I'm currently watching "Killer at Large", and I have to say that it's just making me mad. In a good way, not because it's wrong, but because of the awful ineptitude of our society to take care of the obesity epidemic.
It's on Netflix instant play if you want to check it out.
They point out that the California budget to feed criminals is greater than the NATIONAL budget to feel grade school students. Seriously. They highlight cases where high schools have gotten rid of vending machines and parents protested and stood outside the school property fence line and handed candy and soda to their kids during lunch breaks.
When Sesame Street decided to have Cookie Monster promote more healthy eating, there was picketing outside the studios, with signs reading "No to Carrots, Yes to Cookies!" Who are these parents? And what is their BMI?
(I actually take issue with the BMI measurements, but that's a rant for another time.)
For another interesting take on the school lunch food issue, visit The Lunch Tray written by a mom who volunteers on a parental board for school lunches in the Houston ISD.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
My 2011 American Open Experience
It didn't go down great.
First, it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, which I spent in Houston with family I don't see often. One might ask why I didn't just see my family for Christmas instead? Not an option, as my dad works on a seismic boat 5 weeks on / 5 weeks off and he was to be in country for Thanksgiving, not Christmas.
Holidays also usually mean I'm exposed to children, and children are walking petri dishes.
So as tradition would have it, after I return to California, I'm knocked on my ass by a nasty cold. Fever, chills, achy muscles, phlegm everywhere. Cancelled appointments. Cancelled training sessions. When I tried a final heavy day, I mostly succeeded in constantly coughing, blowing my nose a lot, and missing everything I tried to put over head. Awesome.
Still. I'm part of a team, and no matter how I do, I'll earn points for the team. There is no backing out now.
My lift day is on Sunday, which TOTALLY SUCKS because all my teammates are done Friday night. That means I get to watch them relax, eat, and drink and be jolly for two nights while I'm supposed to be amping up my focus and tapering down my training and calories for weigh ins. It's almost enough to convince me to drop back to being a 69kg lifter. Hell, I was a 63kg judo player once upon a time, why not?
I still don't feel 100% come competition time, and it shows. We take what should have been a no-brainer weight for my snatch, 73kg, I miss it twice. On the third attempt I think "Fuck this" and just power snatch the thing. I don't know how high I caught it, but I was told it basically looked like a muscle snatch. 73kg is too light for me to be missing.
Now I'm so amped from the snatches on top of not feeling great that I start getting dizzy. Which is weird because it's not like I had to do much cutting this time around to make weight, so it's not lack of food or water that's giving me problems. To avoid any further dizziness setting in, we start with a no-brainer clean and jerk of 90kg, and end with 94kg. Also because I'm not feeling well, I power clean all of them. I'm not going to squat in this condition if I don't have to.
Afterwards, I lay on the cold ground for a while which is the best feeling in the world at that time. Then I get a beer, drink said beer, and fall asleep on the chairs in the spectator section.
Oh well. Time to get healthy (I'm even driving to work for a week) and get back to the drawing board.
First, it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, which I spent in Houston with family I don't see often. One might ask why I didn't just see my family for Christmas instead? Not an option, as my dad works on a seismic boat 5 weeks on / 5 weeks off and he was to be in country for Thanksgiving, not Christmas.
Holidays also usually mean I'm exposed to children, and children are walking petri dishes.
So as tradition would have it, after I return to California, I'm knocked on my ass by a nasty cold. Fever, chills, achy muscles, phlegm everywhere. Cancelled appointments. Cancelled training sessions. When I tried a final heavy day, I mostly succeeded in constantly coughing, blowing my nose a lot, and missing everything I tried to put over head. Awesome.
Still. I'm part of a team, and no matter how I do, I'll earn points for the team. There is no backing out now.
My lift day is on Sunday, which TOTALLY SUCKS because all my teammates are done Friday night. That means I get to watch them relax, eat, and drink and be jolly for two nights while I'm supposed to be amping up my focus and tapering down my training and calories for weigh ins. It's almost enough to convince me to drop back to being a 69kg lifter. Hell, I was a 63kg judo player once upon a time, why not?
I still don't feel 100% come competition time, and it shows. We take what should have been a no-brainer weight for my snatch, 73kg, I miss it twice. On the third attempt I think "Fuck this" and just power snatch the thing. I don't know how high I caught it, but I was told it basically looked like a muscle snatch. 73kg is too light for me to be missing.
