Tag Archives: ROBERT FORSTER PT

WHAT IS ACTIVE RECOVERY?

RECOVERY SCIENCE

By CEO Robert Forster, PT

After an appropriate time for recovery, the adaptive process occurs.

Using progressive build periods of training followed by a week of decreased workload allows for a proper recovery-to-work ratio.

Overload of stress without the reprieve of recovery leads to a breakdown of the systems involved, and not a strengthening adaptation. The body can only reach an ultimate level of fitness following these principles.

Focus on the recovery of the metabolic and structural systems is critical. In endurance athletes, the limitations of the structural system (tendons, bone, fascia) to withstand the rigors of the training load necessary to peak the metabolic systems (energy production) is often their demise.

Additionally, the metabolic system can be overtaxed and weakened not strengthened with inappropriate balance of stress and recovery.

Prevention of Overtraining

The best way to remedy overtraining problems is with prevention with built in rest and recovery periods at regular intervals in your training program. As fatigue is a reasonable and certain result of training, it is erroneous to use one’s perception of fatigue as an indication for rest. Fatigue to the point of decreased performance is a natural and predictable response to systematic training, and the likelihood of becoming overtrained increases when the uncoached athlete increases training load if they “perceive” a plateau or decrease in performance.

The well-designed program accounts for the fatigue and performance deficits associated with hard training, and provides not only the expectation of such, but the recovery time necessary to allow for the subsequent Supercompensation Adaptation.

From the Beginning

The prevention of overtraining begins with Base Training, where the expressed goals of improving metabolic and structural infrastructure facilitates better recovery and faster adaptation. Improved vascularization and an increased ability to produce energy aerobically (i.e., metabolic efficiency) are critical. Improved vascularization facilitates recovery by assuring the presence of capillaries in close proximity to each working muscle cell, thus providing for the quick exchange of waste products and nutrients with the muscles.

The prolonged low intensity exercise also improves the athlete’s ability to produce energy aerobically where the burning of fats as a substrate produces no lactic acid. The greater the contribution of aerobic energy production to the total energy production the less waste products and lactic acid produced and the less recovery necessary. Additionally, the greater the fat burning capacity, the less reliance on carbohydrate for energy production and the less likely is the damaging event of glycogen depletion or “bonking”.

During long or difficult workouts, once muscle and liver glycogen has been depleted, the body begins cannibalizing muscle to produce energy. This is obviously counter productive to overall fitness.

The structural benefits of the low intensity Base Training exercise include a shoring up of the musculoskeletal infrastructure including fascia, ligaments, tendons and bones. A stronger more resilient musculoskeletal infrastructure will prevent injury and decrease recovery time when the exercise intensity increases later in the season.

As important for performance and recovery is the result of strength and flexibility work to improve mechanical efficiency, i.e., economy of motion. The resulting decreased energy expenditure during workouts and races translates into less recovery time afterwards. Considering these benefits the time and effort spent in the Base Training Phase is directly beneficial to your recovery rate later in the season. Better recovery translates to the ability to work harder while staving off the dreadful overtrained state.

Variety of Stress

Another cornerstone of periodization training is a constant variation in the exercise program. The body is such a great tool of adaptation that after about six to eight weeks of a certain type of exercise full adaptation occurs and to stimulate further growth the exercise stress must be altered. This keeps the body constantly off balance and forces further adaptation while avoiding staleness. Conveniently, this variety in training also avoids mental burnout and keeps focus and motivation high. Volume and intensity variation characteristic to each phase of Periodization Training creates a constantly evolving program which keeps the body and mind fresh.

Active Recovery

There is nothing passive about recovery. Recovery is an active process where light “adaptation” workouts stimulate recovery better than rest alone. Light workouts are akin to the self-cleaning oven where the heat is turned up but no roast is placed inside. Light workouts provide the body the same opportunity to do house cleaning functions without having to recover from the damaging effects of a new workout. The vascular system is stimulated to increase blood flow to the muscles delivering oxygen and nutrients to aide recovery. The muscle cells, stimulated by a release of hormones, step up the reparative functions and grow stronger.

