Better Is Better

Precision Nutrition

The other day I had a first hand reminder that the link between nutrition and physical performance is not an abstract concept but a direct cause and effect relationship.

We had a birthday in the family and lots of feasting on the agenda.  This time of year is a killer for me and "special occasions."  My inner sugar addict loves it though...  Anyhow, after a big breakfast packed with carbs, and a gluten loaded lunch, I did my training in the afternoon.  Wow!  I felt so sluggish, like I was moving through molasses.  I was winded and working in the Rate of Perceived Effort range of 9-10 at what I would estimate at three quarters of what it would normally take me to get into that range.

The next day I was exhausted all day, went to bed at 9:00 PM and slept nine solid hours.  Fortunately, I decided to fast again on the day following the feasting, so when I woke up the day after I actually felt pretty decent (except for that horrible bloated feeling...).  So although the fasting reset button has proved itself again, I have vowed to disavow any more feasting until my own birthday near the end of the month.  Low to moderate carb and IF from now 'till then.

Playground Movement Art

I've posted a clip of these guys before.  I just ran into another clip from them on the Fonctions Optimum blog and I had to post it here.  I find the stuff these guys do fascinating.  I'm pretty good with a Clubbell, but right now this is the kind of thing I strive for...

Cheers, Adam

Feasting and Fasting

I have a delicate relationship with food.  I enjoy eating cleanly.  I generally follow a low to moderate carb approach where my carbs come pretty much exclusively from veggies, nuts and dairy.  I have been practicing Intermittent Fasting for a couple of months now.  All in all, I think I eat pretty healthfully (my wife and friends at least think I am some kind of nutritional extremist...).

But I have a dark side.  The "bad" food still calls to me.  I don't crave it, but when a day of feast comes around I look forward to it and I definitely indulge.  The problem with indulging, at least in my case, has been the ability to STOP.  Brunch will lead to late lunch will lead to afternoon tea will lead to supper and maybe even sneak into the next day...  It is a slippery slope for a sugar addict.  But Easter feast was a little different this year.  I still feasted to a decidedly unhealthy extent, but instead of allowing a slow slide into oblivion, I decided to call it quits at lunch and fast until lunch on the following day.

The fasting method I use follows Brad PIllon's Eat-Stop-Eat.  He advocates eating whatever meal you choose as your last meal of one day and then eating at the same time the next day, effectively creating a 24 hour fast.  It worked brilliantly!  I still ended up a bit bloated and suffered slight cravings following the feasting, but managed to get everything under control quickly and get back to my normal nutritional practices and out of the danger zone in an expedient manner.  I am pretty sure this is the way to go for me.  Keep the feasts to a minimum.  Live the low carb lifestyle.  Practice IF.  And when I do give in to the occasional feast, follow it up with an immediate fast to reset the system.

I've got a birthday coming up, so we'll test the theory soon enough I guess...  ;-)   

Screw Up Your Downward Dog & Release Your Lats

Just because you can’t see it in the mirror, doesn’t mean it’s not important.  The poor old Latissimus Dorsi doesn’t get much respect, but it does an awful pile of work.  This is because it is part of a myofascial chain referred to in the work of Thomas Myers as the Back Functional Line.  This sling of connective tissue and muscle drapes its way across the back of the body from the top of the arm all the way down to the opposite knee.  In actuality, the fascial connections stretch even further in both directions depending on the situation.

And you don’t need to be involved in elite sport to experience the work of the BFL!  Something as innocuous as shoveling snow places significant demands on this line of tension.  In this picture you can at least envision the line of tension running from the gluteus maximus of the left leg (your right in this mirror image) to the contra-lateral shoulder, including the latissimus dorsi.  Next time you are shoveling snow, pay attention to the feeling in your back on the side of the hand which is lower down towards the bottom of the shovel.  You will be able to feel the activation, especially of the lower fibers of the muscle.

Obviously, any movements involving pulling with the arms will also involve the lats, especially anything from overhead like a pull-up.  This is because a major job of the lats is extension of the humerus.  But you don’t need to be using the lats as prime movers in order to put great load on them.  They are also a powerful stabilizer of the shoulder architecture.  I have been working a lot lately with exercises designed to build up towards being able to do a planche.  This requires great strength of the pectoralis major and especially of the anterior deltoids.  But if those muscles are pulling towards the front, the lats have to be stabilizing to keep the joint locked down and back.  And they are working dang hard at it too.  The day after my strength day, which contains absolutely no targeted work for the lats, they are probably the most sore of all my muscle groups, just from the isometric effort of stabilization.

Because I am putting the lats under such load, I want to make sure that I am compensating for that work.  I don’t want them to become chronically shortened and leathery, so I have to release the tension, open the muscle so that it can recover properly.  One of the best ways I have found to do so is an exercise I was introduced to by Coach Scott Sonnon.  It is a screwing Downward Dog movement which needs to be seen to be understood.  And it just so happens that I found some footage of the master himself performing the exercise:

You can see that from the Downward Dog position, Coach Sonnon alternately rotates one arm externally while lowering the same side elbow towards the mat.  At the same time he keeps the back neutral and the contralateral heel on the mat.  So how does this release the lat?  To answer that question you need to understand a couple of points.  The first is the sling of muscle and connective tissue referred to earlier.  This Back Functional Line is a fundamental factor in the movement.  By keeping the heel down and the back neutral, you are putting the entire line on stretch as you move the elbow down towards the mat.  This is because the line stretches right from the contralateral foot, up the tibialis anterior, into the vastus lateralis and the gluteus maximus, across the sacral fascia into the lubodorsal fascia, up into the latissimus dorsi and then carries on into the triceps via a connection with the Deep Back Arm Line.

