Crossfit: How Manual Therapy Can Get You to Regionals Next Year (or just keep you out of pain)!

Whenever I notice Rich Froning, or Jason Khalipa, Julie Foucher or any one of the bigger named crossfitters in the middle of a competition, I always marvel at how effortless their technique looks.  They really have fantastic form and technique, which creates less stress on their body so they can perform faster and harder than....well....you.

If you find yourself doing all the corrective exercises and stretching in the world but it still doesn't make the difference, you'll want to read this.  You'll find out how you've been trying to eat your bowl of soup with a fork....it just doesn't work.

"My shoulders are just too tight".....Not anymore!

When you injure yourself, whether in a specific event (like a hamstring strain) or over a long time (like 'I've always had tight upper back muscles), your body lays down what we call 'fibroblasts' in your muscle due to the lack of oxygen deliverance.  What happens when you accumulate fibroblasts?  Instead of your muscles and soft tissue being stretchy like a rubber band, they end up being tough like a piece of leather. 


Then suddenly you find yourself saying 'I'm just not flexibile enough' or 'I'm just too tight'.  Well...you are.  The problem is that corrective exercise cannot get rid of the fibroblasts.

So what can?  Manual therapy!

The two manual therapies I'd like to highlight in particular would be Active Release Technique (ART) and Graston Technique.

Active Release Technique - a hands on technique performed by a chiropractors or physical therapist that brakes up fibroblasts through tension techniques in which you move your own body during the treatment. 

Graston Technique - a steel instrument used over the skin designed to soften up scar tissue, and re-start the inflammatory process which will normalize your muscles and other tissues.  It's perfect for tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, achilles pain, and other more tendon-based injuries.

Both of these techniques are designed not only to improve flexibility, but also too relieve your pain and decrease injuries.  Maybe it will make the difference in the depth of your squat, how far you can get your shoulder back during a kip or overhead squat.  Maybe it'll even get you into regionals!

If you are in the Boca Raton area and would like ART or Graston, please visit me at www.Mobility-4Life.com

Injury Free- Box Jumps

Box Jumps are a fantastic way to exercise.  It's a whole body exercise that works on your strength, power, conditioning and burns fat.  Unfortunatley many people struggle with them and end up hurting themselves.  Here are a few quick tips to get you in performing box jumps without hurting yourself (and having better performance too!)

1.  Swing Your Arms
        When one jumps, it's not the ability to push the ground down that has you jump high.  People with huge squat one rep maxes aren't the people that can jump the highest.  It's the ability to coordinate all your forces upward while transferring your forces through your core.  A highly effective way of accomplishing that is by getting a great deal of momentum going with your arms.  The more force your arms create, the less your hips, knees and ankles have to.  It's a fantastic way to keep the stress off your body.

2.  Don't Let Your Knees Travel Inward

Whether its your takeoff, or your landing, don't let this happen.  You might even want to concentrate on having your knees travel to directly away from each other, as this increases stability in the foot, ankle, knee complex.  It will minimize the stress on your body.

3.  Step Down
         Now if you're a highly competitive Crossfit type you might not like this one.  It's true that if your just going for performance, jumping down is faster.  However it adds so much force to the calf, achilles tendon, ankles and plantar fascia that it significantly increases the chances of you injuring yourself.  Alternating which foot you step down off the box will allow you to minimize the stress on your body without wearing down either leg.  

If you have any questions or are injured, please email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  If you are in the Boca Raton area, you can visit us at www.Mobility-4Life.com

9 Rules to Returning to Exercise after Injury

So many of us get injured and have questions and concerns about how we should approach ramping up our activity levels to pre-injury levels after we start feeling better.  So I thought I'd make some general rules to follow.  Trainers, I'd suggesting posting this on your gym wall so your client have some future reference.

Rules to Return to Activity After Injury

Rule #1 - Get yourself checked out by a sports medicine professional.  This is their expertise, you don't want to end up hurting yourself further or again.  This will significantly speed up the process.