Similar occurrences improve connective tissue and bone repair as well. Stretching sessions before and particularly after light recovery workouts are more productive when unencumbered by the tightness that would otherwise occur following hard workouts. In this way your stretching efforts go further toward elongating connective tissue and helping tendons and ligaments heal and grow stronger. A good indication of when your structural system is recovered and ready for another hard workout is when the stiffness from the last hard workout is absent.

Self Massage

Self-massage is an excellent method to aide recovery after workouts. Manipulation of the muscles and tissues increases blood flow, breaks adhesions and promotes adaptation of connective tissue. No specific knowledge or training is necessary. Just take some lotion and begin rubbing your calf and thigh muscles, front and back. You will feel the fatigue and tension leave your body. When coupled with stretching and icing sore areas, these self-recovery techniques can make a very significant contribution to the adaptive process you seek., i.e., increased fitness.

Commandments of Recovery and Prevention of Overtraining

1. Build Adequate Base – early season training builds infrastructure that supports hard work and recovery efforts later in the season.

2. Built-In Rest Periods – your training program must have built in recovery weeks following every two to three weeks of harder exercise. This includes the Base Training Phase. Also, always allow for a period of detraining at the end of your competitive season to allow all systems to recover.

3. Vary Intensity and Volume – every eight weeks change nature of your workouts to keep the body off balance and force further adaptation. Remember, volume must decrease as intensity increases.

4. Stretch Before and After Every Workout– stretching prepares the body for exercise and minimizes the damage created during workouts. Stretching after workouts wrings the waste products out of the muscles and returns muscles to their normal resting length therefore avoiding maladaptive muscle and tendon shortening.

5. Self-massage Before and After Workouts- with this simple technique you can prevent damage and promote recovery like the pros.

6. Ice Sore and Tight Areas– ice reduces inflammation, muscle tightness and spasm and allows muscles to relax and recover better. Ice helps avoid injuries and treats minor irritations before they develop into overuse syndromes.

7. Keep Muscle Glycogen Topped Off – carbohydrate stores in the muscle and liver (glycogen) become the limiting factor in endurance events lasting greater than 90 minutes. Maintain adequate levels with sport drink supplementation during exercise and begin replenishing within 15 minutes after workouts. Back to back long or difficult workouts can create a constant glycogen depleted state.

To learn more about how you can use the power of science to harness your full genetic potential, and how PHASE IV can help you achieve and maintain healthy nutrition and workout practices for a lifetime, as well as how to stay motivated in healthy and sustainable recovery practices that will help you reach and maintain peak performance injury-free, call (310)582-8212 or e-mail us at info@phase-iv.net today to set up your Complimentary Health & Performance Consultation with an Exercise Physiologist.

RECOVERY REVIEW

Self-massage, with the use of massage sticks and rollers, is one of the best methods to aide recovery after workouts.

Manipulation of the muscles and tissues increases blood flow, breaks down muscle and connective tissue adhesions, and promotes adaptation of these tissues to withstand the rigors of your training as you progress toward your goals. You will feel the fatigue and tension leave your body. When coupled with stretching and icing sore areas, these self-recovery techniques can make a very significant contribution to the adaptive process you seek, along with increased fitness.

Active Recovery for Sport and Life

Only during recovery does your fitness grow. Workouts don’t build fitness, they break your body down, and only if you allow recovery time and actively help your tissues heal, do you become stronger and more fit.

All of our work with athletes is focused on aiding recovery and prevent injury.

Recovery is not lying on the sofa eating comfort food. There is nothing passive about recovery.

Recovery is an active process where light “adaptation” workouts stimulate recovery better than rest alone.

Light workouts are akin to the self-cleaning oven, where the heat is turned up to burn off the residue from cooking but no roast is placed inside. Light workouts provide the body the same opportunity to do house cleaning functions without having to recover from the damaging effects of a new workout.

