Tuesday, June 29, 2010
"Melee At The Park"
-Tug "O" War
...-Pull-Up X 100
-Box Jump X 150
-Tire Flip X 100
-O-Snaps x 100
-KB Sprint
Great work by everyone today! It was a neck and neck battle the whole way. The teams were dead even going into the o-snaps. One team pulled ahead on the o-snaps and had a fairly comfortable lead with nothing between them and victory but a short KB sprint. With 13 people and only 8 KBs to move, it seemed like it was a sure win. But, lack of attention to detail cost them in the end. They forgot one of their KBs and ended up on the losing side by only 6 SECONDS!!! The losing team was given ample notification of their folly after the Instructors realized the mistake. Lesson learned for next time!! Big shout out to Darcy Bell Myers for getting back up and finishing strong after getting slammed by the bungees!! She probably won't make that mistake again!! After the workout we had a great time talking, catching up with Tobin, and then playing a brutal game of flag football!! Stephanie Cherrstrom got her face smashed by Chris's leg, and her tooth took some skin out of his shin!! Leslie has a HUGE bruise on her hip from getting body blocked by a drunk-ass Will, Nick Parks damn near got his shorts literally ripped off on the first play, and everyone left the field with some type of scratch, bruise, or laceration!! Thanks for coming out everyone!! You make The Compound the best damn gym out there!!!
Choosing the right shoes for your foot type
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Originally printed in Training and Conditioning Magazine December 2006
Foam Rolling?
A decade ago strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, and physical therapists would have looked quizzically at a thirty six inch long round piece of foam and wondered "What is that for?". Today nearly every athletic training room and most strength conditioning facilities contain an array of foam rollers in different lengths and consistencies.
What happened? A major change in the attitude toward injury prevention and treatment has been evidenced by a huge increase in the awareness that hands on techniques like massage, Muscle Activation (MAT), and Active Release Therapy (ART) can work wonders for injured athletes. We appear to be moving away from the eighties injury care mode of isokinetics and electronics to a more European inspired process that focuses on hands-on soft tissue care. The success of physical therapists with soft tissue mobilization (the physical therapy term for massage) and MAT, and a number of chiropractors with ART has clearly put the focus back on the muscle. The message at the elite level is "if you want to get better (healthier) get a good manual therapist in your corner".
What does all this have to do with foam rollers you might ask? Well. Foam rollers are the poor mans massage therapist, soft tissue work for the masses. As strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers watched elite level athletes tout their success and improvement from various soft tissue techniques the obvious question arose. How can I mass-produce "massage" or soft tissue work for large groups of athletes at a reasonable cost? Enter the foam roller. Physical Therapist Mike Clark is credited by many, the author included, with the initial exposure of the athletic and physical therapy communities to the foam roller and to what he termed "self myofascial release". Self myofascial release is simply another technical term for self-massage. In one of Clarke's early manuals published as a pre-cursor to his book Integrated Training for the New Millenium Clark included a few photos of self-myofascial release techniques using a foam roller. The technique illustrated was simple and nearly self-explanatory. Get a foam roller and use your bodyweight to apply pressure to sore spots. Kind of a self-accupresssure technique. I believe these photos began a trend that is now probably a multi-million dollar business in the manufacture and sale of these simple tools.
What is a Foam Roller and How do You Use It?
A foam roller is simply a cylindrical piece of some type of extruded hard-celled foam. Think pool noodles but a little more dense and larger in diameter. The techniques are simple. Clarke's initial recommendation was not a self-massage technique but, more the accupressure concept described previously. Athletes or patients were simply instructed to use the roller to apply pressure to sensitive areas in the muscles. Depending on the orientation of the therapist, these points can alternately be described as trigger points, knots or simply areas of increased muscle density. Regardless of the name, those in the fields of athletics and rehab were familiar with the concepts of sore muscles and the need for massage.
