Low Back Pain Cures by Sylvia Catzen
In less time than it takes to get dressed, I can show you two moves to relieve low back pain and release your upper back. These moves can be done pretty much anywhere, and if you don’t care what your co-workers will think of you, lying on the floor you can do it at work; in fact they just might join you! Did you know the most common job related disability in the U.S. is low back pain (National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke.)?
Remember to be gentle with your body, bring awareness to the moves you are performing. Consult with your doctor before performing any of these moves. Be mindful, never force.
A carpeted floor or rug will work, if you have a yoga mat or (blanket), all the better.
Extended Pelvic clock (PT speak pelvic tilt/lift) start position, lie on your back with knees bent (no more than fist width apart), feet flat on the floor.
Visualize/mental image a clock face on the front of your belly. Noon is at the base of your ribs (xiphoid process) and six at the tip of your pubic bone. Begin tucking the pelvis up towards noon, stop when you get to the base of ribs. Lower back will be up off the floor (small bridge). Begin lowering the spine back down towards the floor and arching the pelvis into six o clock. There should be a gap about the size of your fist between your low back and the floor, ribs are down. Remember to keep the knees in alignment, feet firm on the floor. We are going for movement in the low back with stability. Repeat 3-5 times or more as necessary.
Can’t lie on the floor at work? No problem, stand with your feet under your hips (again knees are a fist width apart). Bend/Soften the knees, keep the knees in alignment with toes, stand tall through spine as though there was a string from the crown of your head attached to the ceiling. Visualize/mental image your pelvis is a salad bowl, spill your salad to the front of your body, this will cause an arch in your low back, now scoop your salad back up and this will cause your low back to flatten out. If a salad bowl image doesn’t work for you, think of a puppy. Happy puppy sticks his tail out; sad puppy tucks his tail under. If there is music playing at your workspace you could get away with calling this a dance move.
I just gave you two moves for one, now let’s move to the upper back. A chair will give you the most support. Sit almost at the edge of your seat, tall on your sitz bones, crown of head reaches for ceiling. Cross your arms in front of your body as if you were giving yourself a hug, hands are on top of your shoulders, they stay there for the whole move (no death grip or power holds) this is about release. Begin by moving the elbows up towards the ceiling, let your ribcage move naturally and allow your eye gaze to go up the wall and overhead. (As if you were watching a bug crawl up the wall and across the ceiling.) The tips of your elbows will stay just slightly in view (raise your elbows, eyes, neck and head to your comfort level). Slowly bring the elbows back down, (eyes, head and neck) follow to start position. Repeat 3-5 times or as necessary. You can do this standing too, use the above standing position and repeat the steps.
Keep moving, be mindful, and remember to breathe.
Sylvia Catzen, CPT, owner of Pilates on Broadway
Into to Gyrotonics by Erin Landaker
A new system of movement is making its way into the eyes and hearts of the public. Originally created as yoga for dancers, GYROTONIC® is quickly becoming recognized as a movement form embraced by people of all ages and ability levels. The spiraling movement of Gyrotonic embraces the natural circular tendencies of the joints. More formally called The Gyrotonic Expansion System, Gyrotonic is also a method of decompressing the body from daily stress and the life-long reaction to gravity. Specially designed equipment was created to assist the body in understanding the circular and spherical concepts that this system is based on. The idea is to focus on the health of the joints by strengthening and lengthening all muscles surrounding any given joint. By that we can then create a central connection to the limbs, giving our arms and legs the strength of our torso, and our torso the support of both the arms and the legs. This immense coordination creates a freedom of movement and good stacking for the support of the overworked neck and shoulders. Gyrotonic was originally focused on healing and cross-training super athletes. Now it has been brought into the public arena and the changes occurring in bodies young and old are surprising people all over the world. So vast in its abilities, Gyrotonic easily has more than 7,000 exercises. Boredom is never an issue. It can be beautiful, lazy, functional, rehabilitative, or incredibly cardiovascular; the tone of any workout is in the hands of the client and trainer.
