of their chosen sport. The irony is this clearly violates the SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demands) principle, specificity and skill transfer, especially if you have any understanding of motor learning. Your nervous system gets good at what you do. When it comes to motor learning and skill transfer, trying to mimic everyday movements does not necessarily directly carry over to everyday movements, and trying to mimic your sport also doesn’t necessarily transfer to your sport. Only doing what you do daily does that, and only playing your sport does that. In other words, actually doing the thing is the best way to get better.

It’s called the principle of specificity, not similarity. 

As the late Arthur Jones once said: “Add resistance to a skill and it becomes a different skill; add enough resistance to a skill and it becomes an exercise.”

The True Essence of Function

Training is only truly “functional” if it helps the person function better, is individualized and is goal-focused.

From my perspective, any exercise that helps one achieve their movement goals, or improves their quality of life could be considered functional. I certainly don’t think it is up to personal trainers to tell clients what is functional and what is not, even though that is often what we do. In a sports-specific environment that may be different, as we have to define what the athlete’s key performance indicators are and address those specifically. But even that will change from person to person.

If I have someone in chronic pain, maybe having them balance on one leg and play letter ball with me is functional. Why? Because that external focus (just like those in mindfulness exercises) takes the mind outside of the body to decrease the brain’s map of pain. It helps my athlete become fully present and focused on having fun, balancing, their hand/eye coordination, and calling the letter out to me as they catch the ball. And for that moment in time, they may be completely out of pain.

Whether you consider the rope climb functional depends on your needs and goals. 

If I have an athlete competing in an overhead sport who is in pain, I might have to do very specific and isolated scapula work to improve thoracic mobility and scapular stability. That would fly in the face of the strength tribe’s tenets of functional training, that say that it’s only functional if it is done standing, is multi-joint and involves progressive overload.

If I have another athlete that prefers to do machine-based exercises, they are more likely to stick to that than smashing out a battle rope, burpee and kettlebell swing HIIT session. Training can only be functional if you’re going to do it. Someone’s ability to stick to your program makes it more functional because they are doing something that enhances the quality of their life and meets their goals.

A friend of mine, who is a coach for a VFL team in Melbourne, was asked to improve a player’s ability to mark (jump and catch) a football. Everyone was amazed to see the player marking a ball in the following months and congratulated my friend on a job well done for getting the player “fitter and stronger” to mark the ball. You know what my friend did? He had the player doing vision drills because the player’s eyes couldn’t track the ball properly. Is that not functional training? 

If an athlete walks in my door and wants to get bigger biceps so he can attract a partner to marry and reproduce, who am I to say that’s not functional?

 Dr. Mel Siff sums it up nicely:

“It would probably be preferable not to refer to any specific exercises as “functional” but instead to refer to exercises that enhance “functional” competence in a given sport, task, or context. Thus, the tools or the process involved may be any training means whatsoever (functional, non-functional, restorative, recreational, or whatever may be desired at any given time)—the important issue is whether the particular exercise program … produces an outcome that is “functional” (i.e., provably enhances performance in a given motor action or sport).”

Drop the Label and Just Go Train

The term “functional” has become an elitist word used to sell memberships, equipment, and training fads. You can see over the years it has taken many different shapes and forms. Whilst I love the current form of functional training, I think it is about time we started to respect what everybody does. Whatever someone does, wherever they are in their journey, whatever training modality they choose to do, the main thing is that they are actually doing something and improving their quality of life and working towards whatever their goals are—not yours.

By coining things in this fashion, it often means that we can emphasize exercises and movements that may in fact provide benefit for optimal function, performance and health. The way I see it, if you feel like doing something and it meets your goals and improves your life, go and do it. But for fuck’s sake let’s drop the redundant term and stop calling training “functional,” and just get back to training.

More debunking the buzzword:

What Is Functional Training?

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And coaches and trainers will tell you: You can’t out-train a bad diet. They’ll warn you that eating poorly will reduce your performance in the gym and set you on a downward spiral.

But that may not be the whole story. Not, at least, when it comes to occasional bouts of over-eating for people who exercise regularly. Recent research¹ indicates that even a week of eating more than usual might not do irreparable damage to your health and fitness—but the secret is exercise.

This is according to research presented at the American Physiological Society (APS) Integrative Biology of Exercise VII meeting in Phoenix, AZ.

Obesity, as we all know, affects many Americans, and it is a widely recognized public health problem. Obesity is associated with a host of diseases and health problems that come under the umbrella of metabolic syndrome, including Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Inactivity and poor diet are recognized contributors to obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Previous studies² have concluded that increasing aerobic fitness may reverse the early symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Acting on this evidence, researchers from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, decided to find out specifically what happens to subjects’ fatty tissue if they continue to exercise during a week of over-indulging.

A reguar exercise regimen may protect you from the effects of occasional overeating.

The researcher’s pilot study used four adults who were lean and active, aged between 21-26.

They hypothesized that regular aerobic exercise during a week of overeating would protect metabolic health, preserve lipolytic response—the breakdown of lipids—and prevent inflammation of the fatty tissue.

They increased subjects’ calorie consumption for the week by 30%, and had them continue their usual exercise regimen. This included a minimum of 2 ½ hours of aerobic exercise spread over at least 6 days.

Lead reseracher Alison C. Ludzki and her team measured oral glucose tolerance levels and samples of abdominal fat before the week of overeating, and again after. For inflammation, they looked at markers in fat tissue such as pJNK/JNK, pERK/ERK – or circulating C-reactive protein.

Exercise appears to reduce hazards of overeating.

For those who don’t exercise, inflammation markers in fat tissue would increase after a week of overeating. The results of this experiment, however, were quite different.

The study’s active subjects showed no signs of inflammation in their fatty tissue, and they had no change in glucose tolerance or the chemical breakdown of fat.

The researchers concluded, “Our preliminary findings expand on existing work to support a protective role of exercise in the metabolic response of adipose tissue to brief periods of overeating.”

So here come the Holidays—which means time is running out to establish a healthy, protective exercise routine.

References

1. Ludzki, Alison C. et al. “Effects of exercise on adipose tissue responses to short-term overeating in healthy adults.” Kinesiology, Univ. of Michigan. Presented at American Physiological Society Integrative Biology of Exercise VII meeting, 2016.

2. Crist, Laura A. “Influence of change in aerobic fitness and weight on prevalence of metabolic syndrome.” Preventing chronic disease 9 (2012).

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