workout Archives | Aspen Club

Stop Doing Sit-Ups!

We hear a lot of talk these days about “the core” being crucial to many aspects of health and fitness, including spine health. But what exactly is “the core?” I like to keep it simple: Think of the core as everything between your shoulders and hips, which includes all the muscles in your abdomen and your back.

There are many ways to target the core muscles during your exercise routine. Some of them can do a lot to strengthen and define the muscles in your abdomen, while adding stress and strain to the spine. The goal should be to build stability, endurance, and strength (in that order) in the core, while sparing the spine of excess wear and tear.

First, STOP DOING SIT-UPS. Sit-ups focus on one group of muscles in the abdomen, which don’t happen to be that important (in isolation) for spine health. In addition, sit-ups create excessive force through the lumbar discs (the discs in your low back), which can produce disc bulges and herniation over time. Sit-ups are a lose/lose exercise. What to do then?

Stability: First, you want to build a fair amount of stability in the core before you start more aggressive exercises. To start, lie on your back with your knees bent. Lightly tense your abdominal muscles as if someone was about tickle you or drop a light object onto your stomach. Now breathe normally and maintain the tense abs. Make sure your abs don’t turn on and off as you inhale and exhale – you want to learn to control your abs independently of your diaphragm. Once you’ve mastered that, start to “march in place.” The trick here is to keep your back still while your legs move: this is what I mean by core stability. If this seems difficult at first, you are not alone, but don’t give up, everyone gets this after a little practice.

Now, you are ready to move on to some endurance and strength-building exercises. Remember that you must practice a stable core/spine throughout. So, remember to keep your abs slightly tensed and move independently through the hips and shoulders while keeping the spine still. Start with these five basics:

Bridge – 10 reps, five-second holds. Lie on your back with both legs bent. Tighten your abs and squeeze your glutes. If you like, you can put a pillow or a ball between your legs and squeeze it. Lift your butt off the floor. Hold for five seconds.

bridge exercise

Bird Dog – 10 reps, five-second holds. On hands and knees with neutral spine, tense your abdominals and keep your low back quiet. Then reach way out with one hand, thumb up, and reach way back with the opposite foot, pushing through the heel, not the toes. Hold for five seconds with each reach. Activate all the muscles of the core, hip, and shoulder girdle.

bird dog

Plank – five reps, 10-second holds. Lie on your stomach, up on your elbows. Engage your glutes and abs. Depress your shoulders. Lift your butt and knees off the floor. Keep your back and hips level. Gently tug your elbows toward your feet (no movement should take place). Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat for three to five reps. If this is too hard, leave your knees on the floor.

plank

Side Plank – five reps, 10 second holds. Lie on your side, up on one elbow. Engage your abs and glutes. Lift your hips and knees off the floor. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat three to five times. If it is too hard, leave your knees on the floor.

side plank

Crunches – 10 reps, five-second holds. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Raise your shoulder blades off the ground and engage your core. Keep your neck in line with your upper back and shoulders. Hold for five seconds.

crunch

As always, feel free to send us a message with all your questions about spine health and fitness at backinstitute@aspenclub.com. Good luck!

Out of Pain. Into Possibility. Jeremy James.

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Pilates Based Rehabilitation

The Pilates Method was developed by Joseph Pilates during World War I as a form of rehabilitation for ill and injured soldiers. Pilates has become a beneficial mode of exercise, which focuses on whole body control and an integration of strength, stability, flexibility, breathing, and alignment. Based on the principles of breathing, concentration, control, centering, precision, balanced muscle development, rhythm and flow, whole body movement and relaxation, Pilates exercises stress quality of movement.

Using Pilates equipment such as the reformer, or no equipment at all, most Pilates exercises use the individual’s own body weight or resistance in the form of springs to strengthen the entire body. Pilates focuses on the foundation of core and trunk stability without ignoring upper and lower extremity strength, allowing patients to more effectively strengthen their whole muscular system. Exercises vary from small, isolated movement focusing on a couple of muscles to whole body movements integrating multiple muscle groups and joints, while emphasizing the muscle co-contraction, which improves joint stability and dynamic alignment.