Note:It is the authors belief that massage fell out of favor during the physical therapy boom of the 1980's not because it was ineffective but, because it was not cost effective. With the increase in use of modalities like ultrasound and electrical stimulation athletic trainers and therapists could treat more athletes, more rapidly. In Europe and in elite athlete situations such as high-level track and field and swimming, a disdain for a modality based approach and an affinity for European inspired massage still existed. Slowly, the performance world caught on to the idea that manipulation of the soft tissue caused athletes to either stay healthier or, to get healthy faster.
The use of foam rollers has progressed in many circles from an acupressure type approach to a self-massage approach. The roller is now used to apply longer more sweeping strokes to the long muscle groups like the calves, adductors and quadriceps and small directed force to areas like the TFL, hip rotators and glute medius.
Athletes are instructed to use the roller to search for tender areas or trigger point and to roll these areas to decrease density and over-activity. The major areas that respond well to the foam roller are:
Glute max and hip rotators- the athlete, client or patient sits on the roller with a slight tilt and moves from the iliac crest to the hip joint to address the glute max (video 1a). To address the hip rotators the affected leg is crossed to place the hip rotator group on stretch. As a general rule of thumb, ten slow rolls are done in each position although there are no hard and fast rules for foam rolling (video 1b). Often athletes or clients are encouraged to simply roll until the pain disappears. Video 1a
TFL and Gluteus Medius- the tensor fascia latae and gluteus medius, although small muscles, are significant factors in anterior knee pain. To address the TFL the athlete begins with the body prone and the edge of the roller placed over the TFL, just below the iliac crest (video 2). After working the TFL, the athlete turns ninety degrees to a side position and works from the hip joint to the iliac crest to address the gluteus medius.
Adductors- the adductors are probably the most neglected area of the lower body. A great deal of time and energy is focused on the quadriceps and hamstring groups and very little attention paid to the adductors. There are two methods to roll the adductors. The first (video 3) is a floor based technique that will work well for beginners. In the floor technique the user abducts the leg over the roller and places the roller at about a 60 degree angle to the leg. The rolling action should be done in three portions beginning just above the knee in the area of the vastus medialis and pes anserine. Ten short rolls should be done covering about one third the length of the femur. Next the roller should be moved to the mid point of the adductor group and again rolled ten times in the middle third of the muscle. Last the roller should be moved high into the groin almost to the pubic symphysis.The secondary technique for the adductors should be used after the athlete has acclimated to the previous technique. The secondary technique needs the use of a training room table or the top of a plyometric box (video 4). Sitting with the leg dropped over the roller allows the athlete to shift significantly more weight onto the roller and work deeper into the large adductor triangle.
Trainer BewareIt is important to note that foam rolling can be hard work, particularly for weaker or overweight clients as the arms are heavily involved in moving the body. In addition, foam rolling can border on painful. Foam rollers are available in a number of densities from relatively soft foam, slightly harder than a pool noodle, to newer high-density rollers with a much more solid feel. The feel of the roller and the intensity of the self-massage work must be properly geared to the age, and fitness level of the client. Good massage work, and correspondingly good self-massage work, may be uncomfortable much like stretching. It is important that athletes or clients learn to distinguish between a moderate level of discomfort related to a trigger point and a potentially injurious situation. Foam rolling should be used with discretion in those clients with less muscle density. Foam rolling should never cause bruising. The reality is that the athlete or client should feel better, not worse after a brief session with a foam roller.
When to Roll
Coaches and therapists are not in universal agreement over when to roll, how often to roll, or how long to roll so only general guidelines can be provided.
Rolling can provide great benefit both before and after a workout. Foam rolling prior to a workout can help to decrease muscle density and allow for better warm-up. Rolling after a workout may help to aid in recovery from strenuous exercise. The nice thing about using the foam roller is that it appears it can be done on a daily basis. In fact, Clair and Amber Davies in the The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook actually recommend trigger point work up to 12 times a day in situations of acute pain.
How long an athlete or client rolls is also individual. In a personal training setting we allow 5-10 minutes for soft tissue work at the beginning of the session prior to warm-up. With our athletic clients we do the same.
