Got Knee Pain?

A recent study at the Mayo clinic looked at some interesting insights to knee Osteoarthritis.  As most of our clientele averages around the age of 50 we meet plenty of individuals who suffer from some sort of knee pain and cringe at the sound of the words “squat, lunge, or deadlift.”  And as you might know, we are fond of these movements. They might claim that they ‘can’t’ do them or it hurts their knees when they do them and that they can only do leg extensions and leg curls (Grrrrrrrrrr).  Then, we run them through our infamous movement screen and dynamic warm-up (The JTLC warm-up and mobility routine) which puts them through a series of drills to see how they move, bend, etc (And thus in 5 minutes of knowing them we determine their ability to squat, deadlift, or lunge).  The final piece of the warm-up is a basic body weight squat.  And walla, we see how everyone’s natural inclination to squat with their feet close together, weight in their toes, and sit down pushing their knees straight forward…ouch! It makes MY knees hurt.

Osteoarthritis involves deterioration of joint cartilage and bone, formation of fibrous tissue in the joints, and abnormal joint lubrication.  Increased muscle mass and strength helps stabilize the joints and prevents abnormal motion that causes further deterioration.  This is true of nearly all joints.

Do you have back, hip, knee, or shoulder pain?  Most of the time with the appropriate posture and form you can clean these issues up with basic strength training to strengthen the surrounding musculature taking stress of the compromised joint (of course, appropriate rehab/pre-hab/adjustments/manipulations may be necessary, but long term care and management lies in the hands of regular exercise, namely strength training).

A 30 month Mayo Clinic study of 265 men and women with knee arthritis showed that good quad strength reduced knee cartilage loss, pain, and disability.  Those with the greatest strength also had the best knee joint function.

Although very enlightening, I feel that this study missed an important point.  Experienced weightlifters (Lab Rats) know the importance of glute hamstring strength and proper squatting mechanics in sparing the knee joint (as they have the terms: ” weight in your heels, butt back, and knees out,” burned into their heads).    And most people are quad dominant when they sit in a chair or squat (Do you stand up in your toes? Are your knees nearly knocking when you stand up? Do you get knee pain/ache as you move this way?).

Posture Hold Position: Squeeeeeze! Make diamonds.

This puts excessive stress on the knees and back and probably contributes to knee arthritis later in life.  Strong quad muscles are VERY important, but also building the posterior chain muscles and learning proper movement mechanics would probably me more effective for preventing knee arthritis pain, than simply building the quadriceps muscles (and doing many isolated exercises on machines).  Which is why we do so much back and posture work staring with the dead lift and it’s variations.    Learning to move and engage muscles correctly is what “holistic” weight training is all about.  They need to function optimally in integration (with many muscles at once in ‘functional movements’) AND in isolation (on their own or fixed in singular plane as with a machine).  Optimizing and training these movement patterns will make your movements pain free and more functional for years to come.  Likewise, this can prevent further pain and diminishing integrity of the cartilage, bone, surrounding connective tissue, and muscle tone (other than the natural aging process, part of which is expedited by lack of exercise!).

(Arhritis & Rheumatism in press: cited in ScienceDaily, January20, 2009)

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Hello!

Looking for a good reason to exercise?  Well, here is 27 life changing reasons to begin, continue, or to reaffirm your commitment.  It is October.  It is getting colder and waking up it is getting colder and much easier to talk yourself into staying in bed and sleeping late.  This is the same viscous cycle that begins each year and lasts through the holidays which leads to the ever popular New Year’s resolution of weight loss.  Don’t be that guy.  Stick to your commitments and this year resist the urge and crush the little voice in your head.

But, lets not get to ahead of ourselves.  Halloween is first.  I will give a FREE year membership to anyone who dresses up as the Lab Rat and sends me a picture (must be a full body costume;).  Below, is probably  the coolest gift I have ever recieved.  Lisa Manfredi (Leg Presses 500lbs, bodyweight pistol squats for 10 reps,50 pushups easy, and New Jersey state road racing champion) carved this awesome pumpkin of The Lab’s logo….AWESOME!  Does anyone know how to preserve a pumpkin?

