Body Weight Training with the TRX Suspension Trainer: Part III - Core Training

We've discussed many concerned regarding core-training in the past two segments. You were probably frustrated and wondering when will we get to the actual core workout. Well the good news is we are not going to start that. Before we did I wanted to give you some tools to educate and provide you with precautions to prevent an unnecessary injury. You can click on the link below to follow the TRX Power Core Workout. Remember that everything is about progression. If you have bad knees or a bad back I would recommend you get cleared before attempting any of the jump training exercises included in the program.
Click Here for the workout: TRX Power Core Workout
Click Here to Purchase a TRX

Body Weight Training with the TRX Suspension Trainer: Part II - Core Training

Getting those 6 pack abs is a goal that many aspire to accomplish but very few have the discipline to do so. I was listening to this great CD by Nick Serba of LegalShield titled 'Success 3...2..1.' in which he shares a very interesting perspective on the word 'discipline'. He talks about how he encounters people who say they don't have discipline. His counter argument was very interesting. He say that we all have and experience 'discipline'. You either have the discipline to stick to your goals and accomplish them or you are disciplined by others to do the things they wish you for you to accomplish. In other words, You either discipline yourself to do something to your benefit or or you allow somebody else will discipline you to do something to their benefit.

The same is true about your diet, your fitness regimen and just about anything you do to either get a six pack or a keg pack. The choice is yours but will you allow others to influence your decision to sway away from you health & fitness goals? When you allow someone to slip past your goals and violate all or some of the rules necessary to follow in order to get a six pack you literally allow someone else to discipline your efforts. Every single second which passes through our lives your either discipline yourself toward your success or your discipline yourself toward disappointment. Even when you encounter difficulty in achieving your goals, as Jim Rohn says it, "You have to learn to discipline your disappointment.

Things you must know that will affect you chances of getting that dream 6- pack. Your nutrition regimen will dictate the majority of your results. Manage stress because to much stress has a way of adding some belly fat in the midsection. Get adequate amounts of stress because poor sleeping habits has also been shown to contribute to difficulty in weight loss. Avoid alcohol, we've all heard of the notorious beer belly. Get your cardio in. If you are not a fan of walking or running you can still use other non-traditional forms of cardio like kettlebell training, heavy ropes or light weight interval training using your own body weight. These are just a few examples. You can also take aerobic classes or take up some dance lessons. The possibilities are endless when you exercise your imagination.  Before doing any form of suspension training with the TRX to work your core make sure you've mastered the basics. 

The core is compromised of your torso and hip region. Basically everything except for your arms and thighs is in one way or another a part of your core. When thinking of the core most people think it only involves the abdominal muscles but the truth is your core is also compromised of you Erector Spinae and Multifidus muscles. When thinking of training the core make sure you add a balanced program of flexing, extending, rotation but most importantly stabilization of the midsection. 

I wanted to make sure you first understood many factors that may either negatively or positively impact your results before we delve into exercises you can perform with the TRX to train your core and get those 6 pack abs you've been talking about. Keep following to read the next segment. 

Body Weight Training with the TRX Suspension Trainer

Anyone who has ever trained with me has worked with the TRX Suspension Trainer at least once. They probably even recognize some of the images below as part of the routine we've incorporated into their exercise program. So why TRX you may wonder?

The TRX is one of the lightest most versatile pieces of equipment you can carry with you no matter where you go. It's the greatest thing for travelers. Besides using your body as a machine, the TRX is the next greatest thing to stepping it up a not for full body weight training popularly call calisthenics. There are so many fancy pieces of that clutter up gym floors. Most of the machines you see in the gym have either one use or a few variations unless you get creative and use them in ways which they were not designed for.

Just about any exercise you can think of that you would do as part of a body weight training method can be performed on the TRX with the added difficulty of instability. This is a great thing because the TRX Suspension Trainer can help add balance and stability that you might not be aware you are lacking. Some of the benefits according to the makes are, "Suspension Training bodyweight exercise develops strength, balance, flexibility and core stability simultaneously. It requires the use of the TRX Suspension Trainer, a highly portable performance training tool that leverages gravity and the user’s body weight to complete 100s of exercises". That is a whole lot for a piece of equipment and it even comes with it's own travel bag so you keep all the accessories that come with it and those which are sold separately. People who can largely benefit from using the TRX are those training for MMA, obstacle racing, sports performance, speed & agility, those serving in the military and people who tend to travel a lot for business.

