fit for life (TM)

training for snowboarding, surfing and other board sports

exercise example: how to jump lunge
purpose: builds ability to reduce and produce force.
Benefits of Urban Training
One of the benefits of living and training in a large urban landscape is that there’s a lot of creativity, intensity and opportunity to improve ideas and methods.  Over the past 15 years, I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a grass roots fitness community helping everyday people excel at what they love. 

Specifically, I’ve been interested in helping design, develop and implement training programs for board sports like surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding and other board -balance based sports.  Each one requires a unique approach and training progression although they share some common traits.  Over the next few weeks I will be posting a brief distillation of some of the movements and progressions that have been highly effective for each group. 

Zero Weight Gain During Pregnancy Debate

The New York Times Well Blog recent sparked some serious debate when they published the following article on their well blog:  Zero Weight Gain During Pregnancy
I posted my simple albeit short comment on the NYTimes Well Blog and I guess pissed a few women off.  So to clarify, I decided to write this post in the hope that some folks might understand my perspective.
I know a lot of women who gained (and lost) a lot of weight (in excess of 50 pounds) during all their pregnancies.  However, there was little or no concern because most of them were being actively monitored by the OB + Midwife, and were fit and healthy prior to getting pregnant. 
All my clients (pregnant and otherwise) learn to take a proactive and healthy approach to eating, moving and playing so that issues around gaining weight during pregnancy or life are handled in a supportive and healthy way.  Eating well is challenging and difficult for everyone but it is essential to good health.

My intention in writing comments is to be instructive and specific rather than simply post my opinion.  If this appears to clinical or too “instructive” for some the reason is simple:  My job is to help people make hard decisions that will get them feeling better and moving better through life.
- One very important methodological note that I did not express in my post.

I believe in the idea that Calories are not AS Important as Nutrient Value.  Hence I would argue forcefully that Pregnant women should be MOST Focused on eating: 
- Leafy Green Organic Vegetables
- Lean Sources of Protein
- High Quality and Pure Omega 3 Fats including from small fish and flax/other sources
- Supplement their diet with a well rounded “whole food” Prenatal Vitamin like New Chapter’s “Perfect Prenatal” or other.  M.D./OB are not always on top of this.
- Find a great Midwife to work with and perhaps speak with someone who is Licensed in Prenatal Nutrition.

Here’s my NYTIMES POST.
“The demands of pregnancy can be significant even for non-overweight or de-conditioned women. The underlying message that should be taken away from these recommendations are simple. If you are interested in getting pregnant and having a happy, healthy and successful pregnancy and life after birth then:
 

Prepare your body and mind in advance by losing excess body fat , conditioning your body and beginning a “core training” program to strengthen your pelvic floor and other muscles for the demands of labor and beyond.”

how to jump squat

how to jump squat
a practical way to keep your body and bones strong and avoid injury.

jump squats are simple, effective and fun.  when practiced correctly they are safe, functional and a great way to get your whole body moving.  In this example, I teach you the basics of good form and areas of common problems that you want to look out for.  Look for this new how to series to be available soon for download online and to mobile devices.

what will it take?

I got a call tonight.  it got me thinking about my life and the choices I’ve made.  some of us think that life happens to us that we are mere actors, scripted, and doomed.  I feel differently but perhaps that’s because I feel like I’ve been given a second chance when none was supposed to come my way.

what will it take for you to realize that life doesn’t offer many second chances? 
why would you waste any more time being miserable in a mindlessly job or routine? 
how bad does it have to get for you to create a real life for yourself?

Survival is easy. 
Purpose filled, meaningful life, hard. 

but worth every minute.

I believe that moving is essential to finding out who you are and how to make yourself happy.  we are all different but how we create a significant life starts with movement. 

however, it’s hard to move if you’re weighted down by your past mistakes as your body literally carries them with you. every day.  so, it’s time to let them go.

