I was talking about age and performance this week, and then this story pops up locally and has become a national story.
Just don’t mess with Grandma or she may just kick your ass!
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708300431
Have a good long weekend.
Bill
I while back I wrote a blog post after Randy Couture defeated Tim Silvia to regain the UFC Heavyweight Title at the age of 43. My last line included “Age is meaningless now.”
I still believe it.
Randy did it again by Defeating 28 year old Gabriel Gonzaga, who was undefeated in MMA for the last 3 years, 16 years younger, and 20+ pounds heavier.
But here’s another great example….
Mike Flynt just made the football team at Sul Ross State. At 5’9″ and 195 pounds, he is able to run a 5-flat 40 yard dash and apparently hang in there with players that could be his grandchildren.
Age is meaningless. Challenge yourself.
Bill
Ladies, you’ve been mislead, lied to, bamboozled, and tricked into buying countless, useless products to rid your thighs of that ugly cellulite. Today, you’ll learn how to get rid of it for good with no gimmicks, gadgets, or potions.
First, let me explain what cellulite really is.
It’s body fat…plain and simple. It’s nothing more that same body fat that’s between your fingers, on your belly, and behind your knees.
While many product manufacturers would have believe that there’s something magical about the fat on the back of your thighs, even giving it a special name – cellulite, you get rid of it the same way as fat on any other area.
Why does it look different and why does it mostly show up on women’s thighs?
Because boys and girls are different. Sure, we’ve all known that since we traded peeks in kindergarten with the curious boy or girl next door, but there’s a physiological difference in men and women that results in the dimply fat on the back of women’s thighs.
It has to do with the type of connective tissue that men and women have. We all have connective tissue that is layered over every bone, muscle, organ, and under the skin in a continuous sheet like Saran Wrap. In men, this connective tissue tends to be thicker and smoother on the back of the thighs than the irregularly arranged fibers of connective tissue found on the back of women’s thighs and other areas.
When body fat increases in women, as it’s deposited on the thighs (and elsewhere), instead of being contained within the smooth, continuous connective tissues, the irregular connective tissue creates a dimpled appearance.
The key to the removal of cellulite is to reduce your body fat. Period.
Now the bigger question is how do you that as quickly and effectively as possible?
1. eliminate all processed carbohydrates from your eating plan
2. Reduce your overall carbohydrate intake (DO NOT eliminate all carbs)
3. Perform progressively challenging metabolism enhancing resistance training
4. Perform progressively challenging fat burning interval training
5. Burn more fat at rest
AFTERBURN! by Alwyn Cosgrove includes all the above in an easy to follow, step-by-step program.
Bill
I caught a video clip of a strength coach going through a series of hip mobility drills and stretches designed to increase hip range of motion to improve squat performance.
I applaud his intent but question the effectiveness his exercise technique.
When you’re performing mobility drills or even simple stretches, you must not only attend to which joints you’re trying to move but also those that you’re trying NOT to move.
Try this example.
Lie on your back and pull your knee to your chest as tight as possible. You should feel a stretch in your glutes and maybe in your hamstring.
Now my question to you: Did you feel your back flatten toward the floor?
This stretch is designed to improve hip flexion flexibility RELATIVE to flexibility of the spine. If you felt your spine flatten (reduced lordosis), you not only stretched the hip but also the lower back. In doing so, the relative flexibility is unchanged and your gains will be limited. You can also perpetuate low back pain this way.
Now perform the knee to chest stretch but this time work to keep the lumbar spine in its natural lordosis. Your hip flexion will seem limited because the spine is no longer moving, however, you will be targeting the increase in mobility of the hip more effectively.
Especially during more dynamic mobility drills there will always be required elements of stability that are essential to proper exercise performance and effectiveness.
Bill
I’ve seen health, fitness, and rehab professionals recommend intentially using light weights (<=5 pounds) to train the rotator cuff in healthy trainees to help prevent cuff injuries. The reasoning is that with increasing intensity you’re increasing the recruitment of the bigger muscles (pecs, lats, deltoid) that also provide rotational force and the benefit of the cuff muscles is reduced.
I’ve never really agreed with this reasoning and there’s a study in the new issue of Physical Therapy (August 2007) that backs me up. It showed that with increasing intensity, the bigger muscles were certainly recruited as needed but the rotator cuff muscles also increased their intensity of contraction as well.
So in other words, there’s no reason to limit loading in hopes of making your rotator cuff training more effective.
Bill
P.S. In the same issue, they surveyed a group of OCS’s (PT’s with an Orthopedic Certified Specialist designation) as to their frequency of use of ultrasound in the treatment of their patients. 83.6% of the respondents indicated that they would use ultrasound to reduce soft-tissue inflammation eventhough there’s a lack of evidence to support such treatment.