In the next few weeks we will be going over several ways you can use the TRX Suspension Trainer from basic to more advanced. I will be covering some of the fundamental bodyweight training exercises and include a few advanced ones but if you really want to learn more cool exercises you can always e-mail me at damien@irondogfitness.com or call me at (323)972-4487 so we can get together and try some tricks. 

To Purchase a TRX Suspension Trainer which comes with a Guide Click Here: TRX Suspension Trainer

Foam Rollers: Do's & Don'ts 101: Part III

In the previous two parts of this series on Foam Rollers we discussed some of the benefits and dangers of using them. I didn't go over how to properly use a foam in the beginning because my goal was to educate you on the purpose and benefits but most importantly on the dangers of incorrectly using such a valuable piece of equipment. As I mentioned before, there are many people using them incorrectly in the gym so don't do something just because the person seems to look like they know what they are doing.
In Part I we discussed the benefits of Self-Myofascial Release for which Foam Rollers are a great tool. This simple device is great when you don't have the budget to invest on hiring someone to give you a professional sports massage, is low cost, readily available and very light which makes them easily transportable. In Part II you learned a little bit about anatomy so you can understand like in Part I, where and where not to use Foam Rollers and the reasons for that.

Here are best practices on using a Foam Roller for Self-Myofascial Release:

• Great to use as part of your pre-stretching regimen prior to starting any static or dynamic stretching and before starting any exercise or physical activity.
• Using slow movement of your body weight over the foam roller to look for tender spots
• When you find tender spots, hold your body over the area for at least 30 to 90 seconds. Although this may be quite uncomfortable, hold your position over the tender spot until the pain diminishes from 50 - 75%
• Look for more tender spots near the original point. Repeat the previous instructions on all tender areas. You may find that some tender spots close by are even more tender which is usually the original cause of more tight and tender spots. You can do one last long roll across the entire region once you have finished addressing the painful areas to help relax the entire muscle. Glide across slowly and from smaller to larger lengths. 
• Always glide across parallel to the path of the muscle which you are working on.
• Foam Rollers are a great tool to massage the muscle after an intense workout, therefore a great tool to use during your cool down. 
• Follow this link to download a copy of Perform Betters' Foam Rolling Techniques PDF and get started on your own Foam Rolling regimen. 

I hope you found this 3 Part Series on Foam Rolling useful. If you have any questions I can always be reached at (323)972-4487 or damien@irondogfitness.com. 

To Purchase your own Foam Rollers Click Here: Foam Rollers

Foam Rollers: Do's & Don'ts 101: Part II

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this series. The first half of this article focused on some of the benefits as well as some of the potential dangers of Foam Rollers. In this segment we will discuss some of the best situations in which to use a Foam Roller, proper use on certain muscles and more situations in which Foam Rolling is ill advisable.
So here is some more food for thought. It is ill advisable to Foam Roll on a tendon. You need to understand anatomy to realize that rolling on tendons is a bad idea. I will try and describe this in layman terms so you understand. Think of a muscle like a piece of rubber band or bungee band. If you stretch it, it regains it's form and with age just like our bodies, it begins to lose it's elasticity and can tear from over use. Tendons on the other hand are more like a piece of beef jerky. If you stretch it, it doesn't regain its shape so easily. In fact if you over stretch it, it loses it's original form which is what happens to tendons and ligaments when you injure them. The reason tendons recover so slowly is due to limited blood flow. If you use a large round marble to press and roll it over a rubber band, again like a muscle it regains its shape. If you do the same thing to a slice of beef jerky, well that just doesn't happen so easily. Using a Foam Roller on a tendon which exacerbate the overstretched tendon. A tight tendon, again if you understand anatomy, is actually due to a tight muscle. If a muscle is tight from injury or inadequate warm up, your tight muscle will pull at the tendons which connect it to the bone. So the tendon if you understand this, becomes the victim of a tight or knotted muscle until that tension is release. Once the tension on the muscle is release, the tension and strain on the tendon is like to release and relax unless the tendon was somehow directly overstretched such as in a sudden jerking and bending of the ankle due to excessive force.

As we discussed in Part I, make sure you are using your Foam Roller in areas where there is bone to protect the organs of your body. Also, don't do any rolling over your joints since there isn't much muscle in those area with the exception of the shoulder joint. You can roll over your Deltoids but it's actually quite difficult and awkward to do so. Instead have someone massage your shoulder with their hands or the famous runner's tool know as 'The Stick'.

