Working out while injured... or not?

For most people, an injury means skipping the gym for months at a time. Sometimes,

they retire their workout clothes for good.

The reality is, that unless you are seriously injured you can workout around the injured

area. If you are suffering from a single joint injury, knee, shoulder elbow, etc., you are

only 25% injured which means you are 75% HEALTHY. So don’t immobilize your entire body when only one

part needs to rest.

When you can’t do what you’ve always done, and don’t know any other way of doing

things, you may find yourself lost and wandering around the gym. With some research and having some good a few good resources you can find ways to keep training. Not only will it do your body good but also help with your state of mind.

Throughout the recovery process changes could be made to you how eat and

how to use supplements to recover from injury faster.

Here are some key nutrition and Supplementation intervention points:

1. Fats

Increase your intake of Omega 3 fats and monounsaturated fats: olive oil, mixed nuts,

avocados, flax oil, ground flax and others seeds.

Supplement with 3-9 grams of fish oil per day.

2. Herbs, Spices, and Flavonoids

Certain herbs can be valuable in the management of inflammation by reducing

dependence on anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals like NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-

inflammatory drugs).

In place of NSAIDS, the following herbs are useful anti-inflammatory agents for the first

few weeks post-injury:

-Curry powder

- Garlic

-Pineapple

3. Calories

During injury repair, metabolic rate can increase anywhere from 15-50% depending on

the severity of the disturbance. While still lower than what’s required during sport

training, this is significantly higher than during rest.

This presents a potential problem, as injury sufferers often report decreased appetite

during the recovery period, and eating too few calories can prevent full and adequate

healing.

No matter what injury, setback, competing time demand, or other distraction might

come your way, with a little coaching and support, you can still be your best. In the

gym and out.

And no matter what, DO NOT EVER give up.

Time

Time, the great equalizer. Something we can not buy, borrow or create more of no matter what our situation in life may be. We all only get 168 hours a week and it seems like that is never enough.

Many of my clients, family and friends tell me they simply do have enough time to work out at all or to work out more.

Where does it all go? Let’s do some math. If you take 168 hours and decide you do not want to spend any of your weekend time working out that removes 48 hours and leaves you with 120 hours over five days.

Allocate for a 10 hour work day 5 days a week and you lose another 50 hours leaving you with 70. Sleep 8 hours per night 5 days a week and there are 40 more hours leaving you with 30. Let’s allow for 3 hours a day to just do the business of living, cooking, shopping, taking the kids to school etc…

We now are left with 15 hours over 5 days that is currently unaccounted for, if you were to work out for 45 minutes a day for each of those days your total time commitment is 3.75 hours.

Ask yourself do you really not have the time or are you not allocating time to insure your future health and wellness.

I realize time is a valuable commodity but what is more valuable than good health?

Motivation

Whether you are a long time exerciser or just getting started there are, I believe,

three things to take into account.

Number one is from Sir Isaac Newton. Every object in a state of uniform motion will

remain in that state of motion unless an external  force  acts on it. If you are not in motion

and you are just getting started your body is not going to like the force that is being applied

to put it in motion. You have to hang in there and stay at it until you body gets used to

exercising. As we have all heard, it takes 21 days to form a habit. If you are a current

exerciser and you want to continue to improve on your fitness you have to continue to

increase the force or demand you apply to your body.

This leads to number two. You need a plan. Yes showing up at the gym and wondering

around from one machine to the other to do your resistance training or going to your

favorite treadmill and doing 30 minutes at speed 4 is better than sitting on the couch.

But are you getting closer to your goal or simply maintaining the status quo? You need

to track what you do and try to do a little more each time you work out. One more rep on

your split squat or 10 more MEP’s on your cardio workout. The point is, if you do not

track what you are doing how do you plan on improving?

Finally, number 3, your plan. Your plan should lead you closer to your

stated fitness goal, and the biggest pit fall I see in goal setting is a lack of immediacy. For example, if

you want to lose 15 lbs in the next two months. Two months is a long way away, so instead let’s

get 3 lbs off in the next two weeks. Shorter term goals will force you to focus on what

you are doing now to stay on track. If I am looking out two months I can just go ahead

and have that dessert on Friday because I have plenty of time to work it off. Shorten the

time to increase the focus!

So if you need help getting in motion, developing a plan or setting goals; find a fitness

professional to help you. It’s what they do.

Does Your Routine Include Stretching?

At the root of all good workout programs is something we should be doing daily but more often than not we don't see it as an important part of our workout..... flexibility training!

