What have I done since I last posted? I have been focusing more on brief bouts of exercise targeting large muscle groups – kind of a bang for my buck deal.

I have repeated my stair running workout. I then performed a chin up workout on the park outside of my apartment – very simply 10 sets of 5 chin ups.

Due to the improved weather I then did a metabolic conditioning style workout – I ran back and forth on the field outside of my apartment (approximately 50 metres one way = about 100 meters of running on each repetition) and then performed a set of 5 chin ups. I did 5 sets of this (total of 500 meters worth of running and 25 chin ups). To add to the strength component I performed 5 sets of 10 inverted rows on the playground equipment.

The next workout I performed was a personal favorite of mine – I did 4 sets of 10 handstand pushups (with my heels grazing a wall for stability) followed by a burnout set of pushups. As an alternative to a handstand pushup, overhead pressing exercises with dumbbells or other resistance will substitute.

The most recent workout I performed was with my trusty medicine ball. I did 3 sets of 10 medicine ball squat to jump tosses. After that I performed 3 sets of 10 chin ups.

My low volume at the moment is primarily aimed at avoiding soreness and fatigue as I expose myself to more exercise stimulus. Also, I am aiming to improve my functional abilities through low density, high intensity training. As I progress I will continue to report on the increasing volume and intensity dynamics of my regime so that the concepts are clear. The tough part about physical training is that there are many variables to consider so it is important to understand the principles of progress. The basic idea is to perform work that respects the current fitness level of any person and promotes slow and steady improvement towards their goal while keeping in mind their total stress load.

For now, keep on MOVING!

At the moment my primary concern is to improve my general health characteristics and to express a level of strength that will allow me to enjoy an active lifestyle. With that idea in mind my general strength protocol will be progressive and centered around my ability to push and pull my body through space in challenging circumstances. Considering that this is the first workout that I am doing with regards to any form of strength work I kept the volume and intensity low (no need to burn out when I am currently looking to lay a base level of fitness to build on later!).

With all of that preamble out of the way I will now describe my workout! With the intention of using my apartment as my equipment I went in to the stairwell (this is where most of my workouts will probably occur!). I used each floor landing for sets of 5 pushups and I performed deep lunges 2 stairs at a time up each flight until I got to the top floor. I repeated the 5 pushups on each landing going back downstairs while doing reverse lunges down 2 stairs at a time. I traveled 10 floors up and down meaning I ended up doing 100 pushups in total – I didn’t bother counting the repetitions of lunges I did ( I have no intention of becoming neurotic about numbers – I just want to express generally increasing physical capacity not test myself against arbitrary numbers).

This workout did get my heart rate up slightly and the sets of 5 pushups were easily manageable – when I repeat this workout I will increase the number of pushups on each landing. All in all it was a very manageable workout. If anyone wants to try it and is not confident in their ability to do pushups, do wall pushups instead.

If I have one goal in writing these posts aside from sharing my journey it is to provide a view of physical activity as easily approachable regardless of physical ability! All I want people to take away from this is that we will all be healthier if we simply MOVE MORE!

Due to my sprinting past today was an active recovery day. By active recovery I mean that I use a light workout to promote fluid flow with the aim of promoting physiological recovery. The end goal of physiological recovery is to speed the movement of waste products produced by a previous bout of exercise.

Now that I have rambled about why I did a workout today I might as well tell what I did! I lightly jogged each floor of my building…sounds simple for the concept that I explained before right? Not really. The idea is to just speed up your physiological processes to kick start them while not fatiguing yourself. The term “Active Recovery” should imply that the aim is not to get tired, the aim is to recover.

To be slightly more clear on what I did – I jogged one floor of my building then walked up the stairs to the next floor and repeated this until I got to the top floor when I turned around and jogged each floor back down. The whole process took me 15 minutes and, at the moment, I feel much more relaxed.

Stay tuned as I keep increasing my fitness at home while using sound principles for health!

I might have to use a tree instead!

As I have begun my clinical practice my life has encountered a common challenge – the “not enough time for exercise-itis”. None of us in North America are immune to this issue! My goal now is to start a series of posts outlining how I am going to get back to my previously active lifestyle by using what is available to me in (and around) the apartment building that I currently live in.

I am exercising so that I can actively enjoy my life!

I encourage everyone to follow along as I share what I am doing as a progressive exercise routine that is scalable and uses minimal time. My plan is to exercise between 3 and 5 times every week in my apartment building in a variety of ways. Many exercise routines will look very similar however I will alter variables such as volume, intensity, and frequency to bring about various results.

I am also going to follow a general periodization plan so that no one (especially me!) wears out or runs in to overuse injuries.

My plan for my initial workout is as follows – climb the stairs (top to bottom) 10 times at a comfortable pace. I will report back later to let everyone know how it went as well as my general impressions on how challenging it was considering it is the beginning of my fitness base (day 1!).

Here is to the start of a journey and the experimentation that comes with it! I aim to make this fun, not arduous!

