Q: Due to the multitude of injuries that I have, I very rarely squat, deadlift, or bench (with a straight bar.) However, I still find myself plateauing and feeling burned out. I was wondering whether the prescriptions in your Art of the Deload e-book would still apply to me. For example, on my heaviest weeks, I'll do 5RM Split Squats/Bulgarians, etc.That is to say, do you still cycle intensity similarly for your injured and rehabbing clients who use "deloading exercises" on a more long-term basis?
A: Absolutely. Training stress is training stress, no matter how you slice it. In fact, a lot of single-leg exercises - particularly when loaded heavily, as you noted - can beat you up just as much as heavy bilateral movements.
Normally, in this case, we'd just deload on volume. So, if you were doing five sets of five lunges on each leg in your highest volume week, we'd go 3x5 in the deload week. Whether or not we'd drop intensity would depend on your training experience. If you're using 115-pound dumbbells, yes, we'd drop it. If you're using 35-pounders, then probably not.
1. It's going to be a quick one this week, as I'm doing some last minute preparations for this weekend's Perform Better Summit in Providence, RI. To all the poor abandoned souls who count on my blog for companionship each Friday, I apologize for not giving our relationship the tender romance it deserves this week.
2. Congratulations to Cressey Performance athlete and Auburn High pitcher Tyler Beede, who threw a no-hitter on Wednesday. Tyler struck out 15 in his complete game performance.
3. I contributed on the fourth installment of Mythbusters at T-Nation this week. It also includes contributions from Chad Waterbury, Tony Gentilcore, and Christian Thibaudeau. Noticeably absent from this esteemed crew of contributors is Mr. Celery - so I thought I'd give him some love.
4. For the foam rolling aficionados in the crowd, here's a great variation to use for those hard-to-reach grundle adductor region. Thanks to Tony Gentilcore for the video:
This is a really important one for those of you in the crowd with a history of groin strains and sports hernias. Hockey players, soccer players, and powerlifters should commit this one to memory.
5. It's official: Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and I are filming a new DVD on June 7th. Lots to prepare before then!
I received this email earlier this week from a very satisfied customer of The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual:
"Hi Eric,
I just thought I'd let you know of my progress after completing the first two months training from your offseason manual. At the same time I started, I also purchased Precision Nutrition and implemented a much improved eating plan to see me add strength and lose bodyfat whilst maintaining lean mass ready for the onset of the soccer pre-season at the start of July. So, after two months of Precision Nutrition eating and off-season training, in terms of measurements I have:
- lost 14lbs in weight
- lost 2 inches off my waist
- lost 3 1/4 inches off my hips
- lost 1 inch off my neck
- gained 1/2 inch on my shoulders
- maintained the same arm measurement with no direct arm training
and in the gym I have:
- added roughly 45lbs to my bench and squat
- 3RM chin of BW+45lbs
- 'straightened out' my previous anterior pelvic tilt
- improved my hamstring and adductor flexibility
In the eight weeks this took, I have eaten seven meals a day without fail that have with no exceptions adhered to the 10 habits of PN (allowing a slice of cake for desert once a week!). I have been in the gym everyday at 6am (bar Saturdays, my off-day), with Mondays and Wednesdays being my regeneration days, which I view as just as important as my four resistance days.
I can't wait for soccer preseason to start in July and see hopefully my hard work payoff (literally ££!!).
Thanks for providing the great resources to put me on the track to progression,
Andy Powell
United Kingdom"
Today, we've got a great guest blog post from Jim Smith. Jim is the author of Combat Core, a resource about which I've raved on numerous occasions. This guest blog is yet another example of how innovative Jim is.
I utilize scapular wall slides (SWS) with my athletes because the conventional movement has a lot of benefits. The movement should be done not only by forcibly pulling the elbows downward, but by actively forcing the elbows and back of the hands back into the wall.
Benefits:
1. activation of lower traps, rhomboids, infraspinatus and teres minor
2. dynamic stretch of the pectorals
3. great warm-up for upper back
4. improved posture
5. improved shoulder health
But let's be honest, it is definitely a remedial movement. Once it has been mastered and repeated with proficiency we must progress. Of course we can progress to prone "Y" on the floor or on an incline bench with dumbbells, but I believe we have the opportunity to improve the benefits of the SWS.
