L.I.F.T.

This post isn’t as complex as it reads.  In fact, it’s about as simple as it can get.  Self-selection of exercise variables means that the exerciser gets to choose the weight, reps, sets, duration, etc.

While there is a lot of good evidence regarding the dose-response relationship in exercise (for instance, 3 sets of 8-12 reps result in a hypertrophy response,
etc.), I think its critical to get people in touch with their own body, how they feel, and how they respond to different things.

While I do still have “a plan” for my clients, and base the plan on the “science” of strength training, I do let them self-select weights, repetitions, and rest periods whenever possible.

Anyone who works out on their own, or who has trained for a long time, is familiar with this concept.  I stopped timing my rest periods long ago.  If I still use my watch now, it’s to see how long it was until I felt ready for another set…not to enforce some pre-determined rest period on myself.

The message today is simple – stop following the “rules” and start listening to your body.  If you feel like something is enough, don’t do it.  If you feel like you want to pick up something really heavy, go for it!  If you’re tired, rest.  If you’re hungry, eat.  Start learning your body’s language – discern between habit or impulse and what your body is really saying.  If you can do this, your gains will be immeasurable.

Felix Salmon remarks in his blog about the non-diet soda tax under consideration in New York state.

The tax is supposed to help reduce obesity, and close the $13.3b state deficit.

I’m amazed by this…almost to the point of silence. But not quite.

Possibly one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. Tax non-diet sodas? How about taxing muffins? What about venti mocha latte’s at Starbucks? Tax the “danger dog” vendors extra too, while you’re at it. Then tax Nabisco, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, and all of the candy companies (Nestle, etc.). Then tax McDonalds restaurants more.

I mean, if New York is serious, they could make a lot of money here!

If not, it’s a stupid waste of time.

There’s a strong link between bad nutrition, lack of exercise, and poor sleeping habits and obesity. There’s also a strong link between poverty and obesity.

So, New York should take all of that tax money, build more jungle gyms around the city, provide free vegetables at the jungle gyms, and give everyone who shows up with last year’s tax form showing that they’re below the poverty line $100 for joining the workout and eating some carrots.

There’s your solution to obesity!

As for the state deficit…someday the people in our country are going to have to realize that in order to spend money, you have to make money. These absurd debts and deficits that we carry as a culture are symptomatic of a much bigger problem. You can’t spend what you don’t make. Obesity is another symptom.

You figure out the problem.

I’m reading a ton during my graduate program, of course, and one of the classes I’m taking this semester is Motor Learning.  We’ve read two papers recently that have really opened my eyes to a new way of looking at motor skill learning and development.

The first article we read is one by Susan Higgins from Physical Therapy, back in 1991 (vol 71, pp 122-139).  In it, she explains motor skill as being “effectiveness in the use of movements to solve motor problems.”  This particular outlook, of movements as problem-solving tools, was brand new to me, and has changed everything in my outlook on skill and human movement.

I found her take on effectiveness extremely interesting as well.  Namely, that “the individual’s degree of effectiveness in the learning process (and thus in problem solving in general) will be limited by his or her ability for critical self-analysis and environmental analysis in light of problems encountered and by his or her ability to generate and control the solutions to these problems.”

It’s definitely something worth reading, if you’re at all interested in the subject matter.

The second piece that we read recently was the sixth chapter of a book called “Dexterity and Its Development.”  The contributing editors are Mark Latash, Michael Turvey, and Nikolai Bernshtein (or Bernstein).  Chapter six is called “How We Should Not Think About Motor Skill” and it is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever read.  I’m actually in the process of reading the rest of the book (what I can view of it) on Google Books (the thing itself is like $120).

First, Bernstein categorizes levels of movement and motor-ability in terms of the phylogenetic origins of the human animal.  That is, he ascribes reaction-based movements to the earlier parts of our brain (“reptilian brain”), etc.  This is similar to Paul MacLean’s “Triune Brain” theory.

