Photo © Westside Shooter

Hamstring tightness is quite common in many athletes and they are darn tricky to loosen up. I’ve had my share of tight hamstrings so I wanted to share some quick tips that I found have worked for me. Here are my list of tips in no particular order (I find that I usually go through the entire list and randomly find that one of the bunch did well that time around).

Release Your Hamstrings

Sometimes your hamstrings are tight because of muscle spasms in that area. The best way to relieve muscle spasms is to perform self myofascial release on yourself by rolling out the spasm with a really hard foam roller, a lacrosse ball, or a soft ball. You can also use a theracane to apply pressure once you find a tense spot in your hamstrings.

You’ll want to start warming up your hamstrings by just using the foam roller to go over the hamstrings 8-10 times in different angles. After that, if you noticed any painful / tight spots, you can apply more direct pressure in that area with a lacrosse ball, soft ball, theracane (pick your poison) and perform cross-friction massage. Apply pressure to each spot till the pain is about 50% gone, then move onto the next spot (you don’t want to be bruising your muscles).

Retest to see if your hamstrings feel better. If it doesn’t yet, then maybe the issue is not really in your hamstrings.

Release Surrounding Areas

Since everything is connected, tight areas around your hamstrings can pull on your hamstrings causing them to be tight. Some common culprits that can cause hamstring tightness is tight quads, calves, and gluts. Use the protocol above on these areas to try to release them too.

Retest to see if your hamstrings feel better.

Try Static Active Stretching

Static active stretching is another way you can attack this problem. You will need to use stretching straps to do this.

1. Start by laying on the ground and looping the strap around your right foot.
2. Raise your right leg straight into the air and pull onto the strap as far as you can while keeping your right leg straight and relaxed.
   
3. Hold relaxed for 10 seconds
4. Tense your right leg at 50% effort (like you are trying to push your leg back down to the ground) while you pull on the strap for 10 seconds.
5. Stop tensing your right leg for 10 seconds and try to pull your leg in some more.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 a couple more times.
7. While keeping your right leg straight and holding onto the straps, drop your right leg to the right so that your hips open up.
   
8. Repeat steps 4 & 5 a few times.
9. Bring the right leg back up to vertical, then while keeping your right leg straight and holding onto the straps, drop your right leg to the left (crossing your left leg). Go as far as you can.
   
10. Repeat steps 4 & 5 a few times.
11. Bring the right leg back up to vertical and release.
12. Repeat for left leg.

Gamma Labs took my feedback quite seriously and now they have just released a new revamped packaging to include 33% more PTF per bottle for the same price.

Priced competitively, now the price works out to about $0.90 – $1.80 per workout session depending on how sensitive you are to stimulants. Woot!

Gamma Labs Pre-Training Formula Contest

How to Win

For a chance to win, all you’ll have to do to is:

• “Like” the Gamma Labs Facebook page
• Write ”TweakFit sent me!” on their wall.

The contest ends Wednesday 3/14/12 9pm PST. Winners will be announced and contacted directly after contest ends. Good luck!

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Calluses are natural and is your body’s way of adapting to the friction you’re subjecting your skin to day-by-day. Calluses can be a good thing since the callused areas are actually hardened dead skin that is resistant to mechanical and chemical insults (allowing your skin to take on more beating in that area).

When left alone for too long though, calluses can become a bad thing. If your calluses grow too thick, it can cause discomfort (imagine stepping on stones on every step), blisters, corns, and can also get in the way of proper mechanics. Not to mention that if one of your calluses rip open through overuse, it can be very annoyingly painful to workaround.

I lift extremely heavy (85%-100% of 1RM) at least 3 times a week with no weightlifting gloves and without straps 90% of the time, and I still have a pretty decently smooth hand, thanks to the following callus care protocol:

Tips on Preventing Calluses

• If you lift heavy weights without straps or weightlifting gloves, try using chalk to help prevent you from creating new calluses and ripping up old calluses.
• Immediate after weightlifting wash your hands with moisturizing soap. If you use chalk when you lift, be sure to clean your hands really well and get rid of as much chalk as you can. Seriously spend a minute or two washing your hands.
• Wear proper shoes with good, even support.
• Before you go to bed, lotion up your hands and feet (since you won’t be using them for a while anyway).

