Monday short, the importance of mindful eating on your nutrition

Big Bowl, Big Appetite, Unconscious Eating

Interesting insight on some new nutrition research.

    How many of you believe that you’re in control of your portions, your ability to tell when you've had enough to eat, and how much you've had. If you’re like me, you’ll make a pot of soup that should last a few days and the next thing you know you have an empty pot sitting in front of you. It may seem silly but our conscious mind and our subconscious nature to consume copious amounts of delicious food may have a disconnect. Often our subconscious wins out even when we know we should be doing the opposite. A very interesting and insightful study recently illustrated this out of Cornell University.
     54 participants were recruited to eat soup in a study looking to see if they could trick people into eating more than they thought they had. The researchers brilliantly rigged half the bowls to inconspicuously refill soup as the participants ate. The other half had regular bowls. After the meal, they asked the participants questions such as how full they felt, how much they guessed they ate, and so forth.
    Surprisingly the participants with the self filling bowls consumed 73% more soup. Even more intriguing was when asked about how much they thought they consumed they did not believe they had any more than the other half estimated. This is very interesting and proves that how important visual cues are to our appetite. How many times have you had a plate of food and felt obligated to finish it?
    It is proven that the bigger the plates you use, the more you’ll eat. If you’re trying to cut back and lose a little weight I suggest that instead of starving yourself, you trick your mind into thinking it’s had more. Use smaller plates, shallow bowls, and start with a reasonable portion. Go back for more if you’re still hungry. It seems as if our conscious self can get a little out of control at times. With a little intuition, you can get the power back and control your appetite.

The People Who Surround You

I am writing today to talk about something that can impact your physical fitness and health, but it perhaps has a larger impact on your mental and emotional fitness and health.  There will be no science to back me up other than the empirical evidence that I have and my life experience. I have made a lot of decisions in my life, definitely more bad ones than good ones; the best decisions that I have ever made, however, have been the ones that involved the people who have been, and still are now, so influential in my life.

First, I really do need to credit my parents for the person that I was able to become today; I understand that there are a lot of people out there who are not nearly as lucky as I am to have great parents who were great role models –as were my grandparents and my entire family. To those who are still great people in spite of having that monumental obstacle to overcome, I commend you; you are a stronger person than I. My parents were the ones that gave me my work ethic, and although it didn’t kick into high gear until high school, they were patient and kind enough to keep pushing me to be better than I was the day before. Looking back, I began to realize how much my dad worked to give us the life he wanted for us and there is nothing I can do to thank him and my mom enough. He would go months and months of nights with one, two, or –on a really good night– four hours of sleep; nobody has been or will be more inspirational to me than he was because of that. I never feel like I am working too hard because I always have that standard in the back of my head.

The next person in my life that has been incredibly influential in my life has been my little brother. I have been around very few people who are as smart and sharp-witted as he is. He is, again, an incredibly hard worker: a 30 hour a week job, 18 credits as an Economics major, a long-term girlfriend (although I’m still on the fence about her. Haha), and he works out four to six times a week on top of that. His hard work has pushed me to be better all the time. He was also one of the best training partners that I have ever had. He was, and still is so determined whenever he enters to weight room to impose his will on the weights and he worked his butt of to get where he has gotten. The other thing about him that has been probably the biggest thing that he has ever done for me is that he is someone that has never been afraid to challenge physically or mentally and/or question the decisions that I make or am thinking of making. Having someone in your life like this is so crucial to being successful because they will keep you honest, steadfast, and diligent in your work. When you begin to stray, they call you on it. When you begin to doubt, they lift you up. When you get to high on how cool you are, they being you back down to reality. They are the people in your life that keep you on track.