With the increased core temperature associated with recovery workouts, your body sets into motion an army of heat shock proteins that immediately go to work repairing an rebuilding tissues damaged by training.

With light activity, the vascular system is stimulated to increase blood flow to the muscles, delivering oxygen and nutrients to aide recovery. The muscle cells, stimulated by a release of hormones, step up the reparative functions and grow stronger.

Stretching

Stretching and self-massage efforts before and particularly after light recovery workouts are more productive when unencumbered by the tightness that would otherwise occur following hard workouts.

In this way, your stretching efforts go further toward elongating connective tissue and helping tendons and ligaments heal and grow stronger. A good indication of when your structural system is recovered and ready for another hard workout is when the stiffness from the last hard workout is absent.

GIRL POWER: WOMAN TAKE OVER THE MARATHON

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GIRL POWER: Women Take Over the Marathon

By CEO Robert Forster, PT

Four thousand years ago the marathon distance run was christened when Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.

Forty years ago the first-ever marathon for women-only, was run in St Paul MN. Now women are taking over the men’s races too. For the first time, more women completed the Boston Marathon, than men. Worldwide, the majority of all marathon finishers in 2016 were women, holding steady at 60 percent—the same percentage as 2015.

Why the surge in women taking on the mythical 26.2 mile race?

Certainly, female participation in sports has grown steadily since Title IX of the Education Amendments was signed into law by the president in 1972; however, there are few mainstream sports where female participation outpaces men. In addition to the social empowerment of women that drive females to increase participation across all sports, the answer for this steady uptick in women taking on the marathon, may be found in science.

The very reason the marathon has held its lure since that first victory dash in ancient Greece is because the average human can only store enough carbohydrate, the most common energy source used for exercise, to cover about 18 miles. The exercise fuel tank is empty. Indeed, that’s why so many marathoners slow their pace to a crawl right about that mark in the race, or worse, drop out.

As an alternative, the basis of all science based marathon training is to teach the body to burn more fat during exercises, and use less carbohydrate to be sure the carb tank doesn’t run empty before the end of the race. Science has shown that women have more body fat then men, and they can tap into this source for energy more efficiently too. This exercise science is so powerful for endurance related sports that many scientists now believe as ultra-distance races become longer; women may truly outpace men for the over-all win.

The 2018 Skecher’s Performance Los Angeles Marathon is weeks away. The popular race course, called The Stadium to the Sea, takes runners through all the iconic Los Angeles neighborhoods from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica; and is one of the country’s largest marathons with over 25,000 participants.

If you are interested in throwing your hat into the ring for this fabled race distance, please call for a free Performance Consultation with the PHASE IV Science Team. 310-582-8212

ARE YOU TRAINING OR STRAINING

Don’t Run With Pain

An Excerpt from Healthy Running Step by Step

by CEO Robert Forster, PT

When describing how challenging it can be to find the source of a runner’s pain, my physical therapy mentor liked to say: “The human body is famous for hurting where it ain’t hurt,” because without a complete diagnosis to find the cause of the pain; treatment will produce only temporary results. Runners who suffer an injury need to focus on four things:

1) Attaining the correct diagnosis immediately

You can’t fix an injury until the damaged and pain-provoking structure is identified precisely. It should become the focus of treatment techniques and protective measures designed to prevent further irritation and damage. Various clinical testing and skillful and thorough palpation techniques are the tools of success when it comes to finding painful structures. Only then can the right treatment techniques can be applied.

2) Detecting the mechanical cause of the injury

My physical therapy mentor, John Papalia, PT, is fond of saying, “The human body is famous for hurting where it ain’t hurt.” Meaning, the pain associated with an injury is not always experienced at the injury site, but instead can be referred to various areas remote to the injury.

Additionally, the most common causes of injury are mechanical problems near or distant to the pain. Any mechanical asymmetry in what’s known as the “kinetic chain,” which includes the joints of the ankle, knee, hip, pelvis, and spine, can cause an injury far from the dysfunctional area. Detecting these mechanical deficits is absolutely essential as the first step towards resolution. This is our specialty.