In a previous article I discussed the fact that activation is the summation of muscle contraction and neurological excitement. To truly activate a muscle group there has to be a powerful contraction or increase the rate and frequency of motor unit recruitment. Now with conventional SWS, the movement is slow and the activation is primarily isometric in nature.
We must implement agitation to the system to truly activate the muscle. I liken this to vibrational training, albeit at much lower frequency.
Here is the modification:
Have the athlete perform the SWS while holding elastic bands. The coach will hold the band and step backward creating tension on the movement according to the athlete's current strength levels. The coach then, as the athlete performs the movement, imparts agitation to the movement by vibrating the band in a wave pattern.
The muscular activation will be exponential to the conventional movement, thereby improving and magnifying the benefits.
Jim Smith, CSCSJim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author, consultant and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men's Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. Jim's new product on how to build muscle, lose fat - all with only three short workouts a week will be out soon. Grab their RSS feed. Check it out!
Sooner or later, you're going to tweak your back, and there's nothing you'll ever experience, perhaps shy of limb dismemberment, that'll put a stop to your training as cruelly or effectively. Of course, if you've already had some back problems, you know what we're talking about. Either way, we recommend you bone up on the back. It's one complex little beastie.
Continue Reading...
Rethinking Interval Training
I love interval training, but one of the problems we commonly run into - particularly if someone isn't prepared physically to sprint, or doesn't have a place to do it because of weather restrictions - is that repetitive, low-amplitude motions are our only options. In other words, it has to just be cycling, elliptical, or stairclimber. While slideboard work, medicine ball medleys, barbell complexes, and sled pushing definitely help to work around these problems, when it comes down to it, many of them still don't give certain folks the variety they need in their exercise programming.
In our Building the Efficient Athlete seminar, Mike Robertson and I spoke about the law of repetitive motion: I = NF/AR
In this equation, injury equals the number of repetitions multiplied by the frequency of those repetitions, divided by the amplitude of each repetition times the rest interval. While you can attack each of these five factors differently (and I will in a future newsletter), the take-home point with respect to today's discussion is that simply increasing the amplitude - or range-of-motion - in one's daily life can reduce (or eliminate) the presence or severity of overuse conditions.
For that reason, I often substitute one or both of two different training modalities for client's interval training.
The first is dynamic flexibility circuits with little to no rest between sets. In this scenario, we program 2-3 different mobility/activation drills for each inefficiency the athlete displays, and then combine them in a series of drills. Ideally, as many of these drills are done in the standing position as possible. Let's say a client has poor thoracic spine mobility, a horrific Thomas test, bad glute function, and poor hip external rotation. Here's what his circuit might look like:
a) 1-leg supine bridge
b) wall hip flexor mobilizations
c) 3-point extension-rotations
d) cradle walks
e) overhead lunge walks
f) walking spiderman with overhead reach
g) yoga push-ups
h) 1-leg SLDL walks
(you can find videos of many of these exercises in the Assess and Correct DVD set, and I'll have more information on the rest down the road)
Is this circuit going to completely "gas" an athlete? Absolutely not. However, it is going to make him/her better in light of the inefficiencies I outlined above - and you don't have to leave the gym exhausted to have improved.
The second option is to simply take a series of resistance training exercises with a corrective emphasis (sometimes integrates with the drills outlined above) and put them in a series of supersets. For these exercises, the load utilized should only be about 30% of 1-rep max. I outlined this option a while back in my article, Cardio Confusion. Here's an example I used with an online consulting client recently:
A1) Overhead broomstick walking Lunges (3x10/side)
A2) Push-ups (3x12)
B1) Face pulls (3x15)
B2) Body weight only reverse lunges (3x10/side)
C1) 1-leg SLDL Walk (2x6/side)
C2) Band external rotations - arm adducted (2x15/side)
D1) Behind-the-neck band pullaparts (2x15)
D2) Bowler Squats (2x10/side)
This series is preceded by foam rolling and a dynamic flexibility warm-up, and can be followed by more "traditional" interval training.
