FitBricks » 2009 Misc Posts

Heathly Recommendations

Diane — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:06:49 +0000

This is where we can post referrals to providers that we like. As a disclosure, these are not endorsements by FitBricks but rather suggestions of places the posting person likes to go to stay healthy!

I’ll start….

PT- South County PT- Westboro-Eric Cardin specifically- 508-366-7899

Massage- OrthoMed Massage-Northboro- Marianne – 508-466-8257

Acupuncture- Ancient Wisdom Healing Arts- Southboro-Lisa Spellman- 508-460-0444

Chiropractor- Back in Motion- Northboro-Dr. Jim Lynch- 508-393-1220- Trigger technique- non-cracking

Awesome Article on Nutrition

Diane — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:37:12 +0000

This is a great article. If you join the winter program, we’ll be doing our sweat rates in the winter, and then again in the spring. But, feel free to do it now too. It’s very enlightening and I can guarantee most of you are not drinking or eating enough!

http://usatriathlon.org/content/index/7065

Nutrition Article on How to Fuel for Optimal Performance

Diane — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:55:39 +0000

This is a really good article USAT just put out. If you haven’t had a chance to read it. Very interesting about your body using fat vs carbs for fuel.

Fuel your Body for Optimal Performance

By Mary Dinehart-Perry MS, RD, LDN

For anyone going into the field of dietetics it is a pre-requisite to take biochemistry. You sit in class wondering who would ever ask you to explain how the food you eat turns into the chemical energy known as ATP via the Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, and the electron transport chain… Probably not many!

Putting the biochemistry lecture aside, how the body uses the food you eat to make energy is critical when it comes to athletic performance. Most athletes are of the belief that you need to consume a high carbohydrate, low-fat diet for optimal performance, however, when you look into the biochemistry of how much energy is produced from carbohydrates versus fat you may want to rethink how you fuel your body for optimal performance.

One of the simplest breakdown products of carbohydrate is glucose. To make it easy to understand, for every 1 mole of glucose, the body generates a maximum of 36-38 moles of ATP under aerobic conditions. Under anaerobic conditions, the ATP generation drops to about 2 moles of ATP per mole of glucose. Keep in mind that during a typical triathlon, the athlete operates below the anaerobic threshold due to the length of the competition. For fat, pending the length of the fatty acid chain, you may be able to generate as much as 106 moles of ATP per fatty acid. It doesn’t take a biochemist to tell you that you get almost three times the amount of energy from fat that you do from carbohydrate. Think of fat as high octane fuel.

Carbohydrates definitely have a role in athletic performance as certain tissues rely solely on them for fuel (i.e., the brain), but if the majority of your diet is carbohydrate-based. The body is not able optimize the high octane fuel that fat potentially provides. This is because the high levels of insulin generated by a carbohydrate-rich diet block the release of ATP production from the fat tissue. Furthermore, the body relies on the balance of the hormones insulin and glucagon to either store the food at each meal for energy later or to use it immediately when glucose levels in the blood are low. After ingestion of carbohydrates, insulin is released promoting the storage of glucose into glycogen in liver and muscle, or converting glucose to triglycerides for storage in fat. Glucagon levels are low after a high carbohydrate meal, but a higher protein meal stabilizes or even increases glucagon levels. During a fasting state (like competing in a triathlon), glucagon helps to maintain energy levels by stimulating the release of glucose from glycogen or from other sources. When the level of glucagon relative to insulin is high, fatty acids are mobilized from fat tissue for energy (1).

So what does all of this mean for you the triathlete? The composition of each meal plays a huge role in the amounts of insulin and glucagon in the blood after a meal. A high carbohydrate meal raises insulin and lowers glucagon, but the level of protein stabilizes glucagon and even allows for fat to be used for energy. Ideally you want to balance carbohydrates and protein so that the levels of insulin are not too high that you can’t use fat for energy, but not too low that your cells don’t get the glucose they need to survive. For ultimate athletic performance and getting the most bang for your buck with regards to energy utilization, an ideal diet leading up to race day would be one in which every meal and every snack is moderate in carbohydrate (40%), protein (30%), and fat (30%). This diet would ideally be comprised of lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and good fats like those found in olive oil, nuts and seeds.

1. Marks D., Marks A., Smith C. (1996). Basic Medical Biochemistry: A Clinical Approach. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Mary Dinehart-Perry MS, RD, LDN, is the Clinical Triathl Director for Zone Labs, Inc. Zone is a gold partner of USA Triathlon.

Risks of Triathlon

Diane — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:20:50 +0000

See this article re: the risks of triathlon. It just emphasis how important a good training program is. This is why you are all in great shape/ or will be after the 8-week program!

http://www.myembarq.com/news/read. php?rip_id=%3CD9775UKO0%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=10 11&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCL1_UNEWS

Article on the 5 Common Swimming Myths Exposed

Diane — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:39:57 +0000

I wanted to share this article about swim myths. Â Some I’ve heard before!

_____________

By Eric Hansen
For Active.com

Any group of swimmers at any level is an interesting case study of their preconceptions about the do’s and don’ts of swimming fast.