Tips on Removing Calluses

Why it May Work

Honey is composed entirely of sugar, a simple carbohydrate that quickly dissolves into the bloodstream and provides a quick source of energy. This is why carbohydrate-based beverages and bars are highly effective for providing instant energy during exercise. Honey, however, is composed of about equal parts glucose and fructose. Nearly all carbohydrates are ultimately converted to glucose after consumption, at which point they provide fuel for our body’s cells. Any unused glucose is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. Fructose dissolves much more slowly than glucose, providing more sustained cellular fuel (energy). Honey is unique in that it provides both quick and prolonged energy. For this same reason, honey helps restore the glycogen the muscles use to perform activity during exercise.

Honey is also believed to have wound-healing and immune-building properties that may promote injury recovery.

What the Research Says

The research exploring the relationship between honey and exercise performance is still somewhat sparse.

In one study, subjects who underwent an intensive weight-lifting workout and subsequently consumed a protein solution mixed with either honey, sugar, or maltodextrin. The honey group maintained blood sugar levels longer during exercise and more favorable glycogen restoration two hours following exercise than the other two groups.

A 2001 study, summarized by Scientific American, tested the effects of honey on a group of cyclists. Researchers had nine competitive cyclists pedal 64 kilometers per week for three consecutive weeks. One group was given honey, another a dextrose gel, and a final group a flavored placebo. The honey and dextrose groups both outperformed the placebo group, although the dextrose group slightly outperformed the honey group as well.

A 2009 study, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, investigated the effects of a honey-sweetened beverage, compared to a traditional carbohydrate beverage and a placebo, on a 90-minute soccer simulation. Following the study, results demonstrated that neither the honey nor traditional carbohydrate group outperform the placebo group.

Additional studies have produced fairly similar equivocal results.

Conclusions

Honey certainly has numerous health benefits, such as carbohydrates, antioxidants, anti-bacterial enzymes that promote immune system function, and an array of vitamins and minerals. However, the paucity of research investigating its role in exercise performance are insufficient to support claims that honey provides an extra edge in the gym. Honey is likely equal to similar carbohydrate-based beverages and bars in its ability to provide energy and restore muscle glycogen following exercise. Future research may shed light on honey’s additional ability to improve performance in any way.

Hypertension, a very specific cardiovascular condition linked to stress, is a major health problem in the United States — affecting more than 65 million individuals each year. Hypertension is correlated to cardiovascular disease risk and increased mortality in more severe cases.

Medications for hypertension can be costly, and, while treating for hypertension, can have potentially harmful side effects on the body themselves. For example, many patients with hypertension are given beta blockers, which allow the heart to beat slower and reduce blood pressure. However, this reduced heart beat and cardiac output can hurt your exercise performance (Sorace, Mahady, & Brignola, 2009).

Luckily, according to a report from the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s “Strength and Conditioning Journal” (Sorace, Mahady, & Brignola, 2009), there is a natural way to alleviate hypertension: resistance training.

As you may know, resistance training consists of any form of exercise that uses resistance to force the muscles to contract. In general, any form of weight training is resistance training. Here’s why resistance training is believed to help:

Benefits of Resistance Training on Hypertension

One of the key contributors to hypertension is increased blood pressure. An ample body of research suggests that a prolonged resistance training program can help lower blood pressure by improving cardiac output, vascular remodeling (e.g., left ventricular hypertrophy; thicker myocardial wall), and reducing sympathetic nervous system activity.

The benefits of resistance training in hypertension can be seen in both short- and long-term cases, as well as in resting, low-intensity, and high-intensity exercise intervals.

Recommendations

A consistent resistance training program may be just the ticket you need to prevent hypertension or help alleviate this physical stress marker. The American College of Sports Medicine (2009) provides some key recommendations for an introductory resistance training program for general cardiovascular health and weight control:

• Perform 8 to 10 exercises per session, focusing on larger muscle groups
• Perform 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise, and  just one set of each (to the point of slight fatigue)
• Perform 2 to 3 nonconsecutive sessions per week
• Use a full range of motion for each exercise, never to the point of joint pain
• Perform movements at a moderate speed (about 6 seconds per full repetition)

In addition, The ACSM also recommends getting 30 minutes of  moderately intense cardiovascular exercise, 5 days a week, to help promote cardiovascular health.

Cautions

Never begin an exercise program without consulting your doctor if you suffer from any form of cardiovascular or stress-related physical condition. More research is needed to investigate the effects of various medications on exercise, so be sure to consult with your doctor regarding any medications you are taking. Resistance training is not a substitute for medical treatment for hypertension. While its preventative effects are well-documented, research has not yet determined if resistance training can reduce hypertension on its own.

