Living Healthy, more than a physical matter!

Living Healthy, More than a Physical Matter

Living a healthy lifestyle goes well beyond just looking a certain way. It’s not just about ripped abdominals, sculpted arms and lean looking legs. Being healthy is a mindset. It creates a state of mind that can get you through tough times, cherish the good times and can push yourself beyond the limits that are set. As physical goals are important to have, we must always take a step back and understand the real reasons to be fit and healthy. As most gym goers head to the gym, their initial mindset is to lose weight, or “tone” their arms, or get rid of the body fat around their stomach. Again, these are goals that can keep your motivation to train but let’s take a look at some deeper goals that can help create a healthy life, not just for aesthetics but also for a positive mentality to keep you living at high levels each day.

1. I do it because it makes me feel good. The feeling after a tough workout is exhilarating. When those endorphins (the feel good chemical that is released post-exercise) are kicking we are so stoked and excited following a workout. I see it all the time in the gym. People might initially come in for a workout in a negative, frustrated and exhausted mood but once they get going and start zoning out, their mood suddenly changes. When the workout is completed, the mindset is changed.

2. Healthy living creates discipline in my life. Everyday you need to expect greatness and in order to do this you must set goals, be productive, have good time management and have a positive mental attitude. Daily discipline will guide you to this way of life. When you decide to live a healthy lifestyle, you must build small daily disciplines in your life to live the life you want. Wake up and drink water, pack your snacks, get to work or school on time, eat every 2-3 hours, get to the gym, pick up your kids, prepare a healthy dinner, get to bed on time. Healthy living is about systemizing your life to get the most out of each day.

3. Creating the “Always do my best” attitude. At the end of the day if you only gave 60%, you just wasted a day. Start giving 100% everyday and watch your life take off. Every aspect of your life will improve. Each day try to give just a little more so you can truly maximize your life. Living a healthy life is not about being perfect. Give your best effort one day at a time and your vigor for life will improve.

4. I am a true believer in myself. When you have ingrained this healthy lifestyle into your life you will become a true believer in your abilities. Believing in yourself is how you can continue to reach new heights of performance, personal development and personal achievement.

Strategies to Reducing Injury

10 Strategies to Reduce Injury in a Training Program

It seems that more and more people are suffering from chronic pain, injury and aching bodies. From knee and low back pain, to shoulder and hip pain, these instances can be reduced and better yet eliminated with smart training and recovery tactics. Below are 10 strategies that can help you reduce injury and pain:

1. Foam roll and stretching. Improving the tissue quality of your muscles can dramatically change the way you move, recover and live life. Tissue quality is the foundation of movement and fitness. Lack of flexibility in the muscles limits your range of motion, causing other areas of the body to compensate, thus causing pain and/or injury. You need to take time out of your schedule to focus on improving the tissue quality of the muscle. For every decade you have been alive is the days per week you should be implementing this portion (a 50 year old should foam roll/stretch 5 days a week).

2. Smart training principles. It’s not about how hard you train but how smart you train. Hard and erratic training leads to injury and inconsistent results. Smart and efficient training leads to massive improvement and an injury free body. Don’t live by the motto, “more is better”. We want you working and getting results but that doesn’t mean pushing the body past the barrier that will lead to injury. What did you do last week and what is your plan next week? Start logging all of your workouts and create a long-term training plan that will put you on the path to a healthy and fit body.

3. Proper Dynamic warm-up. Every single training session should start with a thorough dynamic warm-up. Preparing the body for the work ahead is a crucial tactic to reducing injury. Too many people just start their workout without activating the system beforehand. This warm-up should increase heart rate, elongate muscles, mobilize joints and wake up the nervous system. Without a warm-up you increase your chances of injury during your workout.

4. Strength training. Learning how to strength train can assist you in every aspect of your life. Implement full body, multi-joint movements that will increase your function and way of life. Hire a qualified strength coach to help you design a proper program that fits your needs and goals.

5. Consistent Sleep. You will eventually wear down if you are not sleeping consistently. You are in full recovery mode when your body is at rest. If you are lacking solid sleep at night, it doesn’t matter how smart or efficient your training program is because you will not fully recover and you will tax the nervous system and eventually breakdown.

6. Proper nutrition. High-level nutrition equates to high-level performance. If you are consuming empty calories, high fattening foods and inadequate fuel, your body will not be at its best level. You risk breakdown and depletion with this type of nutrition plan. The majority of your food consumption should come from nutrient and fiber dense foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Add in lean protein sources like chicken, fish, eggs and low fat milk and quality fats like avocado, raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.) and heart healthy oils. A good food plan will enhance your recovery, give you energy, and keep you at your optimal level.

7. Do not randomly train. One day you hit a group class, one day you run, one day you do P90x and one day you lift weights. Randomized training can definitely put you on the path to injury and pain. You will have a more successful training program when you have a plan of action and create a progressive plan to build your fitness week by week.

8. Know your limits. This is a big one. When you push past your boundaries you dramatically increase your chances of injury. I am not saying you shouldn’t push yourself, but if everyday you have extreme soreness and you are not allowing full recovery, you will eventually end up hurt. Our bodies are very resilient but when constantly pushed beyond its limits, you force breakdown and

9. Corrective exercise. We all have imbalances and weaknesses and its imperative to put focus on improving those weak links in the body. Understanding your movement dysfunction can help you devise a corrective exercise program that will enhance each weak link. If you have hypermobility issues then you need more strength and stability work. If you lack mobility and flexibility then you need more range of motion drills. Have a qualified specialist assess your movement and then implement “corrective” drills daily to give you a more functional and injury free body.