Like I said earlier, I'm still all for both traditional and non-traditional interval training. Initiative like I outlined above, though, can serve as a nice change of pace and work in corrective exercise while keeping the heart rate up. Be as creative as you'd like and you'll see great results; the sky is the limit in terms of the combinations you can use.
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The nicest thing about baseball season is, obviously, the fact that I get to watch a ton of baseball and see their off-season dedication pay off on the field. Another nice perk, though, is that I get about six weeks to gather my thoughts, spend a little extra time on writing/consulting, and just tie up loose ends on little projects here and there.
One such project from last week - which clearly wasn't so little - was cleaning my desk at Cressey Performance. As you can see in the picture below (numerically labeled for the sake of explanation below), it was something that really needed to get done.
1. Water Bottle...likely from 2003.
2. One of my old business cards - and it's serving an important purpose: covering up the strawberry protein powder stain on #3.
3. Stained picture of my fiancee Anna and I. For the record, she spilled it, and it was her shake - but this relationship isn't about blame, is it, honey?
4. That's a world record deadlift certificate. I'm pretty sure it was a 567.5 deadlift at a body weight of 163 in my last meet as a junior back in 2005. However, I've received so many awards for my devastatingly good looks since then that it's all a blur (kidding, folks; they were all for my charming wit and personality).
5. Fiancee's watch. I've been engaged two weeks and she's already all up in my business!
6. Packing tape - to keep my mouth shut after my comment on #5.
7. Laptop, and I need a new one. Suggestions? I'm too big of a wuss to make the leap to a Mac.
8. Ball signed by all of my in-person pro baseball players from this past off-season. I get hounded all the time for my autograph, so I thought I'd turn the tables on someone.
9. DVD of my presentation from Ron Wolforth's Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp in December. This set is fantastic, and it would be worth checking out.
10. Digital camera: quite possibly the most useful thing you can have kicking around if you are a strength coach. It's an awesome way to give athletes instant visual feedback, or to take videos of "team building."
11. Cell phone. Yes, I know it's white, but they were out of the black ones, and I needed a phone right away. I make up for it by being a text message rock star.
12. Keys, which are under something, meaning that I'll probably lose them when I go to leave for the night.
13. Desk: you'll notice it isn't a very nice one, and the reason is pretty simple. I'm a slob and don't really need anything better.
14. I-Pod, because I'm very 21st century-ish.
15. Waldo (of Where's Waldo? fame). Actually, it's an envelope I should have mailed to my brother a few days ago. Crap.
16. Royalty statement for Maximum Strength. Since we haven't earned any royalties, I guess you could just call it a piece of paper. Then again, reading these things is like perusing stereo instructions written in Chinese, so I'm assuming they'll always just be pieces of paper to me.
17. Sunglasses, because MC Hammer taught me that you're only cool if you wear sunglasses inside.
18. Two plaques I received for speaking at the Maine NSCA Symposium. One of them was the first annual Dr. Richard LaRue award. I definitely need to hang 'em up before I spill something on them.
19. This is a drawer filled with almonds, chewing gum, plastic forks, kryptonite, and Tony's manhood (he'll get it back when he stops listening to techno).
20. Basketball signed by the 2004-2005 UCONN women's basketball team. A lot of the girls on this year's national championship team were freshmen during my last year on campus. In hindsight, I never really got much stuff signed by the athletes with whom I worked, but this was one I actually got around to snagging.
21. This month's NSCA Journal, the focus of which was entirely baseball. Some of it was good (weighted balls meta-analysis), and some was absolutely atrocious (the take on pitchers distance running, to which I am ademantly opposed).
22. Free t-shirts, quite possibly the coolest perk of being a strength coach. Here, we've got shirts from the SF Giants (Steve Hammond), Nobles & Greenough (Ben Knott), and Stonehill College (Clark Leger). Thanks, guys!
23. Sticky note...as if a note could actually organize me!?!?!?
24. Journal article on glenoid dysplasia. I always try to have something right on-hand to read if I get a spare minute.
25. Business cards for local physical therapists with whom we work: it never hurts to have a great network.
26. Business cards for a local sports psychologist (all the CP staff members need to spend time with him to put up with my crap).
27. Dry erase board, also known as the center of my universe.
28. Health history for a client I had just evaluated. I use my notes to write his program.
29. Signed picture from USA Bobsled driver Bree Schaaf - and it reminds me that I have a bunch of other stuff like this that I need to hang up in my office!
