Pain Takes No Holiday

There is a reason for pain. Work, Exercise and Athletic Performance requires being acquainted with, and a frequent Companion with Pain. You best be listening to it, and the message it is sending.

Listen to Your Pain

Pain has many valuable functions. It often signals injury or disease, generates a wide range of adaptive behaviors, and promotes healing through rest. Melzack and Katz(2012)  

Why Do We Have Pain

Painful joints and tendons are common signs of overuse, over-training, and  a well-spent youth.

The stress of "too much, too soon and too little preparation" can result in pain.

The continued work of a fatigued muscle can result in pain. You keep working any body on overtime, and you do not give them a break, they will soon complain - they may actually shout.

Some body parts are just more susceptible to pain. Tendons of the rotator cuff, extensor and flexor elbow, patellar and achilles tendon, are problem areas. Now you add the factor of age, no rest, and poor mechanics, and Houston, We Have a Problem. You must listen, and learn from your pain. This means paying attention to what causes pain, but what relieves your pain.

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” – Khalil Gibran

Life is Movement and Rest. There must be a balance of work:rest.You exercise, and You Recover. If there is not a balance, the energy systems and connective tissues will begin to fail. This is where fatigue, injury, and the cascade of degenerative change occurs in the body.

The take home message is listen to your body. Pain has a purpose. It is the body's way of telling you that something is out of balance, needs rest, and healing. So give yourself a break, if not a holiday, from the routine. 

"Rest is when the efforts of your work manifest gain." - Randy Bauer

If you have a question regarding a pain that just will not quit contact me as that is what I do, Help people with all varieties of pain. I am a physical therapist with  25 years of experience in sports, orthopedic and post-operative conditions. You may have a question about an exercise techniques, or program that can help you achieve new levels of performance in your athletic, fitness and health pursuit.
Leave a comment, or contact me for a consult. LiveNinja/ Randy Bauer for free 20 min. consult.

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How to Keep Your Chin-Up and Chin a Bar

Keep Your Chin-Up if You are Unable to Chin a bar.

Keep Your Chin Up

The Chin-up exercise is a great indicator of overall upper body strength, and used extensively as a measure of upper body strength in a variety of Fitness Tests(Ex.). If you are trying to improve your upper body strength, using the chin-up, or pull-up exercise, is a valuable part of any strength training regimen. But, what if you cannot do a chin-up. Well, keep your chin-up and use this as a motivator to increase your upper body strength. After a while you will be able to test yourself by getting your chin over the bar, not just once, but repetitively.

What muscles do I have to work to get stronger at the chin-up/pull-up? 

The upper body muscles used to perform the chin-up include large muscles of the back, shoulder and arms. There is also great emphasis of the abdominal muscles providing stability.

The chin-up exercise is performed with the hands facing you (supinated grip), and a pull-up is performed with the back of hands facing you (pronated grip).

Pull-Up Muscles

Primary Muscles Used:

• Latissimus dorsi
• Mid and Low trapezius
• Pectoralis Major and Minor
• Bicep brachii

Secondary Muscles Used:

• Teres Major
• Triceps
• Rhomboids
• Erector spinae
• Rotator Cuff
• Abdominals

The average muscle activation values were as follows: latissimus dorsi (117-130%), biceps brachii (78-96%), infraspinatus (71-79%), lower trapezius (45-56%), pectoralis major (44-57%), erector spinae (39-41%), and external oblique (31-35%). The pectoralis major and biceps brachii had a significantly higher EMG activation when performing the chin-up when compared to the pull-up, however the lower trapezius was more active during the pull-up. The general pattern of activation suggests that pull-ups and chin-ups were initiated by the lower trapezius and pectoralis major and completed with biceps brachii and latissimus dorsi recruitment.
This study highlighted that the latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, lower trapezius, pectoralis major are the main muscles activated when performing pull-ups and chin-ups.

Youdas JW, Amundson CL, Cicero KS, Hahn JJ, Harezlak DT, Hollman JH.J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Dec;24(12):3404-14 

**Special Note: Mr. Youdas was an influential mentor of mine while a student of Physical Therapy at Mayo Clinic. He continues to be enthusiastic on the biomechanics of exercise. 

How can I do 10 Chin-Ups if I can only do a few now.