Foam Rollers versus Massage
The question often arises "Which is better, massage therapy or a foam roller?". To me the answer is obvious. Hands work better than foam. Hands are directly connected to the brain and can feel. A foam roller cannot feel. If cost was not an issue I would have team of massage therapists on call for my athletes at all times. However, this is simply not realistic. Most athletes struggle to afford the services of a qualified coach or the cost of a facility membership. At the current state of health care, prevention is generally not a covered cost for healthy athletes. With no ability to get reimbursed the cost of massage therapy alone could approach or surpass the cost of training. The foam roller can provide unlimited self-massage for under twenty dollars? You do the math.
Conclusion
The use of foam rollers has exploded over the past ten years and will continue to increase. Athletic trainers in high school or small college situations can teach their athletes to perform hands on treatment that might not have been possible due to work schedules, while strength and conditioning coaches can provide a form of massage therapy to all of their athletes. Foam rollers are a small investment to make to see a potentially significant decrease in the number of soft tissue/ non-contact injuries.
References
Clark,M: Integrated Training for the New Millennium. National Academy of SportsMedicine, Thousand Oaks, CA. 2000
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Friday, June 25, 2010
HYDRATE! HYDRATE! HYDRATE!
Don't forget to drink plenty of water. By the time you are on thirst mode, your body is already dehydrated. Pedialyte vs. Gatorade? It's a personal preference. Pedialyte much less in sugar content by comparison to Gatorade which packs more carb ingredients. Water is water. Don't spend extra on brands just because the package looks attractive. | Thursday, June 24, 2010
Compound's Keeper
The machine gun guitar riffs echoes against the walls of The Compound drowning doubtful inner voices of ‘can’t’. “On 3…2…1…Go!” Ryan, Chris and several others are pushing through their strength threshold. Weights 215#, 245# … hit the floor in succession only to be repeated again to full round completion. The trainers perfecting their craft on the 5:30pm time slot. I watch and covet their strength with my half-baked competence hoping just to keep up with them someday. They give themselves enough time to cool off and immediately welcome the next class. Chris Gedicks points out the warm up on the whiteboard and conducts the class in his manner of decorum. Like a physician, he scales or adds weights to the person’s ability. Chris’s mantra “Don’t sacrifice form over function” which translates too ‘I want to see you O.K here at the gym and not get hurt.’ To not peruse the trainers advice would be a disadvantage. Chris and Val and the rest of the crew are able to get into the clients mind and sensitivity that they know how and when to push and lead the group. No judgments pass just come in with a “Can do” attitude and they will stand by you through and through. Leslie whose been taking a weight lifting seminar on Sundays was happy to share her knowledge with Sarah’s Clean and Jerk. “Don’t lock out your knees just a slight bend” per Leslie she make sure that you understood the importance of body mechanics when lifting to full heavy weight capacity and because she took her time to a gym member that makes her a good trainer. Often times when a prospect gym goer is looking for a ‘personal’ gym, an approachable attitude and the trainer’s natural ability to make that person feel at ease can be a deciding factor to a crossfitter-at- first-sight. Robin who has done her research prior to coming to the Compound felt intimidated from her previous gym. She and her son are now regulars at The Compound. Immediately, she felt a sense of belonging and commonality amongst members. Excitement is build and renewed passion to get healthy is born. Ryan Allday, owner and/or perhaps the crown jewel of the gym, is just as accomplished and accessible for advice. You don’t get to pound 215 in repetition in an incorrect body ergonomics day in and out not to mention the demerits of perfect form points if it were a Crossfit Competition.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
WOD
"Jerry"
For time:
Run 1 mile
Row 2K
Run 1 mile
Sgt Major Jerry Dwayne Patton, 40, died on 15 October 2008 during High Altitude High Opening (HAHO) training while assigned to Army USSOCOM preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Jerry is survived by his wife Molly and his sons Chad, Cody, Chase and Connor.