3) Getting the right treatment

Many clinicians who claim to do sports medicine will sell athletes on laying on a table and receiving passive treatments from “fancy black boxing,” which is supposed to work to miraculously heal injured tissues. Be wary. Although we use fancy therapeutic modalities like ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and icing, these do nothing more than help suppress the symptoms while we actively rehabilitate the injury and fix the cause. The operative word being “actively.” We make every injured athlete an active participant of their rehabilitation, and never a just passive recipient of care.

The body is a mechanical structure and therefore requires mechanical treatment. As such, stretching, strengthening, cross fiber massage, and ergonomics adjustments are the critical active therapeutic measures that will resolve your injury.

4) Maintain Fitness

When a runner suffers an injury right before the competition, the clinician must not only immediately identify the inured structure and find the cause of that injury, but they must work with the athlete and coach to find a cross-training activity to maintain fitness. Water running is the best cross-training activity for inured runners. The bike, elliptical, and other aerobic modalities might be appropriate if the injured structure is well protected against re-injury and aggravation of symptoms.

The progressive return to full training is a journey wrought with pitfalls and roadblocks. The experienced staff at Forster Physical Therapy have done this thousands of times with elite and recreational athletes alike, and we are able and ready to help any inured runner get back on the roads and across the finish line in good form.

If you, or someone you know is inured, you have to act quickly and decisively to resolve the injury and find the cause while you maintain your hard-earned fitness. This is our specialty and the reason that Forster Physical Therapy has been the “go to” spot for injured athletes for over 35 years.

All registered L.A. Marathoners qualify for a free injury assessment at Forster Physical Therapy, and you don’t need to see a doctor to get started. Also, the PHASE IV exercise physiologists and nutritionists are standing by to dial in your training, improve your running gait, and create the nutrition and hydration plan that will set you up for success come race day.

ANATOMY AND FUNCTION OF THE HAMSTRING

Chapter 9: Rehabbing Running Injuries

Anatomy and Function of the Hamstring

An Excerpt from “Healthy Running Step by Step” By Robert Forster, P.T. & Roy M. Wallack

In spite of the reputation as being one of the most common and difficult injuries to fix in all of sports medicine, hamstring strains are not all that difficult to rehabilitate. In our work with Olympic sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers, preventing and treating hamstring strains is the most important and valued skill because of the prevalence of these injuries in their events.

The three muscles of the hamstring group from medial to lateral: the semimembranosus, semitendonosis, and biceps femoris, all originate via a common tendon at the ischial tuberosity, the bony prominence at the base of the pelvic bone that is the contact point when we sit. They insert on the back side of the lower leg bone (tibia) just below the knee joint.

Because this muscle group crosses both the hip and knee joints they are known as two joint muscles. During running the lower hamstring works in a lengthening (eccentric) contraction at the knee joint to slow down the rate that the lower leg swings through the air before it hits the ground. At the hip the upper hamstring works at first eccentrically to limit the degree that the hip joint flexes at foot strike, this helps to slow the speed that your center of gravity drops in mid stance. Later in stance phase they switch function and are active in a shortening (concentric) contraction to extend the hip joint and catapult your body weight over the stationary stance leg. The hamstrings, along with the gluts are the prime movers, (i.e.your motor) in steady state running on flat surfaces as they are responsible for keeping your center of gravity moving forward. In up hill running and sprinting they are even more active.

Presentation of Pain

The pain from hamstring injuries can present in different areas in the back of the body extending from the gluts to behind the knee. This makes self diagnosis difficult. Many runners experience pain in the upper end of the hamstrings very close to the origin at the ischial tubersosity, and some imagine they have torn the upper attachment off the bone. As strong as this muscle group is, it rare that it’s tendon is pulled off of the bone. Instead, with careful examination the muscle strain is found to be an 2-4 inches below the origin.

