More Magic Fitness Nonsense: Part I

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I love this stuff!  From somewhat questionable vitamins, to goofy “health” food, to the out-and-out fantasy Cookie Diet, we continue to search for a way around eating right and exercising.  The latest magic potion to come out of Fantasy Fitness Land is a pill which has been developed by General Nutrition Centers (GNC) and tested by Oklahoma University.  (I’m glad the Sooners took on this strange project instead of the University of Texas.)  You can read all about it at Science Daily in an article titled Weight-loss supplement has potential to burn fair amount of calories. 

It seems this substance contains three things: black pepper, caffeine, and capsaicin–the stuff that makes hot peppers hot. 

(Now, as it turns out, I actually created this combination some years ago and I’ve been consuming it roughly once a week in the form of a morning meal known as breakfast.  I eat an omlette, sprinkle on some black pepper, splash on some hot sauce, and drink two cups of coffee.  Too bad I didn’t patent the whole process. )

The article is fairly brief and doesn’t give much information but I can forsee this new weight loss pill flying off the shelves into the hands of people who desperately want to lose weight but who refuse to take on the tried-and-true guaranteed methods to healthy weight loss–that is eating right most of the time and working hard often.  I’ll post more information on this type of snake oil.

News on Barefoot Running: Part III

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To this point we’ve looked a couple of aspects of the human foot and running.  In Part I we looked at research showing the unshod or minimally shod foot worked quite well at running for the vast majority of human history.  In Part II we looked at the following: 1) research linking knee osteoarthritis to high loading forces on the knees, 2) higher loading forces were associated with stability shoes, and 3) lower loading forces were associated with shoes such as flip-flops that allow a more natural foot movement.  Thus we can conclude that in order to avoid ailments such as knee osteoarthritis (and I might guess the same for hip, ankle, and low back arthritis) we should do whatever we can to allow our feet to move unencumbered.

[Researchers] concluded that running shoes exerted more stress on these joints compared to running barefoot or walking in high-heeled shoes.

So here are the lastest findings on this issue.  Running Shoes May Cause Damage to Hips, Knees and Ankles, New Study Suggests details the findings of a study published in the December 2009 PM & R, the journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.  (Here’s the abstract, and the full text.)  Researchers studied 68 healthy adult runners as they ran on a treadmill both in modern running shoes and while barefoot.  Significantly higher torque forces were observed in the subjects when they were in running shoes.  The study reports “An average 54% increase in the hip internal rotation torque, a 36% increase in knee flexion torque, and a 38% increase in knee varus (inward) torque were measured when running in running shoes compared with barefoot.”

Those are significant forces!  And why do most people wear running shoes?  To protect the feet, provide stability, to be comfortable…  Very interesting that these shoes actually increase the forces which we’re looking to minimize.  In closing, the researchers say,

“Reducing joint torques with footwear completely to that of barefoot running, while providing meaningful footwear functions, especially compliance, should be the goal of new footwear designs.”

So with that statement in mind, I’ve recently purchased a pair of Vibram 5-Fingers model KSO.  I’ve worn them the past couple of days at work and they’re quite interesting.  I plan on wearing them exclusively when I weight train, and I plan on running in them fairly soon.  (There’s a little too much snow on the ground here in Denver right now.)  I’ll probably try some running on the grass first and then try short runs on pavement.  We’ll see what happens…

News on Barefoot Running: Part II

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Previously I discussed how wearing shoes alters the human running stride.  For millennia, our feet functioned well enough to get us to the 1970s when we put them into running shoes.  The result seems to be our adopting a running stride (heel strike) that may be more stressful and injurious than an unshod stride (forefoot strike).  I want to continue the discussion by looking at a few more studies of our feet and the effect of shoes.

The original ATV...

I’ll go back to a Science Daily article from November of 2007 called Your Knees Want to Take you Shoe Shopping.  The research was originally presented in 2007 at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting.  Researchers analyzed the effects of various footwear on patients with knee osteoarthritis.  Specifically, they looked at loading of the knees.