Denial and justification of specific training methodologies are the most fun to observe and debate. Having swum competitively for 20-some-odd years and coached now for over 15, I have witnessed some interesting concepts.

It was my interest in these debates that led me to get my MS in exercise physiology and apply it to my sport of choice, swimming. It is from my education and my experimentation as a National Team athlete and coach that I share with you a few of my favorite ongoing misconceptions:

1. Don’t eat within two hours of swimming. You will certainly cramp!

Whoever coined this phrase or gave birth to this concept certainly didn’t have my body. There is a significant percentage of swimmers whom I have trained with and have coached that need to eat right up to training time.

Have you ever tried to train on an empty stomach for three hours when you’re only carrying 4 percent body fat? It doesn’t work well. I’m not a huge advocate of jalapeno poppers or nuclear chicken wings prior to training, but I’ve found peanut butter and jelly or energy bars work great.

The sacrifice of tasting anything during warm-up, due to reflux, is counterbalanced with a solid block of energy to help you with prolonged duration at high intensity.

2. I’m not a great swimmer, nor will I ever be. I am a sinker, not a floater.

I love this one! This bit of philosophy tends to be used more as an excuse to not put in the time to adapt to an aquatic environment and learn to work with water, as opposed to punishing it.

Having worked with numerous Masters swimmers and multisport athletes who struggle with this concept, one thought always enters my mind: Relax!

Having swum or coached internationally for over 15 years, I can honestly say that the majority of world-class swimmers could be classified as “sinkers” due to their low body fat percentage. When trying to move through water at high speeds, body fat rarely can be regarded as an asset. Marathon open-water swimmers may have an argument, but the rest of us need to accept the fact that adding an extra layer of insulation won’t assist us in achieving world-class status.

I realize that elephant seals and a few other aquatic mammals seem to excel with their elevated adipose tissue. What mother nature gave them in the form of high fat content was counterbalanced with incomparable hydrodynamics and skin composition. We’re not so lucky.

Sorry about the lack of justification for holiday and weekend feeding frenzies. Let me reassure you that swimming has evolved to the point where the added buoyancy achieved through an increase in body fat is outdone by the unfavorable decrease in a strength-to-weight ratio.

3. Pulling with paddles is the quickest way to become a better puller, thus a better swimmer.

Paddles can be a dangerous tool to the inexperienced or technically challenged swimmer. The increased surface area that they provide has the potential to put undue pressure on parts of the shoulder that are sure to produce overuse injuries.

Proper pulling (with or without paddles) should be initiated with a preload on the latissimus muscles. Swimmers who tend to press straight down as opposed to getting the pulling surface of the paddle to point to the rear will inevitably put additional stress on the rotator cuff and triceps.

For those athletes who are strong and can muscle the additional surface area, speed can be achieved without the optimal muscles or pulling pattern. When the paddles are removed, people without the proper pulling mechanics most likely will swing off the back of the set.

With that in mind, try eliminating the paddles and incorporating a full pulling surface. By that I mean utilizing the surface area from the fingertip to the elbow. The quicker you can use the forearm along with the hand, the sooner you can pull and eventually swim correctly.

Not only do you utilize the appropriate muscles, but your shoulders and triceps will thank you!

4. Lifting weights for distance swimmers will affect their stroke and build too much muscle mass.

The first thing that comes to my mind whenever I hear this argument is the progress of weight programs in basketball and golf. These are two sports where a soft touch and flexibility are at a premium.

Although neither sport is distance-oriented, it is proof that strength training can be specific enough to produce the desired effect, while maintaining the important elements in each motor skill.

Strength-to-weight ratio is a critical concept for swimmers. The ability to maximize strength, while finding the right balance in muscle mass and flexibility, is the battle.

Periodization of strength training within a distance swimming program is the key. The majority of the strength training models that I consider successful use strength training in addition to the normal water workouts.

The early acquisition of additional strength and power can be successfully channeled into a season with proper planning. Early-season high-repetition lifting sessions can be tailored to enhance strength and minimize the addition of any substantial gain in unnecessary muscle mass.

5. Kicking is primarily used to facilitate body rotation in swimming and doesn’t really add much to forward propulsion.

I am guessing this philosophy grew in popularity throughout the stone-age. Although many open-water swimmers and multisport athletes choose to limit the use of legs, it’s about energy conservation, not ability for the legs to help propel.

In my 15-plus years of coaching, I can honestly say that my fastest kickers were my fastest swimmers. Although there may be exceptions to this rule throughout the swimming world, it is obvious that leg power correlates to swimming speed.

The common thread among the previously mentioned misconceptions is education. Trial and error is probably the single greatest teacher.

With the multitude of variables our sport has to offer, a whole lot can be learned by sharing experiences. Sometimes, trial and error is what teaches you what works. There are a host of swimming theorists who don’t really experiment in our medium. In the water is where theory becomes fact. Your body will dictate which theories are applicable to your peak performance.

Eric Hansen is the head men’s and women’s swimming coach for the University of Wisconsin. He has been the men’s head swimming coach for the U.S. National team for several international competitions, including the World Short Course Championships in 2006, the 2003 Pan Am Games and the FINA Short Course World Championships in 2002. He is a former U.S. National Champion and U.S. National team member.