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| Why must you turn my office into a house of lies |
Fish Oil
By now everyone and their grandmother has heard about the benefits of fish oil - improved brain function, improved mood, decreased joint inflammation, decreased LDL levels and a host of other benefits. Researchers have shown fish oil supplementation to increase resting metabolic rates and decrease in body inflammation. Other research has shown links between fish oil supplementation and improved lipid profiles, anti-depressant effects and mental health. Bottom line, you want to get healthy? Take your fish oil. If you aren't taking your fish oil then I only have one question for you: what the hell is wrong with you and get off my website.
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| A magic little pill that'll make you feel great, and you don't have to smuggle anything over the border |
A Proper Warmup
So you're ready to tear it up in the gym. You get there but something doesn't feel quite right - you feel a bit slow and sluggish, knees and hips creak as you take your first set on squats, hitting depth kinda hurts, you have no pop out of the hole. Each progressive set feels heavier and makes your joints scream. "Maybe I should take it slow today" but instead you jack up the weight. Your final set involves the gym attendant calling the ambulance for you.
So what happened? You were sluggish, couldn't find your groove and your joints hurt. Sounds like someone didn't warm up properly. Most serious lifters know the merits of a good warmup. You can't smash serious weights without your body running like a well oiled machine. A good warmup will help you accomplish a few things - increase body temperature, improve tissue quality before lifting, bring heart rate to a steady state during work, increase oxygen uptake and groove the proper motor patterns for lifting - just to name a few. Qualitatively I feel a huge difference when I get in a solid warmup including light cardio (skipping rope or sled dragging), soft tissue work, dynamic and static stretching, mobility drills and activation work. Days I don't do that my lifts feel heavy, I can't find a good lifting groove and my joints hurt the whole session. Days I do get that in I feel like a million bucks, everything is going my way and I'm ready to go set after set. As for warmup sets, I take a page out of Dave Tate's book; he's mentioned in past articles that at the famed Westside Barbell gym, they may do multiple sets with just an empty bar if they don't feel the right groove on their lift. And if it's good enough for Westside it should be good enough for you. Too many guys you see at commercial gyms will be 'platers' (another Dave Tate term), meaning they'll put on one plate (135 lbs), put on another plate 225 lbs) and so forth. The problem is if your max is 185 lbs are you really going to jump up to 73% of your max (135 lbs) on your first set? You will if you're a dumbass.
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| You are not better than him |
Lifting in the Morning
How many of you like to train first thing in the morning? How many of you squat and deadlift appreciable loads while training in the morning? How many of you complain of low back pain or herniated discs after squatting and deadlifting first thing in the morning?
Spinal disc injuries are the bane of my existence. Right up there with ruptured tendons they are my most hated injury and I've already bulged my T12-L1 in January 2009 which has left a permanent mark on my physical performance. For those of you performing low back-taxing lifts early in the morning you may want to think twice after hearing this.
Research from Dr. Stuart McGill has shown the spinal discs to be more susceptible to injury early in the morning than at any other time of day. As you lay down when you sleep, osmotic pressures (pressure from the inward flow of fluids) cause your spinal discs to fill with fluid and overhydrate - this is one reason you are taller in the mornings than at night. Throughout the day as you are upright that compressive effect from gravity is able to help drain the discs of excess fluid. During this morning period overhydration the discs have been proven to be more susceptible to herniation and endplate fracture; any excess compressive/shear/torsional loads will damage the spinal discs more readily, and the ability for the discs to absorb said loads is decreased when overhydrated; disc bending stresses have been shown to increase by 300% and ligament stresses increase by 80% during this time. Do yourself a favour and wait at least an hour after waking before attempting major lifts involving the low back, and be sure to warm up thoroughly (just like what I said a few paragraphs above).
Foam Rolling
You're in the gym and start to perform a couple bodyweight movements to get some blood moving but notice your range of motion sucks. You want to perform some bodyweight squats but as you bend your legs you feel a noticeable pull and the front of your knee hurts. Welcome to the world of referred pain and scar tissue adhesion.
As our bodies take damage from the outside world (lifting weights, falling off a ladder, getting your ass kicked by a troup of boy scouts), our natural protective mechanism takes over - thick inelastic adhesions form over muscles and fascia. Unfortunately these adhesions can limit muscle elasticity, trap nerves causing referred pain and diminish blood flow. Luckily we have many tools at our disposal to get rid of these adhesions. We could shell out our hard earned money and see a specialist to poke and prod you (myofascial release) for an hour, or we could save our cash and do it ourselves via a foam roller.
