A little more on the Xfit...

Ok, so I want to be honest: I enjoy tearing down xfit. In the area in which my facility is located, xfit is the only real competition we have, so I take every opportunity to criticize, knock around, and pick apart the xfit methodology. For instance, what methodology?

But to be fair, xfit does one thing for which I am envious: they have created a great community atmosphere. The community may or may not be made up of people I’d like to hang with on a regular basis, at least not the xfitters I’ve come across as of yet, but the community is strong.

With that said, this blog is not about how wrong I am, no no… This is about an interesting site I came across (remaining un-named) by a fellow chiropractor and avid xfitter. Perhaps I’ve not blogged my position on doctors and xfit, so allow me this sentence: It is my opinion that doctors of the health field should not endorse xfit, especially p.t.s and chiros.

I have taken the 4 primary ideas from his website/workshop series and decided to allow his points to make my own. His website is designed to help people identify and correct movement dysfunction while at the same time promoting xfit. While I will not join him promoting xfit, I could not agree with him more: who better than chiropractors and physical therapists (and perhaps movement specialists) to address deficits in people’s movements, right?

So here are the 4 primary ideas:

First: Movement dysfunction has many causes and there is no one size fits all solution. Mobility limitations are one piece of the puzzle. There is also lack of stability or motor control. There is also peripheral and central sensitization. There is also poor technique. I see just as many, if not more, people who need more stability than they do mobility.

Second: When we were infants and toddlers, we moved much better than we do as adults. Not just in our mobility, but also in our patterns. We were able to roll, crawl, deadlift, and squat better than we can as adults. We need to get back to better movement. We had it once, we should pursue it again.

Third: Things always evolve. Much of what we think we know today will be proven wrong in 10 years. I hope it is. We call that progress. I am not here to preach to you that I know all the answers. I don’t. No one does. We do the best we can with the information available to us. I do not claim to be a guru. I have many people that I learn from and they have learned from many people before them. Everything I know I learned from someone else who learned from someone else. ___is a compilation of all the amazing things I have learned from my predecessors in movement.

Fourth: Train to Improve, Compete to Win. There is a big difference between training and competing. There are things you do in a competition that you shouldn’t do in training. We take risks in competition to win, but we shouldn’t train that way. Training should never injure us, it should make us more resilient. Competition is the place where we put our bodies on the line. You can’t compete if you injure yourself in training.

The first idea is a good one: there is no “one size fits all”. The problem here is that in my experience with xfit the training is about fitting everyone into the same movement patterns. For example, squats are all done “ass to grass” no matter who you are and what your body type. Also, all Olympic lifts are done very specifically, because that’s what Olympic lifts are, and there is little to no room for deviation no matter your body type. So this point of no one-size-fits-all, as good as it is and I can’t enough of it, is contradicted by the methods of xfit training.

I am less excited about the second idea. As infants and toddlers we did not have fully formed skeletons and our connective tissue was lacking. Trying to compare adults to toddlers is not a very good point, but I do agree that everyone should actively seek joint mobility on a regular basis. Joint mobility has benefits that reach much further than just being able to kick your leg high or put your arm behind your head. Those people who have regular routines tend to be stronger and healthier than those that don’t. This point, while poorly made is still good.

The third idea is something that was preached to me by my mentors and teachers and is, in turn, preached by me. When I read this, I realized that the there is a thinker under all that xfitter. That this may be someone with whom I could sit down with and have a spirited debate, not a trait I normally see in xfit. Not a trait xfit breeds into its professionals. This point is that this is wise, plain and simple. All that I know will be changed, all I must do is live long enough.

Train to improve, compete to win. This is a good, solid statement that I absolutely agree with… for competitive athletes (as an aside, I would never send a competitive athlete to xfit because it just won’t fit). Xfit competes in their training sessions. They perform Olympic lifts for time, something that must NEVER be done. Xfit does this continuously, as it can be read on their WOD’s. Training is supposed to make an athlete, or fitness enthusiast, resilient, stronger and injury free. Training should ultimately build the body, but xfit has its clients competing with each other all the time. So how do they build if they are always putting their bodies on the line. Again, xfit contradicts my new friend.

This website/workshop series is not alone. Throughout all of xfit-dom you can read conflicting philosophies from xfit enthusiasts. I have heard the argument that there is a vast room for interpretation in the xfit methodology, however, if you actually read the main website, or better, read the manual, there is little to no room for interpretation. The fact is, these guys are probably not doing xfit, probably some sort of hybrid… or I can’t see how they can. You can’t preach different body’s equal different mechanics then train everyone the same, or claim to teach proper form and then train under time. You can’t have it both ways. Either you’re extreme or you’re safe, either you’re one-size-fits-all or you’re individualized, but you can’t be both because one gets sacrificed to make room for the other. Either you’re doing xfit or you’re not.

Linked Athletics is completely our own. We go through all of these struggles and come up with some pretty good compromises’, but every time we weigh what we are sacrificing against what we are gaining. We did not take someone else’s brand and bastardize to make it fit. Instead, we create a fitness methodology and philosophy that is intense, purposeful, and builds resilience. We train everyone from elite competitive athletics to adults to kids under our brand and we help mold athletes, every one of them. While we are not for everyone, we can train almost anyone.

Linked Athletics, be a stronger you.

Thanks for reading,

docBdc

Rest and Recovery

Rest and Recovery (Sleep)

First and foremost, when we talk about recovery the biggest and most obvious contributor is sleep! Unfortunately, while everyone may agree that sleep is essential to life, over one-third of the American population suffers from sleep deprivation (according to the CDC). So even though we all know how important sleep is, at least one-third of us don’t get enough.

