Reader Success With Functional Fitness Training - Stronger Ankles, Better Balance

Here is a good start to October. I had invited readers to send in names for my group Functional Fitness Training program (tentatively named FFT) and success stories using it. Reader Paul J sent in both. He wrote:

"I don't think I can come up with a better name than FFT.

"Some ideas….let's see,

"Simple Training Big Benefits. (The toe balance training is great; I suppose a success story is in order.)
Bookspan's Basic Training.
Bookspan's Body Basics.
Basic Fitness Training
Basic Functional Fitness
Jolie's Joint Jewels (That has a nice ring to it, it might be good for something like a list.)
Functional Physical Training.

"Well, what do you think, any keepers?"

Readers - votes? The "Basic Functional Fitness" name has the advantage (as does "Bookspan Functional Fitness") of the initials BFF, young person lingo for "Best Friend Forever."


Paul J. continued with his success story:

"I have been doing your toe balance training and have noticed some interesting things. Before I learned your toe balance training I would usually stand on one foot to put my sock on and had decent balance from martial arts, but felt my ankles were weak. I even bought a BOSU and it may have helped, but you have to be on it, to get a benefit from it. I remember the first time I tried your technique and how quickly my right foot tried to roll out.

"Thanks to your simple do-anywhere training my ankles are stronger and my balance is much better. The other day stepping out of the tub I had such an odd sense of stability when standing on just my right foot, I looked at my ankle. My general balance has improved too. I have a folding bike with 20” wheels and for the past 3 years hands free was a very bad idea, just the other day it was quite easy. All though to some this may still be a bad idea, it was done in a nice low traffic neighborhood.

"May your favorite physiologist have a fun Friday afternoon. : ) "

Thank you Paul J.


Related Fitness Fixer:

• Fast Fitness - Second Group Functional Training Exercise: Ankle Stability and Ability
• Fast Fitness - Balance, Strength, Stretch, and Socks
• Ancient Shoe Exercise for Hip Stretch and Balance

Unrelated Random Fitness Fixer:

• A Laugh at Sedentary Mindset

Better Martial Arts Training:

• Healthy Martial Arts

Labels: ankle, balance, biking, exercise ball, martial arts, readers inspiring story

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Fast Fitness - Stop Neck Pain From Biking

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Save your neck while biking, while drinking from a water bottle while biking, and get a needed upper back stretch at the same time:

1. Main concept - your neck is not a Pez dispenser. Don't tip and pinch back at the neck to look upward to drink or look forward while riding.


2. Notice if you jut your chin forward and upward to drink or ride.


3. Instead, extend upward through your entire upper back. Keep your chin fairly still and see how much upward range you can get from your upper back. Instead of rounding the upper back forward, you get a nice straightening stretch.

Craning the neck (pinching backward at one joint) and pushing the chin forward, pinches and compresses your discs, joints of the neck bones, the soft tissue, and nerves.

To help remember good biking form, I put a reminder on a healthy water bottle. Keep your exercise healthy. Click AcademyGifts or the image to order.

Related:

• Is Your Drinking Hurting Your Neck?
• Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?
• Gaze Perseid Meteors Without Neck Pain

Labels: biking, fast fitness, fix pain, green fitness, neck, upper back

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Ironman Triathlon

This is fun - this article is the 600th Fitness Fixer post.


Yesterday's post started a series on Triathlons. Triathlon races of different names, organizing bodies, and distances are held year-round. The Ironman is a trademarked name of one particular triathlon and its qualifying races.

The Ironman Triathlon is a long-distance race of a 2.4 mile swim (3.86 km), 112 mile (180.25 km) bike, and a marathon run of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km), continuously, in that order.

Fifteen men competed in the first Ironman triathlon in 1978. Then, it was a known "Fitness Fact" that women could not do hard athletics. Several sports of the time banned women. Magazine articles appeared regularly that women had special problems that made doing athletics more dangerous and less possible. Scuba magazines printed (and reprinted) bizarre myths by reporters, that women were physically predisposed to injury from heat, cold, exercise, and decompression. Even chapters in medical books had separate "woman sports" chapters with "proofs" such as shorter legs and less testosterone and blood volume. Currently, teen Asian girls are beating the times of big Western men from that era. Injury rates are shown to be not from gender as much as training. I am a former anatomy and physiology professor. Don't try to snow an anatomy professor about joint angles and limb length as proof of athletic prowess or injury. Future posts will dissect these myths from a physiology basis.

The name "Ironman" and related "Iron" labels are official property of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The WTC hosts other triathlons around the world that are called Ironman. Who owns what name seems to change, and can get confusing. Several events formerly called Ironman no longer use the word due to aggressive trademark protection. Readers can comment to keep us current.

The Hawaii Ironman Triathlon (various alternate names) hosts the Ironman world championship and owns the race held each fall in Hawai'i. Last year's 2008 Hawai'i Ironman drew over 1700 athletes. The 2009 Hawaii Ironman will be held October 10, 2009. Qualifying races required for eligibility are held throughout the year. Several qualifiers are going on right now, this June and July.


Next - Ironman Qualifiers.

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Read success stories of Fitness Fixer methods and send your own.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. Before asking more, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. For answers to personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions.

Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail" (under trumpet) upper right.
See Dr. Bookspan's Books. See class schedules, get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.

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Ironman Finisher by Jeff Kastner

Labels: biking, ironman, myths, running, swimming, triathlon

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Triathlon

This week - a fun series with a post each day about triathlons.

A triathlon is usually a race, where each competitor swims, bikes, and runs one continuous effort. The first person to finish all three is considered the course time-winner. The order is often swim first, then bike, then run, although order can change depending on the length and kind of course, and opinions of the officiating body.

Some triathlons are relays. One person enters each part, for example the first person swims, then their teammate continues the run. A race consisting of a run, bike, then run again is considered a duathlon, even though the competitors do three parts. "Run-bike" and other duathlons will be covered in future posts, as will summer and winter biathlons.

