"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own". - Bruce Lee
Editors Note - This particular post may be deemed by some to be controversial. Some of you may even cry. I doubt it, but in case of such an event, please, collect yourself calmly, and grow a pair.
Hello snowflakes,
Oh, how I have been waiting to write this particular newsletter. I just wrapped my research on tonight's topics and let me say, I have been itching to talk about them. So without further ado, here we go.
In Sickness and in Health - how to handle illness and mobility during the winter
First, lets tackle the easy one - illness. Look, with the unpredictable weather in the Midwest, viruses have found a nice environment to blossom, and over the last 8 days, I personally have been torched by fever, double ear infection and sinus infection, leaving my forehead to feel like its protruding out like a Cro-Magnon. I know several others have also been sick, be it stomach, flu or colds. Its that time of the year and it sucks.
Now, aside from the obvious ways to avoid getting sick, a couple extra notes - increase your vitamin C, and D intake. Also, a quality fish oil, or EFA is going to be a huge boost. Most of this can be accomplished through clean eating, or Paleo, as the more carbs you eat - the more susceptible you are to illness. (See Robb Wolf - The Paleo Solution, for further detail). One of the big reasons we get sick and stay sick especially at this time of the year, is due to poor nutrition, blamed on the holidays, which encourages a virus to hang out past its original date of departure from your system. They inhibit critical vitamins essential for autoimmunity to normalize, (D,C,Omega 3 Fats) thus leaving you open to every sneeze becoming an unwanted cold or flu or typhoid, or eboli. My point, eat better, avoid illness.
I know you are probably thinking - well how the hell did you get sick smart guy? Simply put - my sinus passages are narrow. When they are inflamed from things like chlorine or bromine, they close, trapping any bacteria in there. That's when the party starts. So, I have to take extra steps - using a netty pot, really eating super clean, and cleaning out my ears after I swim to avoid this. Call it occupational hazard. But my immune system gets bolstered immediately by the way I eat. So, take that.
Now on to topic 2 - mobility. I say that word a lot and I get looks from people like I have 4 heads. But if I said Yoga, oh, ka-blamy-blam! everyone knows what that is, without having the first clue if its actually beneficial or not. So where to start? Well, mobility isn't simply "stretching". This isn't high school gym class. And its not, by any means, Yoga. Anytime I hear someone say "I need to loosen up. I'm super tight. I have plantar fascia, IT band syndrome, patella tendonitis, shin splints, so I think yoga will help!" I have a negative physical reaction. After months of research I can honestly say yoga is bullshit.
I had an inkling of this for a while, especially when the yoga craze started. A very good friend of mine started a company that made t-shirts and hoodies for kids and adults that simply said "F*ck Yoga". Homeboy made a killing. I own a shirt. I thought yoga was for pachouli smelling, incense burning, unshaven, tree-hugging hippees, who drove to class in their 6 mile to the gallon Range Rovers.
But then, I heard it was great for gaining range of motion for athletes. In 2008, I had my heaviest race schedule ever - 25 races in one season. I needed something to help, since I was always tight and sore. So a friend of mine, a fellow triathlete told me about yoga, and how awesome it was. Said all I needed to do was take 3 yoga classes a week and I would be golden. I thought "3 classes a week? That's it? That's amazing! This is baby-town frolic its so easy!" So I went all in, signed up at a gym, got a mat, a bag, loose fitting clothes, the whole deal. And I took class religiously. Every 3 weeks, I'd go to see my bike guy, Rich, from the Glen Ellyn bike shop and had him check my position on the bike. And every time, the result was the same - nothing changed. Not even an inch. Of course, Rich being Rich, he would smile and say, "well, good luck with that yoga!". After 6 months, I noticed no difference at all - not even a 10% increase in range of motion. Was I doing it wrong? I thought I had one bad ass Tree Pose, and downward dog, and lotus flower, or stinging Badger or Singing Honey Bee, or whatever other nonsensical poses that did nothing for me. So why was my hip still tweaked? Or my IT?
Yoga doesn't work, b/c its non-specific as in, it doesn't address what your true problem is. For example, if you are suffering from a nasty Plantar, or shin splints, do you know what needs to be stretched? Do you understand that you could suffer from a tight soleus, or gastroc, which needs direct attention both up and downstream from the muscle? Odds are you don't and neither does your yoga instructor. See what I am saying here? Yoga is a temporary solution for a much deeper problem. You might feel good for an hour, a day, but are your real issues being addressed? Unlikely. That plantar is still going to be there.
Fast forward 2 years and then I was told all about the Ponzi scheme that Bernie Madoff wished he'd thought of - Bikram Yoga. Bikram Yoga is really a torture device that is used in Git-mo for captured terrorists. So let's get this straight - if you are already tight and tweaky, you are going to be saved by going into a room that's as hot as the surface of the sun, smells like feet, then you and 30 of your closest friends, some who don't know what a shower is, begin a series of poses where you sweat like an 8 year old in a Nike Factory, and you can't leave otherwise it will offend the instructor. Ok, I can't breathe, can't see, am close to blacking out, and I am going to offend the instructor for leaving b/c I don't want to pass out? Are you joking? And people pay mad cash for this! The dudes from Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, - none of them had an idea this beautiful. And I, like a true schmuck, went to a few of these classes. I just wrapped my research on Bikram, and just completed a study where I put myself through 6 months of a "hot core" class. This one is truly awesome. The idea is - get in a room that's 110 degrees, and do a bunch of crunches for an hour. This is about as useful as those belts that you put around your waist that send electrical currents to stimulate your abdominals. You've seen the commercials - there's a extremely fit couple sitting on a couch, drinking iced tea, with these MMA championship style belts on, laughing and smiling as their abs get shredded. The hot core class is just as dumb, but from a business standpoint, its awesome b/c there are 50 idiots in there all thinking "all i need is this one class and my entire body will be ripped!". No it won't.
