Marathon Day

Hey Folks. Happy Thursday to all! This past Monday was Patriot's Day in the Boston area. This is certainly one of the coolest and most unique days on the Boston calender. The Red Sox play the only morning game on the baseball schedule while the Boston Marathon is run. Oh yeah, and something about the battle of Concord and Lexington and the Revolutionary War. Anyway, elite runners from all over the world flock to Hopkinton and run 26.2 miles into Boston. The race finishes a little more than a mile from Fenway Park (you can see the runners from the Green Monster seats.) I've been trying to get into Boston for many years to check out the race but have never had the chance...until Monday! My girlfriend and I made our way into Boston to check out the runners. We arrived at Kenmore Square at 11:30 which was about 15 minutes before the elite women came through...Perfect timing!! What amazed me was the difference in running form between the absolute best of the best runners and the rest. The top 10 runners were flawless, but outside the top 10 were a bunch of folks who I'm assuming won't be running for too much longer. I wanted to hand out my cards along the route because many will be in PT soon enough. It reminded me of the old running periodization: 1) Run, 2) get injured, 3) Run, 4) repeat. And those were still the elite runners. Then, after a couple hours, came the recreational runners. I'm not going to suggest these people should stop running but YIKES, most of these people were not remotely prepared for the pounding they were putting their bodies though. Here's the thing, as a coach, I watched these people and I saw a big sea of people who I can help. But to do that I might have to put myself through a training program with the goal of running a marathon WITHOUT destroying my body in the process. I'm not yet ready to commit to running the Boston Marathon but I'm seriously considering trying to qualify for the 2011 event. Qualifying will add a little more funness to the experiment. Qualifying time for the 2010 marathon was 3 hours, 15 minutes for my age group (I'm no longer in the youngest age group! I feel old!) That is a little better than 7:30 miles. That doesn't seem so daunting (or maybe it does.) Anyway, anyone want to join me? 2011 Boston Marathon? Anyone?

Oh, and here's a really good blog post about the dangers of recreational running.

And, if you haven't seen this play in college baseball a couple nights ago check this out!!

Nothing New Here

I mentioned last week that on Saturday I was presenting at the MA Association of Clinical Exercise Physiologists Annual Meeting in Boston. We were scheduled to go on at 1:45 (next to last.) I figured it would be a great opportunity to head in nice and early and sit in on the morning lectures and do me some free learning. Truth is, I'm glad I went, but unfortunately there was nothing new presented. This organization seems to work closely with the American College of Sports Medicine. I don't know a whole lot about the ACSM but I came away unimpressed. The first presentation was titled, "Real Exercise for Real People: What is an Exercise Professional to Do?" There were a few interesting points made near the end of this presentation.

1. I've never been a proponent of a "cool-down." I never really saw a point in spending 5-10 minutes cooling down. As it turns out there is very little evidence to suggest a cool down has any benefits. So that is reassuring.
   
2. The FITT principle is something all us fitness professionals learn. It's just an acronym for the variables in a program. They are: Frequency, Intensity, Type, Time. Way before my time the FITT principle was the FITTE principle with the E standing for Enjoy. I like that. I'm not sure why that has been dropped.

The second presentation was about building and maintaining bone density especially in women. She talked about all the science behind osteopenia and osteoperosis. She went into osteoblasts and fibroblasts and all sorts of other dorky stuff. The important thing is the minimal essential strain (MES.) MES "refers to the threshold stimulus that initiates new bone formation." (taken from the NSCA Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning textbook.) The MES is generally thought to be 1/10 of the force required to fracture a bone. So if my femur (thigh bone) requires 1,000 pounds of force to result in a fracture then simply applying 100 pounds of force will result in new bone formation (greater bone density.) The key is to utilize exercises that load portions of the skeleton and that involve multiple joints. You cannot get this benefit from using machines. A tremendous exercise to add to your program is the Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat. This exercise puts some good strain on your femur, pelvis, and spine. Other than that Jump Squats are a great exercise as well to get the benefits of building new bone.


The next presentation was from the nutrition consultant for the Biggest Loser. His talk was all over the place. He sorta trashed the show while mentioning it's benefits to the public. At the end he showed a bunch of before and after slides and kept saying that the people have since put the weight back on. So I still think that show is garbage.

Anyway, I like day Red Sox games.

Random Randomness

Hey folks. I hope everyone has enjoyed the early summer in the Northeast. Here are some interesting tidbits picked up this week:

1. Woohoo! The New York Times is on the right track! "For people who lift weights to tone up and slim down, experts say, a regimen that includes a combination of challenging weights and fewer repetitions can help significantly."
2. Here is an good article sent to me by my girlfriend about unhealthy beverages, especially coffee. Coffee is perfectly healthy as it "contains only 5 calories, and the metabolism-boosting benefits of caffeine actually make coffee a good weight-loss supplement." But when you go to Starbucks or Dairy Queen and grab a coffee with all the junk added you can quickly end up drinking up to 1,200 calories!!
   
3. And for more highly scientific research about the many benefits of coffee check here.
4. If you are ready to take the next step with your eating habits and really improve your food quality check here for some great info on the difference between grass fed and conventionally raised animals.
5. I really liked this post from last week. It's about the 10 signs you have a bad trainer. So much money can be spent on fitness coaches and most people have no idea if their trainer is really any good. I would add one big one to this list. Ask your trainer what he/she has read recently or about any recent seminar attended. It is absolutely critical in this industry to remain current. I try to attend at least 4 seminars per year and am constantly reading books and online sources to stay current. I wouldn't be half the coach I am without this.
6. Speaking of, tomorrow I have the pleasure of presenting at the Massachusetts Association of Clinical Exercise Physiologists (MACEP) Annual Meeting. The name of the symposium (that's right, it's a symposium!) is "Bridging the Gap: Clinical Exercise & Fitness!" Included on the bill is a PhD, two MD's, and two other folks with letters that I have no idea what they mean. Tim Crowley and I are the only coaches in the bunch. One of the MD's is the "Weight Loss and Nutrition adviser" for The Biggest Loser. Read here for my take on that dreadful program and why I'm thinking that might be an interesting presentation. Our presentation is about the importance of Assessments, especially the Functional Movement Screen. We are going to explain how we use it to get and keep people healthy, fit, and injury free. We will also touch upon the advantages of this type of assessment vs the old forms of assessments like the sit and reach, curl up test, step test, push up test, etc. Anyway, this should be a fun day and at least it should supply me with some good blog fodder for next week. Until then, have a great weekend!