Originally known as “The Art of Infinite Movement,” Center GYROTONIC® was the first studio to bring Gyrotonic to Oregon in 2001. Emma Ledbetter, owner of this successful studio, remains the only Master Trainer in Oregon today. She has created a higher learning place for instructors and clients of all ages and ability levels. Many other studios now offer Gyrotonic throughout the Portland area, although Center Gyrotonic remains the only studio that offers only Gyrotonic without the paired offerings of pilates or yoga, allowing Center Gyrotonic to offer seven Gyrotonic towers as well as specialized Gyrotonic equipment, such as the Ladder, the Gyrotoner, and the Baby Dragon, a tower designed specially for children. Center GYROTONIC® is nestled in the newly developing Northeast section of Portland. They offer everything from private instruction to group classes for every skill level. If you are interested in learning more, please call the studio at: (503)223-3741, or check out their website at: www.centergyrotonic.com.
The Warm Weather Warm-up Workout by Jonathan Eng
Strength training can help you look, feel and perform better in everyday life and the activities you participate in. It is important to the longevity of your joints and the efficiency of your movements. Most importantly it can help you enjoy your sport or activity until you, not your body, decides otherwise. The best protection from injury is a basic foundation of functional strength as your level of physical activity increases.
WHY: To strengthen connective tissue in order to stabilize and protect joints. To improve core strength and stability through lumbar spine and pelvic control, this translates to better balance and reduced low back pain.
HOW: Incorporate 2-3 days of 15-20 minutes of strength training with your favorite activity. Perform functional movements or multi-joint exercises because this is how you actually move in real life. The real world is not flat, progress from stable to more unstable exercises to increase muscle recruitment for improved strength and balance. For the majority of folks, body weight exercises supplemented with appropriate free-weight exercises provide sufficient enough load necessary for improvement.
Strength training is important so that you enjoy your sport or activity until you decide otherwise. Visit http://www.runneng.com/newsbriefs/news.htm for your free Warm Weather Warm-up Workout. Keep your summer a healthy and active summer.
Aerobic training and flexibility are also essential parts to a healthy balanced body and will be addressed in subsequent articles.
Health and regards,
Jonathan
jon@RUNNENG.com
Running Defined: by Sean Coster
Running Defined
Part 1 of a 4 part series on developing a well rounded training program
for the 10K through the half marathon
Running has a language of it’s own. Terms like Fartlek and Tempo are often used by runners of various abilities to describe their workouts. With the internet and dozens of texts available for the home schooled students of distance running there are few gate keepers to these terms. The question is when we discuss our running with each other, are we speaking the same language?
Anytime a conversation about a workout or aspects of the athletes training program takes place at Complete Running Programs, we take care to use terms everyone in the program understands. For example: A ‘Tempo run’ means something different to each runner unless a definition of the runs intensity accompanies the instruction. Furthermore any running done needs to have information pertaining to the duration of that run (distance and/or time), the intensity (pace, heart rate or ‘perceived effort’) and the amount of rest involved (if applicable).
The articles following in the next 3 months will discuss general areas of preparation for runners looking to set personal bests in events from 10K to the half marathon this spring and summer. The topics below include generally used running terminology and an attempt to define them so that the information in the next 3 months’ articles are clear to all. Where appropriate an example of how to apply the term or concept is included after a general definition. Keep in mind you may need to ask more specific questions of your training partners or coaches when some of the terms below are used to make sure you are all speaking the same language.
Periodization: the practice of organizing a season’s training into smaller sections that each emphasizes developing various aspects of an athlete’s fitness.
Macrocycle: a relatively large period of time within the annual training program that focuses on 1 or 2 goal races. A macrocycle is often a ‘season’. Typically 1 to 2 macrocycles will exist during a calendar or racing year. The macrocycle is used to frame the period of time the training plan will be created for. Example - a 6 month period before a half marathon that has been identified as one of the most important races for the year.
Mesocycle: a period of time that can range from weeks to months within a macrocycle that will focus on developing specific fitness goals. Example - a 4 week period of time devoted to improving general strength in running by conducting specifically chosen hill and road workouts in conjunction with a core strength program in the gym.
Microcycle: a short period of time typically 1-2 weeks within a mesocycle. Specific goals attainable within this time period are the focus. Example - achieving a long run at a specific distance and intensity, a particular workout at Max VO2 pace and 2 sessions in the gym during this microcycle.
Session: A session is one occurrence of training. Keep in mind this may be a run, track workout, strength training session or a cross training activity.
