Lessons at Donegal Elementary

It was a beautiful September afternoon in 1988 when I stepped onto the field behind Donegal Elementary.

About once per week, toward the end of practice, the Donegal Browns football coaches lined up the 5th/6th grade team to scrimmage the 7th/8th graders. The idea was to practice with a full team of 11, as each team alone held insufficient players to field a full offensive and defensive side of the ball. Of course this mostly meant 11- and 12 year-old children getting pummeled by raily and mustached 13- and 14 year-olds.

Parents and cheerleaders often gathered at the edge of our field to watch the action. I was the starting quarterback and defensive safety of the 5th/6th grade team, football obsessed, and loved the challenge. 

On offense, our line caved under the weight and speed of the older players. As usual. I remember one offensive series where after being sacked on three or four consecutive plays, I shirked a few defenders to gain some yards and view open field, only to be dragged down from behind by the collar of my shoulder pads. The actual tackle strained my neck. The idea of being caught from behind inflamed my ego.

Still, we gained a few yards against the big guys before our turn on defense.

I remember the play when Kevin Keslar took a hand-off straight up the middle through a gaping hole in our defensive line. I read the play unblocked, accelerated directly forward, fully committed to shutting him down. We both ran in low and  

BOOM.

There was a bright white light. Then dark orange. I found myself in the defensive huddle not knowing how I got there. I had a mild headache and drifted around for a few plays before practice ended. That was the first time I experienced damaging, educating - you are neither an exception nor invincible in this world - pain.

Nobody told me to prove something against the older players or to take scrimmages so personal. Nobody taught me to tackle by leading with my helmet. Nobody taught me about concussions. If they did I sure wasn't paying attention.

That's how concussions happen. Sure, they also occur accidentally. But this was no accident. You can advocate for rules and equipment and player education. But coaching oversight and a naive kid on center stage in a contact sport is far more than enough to create problems.

Relative risk and reward.
Glory and pain.
Not everyone wins.

This is the nature of life. It's plenty to learn for a young boy.

I still think football and other contact sports are worth it, to some extent, but that's based mostly on personal tradition. I really don't have any good answers.

- - - - -

Red Bull Bull

I recently overheard conversation at the water cooler about members of a local high school soccer team drinking Red Bull before a game.

"...And I can't believe those girls can get away with that."
"Yeah, that stuff is terrible. Probably illegal." 

I held my tongue, suspecting, wondering how many gallons of morning coffee and afternoon loaded frozen coffee drinks these middle aged women consume in order to spin the rumor mill and travel from desk to copier.

Reports indicate that over 50% of collegiate athletes and over 30% of all adolescents consume energy drinks. Statistics don't indicate what percent of these are for party or X-box binges?

Are energy drinks dangerous?

If by dangerous you mean relatively safe and effective for enhancing the ability of the body to utilize fat for energy (and therefore endurance exercise performance), enhancing muscle activation at both the brain and neuromuscular junction (and therefore strength and power performance), lessening rate of perceived exertion, decreasing reaction time, and increasing concentration, focus, and motor memory...

[I have plenty of references if you like.]

58% more acceptable than a Red Bull

Then sure, energy drinks are wicked dangerous. The Red Bull police should let the coaches, parents, and athletes decide governing bodies of competitive sports decide what is admissible in their own arena. There are no bans on energy drinks, at least right now (though some committees ban caffeine in outrageous amounts).

The line is beyond grey. Ban Monster and Rock Star, but not Starbucks Refreshers energy drinks? What about having a Mountain Dew before the game? Three Mountain Dews? Ban Vegas Fuel from scholastic baseball but not ski club?

So yeah, I'm pro energy drink. I don't drink them because coffee is my caffeine vehicle of choice. Either way, restraint is definitely in order:

1. Use energy stuff only when you need an edge. Energy drinks are no substitute for consistent, smart, and intense training with appropriate rest and recovery. No, you don't need the eye of the tiger for a Game of Thrones movie marathon. Regularly using energy drinks just to get through a typical day calls for a serious life evaluation. There is something wrong (or soon to be) that you can't blame on Red Bull.

2. Know about diminishing returns / Don't be stupid. Feeling amped is relative.The more you go to the edge, the less you get out of it. If you use too much of anything too often you will want and need higher doses more frequently. Suddenly you're caught in a downward spiral that leaves you bungee jumping from an airplane into a graffiti strewn skate park for a first attempt at an ollie kick flip. Without elbow pads.