The first modern triathlon was possibly a race in 1920 or so, in France, called "Les Trois Sports" (the three sports). Within that decade, several more three-event races of various distances and names followed.

In the 1980s, different big triathlons became more popular - including the several Ironman distance races and comparable races, called full triathlon and long distance, by other organizations. The "Ironman" brand and name is highly protected and can't be used by anyone else, a topic for another post. These are usually 3800 m swim (2.4 miles), 180 km bike (112 mi), and 42.2 km run (26.2 mi). In 2005, the World Triathlon Corporation started the Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman.

Triathlon became an Olympic event at the Sydney Games in 2000. Olympic Distance is considered a short triathlon - 1500 m swim (0.93 mi), 40 km bike, (24.8 mi), 10 km run (6.2 mi). The Olympic Triathlon is about half the bike and run distance, and a slightly shorter swim, of what is usually called a half-triathlon.

The many other triathlon events can vary in length and level of organization, depending what is available to the organizers. Distances may conform to standardized organizational rules, or vary with whatever length the available course allows. A kids' summer camp may use their pool or lake and a dirt road, track, or field nearby. A town may organize their waterways or harbor and roads. Sometimes the world comes together to host international events.

In some smaller-scale races, participants can show up on race day, sign up, and go. Larger races require registration and briefings before race day. Big triathlons require qualifying times in previous races and large entrance fees.

Coming Next - Ironman.


Related:

Swim
Sixteen Miles of Cold Water
Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part I
Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part II
Better Stretches for Swimming - Cook Strait Update
Nutrition for Endurance Swim Training

Bike
14,000 Miles on a Bike - Herniating and Fixing Discs
Stronger Pain-Free Wrists When Biking
Freed From Pain, He Rides Again
Tour De France 2008 and Increasing Aerobic Capacity

Run
Prevent Main Factor in Back Pain After Running and Walking
Do Military Chants Help Running? - The Jody Calls
Fast Fitness - Run Faster
Does Running Ruin Your Joints?
Spotting Back Pain During Running and Walking - What Do Abs Have To Do With It?

Labels: aerobic, biking, endurance, Olympics, running, speed, swimming, triathlon

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Fast Friday - More Exercise Biking and Help Save the Planet

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - make light for more visible bike riding without battery waste and power pollution:

Image via Wikipedia

1. Get an inexpensive bicycle light generator


2. Use you brains and hand motor skills to install it on your bicycle wheel with your kids, or family, or a friend, or alone.


3. Get more exercise pushing against the generator while making the power for your bike headlight or safety light.

Beside powering a light for your street bike, think of exercise machines. It seems wasteful to use treadmills and stationary bicycles that require electric power to operate. Encourage manufacturers to make equipment of all kinds that run on self-generated power, and gyms to stock them.

Use shaker and wind-up flashlights instead of battery flashlights, hook up a bike to run the television, or a treadmill to power a capacitor to run lights - power to and from the people.

Related Post:

• Train Exercise is Exercise Training

More Green Fitness:

• Green Water
• Non-Plastic Non-Aluminum Sports and Fitness Food Carriers
• Fast Fitness Friday - Healthier Fitness Water
  
• Lifestyle Fitness for Kids Through Gardening
• Make Healthier Cleaners
• Junk Food Through Your Skin?
  
  
  

Labels: biking, fast fitness, green fitness, mind

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Reader Successes Endure - Next Update From Bill

After being told he'd have to retire, have surgery, and live with pain forever, Coast Guard Lieutenant Bill S. attended my workshops and went to on return to marathon biking and new work flying cargo 747's around the world - with Captain's bars. Bill has contributed three previous success stories (links below). He keeps in touch and signs his updates "Free Man."

Bill wrote me two notes of thanks over Thanksgiving:

"Hi Dr. Jolie,
" I just wanted to say "thanks" for all the help. I would not be able to do my job or enjoy my strenuous activities if we had not done something about the pain. I have much to be thankful for. I cannot start the day without remembering you as I healthfully stretch on my elbows before rising from bed. I am well though my family thinks I'm nuts as I continue to enjoy my 10km runs, 50km hikes and 100km bike rides. The activity is healthy and gives me much to look forward to. I do something everyday I can as it clears the cobwebs from my head and chases the blues away!

" Still flying as 747 captain. I could not do it without the fitness I am maintaining. I am enjoying the job more than initially. My confidence is back.

" Hot new subject: teaching myself to weld and braze so I can design and build bicycles. I am no longer happy with buying frames made by others. Wish me luck. I hope I don't burn down my garage!

" Hope you are well and enjoying all things. Your blog is a frequent inspiration."
Take care, safe journeys,
your friend,
Freeman(really!)

We are still having trouble uploading photos, so imagine the photo of a happy fit Captain Bill standing at the: top of the steps in Liege, Belgium.

Related Post With Photo:

• Stretch on elbows before rising from bed - Fast Fitness - First Morning Stretch

Captain Bill's Success Stories:

• Inspirational Update from Bill
• Stronger Pain-Free Wrists When Biking
  
• Freed From Pain, He Rides Again

Labels: biking, fix pain, readers inspiring story

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14,000 Miles on a Bike - Herniating and Fixing Discs

Kristin S was run over by a hit-and-run driver while biking home from work. The car's trailer hitch crushed her face, nose, jaw, cheekbones, and eye sockets inward to her sinus cavities. After Kristin's reconstructive surgery, her step-mother, a student in my martial arts classes, asked me to make a house call to get Kristin back to physical activity. When I met Kristin, she had just had the wiring removed from her jaw, was moving slowly and painfully, and could barely open her mouth when she greeted me at the door.

We had a good session. I showed Kristin several of my rehab methods. She was a good listener and applied everything well. She rehabbed quickly and went back to biking, her socially conscious work, and her active life.

Kristin soon designed a bike trip called The EarthCycle Campaign to raise public awareness of ways to reduce common practices that waste and destroy world resources. Her trip extended 14,000 miles (22,530 kilometers) from Fairbanks, Alaska USA to Tierra Del Fuego, Antártida e islas del Atlántico Sur, Argentina.

