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10 Secrets to Soaring Self-Control

10 Secrets to Soaring Self-Control

wrapping string around hand

Research shows that self-control, or willpower, is an essential tool for success in any long-term endeavor that involves the accumulation and execution of particular habits. Improving one’s health and fitness is no exception. So how can we harness more of it? How can we leverage and grow the willpower necessary to overcome the urges and impulses that threaten to derail us off the track to our goals?

1) Wait

I can’t stress how powerful this trick is. The next time a derailing urge hits you, instead of gritting your teeth and immediately fighting back, try simply giving yourself 15 minutes before acting on the urge. Commit to nothing more than waiting that long. You’d be amazed how many urges completely subside with a little time.

2) Snack

Eating frequently actually helps you eat better. When we go too long between meals, our blood sugar drops, our brains fatigue, and the signal to eat a little something grows into a craving to consume everything. So snack early and often on healthy, natural foods and watch your ability to turn down large unhealthy meals improve considerably.

3) Forgive

It may sound strange, but this is a big one. You must realize that nobody has perfect self-control. No one is even close. So don’t expect it of yourself. You are going to mess up and give into some temptation along the way. Failing to forgive yourself will only develop anger that will ruin your relationship with food and start a vicious cycle of self-destruction. Just like failing to forgive someone else only hurts you, failing to forgive yourself can hurt you even more.

4) Sleep

Ever notice how efficient and productive a day is after a great night’s sleep? It’s in part due to a higher level of self-control. Our ability to overcome distractions and temptations is escalated with sleep. Going to bed is step number one in eating clean.

5) Practice

Self-control is a muscle that must be trained. Leverage any small situation where you find an urge is present, and use it to intentionally restrict yourself to some degree. Conversely, when you would rather not do something, even if skipping it would be rather inconsequential, try forcing yourself to go through with the action anyway. You’ll be glad you trained your self control when the moment of real need arises.

6) Exercise

Research shows that exercise’ improvement in blood flow, oxygenation of the brain, elevation of electrical activity, and secretion of hormones all contribute to heightened self control. The sense of achievement provides a winning mentality that can flow into our diets. Yes, exercise can increase hunger, but it’s easier to reach for the right stuff because we’ve done it.

7) Reflect

This strategy can take a variety of forms. Meditation and/or daily devotion has been proven to increase self-control. So has church. Spending a moment at least each week, or better yet – each day – on your spiritual side, can give you the power you need to act in congruence with your long-term goals, rather than short-term impulses. Even reading a book that provides a new perspective can cause you to step back long enough to re-evaluate your current habits, and act intentionally to change them for the better.

8) Drink

Your body is about 70% water, but your brain nears 90% water. Just like a lack of food and sleep can cloud decision-making abilities and self-control, so too does a lack of water. If you know your lean body mass, aim for 70% of that number in ounces of water per day. If you don’t know your lean body mass, aim for 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day. A well-watered brain is a well-tempered brain.

9) Replace

This is a cornerstone of self-control. The ability to avoid doing something you really don’t want to do often hinges on your ability to find something else to do in its place. For example, if you always find yourself overeating from 9-10pm, try scheduling game time with a friend or spouse during that period instead. Try to pre-determine alternate courses of action for particular urges. Ones that give you a similar feeling of reward are best.

10) Talk

It may sound weak or corny, but reaching out to an appointed accountability partner at the “time of temptation,” whether it be a friend or coach, is a great way to keep yourself on track. Sometimes we just need someone to either talk us away from a particular anti-goal action, or talk us into taking a particular pro-goal action. Ironically, making yourself this vulnerable is often the key to making yourself that strong.

No Time to Workout? 13 Facts of the Average American Life’s Clock

No Time to Workout? 13 Facts of the Average American Life’s Clock

As health, fitness, and nutrition coaches, we hear “the time excuse” all the time :) And some people have gotten so good at selling it to themselves, that we almost start buying it.

But if we all take a step back and give this idea of “time” some thought, some powerful facts emerge that can give us a fresh … and better … perspective.

Author Michael Fortino recently gathered some data of the time spent in the average American’s lifespan. Brace yourself. It’s amusing, but also disturbing and disappointing.

The average American, in their lifetime, will spend:

  • 7 years in the bathroom
  • 6 years eating
  • 5 years waiting in line
  • 3 years in meetings
  • 2 years playing phone tag
  • 6 months sitting at red lights
  • 8 months opening junk mail

Now, why is the founder of a health and fitness company giving you these facts?

Well, frankly, at a BARE minimum, we are asking that you give at LEAST 8 months of your LIFETIME to working out (two 45-minute workouts a week).

That’s the same amount of time you spend opening junk email !!!

There are 168 hours in a week, and two 45-minute workouts amount to a whopping .9% of your total time

hourglass sand

That’s 0.9 … less than 1% of your time … that we propose you invest in the house of your soul, the only framework you have with which to live this life.

Indeed, science says 1.8% is even better. The American College of Sports Medicine has confirmed that you should exercise MOST days of the week, which = 4 in a 7 day week … so we aren’t even aiming “high” … at HALF the final goal!

Look, if you are an average American, here’s what’s going to happen TODAY, according to the research:

  • you will get interrupted 73 times
  • you will take an hour of work home
  • you will read less than 5 minutes
  • you will talk to your spouse for 4 minutes
  • you will exercise less than 3 minutes
  • and play with your kids for 2 minutes

I don’t know about you, but I HATE AVERAGE. I’ve spent my whole life trying to avoid it like the plague.

