Find and release the breaks to Ultimate performance -Part 1

Find and release the breaks:

To Ultimate performance- Part 1

Chris Shah

Owner, Fitness Coach

You want to run a half marathon, do your first amateur MMA fight, boxing match or Tuff Mudder obstacle course.

First things first is to push on the gas pedal speeding to your goal right? On the surface it seems like the right plan of action.

Imagine the excitement of planning a cross country road trip with your friends or family. Everyone wants to hurry up and get on the road. But not so fast!

  

(Figure: 1)

 

Will our car make the trip without breaking down?

Do we have enough money for the trip?

How much gas will we need?

These are what we call logistical breaks. They make you stop and think before you take a course of action. What is the limiting factor in making this awesome trip come true?

Similarly, we have breaks physically that we may not be aware of that hinder us from hitting top speed towards our final physical destination or goal.

Physical therapist and strength coach Gray Cook calls this the Eye of the storm. 

 (figure: 2)

What limitation break do you have that needs to be released in order to maximize your training program?

Muscle tone

Flexibility

Mobility

Stability

Strength

Power

Endurance

Skill

Any limitation of the first group will limit your ability to efficiently steer and control the second group. Also lots of research clearly shows us the possibility of injury or breakdown increases with such limitations.

CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO EXPLANATION ...........

 

 

 

To better illustrate this point and why one workout routine will not produce the same results with another person I introduce you to the Optimum performance pyramids.

The Optimum pyramid (figure: 3):  The athlete has a nice wide base of functional movement.

This athlete has optimum mobility and stability to control and steer their power, endurance and skill.  

 (Figure: 3)

The over-powered pyramid (Figure: 4): The athlete does not have adequate Functional movement (mobility and stability) to optimal control and steer their power, endurance and skill. They have breaks on.

(Figure: 4)

Who cares? If you care about longevity, injury and optimum performance you will.

Without a nice wide base of mobility and stability your injury or breakdown potential greatly increases.

When you have a narrow base of functional movement you have to exert more energy as well as waste more energy. That means MORE physical exertion and LESS strength, power and conditioning capability. 

 

One fitness program will not get the same results with two different people who exhibit different performance pyramids and needs. 

When someone has breaks on it’s like those old school light bulbs. (Figure: 5) They light up your room but they are not efficient and run up your energy bill. Your exercising but it takes more physical exertion and your not maximizing strength and power.

 (Figure: 5)

BUT! …………………………

The new more efficient light bulbs (Figure: 6) do the job even better and are far more energy and money efficient. We want to find and release the breaks. That means more efficient power and strength with less effort.

  (Figure: 6)

Our bodies operate in very much the same manner. It’s what separates a good runner from an elite runner.

The best runners are very efficient and the runners with breaks on (limitations in mobility, stability) are leaking energy like a water hose with a hole. (Figure: 7) That means less energy or force being pushed into the ground along with slower run times and more physical exertion.

 (Figure: 7)

Do you work harder or get better want to, hmm?

  

TAKE HOME MESSAGE ..........

 Combine pushing on the gas pedal and finding and releasing the breaks.

Click here to find out where your BREAKS are. Schedule a complimentary assessment. 

http://www.terranovafitness.com/contact.html 

In part 2-

of the series I will go over specific examples with Runners, Boxers, Grapplers and the weekend warrior and common fixes I use to release the breaks...

Beware of the fitness Ostridge Part 1-

Beware of the fitness Ostridge 

Chris Shah

Terra Nova Fitness, Owner

Head strength and conditioning coach

In part 1- of the series I will tackle the dinner table philosophical side of hiding your head in the sand. Part 2- we will venture into the gym and tackle the practical or procedural practices of having your head in the sand.

Does your fitness professional, personal trainer or instructor have his or her professional head in the sand?  Here are some clues to find out if you are in the presence of a fitness ostridge in Pacifica fitness gyms or across the world.

Here are some big rock questions you should ask your strength and conditioning coach and/or Personal trainer. A high-level intellectually interested trainer who has your best interest at heart should have rapid fire answers. I know some of the best coaches and trainers in the country and they all agree on this common thread.  

1. What were the last 5 strength and conditioning/rehab books you have read?

Many fighters and athletes who come to me for advice often say “I can’t ask him that he would get offended” If you asked a fan/student of horror movies what were the last five horror movies he watched would he get offended? Or would he wax poetically about them? If your fitness professional gets offended by such a question you are being trained by an ostridge content with having his head in the sand. RUN for your life!

The best trainers in the world spend more money on books than TV and movies.

2. How many seminars, workshops and conferences have you attended this year? There are giant masters of fitness and physical rehab who are kind enough to allow us to stand on their shoulders. Check out the view you will be amazed and enriched along with your clients and athletes.

 I recently had another Pacifica gym owner and trainer walk into my gym for reconnaissance. I was genuinely interested in talking shop. It went a little like this after pleasantries were exchanged.

 Me: “so will I see you at perform better seminar this weekend is San Francisco?