But why the external rotation of the arm?  For that you have to understand a bit about the functional anatomy of the Lat.  As you can see in the accompanying photo, the insertion of the muscle is on the anterior side of the humerus.  This means that it is both an extensor and an internal rotator (it also has the capacity to aid in spinal extension - but that is beyond the scope of this discussion).  So by externally rotating the humerus at the same time as you lengthen the functional chain of muscle and connective tissue you stretch and release the latissimus dorsi even more.


So don’t be scared to screw up your Downward Dog if you want to keep your lats happy and healthy.  They are big muscles that get little respect.  Treat them well!

A Turn For The Better: The importance of external rotation of the humerus in overhead movements

The shoulder joint is a complex amalgamation of many players.  The result is a highly mobile and versatile joint, but at the same time a relatively delicate joint when compared to, for example, the hip.  This does not mean we need to coddle our shoulders, but it does mean that we should know how the joint works and be able to apply proper technique in our training in order to reduce the chances of injury.

A perfect example of this is the CST Dumbbell Half Moon.  This is an awesome exercise for hitting the "rolling" requirement of the 6 degrees of freedom (check out this lens if you aren't familiar with this concept).  And if you are into knowing what "muscles this works," you can rest assured that your lats and obliques will get some lovin' from this exercise.  Although in reality it is a full-body integrative exercise including many complex lines of force (à la Anatomy Trains).  Here is a detailed video tutorial of the exercise:

Double Click to Start / Click to Stop

You will notice in the tutorial that I insist on turning the thumbs up towards the ceiling before letting the arm move past shoulder height to an overhead position.  This is to protect the shoulder from potential injury such as impingement.  Along with proper shoulder pack, understanding the general structure of the shoulder and applying that understanding to our application of technique will go a long way towards preventing common injuries.

So let’s take a quick look at the shoulder joint.  The above illustration depicts the shoulder from the front (anterior view).  You don’t need to grasp everything in its entirety, but you can see that the top of the arm bone (humerus) comes up to form what could be described as a ridge.  You can also see, directly above that ridge, another bony structure called the Acromion.  If you imagine raising that arm directly to the side, without altering the orientation of the joint, that the humerus would end up running into the acromion and we would risk pinching anything in between.

However, if we rotate the thumb towards the ceiling we change the alignment of the top of the humerus, effectively sliding it out of the way so that we can continue our movement overhead with much less risk of injury.  So make a “turn in the right direction” when you are practicing the CST Dumbbell Half Moon, and don't forget your "shoulder pack".  Remember that technique, as expressed in CST’s 7 Key Component’s of Structure, is the main ingredient not only in improved performance and efficiency but also in the promotion of long term health, wellness and longevity.

Training Update

I know I have been horrible at keeping the blog updated regarding my training.  Things are progressing nicely though.  Although my schedule got pretty dodgy last week with giving another ski instructor certification course along with all my other fitness trainer activities...

So in getting regular again, I have once again taken the opportunity to reshuffle and evolve the plan.  I'm still using a 4x7 protocol that looks like this:
Day 1: Strength Based Moderate Intensity
Day 2: Metabolic Conditioning at High Intensity
Day 3: Intu-Flow Joint Health and Mobility
Day 4: Prasara Yoga compensatory and complementary exercise

The big shifts for this cycle (which you could call GPP 3):
-On Day 1 I'm moving more towards "dynamic" strength exercises whereas the past two mini-cycles have been more geared towards static/isometric stuff.  My bread and butter for the next few weeks will be two exercises.  The first uses elastic tubing attached to the ceiling and to my feet - from a position on all fours I "jump" into a spread eagle planche position and hold it as long as I can (no more than a second or two right now) then come back to all fours.  I continue this for 30 seconds and am doing 3 sets of it for now.  The other staple will be an eccentric supported planche push-up.  I have my slideboard vertically up against the wall.  I walk my way up into a "planche" position and then slowly lower chest down to the floor, letting my feet slide along the board.  On my first time through I did 3 sets of 4, which was just fine to start... ;-)
-On Day 2 I'm starting with a Metabolic Super-Set... 2 exercises separated by 1 minute rest and repeated for a total of 3 sets.  The exercises are: pull-up complex (commando grip weighted x 3, commando grip travelling x 3, commando grip kipping x 5) then Bruiser Gamma casts for 30 seconds slow and steady.

I haven't felt out the Prasara yoga part yet.  That will be tomorrow...

Voila

Reasons to lose

For anyone out there who needs help defining exactly why they want to set down the path of a more healthy lifestyle, this clip from Mike Roussel, doctoral student in nutrition, does a pretty good job at putting the cards on the table.  So here is why you can't afford NOT to invest in your health...

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Unfortunately, its too late to get in on the latest Resolution online coaching group program, one of the most cost effective ways of reaching your health and fitness goals.  It starts up on Monday and registration is closed.  The small group of dedicated individuals participating in Resolution 2.0: The Great Unveiling, are going to be treated to a truly transformational experience.  There should be another group kicking off in the Spring, so if you would like 90 days of turn-key coaching geared to achieving your personalized goals, keep an eye out for Resolution 3.0.  You can subscribe to Momentum Training News to stay abreast of this and other valuable news.

Cheers,

Adam