The next person that entered my life when I was fairly young, but became much more influential in high school, was Andy. He and I have known each other since first grade. We even ran away from the school together! To this day I can figure out why we went back, but that was a terrible decision. Haha… In high school he and I began to lift weights together and worked at the same grass seed farm together in the summers. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time together. He is a really smart individual who does a lot of research on things he feels are important. I learned a lot about lifting in the four years that we trained, relentlessly, together. He is also the reason that I was able to power clean as much as I was in high school –he showed me how to use my legs (what a novel idea)! He was the guy that made me want to work harder all of the time, no matter what. He’s the guy that would say, “let’s do another set of this, this, and this…” or “let’s go run these drills after lifting.” This pushed me past where I would have pushed myself. 

My best friend, Britton, entered my life in fifth grade when he moved to Canby. He has been a huge influence in my life because of how intelligent he is, because of how willing he is to have my back even if I have done something stupid, because he is not afraid of confrontation or voicing his opinion, but I think the thing that has influenced me the most has been his generosity and his families. When we were younger, they would give me rides to football every day, even if I didn’t need it that day. They would feed me, even though I had food waiting at home. They would welcome me into their home on any day or night of the week. They were so giving. He was, and still is the same way. Now, years later, he is still the same way and constantly makes sure that I am doing alright; he has even made a trip out to visit me just because! His generosity and fearlessness of confrontation has encouraged me to be less afraid to speak my mind, even if I could be wrong, to stand for what I believe to be correct, and to give freely to those around me.

Jeff has been in my life a while, since my first year of football in third grade actually. Jeff has been another person in my life that is constantly pushing me work on making my mind better, my body better, to work harder for things, and to always work to be as efficient as you can in everything you do. He was my training partner all through college and had a huge influence on the things that I do today. He was a huge part of me playing football for a short stint at Oregon State, he is the person that introduced me to strongman, and he is the person that was always up for a workout –even car pushes at two in to morning because I had to start work at four at the golf course! Not many people or training partners would care that much about helping you become the best version of yourself to wake up that early and still be energized and ready to go. Jeff has always given me a different view on life because he appreciates all aspects of it and works to make the best of his situation. He has a brilliant mind and sees things that others don’t; I have been lucky enough to hear many of the incredibly insightful things he had to say back in college, and still has to say now.

This little person in my life has been great. It has been awesome to talk to her and learn from her because of how she sees life for what it could be, not for what it is. Amy loves people and is constantly trying to make them happy. This is so frustrating to me, but at the same time, I get to see the way that people could be if there wasn’t any bad in the world. She is a person that will genuinely care for you the instant that you say hi to her. That is probably the biggest thing I have learned from her: to never let life get you down and to always stay happy. She knows that hard things happen, but they eventually pass. Life is short, why live it without being happy as often as possible?

The last person in my life that has had more influence than I can even write about is my incredible wife. This woman is the most caring, loving, observant person I have ever been around. I have never been a better person than when I am around her. She is the kind of person that is magnetic, honestly, everyone loves her and wants to be around her. She has that ‘x-factor’ that propels you to be better and do better because you want her to smile and tell you how happy she is for you. She cares so much about people that she feels their joys and their pain. She has made me the man that I have become in the past few years. She taught me how to be more outgoing, more thoughtful, more observant, and just mo’ betta’ in general. She did it secretly though; she has never tried to change me, she has just let me figure things out for myself over time. She has taught me to love whole-heartedly and that there are more important things in life than crossing things off of the to-do lists that I make for myself. She has taught me to live more freely and enjoy the small things in life and showed me that I can still achieve the goals that I have while doing so. She is also a worker that puts me to shame, much as the other people I have mentioned to as well. Her work ethic in one of legend…if they made legends on work ethic. In college, I was in constant awe of her. She was a full-time student, a swimmer for Oregon State, the captain of the team for two years, and worked two or three jobs the whole time! What?! How many hours are in the day again? Yes, as crazy as it sounds, she was able to do all that all while dealing with, dating, and marrying me during those years.