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Hello!

I just got back from Louisiana for the 2009 North American Strongman Nationals.  If you remember a former newsletter I stated one of my long term goals was to place in the top 3 nationally in all 3 major strength sports.  Olympic style weightlifting, Power lifting, and Strongman.  I have completed this task in Olympic style weightlifting.  I am best suited for Power lifting but the real challenge for me is going to be Strongman as it is a brand new sport to me (and unlike the former 2 sports, they don’t drug test in these competitions, being drug free obviously makes this even more challenging). This weekend was my first try in Strongnman after just 5 months of training and 2 competitions under my belt.  I competed in the 200lb weight class and placed 4th.  Very upsetting considering 2nd and 3rd place tied with 40 points and I came in 4th with 39 points.  I was the lightest guy so 1 point would have put me in second place.  I honestly thought I pulled it off at the end of the competition, but was crushed to find out I missed by such a small margin.  Next year.

Olympic Weightlifting: Highest power production (work/time) and the most speed, skill, flexibility, and balance required.  This is the most prestigious of the weightlifting disciplines.  It is the only Olympic version of weightlifting.  The two lifts the snatch and Clean and Jerk are the 2 competitive lifts.

Power Lifting: Highest raw strength out put, lowest skill, most universally practiced due to ease of exercise mastery (ie. Move object from point A to B).  The competitive lifts are the squat, bench press, and dead lift.  These lifts are generally slower but much heavier.

Strongman:  Log lifting, tire flipping, stone loading, carrying, pushing, etc.  This is a very random chaotic movement pattern and the oldest style of strength testing.  Lifting heavy rocks and stones is how most all strength training originated.  Trust me, I am a caveman.  But, strongman training is actually the most aerobic and physically demanding as the tasks require a multitude of skills and tasks to be performed not only for max strength and power but total work over a given period of time (ie. Carrying a 700 pound yoke on your back for distance and speed with a 60 second time limit).

As you can see these all measure different parameters of strength and power…So, dominating one does not mean you will dominate the next.  This is almost like comparing a marathon runner to a sprinter in some cases.

Here is a video from National Geographic comparing all 3 strength sports.  I am actually in it for brief clips lasting only a few seconds.  If you watch close you will see me doing some Olympic lifts.

Superhuman Strongman part 1/5  (Check: 9:29-9:40ish) click here
Superhuman Strongman part 2/5  (Check: 0:25-0:29) click here
Superhuman Strongman part 3/5  (No show, thank God, these guys are crazy) click here
Superhuman Strongman part 4/5 (N/A) click here
Superhuman Strongman part 5/5 (N/A)click here

Anyway, I like all of them.  It’s allot of fun.  And, as my client Bryndon likes to tell me, ” You may not be smart, but you can lift heavy things.”

He’s just mad because he is dumb AND weak;)

Bodybuilding: Large volumous, useless, shaved, and oiled muscles….I have no interest in ever competing in this one.  However, I sometimes shave and oil up just for fun!

So why should you care about all this strength stuff?  Because, strength preceedes all parameters in the gym.  You want tone?  You need to develop strength to obtain it.  You dont get tome from lifting a pencil 15 times, you get it from lifting your best weight for 15 times.  You want muscular size? You need strength first to lift enough for enough reps to make the muscle grow (then excess calories, male sex hormones, and years of work).  You want to lose wieght? Read below for a more clear explanatin but it comes down to work.  Hard work.  Work is performed via energy which happens to be stored as adipose cells and glycogen in your body.  Strength precedes all in the gym (except posture and mobility)  And, DO not misunderstand, I am not talking about the freak show from above, I am talking about relative strength…its ALL relative..unless, you want to compete in one of the above sports.

Weightlifting and Weight loss

I will make this one short and simple.  Ok, I will try at least.

