If Breathing is so Easy, Then Why Can't You Do It Properly?

You might recall the "Stress = Pain = Stress" blog series from the middle of the year, a 10 part-er looking how stress, pain and breathing all relate to each other.

In a nutshell here's how it works:

1 - Our working/busy culture of today pushes out bodies and minds to the limits

2 - Over time all these what seem like small stress events accumulate fatigue and the body needs to down regulate energy expenditure as it's in a state of threat. Think buying up cans of food in the event of Armageddon. This down regulation of energy expenditure mostly presents itself in 2 ways.

3 - The brain perceives your current fatigued position as a threat and needs to decrease energy output so it decreases ranges of motion at the hips and shoulders as a decrease in range of motion means less calorie expenditure.

4 - The brain also moves to a sympathetic (fight) state which alters your breathing patterns. Instead of inhaling and exhaling full breathes through the diaphragm like you do in a parasympathetic (rest) state, you shift to taking shorter, harder breathes through your neck, shoulders and back.

5 - The vital part here is that diaphragmatic breathes circulates great volumes of oxygen all throughout the body where shoulder/neck breathing barely circulates any of that breathe at all, let alone oxygen. You're basically taking a small amount of air in and and pushing that same air back out again, taking no oxygen in whatsoever.

6 - When you're body tips "over the edge", those the niggling little aches and pains you normally don't feel, come with a rush and you are at a greater risk of injury as the body's defense system is "down". That nagging knee and back pain you have for no reason? That's not an injury, it;s a stress response for the body to slow you down and as above, decrease energy expenditure.

During the week I has a young lady come in for her first Be Activated treatment with me. She'd had a small taste from a friend before but never the full treatment.

The full treatment takes about 40mins and various activation points, in sequence, all over the body.

The aim of the treatment is make the body initiate everything, breathing and movement specifically from the inside out, not the outside in.

First up we activate zone 1 which is the diaphragm, psoas and glutes - the 3 most important muscles of the body.

When you are ins sympathetic state, these muscles can shut down and then other muscles take over - muscles not equipped to do their job and that is what leads to overuse and breakdown of muscles and joints.

So 5mins into the session this is what her breathing stated at and shifted to:


Notice how the diaphragm/belly area uses the muscle to release to increase her inhalation - she has pretty much tripled her oxygen intake in 5mins!

I also came across this image today also showing the importance of breathing;

And the link between cancer and lack of oxygen have been around for 80 years.

If you want to improve your breathing then a Be Activated treatment is just what you need so contact me to make a booking.

YOU AND POOH

You and I, we're about to take this relationship to a whole new level right now.

The subject: Pooh, and how relates to your eating and lifestyle choices.

This is an article that appeared on the Precision Nutrition FB  page last week, a page that I have referred to before bit instead of nutritional and stress relieving information, we're getting real personal today.

It's a decent read but here are the high, or low lights, depending how you look at it.

- Bowel movements can signal what you;re doing great or suggest health challenges before symptoms arise.

- You're after "good looking" pooh, whatever that means

- pooh quality can provide information on your core muscles, your gastrointestinal system, your fiber intake, your hormones, your stress levels, your intestinal health, hydration levels, food intolerance's, your activity levels and general health issues that stand between you looking good or looking bloated.

 -   Step 1 is to actually look at your pooh then identify it in this chart:


                                  

- Your shooting for a pooh in the 3 - 5 range with 4 being the optimal pooh - good times.

- You should be having a sit down 1 to 3 times per day

- They should be quick and painless with no straining required

- It should be brown but coloring can change if you've eaten certain foods (red for beets, green for leafy greens etc)

- It should stink but not to extreme levels

- If it sinks then your diet is high in fiber and if it floats it's high in fat - that's interesting.

- Look for long term trends and don't be afraid to have a pooh diary.

- There's been a fair push for gut health in recent times and for good reason because nutrient absorption is vital.

 - Gut dysfunction can can be causes by things such as nutrient deficiencies, autonomic nervous system problems, immune problems, hormone imbalances, blood sugar irregularities, irregular sleep, medications, aging and chronic diseases.

- Because of how hour gastrointestinal brain works, we don't feel pain when things are wrong in our gut

- The gut bone is connected to the brain bone which controls your autonomic nervous system, which controls every voluntary and involuntary function of the body and the state of your GI tract can affect message signalling from gut to brain which can bring on brain fog, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, ADD and ADHD.

