Optimal Performance Quote Series: Abraham

“You can’t manifest beyond what you believe.”

-Abraham

6 tips to keep the holiday weight off

"FOOD IS MEDICINE" is the main tenet of the Institute for Functional Medicine. I truly believe this as I have cleaned up my diet over the last few months and have NEVER felt better in my life. I typically eat between 2-3 lbs of vegetables per day and have at least 4 servings of fruit. It's probably closer to 8 with my mondo-breakfast smoothie. Imagine my surprise when I dropped 15 lbs easily just by cleaning up my diet.

As we come close to the holiday season with all of the company, friend and family parties, it becomes very easy to pack on the POUNDS between Christmas and New Years and when New Years Day comes around, we feel a little guilty and get our much bigger butts into the gym. I actually read a statistic that most people gain between 5-8lbs during the holiday season. (HOLY SMOKES!!!)

Well, how about for 2011, you not even get to that point???? Below are 6 simple tips to keep the weight off and put you ahead of the "New Years Resolution" crowd in the gym.

1) Stick to the 90/10 rule with food. 90% of the time you want to eat WHOLE, UNPROCESSED FOOD and 10% of the time, go crazy and eat what you want. I do this on a weekly basis but some people have taken to mean it during every meal. Honestly, once you start to clean up your diet, you wont crave the foods that are not so good for you.

2) Go for the salad first. Challenge yourself to eat at least 2lbs of veggies per day.  Here are some GREAT Holiday salad ideas.

3) Have a great smoothie for breakfast with nuts or eggs. Go here for some good ideas. I use a healthy acai juice with no added sugar or preservatives

4) Go 90/10 rule with liquids. 90% of the time you want to drink WATER but the other 10% of the time live it up with GOOD QUALITY eggnog, wine, seasonal beer. Sodas and other sugar beverages are in general, CRAP, so unless there is a great holiday root beer float with eggnog ice cream you want to make, SKIP THEM!

5) Get at least 30-45 minutes of movement per day. That could be traditional gym exercise, walking, jogging, swimming, Yoga class. If you want to stimulate your digestion, go for a walk after a big meal instead of falling asleep. You will get some fresh air as well as getting your body moving.  Check out my quick hitter circuit video below.

6) Invest and take good vitamin supplements like a multi-vitamin, Vitamin D (to boost immunity), Probiotics (to improve digestion), Fish Oil (for the cellular maintenance), Magnesium (the "relaxation" mineral) and a Vitamin B complex (to improve brain function). For more info go to Dr. Mark Hymans' great post on supporting your immune system during the winter which includes great info on supplements and vitamins.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Will

Optimal Performance Quote Series: Leon Fleisher

"Subvert the dominant paradigm” - pianist Leon Fleischer

Looking functionally at Osgood-Schlatters Disease

Recently, a few of my athletes have been coming to training with knee problems which has been neatly diagnosed by their doctors as Osgood-Schlatters Disease. Unfortunately, this effects many adolescent athletes BUT not all of them so it made me start to think, "What in the world is going on here?"  Basing my thought process in Applied Functional Science. , and with guidance from Dr. David Tiberio and Lenny Parracino of the Gray Institute, I wanted to write a short post on this monster known as Osgood-Schlatters that has and is taking out my athletes.

WHAT IS OSGOOD-SCHLATTERS DISEASE?

According to Wikipedia, it is:

Osgood–Schlatter disease or syndrome (also known as tibial tubercle apophyseal traction injury) is a rupture of the growth plate at the tibial tuberosity.[1]



Sinding–Larsen–Johansson syndrome is an analogous condition involving the patellar tendon and the lower margin of the patella bone, instead of the upper margin of the tibia.