Not that I’ve always been successful at escaping it’s ugly grasp, but I will always continue to try to run away from it. If I trip and fall, I’ll get back up and keep running.

It’s often 2 steps forward, 1 step backward … but anything is better than sitting in the middle of the bell curve.

Speaking of the bell curve, you really only have 3 options:

1) Be below average
2) Be average
3) Be above average

I don’t write to try to change convince you that you SHOULD want to be above average. You wouldn’t even be a recipient of this email if you didn’t already desire an above-average life.

I write to ask you … if you resonate with the 3rd option, the desire to be above average … are you treating your body in a way that is congruent with that philosophy?

If you aren’t investing at least a LITTLE time into it every week (.9 – 1.8%), the short answer is “no.”

Maybe you feel like you are above average due your academic accomplishments, your business success, or your relationships with family and friends.

While being above average in the mental, spiritual, financial, and emotional categories is notable, you will still lose your mind, lose your independence, and become an unnecessary burden to your family and friends if you don’t TAKE CARE of YOUR BODY.

That’s just “average” played out.

So I challenge you to rethink this idea of “time.” We all have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, and a full 8,736 hours in year.

What will you do for yourself, for your body, for your health, and for your life THIS year, THIS week, and THIS day?

Take your time, and make the most of it. Take care of yourself so you can make the most of it!

11 Chronic Pain Causing Posture Mistakes Made Daily

11 Chronic Pain Causing Posture Mistakes Made Daily

woman holding shoulder in pain from poor posture

Pain often gets equated with bouts of physical exertion, but did you realize that most of our pain is caused by our more sedentary activities? We hear a lot about bad posture these days, but most of us don’t realize the severity of the consequences. Muscle imbalances and the resulting abnormal length/tension relationships can really deform us.

The asymmetry caused by muscular imbalances causes a wide array of dysfunction, compromising joint integrity. Then we find ourselves in chronic pain, and often unfortunately unwilling to do the very thing we need to do to fix it – exercise. After all, it’s hard to feel like working out when getting in and out of your car, or standing up and sitting down, or bending over … already feels like a workout! I’m not saying that random intense exercise is the answer. You need a more intelligent approach in these situations. Meaning, you must work the RIGHT muscles to start to eliminate the dysfunction. This is most often best combined with stretching the proper opposing muscles. But make no mistake – exercise is actually the answer, not the problem. Some people can find it difficult to exercise to reduce the pain though. This can be due to muscle dysfunction or muscle knots.

Though proper corrective exercise is the answer to our pain, we must understand that we WILL lose the energy and drive to perform it when we aren’t feeling right. You see, pain signals our nervous system to “dial back” the power we can produce. Picture your car with a tire blowout. If your vehicle’s computer was programmed to minimize the damage this blowout would cause, it may limit your horsepower output to control your speed. Our bodies are very intelligently designed to survive what happens to them – including what WE do to ourselves. But why do we choose to injure ourselves, and force our body to focus on preservation instead of performance? I contend that being unaware of what we are doing is a big contributor. So with that in mind, here’s 11 bad posture habits that many of us make daily. Avoiding chronic pain involves avoiding these mistakes.

1. Sitting at the computer with your head in front of your torso

Did you just pull your head way back after reading that? What is it about our computer screen that draws our face in like a magnet? For some, it may be eyesight issues that need to be addressed with glasses, contacts, LASIK, nutrition, or exercise. (Yes, you can actually nourish and exercise your eye muscles for better sight). For most, however, it’s just a natural “focus” response. The good news is that you can still think about what you are reading or typing with your head atop your torso instead of in front of it. You will feel strange at first when you pull your noggin back, but your neck and upper back will thank you profusely later in the day. Hanging your head out in front of your body forces your upper trap muscles to hang onto it for dear life, lest it fall down into your lap. So remember to slide your head back above your torso, and gently tuck the chin. Now, if you feel too far away from your computer once you pull head rearward, there may be room to move your torso forward instead. Meaning, pull your chair in. Think about it like this: don’t just commit your head to your work. Commit your heart as well.

2. Operating your car’s pedals with your hips instead of your ankles

What in the world am I talking about here? Think about how you drive. Do you leave your heels on the ground and rotate your foot back and forth from the gas and brake pedal? Or do you lift your knee and entire leg with your hip flexors to get your foot on top of the brake? For many, it’s the latter. And here’s the problem. We already have tight hip flexors (the muscles raise your knee to your chest) from sitting all day at the office. It’s unfortunate we have to sit on the way there and on the way home as well. What we should probably be doing is stretching the hip flexors before and after work instead. The last thing we should do is work them in a narrow peak range of motion (seated) by doing knee lifts in the car. Furthermore, if you drive an automatic like the vast majority (sad face), you are only working your right hip flexor. This could lead to hip asymmetry that can compromise your low back, knees, and feet.