Keep your chin-up. Consider, if anything is easy then you will only have to make it more challenging. Strength development is all about defining areas of you body that need work. Maybe there are areas of your body that are under developed due to lifestyle, or work and sport activities. Consider a Gymnast. The gymnastic athlete requires the constant ability to chin up to a bar or rings as a part of their routine. The ability to advance from a few reps of a chin-up to 10, or multiple sets, will take some dedicated hard work, sweat, and discipline to push yourself, or pull yourself if you will, focusing on each rep along the way.
Check out the video below on Tips to Improve Your Pull-Up Ability.

Tips to Improve Your Chin-Pull Up

Once you are able to do 10 reps of a pull/chin up try to shoot for performing multiple set of 50% of your max repetitions.

Example: If you are able to do 12 reps max, then perform 6 reps of the exercise, rest 20-30 seconds and perform a second set. Continue this until you are unable to perform 6 reps. Once you are able to peform 5 sets of 6 reps(30 total reps) perform a new one set max(How many pull/chin ups can you perform without rest?). 

This will establish your new max reps for pull/chin ups. You can then re-set your workout. You can also vary this test by seeing how many reps you can do in a time limit. This can be anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes. 

This continued test-workout-retest will keep you moving forward, motivated and goal oriented.

What exercises will make performing a Chin-Up easier.

Exercises that compliment improvement of the chin-up, or pull-up, are isolating those muscles that are engaged during the movement. When performing the chin-up movement there are specific Actions, namely scapular adduction, shoulder extension and adduction, bicep flexion and flexion of the wrist and fingers to grasp the bar.

Performing machine-based and isotonic free weight exercise incorporating these specific muscle actions will support strength gains that will improve your chin/pull up.

• Seated pulldowns with varied grip

• Pectoral Strength
• Bench Press and Flys at varied angles

• Seated or standing mid rows

• Kneeling pulldowns

• Bent-over Flys

• Performing high rows with towels for increased grip strength

If we can develop strength in the muscles activated in a chin-up using a range of other exercises, we will be in better shape when it comes to standing beneath the dreaded bar.

The Chin-Up Challenge

How many Chin-up can you perform in a 2-minute period of time? Leave a Comment Below.

 

How to Prep for a 5K Run

Prep and Perform for Your Best 5K Run

Running a 5K is a great distance to set your sites on improving your fitness, and setting a goal. The training involved does not require the great distances of a marathon. Finishing a 5K(3.1 miles) can be completed in 20-30 minutes for the good to average runner. You can mix in some speed work at short distances with repeat bouts of running 30 to 90 secs, with equat rest bouts. Buiilding up to 10 reps. This is just one example. Most important. Start easy, and progress based on what your body is telling you.

Pre In the Lead

For more information on running economy and improving your 5K performance you can determine your velocity at which you run at your VO2. You can also try a few workouts that help you train efficiently, use your training time effectively, and maximize your running economy.

Check them out here: Running Economy Workouts

Comment if you have recently run a 5K and what your time was. Take Care





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Sports Performance Training for Runners and Sprinters

Running Economy, Sprint Training and Dynamic Warm-Up

Sports Performance Training

View more lists from Randy Bauer

This is a classic video of Bud Winters on the Rocket Start found on Speedendurance.

Sharpen the Mental Edge

Sharpen the Mental Edge: Goal Setting

Developing the Mental Edge in your pursuits of athletics, education and work requires a sharp focus on what is important to you, and what will get you to where you want to be. Goal setting provides this framework, and focused energy to your actions. Committing yourself to reaching new levels of performance will require facing challenges, overcoming fears, and striving beyond what you thought possible. Establishing goals that are in alignment with a strong purpose make accomplishing these goals possible, and success a reality.

• Discover Helpful Points to Consider as You Set Your Goals

• Own Your Goals with Keys to Achieve

• Ask These Questions that will Define and Move You Toward Your Goals

See the Personal Workshop and Define Your Action Plan (download this pdf)

Sharpening-Your-Mental-Edge:Goals Setting from Bauer Physical Therapy

Sprint Bounding and Testing for Speed Development

Speed Development: Stretch-Shortening-Contraction, Sprint Bounding and Testing

Bounding is an important component of Speed Development. Properly instructed and applied to a speed training program can improve the Stretch-Shortening-Contraction (SSC), and benefits the speed and acceleration phases of sprinting. Kenta Bell has put together a great How to Teaching Video on the proper technique of Bounding.
Practicing the correct sprint bounding technique will improve your sprinting efficiency when properly practiced.

Check out the Video here:

VIDEO: How to Teach Bounding (in 4 Easy Steps)

Testing Sprint Bounding Performance

Testing Sprint Bounding Performance can be used as a baseline for your speed training program. The classic Sprint Bounding Index(SBI) test will measure the Stretch-Shortening-Contraction in a 30 meter distance.