I donated some of my books to Kristin to raffle along with her other fund raising activity for the trip, then off she went.

Along the 14,000 mile ride, Kristin stopped in villages and cities to exchange information about simple ways that we all can lower our impact on Earth's environment.

Months of biking passed. Kristin's back pain began.

Pain worsened as she rode mile after mile, through villages, open roads, and cities. She tried exercises she found on various web sites and doctors visited in cities she passed through. She did yoga. She stretched. The pain worsened. After one medical evaluation, the doctors told her results showed several herniated discs in her lower back. From there, she was told by every doctor that it was permanent and she had to stop biking. The rehab they gave her didn't help.

I received a short e-mail from somewhere on the road - "Help me, how do I fix this, they said I have to live with pain and have to stop the tour."

I chided her good-naturedly, "Kristin you should have read my books before selling them :-)" I e-mailed her back explaining the uncomplicated way that discs can be injured and also healed.

A herniated disc nearly always bulges (herniates/moves/slips/migrates/extrudes) toward the back of the spine, not the front. What pushes it to the back? You do.

Sitting with a rounded back physically angles the spine bones (vertebrae) closer in front and farther apart in back. The "opening" in back is often mistakenly written about as a positive way to make space for the nerves, but what is missed is that the bones pinching closer in front make unequal pressure, like squeezing a tube of toothpaste from one end. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Contents are squeezed outward to the other side. The discs are mashed and degenerated in front and pushed outward (herniated), little bit by bit, in back. At left (hopefully since we're still having graphics problems) is a graphic of the process from the post: Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix. Two vertebrae are shown from a side view, as if you are sitting facing right. The right-hand drawing shows how sitting bent forward physically pushes discs (herniates them).

Sitting and standing straight would make space in a healthier way for the nerves.

Disc herniation is a process taking a few years, just like the damage of smoking or eating junk food accumulates until the heart is damaged enough to hurt.

I e-mailed Kristin telling her that a herniated disc is a simple injury, not a condition. It can heal if you understand and stop the bad postures that push the disc outward. In her case, it was sitting bent rounded over her bike, and unhealthful stretching and yoga. Here is what she did to understand and fix it all:

• To understand and stop disc injury - The Cause of Disc and Back Pain
• To see the forces that herniate discs - Disc Pain Not a Mystery Easy to Fix
  
• The first thing to do - Fast Fitness - First Morning Stretch
• Then retrain healthy biking position by noticing bad rounding - Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy? and retrain good sitting in general with Long Sitting - Simple and More Comfortable
• The hamstring stretches Kristin was given were contributing to her herniated discs - Sitting Badly Isn't Magically Healthy by Calling It a Hamstring Stretch
• So was her yoga. If you already spend time bent forward and have the usually result of a flexion injury, you don't need more forward bending stretches - Getting the Right Yoga Medicine.
• She didn't need any surgery - Fix Disc Pain Without Surgery and Studies Say Back Surgery Not Needed
• Apply these principles to all your sitting sports - Prevent Back Pain When Rowing
• Apply these principles to all daily life - Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending and How Good Would You Look From 400 Squats a Day - Just Stop Unhealthy Bending
• When should you use these principles? - How Often Should You Be Healthy?

Kristin followed the principles (above). She quickly recovered and went on with her bike tour, which lasted a full year.
Here is Kristin's web page about the ride: http://www.earthcycle.org/index.html
Click here to download her pamphlet: http://www.earthcycle.org/Pamphletengadult.pdf
Here is a page on her web site on easy healthy household tips: http://www.earthcycle.org/factsEnv.htm
Click the photo links below to see more phots of Kristin.

Labels: biking, disc, fix pain, hamstring, injury, readers inspiring story, spirit, yoga

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How a Reader Stopped Recurring Pain, Got Stronger, and Said Aha!

Liz from New Zealand left a comment on the post Surfer's Myelopathy,

"Short history, I have hurt my lower back and neck several times previously through poor lifting technique and bad posture. My chiropractor did help, but it kept happening. I used to sit at a computer most of the day at work, then drive home, then go for a 30min walk with minimum stretching.

"Last year, when my back was ok, I decided to try riding my bike to work, three days a week, for the environment, the money, and for my fitness and weight. Each way is 12 kms, very hilly too in Auckland (New Zealand). After one week, my lower back was very badly hurt. I thought I'd never be able to ride to work again, that I'd have to get dressed sitting down for the rest of my life and I could barely walk. I felt like an old arthritic lady and I was only 38.

"I searched every book and website I could find, I had the idea it was my posture but I didn't know what to do about it. I found some information, but often what they recommended I couldn't do, they were too extreme or hurt me more or made no difference.

"Then I found your website www.drbookspan.com. Aha! I thought-this sounds good. And it was.


"I bought your book "Fix your own pain" and learn't more and got stronger and healthier, following your advice.

"But still my back hurt a bit, I would forget to tuck my pelvis, then it hurt and I'd remember. I would get up and move around more, I adjusted my chair and computer to help my posture at my desk, but would forget and slump and my back or neck would hurt and I'd then I'd remember.

"I can't believe how long it took me to "Click." When you say it's for every time you bend, you mean Every Single Time! Keep your pelvis gently tucked All The Time. Keep your back straight, heels down and knees over your ankles Every Single Time you bend.

"Then I started to remember alot more, and my back only hurt a little bit. Then just recently I decided to try cycling again.

"And my lower back hurt again. I went back to your book and read some more and thought. I read about the hip stretches and read your blog and thought.

"And I tried two stretches I hadn't tried before, the sitting figure-4 stretch and the stretch on your blog where you lay on your back to do the figure-4 stretch and gently lean to the side your foot is facing.

"What a difference they have made. I have to tell you just those two stretches have changed my life. Now I walk (pelvis gently tucked) with no pain, I sit (small lower back arch, chin in, relaxed) with no pain. Any little twinge and I do the seated figure-4 stretch and it's gone. After my bike ride I get down on the ground (in the changing rooms!) and do the stretch on my back.