- Physically you might have issues with weight management, asthma/allergies, autoimmune disorders, skin conditions, arthritis/joint inflammation, heart disease, narcolepsy/sleep disorders, migraines and kidney problems.

- Fix this by opting for minimally processed foods like fruit, veggies and fresh meat and taking your time with your eating.

- Bacteria in the gut (or gut flora), helps digestion and absorption by breaking down carbs and helping to create digestive enzymes but problem pooh can let you know that your bacteria levels are low which can be brought on by travel, a change in diet and antibiotics.

- Gut flora protects the body from pathogens, boosts immunity and makes certain vitamins

- Struggling gut flora = struggling gut function

- To build a lot of gut critters get into beans/legumes, fruits, whole grains, starchy veg ans also consider foods that contain probiotics (good bacteria) such as yoghurt, mold-enhanced cheese (what the?), fermented products and again minimally processed food options and don't be afraid to try fruit from straight off the tree.

- Avoid overusing antibiotics which kill all the bacteria in your system, not just the bad stuff.

- Your pooh is a reflection of what you eat and from the chart above pooh's 1 and 2 indicate constipation so you'll need more fiber.

- Everyone reacts to foods differently but the main offenders for food intolerance's are lectins (seeds, grains, legumes, nuts), gluten (grains), casein, lactose, immunoglobins (dairy) and fructose (fruit sugars) and other sugars and starches

- Must I mention processed foods again?

- Keep a diary for a week or two and rate how you react to certain foods, good and bad.

- If your pooh is small and hard then you might assume that you need more fiber but it may actually mean you're dehydrated as water is used to move waste through your gut and if there isn't enough water to do so then the body will draw it from somewhere else and now you have 2 issues such as cramping or dry mouth.

- Keep track of your fluid intake and have a look at water vs sugar/caffeine/alcohol intake.

- Your GI tract is connected to your central nervous system and allows your gut and upstairs brain to talk to each other. When you're stressed your brain and gut know this and to conserve energy in times of high stress, they slow down digestion so you might find yourself suffering from constipation, bloating and indigestion. When stress gets really high then you meet a dodgy dude called Gary. Gary Gastro.

- If you're a regular of this blog then you'll know I've blabbered on about decreasing stress forever so look back through the archives and check out to combat it but anything that results in you feeling relaxed during or after it is what you;re after, and do them regularly.

- Too much or not enough movement have negative affects on your pooh where doing nothing can cause constipation and doing too much can put you in that high stress area we mentioned above

- So in the and you want to look at your pooh everyday for the next week while also increasing your water intake and nothing else and document any changes - there's nothing like a good old fashioned pooh study is there?

You can read the full article here.

5 Overrated Training Methods (Article)

The author of this article is Nick Tumminello who is a "trainers trainer" of sorts as far as education is concerned.

Here he looks 5 training methods and how you probably shouldn't be all too  consumed and gung-ho with them (Paleo Crossfit with Chia anyone?)

I'll break this down Young MC style for y'all:

POSTURAL ASSESSMENTS

 - The curvature of your spine, whether it be extreme or near non existent is not associated with health and spinal pain (everyone has their "own' neutral spine)
 - Rounded/forward shoulders can be present with and without pain although greater range if motion is often obtained with a more erect posture
 - Rounded/forward shoulders may not be a key contributor to shoulder pain
 - A 1997 study found that not even 1 of the 427 people examined presented with the text book perfect head resting position proving there is no such thing as perfect posture and it is specific to each one of us
 - There is nothing to support exercise will lead to changes in posture as they are of insufficient volume and frequency to offset daily living activities

MOVEMENT SCREENS

 - Any scoring system has limited ability to predict injury and increased scores often do nothing to improve performance
 - Those with a current or recent injury, a known risk factor for future problems will tend to score lower which is obvious and just identities a risk factor we already knew about
 - Movement screens that only consist of low demand activities may not adequately reflect an individuals capacity, or their risk of injury for movements that occur with higher loads and speeds

CORRECTIVE EXERCISE

 - Every exercise when executed with constant guidance and feedback is "corrective"
 - Language is important here as a client being prescribed "correctives" will stay in a mindset of "being corrected" which is followed by over protection and low movement variation (staying in the safe zone)

CORE STRENGTH TRAINING

 - Core muscle strength plays only a minor role for physical fitness and athletic performance in trained individuals when compared with no or only regular training
 - This doesn't mean to not bother with training your core muscles but you probably don't need 3 hours of Pilates a week doing so
 - For the lifting crowd, Squats and deadlifts don't activate the anterior core muscles all that well so you do need to add some more specific exercises into your program to train them.

