Archive for December, 2009

Does Apple Cider Vinegar Cure What Ails You? Maybe…

December 22nd, 2009

apple-ciderApple cider vinegar has been used through out history for its healing properties.  Even the father of medicine, Hippocrates, used apple cider vinegar.   In more recent decades raw apple cider vinegar gained popularity thanks to the Bragg’s.  People around the world have attributed some amazing health benefits to apple cider vinegar, but I am not convinced that they are all true. 

Clear Vinegar vs. Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is the amber colored liquid which thanks to the double fermentation process leaves a sediment referred to as the “mother”.  The sediment is from the apple pectin and enzymes which make apple cider vinegar the nutrient rich powerhouse.  Unpasteurized vinegar retains the beneficial enzymes as well as the nutrients in the apples.   Clear vinegar has none of the benefits of raw organic apple cider vinegar. Through its processing and distilling, it’s been stripped of everything beneficial and can be detrimental to your health due to the fact that it is dead instead of alive.

Healing Benefit Highlights

  • 1 tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar mixed in 4 ounces of purified water after a meal has been used as a natural remedy for heartburn.
  • Raw apple cider vinegar may help improve bowel irregularity, thereby removing toxins from the body at a faster rate.
  • Helps clear up skin conditions and blemishes giving a smoother texture and complexion.
  • Raw apple cider vinegar may also help with joint pain and stiffness.
  • Apple cider vinegar helps to break down fats so that your body can use them rather than store them.
  • A preliminary study from Arizona State University was published in the Diabetes Care journal. It reported that apple cider vinegar helps reduce levels of glucose.

Check out WebMD’s post on apple cider vinegar for further information on the topic and you will see that so far only diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, and weight loss show clinical promise.  However, if you want further information that includes both clinical and anecdotal information check out Earth Clinic’s Folk Remedy site. 

Why_Apples_by_pt_photo_incIngredient Highlight List

Beneficial ingredients in raw apple cider vinegar give it its power to make us feel better, look better and feel energized.

  • Potassium – helps to prevent brittle teeth, hair loss and runny noses.
  • Pectin – helps to regulate blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol.
  • Malic Acid – gives it the properties of being anti-viral, anti-bacterial & anti-fungal.
  • Calcium – helps create strong bones and teeth.
  • Ash – gives its alkaline property which aids your body in maintaining proper pH levels for a healthy alkaline state.
  • Acetic Acid – It appears that this acid slows the digestion of starch which can help to lower the rise in glucose that commonly occurs after meals.

How I use Apple Cider Vinegar

Three months ago I added a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar to my morning routine.   My vanity motivated me to try this folk remedy.  The last few years I have noticed a significant change in pictures of myself, specifically an area on the crown of my head that is becoming more and more visible.  I read that a tablespoon per day for two months helps with thinning hair.  Unfortunately for me, that did not come true.  However, I did experience marked improvement in my energy levels and metabolism so I have kept this as part of my daily regimen.  I am also a sugar addict and apple cider vinegar helps me with my cravings.

I use a tablespoon of Bragg’s Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (FYI, Trader Joe’s is pasteurized which kills the beneficial “mother”) and chase it with a 10-12 ounce glass of purified water.  The suggested way to consume apple cider vinegar is mixed in 8 ounces of distilled water and sweetened with local honey.  I do not like the taste of vinegar and so I don’t want to prolong the taste.  If you are going to give apple cider vinegar a try than start with it mixed in water and honey.  

Bottoms Up!!

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Posted in Heart Health, Nutrition, Super Foods, Weight Loss

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What’s the Importance of Balance Training?

December 14th, 2009

Just over a week ago I found myself with the flu (thank you to a nephew who shall remain nameless).  I recovered from the flu, but am left with a cough and the accompanying congestion.  I started thinking about balance this last week as I have been battling sinus pressure which has impacted my equilibrium.  My thought progression led to questioning what is the best way to train balance or stability?  What is more important to train…on an unstable surface or while carrying an unstable load?  The training needs to reflect the activities I do on a regular basis.  I find myself needing to train both scenarios.  You still need to use stability exercises even if you are not participating in a sport like soccer or backpacking.  This winter you may be carrying an arm full of groceries and step on a patch of ice.  Training requires focusing on both proprioception and balance.

elephant-balance

Proprioception vs. Equilibrioception: The Simple Definition

Proprioception is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.