"I found that I needed to lift my foot well up from the floor, keeping my hips level, and move both legs, still in the figure-4, over to the side my foot was facing, helped by holding my crossed ankle with my hands and keeping this stretch for about 30 seconds. This increased the stretch and felt sooooo gooood. And continued to feel good after the stretch.

"This is the first time I've added a comment to a blog, but I just had to let you know how grateful I am to you and your generosity in sharing your knowledge and I wanted to share with your readers about the increased stretch, I've learnt so much from reading their stories and your replies, I wanted to contribute a little bit too."

Many many thanks, Liz
Auckland, New Zealand"

Liz, thank you for great work applying the concepts, rather than just doing treatments and exercises, and taking time to write to inspire and teach other readers. Send updates and photos when you can.

Going to a chiropractor does not solve the cause of the pain. Something may be tight or "out" but that is the result, not the cause. Save a lot of money and time by spotting the cause and making simple changes to stop it from happening again, yourself:

• When Liz says "tuck the hip" it means straighten the lower spine to neutral position, not to round the back. Rounding is tucking too much. There is a difference. Here is a post with descriptions and drawings - Prevent Main Factor in Back Pain After Running and Walking

• Quick movie of how to tuck a too large curve to neutral - Friday Fast Fitness - Neutral Spine in 5 Seconds

• Good bending for legs with neutral spine - Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending

• Aha! When to use good bending for legs and spine - How Often Should You Be Healthy?

• Hip stretch - Fast Fitness - Better Posterior Hip, Iliotibial, and Piriform Stretch

• Watch for this common mistake when stretching - Better Hip Stretch - Check Your Ankles

• Reader Mike demonstrates the seated figure 4 in A Whole Big Fix

• Fast Fitness - Great Hip, Side, Leg, and I.T. Stretch

• Increase your hip stretch (carefully) with Fast Fitness - Balance, Strength, Stretch, and Socks

• Ivy's story - Getting More From a Hip Stretch

• Book - Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery.

Labels: biking, fix pain, injury, lordosis, lower back, readers inspiring story, squat, stretch

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Flasher Exercises Not Best for Shoulder Pain

In A Whole Big Fix Mike fixed several injuries and made the interesting statement, "I stopped cycling to improve my health."

Back in December, I asked Mike if he wanted to get back to cycling and about his shoulder. While we were working on his story, reader requests piled in by the hundreds. Stay with us and questions will be answered. If I only answer them in order, it will be hundreds more posts before I get to questions arriving today, so make your questions fun and helpful.

Mike wrote his update:

"The cycling didn't cause pain at the time, but created bad posture habits and muscle tightness (shoulder rounded forward after separating collarbone in a crash, tight psoas muscles and hamstrings) which led to pain later. I'm walking more human-like now. Also, the air and traffic around here has gotten worse because of the housing and population boom, so I was having horrible coughing fits. Now I don't, without the aid of any medicine and, I believe, by following your diet recommendations.


"Shoulder: The physical therapist had me doing the trench coat type exercises you've described in your books as not as effective or needed, in many different ways (pictured at right), especially the "closing of the trench coat" which didn't make sense to me because they said I was overly tight in the front and too flexible and weak in the back. The visits there didn't work.

"Instead, I used the two stretches shown by your husband - right angle elbow with hand in air in Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain, and the hand in the opposite pocket behind the back while leaning sideways, in Nice Neck Stretch."

Standard physical therapy exercise for rotator cuff consists of keeping the elbow close to the waist and rotating the forearm inward and outward, like a flasher opening and closing a trench coat (photo). There are almost no daily activities that need this specific motion, not even opening a door. No one uses their muscles this way (unless you are a flasher I guess). People do these exercises then go back to daily bad overhead reaching and re-injure their shoulder, or wonder why it never heals.

The rationale for doing the trench coat exercise is that strengthening the rotator cuff will heal the injury. Strengthening is not the main issue in most shoulder injuries that I see. Misuse of the shoulder is the root cause. A common counterproductive scene is people "doing shoulder exercises" with their head and neck slouching forward, upper body rounded, which injures the shoulder with each arm lift.

Slouching the upper body forward when raising arms for any daily activity, stretch, yoga, or weightlifting will continue to injure the shoulder. What improvement are you making to your shoulder to do exercises in a way that will injure?

Mike wrote:

"I'm also concentrating on keeping my thumbs facing forward when arms are down in order to help prevent my shoulders from rolling forward. I'm feeling more upright and balanced when doing everyday activities."

I told Mike that the idea is not to hold thumbs forward. The idea is to get the purpose of the stretch so that the chest muscles lengthen enough so that the arm bone is not pulled into inward rotation. The post on this topic is listed at the end.

Mike was also "doing" one of the key stretches but not getting the stretch needed, so no benefit was occurring. He was going through a set of motions to achieve the set of motions instead of to achieve the purpose, which was to restore resting length to the chest muscles. Mike made us some photos of how he was originally doing the pectoral stretch and how he fixed the motion to get the purpose. I will post them soon so everyone can see the difference.

• It is common to stretch in ways that does not achieve the purpose, or are done in injurious ways. Then news stories report on studies that stretching doesn't improve physical performance or help prevent injuries, and no one knows why. It is not difficult to see why: What Does Stretching Do?

• What do thumbs have to do with shoulder and neck pain? - Thumbs Can Show Tightness That Leads to Upper Back Pain

• Notice upper body positioning when exercising: Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?

• Avoid rotator cuff and shoulder impingement and injury when raising arms: Overhead Lifting, Reaching, and Throwing - More Part I, and Overhead Lifting, Reaching, and Throwing Part I - Shoulder and Rotator Cuff Injury.

• Avoid neck and shoulder pain when looking upward: Gaze Perseid Meteors Without Neck Pain

• Learn how to avoid injurious movement habits and how to have healthier daily life and exercise: Health & Fitness in Plain English new THIRD edition - How to be Healthy Happy and Fit for the Rest of Your Life.