The condition occurs in active boys and girls aged 9–16[2] coinciding with periods of growth spurts. It occurs more frequently in boys than in girls, with reports of a male-to-female ratio ranging from 3:1 to as high as 7:1. It has been suggested the difference is related to a greater participation by boys in sports and risk activities than by girls.[citation needed]

The condition is usually self-limiting and is caused by stress on the patellar tendon that attaches the quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh to the tibial tuberosity. Following an adolescent growth spurt, repeated stress from contraction of the quadriceps is transmitted through the patellar tendon to the immature tibial tuberosity. This can cause multiple subacute avulsion fractures along with inflammation of the tendon, leading to excess bone growth in the tuberosity and producing a visible lump which can be extremely painful when hit.


Now this is an interesting analysis of the disease but it never really gets to the WHY of the situation. As we look functionally at OSD, we look at the site of the injury but it would be shortsighted to not look below and above the knee to see if we cannot find out who is zooming who in this situation.

When we look at what elicits symptoms from a person suffering from OSD, we see that it generally mid-range to deep knee flexion. With our knowledge of functional muscle function, we know that the quadriceps decelerates knee flexion, and this makes sense that the tensile stress on the tibial tubercule would cause micro-avulsions in an immature structure if the force exceeded the threshold of the bone/cartilage. Now we also know that many muscles also cross the knee joint that would aid in the deceleration of knee flexion like the powerful gluteal muscles, hamstrings, as well as the gastroc-soleus complex also known as the calf muscles.

The body is not going to allow the knee to not be decelerated. If it did, we would simply fall over with every step we tried to take. When the body sense that the powerful hip and calf muscles are not doing their job, it will OVER-recruit the quadriceps which will do the job but at the expense of the causing microtrauma to the tendon and insertions of the muscle. When we get this OVERUSE, we get....OSGOOD-SCHLATTERS DISEASE.

WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR PREVENTION?

Fortunately, training, conditioning, rehabilitation and prevention of the cause of OSD, are all in the same boat.

If you suspect an athlete is suffering from it, you want to direct he or she to a doctor so that they can receive an accurate diagnosis as well as treatments.

According to Mayoclinic.com, Osgood-Schlatter disease usually gets better without formal treatment. Symptoms typically disappear after your child's bones stop growing. Until that happens, your doctor may recommend mild pain relievers and physical therapy.

However, we can start get a jump on Osgood-Schlatters by getting the powerful gluteals and calves working to help decelerate knee flexion so that the quadriceps do not have to work so hard.

Here's a quick program:

HIP FLEXION WITH SLIGHT KNEE FLEXION TO ACTIVATE GLUTES AND HAMSTRINGS

1. Standing one leg, if possible, slightly bend the knee to about 10-20 degrees or to the point that doesn't cause pain.
2. If there are balance issues use a chair in front of the athlete to help stabilize.
3. Using the nose a driver, start bending from hips with the spine in neutral as much as possible to either chest or hip height.
4. The athlete is concentrating on using the glutes to slow down the anterior pelvic rotation along with the hamstrings.
5) The feeling of a stretching of the glutes and hamstrings. Do this 5-7 times PROPERLY. A trained therapist or strength coach should be able to guide a young athlete in this if necessary.
6) This should be followed up by EASY lunges, to the same nose driver height and knee flexion.

I will post a video of this in a day or so.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know at will@3doptimalperformance.com

Effective vs Efficient: Shortsighted thinking at its best

Recently, my high school kicker has been having some intense back problems. He was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis a few years ago but after his rehab has been OK for the most part. Interestingly, he has had a great season and made a 44 yard field goal during the game last week to push our team to a 27-14 win against a rival school.

He's kicking with good power and accuracy but this is coming at a cost of his body. During the summer, he worked on getting more power and has done so but after evaluating him last week, it was obvious that he lacked any hip extension and was exclusively using extension from the lumbar spine. What a great way to irritate a previous injury! We've done some soft tissue therapy on him after his doctor gave him the "OK" to play. He's uncomfortable, but he'll make it through to the championship game this Saturday.

The thing about Chris is he's very effective at kicking. He's also a great kid so its hard to see him in pain after he's being so effective in making all of his kicks. However, the reality is that he's not really being efficient in using his whole body during his activity and it's causing him a great deal of pain.