When recovering from an injury, Pilates-based exercise optimizes strength and muscle balance, while minimizing load and stress through the joints or other injured tissues. There are hundreds of Pilates exercises that can be tailored to each patient to address their specific impairments, while respecting their healing precautions. Pilates also integrates breathing to maximize core stability and overall muscle function. Pilates-based rehabilitation is designed to efficiently transition each patient back into their functional activities, including daily activities, sports, and recreation. While all programs incorporate breathing instruction, core stabilization, and improvement of overall muscle function, each Pilates-based program is individualized to specifically meet the needs of the patient’s strength and flexibility deficits to match the physical demands of their daily life.

Pilates-based rehab has become more popular in recent years due to its effectiveness and success in safely treating nearly every condition, including post-operative one. Frequently, patients who are introduced to Pilates through rehabilitation end up making Pilates part of their lifestyle in the long-term.

Ski Conditioning

For ski season preparation, start training for maximum ski performance and minimum injuries. The best ski/snowboard conditioning regimens encompass much more than just strengthening the legs. Many of the recommended ski/snowboard workouts out there jump straight into training the muscles of the lower extremities (legs) along with agility drills and plyometric. While these things are indeed important, it all starts with the CORE. Regardless of the sport or activity you might be training for, the core is the fundamental piece that must not be overlooked. Think of the core as everything between the shoulders and hips on all sides (front, back, and both sides of your body). Increased stability, endurance, and strength in the core (in that order of importance) will increase your athletic performance on the hill and decrease the likelihood of injuries to the knees and other joints. Your core should act as your anchor (practicing stability) from which you develop and project force via the hips and shoulders. Endurance in the core is important because you need to maintain good posture as you go down (or up) the hill. Endurance is the ability to maintain contractions in the core muscles that hold you upright as you ski/snowboard.

To start building endurance in your core, practice these exercises daily a week or two before you move into lower extremity strengthening and plyometric and then keep them in your regular routine.

Side Planks: 5 reps, 10-20 second holds each rep

Planks: 5 reps, 10-20 seconds each rep

Bird Dog: (opposite arm/leg extension): 10 reps, 10-20 second holds each rep

Crunches: 10 reps, 10-20 second holds each rep

REPEAT ALL ONE MORE TIME. Even if you can hold these positions longer, it is safer and more effective to get a good contraction for 10 to 20 seconds for each rep rather than holding the rep for a full minute and relying on the joints and ligaments to sustain you after the muscles fatigue. I like to do these in the beginning of the workout to turn the core muscles on and remind myself to keep a stable spine.

From there, you can move on to the traditional ski/snowboard conditioning exercises such as squats, jump squats, box jumps, agility drills, etc. I also recommend incorporating high intensity interval training (HIIT) into your workouts to really boost your fitness level.

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Avoid These Exercises

I spend a lot of time talking about what is good to do in the gym for spine and overall health, so I thought I would say a quick word about a few things you should avoid. With some exceptions, such as training for a specific sport or certain rehab protocols, these exercises should be avoided when trying to achieve overall health.

Sit-ups: If you were to set out to design an exercise to ruin lumbar discs, the discs in your low back, you would be hard-pressed to design one more effective at that task than sit-ups. Why? Repetitive flexion aka forward bending and twisting damages the discs in your low back. Sit-ups and sit-ups with rotation reproduce these movements exactly. Instead, try crunches, like a sit up but your low back doesn’t bend, and planks with short isometric holds.

Upright Rows: This exercise places the shoulder into internal rotation, putting the supraspinatus and its tendon at serious risk of injury over time. It also places a lot of stress on the cervical spine. Instead, do “full can.”

Behind the Head Lat Pull-down: This one places the shoulder in a vulnerable position, which can lead to injury of the rotator cuff and shoulder joint. It also puts enormous strain on the cervical spine (neck) because of the forward head position. Instead try Lat pull-down to the chest or pull-ups if possible. Also, try alternating between standing Lat pulldowns and seated Lat pulldowns to activate more of the core and gluteal muscles.