30. Lincoln-Sudbury Baseball 2007 State Championship Plaque. Bring home another one this year, fellas!
31. Towel - originally brought to work for showering purposes, but it eventually got devoted to towel pull-ups full-time!
32. Boots that I should have taken home months ago when winter ended.
33. Warm-up pants that I always have on-hand in case I need to catch a bullpen. Putting catcher's gear on top of shorts is not comfortable.
34. My supplement stockpile. Chance favors the prepared mind, so I try not to ever get caught shorthanded on the calories front at work.
Fortunately, this is all pretty cleaned-up by now. I feel pretty out-of-sorts as a result, though!
Today's guest blog comes from Eric Talmant, an old friend of mine who has achieved excellent success as a powerlifter. Eric credits a lot of this success to discoveries he's made on the nutrition front, and he's carried forward this knowledge to help others. In the series we'll be publishing here over the next few weekends, Eric outlines his approach to nutrition. Eric will be checking in, so feel free to chime in below with questions/comments.
Building Vibrant Health: Part 1
By: Eric Talmant
I would like to take a moment and briefly summarize my own personal journey with building health. I have been involved with Metabolic Typing® since 2001 after a serious injury in the military. I was able to radically rebuild and repair my health using the basic Metabolic Typing® principles, which I will discuss in parts 2 and 3 of this "Building Vibrant Health" series. After seven years of working the basic program, and advising many others as a certified Metabolic Typing® advisor, I took the next steps...
In April 2008, I enrolled in the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) course, which is when I first took the BioHealth 205 Adrenal Stress Profile and the 101 Metabolic Profile (saliva and urine tests). I discovered that although my digestion and kidneys were working really well, my adrenal glands were in Stage 1 fatigue; not the worst case scenario but certainly room for improvement. Of course, many things can contribute to adrenal fatigue; some of which I can improve and some of which I was not willing to change just yet (Sheiko training for one). So, in an effort to improve my adrenals, I began supplementing with DHEA and Pregnenolone. These are both legal and can be bought over the counter without a prescription.
I also began to meditate (Meditation for Dummies) and started working with someone who practices homeopathy. I then took the BioHealth 304 Mucosal Membrane Barrier test. Here, I received more specific information indicating that I had a dysbiosis going on in my body as well as a bit of a leaky gut; which is a generic way of saying that I was eating too many foods that I am either allergic or sensitive to. So, I then took the Signet MRT Food Sensitivities Test and the ELISA finger stick IgG allergy test (both of which I am now authorized to dispense and offer on my web site) and found out the foods to which I have a sensitivity or subtle allergy. Eliminating them has in turn has improved the integrity of my mucosal membrane barrier, which has positively affected my adrenal glands.
HOWEVER, I was not done yet because I needed to still address the dysbiosis in my stomach that the 304 had originally identified. I most recently took the BioHealth 401 stool culture for pathogens and found out that I have bad bacteria (proteus) that is abundant in my body. It is impossible to tell when I might have acquired this bad bacteria, but my guess is that it happened when I was in the military many years ago. Obviously, due to the fact that the good bacteria are constantly fighting the bad bacteria, it is a constant ping (a drain) on my adrenal glands. And, who knows how long the good guys can keep on dominating and winning?
My first option is to come in with an A-Bomb, in the form of an antibiotic, and completely eradicate not only the bad bacteria in my body but the good bacteria as well. This option would require a lot of recolonizing of the gut, with good bacteria in the form of probiotics and so forth, and is -at least for me - a last resort. So, as an alternative, I have decided to supplement with a natural anti-microbial that is composed of ingredients that are found and processed straight out of the Amazon rain forest. The company is called Raintree Nutrition and my FDN instructor Reed Davis has seen very good results with their anti-microbial product for combating dysbiosis. However, my strain (proteus) is one he has not dealt with in a long time. In addition, my report came back as saying that it is "abundant." Therefore, I am going to see what I can do in the form of supplementation and by cultivating my body to listen to my mind and rid itself of the bad bacteria. This is going to be hard and take a lot of mental effort on my part, but I know if I tell my body to do it that it will do it.