I wrote about each of these people so that you, the reader, would be able to get to know them briefly. There is so much more that I have learned and appreciate from these people than I would be able to write, but I wanted to give you a snapshot to the people that I have surrounded myself with. The theme of each of these writings is that each of these people is better, in my mind, than I am at multiple things. This is important. I surround myself with people that have qualities that I hope to gain a little of just by being around them. They are also people who have truly cared about my success in all areas of life; they have truly pushed me to become better. The other thing, that I do not believe is a coincidence, is that each of these people is very successful and becoming more successful as the years go on.

 Andy is the brain behind this blog (it was his idea to start it). He was also a successful high school athlete, setting our school rushing record in football and making the top five all-time list in hurdles, a successful college athlete, winning conference in the hurdles and has become the manager of an athletic club in his short time working there; he is also a very successful triathlon athlete, winning the state championship in Michigan in his very first competition! Britton was very successful high school athlete, setting our school record in the javelin as well as an incredible collegiate athlete, throwing for University of Oregon for four years. He now works at a prison working his way into law enforcement because he wants to help people. My brother, Josh, is going to graduate from college with a degree in Economics with plans to work as a financial manager for a big company. He was also a pitcher for a year at a community college and a very successful pitcher for all four years of high school; he was also a great football player in high school as well as a great wrestler when we were younger. Jeff was an awesome athlete in high school and set the record for triple jump at our school; in college, he completed a BS and MS in five years (as long as it took me for a BS). He is now a successful strongman competitor making it to nationals last year, a successful engineer at a big company in Portland in his first year working there, a great track athlete still competing unattached, and a great all-around athlete competing in things such as the highland games, warrior dashes, and many other things. Amy is a successful weightlifter that competed at the American Open last year and has only been training and competing for about a year and a half now. And Rachel is a successful person at whatever she chooses to do. She was a great waitress out here and worked her way up the ladder very fast, is a great academic counselor and influence for the athletes she works with, is a great (and strong) lifter, is pursuing her MS, is the student representative for W.I.N of Southern Illinois and is always that person that anyone can lean and count on.

Each of these people in very successful in nearly all aspects of their lives; I have been fortunate enough to learn from them and have bits and pieces of their personalities rub off on me to help make me the person that I am today. I hope to someday be very successful, I have surrounded myself with people that are. Surround yourself with people who work hard, who are ambitious, who know where they are going and don’t lose sight of it, who are genuine in their care, whose character is firm and steadfast, who are don’t wear a mask, who are not afraid to be themselves or do what is right, and who love in a real way. Surround yourself with people who are good at living life. You are a product of those who your surround yourself with.

Chris

P.S. I promise that I will be writing about lifting, training, and fitness as well.

Modern fitness and nutrition marketing gimmicks, exercise adherence, and why you need to keep an open mindset.

Andrew:

Humans by nature seek the path of least resistance. We want results, and we want them as fast as possible. If a little of something is good, a lot must be better. It is by nature to look for the shortcuts to health, fitness, and happiness. This nature directs our attention to that book on the shelf on the book store promising weight loss, or perhaps those six pack abs which have become the quintessential beacon of fitness. We see the ads on tv, with hip hop music, groups of people jumping around, and a guy with his shirt off trying to explain why "muscle confusion" is the ultimate stimulus for body re-composition while we stare at his glistening pecs and abs.

It's hard not to buy into the marketing, they cite studies, show "real user results" and often generate huge social circles around their products. Some interesting facts I just learned that humans subconsciously mimic others. The classic example is yawning. Once one person yawns in a meeting, look around, you'll notice others too. Our human nature to belong sometimes puts our good intentions aside and we buy into the gimmicks, marketing, and hype.

In this post I would like to share some commentary on the current fitness and nutrition trends, give some advice on what I believe will help you stay on track for living a healthy lifestyle. Working with people as a trainer, it is astonishing to see how many people really believe in these trends. I have clients "juicing," co-workers "cleansing" and people coming into the gym asking about cross-fit.