 Visiting Pacifica trainer: “What’s that? (This is forgivable because 5 years ago I didn’t know)

Me:” It’s were the content leaders, innovators and pioneers of both fitness and rehab come to lecture and give hands on training”

 Visiting Pacifica trainer: “that’s not my thing”

Me: with my mental jaw on the floor. WHAT!? 

After the initial shock and awe wore off it was too late for me to articulate a response as she bolted out.  Learning and becoming better is not your thing? Gray Cook, Lee Burton and Rachelle, Awlyn Cosgrove is not your thing. The Mount Rushmore figures of rehab and fitness is not your thing? 

Imagine the same thought process in another field to hammer in the intellectual laziness and obscurity of such a statement.  You’re an amateur director and find out Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood are holding a seminar and hands on directoring in your home town and your response as a director is that’s not my thing? You just missed out on an opportunity to become a better practitioner but you don’t care because your head is in the sand. Shame on you!

3. How many trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, physical therapists and chiropractors have you visited this year? I have spent time with some of the best in the business and each time learned and grown from the experience. The most successful people in all industries mastermind with like-minded and higher-level individuals and teams.  

I recently spent time at Stanford with Strength coach Stephen DiLustro. We talked shop for hours and I saw first hand what they are doing with some of the best woman athletes in the country.

 I immediately made a few adjustments to my training and learned a few things that I’m now implementing on a daily basis. Fitness ostridges won’t visit other coaches because they are stuck in “this is how I do it mode” or worse afraid to ask a question that exposes their ignorance. An ostridge would rather protect their ego with their head in the sand than go the extra mile to become a better trainer for their clients.

I proudly say have your head held high, look around, and ask questions that expose your ignorance. You will evolve and become more valuable to your clients and athletes.

4. What were the last five mistakes you have made in your training?

The scientific method is designed for mistakes. – Gordon Forward President, Chaparral steel.

With my Mentor Mike Boyle (Boston Red Socks)

Mike is famous for writing about his mistakes and learning from them and saving the rest of us allot of trial and error.  Bottom line if you have not made mistakes you are either not coaching anyone, have an ego first improve second mentality, don’t keep detailed performance records of your athletes/clients or never objectively looked at your programming. Great judgment comes from allot of bad judgment.

Great practitioners like Warren Buffet, Jerry Rice, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill all proclaimed mistakes were valuable teachers and without them their success would have been impeded.

Like wise great trainers love to laugh about their mistakes and get a sparkle in their eye about what they learned from them. The unexamined trainer is not worth paying for ;)

5. What and when was your last paradigm shift?

If they don’t have an answer you have another reason to believe you are in the company of an fitness ostridge .If they applied the same logic they do to their training to technology they should still be watching movies on VHS. We know there is more efficient technology and we must update accordingly. The same applies with strength and conditioning, what we thought was safe and effective 2 years ago may no longer be. 

Demand the highest of standards from your coach or trainer. You DESERVE it. See you inside the gym for part 2 of the series.

Runners : Foot or Knee pain? The runners "tooth brush" to the rescue

By: Chris Shah

Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Corrective Exercise Specialist

Runners:  Do you have foot or knee pain?

The runners “Tooth brush”:  A must have! Can a simple tennis ball help alleviate your pain problems?

If you are like many of the people I coach nothing can stop you from running. It is a window where you lose track of time and problems are temporarily forgotten in exchange for strides on the ground.  These repetitive strides on the ground tend to open the door to those unwanted foes of foot pain (i.e., plantar fasciitis) and knee pain.

You know the conversation very well because you tell it to anyone who will listen.

“Man, I had a great run but my foot and knees hurt. I don’t get it I’m in great shape.”

The runners “tooth brush” or tennis ball is one of many tools that all runners MUST have in their tool box. In order to be a skilled tool user we need to know the principles behind the tool.

I’m getting ahead of myself here.  Before we go any further, take a look in the mirror. As endurance athletes and enthusiasts you can be the most stubborn people on the planet.

I would imagine most of you reading this are watching movies at home on at least a DVD player?  Once upon a time we watched movies on this thing called Beta-Max.  You remember Beta-max don’t you? Big, clunky and low quality video.

With each passing few years more efficient technology comes out and we upgrade. With each passing two years our knowledge of fitness and injuries is increasing at an equally great rate.

Just as technology replaces itself with the emergence of new research, fitness information evolves through the experience of great coaches, altering what we once believed was safe and efficient.  Imagine if you applied the same logic most runners do to technology.

You would still be watching movies on Beta-Max. It’s time to upgrade!

 

The best runners in the world that finish marathons in less than 2.5 hours all have one thing in common…They are more efficient energy users. That means they expend far less kinetic energy covering the same amount of ground you do.  They are able to do this because their muscles are more elastic enabling them to store and use efficient energy, much like a stretched rubber band can store and use energy. The foundation of Elasticity is mobility and stability (to be covered in future articles). BUT without adequate tissue quality or tolerance, your mobility and stability will be limited along with your energy efficiency and ultimately your running times.