It seems that Higgins took her cue from Bernstein.  He also sees movement as problem-solving.  However, the solution the body comes up with may not necessarily be the most structurally-proper solution.  From this point of view, dysfunction is the body solving a movement problem by getting around the structural/functional issues it’s encountering internally.  In a sense, dysfunction is the body solving internal motor problems, instead of external motor problems.

The chewiest bit from chapter six, for me, was the following quote, which I’ve parsed a little for the sake of brevity:

“A human starts learning a movement because he cannot do it…The essence and objective of exercise is to improve the movements, that is, to change them.  Therefore, correct exercise is in fact a repetition without repetition…during a correctly organized exercise, a student is repeating many times, not the means for solving a given motor problem, but the process of its solution, the changing and improving of the means.”

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about a child-psychologist’s perspective of “entitlement” as being slightly different from what we hear about in the press these days.  Entitlement, in psychological terms, is the feeling that you are allowed and capable of doing the things you want to do.  Nowadays, we take it to mean the most extreme case – where people think they are entitled to do whatever they want whenever they want, and have everything handed to them.

That’s something different…that’s extreme egotism.

Feeling a sense of true entitlement (that you are able and allowed) is actually a great gift to any human being, and is something we should all carry within us.  It is related to self-respect and dignity.  Unfortunately, it is something our society does not teach.  Instead, our culture teaches that we’re all lacking in some way, or somehow deficient.  The culture of Capitalism, and mass-marketing, approaches things from a negative perspective.

Danger lurks everywhere – or so they’d have you believe.  Your house is full of germs, your car isn’t as safe as a [insert German car manufacturer of your choice here].  Or, they can “help” your busy life by making it more “convenient” – microwave everything, three-minute abs, etc.  You aren’t something enough – diet pills, botox, Viagra, etc.  Or a combination of any or all of these.

It’s certainly not the case.  In fact, this feeling of deficiency has to be manufactured.  And it is.  It is the goal of every advertisement to make you feel like you are somehow not complete without the thing being advertised.

I think we need to take a new perspective on these things.

Try this experiment – from now on, when you see an advertisement, or hear someone tell you that there’s something you must have, or that you are not really “cool” or “in” without something, ask this question – “What part of me, physically, will improve through the acquisition and use of this thing?”

If there’s a really positive answer, you might consider buying it.  But I’ll bet, for most things, the answer is – “no part of me will improve.”

I would push the inquiry even further, to include the world.  If you do get a positive answer, ask “How does the world improve through my purchasing and using this thing?”

Now, here comes the good part, because I’m not a Luddite.  I honestly believe that the iPod has enriched my physical being.  I’m able to access the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard, whenever I want it.  I’ll extend those praises to my computer, and the iTunes store (which has made a lot of that music accessible to me).  Music makes me feel good, which improves the quality of my life.  By making me happy, it makes others happy, because I’m able to spread that joy wherever I go.  Further, my computer has helped me to stay in closer contact with my family and friends, which is invaluable to me.

I guess the point of this post is this – stop thinking about what’s wrong with technology, or your situation, and start thinking about what’s right with it.  And if you can’t make it right, stop doing it.  Realize that you are full and complete in and of yourself, as you are, right now.  You don’t need anything external to make you “better.”  In fact, nothing external can make you “better,” only you can do that, by choosing things that are good for you and your world.  Most of the time, you’ll get “better” by doing a lot less – being barefoot, working fewer hours, decreasing stress, watching less TV, eating less, eating more simply…

And here’s the spot by Lewis CK, on Conan O’Brien, that prompted this little rant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

No joke.

Charlie Reid was kind enough to forward an article from the New York Times on to me, entitled The Maligned Flat Foot: Some See An Advantage.

The funnies thing about this article, to me, is that it was written in 1990.  THAT’S ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO!

That’s well before the advent of Nike’s “barefoot” shoe (the “Free”…now selling for as low as $45 online, still not “free”), and far before my favorite FiveFingers came out, or my favorite “stylish” shoe, the Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot was created.