Equilibrioception or sense of balance:  Balance is the result of a number of body systems working together. Specifically, in order to achieve balance the eyes (visual system), ears (vestibular system) and the body’s sense of where it is in space (proprioception) ideally need to be intact.

Why it matters:

The ability to swing a tennis racket or to ski down a hill requires a finely-tuned sense of the position of your limbs and respective joints. This sense improves with practicing that focuses on specific stimuli that requires a particular movement reaction.  Through training the movements become automatic which enables a person to concentrate on other aspects of performance, such as maintaining motivation or simply seeing approaching trees further down the ski slopes.

cirque_du_soleil_balance

Proprioception is an automatic sensitivity mechanism in the body that sends messages through the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS then relays information to rest of the body about how to react and with what amount of tension. Human beings “train” for proprioception in the quest for efficient everyday movements. Proprioception is unconscious initially, but can be enhanced with training, according to Greg Niederlander, an exercise physiologist. Specialized sensory receptors in the muscles, joints and connective tissues enable the body to process information from a variety of stimuli, and turn that information into action.  (Click here for the full article discussing proprioception)

The important thing to know is that balance and proprioception are inter-related.  Training one will inevitably train the other.  Numerous activities/sports such as yoga or Tai Chi enhance mind/body integration through various challenging body positions.  If Vrksasana (Tree Pose) is not your cup of tea than try some of favorite balance training below.  These exercises cover training on unstable surfaces and with unstable loads.

Start the series with some single leg balancing.  Scott Sonnon has a program called The Four Corner Balance Drill.  This program consists of four levels of difficulty.  Here are the beginner level exercises (but the progression is found in his blog post).  The following drills should be done everyday for 10-15 minutes, 3-5 repetitions per each position using slow, controlled movement:

Heel Thrust:

Frontal Thrust:
Begin with your planted foot turned outside to a 45 degree angle with your knee slightly bent. Project your other leg forward, locking your knee by pushing with your heel and pulling your toes back towards your shin. Sit back as much as possible without leaning. Flex your raised quad and planted glute in order to relax the hamstring of the raised leg. Exhale and grip the ground with your toes.

Lateral Thrust:
From the Front Thrust turn with your whole leg, leading with your pinky toe so that your raised leg rotates outward resting with your foot turned outward 45 degrees. Sit down without leaning and continue to rotate your leg outwards. Exhale and grip.

Dorsal Thrust:
Leading with your heel, rotate your leg inward and thrust your leg backwards until your foot rests behind you. Slowly dynamically resist your thrust backwards to a locked out position. Exhale and dig.Frontal Thrust:
Bend your knee and slowly swing your leg under you (bent knee) and begin again with your Front Thrust. Repeat.

Unstable Surface Exercises: Specifically using a Bosu Balance Trainer

The following exercises can be done 2-3 times per week using 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions per exercise.

  1. Bosu Smash: Start dome side down on the floor with hands on the Bosu, legs behind and body straight (push-up position).  Explosively push yourself off the ground and pull the Bosu to your chest, shifting your weight so that you move a few degrees to the left.  Land absorbing the force with the ball, and then immediately “jump” back to the starting position.  That’s one rep.
  2. Alternating lunge onto the Bosu: Place the Bosu dome side up on the floor and stand behind it.  Lunge forward with one leg, placing your foot on the Bosu and bending your knee.  Stabilize yourself, and then push off to return to starting position. Repeat on the opposite leg. That’s one rep.
  3. Bosu Power Jump:  Place a Bosu dome side up on the floor and stand a few feet behind it in an athletic position. Jump high into the air and land on the Bosu, stabilizing yourself before you step off.  That’s one rep.