Looks like this University of Texas kicker is getting the most out of his whole body.

We spoke in detail about this, and he and I both came to the conclusion that his while he's being effective, his kicking mechanics are off and not efficient; and that he's probably not going to be able to sustain that level of performance when he kicks in college. I truly believe that Chris can go to the next level (as tough as I am on him) but only if he is willing to step back and do some structural work to "clear the path" of function as well as do the functional movements that will coordinate his athletic ability. It will not be easy. Actually, it will be a lot of hard work that will require him to step back and be dedicated, intelligent and humble throughout the training process. (More of that in a later post)


SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH EFFICIENT VS EFFECTIVE???

Effective (adj.): Adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result.



Efficient (adj.) Performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort.


If you want an easier way to memorize the difference, remember this sentence: “Being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing the things in the right manner.”


As I searched the Internet, I found many articles dedicated to contrasting and comparing the two. However, only one made mention of combining the two. I would like to propose:

EFFICIENTLY EFFECTIVE

AND

EFFECTIVELY EFFICIENT

Oxymorons? Maybe. However, I think that they are intimately connected by HARD WORK.

Dedication to excellence and optimal performance comes at the cost of getting into something and REALLY doing the work that it entails. It is not just touching on details. It is a commitment to delving into the depths of the activity that you are in and extracting the most from the moment or person working with you.( I've mentioned this in my post on OPTIMAL COACHING).

The thread that unites Efficient and Effective is DEDICATION.

Can you step back and objectively look at the things that are the most important AND least important in your life and evaluate whether or not you are being EFFICIENTLY EFFECTIVE AND EFFECTIVELY EFFICIENT?

Can you learn to be a better athlete/student/parent/child/employee/employer? Sure! I guarantee you that it will take hard work to get there but the results will AMAZE you.

Enjoy the process of being E.D.E (Effective. Dedicated. Efficient).

Best regards,

Will

Any Yoga is NOT good Yoga!

WAY TOO MUCH LUMBAR EXTENSION!!! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME IF YOU LOVE YOUR BACK!

A few years ago, someone said to me "Any yoga is good yoga" and I reluctantly agreed because I was a budding young teacher and this person had been teaching for a while. To this persons credit, she was (and still is) an AWESOME teacher and must have been comparing her way of instruction to students that resulted in good alignment and form. Unfortunately, not everyone does not have her deep and rich understanding of the mechanics of the poses. Actually, these days, I think its almost the opposite, especially in some of the Power Yoga and Vinyasa classes where getting a workout in is put over proper alignment. 

I have the opportunity to come into contact with hundreds of yoga practitioners per week who may be regular to my class, a drop-in or completely new to yoga. "Open Level" is what we call some of those classes. What I see from some of the non-regular students in their yoga poses forces me to stop class and really instruct on a particulars. Their alignment is all out of sorts but worse off its just plain dangerous and will more than likely lead them to a repetitive stress/strain injury. Some things I see are:

HYPER EXTENDED LUMBAR SPINES
LOCKED ELBOWS
OVERLY TENSE SHOULDERS
OFF BALANCE POSES
OVER ROTATING AT THE LUMBAR SPINE

The list goes on and on. The cause of some of these are structural like tight hamstrings that are compensated for, tight thoracic spine that is compensated for at the Lumbar spine. These can be worked through. But some of these are just from BAD HABITS and what gets me is that these bad habits extremely limit the practitioners progress.

This happens because many yoga teachers do not understand how the body REALLY works. Anatomy is studied but its focused on muscles and not the correct biomechanics of the WHOLE BODY. Understanding how joints and connective tissue all work TOGETHER, based on unifying principles of function, allows the teacher to create an authentic practice.

Simply calling out a pose in class is not teaching. It's reciting lines. Don't get me wrong. I was in that boat once. I am not blameless. However, when I found my way into understanding the body the other parts of my yoga teaching opened significantly and my students really were able to progress physically, mentally and spiritually. If they feel more comfortable in one, they will feel more comfortable in the other two. 

