Go Green 5k Course 2012

Go Green Half Marathon & 10k Course 2012

Still need to register for the Go Green Saint Patrick’s Day Run?

You can either register online or you can join us at Road Runner Sports in Campbell this Saturday from 2:00 – 6:00PM and register in person and receive a discount on both your registration and any gear you buy at Road Runner!  Check out the Facebook event page for more information.

Date: Saturday February 4th

Location: Road Runner Sports Campbell

This time of year, everyone fReAkS out about holiday weight gained, and lack of pounds lost. The reality of the belt fitting tighter usually sets in right about…..wait for it…..wait for it…..NOW!

With that being said, there is hope. Combine the exercises you will get in part two of this article with a little discipline, and maybe a few “push aways” from the table, and you will be smashing a dime with your butt in no time.

There is a catch. It isn’t easy, it will hurt and it will require absolutely perfect form. If you’re still interested, read on. If not, get a Shake Weight.

Before we get into said space clearing of your derriere, we need to get into the why and it goes above and beyond merely having it not beep when you walk backwards. As far as I’m concerned, your glutes can never be too strong. They are the central hub, HQ and starting point for optimal spinal health. Some will argue its the abdominal wall, but the butt is where its at if you a strong stable pelvis and properly aligned lower body muscles.

“As mentioned earlier, most people think they have strong glutes, but they don’t. They believe this because they think that squats, deadlifts, and lunges are the best glute exercises, and they’ve spent years getting very strong at these,” says Brett “The Glute Guy” Contreras (Dispelling the Glute Myth, T-Nation 2009). “Even though they can make your glutes very sore, squatting, deadlifting, and lunging don’t strengthen the glutes much. They target the quads and erector spinae.”

Well, that puts a monkey wrench in the proceedings doesn’t it? Well then what’s the best exercise to target the glutes? Its not what you think.

Bridges, yes, bridges. No other exercise activates more glute maximus muscle. How do you bridge that gap? By doing bridges.

This is an exercise that can be completely controlled, monitored and is almost impossible to screw up. It is always a dead give away as whether or not someone has proper glute function.

In fact, give this a shot. Lie down on the floor with your knees bent at 90 degrees and feet under your knees. Push your feet into the floor and raise your hips toward the ceiling. From there lift one leg off the ground and hold yourself up with one leg.

If you feel like your hamstrings are going to explode, you get low back involvement or an overabundance of quad activation, guess what? You’ve got what Paul Chek calls “a sleepy ass.” And that’s VERY, VERY bad.

In part two of this article, I will explain why this happened, how you get rid of that and of course, as promised, the exercises to get you there.

Strawberry Smoothie: Once It Hits Your Lips It Tastes So Good!

• Serves 2: Yields About 3 Cups
• 2 Cups Chopped Fresh Or Frozen Strawberries
• 1/2 Cup Cooked Oatmeal
• 1 Cup Almond Milk
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar Or Other Sweetener Of Your Choice, Or To Taste (Optional)
• Blend all of the ingredients except the sugar in a blender until smooth. Add sugar to taste

Strawberry Smoothie-Per 1 Serving (Of 2), 1.5 Cups

• Calories: 149
• Protein: 4 grams
• Carbohydrates: 30 grams
• Total Fat: 2 grams

Blueberry Peach: Oh Behave Baby!

• Serves 2: Yields About 3 Cups
• 1 Cup Fresh Or Frozen Blueberries
• 1 Cup Fresh Or Frozen Peach Slices
• 1 Cup Peach Juice
• 1/2 Cup Plain Nonfat Yogurt
• 1/2 Cup Cooked Oatmeal
• 1 Tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup, Or To Taste

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Blueberry Peach Smooth-Per Serving (Of 2), 1.5 Cups

• Calories: 274
• Protein: 6 grams
• Carbohydrates: 63 grams
• Total Fat: 1 gram

Melon Berry: Melons Been Berry Berry Good To Me!