Unstable load Exercises: Using a Sandbag:

The following exercises can be done 2-3 times per week for 3 sets per side (i.e. switching the shoulder with the sandbag).

  1. Turkish Get-up with Sandbag on the shoulder.
  2. Traveling lunges with Sandbag on Shoulder. Start with the sandbag on one shoulder, perform lunges for 10 yards, press the sandbag overhead, lower to the opposite shoulder, and return to the starting spot. That is one set.
  3. Squats with Sandbag on Shoulder. Perform 10-15 reps per shoulder.

Now, go work on balance and have some fun!

Cheers,

Richard

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Posted in Bodyweight Exercises, Exercise, Yoga

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28 Days to Close the CoC #2 Gripper!

December 3rd, 2009

I became fascinated with grip training almost ten years ago when I started bouldering (a type of rock-climbing), but it has only been this year that I focused specifically on training my grip strength.  I have always had decent isometric strength in my hands from climbing.  However, last year I started training with Indian clubs which led me to Scott Sonnon’s Clubbell and I found out how weak my concentric and eccentric hand strength was.  That is my crush grip needed work.   Although you do get significant work from club swinging.  I just felt like I wanted to step it up a notch.  So I started looking for the best grippers out there and I found the Captain of Crush(CoC) hand grippers from Ironmind (found here).  Grip training is often overlooked, but it is a vital element for improving performance.   So I set myself a goal to close the Captain of Crush #2 Gripper.  Why the #2 you may ask…because to close it you need roughly 200 lbs of crush strength and according to Ironmind’s chart explaining each of their 10 grippers “you’ve got a grip to brag about”.  I am very close to closing the #2.  Unfortunately, I have been sporadic in my grip training, but no longer.  The year is almost up so I am going to get serious about my training.

The following is my training plan to close the CoC #2 Gripper based on Scott Sonnon’s 4×7 training plan.  Here is a brief explanation taken from Coach Sonnon’s blog (the complete post is found here):

The “4″ is a four-day day cycle rotating types of training to optimize the chemical restoration process. How well and fully you recover from your exercise is MORE IMPORTANT than the exercise selection itself!

The 4 day cycle looks like this:

  1. Moderate intensity: strength training at 65-85% of your heart rate maximum (HRmax is your 220 minus your age to determine the beats per minute you’re targeting.) You need both functional strength and mass because over time you’ll start to have less and less. Think of usable mass as your savings account.
  2. High intensity: metabolic conditioning at 85-100% HRmax. You need to strengthen your immune system through the biochemical and cerebral adaptations which happen when you approach your age-specific maximum heart rate.
  3. No intensity: joint nutrition and lubrication (Intu-Flow joint mobility). You’re as old as your connective tissue, so you need to keep your engine and all of your parts well-lubricated and smoothly running. If one part breaks down, a systemic seizing could result, so you’re as strong as your weakest link.
  4. Low intensity:compensatory recovery (Prasara Body-Flow yoga). Whatever you train in strength or conditioning, needs to be specifically balanced; i.e. if you strengthen your abs without strengthening your lower back, you create an imbalance which will lead to injury. Balancing sessions help prime you for strength gains and reaching higher intensity.

The Tools:

  • I have 4 CoC grippers: the Trainer, the #1, the #1.5, and the #2
  • Expand-Your-Hand bands also from Ironmind.  They target the extensor muscles of the wrist ,which is the muscles to open the hand.
  • An 8 lb sledgehammer
  • Chinese therapy balls (Baoding Balls), I am using solid metal balls about 50 mm diameter for a combined weight of 2.4 lbs.