A foam roller is just a tool for self myofascial release, but we can use anything depending on the size of the muscle group, from a lacrosse ball to a PVC pipe - anything with enough rigidity to be effective but not rigid enough to bruise (unless you like that sort of stuff, I don't judge). I won't get into foam rolling technique, but Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson wrote an excellent article a while ago on the subject right here. The way I do it is I lay on my foam roller/lacrosse ball/whatever, and roll around til I find something that hurts. Once I land on a painful area I'll apply constant pressure for 30 seconds or so, then roll along the direction of the muscle fibres. The difference in tissue quality is night and day. I can barely do a bodyweight squat without feeling the tightness in my quadriceps pulling on my patella and tightness in my hips. After foam rolling my IT band, quadriceps, adductors and piriformis I can descend into my squat relatively pain free. You could spring for a real foam roller, but with the rise in popularity over the past few years they've gone up all the way to over $50. A generic white coloured one I purchased from an unnamed Canadian fitness supply store lost its rigidity after 6 months of use. Some people shell out the cash for a good one but if you're on a tight budget head to your local hardware store and buy a lenth of PVC pipe. You can wrap it in athletic tape to prevent slipping and if its too hard, wrap it in a thin mat.
Conclusions
Hopefully after reading all that you'll pick up some tips on how to get through your day with a bit more energy, a bit less injuries and aches and a few more PR's. Feeling like crap? Take your fish oil, warm up adequately, remember to foam roll and don't do your 5 second eccentric romanian deadlifts right after you wake up (the idiocy of 5 second eccentric romanian deadlifts will be discussed in a later article). Remember, I'm on your side.
References:
Peet M, Horrobin DF. A Dose-Ranging Study of the Effects of Ethyl-Eicosapentaenoate in Patients With Ongoing Depression Despite Apparently Adequate Treatment With Standard Drugs. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:913-919.
McGill SM. Low back disorders: Evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation, Human Kinetics, 2007, p96
Adams MA, Dolan P, Hutton WC. Diurnal variations in the stresses on the lumbar spine. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1987 Mar;12(2):130-7.
Brunner-Ziegler S, Strasser B, Haber P. Comparison of Metabolic and Biomechanic Responses to Active vs. Passive Warm-up Procedures Before Physical Exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Aug 20
Gossman MR, Sahrmann SA, Rose SJ. Review of length-associated changes in muscle. Experimental evidence and clinical implications. Phys Ther. 1982 Dec;62(12):1799-808
How many of you like to train first thing in the morning? How many of you squat and deadlift appreciable loads while training in the morning? How many of you complain of low back pain or herniated discs after squatting and deadlifting first thing in the morning?
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| Rise and shine |
Research from Dr. Stuart McGill has shown the spinal discs to be more susceptible to injury early in the morning than at any other time of day. As you lay down when you sleep, osmotic pressures (pressure from the inward flow of fluids) cause your spinal discs to fill with fluid and overhydrate - this is one reason you are taller in the mornings than at night. Throughout the day as you are upright that compressive effect from gravity is able to help drain the discs of excess fluid. During this morning period overhydration the discs have been proven to be more susceptible to herniation and endplate fracture; any excess compressive/shear/torsional loads will damage the spinal discs more readily, and the ability for the discs to absorb said loads is decreased when overhydrated; disc bending stresses have been shown to increase by 300% and ligament stresses increase by 80% during this time. Do yourself a favour and wait at least an hour after waking before attempting major lifts involving the low back, and be sure to warm up thoroughly (just like what I said a few paragraphs above).
Foam Rolling
You're in the gym and start to perform a couple bodyweight movements to get some blood moving but notice your range of motion sucks. You want to perform some bodyweight squats but as you bend your legs you feel a noticeable pull and the front of your knee hurts. Welcome to the world of referred pain and scar tissue adhesion.
As our bodies take damage from the outside world (lifting weights, falling off a ladder, getting your ass kicked by a troup of boy scouts), our natural protective mechanism takes over - thick inelastic adhesions form over muscles and fascia. Unfortunately these adhesions can limit muscle elasticity, trap nerves causing referred pain and diminish blood flow. Luckily we have many tools at our disposal to get rid of these adhesions. We could shell out our hard earned money and see a specialist to poke and prod you (myofascial release) for an hour, or we could save our cash and do it ourselves via a foam roller.
 |
| Who thought a long rod could give so much pleasure |
Conclusions
Hopefully after reading all that you'll pick up some tips on how to get through your day with a bit more energy, a bit less injuries and aches and a few more PR's. Feeling like crap? Take your fish oil, warm up adequately, remember to foam roll and don't do your 5 second eccentric romanian deadlifts right after you wake up (the idiocy of 5 second eccentric romanian deadlifts will be discussed in a later article). Remember, I'm on your side.
References:
Sinn N, Bryan J. Effect of Supplementation with Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Micronutrients on Learning and Behavior Problems Associated with Child ADHD. J Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 2007;28(2):82-91
McGill SM. Low back disorders: Evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation, Human Kinetics, 2007, p96
Adams MA, Dolan P, Hutton WC. Diurnal variations in the stresses on the lumbar spine. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1987 Mar;12(2):130-7.
Brunner-Ziegler S, Strasser B, Haber P. Comparison of Metabolic and Biomechanic Responses to Active vs. Passive Warm-up Procedures Before Physical Exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Aug 20
Gossman MR, Sahrmann SA, Rose SJ. Review of length-associated changes in muscle. Experimental evidence and clinical implications. Phys Ther. 1982 Dec;62(12):1799-808
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