CORE STABILITY TRAINING

 - A study compared general exercise treatment versus general exercise treatment plus spinal stabilisation exercises and found that the general exercise treatment reduced disability in the short term (immediately after treatment) to a greater extent than the stabilisation enhanced treatment.
 - There was no difference in long term  follow ups either
 - Motor control exercises and general exercise appear equally as effective at treating low back pain and movement control impairment with disability being reduced considerably by both interventions.\
 - The type of treatment is not of great importance compared to being guided through a long term exercise lifestyle

In the past I've followed each of these methods blindly thinking it was the holy grail of personal training but over time I've learnt to use them for what they are, and stop using some of them all together.

You can read the full article here.

TED Talk on Getting a Good Night's Sleep

For the life of me I cannot work out why people would rather about think about things that can't be altered at 2am rather then sleep.

Regardless of what's gone on with my day, and some are very hectic with a disabled wife, a near 6 year old and small business, I can always sleep through the night.

There are times that I might not have "turned off" like I usually do and take longer then usual to get to sleep but once I;m out then it's lights out - literally!

I've posted about sleep before and here's another sleep related blog based off a TED talk by a neuroscientist

Jeff Lliff.

Here are my takeaways:

• The brain's intense electrical activity uses up a quarter of the body's entire energy supply 
• The first problem we need to solve is nutrient and oxygen delivery which the circulatory system does through blood vessels to every corner of our body
• Just as every cell requires nutrients to fuel it, every cell produces waste and that is the second problem that needs solving
• The lymphatic system has evolved to fill this need where it takes up proteins and other waste, collects them and dumps them into the blood so they can be disposed of
• The weird part is that the brain doesn't contain any lymphatic vessels at all so the approach the body takes to waste disposal won't work in the brain
• The brain has a large pool of clean, clear fluid called carebrospianl fluid (CSF) that fills the space that surrounds the brain and waste from the brain make their way out to the CSF which gets dumped into your blood, similar to lymphatic drainage
• There is a specialised network of plumbing that organises an facilitates this process
• What they found was that the CSF outside of the brain didn't stay there but was actually pumped back into the brain along the OUTSIDE of the blood vessels and flushed into the brain helping to clear away and clean the waste from spaces between the brain's cells.
• The brain is already jam packed and has no room for a second set of cells like the lymphatic system but the blood vessels extend from the surface of the brain right down to every single cell in the brain and the fluid travelling along the blood vessels can gain easy access to the entire volume of the brain, essentially repurposing the same set of vessels to perform a lymphatic response
• This entire system is unique to the brain
• The BBIIIGGG thing here is that this only occurs when the brain is sleeping where the brain cells seem to shrink which opens up space between them allowing CSF to rush through and clear allowing waste to be cleared out
• When the brain is awake it puts off clearing away waste and waits for a time sleep as it's busy enough when you're awake
• Getting specific about waste, there is a waste type called amyloid-beta which is a protein that's made in the brain all the time (you're making it right now) which in Alzeimer's sufferers builds up and fills the space between the brain cells and limits the clearage taking place later

Another notch in sleep belt!

You can watch the full 11min TED talk, which has some videos to help explain it better, here.

REDUCE ANXIETY BY 65% WITH 1 SONG

Back in June of this year I posted about a musical event that was broadcasted on ABC Classic 2 simply titled "Sleep" - an 8hr musical piece designed specifically to put you to sleep.

This week I came across an article where neuroscience says that listening to this one song can reduce anxiety by up to 65%!

The highlights of the article were:

- Scientists have actually found the 10 most relaxing songs on earth - big call but let's go with it!

- A study was conducted  where participants needed to solve difficult puzzles as quickly as possible but the puzzles were deliberately made to cause great stress

- They measured brain activity and physiological states such as heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate

- The song "Weightless: by Marconi Union was the song referred to in the title.

- The song was actually made in collaboration with sound therapists

- A recent paper out of Harvard and Stanford found that health issues from job stress alone causes more deaths than Diabetes, Alzeihmer's or Influenza!

- Many participants became drowsy listening to 'Weightless" so don't pop on while driving

- The article lists the top 10 relaxing songs and the author also put together their own Spotify playlist of these songs that runs for about 50mins which is downloadable.