Rule #2 - If you feel pain, don't do it.  Don't even do a movement in which you even 'feel' the affected area, without  pain.  I think you know what I'm talking about.  When you exercise in pain, you will automatically compensate.  Why is that a bad thing?  I'll explain later.

Rule #3 - Start with non-weight bearing, non-painful exercises.  This might include rowing, or swimming, walking, cycling, or elliptical.  Getting some serious blood flow to a recently injured area can do great things as far as speeding up this whole process.

Rule #4 - Next step, body weight exercises.  This could include push ups, or air squats, lunges, pull ups, etc.  Make sure you're doing full range of motion.  Don't move on to the next step until you have full range of motion.

Rule #5 - Don't add weight until you perform the most provocative movement (if it hurts to squat, squatting would be the provocative movement) with just bodyweight, pain-free without any asymmetries of any kind.  Ask your local trainer or a gym friend that you know has a great deal of knowledge of exercise and technique.  Have them evaluate your movement from all angles.

Rule #6 - Work the opposite extremity - If the injury is to your right foot, workout the left foot while you're recovering.  This works for the upper extremity as well.  Studies show that the more this is done, the less atrophy and muscle wasting occur of the injured extremity.

Rule #7 - DON'T COMPENSATE!!!!! - This is the biggest one.  It should be number one.  "I can run if I just step towards the outside of my foot" or "I have to extend one arm before the other".  This is huge.  When you compensate you rapidly start wearing down other parts of your body.  Don't do it.  That's why you want a trainer to make sure that your exercise movement is completely symmetrical.

Rule #8 - Perform other exercise/activity.  This is a great time to do some kind of cross training.  Performing exercises you wouldn't normally perform (as long as they are completely pain and compensation free) is a great way to workout and diversify your program.  I.e. if it hurts to swim, then jog...or if it hurts to do cleans, do snatches.  Explore some yoga!

Rule #9 - Don't wear braces.  Now take this with a grain of salt.  Sometimes they are necessary in the short term.  However, braces create stability for joints which is good for acute injuries, however it creates 2 things that we don't want.  #1- dependence on the brace.  Since it's creating stability in that joint, your muscles don't have to stabilize and the stronger you get, the more dependent you will become leaving the door open to future injury.  #2 - Braces limit your flexibility in that joint which, in the long term, will create more compensation in surrounding body parts.

I hope this is helpful.  For anyone wanting to know if they are ready to return to exercise, please call my office at 561.997.8898 or email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

I'm Getting Too Old To Work Out and I'm Getting Fat

Is this you?  Is the scale in your bathroom creeping up?  Are you a plumper version of your old self?  AND/OR.....do you have injuries/pain which are keeping you from being able to workout the way you used to?

Ok, well....you're not alone.  I promise.  I hear it all the time.  I have a suggestion for you.

Find 10 different movements that you can do pain free.  Here are some suggestions:

Push Ups
Lunges
Squats
Step-Ups
Jumping Jacks
Jumping Rope
Jumping w/o the rope
Box Jumps
Running
Elliptical Machine
Stair Climber
Exercise Bike
Bike
Burpees
Box Dips
Wall Push Ups
Push Up Position Shoulder Taps
Calf Raises
Planks
Sit-Ups
Bird Dogs (cross crawl)
-there's an endless list of exercises that could be included

This is a version of step ups....most people can perform these pain free

-Pick One Each day
-It has to be a pain free exercise

Now do the exercise for 30 seconds, as many repetitions as you can.

Now rest for 30 seconds.

30 seconds on, 30 second off.  Go for 6 minutes.  Work your way up to 10 minutes.  Even 12 minutes.

Get your heart rate up.  Count how many reps you perform in each 30 second segment.  Attempt to match or top that in the next segment.

This is called High Intensity Interval Training.  There are many forms of it, this is just one option.  You can google "High Intensity Interval Training" and come up with thousands of options.

It's the most effective form of burning fat and maintaining muscle available.

Push Up Taps: Tap your hand to the opposite shoulder and switch.

I highly recommend this if your age 10, age 70, or any age in between.  Just don't do it if it hurts, select a simpler exercise.  Don't let pain or injury or age stop you.  Keep moving!