I just want this message to reach everyone everywhere.  Shoes are fashion accessories.  They aren’t necessary.  Flat feet, unless a sudden occurrence or diagnosed as causing pain/dysfunction, are no different, nor better or worse (though the NYT article would hint that they’re actually better) than feet with high arches.  Not only that, but the closer you can get to being barefoot, and the more frequently, the better off you’ll be.

Just do it.  It’s really free.  Really.  In every way.

I think people often have a debate in their head about exercise.  They try to force themselves to do it (or get off the hook) by thinking about it.  They might think things like this:

“I worked out really hard yesterday, so I should take today off.”

“I’ll workout tomorrow, I’m just too busy today.”

“I’m not sure what to do, so I’ll just go for a walk after dinner.”

“I’m so out of shape, I’ll probably injure myself.  I should take it easy.”

etc.

I agree with none of these.  The person in the last instance is probably right, and probably needs to see a professional to begin any kind of exercise.  Number three at least is going to do something.  Numbers one and two have no validity whatsoever.

My agreement with the last one is still limited.  They could at least do what number three is doing.  But now I’m playing into your game, which isn’t my thing, and is definitely not the point of this post.

The point of the post is this – exercise matters because it is critical to life.  If you haven’t heard it before, hear it now – Life is movement.  If you’ve never thought about it before, think about it now – The less you move, the closer you are to death.

My request is simple – move more.  In any way that you can.  Explore your environment, explore your surroundings, explore your body’s capability for movement.  Combine movements in new ways.  Explore, play, have fun.  Move.  Move.  Move.  You don’t need shoes, you don’t need a gym, you don’t need anything.  You only need your body.  Get up and move.

Okay, here’s just a bunch of random stuff I’ve been wrestling with recently. Sorry for the haphazard collection, but I want to get this stuff down, and if anyone out there can help further my understanding, even better!

Somatic Therapies

I’ve been reading up on Laban, Bartenieff, Feldenkreis, Alexander, etc., techniques recently. I’ve also been speaking a lot with Charlie Reid about the Egoscue method. All of the strictly “movement” therapies (i.e., everything but Egoscue, which has other elements) are aimed at increasing the individual’s awareness of their own body in space and in motion. “Amazingly” fundamental problems in structure/function can correct themselves simply through awareness of dysfunction.

This isn’t so “amazing,” as I’ll point out in more detail in a second.

“Physical” Therapies

Egoscue is more of what I’d consider a “physical” therapy technique, since it diagnoses problems (typically based on posture or movement dysfunction) and then attempts to correct those problems through movement prescriptions. These prescriptions are aimed, like somatic therapies, at increasing the person’s awareness of their body (and dysfunction in their body), but also in doing this in a very specific way, addressing specific muscles and patterns of muscles throughout the body.

In fact, we could create a continuum of approaches to human function/dysfunction based on how specific the approach is in its corrective tactics. Along the lines of Egoscue, here, but a little more specific, would be Vojta’s reflex-locomotion techniques for improving function in cerebral palsy and similar disorders. Still more specific would be things like Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). The most specific would be physical therapy techniques aimed at correcting or rehabilitating imbalances or injuries to specific muscle groups or joints.

However, that’s not to say that any of these are better or worse than the other. Instead, one approach might be better or worse for a particular person at a particular place and time. I think it’s crucial to recognize the similarities in these approaches, and their differences, and know when it’s important to use one versus the other.

Central Pattern Generators, the Body, and the Environment

Central Pattern Generators (CPG’s) are neural networks that create the rhythmical/cyclical motor patterns that determine/allow for things like gait. These circuits operate independently from the larger nervous system, or any type of brain-driven control. They are the basis of Vojta’s “reflex-locomotor patterns” mentioned above, and are the way that we are able to walk on two legs, and turn that walk into a jog or a sprint.