3. Walking with your lower back muscles instead of your glutes

Try this. Stand up straight with your feet together and arms at your side. Now raise your right arm above your head while you step backwards with your right foot. We’ll come back here, but do that before reading any further so you don’t bias the test and get inaccurate information. Seriously, stand up and try this first. Ok, fine, some of you will have to do it later, already knowing what we are looking for, but hopefully you can still get a good picture of what’s happening. Does your back arch to get your right leg behind you? It shouldn’t. The glutes should accomplish this task with extension from the hip joint, without the need for the pelvis to tilt or rotate from the lumbar-pelvic connection. You might be trying to take strides longer than your tight hip flexors truly allow. Next time you walk, try to do so with perfectly still hips. No rocking the hips side to side, no twisting or tilting them forward and backward; instead, make everything happen from the top of your femur (your upper leg bone). It’s a win-win. Your back will feel better and your butt will be tighter.

4. Driving with your hand on top of wheel, or even at 10:00 and 2:00, instead of 9:00 and 3:00

Your driver’s ed teacher was not a bad person, just a little wrong. (could likely be a bad person, too, based on my personal encounters) Before I even talk about the the postural dysfunction implications, allow me as an autocrosser and track-day enthusiast to be the first (more like the 1,000th) to say that the 10 and 2 hand position limits your car control. You can make far more tight turns with both hands staying on the wheel at 9 and 3. Not to mention, if you start to slide, you have many more degrees of rotation to catch it with a countersteer, without ever removing your hands from the wheel. Why do you think Formula One steering wheels have become horizontal rectangles instead of circles, and certainly NOT some Y-shaped nonsense? So the 9 and 3 position can make you a better driver, but why is it better for your body? (By the way, one hand on top is probably the worst, it results in a combination of issues.) It’s all about your shoulder joints. Let’s do another test. Stand up, relaxed with your hands hanging at your sides. Go ahead and do this before reading further. If you removed your hips from the picture, would your palms face each other in parallel? Or do they instead angle backward toward the glutes? Maybe they even face the wall behind you! If so, that is extreme internal rotation of your upper arm bone – the humerus. This can result in a pinched acromioclavicular joint, improper axis of movement, pain, and decreased range of motion in the shoulder. In some cases, it can proceed all the way to “frozen shoulder,” where you can’t get the elbow up to even your ear. The more we can externally rotate the arms, or at the least, limit the internal rotation, the better off our shoulders will be. Think about it, we already spend a ton of time typing at work with the palms down. (Kudos to me for writing this on my iPhone, right?) Let’s at least drive with them facing each other. And if you really want to get crazy with the correction, try driving with your hands at 8 and 4 and your shoulders pulled back. But be careful, such departure from the norm has been known to send your car spinning out of control!

5. Walking with your feet pointed outward instead of forward

This a pet peeve of mine. Honestly, I have a family full of people who can’t decide which direction they are going. As they walk, it’s a step to the right, then a step to the left, followed by a step to the right … You get the picture. It’s one of extreme inefficiency, and something I’ve been working for years to consciously prevent myself. (we can often overcome genetics with a bit of focus and work) To be fair, one of the best athletes in the world (though I can’t stand him for some reason), Lebron James, has a similar issue. His feet point outward. But to be fair yet again, he requires some serious insoles in those overpriced Nike-hyped shoes of his. Imagine how fast he could really be if his feet and knees were running in the same direction as he was! I’m guessing years of wide-stance-only heavy squats with feet 45* outward contributed to his foot orientation. For most others though, it’s a lack of stability that causes the “run-away toes.” As we move less and less, and sit more and more, our hip and feet muscles get weaker and weaker. Then as we get bigger and heavier, we search for much-needed stability with a wider stance. Try having someone attempt to knock you off balance with your feet together compared to your feet apart. When we should be asking our hips, feet, and ankles to do the work of balance, we just turn our legs and feet outward – problem solved. Or is it? Hint – it’s not. Your problems have just begun. Enter pronation of the foot, collapsing arches, knee misalignment, and all the soft tissue pains that come with those conditions. Next time you walk, make sure your knees and feet are headed the same direction you are. You’ll get along better with your body when all your members are on the same page.

6. Standing primarily on one leg instead of evenly on both

I admit. I did this for years. I was recently tagged on Facebook in a photo from high school and when I clicked through to look at it, sure enough, I was standing there with about 80% of my weight on one leg. Surprise surprise, my other hip shows today for comparative weakness and I’m in the process of correcting a lateral pelvic tilt to save my knees. Same-leg-always-forward mountain bike descending and same-one-legged-landing fadeaway jump shots in weekend basketball don’t help my issue either. But at least that is just a necessary (for a short 6′ player like me anyway) part of bigger whole – fun exercise. But when I am just standing around, there is no reason to not be equally balanced with level hips. Same for you. Take it from me, you don’t want to develop a lateral pelvic tilt. It limits the amount of force you can produce without pain and complication during athletic movements. In fact, it can limit the amount of time you can stand perfectly still, as the compensating muscles on one side of your back will fatigue early. Fortunately, corrective exercise can (and has) make things much better, and eventually fix them. But why get messed up in the first place? Stand strong, stand equal!

7. Crossing your legs while sitting

For us guys, the manly thing to do is to put our ankle on our opposite thigh, and torque our elevated knee nicely against the natural hinge joint that was never meant to bend that way. Right? For you girls, the feminine thing to do is to set the back of one knee on the top of the other knee so the pelvis will tilt and rotate, resulting in one leg’s blood flow being restricted, and the lower back being nice and unevenly weighted. Right? Outside of social convention, crossing your legs for long periods of time is a postural bad idea. Now, if we were to evenly divide the time between our right and left legs – giving equal opportunity for one to be on top of the other, it may not be as bad. But the reality is – we aren’t that fair. We tend to have a preferred “leg up” if you will. And the resulting assymetries can wreak havoc on our bodies. Try to sit as squarely as possible, especially if sitting for long periods of time.