Labels: biking, fix pain, impingement, injury, posture, practice of medicine, readers inspiring story, rotator cuff, shoulder

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Tour De France 2008 and Increasing Aerobic Capacity

The Tour de France is a 23-day bicycle race. This year it runs from July 5 to 27, 2008. It is a stage race, broken into individual races, from one town to another. The number of stages has varied over years since the tour began in 1903. Course distance runs approximately 3,000 km (1,864 mi) through most of France and often through one or more adjoining countries.

Some of the essence of "le Tour" was incorporated in the synthpop song "Tour de France," a 1983 hit single by the German group Kraftwerk. They put the motto of France in krautrock (krautrock is considered a fun and positive term by enthusiasts): Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for liberty, equality, good company - which is the point of much of the race.

The Tour de France is a difficult event. Even with light bicycles designed for each stage, it is still grueling. Athletes must train for exceptional aerobic ability.

Cardiovascular endurance, also called aerobic capacity, determines how long you can continue activity at your chosen pace. When you exercise, your body needs more oxygen, so your cells extract more of the oxygen your blood provides. Aerobically fit people can extract more oxygen when exercising, and so, can do more exercise. Average exercise needs about 10 times more oxygen supplied to your active tissues, than at rest. Heavy exercise can increase need to around twenty times. If you do not have high enough capacity from training, you will be too out of breath to continue. World-class athletes have been recorded to reach over 30 times their resting rate.

With regular endurance activities, such as biking, running, swimming, your body makes many changes that improve function. You increase blood volume, the number of oxygen-carrying blood cells, expand the network of blood vessels, reduce incidence of vessels clogged with fatty deposits, increase number of cellular organelles and enzymes your body uses to process oxygen into energy, and other physical improvements, to be covered in future posts.

Breathing in more oxygen won't increase your ability to extract more oxygen. For that you need training. When your body senses it needs more oxygen than it is getting - during hard aerobic exercise or exposure to altitude - the kidneys secretes a natural human hormone called erythropoietin (EPO). EPO stimulates the bone marrow to make more red blood cells. Everyone can do this on their own through regular aerobic training. When some people want more EPO, they may try blood transfusions, called Transfusion Doping, an illegal procedure to increase maximum oxygen carrying ability. They may also inject various kinds of synthetic human erythropoietin. Whether having the money and access to these substances is fair play is topic of many debates in sports ethics. More important is that they are not healthy. Blood can thicken and cell count increases to a dangerous level leading to cardiac problems. Deaths have occurred in young athletes from blood doping practices. There have been experiments with artificial oxygen carriers based on recombinant, bovine (cow), and human hemoglobin or perfluorocarbons. These substances have potentially lethal side effects including renal toxicity, increased blood pressure, and immune depression. Champions don't need them. You don't need them.

Posts to come will cover more on performance enhancement, drugs, supplements, Le Tour and other bike races, The Olympics and other events. Posts on supplements and performance enhancing drugs:

• Human Growth Hormone
• Nutrition for Endurance Swim Training
• Get Muscles for Christmas

Books that cover aerobic training and performance enhancement are Health & Fitness THIRD edition (good for general populations) and Healthy Martial Arts (more for athletes of body and mind).

Labels: aerobic, altitude, biking, drugs, endurance, performance enhancing modality, Tour De France

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A Reader Asks About Osteoporosis and Walking Lightly

One good question launched many answers. The post Walk Lightly - Shock Absorption for Happier Joints explained a light step prevents joint, soft tissue, and plantar fasciitis pain. In the comments, Carol asked if there were, "a connection between walking lightly and oesteopenia?" This is interesting, since osteopenia is lower than normal bone density, lack of enough pulling or tension on the bones reduces bone density, and a certain amount of vibration may help bones. The simple answer seems to be, that walking lightly should not be enough to reduce bone density, by itself.

Walking, running, and jumping lightly is good exercise to load the bones, while being better for your ankles, knees, hips, and spine than jarring with each step. The post Why So Many Aerobics Injuries? cited news accounts attributing joint pain and injury to high impact activities, with examples of popular aerobics personalities of the 1980s who now say they are too crippled to exercise. Their injuries were avoidable, but not by avoiding impact exercises. Impact activities can be done safely by not stomping down hard. Even repeated jumps from a height can be done with soft landings. Good athletes run, jump, and box with far less impact than most people walk, and have good strong bones. Exercise, done right, is crucial for your bones - Exercise is More Important Than Calcium Supplements for Bones.

When muscles pull your bones during walking, running, and other exercise, the pulling increases bone density. Adding external weight loads bones further. That is a major way weight-bearing and weight lifting exercise increases bone density. The effect of muscles contracting to provide good shock absorption when moving also pulls on the bones,which should be good. The post Forensic Anthropology and Bone Density looked at influencing the shape of our bones by how we move.

The reader went on to comment, "I have always been very light on my feet, and now in my 50s I have found out I have low bone density. I have a cousin who shakes the house when she walks who has been told that she doesn't ever have to worry about her bone mass." Walking lightly alone should not have caused the osteopenia. Questions would be, what other exercise the reader does, and what things might be decreasing her bone density? For the cousin, "shaking the house" by itself may not be enough bone stimulus that anyone could tell her that she "doesn't ever have to worry." Has the cousin taken a bone density test and was found to be high (for whatever reason)? Then you can say there is lowered risk of fracture. Is this cousin is very heavy, which helps load bone? Does this cousin do regular exercise to increase her bone density? It is not likely to be a valid prediction that someone never has to worry about bone density just because they walk badly.

The reader went on to ask, "I went to a bones for life class and was taught to do heel bouncing to stimulate bone growth. i.e. dropping repeatedly from toes onto heels while standing in proper alignment. Do you agree with that exercise?" I did a few searches on the bones for life class and found that the class uses many exercises, not bouncing on the heels alone. Bouncing for a few minutes would not be enough to undo sedentary life style, and the various things people do that actively take away from bone density. You need to do all the other exercises. How much the shock wave of the impact may additionally load or stimulate the bone is still an open question.