• Serves 2: Yields About 3 Cups
• 2/3 Cup Chopped Fresh Or Frozen Strawberries
• 1.5 Cups Cantaloupe Chunks
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Apple Juice
• 2 Teaspoons Grated Peeled Ginger Root
• 1 Tablespoon Honey Or Other Sweetener
• Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Melon Berry Smoothie-Per 1 Serving (Of 2), 1.5 Cups

• Calories: 149
• Protein: 1.5 grams
• Carbohydrates: 37 grams
• Total Fat: o grams

Apricot Orange: Either Y’all Got Kool-Aid, No Sugar. Peanut Butter, No Jelly. Ham, No Burger!

Serves 2: Yields About 3 Cups

• 1.5 Cups Unsweetened Apricot Juice
• ½ Cup Orange Juice
• ¼ Cup Minced Unsulfured Dried Apricots (About 5 Whole)
• 2/3 Cup Cooked Oatmeal
• Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Apricot Orange Smoothie-Per 1 Serving (Of 2), 1.5 Cups

• Calories: 206
• Protein: 4 grams
• Carbohydrates: 48 grams
• Total Fat: 1 gram

All Of These Recipes Can Be Found In the ”Moosewood Restaurant Cooking For Health Cookbook”

Nuts and Seeds Protein Bar: Tigers Love Pepper. They Hate Cinnamon

• ½ cup oatmeal
• ½ cup whole wheat flour or oat bran
• 6 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 cup non-fat dry milk
• 2 tbsp flaxseeds
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup mixed nuts
• ¼ cup dried fruit
• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup water

Directions:

Combine oatmeal, oat bran, protein powder, dry milk powder, seeds, nuts, and dried fruit in a bowl. Stir in natural peanut butter, vanilla and water until moist and spread with a wooden spoon or spatula into a non-stick baking dish. Place in the fridge for an hour until firm.

Read more: http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_200/244b_protein-bar-recipes.html#ixzz1cVEOKZXT

Alton Brown’s Protein Bar: It’s Not Poison. It’s Got Juice In It.

• 4 ounces soy protein powder, approximately 1 cup
• 2 1/4 ounces oat bran, approximately 1/2 cup
• 2 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3/4-ounce wheat germ, approximately 1/4 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 ounces raisins, approximately 1/2 cup
• 2 1/2 ounces dried cherries, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3 ounces dried blueberries, approximately 1/2 cup
• 2 1/2 ounces dried apricots, approximately 1/2 cup
• 1 (12.3-ounce) package soft silken tofu
• 1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice
• 4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/2 cup packed
• 2 large whole eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup natural peanut butter
• Canola oil, for pan

Directions:

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper and lightly coat with canola oil. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the protein powder, oat bran, wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt. Set aside. Coarsely chop the raisins, dried cherries, blueberries and apricots and place in a small bowl and set aside. In a third mixing bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. Add the apple juice, brown sugar, eggs, and peanut butter, 1 at a time, and whisk to combine after each addition. Add this to the protein powder mixture and stir well to combine. Fold in the dried fruit. Spread evenly in the prepared baking dish and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees F. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/protein-bars-recipe/index.html

Don’t Hog Your Knowledge Send Us Your Own Recipes So We Can ShareThem With Everyone!!

I’m not going to beat around the bush on this one, or throw a bunch of whizzy multisyllabic words and explain how every synapse you have affects how your body moves, gets injured or how you fix that. You can dig up plenty of neuromuscular information on the process of rolling out that would put speed freaks on crack to sleep. What I will do, which is much more important,  is tell you why you get tender spots, and why you need to get rid of them for optimal movement performance.

The reason you want to do self myofacial release (SMR) is to release adhesions (knots or trigger points) in the muscles to restore proper function. SMR WON’T cure movement dysfunction on its own, but what it WILL do is give you a much better shot at correcting it. And since you can’t stretch a knot, this is critical for proper muscle tissue health.