Why am I telling you this? Because building health is aprocess. In this series of articles, I am going to take you from step 1 to step 10 and teach you the things you need to know to build and maintain vibrant health. Some of the things that I mentioned in the introduction - such as adrenal fatigue, food sensitivities, and the mucosal membrane barrier - probably do not mean anything to you now; but down the road, they will. I only wanted to put them out there to let you know where we will be headed on our journey. However, each journey begins with a single step, and ours will begin with some basic parameters you can use to evaluate your state of general health.
I have been using nutrition as a successful weapon in such athletic endeavors as powerlifting, running, swimming, sprint triathlons, special operations military training, and then back to powerlifting. Has it made a difference for me? Unequivocally, yes. How? Primarily by increasing my ability to recover from and be prepared for the next workout. I can also say that the quality of life that I experience today is directly related to how well I took (and continue to take) care of myself nutritionally. Is it easy? It does take work, and it is an ongoing process. The foods that I currently eat are different from the foods that I was eating six months ago. Not entirely different, but the ratios (protein/carbs/fats) have changed, and I have changed some things that suit my metabolic rate and metabolic type for my current situation.
Over the course of several articles, it is my objective to teach you the things that I have learned along the way, how to properly identify your metabolic type, and how you can apply these things to yourself and those around you. Some of this may sound a bit unconventional, hokey, new age, or just too troublesome. However, if you at least read what I have to say, I can assure you that you will take away at least one principle that you will apply for the rest of your life.
In order to achieve optimal health, we must first check and see how strong our foundation is. Just like any good workout template, we must first have the basics in place. Yes, we have all heard of these factors before; but if I did not believe that they were important enough to call our "health foundation blocks" then I would not have included them. These three indicators are your insulin level, ideal blood pressure, and cholesterol level or cholesterol ratio. These three indicators can tell you so much about your own state of health, how aggressively you need to change your dietary and exercise habits in order to maximize yourself in (training) and out (recovering) of the gym, and improve your quality of life.
Before we determine how we will go about testing insulin levels, let's first discuss insulin. The small intestine is responsible for separating glucose (sugar) from the dietary carbohydrates that we ingest. Once the glucose is free, it enters and is absorbed into the blood. Most adults have close to a gallon of blood in their bodies, and roughly only a teaspoon of sugar (1).If your blood sugar level were to rise to a tablespoon, you would go into a coma and certainly die. Our bodies work very hard to prohibit this from happening by producing appropriate amounts of insulin. Insulin acts on the cellular level in our bodies to stimulate the uptake, use, and storage of the glucose (sugar) that we just ate from the carbohydrates. This action keeps us from dying when we ingest sugar. However, high (inappropriate) levels of insulin are bad for us.
Whenever we decide to eat grains and sugars, we end up increasing our insulin levels. Increased insulin levels can lead and help contribute to diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity. There are two types of diabetes: insulin dependent (type 1) and non-insulin dependent (type 2). This article is referencing the most common type, type 2. In type 2, the insulin receptors fail to respond the way that they should to the insulin that our bodies secrete from eating carbohydrates (sugar). Therefore, we continue to secrete more and more insulin. This is bad news.
The best way to find out our insulin levels is to request a fasting blood sugar test (FBS) from a doctor. It is a simple blood withdrawal after a fast of at least six hours. Personally, I prefer and recommend at least eight. It is a relatively inexpensive test that should not require much of your time. Normal levels for a fasting blood sugar test are around 87mg/dL, but anything below 90 is fine. Clinically, type 2 diabetes is not diagnosed until levels reach or exceed 126mg/dL, but you should be very concerned with anything at or slightly above 100mg/dL, regardless of what is considered "normal range". This is a direct indicator that you are becoming increasingly insulin resistant (your receptors are failing, as we discussed above) and that it is becoming harder and harder for your body to control your blood sugar. Blurred vision, excessive hunger, excessive thirst, excessive urination, and difficulty with wound healing are all symptoms that may indicate that you are insulin resistant. Now do you see why controlling insulin levels are so important?