8. Carrying briefcase, purse, bag, equipment, on the same side

Most of us carry something around daily. It may not be as heavy as a big briefcase or extreme as a duffle bag of fitness equipment (our trainers get to enjoy this challenge), but if it happens often and always on the same side, the impact will still add up. Of course, the speed at which yu experience problems is relative to the weight of the object compared to your strength. When you carry a heavy briefcase on say, your right side, you engage your right traps, shoulder, bicep, and forearm muscles, as well as your left torso flexors, and even your left hip extensors. If you never carry it on your left, you are likely to end up with left lateral pelvic tilt, as well as left lateral shoulder tilt (left side tilted downward). Why? Because all the muscles that fight gravity on the right side will be stronger and the muscles that work with gravity on your left (the lever action of holding the briefcase) will be stronger. In regards to a purse, especially a full heavy one, the same applies. If the purse is small and light, it might not necessitate hip muscles, but even the upward shrugging of the shoulder to prevent the strap from slipping off could create unevenness and neck issues. You don’t need to rid yourself of briefcases and purses (unless you are carrying hotly debated and infamous “man-purse.” that may need to go.) You should, however, give equal time to both sides of your body in carrying it.

chronic pain

9. Cradling your phone between your head and shoulder

This one is quite the obvious no-no. And though we’ve left big cord-laden phones behind, the concept of cradling between the side of our head and the top of our shoulder, even with our smartphones, has unfortunately not yet totally disappeared. There is something a little too transparent with putting our friends, family, and co-workers on speaker phone around other people. You can never quite predict what they are going to say. On the other side of the line (pun intended), there is something of a betrayal felt when you find out that your own words have been broadcast to not only the person with whom you are speaking, but also everyone in the office, church, coffee shop, or family gathering, wherever they happen to be. So in our need for multitasking during the conversation, we often resort to phone cradling over the speaker option. We all have a “strong side” when we talk. Ever try to win a heated argument with your phone on your “weak phone side?” You probably won’t. This is why you see people switch the phone to their more coordinated side before solving a problem or giving an answer. (sometimes even while a business call is ringing) The result is that the more phone conversations of consequence that you have, the more likely you are to favor a single side. So if the work that your family depends on includes many phone calls, you are probably a strong-side caller. Furthermore, if it’s work related, you’ll likely be shuffling papers or typing while talking. It’s the perfect storm for strong-side phone cradling. Consider Bluetooth, or … Challenge yourself to have effective conversations on the other ear. It will be good for your brain anyway, and you might find more creative and potentially better solutions.

10. Wearing shoes with too much heel lift

I’m not just referring to “high heels” in the typical sense of the word. Many of us actually wear high-heeled dress shoes and even tennis shoes, in the practical sense. I covered this in a previous article, but when you look at today’s men’s dress shoes, as well as men and women’s athletic shoes, you notice an over-powering trend of heel lift. Everybody seems to want to feel taller in dress shoes and everybody seems to want a tennis shoe that sets them in motion, before a single muscle contracts. (You are sort of falling forward in a high heel tennis shoe) Here’s the problem. To keep you balanced in a higher heel shoe of any kind, you have to arch your lower vertebrate and lean backwards. This tilts the top of you pelvis forward, shortening tight hip flexors even more, and compressing already intervertebral discs in already over-arched lower backs even more. The nail in the coffin is the fact that the heel bone gets jammed up and rotated away from the ball of the foot, overstretching the plantar fascia on the bottom of the foot. Since the shin/foot angle never even sees 90 degrees, say nothing about less than 90 degrees, the calf muscle and Achilles’ tendon gets tight because it never has to (or should I say gets to) work through a full range of motion. The lesson? Slowly reduce the heel-toe offset in your shoes. Don’t go from high heels everyday to zero drop running shoes tomorrow. You may overstretch and injure tight tendons/tissue. But do begin a slow step/down in offset to regain ankle and foot range of motion, while loosening your hip flexors and decompressing your back.

11. Lifting things with your spine instead of your hips

Your parents may have often told you (like they did me) “lift with your legs,” but did we listen? Probably not, we were indestructible kids, right? Too bad those poor technique habits often remain in our much more easily destructible older bodies. It’s funny how we often trade a little effort now, only to encounter a lot of pain later. Shouldn’t we do the opposite? Let’s go through the “pain” of picking stuff up properly today so we don’t have to endure the pain of pulled muscles and slipped discs in the future! The muscles of your spine are primarily stabilizers. They were not designed to hoist massive loads as the primary mover. Fortunately, the muscles of your hips were. The way to do it right is to get as close as possible to the object you need to lift. Bend your legs at the knees and lower your hips (don’t bend your spine), to get your hands down to the object. Keep the natural strong arch of your back and a stable base with your feet, equally dispersing the force through both the balls of your feet and your heels. Stay symmetrical side to side – both legs doing the same thing, and keep your core strong and tight. Breath in on the descent, holding your breath for a split second during the initial exertion to further stabilize the spine (valsaga maneuver), and exhaling as you drive upward through your legs. Do not let your back round out as you stand back up. That defeats the whole purpose of the proper setup. Your spine should rather ride on top of the elevator of your hips. It does no bending of its own. It might have to tilt forward a bit depending on your balance and flexibility, but it doesn’t round out or loosen. A good way to think about a tight strong spine is to picture your head and hips as “bookends” for all the individual vertebrae that make up your spine. If you were to remove the bottom of the shelf, would the book ends be pulled tight enough and straight enough to not allow a book to fall? A falling book in this analogy would be akin to a slipped disc. Keep your bookends strong and straight – “use your legs!”