When we look at the elite in any field we are looking at someone that has a unique combination of physical and psychological attributes which allowed them to respond favorably to the training that they performed. It is not news to say that everyone is a unique individual. How does that have anything to do with training? The fact is that a solid understanding of training principles must be combined with a solid understanding of how an individual responds to training is necessary for progression.

As an example, if you want to break the marathon world record there is a necessity to improve general endurance as well as speed. If you simply looked to the pros you may want to train like Haile Gebrselassie and you would probably fall apart if you did! It is more important to choose methods that produce progression of both endurance and speed for YOU!

What should you think about when you are trying to advance a physical quality? Here are some considerations:

1. What is the dominant energy system?

2. How do I train the dominant energy system?

3. How fast should I expect to progress?

4. How am I responding to the training and how can it be changed to be more effective?

Special consideration should be paid to number 3 and 4 above. Your goals should be realistic – if you are running a 4 hour marathon now it is not likely that you will be running a 2 hour marathon any time soon – so expect and train for linear progression. It is also EXTREMELY important to measure how you are responding to your training – if you are progressing smoothly you are doing fine, if you are running in to injuries and not progressing your training needs to change!

While it is fun to see what other people are doing and watch world class athletes training sessions you should recognize that those workouts are not for you. Intelligent program design and confidence in it are extremely important if you want to reach your goals. If you attempt to copy world class workouts you will likely over-train and not progress to your potential. If you consider the principles behind WHY a world class training program works you may find insight in how to apply the principles to yourself. Respect your barriers and train in a way that will allow you to change them!

Since I have said most people do not consider the spine I now have to be the one to explain myself. The spine has the ability to flex forwards, extend backwards, bend to the left or right, and rotate to the left or right. In different areas of the spine there are different preferences for movement. The primary movement that will often be hindered in runners that can effect the efficiency of running mechanics is rotation. That is correct, rotation of the spine is EXTREMELY important for propelling yourself forwards! As we all know, when we run or walk, our left hand and right leg go the same direction (and vice versa) – this is for balance and propulsion purposes. As we move one arm and one leg backwards we need to rotate the spine to create more force when running. For examples check out these two videos (different disciplines that display similar rotations – watch the shoulders rotating backwards)

With the second video also try to look at Usain Bolt’s hips and shoulders going from left to right as well as up and down (one at a time).

If you noticed in the videos the runners (both at the top of their disciplines) use their full body efficiently, especially rotation. The rotation is not excessive however it is present and VERY important. As the late Charlie Francis stated – if rotation is present in the hips a sprinter can gain an inch on each stride. Consider that if in a 100 meter race the average male will take 45 strides, if they are rotating properly they can cut 45 inches off of their race and that is a very significant number in 100 meters. Now consider the same idea in a marathon – the strides are shorter so the rotation will be less dramatic. Even with less rotation consider any extra distance per stride in a marathon. When setting his marathon world record, Haile Gebreselassie was going at approximately 197 steps/minute and he ran for approximately 124 minutes – that is 24,428 strides. I have seen information calculating an individual’s goal to run a marathon in 3 hours and believing he would take about 30,000 strides – we can see the difference in number of strides and, although not a direct link, I can say that some of Haile Gebreselassie’s advantage is in his better usage of mechanics.

What is really going on? In the 11th and 12th thoracic vertebrae as well as the 1st lumbar vertebra we find the primary site of rotation for THE WHOLE BODY. Often times this area will get stuck preferring to rotate to one side only. When this area gets stuck we lose the ability to run at our peak efficiency and we set ourselves up for injury. It is very important from a performance and an injury prevention point of view that the area from the 11th thoracic vertebra to the 1st lumbar vertebra (also known as the thoraco-lumbar junction) is functioning properly. It is rare that proper function of this area is achieved without the help of an Osteopathic Manual Therapist. Luckily, with the proper manual therapy, the thoraco-lumbar junction is simple to fix and it will help full body running mechanics when it is working right.

What types of injury prevention strategies are worthwhile? Strength training is a great one, especially for endurance athletes. The basis of this suggestion is that endurance athletes already have endurance adapted muscles and neglect muscles that can create large amounts of force in short periods of time (fast twitch muscles). When faced with a situation where an injury is likely going to happen there is a need for fast twitch fibers to activate and protect the hard tissue of bone from taking too much strain by producing a corrective force and avoiding injuries. For the endurance athlete it is a very good idea to work on what I call total organism strength – how strong your WHOLE body is. For an example of what this might look like and performance benefits of heavy strength training check here (about halfway down the page).

Is stretching a good strategy? Maybe not, especially for the endurance runner. There has been research for and against static stretching. The possible issue with stretching for an endurance runner is that there is no proof that the tight muscle SHOULD be stretched. In a person that does repetitive work there is adaptation to become more efficient in performing the task and there are also reflexive adaptations to attempt to maintain stability of the entire body. There is also the issue that sensory nerves (primarily the muscle spindles) respond to overstretching a muscle by creating tension to protect the muscle and joint as well as sending pain signals. Consider also that without knowing that a muscle SHOULD be stretched just because it is tight suggests that stretching without a reason may actually cause more harm than good.