So, delete them.  throw them out.  Do whatever it takes to erase the past.  forever.  what you did before doesn’t matter.  if you feel compelled to reconcile what happened in your past then write letters to all those people who have helped you.  thank them. call them.  go and see them. 

Forget forgiveness right now.  forgive yourself first.  Exception:  if you’ve done something terrible. then I’m sorry, but only a lifetime of hard work will help you and those you have hurt, feel better.  start now.  the faster you get going the better you will feel.

unemployed or underemployed?
if you are unemployed or underemployed, then there’s no better time to change.  Lose everything: all the weight you ever wanted to lose literally and figuratively.  I mean everything.  all the needless crap that piles up in our lives and on our bodies.  Beware:  don’t fall victim to drugs, alcohol or worse.  look no further than your tv to see what happens when a life implodes (A&E’s Intervention). 

there are people and there are tools out there to help you:
- ebay
- craigslist
- AA
- others

Keep moving.  Move to another land.  surround yourself with good people. stay away from the bad ones.  but whatever you do;

don’t stand still.

stress fractures and other overuse injuries

The best way to avoid stress fractures and other overuse injuries
I see a lot of people every month and hear about many more that suffer from overuse injuries.  Many are completely unaware of the risks in what they are doing.  Some don’t believe that what they are doing is bad for them.  I hate to say it but sometimes our own obsession with trying to get fit is worse for us than not moving at all. 

Our reasons for moving more should aligned with what we love.  And while we may not always know how to train properly -vs- What seems to make us feel good, we should know why we are doing something and understand the risks / rewards.  Unfortunately this is often not the case:  I have met a lot of runners, particularly marathon distance runners, who suffer from overuse injuries of every sort including very serious lumbar spine injuries.  Many tell me how much they love running.  How it makes them feel great.  And yet most of them are falling, literally, apart.  There’s a disconnect here. 

Repetition, while important, can also be very detrimental to our bodies.  I believe that long distance running on pavement, year in and year out, is not good for anyone.  This might make me some enemies but I think my beliefs are supported by a lot of facts. 

Simple way to avoid repetitive stress injuries and stress fractures
There’s a good reason to add variety to your training.  It helps prevent injuries by using different systems in your body. Commonly referred to as: “cross training”, creating a synergistic training program can be challenging in an urban setting but it’s essential.  Why?  By imposing different types of demands and/or levels of intensity, your body responds by building more capacity and specifically it also works hard to address these new demands in a multi-dimensional way. 

Complexity vs Simplicity
Complex forms of cross training incorporating a wide variety and depth of types of exercise is the goal.  However, in it’s simplest form cross training can be successfully accomplished through rotating your activities, pairing opposite demands and paying attention to how you are feeling.  Example Pairs: Swimming and climbing, hiking uphill + surfing, tennis and Tai Chi, soccer and yoga, basketball and Pilates.  The most important factor is making it fun and keeping it interesting.  Cross training is ideally not simply stepping off a treadmill on to a “elliptical” machine.  Cycle through forms like yoga/dance class/resistance training/running/swimming instead.  IF you truly don’t have the time then make sure you mix things up thoroughly:  Time/Intensity/Intervals/Machines/body weight/etc.  This is not an easy thing to do but necessary to avoid common injuries.

Why Repetition is Good, But Variety is Better.
While we need repetition to learn new movements, it’s the progressive and incremental increase in demand that makes our bodies sing.  In less modern times, people had jobs that forced them to move more and included a variety of intense and less intense demands:  Walking, running, lifting, hiking, etc.  Today this is not the case. Are so called “modern” industrialized societies do not require you to move at all.  In fact, our increasingly “information based” jobs are causing vast numbers of people to stop moving all together.

To combat this we need only to look at the patterns of the past and integrate some new ideas into the mix.  It’s not enough to “copy” what our ancestors did, as we are not them nor should we be.  But we can learn from their experiences and the way that they moved for clues into improving our own health and fitness.