However, the generators don’t exist in isolation. Feedback from the body is needed. You can’t walk if your feet don’t know that you’re standing. You can’t run if you don’t know where your legs are in relation to your arms. This is “internal” awareness, or proprioception – your body’s awareness of itself in space. There is another, equally important factor that is often overlooked – that is, the body’s relation to its environment, let’s call it “external” awareness.

Research by Goma has shown that the body, and the generation/instantiation/sustenance of CPG’s relies just as much on the perceived environment as it does on internal factors. You can’t walk if you don’t know how fast the ground is moving beneath you. You can’t run if you don’t know where your feet are going to fall next.

Further, environmental awareness not only shapes the ability to do these things, but the environment itself shapes the things we’re capable of doing. This is true from a physiological perspective – if you grow up in an area short on uninterrupted, long distances, but long on heavy stones that have to be moved, you’ll likely become a miserable long-distance runner, but a very good heavy lifter. It is also true from an anthropomorphic perspective – the relative heights of the Amazonian native and the Masai warrior are no mistake – it’s helpful to be short in the jungle, and very tall in the desert.

The point here is that your body is designed by nature to move in certain ways. These CPG’s already inhabit your body as a function of your very anatomy/physiology itself! So it isn’t “miraculous” when a somatic therapy cures some ill (related or not). It’s simply that your body has been shown the path to normal function again, and is now able to deal with all of the other junk it needs to fight off.

Posture Makes Perfect

That’s the title of an excellent book by Dr. Victor Barker. In it, he outlines some of the things that happen when you have good or bad posture. What I’m most concerned with, is the effect that consistently poor movement has on posture. More than any other factor, limited motion contributes to poor posture. In fact, I would go further and guess that 90% of the “stretching” that is done out there would be completely unnecessary if full-range movement was carried out on a regular basis.

Postural correction is necessary. Proper posture is fundamental for proper movement – neither can exist without the other. However, I think that many of the ways that current methods attempt to correct poor posture and movement are faulty at best, and just a waste of time at worst.

Basic, fundamental movement

Fitness is all well and good, but of what use is it if you have no fundamental movement skill? I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about here. I worked at Gold’s Gym years ago, and there was a guy who worked out there who was a strongman and powerlifting competitor. The guy was incredible. He was currently only benching 450. He wanted his bench press to go up to 500 by the next meet. For those of you who don’t know, 500 pounds is an incredible bench press.

This man was a behemoth. He was easily 6′5″ and probably weighed around 300+ pounds. He looked like classical pictures of Paul Bunyan – big, barrel chested, thickly muscled, with a heavy beard and deep-set eyes.

He was also a heck of a nice guy. But that didn’t stop him from tearing all of the ligaments in his knee when his foot accidentally got stuck under the concrete stopping-block in the parking lot one night. This is not a joke.

For all of his strength, and his size, the man only practiced one thing all of the time – lifting heavy weights, in the sagittal plane (that is, straight ahead or directly up and down). He didn’t spend any time developing basic movement abilities.

Why have we lost the practice of these abilities in our gyms? Gyms these days (though the tide is slowly turning) more closely resemble factories than they do places to explore and develop optimal human movement. Look at a picture of any gym prior to 1970, and you’ll see something very interesting – LOTS OF OPEN SPACE.

Yes, there is a TON of open space. All of the weights either stack nicely against the wall, or in a closet somewhere. There are gymnastic rings hanging from the ceiling, and stall-bars along one wall.

What is that space for?!

Well, it reflects one of the central tenets of Asian philosophies, which is this – until you create space, Nature cannot express itself through you. You’ve heard it said in many ways, probably the most popular is the koan of the overflowing cup – how can the Master give you knowledge, when your cup is already overfull. Empty your mind to be able to accept the great learning.

The space in those gyms was used for tumbling and acrobatics. Things that are strangely relegated to their own, separate gyms these days. Remember how to do a somersault? Okay, go for it. You don’t need a gymnastics gym to do that.