What about therapy? Depending on the therapeutic modality there may be the opportunity to prevent running injuries. If the therapy is primarily geared towards injury rehabilitation there may be limitations in the ability of the therapy to identify future problems and prevent them. Movement screening such as Gray Cook’s FMS has shown positive results and can be self guided (the primary mechanism is because there is a testing protocol that leads to a REASON to perform corrective measures).

As an Osteopathic Manual Therapist I am acutely aware that some things are just not possible to correct on your own. With Osteopathic Manual Therapy I look at how the entire body functions and moves through space. Once I find the restrictions I remove them so that the patient will then be able to distribute forces more evenly throughout their body and avoid repetitive strain injuries. I make sure that the repetitive strains do not set you up for future injury to secure your ability to enjoy your running regime for years to come.

From the video it is very well explained that walking is possibly the single best thing for promoting health. From a slightly more simple point of view than the convincing one offered by Dr. Mike Evans, walking is a quintessential human activity. Every single part of our body is built with upright, two-legged walking in mind. Our organs sit where and how they do because we walk upright. Our arms and legs show very clearly that we are built to walk upright. All of our systems (especially our passive circulation – veins and lymphatic circulation) absolutely rely on walking upright. It should be obvious to everyone that walking is ESSENTIAL to health.

To add my own 2 cents, I see 3 of the top things to promote health that work impeccably well together (in no order of importance – your order depends on your needs and which one is most out of balance):

1. Walk – you are built to do it.

2. Eat according to your biology – you require certain foods without which your body CAN NOT function appropriately.

3. Ensure that your body is aligned properly so that none of your parts function less than optimally (this is where Osteopathy helps – we are all affected by gravity and we all live with the same basic architecture and Osteopathy ensures that it works the way it is supposed to work).

Everything in your body is connected. Everything needs balance in all other parts to work properly. If you want the biggest bang for your buck, walking and eating appropriately will be huge, to ensure that those 2 things do the best they can for your health Osteopathy is the way to go!

Find your inner health by recognizing and respecting your biology!

Both articles point to the possibly detrimental effects of endurance training on the heart (Erica’s article is a little more holistic in that it shows more global effects of endurance type cardiovascular exercise). It is important to note the points made don’t state that endurance training is a no-no, more that extreme endurance training (above one’s limits) can be detrimental in multiple ways. For some of us it is the only way we feel comfortable exercising so intelligent application of endurance training is better than having a complete couch potato life. For some of us we can attain the heart health benefits from resistance exercise and do it in less time (thanks Erica!).

What do I want the take home message to be? There are many ways to skin a cat! The best idea is to figure out what form of exercise you want to partake in and then get trained help to aid you in designing an intelligent program. No one fitness program fits everyone so yours should consider all of your needs and wants.

Your heart lives under your ribs - Osteopathy can make sure it lives without interference

If you want any advice I am available for consultation on exercise programs. I am also available to perform Osteopathic Manual Therapy for patients to ensure that their heart is not obstructed by physical imbalances (click here if you are interested in reading an Osteopathic take on some heart issues).

What are the common symptoms? Pain in the low back, buttocks, down the back of the leg, as well as in the foot. Along with the pain there is often muscular weakness, numbness, tingling, and difficulty moving/controlling the leg. Sciatica is often only felt on one side but can occur on both sides of the lower body. It is important to note that the term “sciatica” is only referring to the symptoms, not the cause.

What might cause sciatica? A bulging disc at the fourth or fifth lumbar vertebrae, narrowing of the spinal canal between the vertebrae (spinal stenosis), compression of the sciatic nerve between the fourth lumbar vertebrae and the third sacral segment, or piriformis syndrome (15% of the population has their sciatic nerve running directly through the piriformis muscle which leads to compression of the nerve by the muscle). Some of the causes can be from repetitive behavior such as poor sitting posture or a highly repetitive job.

What can be done about sciatica? Many people opt for surgery if the root cause is believed to be a disc herniation (most of which resolve themselves – the body is self healing and self regulating). Surgery has its pros (it works fast) and its cons (over the long term there is no significant difference in outcomes). Analgesics, muscle relaxants, and other common therapies rarely work better than a placebo so I might avoid them due to the other effects they may have on the body (especially the digestive system).

As an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner and a Certified Kinesiologist who has seen many cases of sciatica not be resolved by common methods I would suggest ensuring that the imbalances that have caused the compression of the nerves be removed. If it is mechanical (ie bones out of place), muscular (the muscles are pressing on the nerve), or a combination of both (most likely situation because bones and muscles move together), the treatment needs to be fairly holistic. As far as physical treatment is concerned ensuring proper passive mechanics of the spine (primarily the lumbar spine but the causative issue may be somewhere else) as well as a level pelvis and well balanced muscles in the legs should do the trick. Sounds simple enough right? It is for an Osteopathic Manual Therapist. The treatments should be between 20 and 30 minutes long, they should be gentle, and the pressure should be removed from the nerve fairly quickly. The job of the Osteopathic Manual Therapist is to reset the balance and then the body will take over the healing process. Each person is different so their recovery time will vary but it will be sped up comfortably by seeing an appropriate therapist.