Old School Case Study:  Mountain Climbing in 1938
I am an armchair mountain climber.  I don’t think I’ll ever climb anything serious.  But that doesn’t prevent me from I’m reading works by the greatest mountaineers.  Most recently, I’ve been reading K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts.  In one section of the book, Ed Viesturs describes how the mountaineers of 1938 had to hike in 360 (three hundred and sixty) miles before trying to scale the second highest peak in the world.  What?  That’s true cross training.  It took them many weeks in some cases months to get to the mountains before they even started climbing them.  Unconsciously, these people prepared their bodies for the strenuous demands ahead.  Few to none of us train this way but we should.  We should be training over longer periods of time and use extended training progressions to truly help our bodies and minds develop the ability to perform.  This goes completely against every “fitness marketing” plan for every segment of the industry.  It simply doesn’t sell.  But it works.

So, next time you train, imagine that before you start you have to spend 75% of your time “getting prepared” and only 25% of your time actually working hard.  Does this sound familiar?

- think more
- run less
- find something new to do
- move with more intention

- and less overuse.

stretching vs mobility training

The lastest NYTIMES Well Blog Post was about How Necessary is Stretching.

There’s a definite difference between Stretching & Mobility(Flexibility) Training.

- Stretching is usually a static and isolated.

- Mobility training requires active, dynamic and static states depending upon the exercise.

- Stretching is often measured is Range of Motion only.

- Mobility training measures the ability of a person to stabilize one muscle (or group) while lengthening another.

- Stretching is often taught to be done bilaterally with the goal of obtain “normal” extension of muscles as measured by some standard.

- Mobility training is taught a series of progressions from simple to complex with the goal of understanding asymmetrical patterns and compensation so as to improve movement not simply range of motion.

- Stretching has traditionally been taught in isolation and not as part of a larger training program that includes:
  - Balance, Core, Strength, Endurance and other elements

- Mobility training is primary to a logical progression in movement.  It is the beginning but not end of a systematic progression in movement that incorporates each modality both within the context of the mobility training itself as well as part of a complete training program.  Mobility is a part of every movement just like balance and “core strength”.

Range of Motion vs Control
As the article correctly points out some people do not need to extend their range of motion any further but rather they need to work on controlling their range of motion.  People who are very flexible can extend their soft tissue beyond the range of their muscles abilities to control their movement:  Example:  Hyper-extended Elbows or Knees.  A joint in this position is weak and the muscles are unable to transfer forces effectively and efficiently putting the joint at risk of injury.  In contrast, someone who may be less flexible can maintain the optimal range of motion of the same joint putting little or no stress on the structure of the joint itself and thus enabling the person to avoid injuries.

In the real world, trainers see the negative side of hyper mobility all the time.  In particular, there is very serious concern at the exponential rise in injury rates to young girls participating in contact sports like Soccer, Basketball as well as Lacrosse among others.  Injuries to the ankle, knee and spine are unfortunately too common.  There’s now a real effort being made to train young women athletes differently from males to help them establish better movement and control of their joints.

Finally, as you can see there’s a lot to be learned about Mobility training vs Stretching.  There’s a place for Stretching within the context of a well thought out training program that incorporates a full range of modalities.  The days of simply sitting on the floor and leaning forward to grab your toes are thankful over.

“the biggest loser” mythology

I’ve waited 9 years to comment.  Today that ends.

The New York Times reports (On Reality Show to Lose Weight, Health Can Take a Back Seat)
The Biggest Loser uses dangerous methods to achieve the shows goals, silence participants with gag clauses and participating agreements in the event that someone gets hurt trying to win the show. 

Is a contest show really the best format for this type of person?  I don’t think so.  It’s totally inappropriate and unprofessional in my opinion.  Hey, but it sells.  For those of you who watch the show and find it entertaining would it bother you to know that many of the contestants are risking their lives unnecessarily?  It bothers me and it legitimizes “dangerous training and weight loss methods” .  Finally, the show doesn’t truly address the underlying problems these people face.  In contrast, shows like A&E’s Intervention, offer more complex, compelling and real stories about people trying to change.