I hope you found this list helpful. Maybe you saw yourself in some of the examples. If so, indeed your head, neck, back, and knees have the potential to feel much better. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Begin to fix the imbalances with better posture exercise designed to correct your unique issues. Your energy will improve, as will the intensity of your workouts. You’ll get truly healthier, and in so doing, become stronger as your body gives you “full power.” Stay aware of your posture during all of life’s repetitive actives, and if you need help with corrective exercise so you can enjoy a fuller, pain-free life, contact us today. Our in home personal trainers are happy to help!

Hormone Imbalance – 8 Ways to Fight It

Hormone Imbalance – 8 Ways to Fight It

scared baby

One of the most frightening things we face in life comes from the “inside-out.” It’s hormone imbalance, and it can scare away weight loss while spooking our bodies into shapes that we no longer even recognize as us. Here’s some ways to fend off the fear:

1. Avoid all soy products. Soy, 93% of which is genetically modified, drives up estrogen levels, the same hormone that puts fat on girls when becoming teenagers, and contributes heavily to even a healthy women hold 10-15% more fat than a healthy man. Both men and women need some estrogen, but too much is very bad thing.

2. Lift heavy during your weight training. Heavier lifting better stimulates testosterone in both men and women, the hormone that helps drive up metabolism-boosting lean body mass. Don’t worry women, it won’t turn you into man … only an even better looking woman.
3. Sleep long and deep. Growth hormone, the “fountain of youth,” is released during sleep. Sleep also increases the fat-burning hormone leptin, which makes you feel satisfied and full. At the same time, proper sleep reduces the hormone ghrelin, which makes you hungry. The result is that you’ll reduce food cravings, while looking leaner and younger.

4. Drink only water purified by reverse osmosis. The water from your faucet has toxins that have been termed “obesogens,” due to the way they interrupt normal endocrine function and contribute to weight gain. Your fridge filter helps reduce these somewhat, but leaves fluoride, a toxic poison that will slow down your metabolism-controlling thyroid gland.

5. Don’t eat or drink from heated plastics. The softer the plastic, the higher the danger here. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical found in plastics that have been softened. Unfortunately, it can leach into your food or drink and disrupt your endocrine system. The estrogen mimicker is so strong that men working in plastic factories before exposure was as least somewhat controlled, actually grew female-like breast tissue. So use glass or ceramic instead. Not heating plastics in the microwave is obvious, but don’t drink from that water bottle that’s been sitting too long in the sun either!

6. Eat only organic meats, or at least no-hormone added meats. Commercial farming uses hormones to make their cattle as big and fat as possible, so they can sell more meat per animal they raise. Simplyfying the science, why would you want those “big fat animal hormones” entering your body?

7. Use only natural or organic soaps, cosmetics, lotions, and makups. Unfortunately, these items are sources of a multitude of estrogen mimickers and endocrine disruptors. Women, who already struggle to maintain a healthy hormone profile due their more complicated “dynamic equilibrium” instead of men’s simpler “static equilibrium,” are obviously at higher risk for exposure to these obesogens.

8. Use natural perfume or cologne. Where does it end, right? Sorry, but phthalates within unnatural fragrances mess with your hormones too. Ironically, while trying to make ourselves more attractive with such devices, they are actually making us fatter, possibly defeating their purpose. Look for all-natural types next time you to need to refill your “smell well.”
Hopefully you find these tips helpful. Here’s something to think about: How would your world change if you were totally confident in both your health and appearance, energetic and strong enough to do all that you’d really like to do?

If you are ready to improve your quality of life, simply reply to this email or call us to schedule 3 completely complimentary home-delivered sessions. We’ll show you exactly how you can reach your full physical potential, and let you decide whether you want to chase the goal on your own, or with our help. Either way, the most important thing is to make yourself a priority.

The Facts on Foot Pain And Plantar Fasciitis

The Facts on Foot Pain And Plantar Fasciitis

Running feet

You get out of bed and almost fall over, swearing you stepped on a nail that somehow was standing vertically on its head. You hobble around the house as flat footed as possible, careful not to strike your heel, where the pain is most potent. What the heck is wrong with my feet?

You’ll hear all kinds of answers from all different kinds of experts. But here’s the bottom line on what’s happening: the ball of your foot and the heel of your foot are moving away from each other at either an unnatural distance or in an unnatural manner, with each step you take. The result is over-stretching and often tearing of the shock-absorbing plantar fascia, which extends from your heel to the ball of your foot. This terrible condition has become known as plantar fasciitis.

There are 2 main causes:

1) Calve muscles that are entirely too tight, pulling on the achilles, causing the heel to rotate back, up, and away from the ball of your foot … pre-loading the fascia before significant work, and thereby overloading the fascia when you use your feet.

2) Arches that are collapsing, causing the heel and ball of the foot to move away from each other … again pre-loading the fascia before significant work, and thereby overloading the fascia when you use your feet.

