Turnover running drill

As mentioned in the previous post, drills can help to improve your running form and overall economy of movement.

The drill below can help you to run faster by increasing the turnover of your feet and legs. It can also lower your ground posture (make you less "bouncy"), while improving your running efficiency and stride length. Moreover, in the long run (no pun intended) your running will feel easier, so you can burn more calories with the same level of effort.

Turnover Drill
1. Choose a safe, level, traffic-free stretch of trail, track, or road to run.
2. Slowly warm-up for about a mile or so.
3. Run at a constant speed and count the number of times your right (or left) foot strikes the ground for thirty seconds.
4. Recover for a minute, then repeat the drill for another thirty seconds but this time try to increase the count by one or two foot strikes.
5. Continue to repeat the drill four to six times after recovering with walking or lightly running for about a minute.

Better running

Jogging. Scurrying. Shuffling. Sprinting.

By whatever name it's applied, running is one of the most basic activities at URBAN Boot Camp and many of our more athletically-based fitness designs.

As little kids, we never gave any thought to our running. No worry about foot placement, body alignment or trunk carriage. We just chose a direction and moved towards it as fast as our little legs would go. When you watch little kids run, however, they usually have pretty good form. Children typically don't overstride, they swing their arms, they lean forward slightly and don't strike with their heels. Unfortunately, now as adults many people find that they have trouble with this simple, yet at the same time very complex activity.

During the month of July, we'll focus on running mechanics, resources for training, and any questions you may have here on the UBC blog, so feel free to comment or send us an email with your questions.

To get us started here's a quick list of basic running dos and don'ts:

1. Don't slouch. Hold your body tall and erect, but with a slight forward lean. Keep in mind that running (and walking) is actually a controlled fall forward.

2. Do keep your head level. Point your gaze out ahead of you, not up at the sky or down towards the ground. Also, think of lifting your head up off your shoulders so that you aren't shrugging.

3. Don't slap the ground as you run. This creates way more force on your joints than necessary. Your steps should be quiet and springy.

4. Do keep your arms compact at about a 90 degree angle. Avoid crossing your arms over your body or tensing your shoulders. Allow the joints to move freely.

5. Don't clench your toes. While your foot should transfer the force of your footstrike from behind your little toe towards your big toe for slight pronation, avoid maintaining your toes in a clenched position as you run.

Check back on the blog for more useful info or just sign up to get them instantly to the right over there (near bottom). --->

Happy training.
To your fitness success!

Jump, Jump

Plyometrics!

That's a fancy name for jumping. Adding it to your training program is a great way to burn calories and increase your overall strength, power, and endurance. The problem is, while many people can get off the ground (accelerate), they don't land so well (decelerate) resulting in injuries. In UBC this week, we've begun working on jumping and will work more next week on developing proper form when landing so participants can get more fat-burning bang for their fitness buck.

So, how do you stop yourself after jumping off the ground? You decelerate the speed and thereby decrease the force on your joints by:

•Landing on the ball of your foot and sinking into your heel.
•Flexing at the hips, knees and ankles.
•Maintaining a straight back/neutral spine position.
•Maintaining your chest over knees and knees over second toe

This means you need the ability to properly load the muscles eccentrically while maintaining proper form.

We'll continue more on this next week with action!

Until then, here's an excerpt from NSCA's Performance Training Journal with a fantastic article: "Landing Mechanics: What, Why, When".

Make it a great weekend!
Jump, jump!

Your core: more than just abs

Abs.
Abdominals.
Washboard.
Six-pack.



Regardless of what you call them, a strong "core" is extremely important for proper development of usable strength and endurance, though it tends to be overlooked by many exercisers. Often "ab work" only focuses on successfully building the "mirror muscle" we can see (namely the "six-pack muscle", the rectus abdominus), but doesn't properly engage the deeper muscles of the core, including the transverse abdominus (your horizontal, or "corset" ab muscle). Focusing on these muscles when exercising, however, has many benefits including pulling in the midsection to gain that sleek look we all desire, decreased injury risk to our lower back, and increased athletic performance. In fact, since the core muscles form a "box" around your spine in the abdomen area, they are the powerhouse for healthy dynamic movement and improved performance in URBAN Boot Camp. Keep in mind that there are also more personal benefits including increased sexual function and incontinence prevention.

WHERE ARE THEY:
Definitions may vary slightly, but generally the muscles of the core are described as the transverse abdominus, the pelvic floor muscles, the lower back muscles (erector spinae), and the diaphragm. As stated before, together they form a box around your spine in your mid-section. Keep in mind that some health and fitness professionals expand the definition of the core to include the gluteals and as well as all of the trunk muscles muscles, minus the arms and legs.

THE HOMEWORK:
In last night's UBC class, everyone was encouraged to practice Kegel, or pelvic floor, exercises as a part of their regular core regimen to encourage spinal stability and enhance the abdominal and core work done in class. Your homework is to learn about, locate on yourself, and engage these muscles on your own and practice using them.

