The Lowly Chin Up Bar

If you have a chin up bar, or a place in your home where you can place a chin up bar, you should absolutely be using it.

The chin up bar is a great body-weight device for weightlifting. The concept is simple - lift your own bodyweight using your biceps.

This is something some people have simply never done. They don't have adequate strength in their biceps to physically lift their body - and their body is sometimes in ample proportions. Which is basically a polite way of saying a person is too fat to do a chin up.

But that doesn't mean a person will NEVER be able to do a chin up. With some weightlifting exercises over a period of two months a person who is overweight (but not obese) should be able to do a chin up after the two month period.

To achieve this they would need to do the following...

1. Bicep Curls with 20 lb Dumbbells - 12 sets of 8 reps, every 2 days for 60 days.

Rationale: Doing bicep curls will build up your biceps, the primary muscle used during chin ups. Doing 12 sets of 8 reps means your focus is on muscle gain, not on endurance. You can build endurance later...

2. Pushups (or Knee Pushups) - 12 sets of 8 reps, every 2 days for 60 days.

Rationale: Doing pushups will build your triceps and deltoids. The deltoids (shoulder muscles) are a secondary muscle used during chin ups. Even though they are secondary you will still need those muscles during a chin up.

3. Jumping Jacks - 10 sets of 100 jumping jacks, every day for 60 days.

Rationale: Lowering your body weight via cardio exercises will increase your chances of doing a chin up by reducing the amount of fat in your body. Jumping Jacks and Jogging are both good for this.

4. Jogging (or Jogging on the Spot) - 15 minutes, every day for 60 days.

In the morning of every day you should attempt to do a pushup. After 60 days of doing the above workout they should have lost some fat weight and gained some muscle weight - enough muscle that they can lift their body during a chin up.

You will also need to be eating a balanced diet. That means no binge eating on unhealthy foods, eat smaller portions, learn to snack healthily, cutting out sugary drinks and all those things you know are bad for you.

If you are more overweight (ie. obese) you will need to do a lot more jogging, jumping jacks, and other cardio activities to reach the point where you can do a chin up. So this process may take longer than you were hoping if you are severely overweight.

AFTER YOU ACHIEVE YOUR FIRST CHIN UP

Congratulations!

Now keep doing them! Now is the time to start building endurance and strength at the same time. Work your way up so you can do a set of 5 chin ups at a time.

Once you reach that point you can basically swap out the #1 exercise above (Bicep Curls with 20 lb Dumbbells) and replace it with the following:

1. Chin Ups - 20 sets of 5 chin ups, every day. Or 12 sets of 8 chin ups.  Or 10 sets of 10 chin ups. Or 8 sets of 12. Or 7 sets of 15. Or 5 sets of 20.

Rationale: Now that you can do chin ups you can keep doing them, and if you increase the number of chin ups you do per set then you will be building both your strength and your endurance simultaneously. So pick whichever set combination from above that you want to do and keep doing them. Upgrade to the next set combination when you feel you are ready for a challenge.

Note! Keep doing the pushups, the jumping jacks and the jogging.

Add other exercises to your routine. Yoga for example is great for core muscle strength. But you might also try swimming, ice skating, archery, marathon running, competitive sports...

Basically if you make doing that First Chin Up your exercise goal, and then once you achieve that chin up goal you need to start setting new exercise goals so you can keep progressing. Making recognizable progress will help you keep motivated and keep exercising.

 

Archery Segment for TSN

This morning I helped a film crew from TSN make a segment on archery for an upcoming TV episode about archery / accuracy.

Huzzah!

In other news I have added to me "To Do List" a series of YouTube How To videos on archery. Something for me to work on when Spring 2014 comes.

And in more other news I am not teaching archery any more in 2013. I am done for the season. See you in March 2014.

Yoga Injuries - Be careful, trying to perfect a pose can hurt

TORONTO - Sports injuries sounds normal for many more vigorous sports, including ballet dancing, but what about yoga?

It may seem ironic at first, but the exercise regime often recommended by doctors and therapists (aka yoga) as a rehabilitation tool to overcome a range of sports injuries can itself become a cause of sports injuries if people get "too into it".

Yoga, considered a relatively gentle means of building flexibility, muscle strength and endurance through physical poses and controlled breathing, can lead to a number of repetitive strain injuries and even osteoarthritis, Ontario doctors say.

"Most of the injuries I see are from repetitive strain," says Dr. Raza Awan, a Toronto sports medicine physician who's been practising yoga for about a decade.

The most common yoga-related injuries he sees in patients are rotator cuff tendonitis and tears; spinal disc injuries in the low back and neck; cartilage tears in the knee; hamstring strain and tears; and wrist injuries.

There are a number of reasons why yoga — in which practitioners generally perform a series of poses, called asanas — can cause injury, he says.