The difficulty in localizing the exact site of hamstring strain is further illustrated by how often a runner will come in for Physical Therapy evaluation complaining of a hard to locate pain behind the knee. After ruling out knee pathology, the pain is invariably found anywhere in a region from the mid belly of the hamstring to 4-6 inches above the knee even though the pain is experienced lower in the back of the knee.

To further complicate the pain presentation of hamstring strains, there exists a bursa in the gluteal area that will refer pain and tightness into the back of the thigh where the hamstrings are located. A bursa is a fluid filled sac, much like an internal blister; but it’s suppose to be there, and it functions to prevent friction between the gluteus maximus muscle and the sit bone (ischial tuberosity). This condition is called an ischial-gluteal bursitis. It is almost always associated with hamstrings strains, but may exist in isolation too. The tell tale sign of this bursitis is pain with sitting, especially in the car. In the car the pain will be either right under the “sit bone” but often radiate into the hamstring in the back of the thigh making it tight and sore. It may also hurt when sitting on soft or hard surfaces too.

If you are experiencing the sitting pain in the buttock, and it’s worse when sitting in the car, the bursitis needs to be resolved or the hamstring injury will not get better. The pain from the bursa will keep the hamstring tight. If your stretching and icing techniques are performed twice a day and does not resolve the buttock pain, you will need to consult a Physical Therapist who is experienced with running injuries.

Differential Diagnosis

There are at least two other common ailments that will also refer pain to the posterior thigh where a hamstring muscle strain would be experienced and well. Also a compressed nerve root in the low back (lumbar spine) will cause a radiating pain into the hamstring as will a spasm of the Piriformis muscle deep in the buttock.

The Piriformis muscle is one of six “deep rotators” of the hip joint that act mostly as stabilizers during running. When there exists a functional or structural leg length discrepancy, the two lower extremities will not function symmetrically and these deep rotators will often react with a painful spasm that will mimic a hamstring strain. Each of these diagnoses must be ruled out by an experienced physical therapist before an isolated hamstring injury is identified and resolved.

Mechanism of Injury

The hamstrings are subject to both acute and overuse injuries.

Since the hamstrings are the motor that keeps runners moving forward they are highly susceptible to fatigue and a subsequent breakdown of normal function. As described above, the hamstrings work at both the hip and the knee joint during running and function quite differently at each.

In overuse hamstring strains fatigue accumulated during a workout will interfere with the smooth transition from a lengthening contraction to a shortening contraction and the result is muscle fiber damage. As the fatigued muscles struggle to gradually release their contraction and lengthen, they suffer micro trauma that will over time build up to become a macro trauma.

In the interim, the body attempts to repair the damage with scar tissue. After repeated failed attempts to heal the damage, the excess and dysfunctional scar tissue becomes a problem. The scar tissue prevents the muscle fibers from contracting because to do so muscle fibers need to shorten and spread apart, the scar tissue prevents that normal function. The resulting muscle weakness not only decreases performance but can lead to an acute strain.

In overuse injuries as the area of damage and scarred tissue accumulates, the muscle gets tighter and weaker and a dull ache will appear during or after a workout. You will lose your ability to stretch, and attempts to do so only increase the muscle tightness. It turns out that the the scar tissue matrix acts just like one of those Chinese finger handcuffs that tighten around your fingers when you pull the two ends apart from one another. This is one of the few injuries that we don’t stretch in rehab until the scar tissue is resolved.

Alternately, acute traumatic hamstring injury occurs when the muscle is overloaded and a significant number of fibers tear all at once. The pain can be severe and appears suddenly during a workout. This is the type of strain that causes runners to “pull up” in the middle of a race.

Muscle strains are graded I, II, and III to indicate their severity. A grade I strain is when a limited number of fibers are disrupted. You may feel soreness after a workout and/or stiffness when you stretch. If left untreated, a grade I strain will progress to a grade II.

A grade II strain involves a more significant portion of the muscle fibers and the pain is more severe; you will likely limp home. In some instances the damage also involves the fascia, a connective tissue sheath that wraps around the muscle belly.

