Carb Back Loading

Ok.  Brace yourself.  I'm about to go 360 degrees compared to everything we've ever learned about nutrition.  Don't worry, I haven't lost all my sanity.....I think.  I've started a 'diet' that includes pizza, beer, milkshakes, wings, bleu cheese ,etc.....  It's called the 'Carb Back Loading' diet, and I'm excited.

 Since my days in grad school I've tried to stick to a paleo-ish type diet.  Lean meats, fruits, veggies nuts.....no added sugar, oils, no grains, no flour, etc....  I've tried to eat that way for a long time and I've gotten good results.  I'm thinner than I used to be before grad school and feel like I have a good hold on my nutrition.

BUT....I'm just going to be completely honest.  I wish I had like 10 more pounds of muscle, and 10 less pounds of fat.  AND....I want to be able to eat what I want.  I'm from Buffalo, NY originally...if I don't get some beer, some pizza and some wings in my body every now and then it makes me feel like I'm dying a little bit inside.  I want to be able to eat what I want and have the body I haven't been able to achieve.

Enter Carb Back Loading.  This was designed and described in a book by DH Kiefer, a physicist that grew up a chubby kid and wanted to solve the human puzzle of looking the way you want to.  It's promised to have you gaining muscle and losing fat at levels previously unattained.

Here's the principles:

1) Skip Breakfast - this goes against everything we've ever learned....what happened to starting up the metabolism fire as soon as you wake up?
2) No carbs or sugars before working out, in the afternoon - as opposed to 'eat your fruit and carbs early in the day so you can burn them over the course of the day'
3) Workout without carbs in your system - as opposed to 'added fuel for working out hard' which has always been the case
4) After you workout, consume as much high sugar, high fat, crappy food as you want! - as opposed to ...well no one has ever said that one......
5) Continue eating as much as you want until bedtime - as opposed to fasting for the last few hours before bed because your metabolism is at an all time low.

I'm using my body as a laboratory in experimenting this diet for a few reasons.

1) I've lost all professional objectivity....I really want it to work.   I want to eat whatever I want and still achieve the body composition that I want.....don't judge me.
2) I think it's important to seriously questions everything you think you know from time to time.  This is definitely going in the face of mostly everything I've ever known.

Next week I'm going to post my updates and the explanations to these new principles on losing weight and gaining muscle. (they actually make a lot of sense).  Bottom line, I'm not promising anything and I'm not recommending anyone try this themselves.  Personally, I am trying the carb back loading approach and will fill you in on the details as I go along.

To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Deep Squats

Crossfit in general is a very polarizing subject not only in the sports rehab world, but also the fitness world.  I am thankful I was introduced to Crossfit though.  If nothing else, because of the return of the deep squat.  They were definitely not the inventors or originators of the full deep squat, but for the purposes of this post I will be giving them credit for re-introducing it to, if no other, yours truly.   

We spent the 80s, 90s and early 2000s squatting to parallel.  Why?  To protect the knees.  It made sense and we all did it that way for a long time.  Yet we all had knee pain anyway and slowly but surely stopped squatting to parallel. 

this was me before I started squatting to parallel

With Crossfit they always want you to have full range of motion with your movements.  Squatting was no exception.  So you started seeing people squatting again much lower than parallel.  And guess what?  It's so much better.  The more you bend you knees, the more the quads are inhibited and you start actually using your glutes and pelvic floor aka your deep core.  So not only did we stop having to do crunches, but we got a much nicer butt than before.  This is also good for the knees by the way.  With the stress taken off the quads, it's taken off the knees as well.  We are now able to utilize the much stronger hips and glutes when we squat low.

look at me now!

When pregnant patients come into my office and want to make sure that they have a strong and conditioned core not only for late stage pregnancy but also for giving birth, what do you think I have them do?  Deep squatting.  (Yes you read that correctly, I have 3rd trimester soon-to-be mothers sitting in a deep squat in my office).

You can do this exercises your self.  Squat as low as you can.  Make sure your heels are on the ground.  Raise your arms overhead until you start to feel the sensation of not only your deep core turning on, but also of you falling backwards.  Fight it!  You're training your core and pelvic floor.

TWO MAIN POINTS

1.  If you notice that you cannot squat down below parallel without pain or falling down, then something is wrong!  GET CHECKED OUT BY A FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SPECIALIST!  You might not be in pain yet, but for certain you're going to have trouble getting off the toilet in a few decades.

2.  For most people when you squat all the way to the floor, a certain amount of Lumbar Spine flexion comes into play.  This is contra-indicated for disc pain patients that get triggered by flexion.  Once again, GET YOURSELF CHECKED OUT by a spinal specialist.  If you don't have one in your area, email me.  I'd be happy to find a good one in your area.

Feel free to contact my office at 561.997.8898 or email me directly at drscotthoar@gmail.com. To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Core Strength and Not hurting your back

Today I'd like to write about 'the core' in regards to your body and your movement patterns.  A lot of misinformation exists out there and the point I'd like to make today is why it's necessary to strengthen the core with a neutral spine as opposed to through movements like flexion and extension (aka sit ups and back extensions).

What is the core?

