Newsletter #4

Hello friends

I hope this 1st newsletter of the year finds all of you well and keeping (most) of your New Year's resolutions, if not, there's still plenty of time to turn it around.

A question frequently asked of me is "what should I eat before and after a workout?"

Don't enter a workout hungry. If you start exercising in an energy deficit, your body is likely to preserve fat and perform poorly. If you tend to bonk out midway through a hard session, low energy may be the culprit. Quick absorbing carbs with a high glycemic index will give you fast fuel. So before a tough workout, have a sports drink, juice, fruit, bread or pasta to take in some calories. Depending on the intensity and type of activity you are doing, you may be less likely to have an upset stomach if you avoid high-fiber foods at this time. Or if you have them, wait an hour or two to digest before you start your workout. If you need to grab a snack minutes before a workout, chew thoroughly and go for a quick-digesting, high-carb food. But, if you are merely going on a moderate-paced walk for 45 minutes, you probably don't need extra food unless you're heading out first thing in the morning. But if you are going to do two spin classes, an 8-mile run or something equally vigorous, fuel up beforehand.

If you went on an easy walk for an hour, you don't need to eat extra. But if you had a high-intensity workout lasting 60 to 90 minutes or longer, then it's crucial to eat afterwards. Within the first 45 minutes post-exercise, there is a "metabolic window." This means that enzymes that replenish muscle carbs are at their highest levels. Plus, insulin, which rebuilds protein stores, is at peak levels. So eating a carb-and-protein mix (peanut butter sandwich, yogurt with fruit, bagel with cream cheese, or a handful of nuts) at this point will maintain muscle, replenish glycogen stores and reduce the amount of fat your body stores. Even a sport drink or a piece fruit are a good idea if you don't have something more complex available. (These calories are needed to recover, so they are less likely to be stored as excess fat.)

The problem is, it may be an hour or more before you get a chance to eat, especially if you're at the gym and need to grab a shower before a long journey home. Missing the metabolic window is bad news: If you delay refueling, you slow carb replenishment by 50 percent and protein repair by 80 percent, according to John Ivy, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas and the author of Nutrient Timing. And that means that you may be sluggish and fatigued during tomorrow's workout.

Sometimes an immediate side effect of a tough workout is that you are not hungry. But, you still need some calories. So drink juice or a sport drink at the very least. If you experiment with different food options, you should be able to find something that sits well with your stomach and improves your performance

Remember choices on what to eat before exercising vary from person to person and from sport to sport with no single right choice Some people can eat almost anything others need very specific foods while still others prefer nothing. Your choices should be based on trial and error. Find out what gets you the best results

Foam Rollers

My clients and most people that frequent a gym are familiar with this extremely helpful simple tool The following are exerts of an article you may find helpful

Using Foam Rollers by Michael Boyle, MS, ATC

A decade ago, strength coaches and athletic trainers would have looked quizzically at a 36-inch long cylindrical piece of foam and wondered, "What is that for?" Today, nearly every athletic training room and most strength and conditioning facilities contain an array of foam rollers of different lengths and consistencies.

What happened to bring foam rollers into prominence? The change has been in our attitude toward massage therapy. We have been slowly moving away from an injury care mode of isokinetics and electronics to more European-inspired processes that focus on hands-on soft tissue care. We now realize that techniques like massage, Muscle Activation (MAT), and Active Release Therapy (ART) can work wonders for sore or injured athlete.

Essentially, foam rollers are the poor man's massage therapist. They provide soft tissue work to the masses in any setting. But you need to know their nuances to get the most out of them.

A foam roller is simply a cylindrical piece of extruded hard-celled foam. Think swimming pool noodles, but a little more dense and larger in diameter. They usually come in one-foot or three-foot lengths. I find the three-foot model works better, but it obviously takes up more space.

They are also now available in a number of densities from relatively soft foam (slightly harder than a pool noodle), to newer high-density rollers that feel much more solid. The denser the athlete, the more dense the roller should be. Large, heavily-muscled athletes will do better with a very high density roller whereas a smaller, younger athlete should begin with a less dense product.

Athletes are instructed to use the roller to search for tender areas or trigger points and to roll these areas to decrease density and over-activity of the muscle. With a little direction on where to look, most athletes easily find the tender spots on their own. However, they may need some instruction on the positioning of the roller, such as parallel, perpendicular, or 45 degrees, depending on the muscle.

The feel of the roller and intensity of the self-massage should be properly geared to the age, comfort, and fitness level of the athlete. This is one of the plusses of having the athlete roll themselves-they can control the intensity with their own body weight.

There is no universal agreement on when to roll, how often to roll, or how long to roll, but generally, techniques are used both before and after a workout. Foam rolling prior to a workout can help decrease muscle density and promote a better warm-up. Rolling after a workout may help muscles recover from strenuous exercise.

My preference is to have athletes use the rollers before every workout. We also use them after a workout if athletes are sore.

How long an athlete rolls is also determined on a case-by-case basis. I usually allow five to 10 minutes for soft tissue activation work at the beginning of the session prior to warm-up. If my athletes roll after their workout, it is done for the same length of time.

Some Specifics

While the foam roller can be used on almost any area of the body, I have found it works best on the lower extremities. There is not as much dense tissue in the upper body and our athletes are not prone to the same frequency of upper body strains as lower. The hamstrings and hip flexors seem to experience the most muscle strains, so we concentrate on those areas.

Although I primarily use the rollers for athletes' legs, they can also be used with upper extremities. The same techniques can be used for pecs, lats, and rotator cuffs, although with a much smaller amplitude-making the movements closer to accupressure.

Assessing Effectiveness

Foam rolling is hard work that can even border on being painful. Good massage work, and correspondingly good self-massage work, may be uncomfortable, much like stretching. Therefore, it is important that athletes learn to distinguish between a moderate level of discomfort related to working a trigger point and a discomfort that can lead to injury.

When an athlete has completed foam rolling, he or she should feel better, not worse. And the rollers should never cause bruising. Ask the athlete how his or her muscles feel after each session to assess if the techniques are working.

Rolling vs. Massage

The question often arises: "Which is better, massage therapy or a foam roller?" To me the answer is obvious: Hands-on work is better than foam. Hands are directly connected to the brain and can feel. A foam roller cannot feel. If cost was not an issue I would have a team of massage therapists on call for my athletes at all times.

However, having an abundance of massage therapists on staff is not in most of our budgets. Therein lies the beauty of the foam rollers: They provide unlimited self-massage for under $20. Sounds like a solution to me.

Best Wishes for a Healthy, Happy New Year,
David White
david@maximizefitness.com
Please let me know if there is anyone else that may benefit from future E-mails I would be glad to add him or her to the list.
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213-760-3144