There are studies looking at effects of vibration and tapping on bone building. Mechanisms have been studied from the effect on cat bones of their purring, to various machines that bang or vibrate. Some advertising for vibration machines goes as far as making claims that they will increase bone density. So far, none have been found to have as much bone building effect as muscular activity (exercise). Too much occupational vibration, like jack-hammer, helicopter and similar environments produces joint pain, injuries to the spine, eyes, ear, nervous, and other systems. That was one of the topics I was looking into when I did aviation medicine research, explained in Indiana Jones Rocket Sled. A news article that came out on last year's fitness fad of vibration plates promising weight loss and fitness building, mentioned a few of the problems with too much vibration, and, ironically had an accompanying photograph showing severely hyperlordotic (overarched) lower spine positioning by a person listed as the trainer. Hyperlordotic spine posture, by itself, damages the facet joints of the spine over time. It seems safe to say that the jolting of the vertebral joints against each other in this overly arched position would only be worsened by vibration. The post Prevent Back Surgery shows examples of overarched lower spine and why it causes so many injuries in fitness.

It would be interesting to know if low levels of vibration, through tap dancing, Flamenco dancing, pogo stick jumping, and similar activities, would change bone compared to the same amount of exercise without the impact. Some studies claim that swimmers or cyclists do not have as high bone density as runners, while others do not find that when they control for the direct muscle work applied to the area. There are even studies showing that Tai Chi, a most mild form movement with almost no foot-falls at all, can increase bone density in older people, just from the movement.

Along with walking or running, and weight lifting to build bone density, and using your muscles to stop stomping which can hurt the joints, you can prevent bone loss by avoiding things that reduce bone density:

• Smoking
• Drugs that are known to greatly increase risk of bone fracture: stomach acid drugs and steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, regular use of SSRI antidepressants such as Prozac and Paxil. Numerous medications used to treat different cancers may produce osteopenia (bone shortage) and osteoporosis in long-term cancer survivors. See Stomach Acid Drugs Increase Osteoporosis and Hip Fractures
• Lack of sunlight. Calcium cannot be absorbed or do its job without enough sunlight
  
• High consumption of meat and dairy products
• Drinking alcohol too often
  
• Lack of fruit and vegetables, and vegetable calcium sources
• Eating wheat and related grains by people with celiac
  

Osteoporosis and osteopenia cause major problems for men, not only women. More on this to come. Move, walk, lift weights, stand on your hands, and jump for fun, exercise, and bone building. You do not need to ooze around on tiptoe to avoid impact injuries. Jump and dance and stamp your feet for fun, without jarring your joints and retinas loose. Have fun.

Carol ended her comment to me with, "Thanks for your site - I've learned a lot about alignment, which has helped in many ways." Thank you Carol for writing so many helpful questions for our benefit.

Labels: aerospace, biking, facet joints, fibromyalgia, fix pain, impact, injury, osteoporosis, plantar fasciitis, sunlight, swimming

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Fast Fitness - Prevent Wrist Pain During Pushups and Cooking

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Learn to use strength and good joint positioning instead of compressing the wrist joint during activities that put weight on a bent wrist.

Good positioning and strength is more effective than splinting wrists straight and restricting activity:

1. While sitting or standing, press your right wrist and hand backward strongly using your left hand. Feel the right wrist compress under the weight of the other hand.
   
2. Now use your right hand and forearm muscles to press forward against the left hand. You should feel the compression come off the right wrist.
3. Hold a pushup position. Use this technique so that, regardless of your weight, instead of letting your weight compress your wrists, you use your hand and forearm muscles. Keep weight distributed across your hand, not just on the heel of the hand.
   

Use this whenever you use your wrists - for weightlifting, for standing on your hands, for typing, driving, biking, playing piano, and during cooking and cleaning.

Labels: abdominal muscles, arm, biking, fast fitness, fix pain, hand, strength, wrist, yoga

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Household Fitness in the New Year

Start off the new year with fitness as a lifestyle. Use healthy movement and body positioning as you go about all your daily activities.

David from Belgium trains balance first thing



Ivy from New Zealand uses a half squat to functionally strengthen her legs and prevent back pain while making the bed.






See - Bending Right is Fitness as a Lifestyle.

















Our friend MomPon is relative to the abbot of the Muay Thai Monks on Horseback near the border of Myanmar (Burma). We stayed with her during the time we spent at the monastery. She sits straight and comfortably in full squat to get things for dinner from her garden, then to wash dishes in her kitchen. We do the same when we help. She stands straight with chin in to reach overhead to get tamarind fruit from her tree, see - Change Daily Reaching to Get Ab Exercise and Stop Back and Shoulder Pain.

Labels: balance, biking, children, gardening, lunge, posture, sitting, squat

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A Whole Big Fix

This is the first part of a great reader story. Mike has been fixing many things. Pain started with a local radiating pain, then became much other pain. Mike looked for something to fix the first area, then ably used other techniques.

Mike writes,

"I'm sorry it's taken so long to write back. Along with teaching and family time I've been taking a graduate class and I've just finish my final project for the class. Now I have time. Here goes.

"Back in 1983 I developed a deep pain and spasms in my right buttock along with radiating pain down my leg. I had been running 40-90 miles per week as a high school and college cross-country/track/road runner. For the past 20+ years this pain has come and gone every week while lying down, walking, and mostly sitting, making it very difficult to work at a desk, sit at a class, and drive. I've assumed it was a type of sciatica and read and tried everything I could for relief.

"The only temporary relief I found was in cycling, which stopped the pain for up to 48 hrs after rides, so I ended up cycling for 20 years, including racing for a team for 2 years. All that cycling caused other problems including a slumped, impinged shoulder from a separated collarbone in a crash, tight hip flexors, allergies from all the car exhaust and desert riding, and too many close calls from SUVs with drivers calling, texting etc. in heavy traffic. I was eating far too many simple carbs for energy on these intense rides. I stopped cycling to improve my health, decrease my risks of collisions, and to save money on all that equipment.