Inner Core Anatomy

The core is the surrounding musculature of your torso.  It's literally all 360 degrees of the torso; your front abs, side abs, and back muscles.  Now I'd like to differentiate between inner core and outer core.  Your inner core consists of mostly smaller deep spinal stabilizers.  The outer core consists of bigger muscles like the obliques, rectus abdominus, the lats, the glutes, etc  The muscles you typically think of as core (except that you don't typically think of it in a 360 degree frame).

When scientists study the core, what they find is that the first muscles to fire during any movement are the inner core muscles, then the outer core muscles, then the extremities.   The inner core creates increased pressure in the abdominal cavity which provides stability to our spine, pelvis,etc.  So the core's effectiveness is really more about timing than strength.  What we see during faulty movement patters, i.e. people in pain, people with very poor flexibility, or people with poor stability, is that the order of muscle firing gets altered.  Instead of creating interabdominal pressure(the purpose of the core) with the inner core, we create it with the outer core and extremities.  That makes the extremities overly tight and not as flexible, resulting in compensations and movements that add too much pressure to your body.

SO CORE STABILITY IS MORE ABOUT TIMING THAN STRENGTH.  WHICH MUSCLES TURNS ON AT THE RIGHT TIME IS WHAT CORE STABILITY IS.

Sit Ups and Back Extensions
They've done studies where they measure the pressure within the discs in your back.  Pressure is what leads to wear and tear and injuries.  The pressure drastically increases during flexion (bending the torso forward) and extension (bending the torso backward).  What does this mean?  Sit ups are bad for your back!  People always try to do a lot of abs when they have back pain.  Well you're doing more harm than good.  A lot of times it's the same with back extensions as well.  We'd do better to strengthen the core without increasing discs pressure by concentration on neutral spine exercises.

Neutral Spine Exercises
In the rehab setting, we start pain patients off on the low end with neutral spine exercises like:
-Cross Crawl
-Planks
-Side Planks
-Rolling Planks

Cross Crawl

Plank

Single Leg Briding

then we progress them to high end exercises like:
-Deadlift
-Kettlebell Swings

Deadlifting with a nice neutral spine which will activate his core and utilize his hips during the movement

The point is the core isn't what everyone thinks it is.  The way to train the core is to concentrate on proper form and alignment during exercises.  You shouldn't have to think about activating your core to do so.  It should automatically happen when you keep proper form during any movement.

To get your own core strength/stability evaluation call me at 561.997.8898 or email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com in the Boca Raton, Fl area. To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Tabata Intervals

Today I'd like to write about one of the quickest ways to effectively burn fat without using wasting your own muscle.  They're called Tabata Intervals.  For those of you with extremely packed schedules, this is my favorite way to get a quality burn with a limited amount of time.

Tabata Intervals
-5 minutes of warming up
8 intervals of 20 seconds of max effort exercise followed by 10 seconds of complete rest
Cool down

What's great about Tabata intervals is that you can vary the activity, so it doesn't get boring.  I'd recommend starting with non-weight bearing cardio activity and gradually shifting towards anything else.  As well as you get better at the Tabata intervals, you'll want to increase the intensity.   You literally want to be going as fast and as hard as possible, like what you do during an all out sprint with an African lion chasing you....or maybe a hippo.

Recommended Exercises:
Stationary Bike
Rowing Machine
Running (outside)
Swimming (just don't drown)
Lunges
Step Ups
Box Jumps
Squats

etc:

High End Exercises:
Burpees
Kettlebell swings
Push Ups

Standard aerobic training (think going out for a 30 minute jog) never get's that intense.  Therefore your heart rate stays relatively level the whole time.  Doing that doesn't activate fat burning all that well.  Have you ever noticed a lifetime jogger/swimmer that just isn't all that fit looking?  The worst part about standard aerobic training is that once you exhaust whatever carbs are in your system, you start burning your own muscle as energy.  So your not burning fat that well, but you are burning your own muscle......great.

Tabata intervals initially came about in a study designed by....you guessed it...Tabata (a Japanese scientist), that compared 3 times per week of performing Tabata intervals 3x/wk and comparing it to the standard long duration type aerobic activity 5x/wk.  The study showed that the Tabata group had more gains in their aerobic conditioning (oxygen based) as well as gains in their anaerobic conditioning (glycogen/muscle based). So you end up burning more fat, and training your muscles better.  Don't forget that you saved over 20 minutes in your workout and have the ability to change it up whenever you'd like.

No matter your exercise level or comfort, I'd recommend trying Tabata intervals on your own.  Keep track of the number of reps/revolutions/etc so you can gauge yourself as you get in better shape.  Then get competitive with yourself.

WARNING - Be extremely careful if you decide to perform these intervals on a treadmill.  Personally I do these from time to time, but I still question my sanity while doing so.  Since the speed on the treadmill would be so high, it opens the door to accidents.  I've treated people that fell while on a treadmill and ended up getting severely burned by the cycling belt.  Check out this link to see what I'm talking about

Having said that, you should consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program.  If your in the Boca Raton, FL area, contact me at 561.997.8898 or email me directly at drscotthoar@gmail.com. To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com