If you have any questions about any of these please email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  To schedule a personal appointment in Boca Raton, Fl dial my office at 561.997.8898.  To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Burpees

The Burpee has gotten so much press the last number of years that even though I've touched on it twice before, I think it deserves it's own post.  It's literally one of my favorite exercises out there.  Why?  You don't need any equipment and it tones, conditions, and shreds people!  Plus, I always have a tendency to like exercises that really expose people's mobility and stability shortcoming.  That's why I like Overhead deep squats too.  You have to have all regions of your body working well to do it well.  But I digress.  Burpees.

Burpees are a combination movement where you start in a standing position, jump down to a lowered pushup position (chest touching the ground), kip your feet to a full squat position, then jump up and clap your hands above your head.

I love burpees because if I have an extremely full day when I know I won't be able to get to the gym,  I know I can do 4 minutes of burpees and get a hell of workout and feel good about myself the rest of the day.

Here's the problem.

People don't do them very well.

The main issues I see that would lead to injury is that people do not come to the full deep squat position.  When they jump up they have the feet too close together, their heels are elevated, and all the stress of the movement goes straight to the knees and the quads.  When you are in a deep squat position (like you should be) the stress of the movement goes to the glutes and the hips (which can handle the load without causing injury).

If you notice that you can't get in a full squat position, then there is something wrong with either your foot, ankle, hips, or body control and you need to be evaluated by a movement professional.  If you're in the South Florida/Boca Raton area you can schedule your own personal evaluation either at 561.997.8898 or by emailing me personally at drscotthoar@gmail.com. To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Exercise Selection

(Exercise videos at the bottom)

Two days a week, my partner and I treat former college football players for Tony Villani's XPE group as they prepare themselves for the NFL combine coming up in a few weeks.  We do this at Jaco Hybrid training center in Delray Beach, FL.  I love going to Jaco Hybrid.  Why?  Because it's the most hilarious gym I've ever seen (and it's great for 'people watching).

It's got so many different stereotypes of fitness people.  You've got the crossfitters in the back, with their bad form and high reps.  You've got the meat heads doing ridiculous exercises to 'really feel the burn' so they can kiss their biceps afterwards.  You've got the girls on the cardio machines with their headphones and cellphones in hand.  You've got the yoga and Tae-Kwan-Do studios.  They also have a huge MMA ring and training center where the 'Blackzilians' as they call themselves, train for MMA style fighting.  Their movement for the most part is so primitive, they really look out of control with their bodies.

I highlight this because there are so many different kinds of exercise people could engage in to try to improve their health and fitness.  There question I probably get asked the most, 'how can I workout to burn fat and have the kind of body I want?"

People are starting to realize that straight cardio alone is not enough.  Have you ever run into those 'skinny fat people' as I call them?  Overall they are not fat, but their body composition isn't firm.  They're skinny, yet fat.  AND, they're more prone to injury because they don't have good enough control of their body.

The exercises I recommend are full body exercises that end up giving you a firmer body, while burning fat.  There are ways to get bigger muscles, but that involves a lot of protein and a lot of lifting weights.  I'm talking about quick effective methods of getting firm.  These are full body exercises.

1.  Burpees

2.  Kipping Pull Ups

    -for a video to this, check out www.crossfit.com

3.  Walk the Floors

4.  Box Jumps
    -jump up on a box

5.  Push Ups
    -you know how to do these....

6.  Hand Stand Push Ups (advanced, beginners can start with handstand posing while leaning against a wall)

7.  Push Up Rows

8.  Turkish-Get ups

9.  Kettlebell Swings

10.  Dumbbell Floor to overheads

For any of these exercises.  You could literally just do as many of them as possible in 4 minutes, and you'll give yourself a killer workout that will both burn fat and add proportional muscle to your frames.  If your not in a gym, these are great starters for your exercises program.

For any questions, concerns, or to schedule any treatment  in the Boca Raton area for problems doing these exercises feel free to contact me at 561.997.8898 or email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com