Have you ever completely gotten encapsulated into one of these programs? Whether it is doing a restrictive diet, a specific, intense exercise program, or training for an event in order to get you exercising? I'll admit I have. How many of you have made these programs an integrated part of your life? The problem with following a program is that it leaves you no room to be an individual. It takes the human element out of the equation, they're impracticality to our different lives, bodies, and schedules makes them hard to adhere to.

Not only are they hard to adhere to but often with the case of diets, they can make life much harder. Buy a juicer, pay 25.00 a pound for the latest and greatest antioxidant go-go berry from the amazon that will whiten your teeth and make your urine smell of lavender. Eat as the caveman did, no wait....only raw foods. With so many rules, and restrictions, it is impossible to sustain this.

This applies to exercise programs as well. How many thousands of people who hate running sign themselves up for and buy a marathon training program? People waking up at 5am for a bootcamp, going to the crossfit gym and before ever learning the basic techniques of olympic lifts, sign the waiver and begin cleaning until exhaustion  I am sure you can imagine how hard it is to make something you dread doing everyday stick into a routine. As I have always said, exercise needs to be something you enjoy personally, and I am sorry 20min a day, three times a week isn't going to get you there as the marketing would like you to believe. Everyone is different, and will enjoy different activities. I am not going to take my 70 year old female client and put her under a squat rack, just as I am not going to put my 16 year old soccer player in a body sculpt class.

The key to adherence in exercise is enjoying what you're doing, doing it efficiently, and seeing results. You have to know that it takes consistency and hard work, but at the same time you can't let it fester as a pesky daily task. If you find an activity you love to do, you'll look forward to, enjoy the hard work and exertion, and stick with it much more than if it feels like a chore. This is very hard to do when you're looking solely into the programs where all the guess work is taken out for you. I suggest you do some research, sit down with an expert, or experiment with different things and draw out a plan for how you can integrate fitness into your lifestyle. What it all boils down to is the simple law all living things abide to, Wolf's law: Living organisms adapt to the stressors of they're environment. Simply stated, if you want to run further, practice running, gain muscle perhaps? Start challenging yourself with heavy weights in the weight room. Your body will seek adaptations to the repeated stress.

Diet adherence can be much more complicated. With all the information we are bombarded with daily it certainly muddies the water on what is a healthful diet. No gluten, starch is bad, high cholesterol, and low fat. It is confusing on what exactly to believe. My simple advice, and I can easily write an entire post on this but I'll save that for later. Eat a diet rich in plants. Keep the processed foods to a minimum. Don't worry or stress about the latest claims in health, don't buy into the fads. Yes, chia seeds may have been the reason why the Myan's were so smart but I am not going to pay 20.00 per pound for a bunch of seeds I can get the same nutrition from a handful of nuts. Stop believing everything you hear. A current fad is extolling fruit, trust me, our nation did not build it's foundation of obesity on apples and banana's. Eat them along with veggies, and good meats, potatoes, rice, beans, and grains. A balanced low processed diet is the easiest way to maintain health for the long run.

Those are my thoughts on the fitness and health trends and fads. Always be aware, someone is trying to make a buck. Although I don't have room to talk, I myself am making a living off personal training, I can only help but shake my head when I see someone come into the club with a kale, ginger, and chia smoothie and know that somewhere along the line they were duped into the false health halo of marketing. It will only be a matter of time before the next trend rolls around and they buy into it.

Fresh Air

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By Jeff

My usual meals when I am at work include fruits, veggies, nuts, oatmeal, and leftover dinner from the night before. However, every once in a while leftovers don't exist from the night before and I'm forced to purchase food in downtown Portland. Yesterday was one of those days so I trekked outside and a few blocks west to grab a bite to eat. The sun was blaring on a surprisingly warm January day in the Pacific Northwest. People were out walking their dogs, many out for a smoke, and others also trying to find food. Other than being outside, the common theme between all the people were they were all happy (including myself feeling heavenly). Coincidence...I think not.