Beyond the Biggest Loser.
If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to make changes progressively.  It is the gradual adaptation to change that improves our health.  Oh, but you can’t film that.  Sorry. 

My advice to anyone is to: 
- Stop dieting
- Change your mindless exercise routine
- Abandon the idea that there are “intensive” methods of purging your body

Focus on:
- Getting 80% of your Calories from Green & Colorful Fruits and Vegetables
- Develop a passion for moving:  Dance, run, play, swim, surf, climb, hike, ride
- Build a slow and sustainable plan that will last for the rest of your life.

your happiness and survival depend upon it.

if movement is primal, is it “spiritual”?

I’ve got a nagging question that’s been bothering me ever since I first read Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia and Songlines, but more recently too.

If you accept that movement is an essential experience and a significant part of being human, then is movement, when practiced in a mindful, focused way, a “spiritual” practice?

I’m sure many Yogi’s out there would shout out :  Yes!  and just as many surfers would probably join them.  However, if a group of rugby or soccer players also shouted Yea, how many of us would accept this?

In modern life, there’s been a healthy re-interpretation what defines, spiritual practice? 

Do we have the room for this kind of interpretation?

I hope so.  Don’t get me wrong, as I not completely against organized religions but rather looking for a more inclusive definition of spirituality.  I believe that we all need to find meaning for our own existence, a connection to the natural world and to each other.  I also think that this journey is filled with trials, mistakes and there’s no “quick absolution” for us. 

Perhaps this is why, organized and group rituals like dancing and sports sometimes feel more like purging ceremonies than competitive events or performances.  Their purpose being a means to create significant change both personally and socially for the members of the group.

Outside of large group dynamics, I think of people like Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, who seems to have discovered a way of experiencing reality in the moment we he’s climbing or surfing as someone like Eckard Tolle, or the Dalai Lama.  Yet in his case, he wasn’t really looking for it.

- It makes me wonder, at what point in our past did we lose track of how movement, not simply reflection, is primary to feeling connected to energy of experience?  My hypothesis is that we evolved in such as way that imprinted movement both socially and genetically into our species.  Denying this link is simply like trying to see in the dark.  We might find things but not after a lot of unnecessary bruising and getting lost. 

So what kind of movements have the most profound impact on how we perceive ourselves, who we are and what we believe? 

Science is tantalizingly close to answering this but I’m not waiting for all the research to come in.  I feel like it’s my search to discover some of the answers.

anxiety, training and play

I recently read a New York Times report on (Phys Ed: Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS).  While interesting, the article supports what has already been studied elsewhere in other areas including Positive Psychology or the study of Flow.  We are just beginning to understand the relationship between physical health and emotional well-being in many respects.  So, while I understand the need for simplification in studies to produce solid data and exploring new areas of science, I am convinced that it is essential for you and I proactively try to do our own “hypothetical research” in order to find what makes us less stressed out and anxious.  Specifically,  I’m interested in ways to design and implement creative solutions for reducing and controlling the inevitable anxiety and stress we encounter in life.  Moreover, I would go one step further and suggest that you look to other areas of scientific study specifically the areas of:

- Positive Psychology; the study of optimal experience / flow
- Expert Performance
- Intelligent Training (i.e. functional training: training focused on improving how you move.)
- Play

Optimal Experience
In the early 1990’s, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, released a book titled Flow based upon his studies of over two decades.  In this profound and thoughtful work, the ideas and basis for much of what will become the positive psychology field are revealed and examined.  And even though many other popular titles have since been made available, I believe that Flow is still the most revolutionary and provocative.  Perhaps the most important questions that this book discusses is:  “What are the inner experiences that make life worthwhile?”

