Mobility Drills for Runners

Recently, I posted some information on our Advanced Fitness Facebook page regarding post-workout recovery exercises.  This time, I want to talk with you about some things you might want to consider incorporating into your warm-up...especially if you are a runner!

The goal of a warm-up is to prepare the body for upcoming activity. This includes biomechanical, physiological and mental preparation.  It is important to warm up the muscles, ligaments and tendons as well as prepare the nervous and cardiovascular systems for the specific workout.   Before a run, the goal is to increase your mobility (range of motion in the joints) in especially the ankles and hips to allow for a more efficient running stride.  The old way of static stretching before your run, or workout for that matter, is a thing of the past!  The preferred method for your warm-up should consist of several mobility exercises to increase range of motion throughout your joints and work through any adhesions built up in the fascia and muscle tissue.  If you will for a moment, try and imagine your muscles as if they were rubber bands.  Your muscles are meant to contract and relax, so when you try to stretch them by pulling on them as in static stretching, you actually lose a bit of elasticity. The same thing happens with a rubber band if you continue you stretch it over and over for extended periods of time.  As a runner, your goal is to retain as much muscle elasticity as possible.  With that said, I have included several videos below in which I cover four mobility drills to use as part of your pre-run warm-up…


1.  Myofascial Release for the Foot

The first place you are going to start is at the bottom of the foot.  You will need either a lacrosse ball or tennis ball for this drill.  Why the foot you ask?  The muscles on the back side of your body beginning at the soles of your feet and all the way up to the back of the head are joined by a strong network of connective tissue.  So in essence, when you do any kind of mobility work at the bottom of the foot it will cause a domino effect up the body and actually help other areas of the posterior chain to open up as well.  This is also a great drill to help massage away and pain and soreness caused by plantar fasciitis.  Try and aim for 5-10 passes at each major point on the soles of the feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyjv1JEMrAk

2. Opening up the Ankle

For this drill, aim to complete about 10 reps of “openings” on both the inside and the outside of your ankle bone.  The last part of the drill will require you to position your feet so that they are lined up parallel to one another with the toes of one foot touching the heel of your other foot (think fourth positioning of the feet in ballet.  If you are not sure what that is, “Google” it!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9YUgJF5uwo

3. Butt to Heel Drop

This video will show you how to open up the front of your lower leg.  The key to this drill is to not let the knee touch the ground and keep the shin hovering over the floor.  This is accomplished by sitting back onto the heel of the leg you are working on.  Push through the heel of your front foot to help you stand up out of the stretch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aljwiQer-pc

4.  Hip Internal Drop and Rotation

This last video focuses on opening up the hips.  When you set up for this drill, be sure to have your weight on your hands behind you and butt a few inches of the floor to provide enough room for maneuvering the hips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9iJMpICPXA

St. Patrick's Day Fitness Wisdom

Earlier today, I was thinking about different topics  to write about on the AF blog.  While brainstorming, it also dawned on me that today is St. Patrick's Day, and then it hit me like a bag of potatoes!!  I would share some Irish wisdom as it pertains to staying healthy and fit!

For many years, the Irish people have been stereotyped as potato -eating, beer-guzzling stouts.  However, in a survey conducted a few years ago, it was found that Ireland's obesity rate was less than half the rate of the U.S.  So, maybe there are some things that we could learn from the Irish lifestyle to help keep the pounds off and stay in shape...

1.  Eat your breakfast!

Like many Northern European countries, the Irish tend to make breakfast their biggest meal of the day.  This tradition of a hearty breakfast most likely stemmed from the farming community.  Farmer's would come in after their early morning chores to eat a substantial breakfast because their bodies had been low on glycogen from working hard in the wee hours of the morning.

You have probably heard by now that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Upon waking, our metabolism is still in sleep mode. If we skip breakfast, we stay in that slow-burning metabolism mode.  If we have a decent breakfast, we won't be so hungry later in the day that we'll binge at lunch or dinner.

2.  Go for the green veggies!

If you grew up in an Irish household like me, every St. Patrick's Day meant cabbage on the menu since cabbage is a staple in Irish cuisine. But not just cabbage; other leafy greens like kale are also popular choices.  Cabbage has high levels of iron, calcium, potassium, vitamins C, B1, B2, B3, and D.  People that eat a large amount of cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables have a lower risk of developing colon cancer. Cabbage and leafy greens are also very low in calories. If cabbage isn't your cup of tea, then possibly consider mashing the cabbage or kale together with potatoes and other ingredients like onions, garlic, or leeks. 