Here are some great online articles and videos to get you started:

How to strengthen pelvic floor muscles
Pelvic floor muscles, part 1 (video)
Pelvic floor muscles, part 2 (video)

Keep in mind that these exercises are important for men as well as women. A strong core equals more power regardless of who's body we're referring to, so listen, learn, and practice, guys.

Basic Training: Body Comp, BMI and Energy Systems

We "completed" Basic Training this week! At least in the sense that everyone focused on acclimating to their new workout environment and focusing on foundational exercises, including calisthenics such as pushups, squats, and situps. The knowledge continues, however, as we apply and build upon what we've learned.

Ron, Laura, and Gretchen each won a prize in our Countdown Burpees Challenge. Congrats! Everyone else also did a fantastic job, but were more than happy that they won since the challenge ended when the first three people finished... Whew!

Here are some Basic Training highlights:

Body composition is the ratio of lean body mass (muscles, bones, skin, etc) to body fat mass.

General Body Fat Percentage Categories*:
Classification Women (% fat) Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Obese 32% plus 25% plus
*American Council on Exercise

Body Mass Index (BMI) estimates whether what you weigh is the appropriate amount for your height. Desirable BMIs for adults is between 19 and 24. Overweight is defined as a body mass index between 25.0 and 30.0. Obesity is defines as a BMI of 30.0 or greater. Calculate yours here: BMI Calculator

There are two basic energy systems of the body: aerobic (producing ATP energy from oxygen) and anaerobic (producing ATP energy without oxygen). The "talk test" can give you an idea of how hard you're working. In terms of training, you are considered to be "aerobic" when you can speak comfortably during your workout (think walking, running, or biking on a flat surface). You are working out anaerobically when your breathing becomes very labored and you may even gasp for air (think heavy weight training, sprinting, and jumping, or from the first example walking, running, or biking up hill).

The training continues!
Watch for pics next week.
May even throw in a video...

Bad Form = Bad Fitness

Bruce Lee was a master at executing incredible feats of movement with unparalleled precision. One key to his incredible success was his devotion to perfect training form. While your fitness quest may not include your own version of his famous "two-finger" push up, it does illustrate what the human body is capable of and that proper exercise form is highly important to optimal fitness.

On a more practical level, exercising with bad form often leads to three things:

1) wasted training time
2) poor results
3) injury

Why? Because your bones are not positioned properly, which means your muscles can't create the most efficient amount of force in a balanced way to optimally perform the movement pattern.

What does that mean? Your body won't be trained in the most meaningful way. You'll likely overuse some muscles while underusing others. Supporting structures (aka tendons and ligaments) are forced to perform compensatory actions. Your overall training period is longer than it needs to be, in terms of noticeable change, than if your exercises were done more efficiently. Your results are less than stellar and your body, therefore, is not acquiring the look or ability you were after. Even worse, the imbalances are both visually and practically noticeable, AND they are create wear and tear on your joints and supporting structures. Your acquired dysfunctional strength/weakness then, more often than not, leads to injury.

So what can you do?

Learn to exercise correctly! Invest in yourself by taking whatever steps are necessary for you to get fit the right way.

Here are some quick tips:

1. Get help. Invest in a knowledgeable personal trainer or find a seasoned fitness partner (one who has invested time researching/learning proper technique themselves). Not only will you lessen the risk of injury, you'll also learn the necessary skills to move correctly. You'll also benefit from having someone to watch you and offer cues while you learn.

2. Use the machines. What?! Yes, as you may know I am not a big proponent of machines for most people. If you are NEW to exercise, however, and don't have someone to help you, using a machine can can help to "put" you in the right position. This can help you to acquire sound movement patterns while your mind and body learn correct positioning.

3. Slow down. One of the biggest issues with bad form is that people do exercises too fast. If you have any type of imbalance weakness, your stronger muscles WILL take over the exercise, so to speak, even if they are not suppose to. Slowing the tempo can give you a chance to consciously recruit the weaker ones.

4. Use the mirrors. Watching yourself increases your chances of doing the exercises the right way. Look at your joint positions, notice unnecessary shrugging, see and then feel where your body is in space. It's amazing how many times clients finally "get it" when they can see themselves while receiving cues.

5. Breathe. Your muscles need valuable oxygen to function properly. Holding your breath during even a single exercise repetition can cause you to feel fatigued sooner, leading to sloppy performance. Monitor your breathing and focus on maintaining a constant flow of air.



Stay tuned for more "do it right" tips.

Breaking through fitness plateaus

Even if you have "the best" workout plan in the world it won't be long before you notice that you're not getting the same results you did when you first started. This is often the result of two main culprits, 1) your body has already made the necessary changes (adaptations) to the stressor (exercise routine) and doesn't need to do anything more (you've plateaued), or 2) you may be overtraining, meaning that your body needs to rest.

Fortunately, the fix for these two problems is not too hard to overcome. Follow these simple steps to fire things back up and move to the next level.

