My Heart Hurts

     A few months ago I made a rare visit to the doctor. I was having pains in my chest and weird "tremors" in my heart some nights before I fell asleep. I knew something was up and decided to finally figure out what it was. As it turns out, my blood pressure on that day was 153/91 (normal is considered to be 120/80) and also had an abnormally elevated heart rate. I was in a state of hypertension. For a 28 year old who works out 4-6 times a week and eats moderately healthy, something did not make sense. The doctor was not all that worried, told me to relax more, take up meditation or try some yoga. I guess his thinking was that stress puts the tension in hypertension.

     In America, high blood pressure is the second greatest health threat. One in three United States adults have high blood pressure and nearly one-third of that group did not know they had it. The cause of this could be a wide variety of things. For me, I decided to take a proactive approach. I cut back on some responsibilities (working over 41 hours in a week raises the risk of hypertension by 15%), swapped out caffeineted coffee for hibiscus tea, and made an effort to sleep better. I was hoping this would do the trick and it did help eleviate some of the pains in my chest. Unfortunately, it had little effect on the blood pressure numbers. I then began researching the topic further in an effort to "cure" my little problem. One reoccuring theme in all the research revolved around your diet. A large number of those who are insulin resistant also have high blood pressure. Insulin resistance is attributable to a high sugar, high grain diet combined with low levels of exercise. I figured I already had the exercise thing covered so I made the next step and cut bread, pasta, corn, potatoes, and rice from the diet. The effect it had on my blood pressure numbers was astonishing. The first number was reduced by 20 points and the second number came down 14 points. For six weeks, I would say that is a pretty damn good reduction! I am going to keep at it with the diet and make an effort to reduce some sugars and figure out a way to include some form of medication into my daily routine. I will be sure to keep you posted!

     For those suffering from high blood pressure, prescription drugs are rarely the best option. A large percentage of us can normalize blood pressure through lifestyle modifications. The first step in an effort to normalize your blood pressure is to eliminate the non-essentials: limit alcohol consumption, get rid of the pack of smokes, and cut back on the caffeine. The next thing you need to do is to include physical activity into your every day life. This is one of the most potent ways to decrease your blood pressure and alleviate some of the daily stressors life throws at us. Lastly, I highly recommend cutting or limiting all forms of sugar and grains. There is an endless amount of information out there in regards to the negative effects that grains and sugars have on your brain and body. You would be doing yourself a huge favor by cutting them out. Remember, the fate of your health is largely in your hands!

Chris Fluck     

Don't Be That Person

     All over the area schools are no longer in session and the summer has begun for most children. Growing up, this meant putting in tons of miles on a bicycle, pickup basketball games, hanging around the pool and playing a little sandlot football. All of these activities were unstructured and fun. As I look around now, I don't see this stuff anymore. Just this past weekend I was at the park and saw a game of baseball being played by 9-10 year olds. These kids were on travel teams and paid a nice little price to be a part of the team. Now, I am not around little league ball parks all that often but in this particular game, the amount of walks and errors was the most I have ever seen. And these kids parents paid for this club and were getting "elite" coaching. I could not believe it. So, instead of letting these kids enjoy their summer, they are playing 3-4 games on a Saturday on a team that doesn't look like they practice all that much. The worst part of it all was that these teams were the "B" teams. So I learned this week that there is elite travel "B" teams for 9 and 10 year olds.

     In order for any child to pursue achievement in an activity, there needs to be ownership, enjoyment and motivation. And the motivation doesn't come from giving your child a few dollars for every hit or strikeout, the motivation has to come from within. This motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from completing a task. Going to practice and playing one sport all year round is not going to get it done for most kids. They need to play. They need to get the enjoyment out of playing an unstructured game with their buddies and not have to worry about a coach or parent giving them that look that they did something wrong.