3.  Boil the meat!

The Irish and English are often made fun of for their custom of boiling their meats and vegetables until all flavor is gone.  Yet on the other hand, us Americans do nothing but deep-fry the heck out of anything we can get our hands on.  If you want to add a little bit of flavor to your dish, try poaching a chicken breast, turkey breast or fish fillet in wine or a flavored broth with garlic and onions and your favorite vegetables. The seasoning for your dish is only limited by your imagination. 

4.  Get to the root of it!

In addition to green vegetables,  Irish cuisine also features a lot of root vegetables besides potatoes.  These veggies include carrots, parsnips, turnips, and rutabagas. They contain lots of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, while still being pretty low in calories. They're pretty tasty, whether boiled, roasted, or mashed, or in some cases, eaten raw. Try replacing the potatoes in your favorite recipes for other root vegetables  instead.  it will zest up the dish, add extra nutrients and bring down the calorie count. 

5.  Think pink!

Since the country of Ireland sits on an island,  it has access to vast amounts of seafood, especially salmon.  Salmon is rich in omega- 3 fatty acids and is also a great source of protein and other nutrients, while low in calories and fat. 

Are you eating enough to recover?

Your diet and nutritional choices can be a deal maker or breaker with regard to your training goals. The average person has symptoms of short term memory loss and schizophrenia when it comes to contemplating their day to day eating habits. Few people if any write down what they eat or record their dietary intake of macronutrients, those that do usually work for the IRS and are not someone you would hang out with. "I really do eat well, really do," says the well intentioned overweight and undernourished person. "I just don't know why I don't have energy to do anything," she says when asked about working out.

Let's do some fitness math: 

155 lb person could burn 10 calories with one minute of burpees.  

(1) 2 inch brownie square has 243 calories

To burn off the excess calories of consuming the brownie mentioned above, you will need to do 24 minutes of burpees.

Is that brownie worth 24 minutes of burpees


If you sleep 8 hours each night, current thinking has you eat every 2-3 hours. So that would mean about 5 meals or more. You could define a meal as an appropriate source of protein, healthy carbs and healthy fats. Now your training goal could include weight loss or body transformation and we can’t get into that now. So let’s just assume this blog is about the proper and simple nutrition patterns for a person training to get stronger and / or increase their total body conditioning.

What & When?

What are you eating? Can you say for sure? Can you estimate how many grams of protein you have had in a day? After looking closely at my own nutritional habits, I realized I was under consuming protein and healthy fats. There were several days where I had around 50-75 grams of protein. For my body weight (215 lbs), I should have around 150-200 grams of protein…duh! Well, I wasn’t planning my meals or meal supplements, so I end up injured. Without protein, you cannot repair from your training (period). For optimal injury repair and active recovery, the dietary protein necessary is 1.5-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. So take a little spiral notebook or your fancy West-Coastish iPad and record what you eat for a week. Don’t change your habits, just write it down. The sit back and review it. This is how you should start your nutritional planning.

When are you eating? The timing of your meals can be as important as what you are eating. As I noted earlier, eating every 2-3 hours can be considered optimal. It’s not more complicated than that. If you aspire to lower body fat, limit your intake of carbohydrates 3-4 hours before sleep. There is some high-science logic that believes your body doesn’t handle carbs well at the end of the day, trust that foolish logic. The earth may well be round after all. Also, if you have to have carbs, make it low glycemic index carbs. If you don’t know what the glycemic index is, check here.

What should you do after the workout?

Some authorities would say you can wait as long as 60 minutes to have your post-workout nutrition. They would also probably find it normal for their prom date to go home with another guy. That being said, ideally I believe your post-workout nutrition should occur ASAP. Especially for those of you who only drink water during your workout. Try to get your post-workout shake at about the 10-15 minute mark after training once you have caught your breath and can stand without falling.

Post-workout nutrition should supply protein and carbs to replenish the exhausted reserves and promote the healing process that follows training. Your post-workout nutrition will also replenish glycogen stores and diminish the negative effects of exercise induced cortisol release.

Take a look at what you’re eating. You may find that you are not giving your body the necessary nutrients to repair.

What are Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) and What are They For?

What are branched chain amino acids?

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are so called because of their structure, which includes a “side chain” of one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms. There are three BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Of these, leucine is the most heavily researched, and appears to offer the biggest physiological benefit. (More on that below.)