1). Rest. If you've been going fast and furious for a few months take a couple of days off. To keep you from losing your fitness habit, use your normal workout time for more calming activities such as stretching, yoga, or a massage treatment.

2). Think outside the box. Cross training can add depth and purpose to your fitness routine as you use your new-found strength and abilities. Find an interesting trail to hike, go for a bike ride, try a new activity like rollerblading or indoor rock climbing. The goal is to do something new and outside of your norm.

3). Change your routine. If you've been working the same exercises, in the same order, and for the same number of set and reps...your body is bored. Generally, the average non-athlete should change routines every 4-6 weeks, if not more often. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to get rid of everything, changing the order or simply adding a new move could be enough. Additionally, you can work on slowly increasing the amount of weight you move or the number of reps/sets performed (volume). Note: don't increase volume and weight together; increase the weight OR increase the volume to help you stay injury free.

4). Look at your calories in versus calories out. If your body is no longer leaning out or building muscle progressively, your diet could be the culprit. To lose body fat, you need to create a calorie deficit ideally through exercise AND eating. Generally, that equates to eating slightly less, exercising slightly more. If building muscle is the goal, you need to eat an adequate combination of complex carbs and lean protein; "FEED the muscle" as they say.

By focusing on these tips you can give your body new stimuli, thus encouraging your body to begin creating new adaptations to push you past your plateau and on to a new level of fitness.

Avoid running injuries

For many URBAN Boot Campers, running is an important component of long term success. Unforeseen injuries and pain can hinder exercise adherence and are often the result of overtraining or improper conditioning. A recent review of research has shown a number of muscular imbalances to be the cause of injury, most notably weak gluteals.

Research review from Exercise ETC:

"Many Running Injuries Attributed to Weak Hips"

Statistics indicate that between 65% and 80% of all recreational and competitive runners experience some type of overuse injury annually. Such injuries include patellofemoral knee pain, illiotibial band syndrome, shin splints, Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, and stress fractures. The vast majority of such injuries, ~80% affect the lower-leg, with nearly 40% occurring at the knee. Unfortunately, science and medicine have yet to truly understand the mechanisms behind such injuries.

Researchers recently reviewed the literature over a 28 year span from 1980 to 2008 and concluded that two mechanisms appear to underlie all lower-leg injuries. First, a small number of studies implicated "atypical foot pronation mechanics." Pronation, which occurs during the stance phase of gait as the foot flattens causing internal rotation of the tibia and femur, is essential to generating energy for the next stride. However, excessive or insufficient pronation leads to poor energy production and consequently to excessive motion about the foot and knee.

Second, and more prominent, researchers uncovered a growing number of studies that suggest "inadequate hip muscle stabilization" leads to a majority of overuse injuries. Because the hip muscles, specifically the gluteus medius, minimus and maximus stabilize the leg during gait, poor strength or conditioning of these muscles results in excessive stress at and below the knee.

Recent studies have shown that improving hip muscle strength reduces the incidence of knee pain in runners. With running season in full-swing throughout the country along with races every weekend there's not a better time to encourage runners to maintain their strength training programs.

Ferber, R., et al (2009) Suspected Mechanisms in the Cause of Overuse Running Injuries: A Clinical Review. Sports Health. May/June

Next time: Exercises to strengthen the gluteal muscles.

Intervals or Fartleks?

Since no one was able to make the interval run/walk at Tryon Creek State Park yesterday, I took the opportunity for a solo run. I ended up doing two fartleks and one interval around the Big Fir Trail. As I ended my run (and thinking of you all as I so often do) I thought it would be good to address the difference between intervals and fartleks.

Fartlek (pronounced fahrt-lek) is a Scandinavian word that means "speed play." It is an informal training method that involves intense activity interspersed with low effort. Basically, fartleks are a change in speed for a short and undefined period of time or distance. This allows the runner to experiment, and keep things fresh while increasing performance. You decide when to begin and end your high and low intensity periods based on how you feel (via introspection) or by picking a landmark to race to. Run fast for as long as you can, then recover as long as you need or based on another landmark.

For runners, fartleks are a great way to increase overall speed and self awareness. Walkers who want to begin running can use fartleks by running as long as possible then walking for recovery.

Intervals, on the other hand, are more formal in that they are timed. Periods of high and low intensity have definite start and end times. Runners should build a foundation of easy paced, continuous running for 30-60 minutes before doing intervals, or speed work. Walkers transitioning into running can use intervals to increase their time spent running versus time spent walking.

Ratios for intervals generally begin at 30 to 60 seconds with a 30 second to 1 minute recovery time. On the high end, it is not recommended to do intervals lasting longer than 5 minutes since the goal is to push your anaerobic threshold (in simple terms, pushing your maximum and out of breath).

Check out these websites for more info:

www.coolrunning.com
www.slowtwitch.com
www.runnersworld.com

Keep moving, keep learning!