Now I'm so amped from the snatches on top of not feeling great that I start getting dizzy. Which is weird because it's not like I had to do much cutting this time around to make weight, so it's not lack of food or water that's giving me problems. To avoid any further dizziness setting in, we start with a no-brainer clean and jerk of 90kg, and end with 94kg. Also because I'm not feeling well, I power clean all of them. I'm not going to squat in this condition if I don't have to.
Afterwards, I lay on the cold ground for a while which is the best feeling in the world at that time. Then I get a beer, drink said beer, and fall asleep on the chairs in the spectator section.
Oh well. Time to get healthy (I'm even driving to work for a week) and get back to the drawing board.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Knees and ACLs
As women, we are already more prone to ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury. This is in part due to our hip and knee structures and to the still misguided belief, even among some sports coaches, that lifting heavy isn't for women.
Because we're built for reproduction, our hips are set wider and this causes our legs to assume an inward angle at the knees, called the Q-angle, and it's several degrees greater in women than men. Because of this, during squats, deadlifts, pivots and jumps, women's knees tend to roll inward to a greater degree. In sports where there is a lot of acceleration and/or cases for impact (think basketball and soccer), this inward rolling and rotation puts the ACL at vulnerable position. If an athlete hasn't built up the proper support strength around the knee and hasn't been drilled on knee position relative to hips and feet, you're looking at a high rate of ACL injuries.
Unfortunately, you still hear, particularly in high school, coaches of women's sports shy away from putting their athletes through heavy lifting programs due to the fear of women getting bulky or losing speed and flexibility. Of course we all know that's poppycock.
There are several way to cue knees out during squats, deadlifts and jumps, and this is important for both men and women. A mental picture I've heard used several times to to imagine that your feet are on plates and you are trying to rotate those plates out from the hips without actually moving your feet. Keeping that tension in your hips throughout the movement should help keep the knees moving out in the direction of the feet.
I find that many times the rolling in of the knees seems to happen at the ankles. If the plate imagery doesn't work, I'm telling my clients to try to keep the pressure on the outside of their heel and midfoot, letting them know their arches are collapsing and ankles are rolling in. Usually one of these cues works and after a few session of cuing and poking at them, they start to make it a habit.
Because we're built for reproduction, our hips are set wider and this causes our legs to assume an inward angle at the knees, called the Q-angle, and it's several degrees greater in women than men. Because of this, during squats, deadlifts, pivots and jumps, women's knees tend to roll inward to a greater degree. In sports where there is a lot of acceleration and/or cases for impact (think basketball and soccer), this inward rolling and rotation puts the ACL at vulnerable position. If an athlete hasn't built up the proper support strength around the knee and hasn't been drilled on knee position relative to hips and feet, you're looking at a high rate of ACL injuries.
Unfortunately, you still hear, particularly in high school, coaches of women's sports shy away from putting their athletes through heavy lifting programs due to the fear of women getting bulky or losing speed and flexibility. Of course we all know that's poppycock.
There are several way to cue knees out during squats, deadlifts and jumps, and this is important for both men and women. A mental picture I've heard used several times to to imagine that your feet are on plates and you are trying to rotate those plates out from the hips without actually moving your feet. Keeping that tension in your hips throughout the movement should help keep the knees moving out in the direction of the feet.
I find that many times the rolling in of the knees seems to happen at the ankles. If the plate imagery doesn't work, I'm telling my clients to try to keep the pressure on the outside of their heel and midfoot, letting them know their arches are collapsing and ankles are rolling in. Usually one of these cues works and after a few session of cuing and poking at them, they start to make it a habit.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Hip Angle for a Flat Back
Each new person I've worked with so far has needed some help with maintaining a flat back, and for many, it seems that the cue "hips back" or "stick out your butt" work really well. Check out the illustration below:
Where the spine attaches to the hips does not rotate like your knees or shoulders do. So, if you want to have your back maintain that neutral curvature, you're going to have to tilt the hips in the direction that you're moving. When you bend down to grab a bar for a deadlift or clean, you're going to have to adjust your hip tilt forward to maintain that lower back curvature. Cues to consider are trying to point your tail bone up or pushing your booty back. Ultimately you're using your spinal erectors to keep position.
Just another way in which working out can fuel a lot of raunchy jokes.