So if you head out for lunch in the park or walk home from work then give this playlist a go and see how you feel in the hours after it.

The full article can be found here.

How You Improve Yourself at FCF

I have a whole programming set up that I use with beginner clients.

Along with your goals there are certain levels I need you to reach to be able to do that.

If you come in from lying on the couch for 3 months then you can't really expect to be able to do a 60min session at 100% straight up...or ever really.

Most people have the same issues.

Fitness-wise they're on either side of the scale and pretty much fit into 2 categories.

On one side of the fence we have the interval group who have done a lot of short and hard interval work so their strong suit is being able to go hard for long periods of time and grind out more work when the going gets tough. Unfortunately they can't repeat this workload and each successive interval becomes less and less effective as the workout goes on.

On the other side of the fence we have the low intensity long duration group who can perform for a long time but a steady pace but they start to find the going tough when they need to even step it up a little bit.

Movement-wise everyone needs to learn to how to load their hips when bending rather then their knees, we need to learn how to use our back muscles and we also need to enter ranges of motion that we don't enter during everyday life.

With these common problems I have been able to develop a base session that I use for all clients upon their first session in the studio.

The session has 2 purposes:

#1 - My Assessment of the Client

#2 - Provide a Training Effect for the Client

Here's what it looks like.

Exercise Bike x 3 - 5mins

After being taught the ins and outs of diaphragmatic breathing then once you have the gist of it, do 10 - 20 breathes then in the same position move into some alternating heel drops, glute bridge isometric holds.

These first 3 movements are all leading into the final part of the movement prep portion of the session where we roll over onto our elbows and feet and perform breathing planks.

After a little drink it's onto the treadmill where you do a 2min run starting at the base speed of 8.0.

After another sip and after getting your breathe back a little we move into our first pairing.

We start back off with the glute bridges from earlier which leads into deadlifts. I have about 12 - 15 deadlift variations I use but we start with 1 dumbbell deadlifts from the an elevated surface which in our case is an aerobic step for 3 pairings.

Next up is a squat paired with the heel drops from earlier x 3 pairs.

Lastly we finish up with a threesome single leg exercise which on session 1 will be either step ups or split squats, cable rows and the breathing planks from earlier as well x 3 pairings.

Depending how fast you make it through the base workout section then we might use an extra pairing of push ups and pallof presses.

Lastly, we finish off with a 2 minute distance trial on the cross trainer starting at level 6.

By now most people have had enough and we finish up.

I have used this session for years now and it's pretty much perfect for a first session in my opinion.

You will have completed everything I asked of you during the session leaving and I feeling great about the initial session. You don't throw up and my carpet stays crystal clean.

Most of the exercises you probably haven't done a lot of or not the way I teach them so we'll be hitting different muscles or the same muscles differently (that made sense didn't it?). New stuff take more energy learn then to repeat stuff you already know.

Anything you do at this point will probably make you sore so I don't need you to end up in a position where you can't sit on the toilet tomorrow morning and barely make it through work. You'll get some soreness but I don't need to break you first up...or ever really (seems I'm on repeat).

Each exercise has it's own progression which again I all have upstairs so I can run these initial sessions quite easily in a group setting.

Instead of a 4 week program I have a "rolling" program as I've coined it.

Once you perform this session then you'll never do it again - every exercise will change somehow next session and the next session until eternity. At various points new exercises come in to replace others that builds on the level of difficulty of the previous variation. Some exercises will last 3 weeks, some 4 weeks and some 12 weeks depending on your limits.

My exercise progressions, depending on the actual exercise, is varied.

Some increase by 1 or 2 reps per session, some increase load each session for the same number of reps, some increase in duration per set and some increase in density per set.

For example for the cross trainer at the end you start at level 6 and let's say you reach .25 on the distance dial. Next session you repeat level 6 with the aim to beat 25 in the same 2min time span.

You beat that cos your a stud so next session we move up to level 7 with the aim again being to beat your 2min distance at level 6.

So if you beat it you've achieved 2 goals:

#1 - More Distance in the Same Time (Increased Density)

#2 - You Did That a Higher Level of Intensity

Most people will go all the way through to level 16 (the top of the mountain) and end up in the 50's, essentially doubling your distance in 2mins at twice the resistance from your very first night.

Yesterday I saw a Facebook post by some chick who used to be fit as a fiddle and looked every bit like it but over time and kids (they wreck everything god love'em), she now has a bit of cellulite were she never had it before but she is still very proud of how she can still do the things she used to be able to do such as hang off a stripper by 1 leg, even though she''s doesn't look as good.