Let's break down Bikram and its participants. I've taken a poll, seriously, and this is what people who take it tell me.
1. It helps me stretch out.- Ok, let's ignore the fact that the heat gives you a false sense of being loose, thus causing several people to over-stretch, creating small micro tears in the muscles that needed to be properly stretched, increasing the likelihood that you will get injured when you start your next training session.
2. It helps me loose weight. -You need medical assistance. If you drink water after class, the weight comes back. Whatever you think you lost, I can find it for you 2 hours later. You are the same person who thinks that the 10 day lemon-water cleanse is healthy. Please stop reading and see a doctor.
3. It helps me reach a higher consciousness. - Ok, its not acid, or LSD. All it does is make you light-headed. If you think that's a "higher consciousness", you haven't gotten over whatever drug addiction you had. You also need medical help.
4. It helps flush out toxins. - True. However, so does sitting in a sauna. And the beauty of a sauna, you can come and go as you please! There's no Stalinesque figure yelling at you to stay in or never come back. You can close your eyes, listen to your own music, read, chill. And if you belong to a club that has a sauna, you don't need Bikram.
All of this is pointed out to show you that yoga, and its variations, don't work. I don't care if its Power Yoga, Yoga with friends, You and You're Yoga, its all useless. Mobility work however, is how we really get range of motion, address issues specifically, and get healthy. Let me explain.
Its important to note that I didn't discover the benefits of mobility work. Doc Kelly Starrett did. And his work can be found on line at www.mobilitywod.com, in the book, Power, Speed, Endurance, and in his book, The Supple Leopard. Kelly painstakingly shows how mobility is a skill, and why its so critical and beneficial. Let's take our plantar person. By doing mobility work, which can require you to make a 2 dollar investment in a LaCrosse ball, you can literally undo that plantar and keep it away. Admittedly, if you don't address things like running form, you increase the chances of the plantar coming back, but, by understanding that you probably lack range of motion in your ankles, your shins, your Achilles tendon, you will be able to address the problem while cleaning up how you run. Understanding tacking, smashing, fascia work, flossing the muscles - all of that is how we gain mobility. For example - go to your achilles tendon, and grab the skin and see if you can pinch it. Now flex your foot and see if the tendon is still loose enough that you can pinch it. If not, the skin has attached itself to the tendon, which means you need mobility work with things like a lacrosse ball or trigger point rollers to detach that. But your yoga instructor never told you that one!
Look, I know some of you love yoga, and good for you. If it helps you clear your head, great. But I am telling you its not helping your flexibility. I can swear to that. I don't care how awesome your pigeon pose is, its not helping. And yes, I get the social aspect of yoga, the reason you spend 100 bucks on pants at Lululemon, the group dynamic. Its a shared karmic experience. And mobility work is more singular, more of a solo deal, unless you can get others to join you. Hint - YOU SHOULD. Not to mention, 15 minutes a day, everyday, of mobility work, produces close to a 30% range of motion increase in less than 4 weeks. In areas where you need it most. And like all things useful, it evolves, and provides options for all muscle groups. Its not set to poses, that are cued to songs. I can do mobility work as easily to Beethoven as I can the Beastie Boys. Song length does nothing, means nothing. Your free of the shackles of a set of moves you've done hundreds of times.
Aside from being specific, mobility work comes with the benefit of scaled movement, as well as the effective dose of holding certain stretches to reach maximum benefit. Hold on to your seats b/c here it comes - a minimum of 2 minutes is required to hold each stretch otherwise its ineffective. That's right, not 30 seconds, not 1 minute. 2 minutes minimum. The goal is to get so flexible as to be able to hold them for up to 6 minutes. Guys, if you doubt me, look at the injury list of CFE and CF athletes. Pretty thin. These are folks who are throwing down 12-25 hours a week of training and not getting injured. They toss around monster weight, perform gymnastics movements, run, row, bike, swim, and do it all without injury.
B/c of Kelly's work, I have gained flexibility and mobility. I've also learned where I am impinged and how to unlock those areas, and keep them unlocked. I've learned more effective warm ups and cool downs. I do 35-50 minutes of mobility work a night. I don't care if I get in at 3 am, and have to be up at 6. I'm doing my 35 minutes at a minimum.
So, this is where the tough love part comes in. If you are serious about gaining mobility, getting your body healthy, then learn to do some solo work and get mobile. Who cares if you are the only one in the gym doing it? Does it really matter? You have something better than any goofy on-looker understands. If you say you take responsibility for your body, then isn't this a no-brainer? Time to suck it up snowflakes, get on-line, check out Kelly's stuff, and do yourself some real good. You can even keep your yoga mat and Lulu pants to do true mobility work. But please, stop with the yoga. I know you can think of something better to do in that hour. At least I hope so.
Stay strong,
Guy