Let’s begin with why sleep is so important. Sleep is where healing happens. Sure if you have a cut, damaged tissue, or sore muscles your body will heal while your awake, but most healing happens while you sleep. Biochemically, sleep's effectiveness lies in hormones. Two of the most important are Growth Hormone and Melatonin...

During deep sleep, the production of growth hormone peaks. Growth hormone catalyzes the absorption of nutrients and amino acids into your cells and aids the healing of tissues throughout your body. The hormone stimulates your bone marrow, the birthplace of your immune system cells. Fat cells break down their triglycerides and suppress their ability to take up circulating lipids due to GH. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) is activated by GH, and this is the hormone that is directly linked to muscle and bone growth. Finally, growth hormone is a pivotal hormone in the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Melatonin, the sleep hormone, is produced during sleep, as well. This hormone inhibits tumor growth, prevents viral infections, stimulates your immune system, increases antibodies in your saliva, has antioxidant properties, and enhances the quality of sleep.

As an aside, just one disruption in sleep pattern, just one disrupted night sleep, causes the activity of the natural killer cells to decrease by more than one-fourth the next day.

Sleeping too little can also inhibit productivity, the ability to remember and consolidate information. Lack of sleep can lead to serious health consequences and jeopardize your safety and the safety of individuals around you.

For example, sleep debt is linked with:

• Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents
• Increase in BMI (body mass index) – increases the appetite which in turn leads to a greater likelihood of obesity
• Increased risk for psychiatric conditions such as depression and substance abuse
• Decreased ability to pay attention, react to signals or remember new information
• A growing list of health risks documented in recent studies; hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity have all been linked with chronic sleep loss.
• Persons experiencing sleep insufficiency are also more likely to suffer increased mortality, and reduced quality of life

According to researchers Michael H. Bonnet and Donna L. Arand, "There is strong evidence that sufficient shortening or disturbance of the sleep process compromises mood, performance and alertness and can result in injury or death.

The most important thing you can do is to make sleep a priority. Schedule sleep like any other daily activity, so put it on your "to-do list" and cross it off every night. But don’t make it the thing you do only after everything else is done – stop doing other things so you get the sleep you need. 

To create the behavior for better sleep, experts recommend that you and your family members follow these sleep tips:

• Establish consistent sleep and wake schedules, even on weekends
• Create a regular, relaxing bedtime routine such as soaking in a hot bath or listening to soothing music – begin an hour or more before the time you expect to fall asleep
• Create a sleep-conducive environment that is dark, quiet, comfortable and cool
• Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows
• Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex (keep "sleep stealers" out of the bedroom – avoid watching TV, using a computer or reading in bed)
• Finish eating at least 2-3 hours before your regular bedtime
• Exercise regularly.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol products close to bedtime and give up smoking

Recovery and Regeneration 

Rolling out, utilizing foam rollers and sport sticks, trigger point work, as well as stretching, dynamic before and static after a workout, are essential to recovery. It is well documented the warm muscles perform better than cool muscles. Contemporary athletes “roll-out” and do light exercise to raise muscle temperature and enhance enzyme activity. It has become well recognized that this is the difference between first place and second place performance. Adopting these different pre and post game routines allows the athlete to perform general stretching as well as segmental stretching procedures with a high degree of precision promoting increases in speed, strength, and endurance. Trigger points are inflexible bands of muscle containing knots. They create an artificial barrier on muscle performance by restricting blood flow to the muscle. Adding trigger point therapy (a softball or lacrosse ball does nicely), un-restricts blood flow vital for both high performance and full recovery from exercise. Restricted blood flow to the muscles following exercise has a tendency to hinder muscle growth, muscle repair and glycogen repletion. Blood flow restrictions are due to generalized muscle tightness and trigger points. Rolling-out, trigger point work, and stretching relaxes tight muscle which enhances muscle growth, repairs tissue and augments glycogen repletion following heavy exercise. Finally, lactic acid builds to critical levels during exercise where optimal performance is sacrificed. Rolling-out, especially during exercise, expedites the discharge of lactic acid from your muscles and promotes its conversion into glucose by the liver.

The best ways to maximize your recovery are the things that most of you already know. These 6 items are a quick list to living the 5 elements of the Linked Lifestyle. 

• Sleep: take naps and get your 6-8 per night; do this with consistency
• Eat right: lots of vegetables, fruits, lean (clean) proteins, good carbs, and healthy fats.
• Stretch: static stretching (“stretch and hold”) is extremely useful for athletes. Static stretch ONLY after training, practice, or games. Joint mobility equals less injuries and better performance. Dynamic stretching (stretching in movement) is done BEFORE training, practices, and games. This type of stretching is designed to warm-up the body and connect it to the brain, which gets you ready to perform.
• Workout with a purpose: do not isolate muscle groups, you are in-season. Now is the time to train movement based exercises that challenge your strength, movement, and balance. Integrated strength training promotes muscle repair and healing. It also keeps your nervous system primed for competitive play.
• Keep a positive mental attitude: take time for you. Blow off steam when you need it. The number one reason for “burn-out” is mental fatigue. It is a long season, make sure you have strategies in place to fight it.
• Chiropractic care: as described before, make sure your software is fully communicating with your hardware. The brain runs everything, as long as it can communicate unhindered, you can perform at your best