With the drug companies promoting statin drugs (Lipitor, etc) more than ever, most people are confused about cholesterol. Actually, cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane on this planet. Without cholesterol, there would be no life on earth. I would say that is important, wouldn't you? Cholesterol is also needed to make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and just about every other vital hormone you can think of. The majority of cholesterol in one's bloodstream is manufactured from the liver. The amount of dietary cholesterol has little to do with your cholesterol levels. Please read that statement again and repeat it out loud. The cholesterol that you are consuming in eggs has little to do with your cholesterol levels. We will discuss the importance of cholesterol again when we talk about the steroidal hormone principle pathways and the functions of the adrenal glands.
When you go to get your cholesterol levels checked, the total cholesterol is measured and expressed in milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL). HDL and LDL levels are also given. What I want you to be more concerned with is not total cholesterol, but the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol. HDL has been referred to as "good cholesterol" and LDL "bad cholesterol". These are misnomers, as HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein, and LDL is low-density lipoprotein. Lipoproteins are proteins that are combined with fats. Therefore, there really are no such things as good and bad cholesterol. There is just cholesterol. However, all of these levels are important. Simply put, the lower your LDL levels the better.
More importantly, let's look at the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol that I mentioned above. On the "average", HDL levels for males should range from 40-50mg/dL. In women, the levels are 50-60mg/dL. It is important to note that progesterone and anabolics, specifically exogenous testosterone lower HDL levels. In order to determine your ratio, take your total cholesterol level and divide that by your HDL level. For example, if your total cholesterol level is 200mg/dL and your HDL level is 50, then 200 divided by 50 gives you a number of 4. The American Heart Association states that the goal is to keep this number below 5, but I believe that the cut-off point should be 4. The lower the number the better it is. There is a rare genetic condition (1 in 500) known as hypercholesterolemia where cholesterol levels are usually around 350 or higher. Obviously, if this is the case for you, immediately contact an experienced natural health care clinician.
I believe that there are other indicators that are much more reliable predictors of heart disease than cholesterol that we will discuss in one of the upcoming articles, but I wanted to say a bit about it in general since many folks are "up" on their cholesterol readings.
Finally, we need to look at blood pressure. As our hearts pump blood, it is pushed through our arteries and against our arterial walls. Blood pressure is measured by cardiac output, or the force with which blood is pumped out of the left ventricle and the amount of resistance that is encountered (2). Blood pressure is expressed as two numbers. For example, "normal" blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg. The first number is systolic pressure, and it measures the pressure within the arteries when your heart beats. Systolic pressure increases steadily with age. Diastolic pressure measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest, between beats, and filling with blood.
There are many different opinions on what is considered an optimum blood pressure. If I had to define it, I would say that it would be less than 120 over 80, but the take-home point is that it should be as low as possible. What is not disputable is that when taken accurately, elevated blood pressure makes the heart work harder. This leads to increasing its oxygen demands and a whole host of other problems that we simply do not want. It is interesting to note that I have been unable to find, and other prominent doctors in the field have pointed out, that not a single clinical trial has ever proven that lowering an elevated systolic blood pressure reduces the risk for death due to coronary disease (3). Why is this? Simply, the cause of high blood pressure cannot always be identified.
When a disease is treated, we first identify and then treat its cause. The problem with high blood pressure is that there seems to be many plausible causes. The high insulin levels that we discussed previously are one of the main factors that contribute to high blood pressure. Insulin resistance can increase blood pressure by causing the kidneys to retain sodium. Stress, tension and anxiety, excess caffeine, diet, regular alcohol intake, carrying too much body fat (but how much is too much?), anabolic use, and fat burners (yohimbine, ephedrine, guarana, etc.) can contribute to the problem as well. It is my belief, however, that following a nutrition plan that is correct for you, such as Metabolic Typing® (which we will discuss in the next article) will go a long way in lowering and controlling blood pressure as well as many other "problems".
Finding a way to manage stress that works for you is essential as well. For some, this may be praying, meditating, or listening to soothing music. I have some personal things that I do to manage stress that seem to work very well, and I mention some of them in the opening paragraph of this article. If you would like to know some of these techniques, I can provide you with the key words to search under so that you may do your own research, find your own conclusions, and apply what works for you. Finally, I believe that walking can do miracles for lowering blood pressure. I recommend working your way up to one hour of low impact exercise, such as walking, at least three times per week and preferably every day.