Rotations from the Waist with Band, Cable, or Medicine Ball: As mentioned, sit-ups, rotation, or twisting of the lumbar spine can lead to disc degeneration and/or herniation over time, especially with load. Twisting from the waist will get your oblique ripped but at great expense to your low back. Instead, rotate from the hips. This strengthens the hips instead of the spine and is a great exercise. It also trains you how to move in your day-to-day life, avoiding low back injuries.

Smith Squats: Smith machines were designed to help people squat with heavy load while minimizing the risk of the lifter collapsing due to a built-in catch mechanism. The problem with doing Smith Squats is that the machine guides the bar in one plane of motion, which won’t allow most people to do a functional squat on it. The squat is a very complicated and important exercise for back health. It is crucial that one masters squat mechanics before applying load. Most people need to work with a trainer in the beginning to master this move. Since all people’s bodies are different, the one size fits all approach of the Smith Machine doesn’t work and creates poor squat patterns, which can lead to knee, hip, and back problems down the road.

As always, feel free to send us a message with all your questions about spine health and fitness at backinstitute@aspenclub.com. Good luck!

Out of Pain. Into Possibility. Jeremy James.

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Going to The Gym

I spend a great deal of time in gyms all over the country. It is part of my job both as a physical therapist and trainer. Much of the time, I watch and observe in frustration as people lift weights with no thought at all about the alignment of their joints, particularly their very fragile spine. In the task-oriented world we live in, it does in fact seem to be all about completing the task without any thought of the consequences. Complete 3 sets of 10 repetitions of squats or leg presses with a hundred pounds, and you get a medal for finishing but no consideration is given to “how” you completed the exercise set. Did your knees buckle inward, did you round or hyper extend your back like a gymnast as you squatted down, did your head shoot forward like a turtle, and did your feet turn way out like a ballet dancer? I am here to tell you that other things matter a great deal more than completing the set. Before I get into these intricate details, let’s first discuss why they matter, and first and foremost, what the objective should be in putting your body through the strain and hardship of weight training exercises in the first place.

Make no mistake, the primary purpose for the typical exercises we do in the gym (whether at home or in a club) is to reinforce good patterns of movement that we need for everyday life. Think about it, squatting is simply sitting in a chair, lunging is what we often do to pick things off the floor, pushing and pulling relate to a wide arrange of daily tasks such as lifting objects over our head and opening doors. These movements are also common to sports whether it be golf (rotational movements) or skiing (lateral lunges). Everything we do in the gym becomes an expression of what we do outside the gym. If we do things in the gym with proper alignment and form, we train our bodies to minimize the loads on our joints, and then we are more likely to repeat the same patterns in daily life. Most of the ailments people suffer from, ailments such as low back pain, hip or knee arthritis, or tendonitis, are simply because they performed the movements I discussed above the wrong way repeatedly.

Think about it, how many times have you squatted in your life? If you are around my age of 48 or older and think a few hundred times, a few thousand times perhaps, think again. How about a few hundred thousand times to possibly over a million times. Same goes with lunging, and these numbers probably only factor into daily life. If you go to the gym and workout with weights or machines, add onto that the strain of performing these movements under loads and stresses that accelerate the wear and tear on your joints. That is why the blue print matters.

Have you ever picked up a hobby such as dancing, golf, or even something as simple typing? Imagine if you were taught the wrong steps in the tango, grip for the golf swing, or the hand position on the keyboard. Now imagine you rehearsed these skills the wrong way for several years. How much harder would it be then to correct these dysfunctional patterns? It would probably be better if you started from scratch all over again because the original blueprint is faulted. That is just the way our brains work.