Base Training: Also referred to as a preparatory period, this period focuses on developing the areas important to conducting the work at race pace to come later. This should include a gradual increase in miles run per week up to a predetermined point, general strength and flexibility as well as balance, agility and dynamic flexibility training. For a in-depth review of the concept of Base Training read CRP’s article “Foundations of Base Training”
Tempo, Tempo Run: Tempo simply refers to the pace that one is moving while running. This can be described in an objective way like minutes per mile. However, the term tempo is often used to describe running that is at a pace faster than a ‘recovery’ or ‘easy’ run. Unfortunately how much faster than those paces is not usually described. Based on the work of Jack Daniels, PhD. we could infer that when the phrase ‘Tempo Run’ is used, it is attempting to describe a pace that is near the lactate threshold (see below).
Lactate/Ventilatory Threshold: is the point in which a net accumulation of lactate is found to be significantly increasing in the blood[i]. Since lactate is always present in the blood and your diet can effect the concentration of this lactic acid over various intensities of exercise[ii], determining an objective measure of this is difficult when directed to go out for a 20 minute run at Lactate Threshold pace. If a recent performance over a known distance is available, then this pace can be determined from existing calculators or formulas (Daniels’ Running Formula, Human Kinetics). More practically this pace can be thought of as a “comfortably hard” one in which this oxymoronic description is appropriate in that you experience a greater rate and depth of respiration but a feeling that this can be maintained for a relatively long period of time. For a fit endurance athlete this would be most accurately identified as the race pace one can maintain for a 1 hour race. This is a lengthy definition worth the space due to its common misconceptions and importance in the role of improving performance over the 10K to half marathon distances.
Interval: is simply used to describe a unit of distance covered in a running workout. This could be 800 meters in your 400m, 8000m, 1200m, 1600m ladder.
Set: a set can be used to separate groups of intervals in an effort to manipulate the recovery or intensity for the entire session. An example of a set being used to describe a workout would be doing 2 sets of 4 x 400m at a pace of 1:30 seconds per 400m with 3 minutes of recovery between each interval and 7 minutes of recovery between the two sets.
Pace: The velocity of a run; typically described in minutes per mile or minutes per kilometer.
Intensity: The effort extended while running for a given distance. This is often discussed in terms of a percent of Max HR and a percent of VO2 Max. These two points of reference require a known maximum heart rate and VO2 Max respectively. Jack Daniels, PhD. has integrated intensity and pace nicely using performances over known distances in his book “Daniels’ Running Formula” (Human Kinetics).
Recovery: is an amount of time taken between each interval. This is as important as the distance and pace run in properly conducting a workout. A recovery can be taken with either running at a specific pace or remaining at a standstill.
Keep in mind any type of running done that has bouts of recovery in it should specifically indicate the distance to be run (interval), the pace or intensity to be run and the amount of recovery to be taken between each interval and/or set.
Perceived Effort: is a means of evaluating the effort extended while running by subjective means. The Borg scale of perceived effort uses values of 6 through 20 that range from, 6 – no effort at all to 20- maximal exertion (complete scale below). These numbers are intended to roughly match the heart rate divided by 10 an athlete with a maximum heart rate of 200 bpm would have. The shortcomings of this means of evaluating effort are that the actual pace being run can vary greatly, particularly at intensities of 17 – 20 on the scale.
Hill training: any running done up (or in some cases down) a hill. Therefore a workout simply referred to as a hill workout needs further explaining. Hills are a great way of developing strength in running for developing greater top range speed. They can be used in runs from continuous and long uphill runs to workouts with hills incorporated in an interval of the workout.
Repeats: are usually used synonymously will intervals.
Long Run: the longest run an athlete has during the week. For more information on practical applications of the role of and how to gradually increase the distance of the long run see “Foundations of Base Training”.
Recovery run: a run at a comfortable and conversational pace that is used as an active recovery between more intense units of training. The pace of this run can vary as needed by the athlete to achieve a proper recovery pace.
Maximal VO2 (VO2 Max): the maximal volume of oxygen that can be taken from the blood and used by the bodies tissues over a specific period of time. Most often this is referred to in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. This term is also referred to as Maximal Aerobic Power. More useful is determining your velocity at VO2 Max. Owen Anderson, PhD. in his journal Running Research News, describes a time trial over 6 minutes as an effective way to determine your velocity (or pace) for 100% of Max VO2. Determination of this intensity can then be used to define the other training paces for a runner.
Heart Rate: The number of beats per minute by your heart.
Fartlek: is a Swedish word for ‘speed play’. In running this term is used for any continuous run that has some variations in speed. Keep in mind the principles of distance, pace and intensity when conducting a fartlek. An example of a well defined fartlek workout would be: after 20 minutes of running at 7:30 min/mile pace begin alternate runs of 1 minute at 6:00 min/mile pace with 1 minute of running at 7:00 min/mile for 20 more minutes.