Let's look at a different situation. After a recent move, I have been riding my little scooter into work and stay pretty warm with the proper gear. A few of the days there has been a rain/snow mix that hits my face pretty hard and my fingers get a little cold. Many people think my ride is miserable in these conditions and they are somewhat correct. I'm not on the scooter shivering the whole time but some aspects are unpleasant. However, the time I spend on the scooter (sometimes in rush hour with people constantly honking the horn and yelling at each other) is still the best time of day for me. Why? Because of the feeling of breathing fresh air, sometimes seeing the sun, being surrounded by nature (a concrete jungle but still outside), the ability to zone out and let nature take over my whole. The two situations I presented are opposite in environmental conditions (with the exception of both being outside), but share the same internal feeling.

At this point, I'm going to stop talking about my personal thoughts on being outside and move into some scientific research. Universities in Japan are conducting experiments that actually measure the benefits of being outside. “...Chiba University, have found that leisurely forest walks, compared with urban walks, yield a 12.4 percent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol, a seven percent decrease in sympathetic nerve activity, a 1.4 percent decrease in blood pressure, and a 5.8 percent decrease in heart rate. On subjective tests, study participants also report better moods and lower anxiety” (http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/wellness/Take-Two-Hours-of-Pine-Forest-and-Call-Me-in-the-Morning.html?page=3). The above stats compare two different outdoor conditions and show being in nature has a large health benefit over being outside in a city. Unfortunately, I couldn't find such stats about being inside vs outside but I would assume all of the above health measurements would decrease as well. A study was conducted by the University of Utah and University of Kansas where participants improved the creativity thinking by 50% after hiking and camping for three days.

In Japan around 2.5 to 5 million visitors partake in Forest Therapy or just hanging out in the forest for a few hours (that's a quarter of Japan's population). Going for a run, with your ipod on, through an urban park does reap some benefits of being outdoors and gets you better in shape. But if you want the maximum benefits of being outdoors while still going for a run go find a true nature park, don't bring any electronic devices, stop and rest every once in a while and take in the scenery and fresh air. Just the smell of trees has shown to increase NK Cells by 40% (NK Cells play a major role in destroying tumor cells and viruses).

In all reality, I could go on forever typing about the benefits of being outdoors and why you should spend more time outdoors but it's common sense and science has proven it. I right now am taking a vow to go experience the true outdoors (not a city park) at least once a week. I know it's worth a couple hours a week to do. How do you feel about being outside? Do you have any eye/mind opening experiences you would like to share? Please post in the comments section how you feel about the outdoors or what you plan to do to get outside more. I think I'm going to head outside...

A Post-Workout Shake

By Chris

As you can tell, I haven't had much to say lately; obviously, this being my first post. Sooo, I am posting the post-workout shake that I created and use to recover from my workouts or competitions. Each of the ingredients that I use has a reason it is being used within the shake, but don't mistake that for 'scientific' by any means; the first ingredient in the shake goes against what science and every food department in America says, sooo...enjoy!

 Now, I must put the disclaimer out there before writing any of the ingredients down: I am NOT saying this is a recovery shake that you must try and, if you do choose to try it, I will assume no risk; this shake is something that I make for me and is intended for informational purposed on this blog -not as a recommendation.

Ok, now we can move forward. First up on the list of ingredients is _____________________? Can anyone guess it? Eggs! That's right, the first ingredient is four raw eggs -like in Rocky! When I buy the eggs, however, I do buy the higher grade farm raised eggs. When I still lived in Oregon I would buy my eggs at a Co-Op and I could choose my eggs based on what they ate, drank, calcium source was, ect. I will admit, that was pretty great, but I do know and understand that I was spoiled and it is not like that everywhere -such as in Illinois where I am at now. Something else that I have always looked for, personally, was brown eggs; it is just a preference, but I have found their shells to be harder which, to me, is a desirable quality.