Furthermore, there are 2 things that contribute to each of these causes

A lack of stretching, flexibility, or range of motion training can contribute to tight calves. A lack of strength from the antagonist (muscle opposite), such as the tibialis anterior, which lays atop the shin, can have the same effect. Often it’s a combination of the two.

Both excessive weight and weak muscles whose tendons support the arch can contribute to collapsing arches. Again, it’s often a combination of the two.

So, to truly fix the problem, we are left with 3 specific prescriptions

1. Achieve healthy body weight to allow better arching of the feet

2. Strengthen the muscles whose tendons support the foot’s arch

3. Increase flexibility of the calve muscles to lesson backward pull of heel bone

Weight loss is about energy balance. Specifically, learning how to make each bite you take and each workout you perform an investment into increasing your resting metabolism (where 80-90% of our energy is burned). It’s something I talk about all the time and beyond the scope of this article, so we’ll focus on prescription #2 and #3. (However, our focus here in no way should take away from the importance of #1 above.)

To strengthen the arch-supporting muscles, we must first know what muscles do that. That would be:

– the peroneus longs, brevis, and tertius

– the tibialis anterior

– the tibialis posterior

Furthermore, we must know what the actions of these muscles are, right? Otherwise, how in the world are we going to work them?

The peroneus group of muscles is primarily responsible for eversion of the ankle joint. This means taking the outside of your foot and lifting it up toward the outside of your lower leg. Do this 50x and you’ll learn to feel this muscle working quite quickly. Note, I did not say lifting your toes toward the front of your lower leg. That’s coming…

The tibialis anterior is primarily responsible for what is called dorsiflexion of the ankle joint. It’s the exact opposite of a calve raise movement. Consider it a “toe raise.” It’s lifting the ball of your foot up toward the front of your shin. Do this 50x and you’ll be able to pinpoint the tibialis anterior with the “burning shins” you’ll feel. If you currently have plantar fasciitis, it probably won’t take much to make this muscle burn, as it is likely weak.

The tibialis posterior is primarily responsible for inversion of the ankle joint. That is, raising the inside edge of your foot up toward the inside of your lower leg. Many people have never thought to, or are afraid to strengthen this movement, having rolled their ankles many times in the past. They think, “why would I want to make my ankle better at doing this?” That’s unfortunate, because the ankle rolls are caused by a lack of eversion strength, NOT too much inversion strength. Furthermore, this invertor plays a huge roll in maintaining a proper arch and preventing plantar fasciitis. You do yourself no favors to neglect it.

To stretch the calve muscles, you must first realize what they do, and the fact that you have 2 (or should I say 4) of them.

The calves plantar flex the ankle. That is, they move the ball of your foot downward, away from your shin. So it stands to reason that to stretch them, we need to somehow pull the ball of the foot toward the shin. But remember that we have 2 different calve muscles. The first is called your gastrocnemius and it’s origin point is actually above your knee joint. To stretch this one, just like if you were trying to work it, you must “pre-tension” it by keeping your knee locked out. The second calve muscle is called your soleus, whose origin is below your knee joint. So, to focus the stretch on the soleous, remove tension from the gastrocnemius by bending at the knee joint during the stretch.

With the concepts now understood, here’s my recommended practical plan of attack. It’s a daily plan, by the way, since it’s much easier to do something daily consistently than it is to do something every other or every other 2 days consistently. (if you don’t believe me, compare the consistency of brushing your teeth to the consistency of your current exercise program)

Today

Sit on your bed with your foot hanging off and intensely dorsiflex your ankle by pulling your toes up toward the front of your shin. Keep the rest of your leg and body as still as possible. (Try not to externally or internally rotate your foot during this dorsiflexion movement.) Do this until you can’t bear the burn anymore, or you feel like you will cramp – probably somewhere between 50 and 100 repetitions. If it’s under 50, you need this all the more. Ok, after that failure point, move immediately to the other leg and match the number you got on the first leg. Then go back and do the first leg again. Go back and forth until you have done 3 sets on each leg. The tibialis anterior has been fried.

Now we move to the peroneous longus. With the same body/leg position, evert your foot by lifting the outside of it up toward the outside of your lower leg. Try not to otherwise rotate or dorsiflex it. Just focus on eversion. Intensely evert the foot until you feel that burn, hit failure, or feel like you are about to cramp. Count the reps and then do the same number with your other foot. Go back and forth between legs until you have done 3 sets on each.

Finally, we will work the tibialis posterior. With the same body/leg position, invert your foot by lifting the inside of it up toward the inside of your lower leg. Try not to otherwise rotate or dorsiflex it. Just focus on inversion. Invert the foot over and over again until you feel the burn, hit failure, or feel like you are about to cramp. Count the number of reps you get and then do the same number with your other foot. Got back and forth between legs until you have done 3 sets on each. Congrats, you are done for today!

The Next Day

We’ll focus on stretching the calves the day after our arch-supporting muscle work. Facing a wall, lean up against it with one leg forward toward the wall, and the other leg back away from it. Plant the heel of your back leg on the ground, keep your foot pointed straight forward (not externally rotated!) and keep your knee locked out as you move your hips toward the wall. You should feel more of a stretch in the calve the further forward the hips move. If you don’t feel it, move your back leg further back until you do. It’s important to keep your heel on the ground to minimize stretching the plantar fascia and maximize stretching the calve muscles. After holding the stretch for a full 40 seconds, slightly bend the knee and hold another 40 seconds to stretch the soleous. Then switch your legs and do the same to other one. Go back and forth until you have stretched each calve muscle on each leg 3 times. That’s 480 seconds of total calve stretching. This should take you 8-10 minutes, depending on how fast you transition into the positions.