The first point the researchers make is this:

“In knee osteoarthritis, there is abundant evidence that patients with abnormally high loading knees (high amounts of stress on part or all of the knee joint) are at increased risk of both injury and disease progression.”

Now, the important research findings were these:

“Researchers found that clogs and stability shoes were associated with significantly higher loading of the knees, while the walking shoes and flip-flops resulted in lower knee loads similar to those occurring when walking barefoot. Therefore, shoes that allowed natural foot motion and flexibility appeared to be more beneficial in terms of knee loading.”

That final statement goes to the point that a natural stride, unaffected by modern high-tech footwear seems to be more healthy for us.  Here’s more supporting information.  Footwear Alters Normal Form and Function of the Foot is a 2009 Science Daily article that profiles a study on barefoot walking.  Specifically the researchers studied people who’d never worn shoes.  The researchers wanted to observe the biologically normal function of the foot which had evolved for millions of years without the influence of shoes.  They indeed saw habitually unshod feet moved performed differently from shod feet.  The article notes:

“Barefooters have a relatively wide forefoot and manage at better distributing pressures over the entire surface of the foot sole, resulting in lower (and most likely favourable) peak pressures. As such, the fundamental scientific results are also important for clinicians and for the design of quality footwear, which should not hamper the foot’s biologically normal function.”

In Part III of this series I’ll discuss new research that demonstrates running shoes actually contribute to greater stress at the ankles, knees and hips.

News on Barefoot Running: Part I

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The cutting edge of running technology!

First of all, a disclaimer: I am NOT telling everyone to throw out their running shoes/inserts/orthotics and go barefoot to run all the time forever.  If you’re having success then keep doing what you’re doing.  I do however suggest reconsidering what you think you know about the human foot and the shoes we put on them.  If you’re in pain then you MIGHT consider changing from a highly structured foot environment to something less structured.  Alright, on to the important stuff.

The case against running shoes (or maybe FOR going barefoot from time to time) seems to be mounting. What we’ve got here is more evidence that for running, the human foot all by itself is likely the most highly advanced instrument for the job.

I’ve posted previously on the issue of running and human evolution, and the issue of running shoes vs. barefoot running.  Research continues on the issue.  An article in Science Daily titled Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes tells us of research on three groups of people: those who had always run barefoot, those who had always worn shoes, and those who had converted to barefoot running from shod running.  (This analysis of different types of runners is one strong point of the study.) Runners in Kenya and the U.S. were subjects.  The project was a joint effort between Harvard, University of Glasgow, and Moi University.  The full article can be accessed for a fee in the journal Nature.

The researchers observed very different patterns during barefoot running vs. shod running.  Barefoot runners land on the mid-foot or the forefoot whereas running in shoes tends to promote a heel strike.  Barefoot running results in a more spring-like step by utilizing the arch of the foot rather than driving the heel into the ground.

“Our feet were made in part for running,” Daniel Lieberman (researcher) says. But as he and his co-authors write in Nature: “Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning.“

The researchers suggest than in fact barefoot running may be less injurious than running in modern running shoes.  They caution that running barefoot or in minimal footwear must be a gradual process if one has been running in shoes for a long time.  Lieberman delves further into the biomechanics of barefoot running on his web page called (surprise!) Barefoot Running.  I haven’t read this site yet but I’m planning on digging into it ASAP.  Looks very interesting.