Why has this disappeared, though? Funny enough, a large component of the feats of the early “strongman” – the predecessor of today’s bodybuilder – were exactly these “gymnastic” abilities (not to mention – WRESTLING). These guys had to do back-bridges with five people sitting on their chest. They did 1-arm handstands from the backs of chairs while holding dumbbells in the other hand.

This ethic, this part of physical culture, continued to “muscle beach” in Venice, CA, but then mysteriously vanished with the advent of Gold’s Gym and the bodybuilding craze.

I guess it was too complicated, and required too much practice. It wasn’t as easy as going into the gym and mindlessly blasting your muscles with rep after rep of the same movement pattern.

Or maybe it was too much fun. It didn’t satisfy the deeply-ingrained Puritan work-ethic that we thrive (and die) on in this country. Too much lolly-gagging. To many laughs when you had to somersault out of that 1-arm handstand.

Don’t get me wrong, I love bodybuilding. Arnold, after all, was one of my big idols as a kid. But so was Bruce Lee. I’m just sort of shocked at how little REAL MOVEMENT is a part of any modern workout routine. Instead, it’s mostly STATIONARY – go to this station, do 10 reps, go to this station, do 12, this station…

From now on, all of my clients are starting with somersaults.

And what about Nature?

The gymnasium/gym comparison relates back to the topic of environment, and it is worth noting another idea I’ve been dealing with recently regarding that topic, which is the effect of “natural” environments on human physiology. A paper by Tsunetsugu, et al., reveals the effects that simply “taking in” a natural woodland setting have on humans. I quote: “1) blood pressure and pulse rate were significantly lower, and 2) the power of the HF [high-frequency, the relaxed-state component] component of the HRV [heart-rate variability] tended to be higher and the LF/(LF+HF) [low-frequency] tended to be lower. Also, 3) salivary cortisol [the main "stress hormone" in your body] concentration was significantly lower in the forest area.”

If that’s true, what are the effects of EXERCISING in a more natural environment? Would those effects be heightened?! Would recovery be increased?! Would fatigue be diminished?!

But what about Nature? All of this talk of “greening” nowadays is really just a bunch of advertising. Nothing substantial is changing in the hearts and minds of people around the world. Their perception of nature and the natural world remains as it always has been – something distant, somehow separate from themselves.

I’ve already written a ton about the benefits of being barefoot, but let me outline them again here – reduced blood pressure, greater environmental awareness, improved proprioception and balance, improved movement ability and posture. But what about a more natural diet? Lower cholesterol, lower salt, lower CRP (i.e., lower inflammation levels, reduced risk of heart disease), reduced risk of diabetes, reduced instance of arthritis, etc., etc., etc.

Well, that’s a lot of words, and, that’s all for now. I’ll be chewing on all of this till we meet again. If you have any words or ideas, please share!

After yet another thought-provoking conversation with Charlie Reid, I have ideas to share…

1. Do whatever feels right for you.

The most important thing you can do is to begin acting in accordance with what feels right for your body. Do not eat past the point that you are full. It feels uncomfortable. Don’t drink alcohol to excess. If it hurts, don’t do it. Do what feels good. Take a walk, get some fresh air, go skiing…whatever feels good to you, physically, is probably good for you too.

2. Focus on increasing your awareness of your body.

All somatic therapies, and many physical therapy techniques, are basically concerned with just this. By improving your own awareness of your body, you become your own doctor, your own guide.

Start off by gaining some basic knowledge about anatomy and physiology. Get a book with lots of pictures, that discusses basic principles. “Anatomy and Physiology for Dummies” might be good. Stick it someplace where you can read it at your leisure. Put it in the bathroom, or on the coffee table. Treat it as you would a novel, not as a textbook. Relate what it tells you to yourself.

Once you’ve done that, have another person around to guide you. Someone who has some qualifications. A personal trainer, a yoga teacher, anyone who can be your mirror for a little while. You need someone who will be able to help you see more, and more deeply.

That being said, some of the things they ask you to do may violate rule 1. That’s okay. As long as there’s no real injury, and they know what they’re talking about, you’ll probably benefit from it.