     Within the past 15-20 years, the spectrum of youth athletics has changed. Gone are the days of the three sport athlete, a species that is now almost extinct. A new species has evolved known as the specialist. This specialist plays on every AAU or travel team, focuses on one sport only, and gets private training for their given sport. They often excel at a young age, but over time, they get passed by. They get passed by the individual who played all kinds of sports growing up. They didn't spend their younger years going to boring practices and playing in a pointless weekend tournament. They developed their game in an unstructured setting with their friends. They learned how to pass, defend, or juke out the competition on their own. And most importantly, they wanted to do it and had fun every step of the way! So here is my call to all the parents: let your kid enjoy their summer this year. Take a break from the travel teams, let them go to the park, have some fun, and learn some new skills while playing something different. Afterall, our body and brains are built to grow through a variety of activities.

Chris Fluck    

     

Not All Fatigue is Created Equal

As I sit back and watch "Vince Lombardi: A Football Life" on the NFL Network I am reminded of a quote often attributed to him: "Fatigue makes cowards of us all". Now you  don't have to agree with the quote (I think it is a bit harsh) to read this piece, but I want you to understand that fatigue has serious effects on the body and we should not take these warning signs lightly!

There are two common types of fatigue: central fatigue and peripheral fatigue. Central fatigue is associated with the Central Nervous System (CNS) and is a decrease in performance due to fatigue of movements. When stress on the CNS accumulates, there is an impairment of nerve impulses and the recruitment of motor neurons. You see this type of fatigue with powerlifters who do not adhere to a proper plan. The continually train heavy and eventually, their CNS can't take the amount of stress that is put on it. As a result, they experience a drop in maximal strength (a nightmare to a powerlifter), joint and tendon soreness, trouble sleeping, decreases appetite, and decreased immunity. On the other hand, peripheral fatigue occurs at the muscle cell level. Simply put, the muscle is too fatigued to function properly. The CNS will send the signal to fire or excite the muscle but it will not fire. You see this when runners collapse as their legs can no longer withstand the stress put on them (think lactic acid built up in the legs and you can no longer hold yourself up).

Any time an individual trains or competes, there is an overload placed on the body. The body is built to adapt to the stressors placed on it, and in most cases, our body can handle it. BUT, there are those individuals who continually ask more and more out of there body. By doing so, they begin to experience a dip in performance or mood. This is called overreaching. With this, the trainee will begin to show signs of an overtrained state. With proper recovery, this state will come to an end and you will be back to "normal". Now, if your body continues to be in this overreached state, a more serious issue arises: overtraining. The time it takes an overtrained person to recover far exceeds the time it takes the trainee who has over-reached. Taking a day or two off can be all you need to avoid the issue of overtraining.

Now to the tough part, how do we avoid all of this? This is easier said than it is done. Good recovery, regardless of what happens to the body, will be able to return to baseline within a day or two. I remember hearing a Strength and Conditioning Coach say "there is no such thing as overtraining, just under eating". With that being said, post-workout meals play a huge role in recovery. It is important to consume calories within the first 30-45 minutes post-workout. This will replenish the energy you just used during exercise. Depending on the intensity of your workout, you should eat again 1-2 hours after your initial post-workout meal. After that, consuming some form of energy every 2-3 hours would be a good idea to ensure recovery. Don't use this an excuse to overeat, just listen to your body and if you are hungry, then eat! The next area to improve is in your mind. Tolerance to fatigue can indeed be trained and often times, your mind will tell you to stop before your body has to. Athletes tend to have a higher threshold than the general population, so if you are new to exercise, make an effort to improve your mental makeup. When you get to that point where you feel like you can't go on, just hang on and push through for a few more reps or a few more seconds. And last, but not least, sleep. Sleep is the foundation of recovery. If you are struggling in the area of sleep, there are three quick fixes that work: cut caffeine, go to bed at the same time every night, and exercise daily! Recover is vital if you want to live a healthy lifestyle.

I hope you are all staying cool and enjoying this weather!

Chris Fluck