The Day after That

See “Today” and repeat

The Following Day

See “the next day” and repeat

So on and so forth …

If you are more of a “free spirit,” and you totally checked out when I started talking about sets and reps, let me summarize the thoughts above and give you a fun way to gain more control over these movements: healthy feet have both healthy arches and healthy ranges of of motion. You should be able to dorsiflex your ankle (raise your toes toward your shin), invert your ankle (raise the inside toward the inside of your leg), evert your ankle (raise the outside of foot toward the outside of your leg), plantar flex your ankle (point your toes down and away from your shin).

To work all of of these movements, write the alphabet with your toes – either in space, one at a time, or better yet, on a white board with a dry erase marker between your big toe and second toe. The white board is great because you can really see your level of control. Remember, your hips and knees should be still while everything happens from the ankle. See how can do! Be careful where you do this in case you drop the marker. You can always start in the air by hanging your foot off the end of a bed.

While you are performing either these 10 minute workouts or the alphabet drill (every other day) and waiting for the right muscles (arch-supporting ones) to be strong enough, and their antagonists (calve muscles) to be loose enough to fix your condition, you can lessen the severity of your painful symptoms with plantar fascia sleeves. These look like partial socks, and provide compression to control inflammation. More importantly, however, they provide resistance against an arch that wants to collapse under load. They also give support while still allowing the weight to still be distributed where God intended it to be – on the ball of the foot and the heel. If the good Lord wanted the middle of our foot to support our weight, He wouldn’t have built an arched foot in the first place, right? So build your arch-supporting muscles to support the arch of your foot! Like so many other conditions, optimizing the original and natural design is the only real fix.

Now, most conversations and articles on this matter are primarily filled with talk of insoles. Insoles are not the ultimate answer, so I have saved my mention of them for last. But, they can help provide some temporary partial relief of symptoms, and a reduction in pain. They might also be able to delay or lessen some of the knee, hip, and back pain that may eventually come as a result of unfit feet. Let it be known, however, that they will only make your feet weaker if constantly relied upon, as opposed the exercising your feet/ankles. Some of the best feet in the world belong to those who go barefoot the majority of their lives. So keep insoles in proper perspective.

Here’s a little insole wisdom for you:

Don’t go too soft. If you are trying to create an arch in your foot that doesn’t exist naturally, then a soft insole isn’t going to make it happen. For example, if your weight rolls to the inside of your foot, then on a soft insole, it will still roll that way, compressing the soft pad. At the same time, the extra padding under the outside of your foot, the lighter side, will now push it up even further. Basically, the soft insole exaggerates what your foot already wants to do, rather than change its behavior.

Don’t get too high of a heel. If your heel is elevated, then the ball of your foot will be asked to hold a higher % of your weight than for which it was designed. Furthermore, you will have to increase the arch in your back in order to keep from falling forward. This is not a terrible thing if you have a “straight back.” But if you are starting with normal curvature of the spine, or like many, with a exaggerated (lordotic) arch, this will certainly give you back pain as it causes you to arch even more. Here’s yet an additional negative of the elevated heel. Many people with foot pain have calves that are too tight. As you put more weight onto the ball of your foot, you work and tighten your calves even more.

Don’t get TOO high of an arch. If your arches have fallen, it’s probably happened over many years. Do you really think that you can throw in an artificial lift that raises your arches right back to where they were years ago and all will be well? If you do think so, you shouldn’t. Consideration number 1: God built the arch into your foot to act as a sort of shock absorber. It works because it’s not in contact with anything underneath it, while the ball and heel of your foot support your weight. When you stick a high-arched insole into your shoe, you are asking a part of your body to bear weight that was designed for such a purpose. Technically, the best insole would be inserted below the bones of your arch and above your plantar fascia, but that’s not practical.

Don’t get too low of an arch: this is an insole that either doesn’t do much, if it’s a harder insole, because it doesn’t change anything; or worsens the problem, if it’s a soft insole, because it exaggerates natural tendencies.

Watch out for slippery surfaces:. You can have an insole that seems just right: not too soft, not too hard, not too high, not too low … while standing still. Then, as you try to walk, you notice that your foot wants to spin within your shoe, changing where the arch support makes contact with your foot, or even bashing your little toes against the outer edge of your shoe. The insole designer focused too much on making getting into/out of the shoe easy, and forgot to add some “stiction” to the surface of the insole to help keep your foot stable upon it and in the right position. I have so far found only 2 solutions for this: either go barefoot (be careful with this option during sporting activities, as you could “catch a nail” on some part of the shoe) or wear yoga or kitchen socks, with the little “traction balls” on the sole. The advantage of the yoga socks over kitchen socks is that they are “fingered,” helping to splay (spread) your toes, which helps keep your feet healthy, while adding another level of traction.