Over and over again I hear people explain their fear of bulking up with “heavy” weightlifting.  Most of this fear is perpetuated by the media’s obsession with and misinformation of aerobics as the best means for weight loss for the past 50 years or so (Thank you Dr. Cooper and Dr. Dean Ornish).  My clients could all beat both of you up AND have better HDL cholesterol levels.

Here are a few current case studies of Lab Rats killing it.  Toning and leaning up with SUBSTANTIAL weight loss and increased functionality from weightlifting.

Why weightlifting?  Muscles move joints and bones.  Collectively, this moves your body.   And the better you can move your body (and not controlled falling=energy efficient, coordinated work=energy costly).

a)      This requires calories.  If you lift light weights and exert minimal effort, you burn minimal calories.  If you exert maximum effort, you burn maximum calories.  Maximum efforts will also build more lean muscle tissue, which will raise your RESTING metabolic rate which will allow you to burn calories 24hrs a day (this is microscopic and not Arnold.  The large sensations you feel after lifting is edema in the active muscles.  You will feel a firm tone developing and likewise circumference decreasing, this is a change in density…not bulk).  Your engine will be running higher at idle levels

b)      Activities of daily living require that you squat, bend, lift, step, push, pull, etc.  From getting out of bed, flexing in the mirror, getting on and off the toilet, pulling on your trousers, tying your shoes, carrying your groceries, all require specific ranges of motion that running/walling do not stimulate (small repetitive range of motion in both).  Training these ranges of motion with resistance (with optimal posture and range) will increase flexibility and functionality.  Basically, you will be able to do more things with your body, from basic to advanced movement.  Use it or lose it. If you stop using your knees past the requirement of walking, they stop functioning well past that range, they calcify, become weak and shorten, and will atrophy down to what they are required to do.  Muscles develop based upon demands, consistent demands placed upon them which make them develop and maintain.  You take away the demand they go away…fast.

c)      For some reason people are under the assumption that weightlifting does not work the aerobic systems of the body.  Hmmm, send them to The Lab, I would be happy to fix that in 5 minutes.  Ask Voy Andrews, today his face was as red as the blood red painted walls in the gym (And has averaged 5lbs of weight loss for the past 6 weeks in a row).  His longest cardio ‘traditional’ workout is 15 minutes long.  He was most definitely taxing his aerobic system.  And let me ask you this,  how often in life are you required to run for an hour straight (not this is bad, wrong, or not a nice piece of fitness, I am just trying to promote the other side to you so you may reap the benefits.  And perhaps weightlifting and can no longer be considered the step child of exercise used only for meatheads and muscle heads.  Nor, get more people to realize that it will not cause you to become ‘muscle bound.’).  On the other side the aerobic requirements of weightlifting much more closely require the needs of life AND sports (squatting, bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, etc).  Most team sports plays last seconds.  Sure, plays may last longer but the high intensity side of the play lasts merely seconds.  They may skate, run, or swim around a bit between plays, but the action is hard and brief.  Like our super setting style with high payout exercises (squatting, bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, etc).  However, we are not even talking sports here but, life and weight loss needs.  Our weightlifting sets last anywhere between 20-90 seconds tops.  But, they are intense!  As soon as you catch your breath we are working an opposing exercise.  From there we push the density of the workout to your personal max.  How much work can you do?  This will establish your success.  This is just like running sprints and the main limiting factor is the recovery of your aerobic system…And look at the physiques of sprinters vs marathoners…Ok, I said I would keep it short.

-2 Quick real life case studies of current Lab Rats that are working this exact approach:

Danielle Green: Female, Age: 23, Exercise experience: 6 months.  Weight loss: Just over 30 lbs.  Squat: 135×10 reps, leg press: 500lbs x 10 reps (easy). Pushups: 25.  Leaner and stronger than ever.  And, she has taken a few vacations along the way;)

Voy Andrews: Male, Age 49. Exercise experience, just over 6 months.  Weight loss: 51 lbs.  Starting dead lifts: 25 lbs for 15 reps.  Dead lifts yesterday: 265×5, 250×7, 225×10.  Pushups: 40.  Until 6 months ago Voy has never performed a single jumping jack.  This morning he did 50 in a row.  Leaner and stronger than ever.