There are a couple of reasons that I put eggs into my shakes that I will cover. I enjoy eating them cooked, but have felt they affect my body differently than they do when I eat them raw (I know, probably the most scientific thing you have ever read). When I began eating them raw I noticed improvements in my digestion of the eggs, as well as the health of my skin and hair; to me these were all positive things, so I decided to keep going with it. I also use the entire egg -cholesterol and all! I know, again, not going by the scientific health recommendations that the American public is used to hearing. My thought process with this, however, is simple: Eggs are meant to start a life, God and nature didn't mess up. What I mean is that I actually use eggs as my multi-vitamin, my post-workout protein source, and my fat and cholesterol source. Eggs have nearly every vitamin and mineral that you need in them except for Vitamin C. They are also loaded with six grams of protein a piece and lots of fat and cholesterol; my thoughts on those are simple as well: since my hormones are made of cholesterol, such as testosterone, than what is the point in being afraid of it and excluding it from my diet? and fat doesn't make me, or anyone for that matter, fat -so why avoid something that tastes so good and is so good for you? God didn't create the eggs for chickens and design them the way that they are so that a chick would hatch obese with high cholesterol; if he did, maybe the American people are right on track (haha)?

Now, I know that eggs can go bad and they could have all sorts of fun things in them that makes your stomach hurt and that is why you are supposed to cook them; however, I haven't gotten sick once from them in the last three years that I have been doing this. Not once. That doesn't mean it is a 'for sure' safe thing, but I don't feel it is any more dangerous than many of the things that are eaten regularly by Americans...case in point: deep-fried Twinkies.

The next thing I use in my shakes is a nice big helping (about a cup to be slightly more exact) of coconut milk, A.K.A.: pure saturated fat! What?! I know, I will have a heart attack as I am drinking this, right? No. Wrong. I don't believe that garbage at all. There have been multiple studies out there (he's using science?) to have shown that replacing refined carbohydrates in a diet with saturated fats -yes, like butter- and every single risk factor for heart disease went down. Hmmm... Anyways, back to the delicious shake and its ingredients. I use coconut milk because it is very tasty, mixes well and adds a nice consistency to the shake, and it is calorie-dense -about 140kcal per one-half cup. Even if you are not wanting to gain weight, I would still recommend using this in the shake, just cut it down to a half-cup as well as cut back on some ingredients to come.

After the eggs and coconut milk are in the cup, I like to add a nice handful of spinach. Yes, I understand this sounds interesting and maybe somewhat gross to some people, but it does not change the flavor one bit -just turns it green. The other plus side to this is that spinach is an alkaline-enhancing food which is great after a workout because the body's pH rises, well actually drops, considerably after a during and after workout; restoring that alkalinity is a great way to help yourself recover from a tough workout. I sometimes also dice up carrots and then put them in the blender with everything else. Why do I do this? Same reason as I put spinach in... and sometimes I would just rather drink my lunch-time salad instead of eat it.

I use a few spices in this post-workout concoction as well to enhance the flavor and to help you feel better. I don't know that they have any real recovery-enhancing effects, but I do know that they have a few health effects that make them worth drinking. The first I use in cinnamon (1 and 1/2 teaspoons) and other than its great flavor, it is also a very potent anti-bacterial which is the main reason that I use it. The second that I use is turmeric (1 teaspoon); I use this because of its anti-inflammatory properties within joints, it is an anti-septic, and it promotes skin health and wound healing. The third that I use is cayenne pepper (1/4 teaspoon) and I use it for its anti-inflammatory properties. I know, I know... not the most exciting reasons, but they are what they are. Something else that I throw into my shakes that isn't necessarily a spice is lemon flavored cod liver oil (1 or 2 teaspoons). I prefer the brand Dr. Carlson's because it is a great, reputable brand; remember to refrigerate it after opening so that the oil doesn't go rancid! It is a great way to get a lot of Omega-3 fatty-acids into your diet -which can help in inflammation reduction- if you can't eat or afford a lot of fish as well as add a great lemon flavor to the shake (no fish after-taste, I promise).