10. Drink plenty of water. As simple as it sounds, this is crucial to remaining healthy and injury free. When the body is in dehydration mode, your immune system starts breaking down, you risk getting sick and body wears down. The body needs water to work at high levels. Just by drinking adequate amounts of water you can see changes in your performance, decrease pain and injury and enhance your overall way of life.

Better Movement equates to better running

Become a Better Runner, Become a Better Mover – Part 1

- Justin Levine

I see too many runners just start running. They eliminate some very important aspects. No soft tissue work, no pre-run warm-up, no drilling, they just begin to run. This strategy can run you right into a physical therapy clinic. You must take the time to create a recovery and regeneration program and implement it into your overall running program so you can truly maximize your performance. Remember if you are hurt you can not train, and if you can not train you can not get better. So take the time to devise your recovery program to reduce injury and enhance your running.

I just conducted a running clinic and we discussed the importance of soft tissue work, pre-run warm-up strategies, running drills for better economy and functional strength training to enhance your strength and power. If you missed this educational clinic, don’t worry because I am going to give you some of the concepts we talked about.

First we went over foam rolling techniques. Foam rolling is a great way to “self massage” your muscles. You can reduce and better yet eliminate knots that are bundled up in the muscles from running, daily moving and activity. When you improve the tissue quality of the muscle you improve blood flow and flexibility. You will move better. A foam roll is a very important tool for runners and other endurance athletes as it can tremendously assist in injury prevention. When you roll you want to find tender areas in your muscles. Go slow and methodical and when you hit a tender spot, stop and pulse over that area for 20 seconds, then continue to other parts of the muscle. Here are the muscles runners need to concentrate on to reduce some common injuries seen in the sport:

IT Band: the IT band is located on the lateral (outside) of the leg. It attaches to the hipbone and runs all the way down to the outside of the knee. When our IT band is tight we can create pain on the outside of the knee, also known as IT band syndrome.

Quadriceps: We all know where the “quads” are. But what most people do not know is that there are three different parts to the quads. The vastus medialis is located medially (inside of the quad), the vastus lateralis is located on the outside and the rectus femoris is located in the middle. Make sure to hit all three spots as you can build up knots throughout the entire muscle. Many runners with patella (knee cap) pain or medial (inside) knee pain can tremendously reduce the pain with consistent soft tissue and foam rolling.

Glutes and Hip Rotators: If you have ever experienced low back pain this is the area you need to concentrate on when you roll. When your hips and glutes are tight, your low back takes the compensation and movement, thus causing pain. By rolling and stretching this area you can assist is taking the stress off the low back and get your hips and glutes working correctly.

Thoracic Spine: Another area, if not functioning correctly can cause lower back and even neck and shoulder pain. Our thoracic spine is the 12 vertebrae located in the middle of the back. We need active mobility in this region. Sitting, driving, bad posture and bad movement causes the “t-spine” to become locked and dysfunctional. When this happens we start moving at the lumbar spine (lower back) and cervical spine (neck) causing issues up and down the chain. Many injuries and pain symptoms can resonate from poor function at the t-spine. So we need to focus on rolling this area many times during the week to increase function so we become better movers.

Calves/Peroneals/Soleus/Feet: We run on our feet so it is crucial to work the areas of the lower leg. If we begin to have tightness at the gastrocnemius (main calf muscle) then we could experience tightness down the chain into our fascia on the bottom of our feet. When the muscles of the foot become inflamed we get plantar fasciitis, a very common symptom amongst runners and endurance athletes. But it is something we can stray away from with the correct recovery and regeneration program. Make sure to roll your calves, peroneals (outside of your lower leg), soleus (underneath your calf) and the bottom of your feet. You can use a rolling stick for these areas or you can use a canned food, baseball or tennis ball.

Next we talked about pre-run warm-up strategies. Again, too many runners forget this important aspect and just start running with out dynamically warming up. This warm-up will prepare the body and nervous system for the workout ahead. If you have a sit down job this portion is mandatory as it will put your body into good function before you begin your run. Always take 5-10 minutes to perform a dynamic warm-up. Even if that means you reduce your overall run time by 5-10 minutes. You will become a better and more efficient runner and you will reduce your chances of injury.

Lunge/Arms straight up: This is a great movement as it can lengthen our hip flexors, activate our glutes and open up our shoulders and thoracic spine. Step out into a lunge position. Place the knee on the ground and raise your arms straight up next to your ears. Push through the back glute to feel the stretch in your hip flexor. Hold for 3-5 seconds and repeat 3-8 times on each side, then switch legs.

Deep Squat to Hamstring: This movement can be used to assess your overall functional movement. So it is important to work and perfect this move. Make sure to keep your chest up, back flat and maintain good core control. Keep your heels on the floor, your feet need to be outside the hips and facing straight ahead and keep your elbows inside of your knees during the squat. As you go into the hamstring stretch, push your butt out and back and keep a flat back until you feel the stretch in your hamstrings. Perform 3-5 full repetitions.

Side Lunging: Running is a sagittal plane (straight forward) movement. We need to increase mobility in all three planes of motion to truly maximize our functional movement. So side lunging will increase hip range of motion in a frontal plane (side to side). Make sure to keep your feet straight and locked into the ground. Sit you butt back into the move as you shift to the left or right. Make sure your bent knee does not slide past your toes. Force your butt and hips to drive backwards and to the direction you are going. You will feel this stretch in your adductors as well.

Push-up Yoga: This is a total body move as it can assist with hamstring and calf flexibility, ankle and thoracic spine mobility and shoulder stability. Start in a push-up position. Maintain good posture and keep your abdominals tight. Take 4 small hand steps back towards your feet. Raise your butt into the air and place your heels into the ground. Keep your legs locked out. Hold for 3-6 seconds and then walk back to starting position. Repeat for 3-5 full repetitions.

To be continued….