But seriously, adrenal fatigue is real. Take inventory of your overall caffeine intake. Athletes should make efforts to save any caffeine for when it counts. Check labels. Make sure that for every 4 hours hype you spend at least 32 chill.

For example, a 175 pound athlete would have the best dose response (effectiveness without side effects) at about 400 mg of caffeine. For comparison, a generic cup of coffee has approximately 150 mg of caffeine per 8 ounces, and Pepsi contains about 35 mg per 12 ounces. Most energy drinks contain about 75 to 100 mg of caffeine per serving, plus taurine and a few other ineffective ingredients.

3. Treat caffeine (and other ingredients in energy drinks) like a drug. 

Because they are. Make sure that you're using the effective, mildly addictive drug for what it's worth and it's not using you. Do you imagine there's anything in this world, much less any drug, that is healthy or beneficial in regular high doses? You are not an exception. The body knows the truth, sooner or later reveals the truth.

Otherwise I'll have to get Red Bulled up to defend you at the water cooler.

 - - - - -

beyond calorie burning

Most people know plenty about the idea of energy balance, calories in - calories out. What many don't fully understand, despite the millions of diet and exercise resources out there, is that exercise is an inefficient and sadistic way to work at day-to-day energy balance.

Remember that time when you huffed and puffed, strained and dripped sweat on some exercise contraption and 30 minutes later your face dropped as it reported that you burned 340 calories? You stepped down deflated, wondering if the stupid calculation accounted for boredom and hustle.

The bad news is that 340 was probably ball park accurate. And your body would have used almost one third of that to simply maintain itself on the couch. So all you profited from the disciplined effort was a measly 250 calories, and you blew nearly half of that by tasting your friends energy drink and eating two of those purple tootsie roll things.

= at least 90 minutes on the treadmill

Thirty of your limited minutes on this earth, plus preparing and driving to and from the gym, all for 150 calories? As the band Switchfoot said, we were meant to live for so much more than burning out on machines that accomplish little more than calorie burning. Or something like that.

Don't get me wrong. Activity is better than inactivity. Jogging, biking, Zumba, and elliptical...ing all pay dividends for your cardiovascular and mental health. And if you enjoy endurance activities or compete at them, have at it. The claim here is that these forms of exercise are not nearly as important as most people think for the purposes of energy balance.

Without sounding too sophisticated, not eating crap is clearly the most efficient and effective way to achieve the energy deficit required to lose weight and get in shape.

The good news is that all the time on the treadmill or stationary bike or elliptical isn't necessary. The bad news is that there will be no more weak excuses about not having time to get in shape.

Before marching over to your local gym under dark of night with torch and pitchfork, please know that exercise is important, but maybe not in the way that you thought. Exercise signals the body to retain muscle when it's dealing with a calorie deficit.

The body knows that muscle is costly, metabolically speaking. When you take in less calories than you expend, it's the first thing to go. Yet having more muscle means that the body burns more energy every second of every day which in the long-term means that you can eat more burritos without tipping into calorie surplus.  Besides, muscle is functional and looks good and is the root of all awesome.

farmers walk  !

 Now, which of these two activities sends a bigger and better "signal" for your body to retain muscle as you cut a slight calorie deficit? Which requires more time to effectively "get in shape?"

recumbent bike (zzz)

It has been shown that endurance exercise on top of a calorie deficit causes only a slight retention of muscle and decreases bone density as compared to cutting calories and doing no exercise at all. Meanwhile, all those who regularly lift relatively heavy things are enjoying diamond-like bone density, enjoying each others company over meatball subs while riding the train to Awesomeville.

So in summary, you can devote much of your life to learning how to properly take in calories and then burning those calories or you could try:

1. Be active. Find physical work that you enjoy or is productive, basically anything that doesn't involve computers or TV or video games.

2. Lift heavy things for 30 or 60 minutes, including a little corrective/prehab type work, two or three times per week.  **Do this in order to build and retain muscle so that you're not caught on the treadmill of more and more exercise and less and less food just to maintain energy balance.**

3. Eat foods that are minimally processed. Load up on vegetables (if you have to) and lean protein. Loosening the diet about once a week supposedly helps both psychologically and physiologically. So live a little too.

Local to Mechanicsburg, I would suggest the knowledge and accountability over at http://www.synergyfitnesspt.com/
- - - - -

kinesio tape - what's the deal

Do you want to know what's the deal with kinesio tape? Me too, especially with all the recent proof positive that it makes you a cool and attractive Olympian.