My Training Plan will look like this:

  1. Moderate Intensity:is the mass building day.  So here is my training for this day. The following exercises comprise one round; 5 reps of the CoC Trainer, 3 reps of the CoC #1, 2 reps of the CoC #1.5, 5 reps with green Expand-Your-Hand band.  Ten rounds in ten minutes.  Rest depends on how quickly I complete the 4 exercises.  I will add 2 rounds after each 4 day cycle.
  2. High intensity:is metabolic conditioning.  Training on this day will look like this.  10 sets of 10 reps using the CoC Trainer with 1 minute rest between sets.  Followed by 10 sets of 10 reps with the white Expand-Your-Hand band with 1 minute rest between sets.  I am borrowing from the German Volume Training (GVT) method. The goal of the German Volume Training method is to complete ten sets of ten reps with the same weight for each exercise. The principle is to begin with a weight you could lift for 20 reps to failure if you had to. This translates to 60% of your 1RM load for most people on most exercises.  I will be decreasing the rest between sets by 15 seconds each week.
  3. No intensity: is light movement and recovery.  I will be doing Coach Sonnon’s Intu-Flow program specifically the wrist exercises as demonstrated here by Adam Steer (a CST Head Coach):  I am also doing these movements before each grip sessions as well as after each session.

  4. Low intensity: Normally would be stretching, but I am modifying it to be my compensatory movements.  So I will be doing wrist rotation and levering taken from Jedd Johnson’s 3 part series “Hammering Strength into the Wrists (part 1, part 2, part3). The three exercises I will be using from the series are the Vertical lever to nose, Horizontal lever to front, and hammer rotations.  Check out Jedd’s articles for exercise descriptions.  I am using an 8 lb sledgehammer and doing 2 sets of 10 reps of all three exercises for each arm.  I am starting about half-way down the handle and will be moving further from the head each week.

Recovery:

My plan involves an aggresive timeline which requires extra emphasis on recovery.  That is why I am performing the above Intu-Flow exercises multiple times per day.  I am also adding the use of Chinese therapy balls which can vary in size, weight, and material.  I am using solid metal ones, but if you want to try the above program you can use the hollow ones, stone, or you can even use golf balls.  To use the therapy balls start with two in your hand with the palm facing up.  Then rotate them clockwise.  As you get better at it try to keep them from touching and also switching the direction you are spinning them to counter-clockwise.  For each hand, I perform 3-5 minutes twice per day spinning both clockwise and counter-clockwise (I do this on my way to work and on the way home).

Now its time to get started!

I will keep you posted on my progress and if I need to adapt the above plan.  It is just a road map and so who knows if I need to make a detour.  Let me know if you try the above 28 day cycle and how it works for you!  I am going to use this plan to get me to closing the #3 if this first cycle works for closing the #2.

Disclaimer:

My rationale for choosing Ironmind’s Captain of Crush grippers is based solely on the quality of the product.  I do not get any commission if you click on the above link and buy from Ironmind’s website and just to reassure you, you can find these grippers on Amazon.  CoC grippers in my opinion are the gold standard of grippers.  Several of my friends have purchased CoC grippers and several that have gone with other brands.  CoC’s resistance is consistent across the board as well as the quality of the springs.  The competitor’s products where junk with poor manufacturing and when you took two grippers of the same resistance they were definitely not the same.  I am not even going into the cheap springs of the competitors.  SO buyer beware!  Don’t skimp on the quality, just go with the best from the beginning!

Get out there and CRUSH something!

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Vitamin D for Cardiovascular Benefit??

December 1st, 2009

The month of November marked the American Heart Association’s 2009 scientific conference covering a wide array of topics.  One particular topic was the association of Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease.  A recent observational study reported at the conference found that inadequate levels of vitamin D are associated with an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease.  I am going to share some highlights from Dr. Tami L Bair’s findings and the Heartwire article covering this discussion (find the complete article and citations here).

Bair and colleagues followed more than 27 000 people 50 years or older with no history of cardiovascular disease for just over a year and found that those with very low levels of vitamin D (<15 ng/mL) were 77% more likely to die, 45% more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78% more likely to have a stroke than those with normal levels (>30 ng/mL). Those deficient in vitamin D were also twice as likely to develop heart failure as those with normal levels.

“We concluded that even a moderate deficiency of vitamin D was associated with developing coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, and death,” said coauthor Dr Heidi May (Intermountain Medical Center). However, “it is not known whether this is a cause and effect relationship,” she told heartwire. Because this study was observational, more research is needed “to better establish the association between vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular disease,” she noted.