After reading the above, you might be thinking: wow, it seems really difficult to find the perfect insole. You’re are absolutely correct. It’s a bit of a nightmare, which is why I don’t generally even recommend them. It’s better to put your time and efforts into your shoe choice, making sure you have a comfortable and effective fit – preferably without having to match an insole. Once you add an insole to a shoe, it changes the way the shoe fit you originally – which could bring some painful or annoying consequences. If you need a particular insole, be sure to try on your potential new shoe with the particular insole and make sure everything works together well before proceeding to purchase. In the end, the better option is a pair of “plantar sleeves.” These give arch support without asking your arch to bear more weight. At the same time, they can help reduce inflammation via the compression they provide. Supporting your arches with athletic tape is another decent option, but most people won’t take the time to do it properly. Hence my recommendation of a great pair of shoes, plus the sleeves, instead of game-changing insoles. If you really need more cushion, you can always try adding second pair of socks. I’m not against insoles for symptom relief while you are building better feet, but they do require that you do some “self homework” while both choosin and using carefully.

Finally, remember that RICE is your friend, but NOT your healer.

I’m not talking about the food here. It’s the acrostic that every serious athlete knows quite well: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Essentially, get off your feet, get some ice on them, tie it up tight, and get them above your heart. There are some companies that make a sort of “cold pack slipper” that makes this easier to do. Slip them on before you go to bed and sleep on your back with your feet up on a few pillows. Of course, be sure to place a pillow under the knee as well so you don’t start over-stretching other tendons too. Keep in mind that R.I.C.E. is simply a part of symptom control, not the way to fix your condition.

In summary,

Fit Feet Feel Fantastic, so work those suckers as hard as you work every other muscle in your body. You’ll be so glad you did.

Reasons & Fixes for Workout Nausea

Reasons & Fixes for Workout Nausea

guy laying on the floor

Most of us have been here before, at one point or another. You finish an incredible workout, having pushed every limit of every muscle group in your body, building a failure-inducing burn with every set, while minimizing or eliminating all your usual rest intervals. You expect to feel incredible (albeit sore and tired), like you just conquered the world. But then …. BAM … the world conquers you. You feel terrible – headache, upset stomach, trouble focusing, maybe blurry vision, feeling like you are going to throw up.

Well, there are a few different things at play, and we’ll cover those below, as well as how to fix them. The good news is this: you are a hard worker, and because of that, you are the type of person that usually sees great results from exercise – because you are willing to push your body’s limits. More good news, your threshold before this feeling hits will increase. It will take more and more volume, intensity, and duration to experience this feeling, the more fit and healthy you become.
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1) Dehydration – when you exercise, your sweat rate increases exponentially over your resting sweat rate. You cannot just “drink as usual” and expect to be ok. You must increase your water intake before and after exercise, especially if you are working too hard during exercise to keep up with hydration needs. Compensating for this loss with plenty of water will make you feel better.
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2) Acid Buildup / Buffering – when you challenge the glycolytic energy system with high-rep weight training, you burn sugar, which results in lactic acid. Your body attempts to buffer the acid buildup, but the exposure of your cells and blood to much higher acid levels than you are used to handling can leave you feeling nauseated for a while. However, the more frequently you push this system, the better your body becomes at buffering this acid. Basically the same workload becomes easier and easier for both you and your body to handle. It’s called “increasing your lactate threshold,” and it’s a big marker of your fitness. Eating a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, which “pre-tax” your body’s buffering systems the least by hitting your blood with more alkalinity than acid, will help you feel better while workout out.
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3) Muscle Tissue Damage – when you stress your muscles, you are making little tears in them, on purpose, knowing that the body will not only make the necessary repairs, but also increase the strength/size of the fiber to help prevent future tears. So it stands to reason, that you will not always feel so great while the body is responding with inflammation to those tears. Some light aerobic activity after an intense resistance training session can keep blood circulating and help the body better handle the damage and take care of the “rubble” immediately after a tough workout.
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4) Nervous System Exchange – you have 2 “sub-nervous” systems, if you will. The sympathetic, which controls skeletal muscle and external energy, and the parasympathetic, which controls internal smooth muscle like that which moves food through your digestive tract. These 2 systems are negatively correlated. Meaning, when one is working hard, the other will take a rest. During exercise, your sympathetic nervous system is stimulated with adrenaline, so your internals will take a break. Their time off can sometimes cause some stomach upset, until the exercise “buzz” wears off. (Conversely, this is why we don’t feel like expending any external energy after big meals.) A short cool-down period of “active rest” will help transition you back to daily life, much like a warm up transitions you into intense exercise.
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5) Electrolyte Balance – this is more of a problem for individuals exercising for long durations and/or in high temperatures. A banana with a little salt sprinkled on it is usually sufficient to correct most problems. If you are training in the heat for more than an hour and replacing lots of fluids, be sure to use a mixture like 50% apple juice, 50% water, and an 1/8 tsp salt per 20oz of this drink. The reason is to avoid hyponatremia, an extremely low blood-sodium condition that results when combining electrolyte loss and extreme re-hydration without minerals. If this happens, you can say goodbye to the world for about 2 days, and hopefully, your friends will fill you in upon your return as to what transpired during your absence. This is serious, but again, only a concern if you are exercising intensely for a long duration with a high sweat rate. I don’t suggest drinking juice or Gatorade during every indoor 45-minute resistance training workout.
 
I hope this helps put this occasional nauseous feeling into perspective. We don’t enjoy it, and it’s not necessary. But if you have hit that wall, at least you are pushing yourself. Now just make sure the aforementioned things are tended to, so you can continue to do so!