For the science geeks, these hydrophobic (water-fearing) amino acids are referred to as “aliphatic” (from the Greek aleiphar, or oil), as their central carbon attaches to a branched non-cyclic, open carbon chain.

BCAA structure. Source: University of Illinois

BCAAs provide the basis for protein synthesis and energy production (Harper AE et al 1984; Patti ME et al 1998; Xu G et al 1998; Anthony JC et al 2001). In fact, BCAAs can comprise up to one-third of muscle protein (Mero 1999). Because of their prevalence and involvement in protein synthesis and energy production, BCAAs are important to many metabolic processes.

However, if BCAAs are going to participate in these processes, they must be available to the body. This means we have to eat enough BCAAs, and at the right times, to enable such processes to occur.

Why is adequate BCAA intake so important?

The BCAAs are the only amino acids not degraded in the liver. All other amino acids are regulated by the gut and the liver before being circulated elsewhere in the body. However, BCAAs head directly into the bloodstream. This means that dietary intake of BCAAs directly influences plasma levels and concentrations in muscle tissue (Layman DK 2003). Interestingly, BCAAs are burned for energy (oxidized) during exercise, so they’re also an important exercise fuel.

Consuming BCAAs before training can increase uptake into muscle tissue (Mittleman KD et al 1998). This has many benefits:

1. BCAA supplementation may lower lactate levels after resistance training and improve muscular oxidation.
2. BCAAs may increase growth hormone (GH) circulation, which may be related to anabolic mechanisms causing muscle growth (De Palo EF et al 2001).
3. BCAA supplementation may decrease serum concentrations of the intramuscular enzymes creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase following prolonged exercise. This can decrease muscle damage and improve recovery (Coombes JS, McNaughton LR 2000).

Muscle is an important site of BCAA activity. There is an increased cell concentration and breakdown of BCAAs in muscle tissue (Layman DK 2003). BCAAs are continuously released from the liver and other internal organs to skeletal muscle so that the BCAAs can assist in maintaining blood sugar levels. Indeed, BCAAs may be responsible for up to 40% of blood sugar production during exercise (Ahlborg G et al 1974; Ruberman NB 1975; see also Layman DK 2003).

What you should know

Because BCAAs are so important to muscle tissue, and because they help maintain blood sugar levels, it’s important to get enough to support your workouts. Consuming a carbohydrate, protein, and amino acid beverage during and after training can induce an insulin response, which helps transport BCAAs into cells. However, availability of leucine is more important than insulin. Within the muscle cell there’s one particular regulatory pathway for protein synthesis that’s stimulated by insulin, but dependent on leucine (Anthony et al 2000). In other words, protein synthesis (and hence muscle rebuilding) depends on how much leucine is available. And since BCAA levels decline with exercise, it makes sense to supplement with them during and/or after workouts (Mero 1999).

Because it’s so important to have leucine available for protein synthesis, if you train in a fasted state, or don’t eat after exercise, you’re going to lose more protein than you rebuild. However, if you eat adequate BCAAs during this time, especially leucine, you’ll enhance protein synthesis.

For extra credit

For the body to make new proteins, it needs an estimated daily leucine intake of between 1 to 4 grams/day (FAO/WHO/UNU 1985). That minimum intake needs to be met before leucine will be able to impact the insulin signaling pathway. But that’s just a baseline. Actual metabolic use, especially by athletes and people doing heavy resistance training, may be upwards of 12 grams/day.

There is a theory that BCAAs can limit central fatigue with endurance athletes, but it doesn’t appear to be supported by current data.

BCAA content of foods (grams of amino acids/100 g of protein)

Whey protein isolate 26%
Milk protein 21%
Muscle protein 18%
Soy protein isolate 18%
Wheat protein 15%

Source: USDA Food Composition Tables

Summary and recommendations

BCAAs play an important role in:

• Synthesis of proteins in general
• Glucose homeostasis (i.e. keeping blood sugar levels constant)
• Direct regulation of muscle protein synthesis (via insulin signaling cascade)

BCAAs’ potential impact on the aforementioned processes depends upon availability and dietary intake. Adequate consumption of BCAAs may help manage body fat, spare muscle mass, and regulate glucose/insulin balance.

How can you put this knowledge to use?

Try adding BCAAs into your workout drink at a rate of 5 g BCAA per hour of training.

During periods of lower calorie intake, try adding a BCAA supplement every 2-4 hours during the day.