Last, but definitely not the least in any sense, I add pure, raw honey -the only food on the planet, that is nature-made, that does not go bad. Yes, you heard right, it doesn't go bad! How cool is that? Other than that cool fact about honey, I use it because it is really very good for you and I usually use about a tablespoon or a bit more. Honey plays the role of an antibacterial (it has been shown to kill of bacteria as strong as salmonella!), has more than a few antioxidants that can be found in plants as well -and one in particular that is thought to be unique to honey: pinocembrin-, and promotes the growth of the 'good' bacteria in your gut! To reap all of these benefits of honey, though, you must have pure, raw, preferably unfiltered, honey; you also will not want to heat it for extended periods of time (such as cooking with it; it is still ok to flavor hot things such as tea or squash out of the oven.

Now, you can end the shake there and have a delicious, moderate-calorie shake for after a workout OR... you can add more stuff to make it a post-workout-meal-shake! To be honest, I use the above as a base for a variety of different shakes. I usually take what you just read, then I add about two good scoops of plain vanilla ice cream to it; sometimes I will also add eggnog or heavy whipping cream if we have some or I am wanting a few extra calories that week. If I am looking more for a drink that I will sip on for a while, I will take a couple pages from my wife's shake book and add some fruits and berries and maybe even some avocado (yes, I know it's a fruit).

Now that everything is in your shake, blend it all together for a while until it is good and creamy. I use a magic bullet for traveling convenience, but any blender will work as long as the blades are sharp and spin fast ... you know, like most working blenders do.

Anyways, there is my shake that is healthy, natural (if you leave out the ice-cream), and a great (especially) post-workout shake as well as a great snacking drink. Don't be scared of the raw eggs, but if you are then you can make the shakes without them and I'm sure they will still taste good, they will just be lacking protein and vitamins. Also, the same thing I said earlier applies, I am by no means recommending you go out and eat raw eggs... I just have nothing against it. If you have any questions or comments email our blog with the headline "Chris" or just post a comment below.

Bottoms up! (I just drank one while writing this. Mmmm...)

Chris.

Muscle Of the Month.

Glutes
By Andy

The glutes are an amazing group of muscles. They bride the gap between our lower and upper extremities, and are involved in almost every human movement. It is strange to consider that the glutes play such a pivotal role in our everyday lives yet are some of the most neglected muscles worked by gym goers, weekend warriors, and competitive athletes. The glutes should take precedence in any sound training program.

The glutes are involved in many actions. Hip extension being their main function, they also externally rotate, and abduct the leg. Any time you take a step, lift something off the floor, or leap over an obstacle you can bet your glutes are the muscle behind the movement. For being a small lump of tissue around your midsection it is remarkable how much power these muscles can generate. Movements such as sprinting, deadlifts, and vertical jumps are all primarily driven by the glutes. It is no wonder why they generate so much power.

Now let's consider the common ailments seen in the glutes. Often, the glutes don't function as well as they should, they're weak, they don't sequence efficiently  and they're over powered by other muscles which pick up the slack. Consider this, if you are sitting on your glutes all day, how hard do you think they'll be willing to work for you? This is the case with many people the glutes dysfunction is driven by inactivity. They turn off the neural pathways because they aren't used. Another common issue, also derived from sitting too much is when our hip flexors(muscles that lift our legs) are tight the glutes must use an inhibitory relaxation to allow this.

Both theses issues lead to another problem, sore backs and tight hamstrings. This is because the dysfunctional glutes require the hamstrings and back to make up for their problems. People experiencing the back pain or hamstring problems look at strengthening the hamstrings or back. The classic treatment of symptoms rather than cause, which we see all the time.

So what can we do to combat this? Consider a 3 tier approach.

First hip mobility, remember the tightness in the flexors and other muscles in the hip girdle can reak havoc on glute function. Dynamic mobility will alleviate this.