The acute pain involved with grade II strains will make walking and daily activities difficult for up to 10-14 days or even longer. Also, black, blue and sometimes yellow bruising may appear further down the thigh from the injury sight 3-7 days post injury, as it drains through the superficial tissues.

Grade III strains involve a complete rupture of the muscle or tendon. Grade III strains are rare. The pain and inability to walk or even contract the hamstring will speak to the severity of a grade III strain.

Rehabilitation Program

Whether you have suffered an acute traumatic muscle strain or an overuse injury, the rehab program is similar. Only the timing is different. In both instances the inflammation must be addressed and the scar tissue has to be broken up. Finally the muscle has to be rehabilitated to full flexibility, strength and endurance before sports specific workouts can begin.

In acute injures the inflammation is more significant and is the focus of the first week of rehabilitation. Ice, compression and gentle range of motion exercises begin to move the injury in the right direction. For elite athletes with an imminent competition we will begin treating the scar tissue with cross fiber friction massage quite early, i.e in 48-72 hours post injury.

Cross fiber friction massage is the single most important manual therapy technique used in our approach to sports injuries. This treatment involves the use of specific massage strokes applied in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the tendon or muscle fibers to disrupt the scarring that develops between fibers and prevents normal function.

Because cross fiber friction aids recovery we developed home use massage sticks like this one for daily use.

GET YOUR COPY OF HEALTHY RUNNING STEP BY STEP AND LEARN EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RUNNING PAIN FREE!

Healthy Running Step by Step by Robert Forester, P.T. and Roy M. Wallack

MOTIVATION AND PURPOSE

Motivation and Purpose

When reflecting on what it is that keeps us from working towards our goals I am reminded of Newton’s first law of motion: “A body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stays in motion.” Motivation is the key to maintaining an exercise routine and an active lifestyle. Finding a strong purpose for that exercise creates the sustainable activity level required for good health.

While Newton’s famous tenet of physics speaks to the physical force necessary to move our respective body weight, it seems to me there is a psychological truth to this statement as well.

When activity or exercise is regular it’s so much easier to physically and psychologically get up and move each day; whereas getting going again after a break from an active routine is so much more difficult.

The physical part of this has to do with the body’s natural inclination to stiffen, weaken, and atrophy with inactivity. Also, getting started means overcoming initial soreness and fatigue.

The psychological inertia, which is evident in the many excuses we make: time, expense, fear of injury, all require motivation and determination to get past. With a lack of a strong motivation, it’s nearly impossible to get back into the flow of an active lifestyle.

Some find their motivation to maintain an exercise routine in a poor health report card from their medical doctor, some by body image and what they see in the mirror; but the strongest and most sustaining motivation to keep moving is fun!

If you enjoy your activity then weekly routines don’t feel like obligatory workouts. Whether you want to sign up for a bike tour, a local race with friends, a fun active adventure vacation, or learn to surf or hike the golf links in Scotland; when their is serious fun involved, most people stay the course of their active routine.

PHASE IV has three decades of experience helping people find the right balance of motivation and fun to make permanent lifestyle changes. Using sequential scientific analysis we are accountable for your improvements and will help you find the fun factor in your goals.

See the Event Schedule for a sampling of fun events we can help you prepare for.

This week PHASE IV Functional Health and Nutrition Specialist, Tina Paymaster, has some great tips to help you maintain your motivation and sustainable your activity level for life and for fun

Read Tina’s Science of Motivation Article Here

USA WRESTLING TAKES THIRD

This past weekend, the Freestyle World Cup of Wrestling came to Inglewood, California’s newly-reopened Forum. With wrestlers competing under their home nations’ flags, the defending champion Iranian team looked to repeat their home turf title earned last February in Tehran.

With the Forum having configured its competition space to accommodate the wrestlers and 3,000 spectators, ten nations –- Armenia, Georgia, India, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States –- split into two groups, the winners of which would compete for gold medals, while second-place finishers in each group would compete for silver, progressing down the ranks from there. The event built off the success of the May 19th, 2013, United4Wrestling match in the L.A. Coliseum, which acted as a successful in-action petition for wrestling’s reinstatement as an Olympic sport.