Click Here to Purchase 'The Stick'

Great areas of your body to use Foam Rollers are your Calves, Abductors, Adductors, Tensor Fascia Latae (NOT your IT Band - Ilio-Tibial Band), Piriformis, Latissimus Dorsi and Thoracic Spine (avoid the Lumbar Spine as mentioned before due to risk of putting excess pressure on your Kidneys). All ways roll parallel in the direction of the muscle length rather than the width. If you don't understand anatomy enough to know what I am saying or find the muscles I just mentioned, you are probably better off not doing any foam rolling techniques. Your more likely to cause a problem rather than fix or prevent a problem. 

Foam Rollers: Do's & Don'ts 101: Part I

You may have heard of them, seen them lying around in the gym and you may have even seen people using them. Do always do what you see others doing because more than half the time people are doing the wrong thing in the gym. It's like a monkey see, monkey do kinda thing. I've seen people using foam rollers in the gym and sometimes I want to tear my hair off and beg them to stop. In my industry you learn that not everyone wants your advice no matter how right you are. The National Academy of Sports Medicine recently wrote and article on whether or not it's good to Foam Roll on your lower back. 

So what is the purpose of Foam Rolling? The answer: The purpose of Foam Rolling is to relieve muscle tension popularly called knots in the muscle and to relieve muscle pain. Benefits of Foam Rolling include increased flexibility, function and performance of the muscles but can also help reduce injury by directly releasing muscle tension.

Be careful when searching through Google to find guides on how to use foam rollers and even when searching on YouTube. You will find explanations but not everyone showing you how to use them is actually telling you the right thing. 

Below is a list of the benefits of using a Foam Roller for Self-Myofascial Release:

Benefits of Self-Myofascial Release

• Corrects muscle imbalances
• Improves joint range of motion
• Relieves muscle soreness and joint stress
• Decreases neuromuscular hypertonicity
• Increases extensibility of musculotendinous junction
• Improves neuromuscular efficiency
• Maintains normal functional muscular length

So before we talk more about how to use a Foam Roller properly let's first discuss whether or not Foam Rolling is good for use on your back. Most importantly take my advice and don't use a Foam Roller unless you absolutely understand how, what, why and when's about Foam Rolling. Make sure you first understand the cause of your back pain. Avoid self-diagnoses if it is not your profession. Don't take the advice of someone who is not a professional in the field of health and fitness or sports performance. Okay, now that we cleared that up let's talk about Foam Rolling and your lower back. While Foam Rolling may help reduce some pain if the underlying cause of lower back pain is not addressed, you aren't really doing anything to solve the problem. It's like placing a bandage on a cut, it covers the problem but it doesn't solve it. I found one key paragraph which really pointed out why it is ill advised to use a Foam Roller on your lower back. This is what Kyle Stull had to say in the NASM article, "If an individual does as is taught (about proper use of Foam Rollers) and does try to relax then they essentially just lay across the roll and force even more of an arch in their low back along with applying excessive pressure on the lumbar spine and the discs that separate them. Therefore, this ultimately aggravates the mechanical position that caused the low back pain in the first place". Here is another important point Stull mentioned that I haven't mentioned yet, "Areas the foam roll is used should have bony protection for organs. For example, when rolling the chest, there is no danger to the heart because the rib cage provides adequate protection. In the low back, there are the kidneys and the liver, which have little to no bony protection (Newton, 1998). While they may be protected by large muscles, it is still considered an endangerment site, especially when using body weight compression across such a large object.

So the moral of the story is first find out what the problem is by speaking to a professional. Address the root of your lower back problem and use the advice of a professional to help you solve the underlying cause before doing anything. 

To read more on the original article go to the NASM website: Should Your Foam Roll the Lower Back

If you wish to purchase a Foam Roller you can click on the picture above or follow this link: Foam Roller

Sleep Apnea and Your Health

Sleep Apnea is more common than people realize it. Did you know that if you are male you are 3 times more likely to suffer from Sleep Apnea? Do you know the health risks? Do you know what you can do about it? Here is an interesting infographic which provided some statistics and information on the dangers of Sleep Apnea and more. Click on the image to enlarge

Original Source: Sleep Apnea

Runner's Common Injuries

Running injuries can become a nightmare for an avid runner but those who experience it the most are those who have little to no exercise history and suddenly try to go all out on a vigorous exercise regimen. This is true about starting up on any type of exercise program. Rule of thumb --> Think of gradual, organized and planned progressions in the form of Periodization!