Remember when you first learned to walk. If you don’t, simply watch a one year old going through the process. Every step is a conscious effort – the step length and width and the arm position. Thousands and thousands of steps are analyzed by our main computer framework, the brain. Then over time, the process of walking no longer becomes a conscious effort but rather automatic. I would hope that none of us really must think about walking anymore and that it is an ingrained software pattern in our brain.

So where am I going with all of this? Squatting, lunging, rotating, pushing, and pulling should be ingrained software patterns in our brains. The problem is that for many people, the software is flawed because for years, we have been doing it the wrong way. Not only that, but those who exercise reinforce these poor patterns under loads and stresses. No wonder their bodies eventually break down. It’s time to learn how to walk all over again and to move away from task completion mentality to one of conscious effort of how we move. It should not simply be about going to the gym to lose weight or to lift weights to make our muscles bigger and stronger. On the contrary, it should be all about performing purposeful movements that transfer over into everything we do in life. Of course, we can still get fit along the way and develop muscle mass in a proportionate manner. However, these are the byproducts of performing movements with correct alignment and form especially when under the loads of weights.

It takes a little bit of work and some open mindedness, but the benefits far outweigh the ease of repeating the same old stagnant program that will only break your body down. I think you will the find the information precious to your longevity.

The Importance of Recovery

In all things in life, most of us want to work smarter and not harder. For our physical wellbeing, recovery is one of the keys to working as smartly as possible. Many people have a hard time wrapping their heads around this concept. I like to think of it this way: you are making those gains in strength and fitness during the recovery phase. It is the response to stressors that gives us the benefits, not the stressors themselves. During recovery, our body is “improving” itself so that it can better perform the task next time.

I am no better than anyone else – I must remind myself constantly. I love mountain biking. Love it. I want to do it every day and do so for big stretches of time. But guess what? After several days in a row, I hurt. My legs hurt. My back hurts. My endurance going uphill suffers and I get slower. I must make myself take days off. Your body needs a break.

So how much recovery is necessary? Well, that’s a complex question, but let’s make it as simple as possible for the average person (i.e. non-professional or semi-professional athlete).

Most people can do mild to moderate cardiovascular exercise up to 6 days per week. With strength training, if you hit it hard enough to be sore the next day, most people are going to need at least 2 days for that activity or type of training before doing it again. If you are just doing bodyweight exercises/light weight, it can be okay to do those a few days in a row if you aren’t going to the point of soreness.

With activities and sports such as skiing, cycling, and mountain biking, you need to take a day off every once in and awhile-at least once a week. With high intensity interval training, you need to take at least a day off every other day. Studies show that you lose the benefits of high intensity interval training if you do it every day.

To give you an idea of how to put this all together, I like the program offered in Chris Crowley’s Younger Next Year. This is a great general layout for a comprehensive workout plan:

Monday: Aerobics – Moderate Intensity
Tuesday: Strength Train
Wednesday: Aerobics – Intervals
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Strength Training
Saturday: Aerobics – Intervals
Sunday: Aerobics – Moderate Intensity

For a much more in-depth discussion on this, check out the book titled “Younger Next Year: The Exercise Program: Use the Power of Exercise to Reverse Aging and Stay Strong, Fit, and Sexy.”

Getting (Way) More Out of Your Warmup

Note: Ideas in this blog are borrowed heavily with permission from the concepts laid out by Bill Fabrocini and Chris Crowley in the book “Thinner This Year,” the follow-up to the New York Times bestseller “Younger Next Year.”

A warmup is extremely important before beginning your workout, sport, or even just your day at the office. Most people’s warmup consists of a few minutes on a cardio machine and maybe some static stretching. I want you to change your way of thinking about the warmup. I want you to think of the warmup as one of the most important things you will do in a day for your body.