I've read the sparse amount of peer review research on kinesio tape. The two decent studies that I came across were not terribly well controlled and found marginal improvement at best. Let me know if you'd like the references.

But I hear things about kinesio tape. I've tried it on my patients, giving a total disclaimer something like "This is an adjunct treatment for your condition but this is why I would like you to try it." Sometimes I've even plainly stated that I'm skeptical but some people report good results. Then I've answered questions to the best of my ability, and watched.

Most clients like it. When I ask them an intentionally open ended question like "What do you think?" they almost always say that it helps. The clear results in my highly nonscientific study is point number one in the case for kinesio tape.

Point number two in the case for kinesio tape is another experiment from when I severely tore my pectoral tendon in mid May. Now this was an injury that would clearly require reparative surgery. There was a massive amount of internal bleeding that crept down my arm at a rate of inches per day, ballooning up my bicep and showing through the skin.

Two or three days after that injury, I applied the tape to only half of the bruised area. "Chew on this, kinesio tape, if you're so great at decreasing myofascial friction and intramuscular adherence and improving lymph and blood circulation."

I could hardly believe my eyes the next morning. The tape turned a huge blotch of underlying hematoma into broken up bands that corresponded exactly to the tape placement. The whole area felt less blocked up. Yes, there was, oh, 23.45% less blockiness, if you want it scientifically.

I've carefully considered various aspects of this treatment. I've done some research and personal experimentation. There's one primary reason as to why I remain skeptical on the legitimate clinical effectiveness of kinesio tape. And I've found that the number one point against kinesiotape is...

CUTE COLORS.

And a close second point against kinesio tape is...

NEEDLESSLY ELABORATE TAPING PATTERNS.

Really? If kinesio tape is to be taken seriously, the promoters need to lose the cute colors and simplify the process. Don't tell me for a minute that the difference in the elastic properties of sky blue versus black versus pink tape result provides a minimum detectable effect on fluid or soft tissue variables beneath the skin. And there's simply no circulatory, lymphatic, or muscular anatomical justification for that cool octopus tattoo thing running down your abs.

Conclusions:

Since the side effects are nill, there may be some benefit (including psychological and looking cool), and there's no cost to me beyond a roll of tape, I'll keep the experiment rolling. I'll give clients full disclosure so they know their roll in helping me find what's the deal with kinesio tape.

 - - - -

Spartan Race Review

Some friends and I signed up for the PA Spartan Sprint, supposedly 3 miles of various obstacles. Five miles of mountainous terrain that takes the average participant well over two hours to complete is not a sprint.  

Map of actual race course.

A freakin Gatorade at the 45 minute mark would have been paradise. But no, the guys and I (and everyone?) produced 90 plus minutes of intense activity in the heat on four dinky cups of water.

This race was a marathon of misery and awesomeness.

Yes, 5+ miles is much different than 3, when every mile includes carrying and dragging buckets of rocks and cement blocks, tire flipping, creeping through gravely mud, and (the worst) running, walking, crawling, collapsing to evaluate your existence, on double black diamond ski slopes under the July sun.

There was much climbing and carrying and pulling, me with 1.5 arms. Just a few months ago I estimated that this event was out of the question following another little event known as Torn Pec and Surgical Repair.

There were hoses and hecklers. Hill-mud, hill-mud, hill-mud. There were walls to scale, some of them 8 feet tall. No one told you not to lunge down rocky terrain. There were no warnings about wiping out on the balance logs.

Some of the hundreds of spectators should have been participants. Some of the thousands of participants would have made better spectators.

There were many people trying to make it over the walls, failing horribly at stacking and stepping and boosting. Not even close. Many were sitting on the ski slopes, head hung between legs, unable to go on and too far to turn back. The task was nothing for the faint of heart and lets just say that there were many who signed on with a false sense of their abilities.

Make no mistake, merely completing this race is definitely an accomplishment.

The guys and I came in the top tier of the Open Division contestants. Our times would have placed us ahead of the middle of the one Elite Division that took place earlier. For our first race, for any race, I'm extremely proud of Kyle and Cort and Ben, and of our showing.

If we do it again next year, we will take specific training a little more seriously and enter the "elite"  heat. We may actually have to try doing more hill endurance type misery.

Arrooo.

how to build huge calves

Visiting a local gym to assist a client transitioning out of physical therapy, I heard a strange noise coming from behind, making it difficult to hear the person in front of me. I turned to witness a man groaning. Moaning. Squinting with face to the ceiling.