When you go to get your blood pressure taken, it is recommended that you get at least two readings before you leave. These two readings should be divided by as much time as possible, and you should not take the first one until you have been sitting and relaxing for at least five minutes. It is very important to know that your arm position can directly impact your reading. Make sure your arm is perpendicular to your body and supported at the level of the heart. In other words, pretend like you are doing a phantom bench press at your desk, but only with one side. You do not want your arm hanging straight down or parallel. If this initial reading is high or not pleasing to you, have the next reading taken while lying on your back. After this reading is taken, go ahead and trouble the nurse or doctor again by requesting to have one more done standing to see if there are notable differences. If there are not, then you can assume that the readings are not influenced by your posture and are fairly accurate. If you are still reading high or are still displeased, go through the same drill a week or so later, only this time have all of the readings taken in the opposite arm as before. Now make a comparison and draw your own conclusions. It is safe to say that whichever arm is higher is the one that you should monitor.
Something that often gets overlooked in the powerlifting and weightlifting community is the fact that most have measurements that are larger than "average", especially in the arms. The width of the cuff should be about forty percent of the circumference (completely around) of the unflexed arm (4).For example, if you have 20-inch arms, then the width of the cuff should be around 8 inches. Yes, I want you to take a tape measure with you and check the cuff for yourself. If the cuff is considerably smaller than what your measurements call for, and they do not have any that are larger, then simply note to yourself that this reading may be skewed.
If you believe that the readings you have taken are accurate and that they are high, then I suggest you buy a reliable automated electronic device to check your blood pressure at home. Make sure that the one you buy has the appropriate cuff for your arm. Many quality models will cost between fifty and one hundred dollars. If feasible, you should calibrate your machine against the one in your doctor's office. Testing at home allows you to check at various times of the day and rules out "white-coat" syndrome, or being anxious at the doctor's office. You can take as many readings as you would like, but four times per day should suffice.
Now that you are armed with the knowledge of what to do for an initial assessment of your health, I urge you to put the wheels in motion...today! After you have made your determination based on your tests, it is then time to take the next steps to improve upon these conditions. For some of you, the process will not be so urgent. For others, we will need to make some immediate changes.
The most efficient and most effective way to start this is through a proper, individualized diet. Trust me, when we discuss Metabolic Typing® you will be very interested to learn how one man's food can certainly be another man's poison. If you think broccoli is healthy for everybody across the board, then think again. Metabolic Typing® teaches you how to choose the foods that work best with your body and why. I do not want you thinking strictly in terms of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. That is seeing the forest before the trees. Metabolic Typing® will be a very fun, ongoing journey because it is a self-discovery process. Once you discover how to apply Metabolic Typing®, everything changes. You will look and feel better, enjoy better health, and you will be stronger in the gym than ever. Stay tuned...
About Eric Talmant
Eric Talmant is a top lightweight powerlifter and has a "passion for all things nutrition." A 1996 graduate of the University of Evansville, Eric is a certified Metabolic Typing® advisor and Functional Diagnostic nutritionist. Talmant is certified to offer the Advanced Metabolic Typing® Test as well as order blood work (the Signet MRT Test, U.S. BioTek ELISA IgG allergy test, the High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein heart health test, and the BioHealth Diagnostics Adrenal and Hormone Profiles to name a few) and dispense hormones.
Eric has competed in the ADFPA, NASA, AAPF, APF, APA, the WPO, and the Raw Unity Meet. He holds the APF Florida state men's open equipped squat record of 678 pounds. He has been ranked in the top in the 75K class among all raw lifters in the United States for the past two years and he was a top equipped lifter in the two years before that.
His best-equipped lifts are a 683-pound squat, 391-pound bench press, and a 650-pound deadlift in the 75kg (165-pound) weight class. His best raw lifts to date are 485-pound squat without knee wraps, 290-pound bench press, and 635-pound deadlift.
He is also the founder and contest director of the Raw Unity Meet, which experienced great success in 2008 and 2009.