If you ask either one of them if they are starving or depriving them self nutritionally they with both happily tell you that they have had to take no drastic measure to their diet to have such success.

Weights, Cardio, Healthy dietary habits, the 3 requirements to optimal health and fitness…does your program cover all 3?

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Myths of Women’s Weight Training and Female Bodybuilding

It never fails.  It seems like nearly each time we take on a new female client they  get so worried to lift more than 3 pounds that they are going to end up looking like a bodybuilder and lose precious flexibility.  I am left trying to give the same speech about myths surrounding this subject that I sound like a broken record and I get tuned out fast.  Well, below is an article by expert  Hugo Rivera who sets the record straight.  WOMEN, please read this, it is a great article discussing questions that goes through most of your minds when adopting a strength training routine to help with weight loss and muscle toning.

Women Bodybuilding Myths

By Hugo Rivera

Women’s Weight Training Myth #1 -Weight training makes you bulky and masculine.
Due to the fact that women do not, and cannot, naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by merely touching some weights. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity. In addition, most also have good genetics coupled with an unbelievable work ethic that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend hours in the gym lifting very heavy weights. Believe me when I say that they do not look like that by accident. Women who conduct weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness/figure shows these days.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #2 – Exercise increases your chest size.
Sorry girls. Women’s breasts are composed mostly of fatty tissue. Therefore, it is impossible to increase breast size through weight training. As a matter of fact, if you go below 12 percent body fat, your breast size will decrease. Weight training does increase the size of the back, so this misconception probably comes from confusing an increase in back size with an increase in cup size. The only way to increase your breast size is by gaining fat or getting breast implants.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #3 – Weight training makes you stiff and musclebound.
If you perform all exercises through their full range of motion, flexibility will increase. Exercises like flyes, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell presses, and chin-ups stretch the muscle in the bottom range of the movement. Therefore, by performing these exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #4 – If you stop weight training your muscles turn into fat.
This is like saying that gold can turn into brass. Muscle and fat are two totally different types of tissue. What happens many times is that when people decide to go off their weight training programs they start losing muscle due to inactivity (use it or lose it) and they also usually drop the diet as well. Therefore bad eating habits combined with the fact that their metabolism is lower due to inactivity, and lower degrees of muscle mass, give the impression that the subject’s muscle is being turned into fat while in reality what is happening is that muscle is being lost and fat is being accumulated.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #5 – Weight training turns fat into muscle.
More alchemy. This is the equivalent of saying that you can turn any metal into gold; don’t we wish! The way a body transformation occurs is by gaining muscle through weight training and losing fat through aerobics and diet simultaneously. Again, muscle and fat are very different types of tissue. We cannot turn one into the other.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #6 – As long as you exercise you can eat anything that you want.
How I wish this were true also! However, this could not be further from the truth. Our individual metabolism determines how many calories we burn at rest and while we exercise. If we eat more calories than we burn on a consistent basis, our bodies will accumulate these extra calories as fat regardless of the amount of exercise that we do. This myth may have been created by people with such high metabolic rates (hardgainers) that no matter how much they eat or what they eat, they rarely meet or exceed the amount of calories that they burn in one day unless they put their mind to doing so. Therefore, their weight either remains stable or goes down.

Women’s Weight Training Myth #7 – Women only need to do cardio and if they decide to lift weights, they should be very light.
First of all, if you only did cardio then muscle and fat would be burned for fuel. One needs to do weights in order to get the muscle building machine going and thus prevent any loss of muscle tissue. Women that only concentrate on cardio will have a very hard time achieving the look that they want. As far as the lifting of very light weights, this is just more nonsense. Muscle responds to resistance and if the resistance is too light, then there will be no reason for the body to change.

Women Should Train Hard
I have trained with girls that train as hard as I do and they look nothing but feminine. If you want to look great, don’t be afraid to pick up the weights and lift hard!

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