The SBI Testing method is described below:

Prior to the testing a 10-15 minute warm-up period of light running and striders is performed.

• Measure off a 30-meter distance on a field or track.
• Use a 10-meter Fly Zone marked off before the start of the 30-meters.
• Take off one foot at the start of the 30-meter distance.
• Bound R-L-R-L-R...(or whatever foot your start with, one foot to next) over the 30-meter distance.
• Count number of contacts you make, beginning with first touch within the 30-meter zone to the end.
• Time the duration with stop watch from foot contact at Start(Take off) to end of 30-meter zone.
• The SBI is measured as Time(seconds:tenths) x Number of Steps to complete 30-meters.

Example: 4.5 secs x 13 = 58.5(SBI)

As you train and re-test, the SBI will decrease with improvement.

Bounding can also be tested for distance using 3 different tests that have been correlated to 100 meter time. Bounding is a right-left-right-left sequence measuring the horizontal power of the athlete. There are a few tests that will measure athlete power:

• Vertical Jump
• Horizontal-Standing Long Jump(off both legs)
• 3-Bounds
• 5-bounds
• 10-bounds
• 3-hop 
• Performed on one leg for distance( Example: R-R-R) from a single leg, standing still start.
• The test is completed with the 3rd contact into the sand pit.
• This is a good test for comparing right vs. left leg power measures and is used frequently as a return to activity functional test after lower leg injury/surgery.

Stretch Shortening Contraction Training

Effective training to improve SSC requires specific exercises to increase the activation of muscles used in the transition of an eccentric contraction (lengthening) to a concentric contraction (shortening). This rapid transition creates a more forceful contraction, and production of explosive power. This translates into increased power production, and ultimately, speed. In the case of the sprinter, this power production must take place in the horizontal direction greater than the vertical direction (Ex. Vertical Jump).

Requirements for increasing the explosive power are:

• Increased eccentric strength
• Increased neuromuscular efficiency
• Optimal Stabilization Strength: Core musculature and joints(in all planes of movement).

To achieve maximal explosive power in your training program careful progression of loads and volume(repetition) must be practiced. For the young athlete this progression should be slow and with lower volumes and intensity(weight). This is practiced to achieve maximal training benefit without injury to muscle-tendons and joint structures.

Speed development can be maximized with resistive training, plyometrics/bounding, and core strengthening activities. 

Examples of Resistive Training include:

Back squats(1/2 and 1/4 squats)

Bent leg dead lifts(Romanian)

Bulgarian Squats

Examples of Plyometric and Speed Drills

In the next episode we will discuss Core Stabilization Exercise for the Athlete implementing  a speed training program.

Dynamic Warm-Up and Fast Twitch Running Drills

Dynamic Warm-up and Fast Twitch Running Drills

Dynamic warm-up and running drills are an important part of preparation, and can be injected as a strengthening or fast twitch part of your training program. These programs are often included as a part of the practice for teams, such as soccer, football, track and field, or sports requiring elements of speed and agility, as well as distance events. The dynamic nature of the routine acts to prepare the body for training or competition. This will include elements of flexibility, core stabilization and mobility, strength and stretch shortening contraction.

It is strongly recommended that developing a Dynamic Warm-up Program becomes an integral part of the Athlete's Training Ritual. Designed, and Practiced, early in the season will enable the athlete to become tuned-in to the body, and establish mental focus in preparation for the ensuing practice to competitive event. 

Careful attention to the intensity and duration of the various running drills and dynamic warm-up is used when developing specific routines for specific occasions. There may be a specific pre-practice program that may have an element of increasing strength, endurance or stretch shortening contractions. All of which have an influence on running economy.

A pre-competition ritual may be focused more on strategies that are prepping for maximum performance in the event. It is the goal to avoid fatigue that would interfere with the competitive event.

The following videos provide a varied approach to Dynamic Warm-Up and Running Drills.
The First Video:

1. The Lunge Matrix Warm-Up by Coach Jay Johnson
2. Running Drills by Lauren Fleshman
3. Dynamic Warm-Up: Fast Twitch Drills by Randy Bauer

I hope you find the videos full of information that can be used in designing a sport-specific, dynamic warm-up program. Whether it is for You, or Your Athletes, it may just be another tool in the pack on the Journey of Success.

Game Plan for Success

Sprint Training: Dynamic Warm-Up