Anyway, being able to maintain this proper pelvic tilt is also important in maintaining back position in overhead moves where over arching in the lower back often occurs. In these cases, many people are allowing their hips to roll forward. Here it's important to think about maintaining normal distance between your ribcage and your hips.
Have fun and stick your butt out!
Where the spine attaches to the hips does not rotate like your knees or shoulders do. So, if you want to have your back maintain that neutral curvature, you're going to have to tilt the hips in the direction that you're moving. When you bend down to grab a bar for a deadlift or clean, you're going to have to adjust your hip tilt forward to maintain that lower back curvature. Cues to consider are trying to point your tail bone up or pushing your booty back. Ultimately you're using your spinal erectors to keep position.
Just another way in which working out can fuel a lot of raunchy jokes.
Anyway, being able to maintain this proper pelvic tilt is also important in maintaining back position in overhead moves where over arching in the lower back often occurs. In these cases, many people are allowing their hips to roll forward. Here it's important to think about maintaining normal distance between your ribcage and your hips.
Have fun and stick your butt out!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Brain-gasm
I just found a gold mine of medical seminars intended for the public, all made available through UC San Francisco's Mini Medical School for the Public program.
Search and be amazed:
http://www.uctv.tv/series/?seriesnumber=135
Search and be amazed:
http://www.uctv.tv/series/?seriesnumber=135
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Humility and Accomplishment
This is my article inspiration for today: Olympian to CrossFit
My take away was something I had been thinking about during training sessions recently, how humility paves the way for accomplishment. And you can make some real predictions about a person's success at any given task by they way they handle each.
I'm going to take a particular example from one of my clients. When we first started working together, she was terrified of jumping on the 8 inch box we had, and claimed to possessed no explosive power or athletic ability. I took her through some progressive workouts, and she attacked them all, not caring if she failed or not. A couple months later, she jumps on 18 inch boxes and can back squat 155 lbs. And while she might glare at me during a metcon, she beams at what she did when it's over.
Some other people take a task given to them, try a few times, feel awful and say "let's move on." There are people terrified of failure, they beat themselves up, and whether they know it or not, sell themselves short because trying 100% might mean failing 100%.
First, you have to have the humility to attempt a task at 100% effort and fail. If you want to eventually get somewhere you haven't gone yet, you have to admit that you're not there and you want to be. That takes humility and courage.
So get back to the gym, put your ego in your gym bag for later, and start working.
My take away was something I had been thinking about during training sessions recently, how humility paves the way for accomplishment. And you can make some real predictions about a person's success at any given task by they way they handle each.
I'm going to take a particular example from one of my clients. When we first started working together, she was terrified of jumping on the 8 inch box we had, and claimed to possessed no explosive power or athletic ability. I took her through some progressive workouts, and she attacked them all, not caring if she failed or not. A couple months later, she jumps on 18 inch boxes and can back squat 155 lbs. And while she might glare at me during a metcon, she beams at what she did when it's over.
Some other people take a task given to them, try a few times, feel awful and say "let's move on." There are people terrified of failure, they beat themselves up, and whether they know it or not, sell themselves short because trying 100% might mean failing 100%.
First, you have to have the humility to attempt a task at 100% effort and fail. If you want to eventually get somewhere you haven't gone yet, you have to admit that you're not there and you want to be. That takes humility and courage.
So get back to the gym, put your ego in your gym bag for later, and start working.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Continued Education and Issues with Authority
This post isn't really about fitness. More of a rant about myself.
I love to read. And I love to learn. I have lots of strength training and nutrition books, texts, manuals, what have you at home. And I follow several sites on the same topics. You'd think that getting my Continued Education Units (CEUs) would be quick and easy.
Except it's not. Why? Because I have to. And therefore, my procrastination habit kicks into full gear. Plus, I just don't like being TOLD what I have to do.
Not proud of it. I have two months left and 5 credits to account for. I'd better get cracking, I studied too hard and am too proud of my CSCS to let it lapse. :P
I love to read. And I love to learn. I have lots of strength training and nutrition books, texts, manuals, what have you at home. And I follow several sites on the same topics. You'd think that getting my Continued Education Units (CEUs) would be quick and easy.
Except it's not. Why? Because I have to. And therefore, my procrastination habit kicks into full gear. Plus, I just don't like being TOLD what I have to do.
Not proud of it. I have two months left and 5 credits to account for. I'd better get cracking, I studied too hard and am too proud of my CSCS to let it lapse. :P
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