Women and Running

Exercise can help anyone and everyone if they set their minds to getting past the 'sedentary zone'. There are so many reasons why it doesn't make sense to remain sedentary but I will list a few: Heart Disease, Stroke and unnecessary muscle injury from lack of movement. There is also the commonly known but much neglected personal circumstances to consider when beginning an exercise program. Things you need to consider is posture, exercise history, exercise experience and past as well as present injuries. 

Understanding proper running mechanics is important but just like enough calcium consumption is more important in women then it is for men, it is also equally more important to understand basic body mechanic considerations in women. It is funny that I ran into this article about women and running mechanics because my newest client has knee issues and the doctor had told her the same thing I told without ever speaking to him. Here is what I told her. Your hip width plays a factor in how you run, your excess weight also places a crucial factor in the level of stress impact received by the knee and ankle joints and based on your current lifestyle, the odds are high that you have tight hamstrings and weak hips. Bam, that was exactly what the doctor had told her. So I immediately started implementing some simple exercises that can be done with no equipment but rather using her own body weight. These simple exercises along with the new ones I will be adding will help address both her weight goals and her joint pain concerns. Here are a few things to consider if you are a woman and plan on running. I will keep it in simple english to avoid confusion. Women's hips tend to be wider so there is an increased risk that the knees will collapse inward. If your toes are pointed out and your knees are pointing inward, you are going to have some serious knee and possibly ankle issues. It is important to keep you shoulders slightly retracted, especially in women with larger breasts. Run tall, maintaining an upright posture with a very slight forward tilt of the entire body. There should be an obvious feeling of being aligned straight from head to tows without bending forward at the hips. If you haven't been running you may want to start a walk, fast walk, jog and then a running plan after a few weeks of the first three mentioned. If you are overweight, stick to walking and indoor cycling to avoid undue stress on the knee and ankle joints. 

You need a strong core to allow proper natural twisting and rotation of the pelvis without excessive twisting which could have negative consequences on speed as well as conservation of energy. Over twisting can be prevented by insuring that your arms are swinging from the shoulder joint rather than from the elbow joint. Think of the old fashion wild west movies when the two opponents are in a prepared stance to reach for their guns. The elbows are flexed at or close to 90 degree angles, hands relaxed and when they reach for their gun they will have to swing the elbow back to reach their hand to the handle of the gun in the holster. This action occurs from the shoulder. When the grab the gun from the holster they will once again swing the arm forward from the should causing the elbow to first swing back and then forward. They will not allow the torso to over-rotate nor will they allow the hands to over cross the midsection. This will make sure there aim is directed directly toward the opponent whom they intend to shoot before they get shot. The same is true about running in which it is important to pump the swing of the arms at the shoulders and not the elbows to avoid a hammering type appearance. 

There are also considerations to be looked at during the stance phase and the swing phase of running. I will say that the most important part to watch for is over-striding which is seen during the swing to stance phase of the legs in which your foot lands to far ahead of your body. When this occurs you are hitting the breaks and slowing down your running so try and prevent over reaching during running. Your focus should be in such a way that your body is directly over your foot as you land to push off from the ground. If your foot is to far ahead you will find yourself pulling the ground rather than pushing the ground. This is dangerous because this can easily lead to a pulled hamstring. There is a whole science to proper running but I hope that these hints will be helpful in making you a better runner. :D

Keep in mind that the worse your form is the more likely you are to develop injuries and increase the magnitude of the injury as well. Also, your running form will either help you conserve energy or it will begin to deplete your resources at a faster rate. Knowledge is power when it is applied. Have a great running experience. :D

For more information you can go to: http://tworiverstreads.com/natural-running-form/

Look at magazines such as Runner's World and books like Running Anatomy, The Non-Marathon Trainer and Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. 

Glutathione: The Most Powerful Antioxidant and Why You Don't Need to Supplement Your Diet with It

You may or may have not heard of Glutathione. If you have you've probably heard that your may be low in this Antioxidant or some other crazy claim like your body can't produce it anymore. Let's address some real life issues here. First of all, most likely you don't really need to take a Glutathione supplement. Second, Glutathione is a Tripeptide ( a combo of 3 Amino Acids bonded together) and finally, if you read my article on antioxidants and ORAC Scores you have a great idea of what the benefits of getting these nutrients are. What do we really know about this Triple-bond Amino Acid? The body actually produces it on its own like it does with Vitamin D, just at a different level with different method of production. You can actually increase

this antioxidant in your body by exercising, eating foods known to contain it and avoiding as much as possible the following: toxins, meds, stress, pollution, poor diet, trauma, infections and radiation. Most of the