From what I’ve learned as a personal trainer I recognize the immense importance of properly functioning feet.  If you take a look at your feet and how much movement is available to those things you may be surprised.  There’s a lot of potential movement there!  Proper foot movement brings on proper knee movement which brings on proper hip movement which makes the trunk and the shoulders move properly.  Liberman observes that humans have been using their feet for far longer than the modern running shoe has been around.  In our modern age we’ve decided that much like our food, we’re going to out think nature and “improve” on something that’s worked well for a very long time.  But what happens when we put our feet in running shoes?  We start to take away movement.  We put a big piece of foam between us and the ground so that we desensitize our feet.  (Compare this to going to a movie in sunglasses or listening to music with earplugs in.)  In other words, we seriously alter something that’s been working pretty well for thousands of years.  This alteration in function is made even more dramatic if we use orthotics.  So it seems entirely likely to me that many cases of knee pain, hip pain, even shoulder and neck pain may well be rooted in what we’ve done to our feet.  At the very least, I think it’s worth examining the issue.  I’ll discuss more on the issues around barefoot vs. shod running in upcoming posts.

Z-Health for Toe Pain

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This will be brief.  I’m enormously excited over the results I’ve been getting from my Z-Health work.  My back pain, Achilles pain and shoulder pain have all improved quite dramatically over the past few weeks.  (I also added 70 lbs. to my deadlift in one fell swoop!)  Yesterday it was my wife’s chance to be surprised by Z-Health.

My wife is a triathlete who’s had intermittent big toe pain in her left foot over the past several months.  It comes and goes and it never had a clear-cut cause.  Yesterday, after visiting with Jason Wood in Lakewood, CO I went home and had my wife go through some Z-Health R-Phase drills.  One of the Z-Health concepts deals with opposing joints.  That means since my wife’s toe pain was in her left foot, I had her go through drills with her right hand and thumb.    The result?  No toe pain whatsoever!  As she gaped in bewilderment, she drove her foot into the ground and wiggled her foot all over and she could not replicate the pain.  The toe pain returned this morning during a dog walk, she went through the drills again for a few moments and again the pain was gone.  (As an aside, the toe pain comes on most notably in a pair of hiking boots.  Perhaps the shoe is interfering with the natural function of her foot, as I’ve discussed here.)  Pretty cool stuff this Z-Health.

I’ll be taking the R-Phase certification in March and April of this year and I’m extremely excited.  I’ve just barely begun to scratch the surface with this exercise protocol and I expect to see more and more dramatic results.  If you’re a fellow personal trainer, a chiropractor, physical therapist or anyone else involved in the health & fitness  business, I highly suggest you look into Z-Health for everything from injury treatment to increasing sports performance.  If you’re an athlete or just an everyday fitness fan who’s either in pain or not performing as well as you’d like, you would do well to seek out a Z-Health trainer for help and advice.

Recovery & Restoration Methods for Endurance Athletes Part III: Caffeine

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“We’ve shown that caffeine reduces pain reliably, consistently during cycling, across different intensities, across different people, different characteristics.”

To this point I’ve discussed nutritional strategies and cold water immersion as recovery methods for endurance athletes.  Now, the quest to relieve sore muscles, malaise and fatigue continues with a look at caffeine.  While caffeine could’ve been discussed as part of nutrition, its role is quite different from the role that food plays.

Science Daily does it for us again.  Two articles profile caffeiene’s benefits.  The first, Caffeine Cuts Post-Workout Pain by 50 Percent, Study Finds, discusses caffeine’s post-workout role.

The article profiles a study from the University of Georgia where caffeine’s effects were studied in nine female college students.  The subjects engaged in a workout that induced mild post-workout soreness.  One and two days later they performed one of two different thigh exercises with some subject having taken caffeine and others taking a placebo.  One caffeine-consuming group reported a 48 % reduction in pain compared to the placebo group.  The other group experienced a 26% reduction in pain compared to placebo.

The authors concede several weaknesses in the study.  First, there was a small sample size.  Second, the subjects were all female.  Finally, they were not regular consumers of caffeine.  So we don’t know if the effect will be seen in the public at large, among men and/or among people who regularly ingest caffeine.  That said, the findings may be of interest to endurance athletes looking to recover from strenuous workouts.

Move over Gatorade...

Move over Gatorade...