Talmant brings a unique skill set and 16 years of nutritional experience to his sponsors BMF Sports, Ultra Life, Inc., Critical Bench, and Titan Support Systems. He lives in rural Spring Hill, Florida, and can be reached through his web site at www.EricTalmant.com.References
1. R. Bowen, "The Physiologic Effects of Insulin"-Personal Notes from Nutrition Lecture.
2.Dr. Paul J. Rosch, "Do You Have a Good Blood Pressure" Originally published in the Health and Stress newsletter (July) of The American Institute of Stress.
3. Dr. Paul J. Rosch, "Do You Have a Good Blood Pressure" Originally published in the Health and Stress newsletter (July) of The American Institute of Stress.
4. Dr. Paul J. Rosch, "Do You Have a Good Blood Pressure" Originally published in the Health and Stress newsletter (July) of The American Institute of Stress.
1. First off, a little recognition for the Lincoln-Sudbury baseball team and coaching staff; LS baseball was was ranked #1 in Massachusetts by the Boston Herald this week. The guys ran their record to 10-0 with a 12-3 win yesterday. Just about every varsity player on the LS squad trains at Cressey Performance, and when you watch them get after it - whether it's the off-season or in-season - it's no surprise why these guys are doing special things. Here's are the starting RF, LF/RHP, 2B, and SS getting after it back in early March. You won't find a high school team in the country who trains harder or smarter than these guys.
Keep up the good work, fellas!
2. One of the first things I learned as a writer in the fitness industry was that it was best to avoid writing about religion and politics. Still, I'm going to just come right out and ask: why the hell do we need a photo of a presidential plane with two F-16 fighter jets over New York City, anyway? Are they trying to sell this sucker on EBay?
This one came at a price-tag of $328,835 to taxpayers - and that doesn't even include the wasted wages on the thousands of citizens who fled their places of employment. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, this has got to make you want to go elwell on someone (inside joke, but I'm sure the rest of you catch my drift).
2. I've written previously on the tremendous benefits of increasing one's dosage of Vitamin D through supplementation. In particular, it seems to have a great effect on chronic musculoskeletal issues, particularly in darker skinned individuals in Northern climates. Well, add one more benefit to the list.
According to British researchers, daily supplementation with Vitamin D cut prostate specific antigen levels by more than 50% in some patients with prostate cancer. This marker is used as an indicator of the severity of prostate cancer.
3. I just got an email with some awesome feedback:
"I just finished your Maximum Strength program and had great success! Here are the stats:
Pre Max Strength
Bench Press = 300
Squat = 350
Deadlift = 425
3 Rep Pullup = Bodyweight + 15 lbs
Post Max Strength
Bench Press = 335
Squat = 385
Deadlift = 440
3 Rep Pullup = Bodyweight + 55 lbs
My weight stayed the same at 195 lbs at 5'10". Thanks for a great program!!!
-James Wigington"
Click here to pick up a copy of Maximum Strength!
4. Someone asked me the other day, "when a person presents with little or no level of asymmetry, is it safe to say that no pain = no problem in this case?"
My answer would be that it is definitely not safe to say that. While asymmetry is often a good predictor of injury, it doesn't tell us everything about an individual's current state. A lot of folks have bilateral strength/stability/flexibility deficits, and it's just a matter of where they wind up breaking down first.
5. Movement of the Week: The Spin Kick (pants optional)...
1. Water Bottle...likely from 2003.
2. One of my old business cards - and it's serving an important purpose: covering up the strawberry protein powder stain on #3.
3. Stained picture of my fiancee Anna and I. For the record, she spilled it, and it was her shake - but this relationship isn't about blame, is it, honey?
4. That's a world record deadlift certificate. I'm pretty sure it was a 567.5 deadlift at a body weight of 163 in my last meet as a junior back in 2005. However, I've received so many awards for my devastatingly good looks since then that it's all a blur (kidding, folks; they were all for my charming wit and personality).
5. Fiancee's watch. I've been engaged two weeks and she's already all up in my business!
6. Packing tape - to keep my mouth shut after my comment on #5.
7. Laptop, and I need a new one. Suggestions? I'm too big of a wuss to make the leap to a Mac.
8. Ball signed by all of my in-person pro baseball players from this past off-season. I get hounded all the time for my autograph, so I thought I'd turn the tables on someone.
9. DVD of my presentation from 