Back on track:  The principle of “Soft tissue quality/tolerance”

When you feel pain or have an injury you have exceeded your tissue tolerance. The load or stress is greater than the tissue’s ability to tolerate it. This limits your mobility and stability as well as elasticity. Knots start to develop and your tissue communicates this to you by spasms and tightness. Imagine stretching a rubber band with knots in it. Its ability to expand and store energy is diminished. Now, you are expending more energy running to make up for the muscle’s diminished elasticity. Muscles with knots in it do not contract normally and can alter joint biomechanics opening the window for pulled muscles and excessive stress on the joints. Most common being hamstring or groin strains.

Need proof of the effects of working on your tissue quality?  Let’s put the “runners tooth brush to the test.

(Figure-1) Take off your shoes and do a forward bend, as if to touch the toes with the knees straight.  Take note of how far you are able to touch down.  (Figure-2) Next take the “runners tooth brush” and start to roll out the entire surface of your foot.  Start at the ball of all five toes, and then back to the front edge of the heel. If you feel a specific tender spot or knot pay little more time and attention to it. Roll out each foot for at lest one minute.

(Figure-3) After rolling out each foot for at least one minute, again do a forward bend, as if to touch the toes with the knees straight. Take note of how far you are able to touch down compared to the first time.  It is not uncommon for someone to gain 4-6 inches of flexibility.  

(Figure- 1) Before   

(Figure- 2) Rolling out

(Figure- 3) After rolling out 

Minus the geeky science, let’s just say your entire posterior chain is a one connected can of tissue that shares tension and strain. Roll out and improve the tissue quality of the bottom of the can (foot) and you improve the entire can all the way up to your head.  An increase in 4-6 inches of the posterior chain increases your stride length! Now you’re using less energy to cover the same amount of distance.

 Using the “runners tooth brush” to help alleviate anterior knee pain.

In my experience, along with the experience of countless strength and conditioning coaches, there is a direct correlation with anterior knee pain and the lack of hip strength. (1) (Specifically addressed in this article are tenderness trigger points in the Gluteus Medius. (side of your hip)

It goes a little like this:

Mary: Chris my knee hurts, I don’t understand?

Chris: Where exactly does it hurt? Can you point to it? Did you hurt it falling down or was there any impact?

Mary: No.

Chris: Let’s take a look at your hips.

Mary: Chris I said my knee hurts NOT my hip!

Chris: I know but trust me on this…

This is where, as a collective, both runners and coaches, alike, have and continue to completely miss the boat. We are chasing the pain with a symptoms based mind set. When it comes to non-traumatic injuries and or pains this is akin to running around in circles thinking you are going somewhere.

We need to chase the causation of the pain and or injury.  Imagine a water leak on the roof. If you simply paint over the water damage leak (chasing the pain) but neglected to investigate the causation of the leak, which was a busted pipe from across the room, the following day the water (pain) would still be a nuisance.

Now back to your hip, Mary.

Chris: I want you to put your open hands vertically on the side of your hips and sway your hips side to side. Do you feel that muscle moving in your hand on the same side your knee hurts?

Mary: yes.

Chris: Good. Let’s replace your hand with this tennis ball. Press this tennis ball and your hip up against the wall and roll out that area. (Figure-5)

Mary: Ouch!

(I can’t help but grin a little because I see it 9 out of 10 times with runners with knee pain.)

Chris: Roll that bad boy out for at least a minute and we found your busted pipe!

Most runners at some time have heard the words “IT band”. This glute meduis trigger point Mary is rolling out with the “runners tooth brush” actually pulls this long IT band muscle out of alignment which is attached to the knee that is hurting. This can result in a condition called “IT Band Syndrome”.

The IT band exerts a force all the way from the hip to the knee. If our knee is pulled out of alignment, it is much like a car tire out of alignment. It is going to wear unevenly and breakdown prematurely. In runners, the breakdown results in pain.

 (Figure-5)

Look at Figure 6. My neck hurts because of the band pulling on my neck. If you just chase the pain all you would do is address the neck. But if the person pulling on the band (the causation) releases the band, my neck no longer hurts. Figure- 7.

This is the same relationship I see all the time with knee pain and the IT band/glut trigger points.

 (Figure-6) 

                

(Figure-7)

If you have time to brush your teeth you have time to brush the bottom of your feet.

I recommend runners put the tennis ball in their shoe and roll out at the same time they are brushing their teeth.  Also, constantly be proactive and do preventative maintenance on your hip.  Pre as well as post rolling out will increase and maintain your specific tissue tolerance. If you do preventative maintenance on your replaceable car I would hope you do preventative maintenance on your irreplaceable body.

References:

Anatomy trains- Myers

Advances in functional training- Mike Boyle

Footnote: 2003 Journal of Orthopedic and sports physical therapy, Ireland, Wilson

Special thanks to my assistant coach Ami Hodge for all her help.