My good friend and master trainer/therapist Bill Fabrocini likes to call this idea “preparation for movement,” and I think that is a perfect way to think about it. Preparation for movement wakes up all the important muscle groups in your body and enhances and strengthens the connection from your brain to those muscle groups. These are the muscle groups that we deactivate or put to sleep every day via our modern lifestyle of sitting and inactivity. The routine that we use here at the Aspen Club is a very efficient, safe, and effective way to accomplish this goal in about 15 to 20 minutes. I do some variation of this myself every day and incorporate it into my patients’ daily training regimens. I highly recommend you do this before your workout or sport. I also recommend you do this if it is the only form of physical activity you do all day. When done properly, this routine will train your body to use the right muscles, improve mobility in the hips and shoulders, and avoid wear and tear on the joints.

As I have said before, the clear majority of conditions I see in our clinic are the result of thousands of cycles of bad movement, causing degenerative changes. Practicing these movement patterns every morning helps you avoid this process. This routine will also strengthen those important muscles in the glutes and core and make you more in tune with your body, enhancing performance.

The important thing here is to do these exercises and movements correctly. The overriding concept is to keep the back still and move from the hips and shoulders. This routine seeks to promote spinal stability, while achieving maximum mobility in the shoulders and hips. Think about each movement you are doing and try to engage the right muscles. The very first thing you do is engage your core by lightly tensing your abdominal muscles while maintaining normal respiration. Maintain a slightly stiff core throughout these movements, which will keep the spine still. You only need to do 4 to 6 repetitions of each movement. Just make sure they are good ones. I recommend doing this daily if possible.

For a more in-depth discussion, read the books “Younger Next Year” and “Thinner This Year.” They are both filled with life-changing, simple concepts that everyone should put into practice as they age. As always, feel free to write or call with questions. Good luck!

HIIT ME?

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is all the rage these days. My clients frequently ask me if this type of training is safe and effective. The short answer is, it can be. There are many HIIT programs going on around the country with one well-known program becoming extremely popular over the last few years. Many of these programs offer substantial benefits but have some potentially serious risks.

My biggest concern with most of these programs is that they encourage participants to do extremely difficult, technical moves to fatigue in a competitive environment. Many of these exercises, especially some of the Olympic weight lifting moves, require a lot of instruction and practice to master. Experts spend years developing their technique with many of these moves. For the average person to go into a class and do these moves as many times as they can, with heavy weight, in a competitive environment, can be a recipe for disaster.

However, there are many benefits to High Intensity Interval Training. It is a very quick and extremely efficient workout and is very beneficial for overall health, weight loss, and training purposes. The American College of Sports Medicine presented a 2011 study indicating that two weeks of HIIT could boost the body’s aerobic capacity as much as almost two months of endurance training. HIIT is highly effective for weight loss and has been shown to burn more fat and calories than other forms of exercise. Unlike weight loss exercises like cycling and running, HIIT maintains muscle mass while losing fat.

So, what is a person to do? How do you know what’s safe and what’s not? The first and most important rule is: form comes first. Never achieve a greater number of reps or a heavier weight at the expense of good form. What is good form? Here at the Aspen Club’s program, “HI2T,” Dirk Schultz and Bill Fabrocini call it “Set, Brace, Align.”

Set: This refers to posture. Keep it simple. Shoulders back stand tall – don’t round your low back or slouch-especially when bending over.
Brace: This refers to stabilization. Lightly tense your abdominal muscles and squeeze the shoulder blades back and down.
Align: Align your body. The ears, shoulders, and hips should form a rough line down to the ground when standing.

That’s the foundation — Set, Brace, Align. When you begin to move, you must practice the movement patterns: hip hinging, rotating from the hips, squatting properly, lunging properly, etc. If you must sacrifice any of these foundations of posture and movement to get in that extra rep or go up a few pounds in weight, you do it at great risk. Listen to your body. Make your gains safely. Failure to adhere to this philosophy can lead to a long list of ailments that nobody wants to hear their doctor say: disc herniation, degenerative disc disease, arthritis, rotator cuff tears, tendinitis, ACL tear, meniscus tear, etc. Remember: most spinal problems are the result of thousands of cycles of movement, not just one bad move. So just because you got away with it today doesn’t mean that you aren’t doing long-term damage to your body. Done correctly, HIIT is a very efficient, safe, and fun way to get fit.