An early loss to Iran kept the U.S. team out of contention for gold, although the team’s final-round win over Ukraine secured a third-place result. In a move unusual for international sport, the sizeable Iranian fan base cheered for the U.S. in its final match before their athletes rewarded them with a win over eventual second-placed Russia.

Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs carried the U.S. team via the 74-kilogram weight class, improving his World Cup record to 15-0; Nick Marable, however, took his 13-pound-lighter frame to a late victory over Ukranian Andriy Kyvatkovsky, a win which helped seal USA Wrestling’s third-place result. Despite finishing the weekend at the bottom step of the podium, U.S. competitors took heart from their performance, with the 86-kg Clayton Foster telling teamusa.org, “We’re knocking on the door of a world championship. That’s when it’s going to show.”

Ali Reza Razaie, technical manager (skill coach) for Iran, told teamusa.org after his team’s dominant showing that, “For each of our matches we had a plan. Ninety percent of our plan came through today.”

American coach Zeke Jones was circumspect about his team’s result, saying after the match, “I think the next time we wrestle we will believe we can beat [Iran]. But we’re not going to do it if we don’t do the little things. We got to do the little things, fight for the center of the mat, control the tie-up, take charge of the whistle. Those are the things we talk about. They beat us to the punch on those things.”

Wrestling, then, while an exhibition of both pure strength and deft movement, is as technique- and strategy-driven as it is athletic, traits it will showcase to even the non-wrestling public in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

THE SLOW DEATH OF GYMS AND FITNESS

The Slow Death of Gyms & Fitness >> HIRT Blog

by Christian Marchegiani

When did being fit become a modelling contest? Why is exercise now all about entertainment? Why are celebrities the new fitness experts? And someone please tell me how does having a million followers on Instagram make you a nutritionist? Somewhere, somehow, things have gone wrong when it comes to our health. People are confused about “how much to eat” or if “energy drinks are better than water”. Really? Common sense itself should answer these questions but why are we so afraid to use it?

Lets take a closer look. These days it seems everyone is a Personal Trainer, Fitness Expert, Nutritonist, or Gym Instructor. You can gain these qualifications online or simply by having a good body and showing it off in a bikini on social media. Models who didn’t quite make it in the fashion and beauty world have turned their attention to the fitness industry and have labelled themselves as ‘experts’ who want to ‘inspire’ people to look like them. Qualifications? Well they can fit into a size 6 pair of jeans, look good in underwear through a bathroom mirror, and buy millions of followers on social media.

If you are a chef, cook, or waiter at a cafe and handle food then you too can have a qualification as a Nutritionist/Dieitican. There is no regulation against it and this is where the problem begins. These days you can dish out any exercise or food advice on social media and magazines which in my opinion is grossly irresponsible. Sure you may not get adequate insurance but even that process has become somewhat of a joke. The insurance companies are dancing the tango with the qualification providers and we now have loop holes bigger than the ozone layer.

People tell me that I should lighten up because fitness and exercise is meant to be fun and light hearted. Really? You ‘inspire’ a man with high blood pressure to lift a weight over his head because you told him so through a magazine and you call this fun? It won’t be so much fun when he has a stroke at his local gym or in his garage. My favourite are the ‘experts’ who are advising mums on how to lose their post baby belly. In my opinion this is not a matter of going back to exercise. Carrying a baby and giving birth puts the body under immense stress and trauma that the post natal period of exercise should be treated as rehabilitation not ‘fun’ exercise.

I understand the whole premise that getting people active and motivated to exercise is the ‘main thing’ (as so many ‘experts’ seem to tell me) but what about duty of care? If a doctor prescribes wrong medication to a patient and they have a heart attack you can rest assured the doctor will never be able to practice again. If you prescribe the wrong exercise to someone in the gym and they injure themselves you just shout at them “no excuses” or label them ‘soft’. Believe me this is what happens.