The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) uses the following protocols to improve movement capabilities, and in my opinion, it is one of the best ways I’ve seen to do it. It is pretty comprehensive in that there is a step by step method to follow to get results. And other than in people with structural damage to soft tissues (tears, sprains, etc), I’ve seen this work every time I’ve used it.

The NASM corrective exercise continuum looks like this:

1. Inhibit knots with SMR
2. Lengthen muscles with flexibility work
3. Activate more muscles through strength work
4. Integrate dynamic movement for performance improvement.

Since soft tissue aligns itself along lines of any stress created (Davis’ Law, NASM Essentials of Corrective Exercise Training), you need to do whatever it takes to keep tissue fibers properly aligned. Realigned tissues block muscles from working correctly which will then lead to relative flexibility (movent compensations in your kinetic chain). This is where SMR comes in because by applying pressure to a knotted area in a muscle, you can begin to release tension created by the original adhesion formed by tissue trauma.

“In terms of potential benefits, there are a number of mechanoreceptors in the skin/fascia which report to the brain about things such as muscle tone, proprioception, etc. These different receptors are all sensitive to different stimuli,” said Patrick Ward, MS CSCS LMT from Optimum Sports Performance in a response to my post on the topic to StrengthCoach.com.

“Some being receptive to high velocity movements (think chiropractic manipulation), some being sensitive to constant pressure (think compression of tissue or a trigger point as done with a foam roll or with a practitioner’s hands or elbow) and others being sensitive to slow strokes that glide across the tissue (think using a foam roller or a therapist moving along your muscles with their hands, fingers, or elbows).”

The fascia/skin are the vehicle through which the therapist (or potentially even the foam roll) is attempting to influence the brain, ultimately (if done properly) leading to decreases in muscle, increaed relaxation (globally and locally), and greater proprioception and awareness of a region of the body or perhaps an increase in certain movement or mobility.”

NASM’s official take on rolling/SMR:
“The practical significance of using a foam roller to perform soft tissue work is that by holding pressure on tender areas of tissue (trigger points, etc.) for a sustained period of time, trigger point activity can be diminished. This will then allow the application of a stretching or lengthening technique such as static stretching to increase the muscles extensibility, reset the muscles length and provide optimal length-tension relationships.

With optimal length-tension relationships, subsequent use of corrective activation and integrating strengthening exercises will ensure an increase in muscular coordination, endurance strength and optimal force couple relationships (muscles working together) will produce proper joint mechanics (arthrokinematics). Collectively, these processes enable the human movement system to re-establishneuromuscular efficiency. – (N.A.S.M)”

There aren’t definitive studies validate the use of SMR, but there is enough evidence based instances of positive results from using a roller, tennis ball, golf ball, etc to address the knots you’ve got in your muscles. So keep doing it, it helps!

In an average year, 65% of all runners are injured. One running injury occurs for about every 100 hours of running, and runners miss about 5-10 percent of their workouts due to injury (‘Incidence and Severity of Injury Following Aerobic Training Programs Emphasising Running, Racewalking, or Step Aerobics,’ Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 25(5), p. S81, 1993).

One of the main reasons is because it takes place in a single plane of motion (moving forward), is every often done after sitting all day (which shortens hip flexors from excessive time in the seated position) and causes losses of flexibility from the repetitive stress nature of the activity. Keep in mind “muscles that are used frequently can shorten and become dominant in a given motor pattern (Principles of Corrective Exercise, Clark, 2010).” This doesn’t even begin to take into account how traditional running shoes and incorrect running form factor into the mix.
If a muscles shortens from repetitive stress, you begin to alter joint angles. Keep in mind if a change in alignment occurs at one joint, changes in alignment of other joints MUST occur in other ones. Tighten a hip flexor, lumbar spine begins to hyper extend. When that happens, you can change knee angles from the hip because of the angle of the pelvis.

If you hit this joint jackpot, you may even begin to over pronate. No amount of stability in a shoe, orthotic or any other short term fix will correct this.