The second article, Caffiene Reduces Pain During Exercise, Study Shows looks at caffeine as a pain reducer when taken pre-workout.  This study was performed by former competitive cyclist and University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Robert Motl.  He and his friends had long consumed caffeine prior to tough rides.  He eventually decided to study the substance.

Motl wanted to examine the effects of caffeine on muscle pain during high-intensity exercise as a function of habitual caffeine use.  He examined two groups: one made up of habitual caffeine users, the other made up of non-caffeine users.  He found both groups had similar reductions in muscle pain during exercise after caffeine consumption.

Motl says, “We’ve shown that caffeine reduces pain reliably, consistently during cycling, across different intensities, across different people, different characteristics.”

So what are the practical implications?  Motl explains that caffeine and its pain-reducing effects should help you push harder and thus go faster and/or longer during your workout or race.  Or perhaps you could do your same workout but more comfortably.

Lots of Stuff to Read: Sports drinks with protein, Negative phys. ed teachers, Running shoes and knee damage, Why crunches don’t work, Science of weight loss

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Wow!  There’s a lot of good reading out there on the health & fitness front.  I can’t comment on all of it but I’ll refer you to several articles that may pique your interest.  I’ll get back to recovery strategies for endurance athletes later.

Recovery & Restoration Methods for Endurance Athletes Part II: Cold Water Immersion

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Time to relax!

Time to relax!

Post-workout nutrition was the focus of the last post.  Adequate intake of water, protein and simple carbohydrates is vital for repairing the body and preparing for subsequent endurance workouts.  We can add to the recovery strategy the use of cold water immersion.

“Cold water immersion resulted in significantly lower muscle soreness ratings; reduced inflammatory response and consequent muscle damage; and better repeat sprint ability and leg strength,” Jeremy Ingram, physiotherapist, in the J Sci Med Sport. 2009 May;12(3):417-21.

Injury treatment has long featured the application of ice to strains, sprains, bruises and other injuries where swelling is present.  Strenuous or long bouts of exercise can damage muscle cells thus resulting in conditions similar to injury such as low-grade swelling, pain, and nervous system disruption.  Studies by the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, the European Journal of Applied Physiology, the Journal of Sports Sciences,  show cold water bathing was well as hot/cold contrast bathing reduces these symptoms and helps speed recovery.

Protocols for cold water immersion and hot/cold contrast bathing are discussed here and here.  (The idea behind the contrast method is to create a pumping action in the capillaries to speed blood flow and thus increase the recovery process) Peak Performance Online offers this free download titled How to ensure a speedy recovery from exercise.  (Peak Performance Online features many free downloads on a wide variety of sporting topics.  Definitely pay them a visit if you want to read a lot more.)

The basic protocols for cold water and hot/cold contrast recovery vary but are fairly similar.  Here are two examples:

Cold Water Immersion
If you are going to try cool or cold water immersion after exercise, don’t overdo it. Ten minutes immersed in 50-60 degree Farenheit water should be enough time to get the benefit and avoid the risks. Because cold can make muscles tense and stiff, it’s a good idea to fully warm up about 30 to 60 minutes later with a warm shower or a hot drink.

Contrast Water Therapy (Hot-Cold Bath)
If you prefer alternating hot and cold baths, the most common method includes one minute in a cold tub (50-60 degrees Farenheit) and two minutes a hot tub (about 99-104 degrees Farenheit), repeated about three times.

My own cold-water recovery has employed two simple methods.  First, when I lived in Virginia I had access to a swimming pool in the summer.  Following a ride or run in the hot weather, I got in the pool, preferably in a shady area, and relaxed.  This past summer in Colorado, I filled my bathtub with cold water so that my legs were covered and I dumped in a small amount of ice.  It was cold but not painfully so.  I sat and drank Recoverite and an energy drink with caffeine.  I found the results very beneficial.

Speaking of caffeine, I’ll discuss that in Part III.