(www.CoachDamien.NatraGood.com)

 things that I mentioned as things to avoid are preventable and fixable. The four things that we can't completely avoid are stress, pollution, toxins and trauma because we don't have full control of our environment but there are measures we can take to reduce them. Stress control is mostly mind control but the factors that cause them can be physical or emotional. Trauma would be a physical stress that we may witness if we are involved in a car accident or some other freak accident but we can take our own measures like safer driving practices to reduce the odds. A death in the family is for any normal person a severe stressor but with the right help and by talking about it with others you can reduce the negative emotional stress causes at the emotional level and hence the physical level. So let's get back on the subject of Glutathione. There are many foods that we can eat to increase our levels of Glutathione. Although it may be true like anything else in the body that our bodies ability to produce Glutathione is reduced as we age, we can take dietary and physical measures to help the body make more and slow down the rate of loss in developing this antioxidant. Exercise is believed to be one way of increasing production as well as eating foods high in Glutathione like Berries, Spinach, Avocado, Asparagus, Melon, Grapefruits, Peaches, Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale, Brussels Sprouts Squash and so much more. Are you surprised by some of these possibilities. As always, eating whole raw foods continues to be the best source of every body preserving health promoting nutrient promoted by every supplement company out to grab your dollars. Grow your own Glutathione in your back yard or front lawn by planting as many vegetables, fruits and spices as you can possibly plant. If you don't have the space then go out and support your local farmers markets to help reduce the levels of toxins and pesticides used by conventional growers. Wish you the best and if you have any questions you know you can always reach me at damien@irondogfitness.com. Need a quick fix of Veggies, Fruits and many Super foods? Go to http://damien.natragood.com/ 

To learn more about Glutathione go to: http://livelovefruit.com/2013/07/glutathione-the-most-powerful-antioxidant/ You can also always google Glutathione and find all kinds of useful resources but be weary of the ones trying to sell you tons of products.

Do I Need to Take a Supplement with a High ORAC Score?

It's not always fun being in my industry. Every supplement distributor, vendor or MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) nutrition related marketer whether independent or founder looks to me as a gold mine for their product. It doesn't stop there either. There is a whole army of self-proclaimed anti-aging specialist out there as well. 

I am not a big fan of supplements and focus on getting my clients to eat whole foods. I do have my favorite brand which is why I take it for breakfast but for the most part I eat what mother nature continues to provide by purchasing it at local Farmer's Markets. So what does ORAC mean? It means Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity. So why is this important? Free Radicals are theoretically believed to cause aging in organisms and in this case I am referring to the human body. Anti-Oxidant levels in foods are measured by this ORAC system. So theoretically it is believed that foods high in Anti-Oxidants or in this case those that have a very high ORAC score are thought to have very strong anti-aging and immune system boosting properties. Wikipedia describes it this way, "Antioxidants are reducing agents, and limit oxidative damage to biological structures by passivating them from free radicals". So if this is true, that would mean that you are reducing the speed of aging in this sense of the word Anti-Oxidant thus it would make sense to consume foods high in ORAC value or antioxidant levels.
When you cut an apple in half you immediately start to see a browning effect and as you continue to allow it to be exposed to the elements such as air and sun. You will notice that the apple will continue to age and eventually rotten. This is what is defined as oxidation. Who came up with this theory? A man named Denham Harman back in the 1950's.
Free Radicals damage today are believed to be the cause of pre-mature again, a poor immune system, cancer and many other life threating, life shortening diseases. So how does this happen? Again, theoretically it is believed that Free-Radicals are unstable atoms or electrons which are missing an electron in one of it's orbits. Since Electrons normally occur in pairs on any given orbit of it's structure and this is not true of a Free-Radical, when it comes in contact with another molecule it will strip away an electron from it to complete it's needed pair. Well guess what? That once normal molecule in the body becomes a Free-Radical and the viscous process continues. This can also happen in DNA molecules and cross-linking can occur. This damage leads to mutation of the DNA molecule and therefore believed to be the cause of cancer, aging and various other health problems.
So now your wondering how Antioxidants stop this nightmarish process. Antioxidants are believed to donate that needed electron to create the pair needed by Free-Radicals which then leads to it's neutralization.
So what can lead to an increase in Free-Radical production? The answer: It's funny that I talk about health threatening foods all the time because they cause cancer, heart disease, central nervous system disorders but they also cause the increased formation of Free-Radicals. These foods are fried foods, meats, polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats (not true of monounsaturated fats so consider eating this type of fat). Meat in particular raises pH in the body causing acidity levels to increase (thought to be a main way to feed cancer cells) which forces the body to release calcium from the bones (which cause bone loss and eventually osteoporosis). Calcium is alkaline and reduces acidity which is the reason you will find calcium in all your over-the-counter antacids (no surprise). Other non-diet related causes of increase Free-Radical production include mental distress (anger, anxiety, tension or stress), alcohol abuse (and consumption in general), smoking, food preservatives, pesticides, environmental pollution, sunlight, chemotherapy and radiation).
So if you are interested in anti-aging you need to eliminate as many causes of increased free-radical producing behaviors and foods as possible and stop wasting money on all these anti-aging products out there. Eliminate the cause and you eliminate the problem and the reason to protect against them. Prevention is always the best medicine, so if you truly want to take health promoting, free-radical demolishing measures all you really need to start doing is: Get enough sleep, Eat an abundance of Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts, Grains and Legumes plus avoid the promoters of free-radicals as much as possible. You will also need to get at least 30 minutes of exercise daily :D Good Luck.