Potential Injuries from Muscle Imbalances

So, according to the graphic, running, trashes your body, and changes joint alignment, sign me up!

Can’t you cheat the system? 
Yes, to an extent. Orthotics, stability shoes and more intervals will help in the short term, but ultimately will do more harm than good because you aren’t addressing the root of what might be causing these issues. This includes the new fix dejuer, physio tape. This method will work, BUT ONLY if you are doing corrective core strength work to fix what’s wrong. Unfortunately, mummification of your body with tape won’t fix what the root cause. Maybe you should stop, for good.


True or False: Cardiovascular fitness is the biggest limitor to running performance.

Well, you need your heart and lungs to work properly, efficiently, etc to run. Running is an aerobic activity. So, how could this not be true? Well, this is FALSE.

The biggest limiting factor affecting running performance is Joint Stability. Your heart and lungs can take a lot more punishment than your joints can. Postural alignment is the key to athletic performance. The better it is, the better your neuromuscular coordination and core strength.

Neuromuscular Coordination (NC) is essentially a measure of how much muscle can your brain turn on during multi-joint movements. For runners this means how well the muscles of your trunk, hips, knees & ankles work together to propel you forward.

NC is based on any perceived threats to the musculoskeletal system. The higher the perceived threat, the more guarded the response, the lower the output allowed by the nervous system. The reason being is that your body will only allow you to exhibit the amount of force your joint stability allows. Less stability, less force production. You can’t fire a canon from a canoe. I don’t make up the rules people, I just play by them!

If you do have poor core strength and joint stability, the higher the perceived threat levels from any postural distortions, muscle imbalances, lacks of flexibility or core strength. The more muscle fibers your brain can turn on when you move, the stronger that given movement will be, the higher your quality of training and ultimately, the better you will perform in an event.

You can’t do intervals and hill repeats if you’re in pain. This is why Core strength is the key to maximizing performance. If running isn’t the best way to become a faster runner, what is? Get off the track/pavement/trails and get into the gym.

Core Strength & Functional Training: A Runners BFF
All of the so called “experts” constantly extoll the virtues of core strength. They all say we need it. But what is it? What does the core actually do?

Core strength is your body’s ability to stabilize joints (think joint support during the foot strike phase of running), decelerate movement (think controlling your body running downhill) and produce force with strength, balance, power. Your body is designed to move as an integrated unit stabilized by your core muscles. Long story short this means that every time a joint moves, something somewhere else in your body is providing a foundation of strength for that to happen.

Even something as simple as brushing your teeth has several joint stability components:
The muscles in the wrist and fingers working together to hold and move the brush. Your forearm muscles holding your wrist up. Biceps bending the elbow so the brush can get to your teeth. Rotator cuff rotating your arm while your chest/shoulder muscles moves your arm forward. Your obliques stabilizing your trunk so it doesn’t move all over the place while the arm moves the brush around. The neck muscles keeping your head still.

None of this can happen without an integrated set of muscular contractions working together to produce movement. Yes, core strength can even help you brush your teeth better. Especially if you try to do it on one leg!

Hmmm, just like when you run……. I had to bring this back around somehow! You have to give a few points for creativity here. GIVE THEM. NOW!!

Since running is a single leg strength/power dominant activity, single leg functional training will make you a better runner. Single Leg Exercises activate more stabilizer muscle than 2-legged, have a ton of functional carry over to running and don’t require anything other than body weight to perform.

“Functional Training on a regular basis can significantly reduce injuries by 75% and training days lost to injury by 90%,” says Mark Alexander, Physiotherapist for the Australian Triathlon National Team.

So in the beginning of this running literary diatribe, you were told running is horrible for you. You need more core strength. Brushing your teeth can be a core strength exercise but you haven’t been told what the best ways to do this are. I bet you’re wondering what the best way is to avoid total body structural meltdown? Well, long story short, effective strength training for runners is ANYTHING. DONE. STANDING.