He was doing seated calf raises.

This one goes out to you, Seated Calf Raise Machine Calf Crusher.

The man wasn't asking for advice. He was working them calves. It was impossible not to judge him.
I mean, he was at the gym. Strength training. He could have been doing a lot worse with his time. But all the moaning and yelling and Big Dawg drama was just begging for attention of some kind. I was tempted to go ask him what his Seated Calf Raise Machine Goals are.

If you want to know how to build huge heavy chunks of blocky bulk that extend to the top of your feet and make you feel like you're running around with cinder blocks duct taped to your shins, then you should ask someone else.

Perhaps they will share their Secret Russian Seated Calf Raise Machine Routine, shouting spittle in your face until you blow that thing up. Because the soleus muscle is preferentially recruited when the knee is flexed and the gastrocnemius is on slack and blah blah blah.

But if you want to be strong and fast and efficient, and you're feet and ankles are in relatively good health and you care about functional anatomy, you should probably get off the seated calf raise machine. And the standing donkey calf raise machine.

If you really want your calves to function well and maybe grow a little, you should try my very own

Calfy McCalverson Anti-Calf Routine.

Squat and/or Deadlift: Once or twice per week, for a lot of weight and a lot of reps. Just do it, and you will grow the right stuff in the right proportions, all over.

Single Leg Jump Rope: Once or twice per week do this as a warm up or as a finisher. Do 100 jumps on both legs to tune in and don't even look at your calves until you can do 100 single leg jumps in a row on each leg. 

Hill Sprint with *Special* Recovery: Sprint up a fairly steep hill and walk down backwards with nice long controlled strides.

Caution - You will be VERY sore in the calves the day after walking downhill backwards between hill sprints. You will stir up achilles tendinopathy and other ankle/foot related problems if you do any of this too-much-too-soon. So go slow, okay?

If you're relatively heavy or have structural foot issues, you need to pay particular attention to the right foot wear and slow progression. These exercises are all fairly aggressive in terms of strain and impact. You may need to do months of prehab before your muscles and tendons are ready for this.

If you manage to achieve the resolve and the type of body that comes with these exercises done on a fairly regular basis and you still CARE about the size of your calves...

Well, I truly don't know what to tell you.

But I definitely have someone to introduce you to...

- - - - -

Lessons from Blake

Blake went through the Slippery Rock DPT program at about the same time as I. We were like minded and got along very well. Actually, everybody liked him a lot.

Blake was in excellent physical condition. He carried around a massive upper body: chest and tris, back and bis. His legs were tiny. Blake was an intelligent and kind How Much Ya Bench caricature. But this wasn't due to neglect. On the contrary, he squatted and leg pressed twice per week, to exhaustion.

His legs were simply tiny (relative to his upper body) because he did...
sooo
much
cardio.

Blake jogged often. He stirred away on a stationary bike almost every day for at least an hour while studying. And he wouldn't let up, as someone in his family had suffered a cardiovascular event in their 50s. 

At about the same time, I lifted harder, quit running around so much (school and having a life necessitate that), and allowed my legs to recover. I went from barely being able to dunk with one hand to dunking in games and throwing down 2-hand reverses.

I doubt that Blake needed all that cardio, that an active 25 year-old who eats very healthy and exercises regularly requires that to stave off any genetic predisposition to heart disease. But the point here is that you can't have it all. If long duration activity and fatigue made people into powerhouses, we'd have a lot more of those walking around.

You cannot be great at endurance events and as fast and powerful as you possibly can be. If you're untrained or deconditioned, you can improve all areas simultaneously for a while. If you want to be fast in the 800 meter dash or marathon, there are a ton of track coaches and trainers eager to run you into the ground with endurance exercise.

And that's absolutely fine if endurance events are your thing. 

But if you want to gain "foot speed..."
If you want to gain explosive strength for leaping and accelerating and hitting...
If you want to get jacked and awesome...

(And from the questions I hear, this is what a lot of people are after...)

You must lift heavy things for low to moderate reps. You must sprint and jump and accelerate full-bore, teaching your brain the art of explosive total body effort. You must push yourself without chasing fatigue for the sake of fatigue, which short circuits your long-term progress.

You must rest well, and do just a little heavier - higher - faster the next time. 

elite boxer, football lineman, basketball forward, wrestler, and marathon runner