Is there enough evidence suggesting vitamin D is beneficial?

The conference had a general session on vitamins and much of the discussion was vitamin D.  One topic discussed was the fact that there have been few randomized clinical trials to support vitamin D’s benefit.   That is going to change as several large randomized trials are under way and slated to start such as the National Institutes of Health-sponsored VITAL study looking at whether 2000 IU vitamin D and/or 1 g of fish oil (omega-3 fatty-acid supplementation) can reduce the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, or cancer in 20 000 men and women, which is slated to begin in January 2010.   Dr Eric Rimm (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA), explained that these trials should provide definitive answers in five to seven years.  Does that mean you should wait to start supplementing with vitamin D?  Not according to Dr. Rimm.

“I think there’s promise for vitamin D. We know that most people have insufficient vitamin D levels in their blood,” Rimm told heartwire. “So although it will take five years until some of the trials that are adequately powered to look at cardiovascular disease with vitamin D will report, the epidemiology right now is suggestive that people should have 1000 or 2000 IU of vitamin D a day,” he said.

A few months back I posted on some of the benefits associated with vitamin D and how we get it (found here).

Here are a few explanations and tips from Dr. Rimm:

Rimm discussed vitamin D at length, explaining that there are two sources: sunlight in the form of UVB rays, and diet (foods and supplementation). “Many tissue types and cells in the body have vitamin D receptors, and the active form of vitamin D is modulated by calcium and parathyroid hormone,” he explained, with potential downstream effects on a number of bodily systems—inflammatory markers and the renin angiotensin system to name just two—he said.

People at highest risk of vitamin D deficiency include those with darker skin, those living at high latitudes, the elderly (because there is less of the precursor for vitamin D in the blood as people age and older people tend to spend less time outside), the obese, those who avoid the sun or cover the skin in the sun, those who are the immobilized or institutionalized, and pregnant and breast-feeding women.

Deficiency in vitamin D is generally agreed to be a blood level of <20 ng/mL, he said, with 20-29 ng/mL indicating insufficient vitamin D, 30-60 ng/mL indicating adequate vitamin D, and >150 ng/mL indicating excessive vitamin D.

Data suggest that many people are likely getting inadequate vitamin D, he said, with studies showing that black Americans have blood levels ranging from 6-18 ng/mL and that white Americans have levels ranging from 16-25 ng/mL.

In general, a supplement of 100 IU of vitamin D per day will increase blood levels of vitamin D by 1 ng/mL, Rimm said. Those taking 1000 IU per day should have blood levels in the range of 25-32 ng/mL and those taking 4000 IU should have levels of 40-50 ng/mL.

However, Rimm stressed that vitamin D need not just come from supplements. “I think for vitamin D, it’s a shame just to count on supplementation because, during the right times of year, five to 10 minutes a day of sunlight is sufficient is to make enough vitamin D. I do hear the concerns about skin cancer and I think people should wear suntan lotion, but it’s probably better to put it on 10 minutes after you’ve been in the sun.”

He cautioned that “in northern climes, even if you go out in the sun in January, you’re not going to make much vitamin D, so there you would need supplementation to get adequate levels.”

One of the best dietary sources of vitamin D is fish.People should remember that diet is an important source of vitamin D, too, he noted. “One of the best dietary sources of vitamin D is fish. We already suggest people eat a couple of servings a week, but having three or four servings a week of fish can get you a fair bit of vitamin D, and would represent an additional 300 to 500 IU of vitamin D. This still might not be sufficient so you might need a little bit of sunlight or to take a vitamin D supplement. It’s really a combination of things, that’s probably the best approach.”

Dr. Rimm said it is nearly impossible for anyone to suffer adverse effects from too much vitamin D. Those who spend whole days in the sun, such as lifeguards, have vitamin D levels ranging from 45 to 65 ng/mL, said Rimm. “Vitamin D is safe.

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Posted in Heart Health, Vitamins

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