Most people have an aesthetic goal which is fine but please understand, if you can only train for 20mins at a decent pace from poor fitness, or the exercise you can use is limited by a poor quality of movement, then you might need to train to be able to train.

That is no big deal either because as you an see above, you will be increasing your training and workload output each and every session so if you're diet is on point, your body will change regardless and once you reach the point where you can "train" then you can make huge strides quite dramatically.

WHAT A PT SESSION AT FCF LOOKS LIKE

A lot of the clients say that the toughest part is the stairs on the way in. There's only about 20 of them but it's a great accidental teaser for what's about to come!

You walk in and I'm there, writing away on my white board the workouts for each client that will be through tonight which is usually 3 - 6/evening.

As you can see I have my own language when I write these things up with all my abbreviations and shorthand but hey, time is money!

I don't really have hour blocks anymore but more so "I'll be there between 6 - 8pm and you get there when you can" type of thing. Depending on how tired you are you simply have to complete your program for the day which may take 45 - 50mins if you feel great or 60 - 70mins if you stayed up til 1am finishing that presentation for this morning - it doesn't matter.

So after you've transformed in the change rooms or popped your bag in the storage unit then it's onto the bike for 3 - 5mins of rolling the legs over to get the kegs moving a little and have a little chat about what's gone on with your day.

Included in that chat will definitely be the subject of the 6 - 7pm Vault on Gold 104FM which is hopefully in the golden age of music which we all know was 1986 - 1996.

After the bike you'll head down to the mat where you'll start with some diaphragmatic breathing to simply relax the body after a stressful day at work. The body doesn't work as well under stress then it does when it;s relaxed as stress is associated with tightening muscles and restricted range of motion - not exactly what we're after when we want to get active.

If you desire you can jump into some tennis ball and foam rolling work as well.

After the breathing there's generally a little prep circuit of core stability and glute activation work.

OK, now it's into the nuts and bolts and first up...the worst part.

To get it out of the way early we do a 60 - 120sec test on the cross trainer for distance. Starting at the base level you increase a level once you better your previous distance score. It's not unusual for a complete beginner get low 20's at level 6 then top out in the 50's at level 16 after a full run through.

Yep, results can be that good over time with consistency.

After a defibrillator it's all down hill from here I guess which is easy for me to say s I'm just watching you do stuff but anyway...

To make it easy to get around to everyone during the session I usually set circuits up in 3's which gives me enough time set everything up on the go but I can also see every exercise performed and correct what is needed.

Now I have a near 6 year old...boy...who won't sit still...and likes to talk about pooh all the time (of course) so all my yelling is reserved for him so the only increased volume you'll hear from me is some vocals along to the classic tune from 1991 in the background.

Anti Commando!

We'll roll through 2 - 3 these of circuits at a steady but doable pace. Like I said, if you're already tired then me making you more tired just to make me feel good about my personal training skills is what crappy trainers do.

I want you to complete what's on the board and that's it, no more and no less. Everything on the board is doable for you on that day. You've worked up to it in your previous sessions. Your technique is good. You're strong enough to do it as you lifted 2.5kgs less just last week, with ease. 

Everything is planned through specific progressions. I'm not a Youtube trainer - the dude that watched some wiz-bang exercise on Youtube then has all his clients try it the next day. The Grandma, the Mother of 4, the Executive, the Gardener even the homeless bloke he usually ignores.

At the end we will usually finish with a little treadmill as everyone hates running (don't they?) 

As you run along you can see the coming s of the Coles Express across the road, watching the line up of cars and thinking you should but a petrol station!

Well from what I've researched they only make on the food and drink and bugger all on the petrol so it might be as great in reality as it seems.  

After that you get to do a little stretch if you like and have a little lie down along a long foam roller which feels great and that's about it - but it feels great and relaxing.

I'll even ask what you you're having for dinner at this point cos I'ma great bloke.

You'll exchange your goodbyes with the other clients who you've had a joke or 2 with in the last hour, we'll confirm your next booking and off you go - all super and stuff.

And thata...is howa...itsa donea!!

Don't forget our 4 Week Summer Shape Up Program which starts on Nov the 5th, purposefully after the Spring Carnival so you can focus your efforts on this and this only! Pay up by Oct 25th for cheapo rate, do the program, look and feel great! (That was lame...)