"The pain and spasms in my rear and down my leg increased in frequency and duration. My shoulder was not improving despite a month of visits to a physical therapist. Through searching in the internet I came across Dr. Bookspan's Fitness Fixer and books in early 2007. The logical stretches and strengthening moves worked much better than anything I had tried before. One time during a long class my rear and leg were killing me, so I applied a stretch (I learned from one of the books) while sitting in the chair without anyone knowing. The pain went away for the rest of the class. (Since applying Dr. Bookspan's shoulder retraining) my shoulder rarely bothers me and I've gone months without any pain in my rear and down my leg.

"I've also been enjoying Jolie's books for the sections on nutrition, spirituality, mental focus and general health and exercise advice. Working on all the parts at once seems to help the individual parts even more. I'm now working on walking comfortably without orthotics (it's getting better) and figuring out why my left knee and right hip pop so much. I'm very fortunate that I'm without pain now though, thanks to Dr. Bookspan's advice.

"I've attached some photos of the (hip) moves and stretches that work for me. Thank you! Mike "

Just as I was uploading this post today, Mike wrote me:

"Just wanted to let you know that my wife had a lot of pain and tightness in her hip yesterday from squats without warming up enough and possibly poor technique. She was very uncomfortable in any position, even lying down. I showed her how to do the hip stretch that worked for me, from your book, and it IMMEDIATELY, stopped the pain and tightness and she still feels great the next day! Mike"

I asked Mike about his statement, "I stopped cycling to improve my health." His story will continue, I hope next week.

Labels: biking, computer, hip, orthotics, readers inspiring story, running, sciatica, shoulder, squat

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Stronger Pain-Free Wrists When Biking

Reader Bill fixed his neck, shoulder, and upper and lower back pain, and went back to the bike riding he loves. He tells how he did it in Freed From Pain, He Rides Again and Inspirational Update from Bill.

Bill is now away on his current adventure, flying commercial cargo flights all over the world. He tells about it in Reader Successes Endure - Next Update From Bill. He took time to send some photos of how we changed simple wrist positioning to stop hand and wrist pain when biking:






Bill writes:

"I find it helpful to change hand position frequently. It minimizes discomfort and numbness. Ensure position does not put a lot of weight on your arms. Seat and feet should carry most of the weight.

"Labor day ride (September 2007) with a quick group of us old-timers (ages 55 to 66) rode 67 miles in 3hrs 30min. That's 19 mph! Best ride I've ever done. No pain or numbness. Your stuff sure helps."

You don't need to always keep wrists straight to stop pain and pressure. Healthy wrist bending is needed for pushups (Change Common Exercises to Get Better Ab Exercise and Stop Back Pain), holding a plank position (Abdominal Muscle Exercise - Better, Different, Not What You Think), handstands (Leg Stretch that Strengthens Arms), and other fun activities that weight your arms. The idea is to not shift all the weight to the bent wrist joint. When putting weight on a bent wrist:

• Distribute weight over your entire hand and fingers.
• Use forearm muscles to prevent the wrist from pinching back under all the weight.
• The idea is to keep your weight up on your muscles, not just passively compressing the joints.

Use healthful positioning and muscle use to prevent wrist pain when cutting food, using a keyboard or data entry device, gardening, and all the fun exercises you can do. Future posts will give specifics for each, but you can apply the general concepts now to all you do. Confining the wrist to a splint does not stop the source of the problem and is not healthful in the long-run. Wrists need movement and loading to keep the joint healthy, the muscles strong, and bones dense. Just do it in a healthful way.

Labels: biking, hand, readers inspiring story, wrist

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Inspirational Update from Bill

In May, blog reader Bill (Lieutenant William Slabonik) sent an inspiring story - Freed From Pain, He Rides Again. Bill had been told by several sources that surgery and disability retirement were his only options. He used Fitness Fixer information to change a future as damaged as x-rays of his spine, to the active life he loves, without pain. He used information from the upper back and shoulder posts, among others, to learn how neck discs, upper back muscles, and other structures are damaged with mal-positioning, and how to employ healthy muscle use so the discs can heal and arm numbness stops, even riding long bike trips, lifting heavy gear, and in his demanding work as a pilot. He fixed low back chronic pain with the simple neutral spine repositioning away from a hyperlordotic (over-arched lower spine) when standing, shown in Prevent Back Surgery and all the posts on neutral spine.

In the May update, Bill told how he fixed the injuries and rode the Pennsylvania State Police Memorial century ride. Last week Bill reported in:

"My goal of riding the 200 km night ride down the Jersey shore was a success. I rode from 10pm 'til 9am with no problems covering the distance of 125 miles. I actually felt like I could go on a lot further. I have also completed a 2-day 200-mile ride to visit my brother-in-law in Maryland. I now can get on my bike on any day and reasonably crank out a hundred mile ride. No serious pain or discomfort noted. Only the usual slight soreness in the rear end and hands and elbows that seems to come with any long ride. The neck, shoulders and back did incredibly well, - I constantly checked my position while on the bike and did some "Healthy Stretching" whenever I was off the bike. Mission accomplished."

Note to readers - I will cover hand and arm soreness with biking in posts to come. I already worked with Bill to prevent local hand numbness from compressive leaning on the wrists, which Bill put to immediate use. I asked Bill to take photos for you of his simple changes in biking positioning to change damaging neck, shoulder, arm, and hand use to healthy ones.

Bill says,

"My son has promised to help me with the photos. I must ride herd on this project and get back to you soon.

"My confidence and health have skyrocketed. My daughters are leaving for college and I am looking forward to an empty house soon. They have thanked me for being there when they needed me and asked me why I just don't go and do something I would love to do. I am applying for retirement this morning and have completed an interview for a job flying in mainland China. I have two other airlines trying to get me to interview. Wish me luck on my next amazing adventure. And thanks for your help and encouragement."