With the increase of sedentary lifestyles, mainly caused by the increase of technology, the importance of flexibility is more important now than ever. Our body is designed to move and function in a particular way but repetitive motions and being sedentary have altered most peoples kinetic chain. Your kinetic chain is comprised of the muscular, skeletal and nervous systems. Each one of these systems plays an important role in your body and if one becomes misaligned then dysfunctional movement patterns develop, this is where most injuries occur. The beauty is it's never too late to start a flexibility routine. 

There are many benefits of starting a flexibility routine; Correcting muscle imbalances, increasing joint range of motion, decreasing excessive tension on muscles, relieving join stress, maintaining the normal length of all muscles, improving output power of the muscle and overall body motion function to just name a few. 

Self-Myofacial release uses a foam roll to apply gentle force to an adhesion (aka "a knot"). By applying pressure it stimulates the receptors in your muscle to relax allowing the muscle fibers to go from a bundled position to a straighter alignment. Imagine a rope with a knot in the middle of it. The rope is your muscle that is sore and misaligned. If you were to go straight into a static stretch (pull the rope tight) the knot would become tighter. Myo-facial release is going to massage that knot out before you ask your muscle to lengthen. 

Static stretching takes a muscle to the point of tension and then holding the stretch for 20-30 seconds. Holding the stretch for the proper amount of time is probably the most important part of static stretching. When you stretch a muscle it's reaction is to immediately tense up as a form of protection. When you maintain the stretch for the proper amount of time it allows the receptors in your muscle to realize they aren't in any danger of tearing and can relax. Once your muscle relaxes that's where real lengthening begins.

So now that you know the why, the benefits and two types of stretches, I encourage you to implement them into your daily routine. The beauty about increasing your flexibly is it can be done anywhere!

Post Workout Nutrition

Let’s talk nutrition, specifically post-workout fuel. It seems the focus lately has been on pre-workout supplements and getting the energy ‘kick’ before a workout. Perhaps more important than that energy bump is how you fuel your body once the workout is over. 

During high intensity, weight training, or endurance workouts of 45 minutes or longer, protein breakdown occurs in our body. In order to increase hypertrophy (muscle gain), fat loss, and muscle gain we need to increase our muscle synthesis (building-up). So, what does it take and how do we do it?

Simple really. Immediately following your workout, we need to fuel our muscles with not only protein but carbohydrates as well. Protein is what your muscles need to grow and be fueled, however, carbohydrates are what deliver those proteins to be absorbed and useful. One without the other is simply not as efficient or beneficial to maximal results.

After you finish that last rep (and put your weights away ) you have 2 hours to replenish your body. Ideally, you will consume post-workout nutrients within 30 minutes. This is why having an easy option such as a recovery shake can be ideal, the sooner we can consume the better our body reacts in protein synthesis.

So, here’s the dish (pun intended). Our post-workout meal or shake should have (at least) 15g of protein and 30g of carbs. Some things to consider: certain types of protein and carbs are absorbed quicker than others. Some fast absorbing proteins include: protein hydrolysates or isolates. For carbs consider: maltodextrin, dextrose, glucose, etc. Another supplement to consider adding are BCAA (branch chain amino acids), this can also aid in readily available nutrients to rebuild muscles during protein breakdown. 

Train hard, eat smart and cheers to good health!

Why You Should Exercise Regularly

Maybe you’ve been meaning to start but just haven’t found the right routine, or even the right exercise “hack.” Perhaps you’re recovering from an injury or just haven’t gotten around to it. Whatever the reason, I’m here to tell you that TODAY is the day to start working out.

Strength training increases muscle and bone mass. Having more muscle mass can burn an extra 50 calories per pound of muscle per day. Strength training increases your stamina and balance which will give you an increases desire to be more active. Other benefits of regular exercise include a boost of happiness, lowered risk of heart disease, better sleep, increased energy, memory and self confidence.

The benefits you get from exercising are far greater than just losing weight or achieving that “ideal body.” Exercising regularly benefits everything from your sleep quality to your energy level and even your memory. From making you happier to helping you live longer, regular exercise is key to living a healthy and balanced life.

Let us know how we can help you get started on the road to a healthier, happier life.

Welcome

Welcome to our blog, we’re excited you’re here. We love that you are part of our community and hope you'll stick around to see all the fun things we're going to talk about. One of our goals with this Blog is to provide you with tips and information for all things health and fitness. We hope that everyone who comes across this blog will motivated and inspired to live a healthier, and more fulfilling life.

Check back soon for our next post about why we think you should exercise regularly!