Use the information above and other definitions you encounter to speak the language of running clearly to others. This will enable each of us to be effective in communicating what that great workout was you felt rounded you into your 10K shape and how to apply it to our training. Read next month’s newsletter for concepts on transitioning your base training into running with more quality to prepare for the spring and summer races at distances from 10K to the half marathon.
If you have any terms you would like to add to this list email me at the address below.
Long may you run,
Sean Coster
Founder – Complete Running Programs
Borg Scale of Perceived Effort
6 No exertion at all
7 Extremely light
8
9 Very light - (easy walking slowly at a comfortable pace)
10
11 Light
12
13 Somewhat hard (It is quite an effort; you feel tired but can continue)
14
15 Hard (heavy)
16
17 Very hard (very strenuous, and you are very fatigued)
18
19 Extremely hard (You can not continue for long at this pace)
20 Maximal exertion
[i] Better Training for Distance Runners. Martin and Coe. 1997 Human Kinetics.
[ii] Effects of moderate dietary manipulations on swim performance and on blood lactate-swimming velocity curves. Reilly T, Woodbridge V. Int J Sports Med. 1999 Feb;20(2):93-7
10 simple ways to keep you from messing up your life
This article was published at www.lifehack.com
- Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Tell yourself that whatever you feel, you feel; whatever you think, you think. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.
- Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen. When you’re hair-trigger primed to notice the first sign of trouble, you’ll surely find something close enough to convince yourself it’s come.
- Ease up on the internal life commentary. If you want to be happy, stop telling yourself you’re miserable. People are always telling themselves how they feel, what they’re thinking, what others feel about them, what this or that event really means. Most of it’s imagination. The rest is equal parts lies and misunderstandings. You have only the most limited understanding of what others feel about you. Usually they’re no better informed on the subject; and they care about it far less than you do. You have no way of knowing what this or that event really means. Whatever you tell yourself will be make-believe.
- Take no notice of your inner critic. Judging yourself is pointless. Judging others is half-witted. Whatever you achieve, someone else will always do better. However bad you are, others are worse. Since you can tell neither what’s best nor what’s worst, how can you place yourself correctly between them? Judging others is foolish since you cannot know all the facts, cannot create a reliable or objective scale, have no means of knowing whether your criteria match anyone else’s, and cannot have more than a limited and extremely partial view of the other person. Who cares about your opinion anyway?
- Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.
- Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. Nasty people can’t make you mad. Nice people can’t make you happy. Events or people are simply events or people. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them. Besides, most people are far too busy thinking about themselves (and worry what you are are thinking and saying about them) to be concerned about you.
- Stop keeping score. Numbers are just numbers. They don’t have mystical powers. Because something is expressed as a number, a ratio or any other numerical pattern doesn’t mean it’s true. Plenty of lovingly calculated business indicators are irrelevant, gibberish, nonsensical, or just plain wrong. If you don’t understand it, or it’s telling you something bizarre, ignore it. There’s nothing scientific about relying on false data. Nor anything useful about charting your life by numbers that were silly in the first place.
- Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned. The closer you stick to any plan, the quicker you’ll go wrong. The world changes constantly. However carefully you analyzed the situation when you made the plan, if it’s more than a few days old, things will already be different. After a month, they’ll be very different. After a year, virtually nothing will be the same as it was when you started. Planning is only useful as a discipline to force people to think carefully about what they know and what they don’t. Once you start, throw the plan away and keep your eyes on reality.
- Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions. To hold yourself responsible for someone else’s success and happiness demeans them and proves you’ve lost the plot. It’s their life. They have to live it. You can’t do it for them; nor can you stop them from messing it up if they’re determined to do so. The job of a supervisor is to help and supervise. Only control-freaks and some others with a less serious mental disability fail to understand this.
- Don’t worry about about your personality. You don’t really have one. Personality, like ego, is a concept invented by your mind. It doesn’t exist in the real world. Personality is a word for the general impression that you give through your words and actions. If your personality isn’t likeable today, don’t worry. You can always change it, so long as you allow yourself to do so. What fixes someone’s personality in one place is a determined effort on their part—usually through continually telling themselves they’re this or that kind of person and acting on what they say. If you don’t like the way you are, make yourself different. You’re the only person who’s standing in your way.