Recovery & Restoration Methods for Endurance Athletes Part I: Nutrition

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An acquaintance who’s a competitive road cyclist asked about protein consumption, particularly post-ride.  He got me thinking on a variety of issues regarding the topic of recovery and restoration for endurance athletes.  I’ll start with post-workout nutrition

There are several goals here.  The first task is to rehydrate.   No matter how much you drink during a long ride or run you’re going to be dehydrated.  It’s normal and not dangerous despite widespread belief to the contrary.  Rehydration is very simple despite the many complicated formulas you may have read or heard about.  Drink if you’re thirsty and stop when your thirst is quinched.  Beyond that, check your urine color.  It should be clear or very pale yellow.  Dark yellow means you need to drink more.  So what should you drink?

Wait 'til you're off the bike to make this.

Wait 'til you're off the bike to make this.

Water is a good start, but we also need to replenish muscle glycogen and slow the breakdown of muscle protein due to the stress of a long workout.  Therefore a blend of simple carbohydrate (as opposed to complex carbs) and protein is ideal.  On this topic, the following is from an article by Bob Seebohar written for PT on the Net:

“Recent research has proven that consuming protein with a carbohydrate source versus a carbohydrate alone during recovery is beneficial. In fact, one study showed that the addition of protein to carbohydrate post-training led to a more rapid replenishment of glycogen and was slightly higher in glycogen restoration at four hours post training than just carbohydrate alone. Several other research studies found a reduction of total free radical buildup (by 69 percent), increased insulin levels (by 70 percent), decreased post-exercise muscle damage (by 36 percent) and increased muscle glycogen levels (2.2 fold). There is no doubt that the addition of protein to recovery nutrition is important and useful for endurance athletes. These studies used a ratio of 4:1 carbohydrate to protein intake, and while this ratio is not accepted by all scientists, the data from the studies act as a springboard for future studies that will explore and find the optimum ratio of carbohydrates to protein.

Current recommendations to enhance glycogen resynthesis post-training include eating 50 to 100 grams of rapidly absorbed carbohydrate and 10 to 20 grams of protein within the first 15 minutes after the completion of exercise. Continue this every two hours until the next complete meal.”

Based on this information, what might you post-ride/run/swim meal look like?  Plain old chocolate milk can be a very good start.  Chocolate milk has a nice blend of simple sugar, protein, and other nutrients that are good for us.  Plus it tastes good so it’s easy to drink.  It’s also quite a bit cheaper than many of the commercial athletic drinks.  You could also blend a smoothie with milk, ice, fruit, and perhaps some protein powder.  (There are all sorts of protein powders out there: whey, casein, egg, soy to name a few.  I’ll skip the science and tell you that directly after a hard workout, whey protein is the best choice.)

Regarding daily intake for a hard-exercising endurance athlete, the common recommendation is about 1.5 grams per kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of body weight.  Here’s how to determine your intake: (Your weight/2.2) x 1.5 = your daily recommended protein intake.

From my own personal experience, I can say that I have a very favorable opinion of Hammer nutrition products, especially something called Recoverite.  I first used Recoverite last year when I was training for the Bicycle Tour of Colorado.  I did a 90-something mile ride that started into an ugly headwind and took me through a decent portion of Colorado’s Front Range including climbs up High Grade and Shadow Mountain.  I got home and I was incredibly fatigued–tired to the bone on an epic scale.  I imagined I’d be sore, tight and tired for at least one if not two days.  To recover, I sat in cold water, drank Recoverite (which contains whey protein and amino acids which are building blocks of protein) and then drank an energy drink containing caffeine.  The next, much to my surprise, I felt amazing!  I wasn’t the least bit sore or lethargic.  In fact, I went on a short run.

But what was the magic ingredient?  The protein drink, the cold water, or the caffeine?  Hard to say but so what?  Something in that mix worked very well for me.  I’ll discuss cold water immersion and caffeine plus other aspects of recovery in subsequent posts.

Finally, for a very thorough analysis of not only post-workout nutrition but all aspects of nutrient timing, the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition offers this position statement.  This covers all athletes, not just endurance athletes.