Interestingly, the worst thing you can do when you develop osteoarthritis or osteoporosis is to become less active. An abundance of research has demonstrated that resistance training is effective for both delaying the effects of osteoporosis and osteoporosis, as well as alleviating and reducing the effects of current bone conditions.

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the best way to exercise for bone health is to perform persistent resistance training exercises. Here are a few tips on how to keep your bones healthier later into your life:

1. Weight-Bearing Exercises Reign Supreme

Like muscles, bones adapt to increases in load and intensity of exercise. When an increased load is placed on the bone, it adapts by becoming stronger and denser so that it can handle future loads of that degree. To force the bone to adapt in the most efficient manner, exercises that bear the entire weight of the body are best. Choose to job instead of cycle, or to do pushups versus using the incline press.

2. Free Weights are Better Than Machines

As a rule, free weights are superior to exercise machines because they force the bones to bear more body weight. You can imagine that performing an overhead press with a bar places a much greater load on the axial skeleton than performing the same exercise on a machine. Free weights have the added effect of targeting the smaller, stabilizer muscles within a given exercise, which can prevent stress on the joints and osteoarthritic conditions later on. Of course, if you suffer from severe osteoarthritis, machines may help you perform certain exercises through controlled ranges of motions without stressing the joints too much. Talk with your physical therapist about what exercises you are capable of performing.

3. Progressively Overload Your Bones

Also similar to muscles, they become stagnant when they are not sufficiently stimulated. Your bones will stop adapting if you stop exercising. Progressively increase the load of your exercises by about 10 percent each week to keep your bones healthy and strong. You will also need to allow for sufficient rest between exercise sessions, and to take a week of exercise off from time to time to allow your body to recover.

4. Calcium and Vitamin D

You’ve probably heard that calcium and vitamin D are crucial for maintaining bone health. It remains true that these micronutrients play the most direct role in preventing bone pores later in life. Calcium helps form the structure of bones and the body uses vitamin D to metabolize and absorb calcium. The best sources of calcium are milk and dairy products, as well as green leafy vegetables. You can get nearly all the vitamin D you need from sun exposure, but vitamin D also exists in fish and eggs.

Circadian Rhythms

Circadian rhythms are the mental, physical, and behavioral changes that revolve around the 24-hour cycle of our daily lives. Similar to the concept of the “biological clock,” our circadian rhythms are primarily influenced by light cues. All living organisms have circadian rhythms, including people, primates, pets, and plants. Circadian rhythms can affect our body’s sleep cycles, hormone levels, body temperature, and a number of other physiological processes.

Effects on Exercise

In their review, Weipeng, Newton, and McGuigan (2011) found that circadian rhythms can influence your exercise results in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most significant finding was that enhanced exercise performance typically occurred in subjects during the early evening hours. These researchers also found that individual hormones, specifically testosterone and the stress hormone, cortisol, had their own natural circadian rhythms. Past research has shown a direct relationship between these hormones and exercise, with higher levels of testosterone boosting exercise performance, and cortisol hindering it.

Circadian rhythms were also significantly related to body temperature. Past research has demonstrated that prolonged warmups that allow the body to reach higher temperatures resulted in increased power output and decreased fatigue during exercise.

Finally, while Weipeng and colleagues did not discuss the issue of light, other research (e.g., Leproult et al., 1997) has demonstrated that increased lighting can enhance exercise performance, although this finding was significantly related to the amount of exposure time.

What This Means for You

Most people already know that warming up before exercising is wise, as it can prevent injuries. However, increasing body temperature appears to have a hormonal effect that can have you working out longer and harder than you ever thought possible. While each person has his or her own chronotype, or a specific, innate, time of day at which they function best, your hormonal profile is likely to be more conducive to optimal exercise performance during the twilight hours of the day, under bright lights, and after a sufficient warm-up.

If you’re a morning exerciser and find yourself in a lull, try working out in the evening. If you never warm-up before you hit the weights, make sure to get that body temperature up first. Finally, get plenty of sleep. Your body’s master clock, known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, controls the production of melatonin, the chemical that makes you feel sleepy. The SCN is located just above the optic nerve, which receives information about the amount of light coming in. When under dim lights, you are more likely to feel sleepy than when under the bright neon lights in the gym. The amount of sleep you receive has a significant effect on your hormone levels, which can be the difference between a good workout day and a bad one.

photo @ thisisbossi

Here are some tips to combat these debilitating nuisances:

• Get professionally fitted for shoes–This is the single most important thing you can do to prevent injuries of all types.  Stay away from big box sporting goods stores.  Most specialty running stores have professionals who are trained in analyzing your gait.  I highly recommend going to Roadrunner Sports, if you have one in your area.  They have a unique, computerized analysis tool called the Shoe Dog that will look at your stride, arches, mechanics, miles per week, etc. and will put you in an ideal pair of shoes.  Don’t settle for the online tool.  You need to physically go into the store and deal with one of their pros.
• Get custom insoles–While factory insoles may be okay for many, those with anything other than perfectly normal arches will be better suited with custom insoles.  If you needed a night guard to stop yourself from grinding your teeth, you wouldn’t just pluck one off the shelf.  You would have your dentist fit you for one.  Give your feet the same level of respect.  They are quite pricey ($60-$80), but they last about 500 miles and will keep you pounding the pavement.
  

  Photo @ 6MPasos

• Check your socks–Obviously, you don’t want to wear cotton socks.  You need a moisture-wicking material like thesefrom Thorlo.  Experiment with a variety of thicknesses until you find what works for you.
  

  photo @ lululemon athletica

• Use anti-chafing agents–I usually use Aquaphor because it’s readily available at my house.  But there are lots of running-specific options you can pick up at your local store.  I find these to be a little expensive.  Plain old petroleum jelly is probably the best bang for your buck.  Glob it on there liberally and carefully put your socks on so you don’t rub it off before you even get your shoes on.

photo @ G & A Sattler

Don’t let blisters keep you from achieving your goals.  They are preventable.  Try these methods to resolve your blister issues permanently.  If nothing seems to work, a trip to your trusted podiatrist might be in order.  Happy training!

Photo @ ActiveSteve

There have been two milestone moments in my running career–moments when I shook my head and said to myself, “I guess I’m really a runner now.”  The first one was when I walked out of a store with a pair of running tights.  I never thought I would get to that point.  The second was when I sat down in my first freezing cold ice bath after a long training run.

If you’re intimidated by the thought of immersing yourself in 55-60 degree (Fahrenheit) water, your feelings are justified.  I’m not going to lie to you.  It’s COLD!  However, executing an ice bath properly has significant benefits for distance runners:

• Expedites Recovery
• Reduces Inflammation
• Relieves Soreness

What to DO

You can take an ice bath any time, but I prefer to take mine within 30 minutes of completing an LSD run or difficult speed session.  Here’s the process:

1. Fill your tub with cold water. You want it high enough to cover your thighs when you’re sitting down, but not higher than that.
2. Drop in a medium sized bag of ice. You don’t need 50 lbs. of ice.  A 10-lb. bag is sufficient.
3. Put on a hooded sweatshirt and leave your shorts and/or underwear ON! You’ll thank me for this.
4. Get in the tub and sit down IMMEDIATELY. Don’t make the mistake of standing there with just your feet submerged.  The isolation of the cold on just your ankle bones will be painful and make you want to get out.  If you sit down quickly, it distributes the cold to parts of your lower body that have less bone and more muscle.  This makes it much more tolerable.
5. Survive the first 1-2 minutes. Sit still.  Moving around actually makes more heat leave your body.
6. Remain submerged for 10-15 minutes. Some people like to read.  I tried that one time and found it impossible to concentrate.  So now I just use the time to reflect on my run or think about what I have to do with the rest of my day.  This is also a good time to drink a protein shake, or whatever your preferred post-run recovery beverage happens to be.
7. Get out! Your legs may feel a little weird.  But you should feel refreshed and better than when you got in.
8. Take a shower. Don’t crank the heat up in the shower right away.  I like to keep mine lukewarm and slowly raise the temperature as my body warms up.

I do the majority of my training during the middle of the day, which means I usually have to get back to work.  Thus, an ice bath usually isn’t in the cards for me except on weekends.  As an alternative, I like to spend the first 3-5 minutes in the shower with ice cold water hitting my legs.  It’s not the same as cold water submersion, but it simulates the effects with the resources and time I have at my disposal.

What are some of your post-run recovery methods?

The SI or Sacroiliac Joint is one of two joints in the pelvis that connects the sacrum, or lowest part of the spine, to the large pelvic bone, the ilium. The two sacroiliac joints, on either side of the pelvis, connect the spine to the pelvis. The coccyx, or tailbone, is connected to the sacrum, but has no connection to the pelvis, and can be easily injured or bruised from a fall.
The SI Joint moves with a slight gliding action as we flex and walk. Sometimes walking, sitting, standing, or lying can cause pain in this joint and refer into the back, buttocks, and thigh. This radiating pain is sometimes confused with sciatica or low back pain.