Since then you can find numerous titles that share more specific insights and methods to create the proper environment in your life for optimal experience to thrive.  One such title is:  The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky.  Starting on page 244., she describes in great detail how to take care of your body and why physical activity makes people happier.  In the one of the most revealing and important parts to this chapter she describes how each person must customize and select what makes them feel best.  Simply running or engaging in aerobic exercise for some is not enough.  In fact some people feel worse doing this. 

The implications for this are profoundly more important than suggested here.  While it’s great to find scientists suggesting we all should exercise more to improve our happiness, what they seem to fail at is taking it to the next level.
Positive Psychologist and other scientists should leave the “how to exercise” in the hands of people who know how to help people functioning optimally and ultimately with you.  What is right for you based upon what brings a sense of play, joy and challenge may be significantly different from others.  Moreover, research has shown that generic exercise prescription is less effective than customized and personalized programming.  Specifically, any exercise prescription needs to address variations from individual to individual in all both aerobic vs anaerobic systems as well as kinesthetic skills (I include proprioception in my definition of kinesthesia here for a more detailed debate about the differences between these two terms look here:  Proprioception vs. kinesthesia.

What should be apparent is that simply moving more but not in a thoughtful or intelligent way is not ideal.  Given the demands of modern life and the complex decisions you are asked to make every day, you need better information and advice on how to move better that is connected to who you are, what you love and ultimately gives you the best that science can offer.  If I had an objective for this blog I can honestly say it would be fulfill this mission for you:
to be your source for information on fitness, play and improving your experiences using the best science available.

A short note on the idea behind this blog
I hope you find the material authentic and transparent in purpose.  I am committed to teaching and not simply marketing.  I am also very dedicated and passionate and open to new ideas.  I continually search for information, ideas and methods enable us to make better decisions and create positive experiences.  While I am a firm believer in the idea that you learn more from mistakes, I don’t believe that we all have to make the same ones but rather can learn from others.

This is why I started writing a blog in the first place and my intention is to live up to this ideal:
 

“extreme sports”, play and athleticism

If you are new to this blog you might think that this blog is about surfing or skateboarding or some other “extreme sport”.  It’s not.  What it is about is about training to play better.  And it just so happens that surfers, snowboarders and skaters (among others) know something about Play and optimal experience that many others don’t.  The purpose of this post is to demystify and hopefully inspire you to take a second look a these pursuits no matter how old you may be.  You may find that they offer you a unique way to experience the pure joy and playfulness of your youth you never could have imagined.

You have probably thought like many others that Snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing and other alternative ways of having fun are “extreme sports”:  Dangerous, for crazy people, or adrenaline junkies. 
This could not be farther from the truth. People of all ages and skill levels practice these sports year round and the incidents of serious injuries is lower than most team sports.  I would argue that these activities are not really sports at all.

Surfing, for many is considered a more of a religion than sport.  Why?  Because there’s so much more surfing than simply catching a wave.  Many Zen Buddhists are also practicing surfers.  Surfing is about being in the moment and connecting to nature.  There’s so much more than simply the physical demands. 
Using myself as a simple example:  I train for it intensely but not for the reasons that you might think.  But rather because it allows me to experience more of the ocean, for longer periods of time and insures that I will not run the risk of injuring myself.

For years I played team oriented sports exclusively.  This was a mistake.  I see a lot of unhappy, ex-football, basketball, soccer and other team sport athletes, who are out of shape and who do not enjoy moving any more.  In contrast, most of the “extreme sports” parents continue to work hard to stay connected to their sport and the communities that support these activities.  Overall they also seem to be in better shape and just as passionate about their experience of playing these sports.

It is never too late to try.
If you have never had the opportunity to ride on a board down a wave, a mountain, or a skateboard down a sunset stained hill:  simply do it.  The wave can be tiny, the mountain small and the hill gentle.  You will feel deep change inside and hopefully a moment of timeless flow where all of your conscious thoughts are gone and all you feel is the wind, water, snow, air and sun on your face.

Take an interest in learning how to ride a board you will laugh and marvel at how such a simple thing could bring you so much joy.