You have a responsibility to people when dealing with their bodies and this is not just a matter of making them do what you can do. The reality is they are not you and will never look like you. I’m happy for people to get their qualifications online who genuinly want to help others but you can’t mislead them with false hope and dangerous exercises. You can’t just tell them to cut out carbs or eat sugar free food because it worked for you and it’s what’s trending at the moment.

I get that trainers and models want to show off their bodies (I do too) but please don’t wear underwear in your advertising and tell me you want to help people lose weight. In any other industry we would have the ACCC come down so hard on them that they’d be shut down for misleading consumers. Why doesn’t this happen when it comes to the welfare of people attending gyms or following a 30 day bikini body challenge? Even the fashion industry is making an attempt to protect the integrity of their trade by not using models who are under a certain weight. Although it’s questionable at times at least they’ve brought awareness to the situation.

So what is the answer? Unfortunately I think we are too far gone to change anything. In actual fact it will get worse because vanity and stupidity is a trillion dollar industry that goes hand in hand. All I can do is try to bring awareness to the problem and perhaps make people think twice about the advice they’re getting. I want to say that there are a lot of good trainers out there. I’ve met them, I’ve taught them, and I’ve trained with them. I believe they genuinly want to help people look and feel their best but are being brought down by the cowboys who think having a six pack qualifies them as an ‘expert’.

I want you to seek out these good trainers. Listen to what they have to say. Usually they’re the ones without all the glamour and glitz of photoshopped Instagram photos. They are the ones who are always learning and researching to make themsleves better at what they do so they can help you get better at what you do. But more importantly I want you to listen to yourself. Ask yourself “have I eaten too much? Am I full?” This is probably a good start to your question “how much should I be eating?” You see you don’t need a diet and you don’t need motivation. You just need to make up your mind about what you want to achieve and then just do it without making a big song and dance about it like you’re at a rock concert.

No one is going to give you anything. No one owes you your health. You owe it to yourself because unfortunately there are people in this world who do not have the luxury and choices that you do. Start believing in yourself again instead of all the nonsense and crap that’s being fed to us by under qualified and over glorified “experts”.

TAPERING FOR THE LA MARATHON

Tapering For The LA Marathon: Recovery And Peak

With only two weeks left before the 2016 Skechers L.A. Marathon, all competitors should now be in final preparations for race day. With the last long run completed, now it’s time to taper your workouts and let your fitness evolve. But contrary to popular belief, the taper period is not just for recovery. The goals of the taper period are actually two-fold: to allow for full recovery, and to sharpen your fitness.

The first week of the taper is to allow for full recovery from the last fitness building block of workouts – specifically, the last long run. The second week of the taper is to take your newfound fitness out for a spin, and test all the high gears. This will push your fitness up even further. The key to these workouts is to perform them in a completely recovered state, and keep them short. After each workout, you need to recover completely before moving on to the next one.

So instead of your key workouts being every 48 hours, as they were in the earlier training periods, you now will provide more time for recovery and allow 72 hours between challenging workouts. Light recovery workouts between the short, hard efforts will help. These can be easy runs or short workouts on a stationary bike or elliptical machine. Swimming and water running are also good for recovery.

The week of the race, with your training loads further reduced, you need to put that extra energy into recovery tactics. Start with at least eight hours of sleep each night, keep your days short, and get off your feet. Stretch every day (even if you don’t work out), and focus on the tight and problematic areas with use of the Forster Edition Addaday foam roller, massage sticks, and other recovery tools. Follow these efforts with icing sore and tight areas for 20 minutes every night. Ice baths are very effective for recovery, and will help you rebuild fresh legs.

If you are experiencing pain, you must actively seek a resolution. Rest alone does not fix running injuries. You have plenty of time to address the mechanical deviations that caused your injury. It’s best to arrive at the starting line healthy but with a little less fitness, than to arrive injured because you ran through pain. Cross training will deliver the same fitness value in the last few weeks of training as running, and may spare your injury from worsening.

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