Pain in This Area

Courtesy of natural-sciatic-relief.com

Generally, pain in the sacroiliac area can be distinguished from pain in the low back or sciatica based on the location of symptoms and whether or not the symptoms felt are localized or radiate into the buttock or leg. Classic symptoms for sciatica inlcude: pain in the lower back, buttock, and/or various parts of the leg and foot that can sometimes be severe. Numbness, muscular weakness, tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg can also occur. Typically, the symptoms are only felt on one side of the body.

Sacroiliac joint dysfunction, can be described as pain in the SI, low back, hip or groin. The pain is typically worse with standing and walking and improved when lying down. Inflammation and arthritis in the SI joint can also cause stiffness and a burning sensation in the pelvis. It can be difficult to identify the exact cause of pain, therefore, you may need to see a physician or physical therapist to help idendify the source.

Cause of SI Dysfunction

Courtesy of wellsphere.com

Although SI joint dysfunction has similar symptoms and does affect the sciatic nerve, it is not caused by a pinched nerve root. SI joint pain is normally caused either by overuse, wear and tear on the cartilage in the joint, or from underuse were it becomes tighter and less mobile causing pain when we do need to mobilize it for activity.

Pregnancy is also a big risk factor for sacroiliac joint dysfunction caused by instability. Due to the increased amount of circulating hormones that cause ligamentous laxity in the body, pregnant and postpartum women often experience pain in their hips, low back and SI joint.

The goal then of SI joint exercise is to perform range of motion and stretching exercises helping to mobilize and stabilize the joint ligaments.

Exercises to Help Decrease SI Pain

Stretching Exercises for the Pelvis These stretching exercises will help a stiff pelvis, or those who have decreased mobility and motion through the hips and pelvic girdle. For those that are hypermobile, continue on to strengthening and stabilizing exericses.

Knee to chest stretch: Exhale as you engage the abdominal muscles gently drawing one knee at a time to the chest, hold for a 2 count, then release. Do this 8-10 times with each leg.

Knee Sways: Lying on your back with your knees bent and together with your feet flat on the floor, gently sway the knees side to side. The lower back should remain fairly still on the mat. As you improve you will be able to let the knees sway further to the floor feeling the lower back and hips peel off the mat. Do this for 4-8 times each side.

Piriformis Stretch: Lying on your back with your knees bent, and spine in neutral, cross your leg with your ankle resting on the opposite thigh. Grasp the “under” leg and pull it towards you. Hold this stretch for 20-30 seconds, then switch legs.

Strengthening and Stabilizing Exercises for the SI and Pelvic Girdle.Pelvic stabilization exercises should be performed to strengthen muscles that support a joint that may be too loose. This is important because the extra motion can cause wear and tear on the joint cartilage leading to degeneration and arthritis.

Knee Stirs: Start lying on your back with your spine in neutral (tailbone and lower ribs in contact with the mat, natural curve in the lumbar spine), and hands on your hip bones.

Exhale as you fold one knee up to a 90 degree angle from the hip so the shin is parallel to the floor. Feel the head of the thigh bone sink into the hip socket. Keeping the pelvis stable and hips level circle the knee feeling the head of the femur rotate in the hip socket. Circle clockwise and counterclockwise 4-8 times each direction for each leg.

Clam Shells: Start lying on your back with knees bent and squeezed together feet flat, place your hands on your hip bones and keep them still or level with the ceiling. Use your fingers to feel for a muscle contraction of your lower abdominal muscles just below your hip bones.

Keeping your spine neutral with tailbone down and middle ribs pressed into the mat let your knees fall apart until you feel a gentle stretch in the groin, as you exhale draw them back together feeling the deeper pelvic floor and lower abdominal muscles working. Keep the buttocks relaxed. Do this for 6-10 repetions.

**Variation: Drop just one leg at a time toward the floor making sure the opposite buttock stays in contact with the mat and the hips stay level. This should be done very slowly and controlled. Make sure to feel for a good contraction on your lower abdominal muscles.

Jane Fonda’s: Start side-lying, with your hips and shoulders stacked, spine in neutral. You can bend the bottom knee to increase your stability.

Exhale as you lift the top leg, making sure to keep the knee straight. Leading with your heel towards the ceiling will help you activate your gluts and hip abductors. Slowly lower the leg back down. Repeat this 8-12 times for each leg.

For more information on pelvic floor exercises that can save your back, click here.