Second, hip motor control. Learn how to activate the glutes, establish the neural pathways needed to properly fire the muscles and generate movement.

Third, strengthen. Movements which specifically target the glutes along with the other muscles of the posterior chain will ensure a healthy back, enhanced performance, and a decreased incidence of injury.

Here are some exercise ideas for each of the categories:

Mobility: Dynamic step overs: use a barrier set about knee height. If you cannot step over this without dropping one side of your body or kicking your heel out start lower. Holding a med ball overhead, step over leading with the knee. Follow with the opposite leg, then step backwards. repeat 10x

Motor control: Supine hip extension. Laying on the floor, place your knees in a flexed position, heels about 1ft from your rear. Push with one foot through your heel and feel your glutes contracting. Go as high as you can.

Strength: Single leg dumbbell deadlift. Start with a dumbbell in hand knees slightly bent. With your lower back fixed and your back flat lower your body hinging at the hip. Once you feel a stretch in your hamstring, raise back up still balancing on one foot. Try 3x8 each leg. Form is king here, start low and build up.

Why sitting can literally kill you.

By Andy

There is a lot of buzz out there about some new studies and findings that should come to no surprise yet in our world today seems to be shocking news. The more we sit around in sloth, correlates directly to a higher mortality rate. What they found was undoubtedly interesting, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a pivotal discovery. As far as no-brainers go, this one should be up there with the warnings on coffee cups that the beverage may be scalding hot.

All jokes aside, what one research group out of Australia found was that for every hour you spend sitting you can expect a statistical decrease of 22 minutes from your lifespan. Now I am not one to jump all over these type of statistics. Our lives are extremely dynamic and there are so many other variables towards ones health than time spent sitting inactive but, this is an alarming number. One hour of sitting can take 1/3 of an hour off your life, all things considered. This would equate to almost 5 years if your frequently sit for 6 hours a day over your lifespan. Another study, showed that of people aged over 45 years who sat for 11 hours a day were 40% more likely to die within the next three years. Another very awakening piece of statistics if you ask me.

The underlying cause here is the way our body reacts to inactivity. Humans evolved on the move. It was essential to live. If you weren't moving about, forging for food you would starve. Even in the last 50 years our butts have began to mold more and more into the shape of an office chair. Look at agriculture. In the past, farms were small scale, family run, and hard work. Today, we have built such giant farms at such an efficient scale that we have taken much of the hard labor out of it. Small farms can't complete, and farmland is being over taken into suburbs. As I step down from that soap box, keep in mind that this is the case with many industries. Manufacturing has become automated. Life is simply changed at a faster rate than our evolution can adapt.

Sitting causes our body to go into rest mode. Once in rest, our body is very efficient at energy conservation.  Look at it from the the eye of our ancestors. If we weren't able to move around and gather food or farm the land, we better be able to conserve as best we can in order to make it till tomorrow. Our body loses it's resistance to insulin. Glucose runs free in our blood stream, and cholesterol is mobilized. All these changes lead to increased risks in diabetes, and heart disease. No surprise right?

You may argue, yes I sit at work for 9 hours a day but, I go to the gym and run on the treadmill for 45min after work. The thing we need to consider for this argument is that there are still 23 hours and 15min in the day. This is a very small portion. Activity needs to be build into everyday life. When I say activity, I am not saying that you need to run for hours or live in the gym. It's simple activity such as walking around, doing chores, anything that keeps you busy.

We can all stand to add a little more activity into our lives. In today's society we have learned that sitting is a time for relaxation after a long day. I say nonsense, go for a walk, ride a bike, rake some leaves, you might find this to be much more relaxing and meditative than sitting in front of the television set. I once heard someone mention that the chair was the invention that spurred the downfall of mankind. With these awakening new studies, I tend to agree. Now, I've been writing this for around 45 minutes. I believe it's time to get up.