As a teacher and yogi, I am constantly working toward being as authentic as possible. Interestingly, that is where the hard work is. Being fake and artificial takes no work at all.

YOGA TEACHERS: Keep studying the sutras, chanting, inspirational reading, etc up. It's good. Get yourself into biomechanics and functional anatomy. If you want to see your students move with ease, efficiency, grace and power, sink your teeth into the science of movement. Do not be put off by it because it gets technical. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE AND GET TECHNICAL! Your students will keep coming back and getting better and better every week because they will understand the body more. Help them own their practice.

This may ruffle some feathers. That's okay. My intent is to encourage you to study some of the science of yoga as well as the spiritual and mental. They are not SEPARATE!!!!

I will post some videos detailing certain asana soon. If you have any requests, let me know and I will see what I can do.

Any questions or comments can be sent to will@3doptimalperformance.com

Thanks,

Will

8 ways to maximize your time with your trainer/coach/therapist/teacher

I have mentioned many times that I wear many hats as a coach, teacher, therapist and trainer and they all have their own set of experiences that are particular to that "hat", but there are a lot of similarities that I see as well.  Very often people come in and pay me a good deal of money to help them with their issues of performance enhancement, weight loss, pain elimination, etc but unfortunately, some of  these people are not maximizing their time with me.

Unfortunately, but I have to say this, we are very much in a "DO ME" culture. Now let me clarify that. What I mean is that people think that if they show up, that they've done their part and now its up to us to do the rest and "fix" them. Wow!

First, that is A LOT to put on someone. Yes, we are the ones with the training in the area that you are having an issue with BUT the truth of the matter is that it is VERY DRAINING for us to be the one leading the ship especially when its not our ship.

The real truth is that its a TEAM effort. As therapists/coaches/trainers/teacher/doctors, we are not on some higher level than you and unfortunately that is the way its been taught for many years. If you come in to us, we will do our best to help you; but what usually happens is, we do great work in the session, we give you "homework" to do and then you may do some of it but not all of it. Then you come back the week after or at the next visit and we ask "How's it going? How did you do with the homework?"

Well, what happens is folks tell us "Great! Did all my work" and then we get into the session and we find out you didn't do your work and in fact are at the same place you were last week. Sound familiar?

If you REALLY want results, come in with a TEAM MENTALITY that we will both give it all we have at the session and especially afterwards. That's where the real work comes in. Yes, WORK. Many professionals, would LOVE a client who asks us to draw from our deep resources of knowledge to help you, but this is AFTER you have put your work in. There is nothing more draining that a client who asks a lot but gives very little.

KEY POINTS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME:

1) Come in with a clear purpose that you are willing to state upfront to your professional. If they can help, great. If they cannot, they will pass you on to someone who can.
2) Come to work as team.
3) Ask questions. If you are not clear on something, PLEASE PLEASE ASK US! We want you to be CRYSTAL CLEAR on what needs to be done.
4) Do your homework! We know when you do not so please do not get frustrated with us that you are not improving. Remember, TEAMWORK!
5) Be consistent with your visits. We need to see you so that we can go to the next logical step even if that visit with us is to say, "We are as far as I can take you but here is a great person to see to get you to the next step." Professionals build relationships in our business for that reason. Your improvement benefits everyone.
6) Be honest. If its working, tell us. If it's not working, tell us.
7) If we are awesome, tell others about us!
8) Remember that many of us got into our profession to help people, and we really do appreciate you.


I hope this wasn't too preachy. Believe me, I'm not an innocent party. I am going through it right now with one of my teachers. However, at the end of the day, I know that he has my best interests at heart and wants to see me do well. He just called me out on not being a team player. I respect his honesty and integrity. That's why I'm dedicating this post to ROBERT DURSO of the Golandsky Institute. He is a teacher/trainer/coach/therapist par excellence.

Any questions, comments, feedback can be sent to will@3doptimalperformance.com.

Thanks,

Will