3. Move more!

Life is movement. Without movement, there is no life. There is nothing. Move more, period.

4. Let nature be your guide.

As Leonardo Da Vinci supposedly said, it is important to “go straight to nature” with your inquiries about things. In any situation, if you’re trying to decide what’s “healthiest” consider what’s most natural. If you don’t have a clue, see number 2, and start watching the Discovery and Nature channels more.

I’ve written extensively about the benefits of being barefoot. I’ve made some side comments about how to eat a healthy diet. But with any comment I make about health, the common denominator is Nature. Is it closer to natural function? Then choose it first.

5. Consider your environment

Your environment will determine a lot about you. It will determine what you deem acceptable or unacceptable. Your environment will determine how you move, and what types of movement you think are acceptable or even possible. It will determine what you eat and how you eat it. Be aware of your environment, and change it to suit you. If you can’t change your environment, put yourself in a better environment, suited to your goals. If you can’t do that, find out why.

I was having a conversation with Frank Forencich yesterday.  For those of you who don’t know who Frank is, head over to the Exuberant Animal website, or read his books.

Frank’s been speaking with Terra Plana, who make the Vivo Barefoot shoes.  I wrote about my Vibram FiveFingers the other day.  I love those shoes, but they aren’t the most “fashionable” things in the world.  The Vivo Barefoot shoes take care of both.

I’ve had a pair of Vivo Barefoot’s for 2 1/2 years now, and I love them.  In fact, I attribute walking in them to being able to transition to the FiveFingers with no foot pain.  Most folks have a hard time transitioning from their movement-restricting muscle-deadening shoes to being barefoot.  The muscles of their feet need a lot of reconditioning to be able to keep up.  The Vivo Barefoot’s are the solution.

Essentially, they have a very wide toe-box, so your toes can spread much more than in traditional shoes.  In fact, it’s only since I’ve been wearing the FiveFingers for a while that I can actually hit the edges of the Barefoots with my toes when I walk (this is a good thing!).  Also, the sole is very thin (made of puncture-resistant rubber…I think they used Kevlar in the sole when they made mine, but I could’ve made that up), so you get a very good ground-feel through them, and you get the full range of movement across your toes when you step.

I highly recommend these shoes to anyone interested in reducing lower back pain, increasing foot and ankle strength, feeling better, and living closer to the earth.

VIVA BAREFOOT!

A recent conversation spurred this post.  It was about the continually-increasing levels of specialization in things.  I’ve covered this topic in a previous post with regard to Olympic games, but I think the trend is a little more insidious.

Our culture tends toward analysis (breaking things down into component parts), specialization (focusing on a single aspect of a larger whole), and compartmentalization (keeping component parts of things isolated).

This tendency extends straight through every aspect of our lives.  It is our culture.  It’s found in schools (no cross-disciplinary courses), sports (smaller and smaller skills broken down into individual events, or, the mind-boggling world of meaningless sports stats), economics (see current economic crisis – very much the result of a missing of the forest for the trees), work (my admin needs an admin), and exercise (most of my posts about exercise touch on this in some way).

For me, it’s the strange attachment that we have to statistics and numbers in our society.  As if they change anything.  The ground of our existence is still the Earth.  Nothing happens without it, yet we look at it less than anything.

Look for the whole picture more.  Going out into natural settings (woods, deserts, anything devoid of the touch of humans…hard to find, I know) is a good way to learn how to do this.  Being in nature confounds our sense of “order.”  It is completely orderly.  Nothing is out of place, yet, nothing is really “in place.”  Everything is beautiful, but not on purpose.  Just because it is as it is.

If you need a reason – read this paper.  Simply “taking in nature” will lower your levels of stress hormones.

I’m not saying we should reject the things we’ve learned.  I am saying that we need to relearn science.  We need a science that will embrace the total picture.  We need to adopt an inclusive, synthetic, generalized, and open view to balance the one we have now.