This is the most effective way to build the necessary structural stability to run safely and perform at a high level. “Sitting on a solid surface as you exercise, with a machine dictating the way you move can increase the pressure in your lumbar disc region (low back) up to 90%,” says “Supertraining” author Mel Siff.

“Seated exercises always impose a greater load on the lumbar spinal discs than equivalent standing exercise. Even without an added load, sitting with the back maintaining its neutral curvatures increases the lumbar disc pressure by about 40%. This is why standing exercise is a superior approach.”

This means throw out the leg presses (trashes lumbar spine), get rid of the hamstring curls (hyperextends the lumbar spine) and crunches (causes spinal flexion that is detrimental to disc health). Add in rear foot elevated squats (Bulgarian Split Squats), single leg pushing/pulling, lunges, single leg bridges and pretty much anything that allows you to challenge trunk stability while moving the arms and legs together.

“When we stand on one leg, as in a one leg squat, we engage three muscles that we don’t use in a two leg squat,” says the ”The Case for Single Limb Training” author Michael Boyle.

If you do this, you will stimulate your nervous system MORE, build a much better basis of functional movement, increase single leg balance, improve neuromuscular coordination, make it easier to acquire new skills, and best of all, run stronger and last longer!

*Fitness tip provided by Al Painter, NASM CPT, CES, PES. The Founder and President of INTEGRATE Performance Fitness in Mountain View.

**Al has been named the “Best Bay Personal Trainer” by CitySports Magazine, as well as having been selected for a “People’s Choice Award” in the Palo Alto Daily. INTEGRATE has also been called “Northern California’s Best Fitness Facility” by Competitor Magazine.

Postural Distortions: The Beginning of the End for Performance Improvements

The following information details how you lose your performance potential when performance robbing muscle imbalances are left unaddressed. We’ll begin with the most common thing: loss of movement skill due to losses of postural integrity.

I. Typical Postural Distortions:
• Forward rounded shoulders + head
• Increased lumbar spine curvature
• Tight Muscles: psoas/quads, hamstrings/calves, glutes/IT Band
• Weak Muscles: glutes/hip stabilizers, lower abdomen
• Dysfunctional Movements: poor balance, poor rotation, decrease hip extension
• Joint Pain: low back, knee, neck

II. Origin of Low Back Pain (LBP):
• during their lifetime

III. LBP most often occurs from:
• Strained back muscles and ligaments
• Improper or heavy lifting
• Sudden awkward movements
• Sometimes a muscle spasm can also cause back pain
• Often, there’s an accumulation of stress with one particular event unleashing the pain
• Sitting at a desk all day can lead to joint pain: LBP, knee, neck, shortened hams/glutes/quads
• Headaches behind eyes
• Pain at base of neck
• Shoulder impingements
• Sit all day, don’t sit to exercise
• Repetitive stress uni-planar motions: running, riding a bike and swimming
• Muscle imbalances caused by weak glutes and lower abdomen

IV. Poor static posture:
• Forward rounded shoulders
• Slumped over position
• Protruding neck
• “Swayback”

V. Primary causes for decreased bodily performance/joint pain are Muscle Imbalances
• MI’s are typical of poor posture: forward rounded shoulders, headaches behind eyes, tender neck base, diminished lung capacity, joint pain, chronic injuries just to name a few.

VI. Your nervous system learning how to control your body correctly is the key to movement success
• Your nervous system initiates and controls all human movement. The more faulty your posture is, the more commands your brain has to give for you to move. Balanced muscles enable a direct line of communication from the nervous system to your muscles.

**Al has been named the “Best Bay Personal Trainer” by CitySports Magazine, as well as having been selected for a “People’s Choice Award” in the Palo Alto Daily. INTEGRATE has also been called “Northern California’s Best Fitness Facility” by Competitor Magazine. ]]> http://moshanproductions.com/featured-news/beginning-of-the-end/feed 2 http://moshanproductions.com/featured-news/beginning-of-the-end