Bill - Free Man

Bill, all hats off to you. Keep flying high. More good things are still to come. Keep us posted.


More from Bill:
Bill demonstrates wrists for biking - Stronger Pain-Free Wrists When Biking
Next update, with Captain's bars - Reader Successes Endure.

More inspiring stories coming next from readers Jill and Ivy.

Labels: biking, hand, neck, neutral spine, readers inspiring story, shoulder, spirit, upper back, wrist

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Train Exercise is Exercise Training

Reuters News India reported that yesterday in the eastern state of Bihar, the driver of a stalled electric train asked passengers to help get it moving again. We call this a G.O.P. car (get out and push).

The train had stopped in an electrically neutral area between wires. Hundreds of passengers pushed for more than half an hour to move the train until it connected with the electric contact overhead to supply power again (different distances, time, and why the electric connection to overhead wires was lost, according to different news sources).

In the 1970s and 80s, I often worked as a scuba instructor and dive guide in the Caribbean Islands and Mexico. There were strange tides one day, and the boatman accidentally ran the old wooden dive boat (with no radio) aground, far from shore. It seemed reasonable enough (to me) to put everyone out in the waist deep water, decreasing the weight and draft (distance from the waterline to the bottom of the hull). All the paying passengers and I got to enjoy a yo-heave-ho of functional exercise in the water pushing the boat free under the shining sun. The boatman stayed onboard to steer. I also put the two children on the trip with us off the boat to help, although the shorter one rode on my shoulders, excitedly pushing with both hands and feet.

For many years, it has been an interesting question whether exercise will increase or decrease risk of decompression sickness after scuba diving. Exercise seems to affect evolution and dissolution of bubbles from the dissolved nitrogen absorbed and released during and after scuba dives. It is turning out that exercise can both increase and decrease risk, depending on the timing of the exercise, to be covered in future posts. It is a topic for divers from military operations to vacationers trying to adjust their risk factors, and divemasters and scuba instructors who haul anchors, gear, and passengers up and down boat ladders (and G.O.P. boats).

Going back to trains, at least 30 years ago, my mother and I came up with the idea that in addition to dining cars, rail lines should have an exercise car, instead of passengers being confined to long sitting. We envisioned stationary bicycles and other simulators hooked up to generators that would run lights (or television), or record the distance traveled, with windows or screens showing passing scenery like a nice bike trip or race. Participants could race with or against each other. (Originally, Mom thought the cyclists could power the entire train.) Ideas flowed, like having proceeds help set up exercise and health programs that develop body and spirit in poor neighborhoods passed though. We came up with several names like "Training" and other variations, and thought it would be a new exercise craze and sure-sell for the rail industry. We made inquiries and didn't hear much back. You heard it here first - now date-stamped in this blog as our fun idea.

I was one of the first people to develop fitness on cruise ships, back when cruises were thought of as only deck chairs and buffets. Let me know if you want stories (or to set up a fitness cruise). Rail lines, are you interested? I will develop it for you as a fun fitness "Training™" program.

Labels: arm, biking, education, green fitness, hyperbaric, performance enhancing modality, scuba, strength

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Freed From Pain, He Rides Again

Reader Bill Slabonik had sports injuries, motorcycle and bicycling accidents. He was a good exerciser and hard worker, doing all the conventional exercises and ways of lifting during his regular workouts, long hours sitting as a pilot, and vigorous work in the Coast Guard. I know these things because I've seen his x-ray and MRI reports.

Bill writes:

"After two years of waking every couple hours with extreme pain in my shoulders and both hands completely numb, I sought relief from the medical community. Thinking that something was wrong with my shoulders, I was very surprised to find out that I had degenerative disc disease in my neck and spine. I was scheduled for epidural injections and advised that if they did not help, surgery was the only alternative. I was advised that I might consider disability retirement.

Not being pleased with my choices, I was able to get a script from my family doctor for physical therapy. Two months of therapy gave encouraging if small improvements. Back spasms stopped and pain diminished somewhat. Encouraged by this I continued to search online for neck and back pain fixes until I was fortunate to find a website maintained by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. The articles made logical sense to me and I soon ordered her book "Fix Your Own Pain." I noticed rapid improvement as soon as I began to practice her methods. Encouraged by these results I chose to attend one of her clinics held at Temple U.

I have returned to an active, athletic life. Waking due to pain is a thing of the past. I am setting and achieving physical goals that seemed impossible only a year ago. I am hiking farther and riding faster than I could have dreamed of. I am using post-it notes in my car, at my desk and on my flight kit for the airplane as reminders to maintain good position.

The photo is my neighbor Ken and myself taking a break from the year's Pennsylvania State Police Memorial century ride. He is also putting your principals into good use. We rode 50 miles that Saturday morning without pain or discomfort. Ken is 61 years old and I'm 55. The amazing part is that I had over 180 miles for the week without pain. Ken and I have made a goal of riding together on each of our birthdays, the number of miles matching our age, i.e., a 62 mile ride this fall for Ken's birthday. Oh, the ride was from Hershey, PA to Mount Gretna, PA and back. A nice loop through the central PA farmlands. Thanks again for your encouragement and books. I am feeling fantastic today!

Your work has not only provided hope but is putting life into my years. I want people to know that there is help.

I normally shy away from putting myself out on display like this, but if it encourages others to fix their pain then it was worth it. Thanks again Doc. I'm out mowing the lawn by hand.. two hours..no pain...riding my bike to work tomorrow 42 mile round trip.. I'm not going to stop."

Sincerely,
LT William M. Slabonik
US Coast Guard (Retired)

Fun note: the surname Slabonik means "Free Man." Bill now signs his e-mail updates to me as Free Man

Read Bill's continuing adventure in Inspirational Update from Bill
And how the Lieutenant became the Captain in Reader Successes Endure - Next Update From Bill.

Labels: biking, disc, fix pain, injury, readers inspiring story, shoulder, spirit, upper back

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