How Important is Your Calcium Intake?

You probably heard that calcium is important for healthy bones. What else do you know about calcium? Some people know that it is important to regulate your heart rhythm and others have also heard that it helps with weight loss. 

You may have also heard that a diet poor in calcium can lead to frail weak brittle bones. We know that osteoporosis is a preventable dis-ease that we don't ever have to experience if we get enough calcium. It is important to realize that calcium plays critical roles for everyone but is extra important for women because of losses of calcium during the menstrual cycle. 

We are taught that in order to get enough calcium we need to drink milk and other dairy products on a daily basis. This is partially true, but not absolutely true. Did you know that 255g of Spinach will give you 345mg of Calcium. That is more calcium than the equivalent of 300mg of Calcium provided by 240g of Milk. There is a big question about how much sense this makes. Most people would argue that you need to get the absorbable Calcium from Milk. Have you ever seen a grown Gorilla drink milk? Have you ever seen any other species other than a human drink milk during their adult life? This may be shocking to think about but if all the science is true then why is it that all the other species whom do not drink milk at adulthood demonstrate the ability to maintain strong bones without having dairy in their diets? Real life situations seem to show a lack of evidence as shown in human studies. 

http://thevegetariancenter.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-are-calcium-rich-foods.html

Some dangers in consuming milk and other dairy products include the consumption of high levels of saturated fats and bad cholesterol. Also, you risk the chance of suffering uncomfortable symptoms like flatulence and loose bowel movements attributed to lactose intolerance. You probably also hear that cows are pumped with hormones and are given loads of antibiotics in their feed in order to prevent disease and encourage rapid milk production and growth. These same cows are fed corn which isn't a normal staple in their diet. The reason for feeding them corn is to get the cows to gain weight fast thus increasing the companies profits.

Calcium is important for several reasons. It plays a critical role in proper nerve impulses. Calcium is important in the creation of blood clots to prevent excessive bleeding. In order to have healthy bones and teeth it is important that you get adequate amounts of calcium since they compromise 99% of all calcium in the body. Heart health requires calcium as does the regulation of blood pressure. Their are times when physicians will prescribe calcium channel blockers in order to maintain normal blood pressure rhythm. Proper muscle contraction and regulation of enzyme activity also require calcium. A diet high in acid foods, use of pharmaceutical medications and other physical stressors may lead excessive loss of calcium in the bones since calcium plays an important role in maintaining a proper pH balance. 

To learn more about how much Calcium you should consume on a daily basis for your age and other useful information go to: Calcium needs. I hope you enjoyed this article. Feel free to add your comments and thoughts :D. 

Nutrition: It's Not That Complicated!

This weekend during our football game out in Bakersfield a group of Sports Medicine doctors and myself were discussing the challenges we find when discussing diet, nutrition and weight loss with our clients. I was not surprised to hear that we shared the same concern. We hear the same things from our clients so it's quite obvious that it not an isolated situation. 

Most people when thinking about weight loss, the first thing they think about is all the hype out there claiming that you need to take some miracle supplements or that latest fat burning pill and worst yet about the latest surgery to help them lose weight. The same media hype that was used to introduce toxic activities like smoking and drinking soda has been used to market a billion dollar industry out of nutritional supplements that contain more unknown ingredients than whole foods. Seriously, you can't grow or raise more than half the stuff they put in those supplements. Someone has to arrive to work and get started in the laboratory to extract and produce millions of ingredients to create a product rather than go to a garden and grow a food. 

It's equally challenging for a personal trainer or strength coach who wants to truly offer sound advise to their clients because every corner we turn these days their is someone trying to get us to help them sell their product rather than getting us to try and help them sell some whole foods. I have yet to meet an individual who accomplished a successful weight loss program that they couldn't have done by sticking to a strict whole foods diet, regular exercise program, great sleeping patterns and stress management. Don't give in to the hype. I've been a victim of it many times myself but I have decided to stick to my ground and not promote a single supplement out there. This great planet in which we live in provides us with all the nutrients we need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You just have to be willing to consume whole foods rather than products. I challenge you to go 30 days straight without consuming a single product but rather consuming whole foods. If you take this challenge, please post your challenges and your thoughts on this blog so others can see how you over came the need to consume products. Thank You and I wish you great success.