One of the causes is "definitely pushing too hard" to attain a specific pose, which can involve stretching the upper body into a forward or backward bend, twisting the torso, or performing an inversion, such as a handstand or headstand, balanced on the hands or forearms.

In other words trying to show off by doing handstands and headstands can get you injured. Gotcha!

"So, for instance, people who are too flexible or people who are too tight, they're at more risk, I find," says Awan. "If you're too tight and you try to force yourself into a pose and your muscles aren't flexible, then you might strain another area to compensate."

"Or let's say that you're very flexible and you get to the end range of a pose and you don't have the muscular support to maintain the pose ... you're holding the pose without muscular endurance, you're basically holding it on your ligaments or your tendons and you strain those structures that way."

Ego also can lead to injury, he says, explaining that in yoga classes, some people push their bodies beyond their limits trying to match or outdo the person on the next mat. Being a showoff is basically an excellent way to get yourself injured doing any exercise.

Even competing with oneself — for instance, trying to get the heels flat to the floor during the "downward dog" pose, despite having tight calf muscles from sitting at the computer for hours — can lead to strains or tears, he says.

"You strain yourself because you push yourself."

Sometimes, overdoing it in yoga may exacerbate an underlying problem called femoroacetabular impingement, or FAI, in which the bones of the hip are abnormally shaped and don't move together smoothly. The hip bones grind against each other during movement, causing joint damage over time and osteoarthritis.

Dr. Chris Woollam, a Toronto sports medicine physician, says he started seeing "an inordinate number of hip problems" about two years ago, including among women aged 30 to 50 who were practising yoga.

When range of motion in their hips was tested, not only was movement limited, but "they would jump off the table because of the pain," Woollam says.

MRI scans showed the women had joint damage resulting from FAI, which can be severe enough in some cases to require hip-replacement surgery.

And since yoga is becoming increasingly popular it is now ever more important to warn people about the dangers of trying to over do it.

"So maybe these extreme ranges of motion were causing the joint to get jammed and some to wear," Woollam says of certain yoga poses. "If you start wearing a joint down, then it becomes arthritic. So you're seeing these little patches of arthritis in an otherwise normal hip that seems to be related to these extremes of motion or impingement or both."

However yoga isn't entirely to blame. You just have to listen to your body. When it's saying there's a pain, then you have to recognize that and then take a break from whatever you are doing. Pain is a good signifier that you are overdoing it.

Vancouver chiropractor Robin Armstrong, who's been practising yoga since 1999, says the most common injury she sees among fellow enthusiasts are hamstring strains. Typically, they are overuse injuries and tend to occur more among experienced practitioners rather than beginners.

"I think it's also just repeating core movement patterns, and if you have a teacher who corrects the way you're moving, I think that can help prevent these types of injuries," says Armstrong, who also teaches anatomy and injury prevention to yoga instructors.

"I talk about where you have to use caution in certain poses and when appropriate use certain poses for certain people and when to avoid them altogether."

Some yoga teachers will encourage students to try a more challenging pose, while others may physically "adjust" a student to correct their posture and alignment. And that can take a person to a place their muscles and joints aren't ready to go. So sometimes it is the yoga instructor who is pushing the student too much.

But Armstrong says how far and how fast an individual advances in yoga is a shared responsibility between the student and the instructor.

"The teacher doesn't know what you're feeling in your body and you have to be comfortable enough knowing, 'OK, is this right for me? This might be right for the person beside me, but is this right for me at this moment?'"

"Don't get so attached to making the pretty picture with your body, you're still doing yoga even if you're not doing the full expression of the pose," she says. "And that goes back to not comparing yourself to others, because everyone comes with a different body and a different experience."

Yoga has many upsides, including sharpening mental focus, easing stress, and improving range of motion that can help avoid injuries while performing day-to-day activities or participating in sports.

"There's a lot of benefits to doing yoga for certain types of problems, but obviously any physical activity has its risks, too," says Dr. Awan, who is among those who uses yoga as a therapy for some patients and believes most yoga-related injuries are preventable.

"It's a great movement-based activity to do, but you have to try to keep safe, just like in other sports activities. Don't push your body beyond."

Tips for Marathon Runners

Running a long distance race like the Toronto Waterfront Marathon or the Ironman Competition takes months of hard training, proper diet and preparation. All competitive sports require that extra level of commitment. Here are 5 handy tips to get ready for a race with only a month to go:

#1. Buy New Shoes

Don't run your race in brand new shoes, or the old trainers you have been practicing in for months! One month is an ideal amount of time to find a new pair, and practice, to break them in. It will allow the time for the new shoes to feel comfortable, but remain relatively new for the race. (Wearing brand new shoes will feel uncomfortable.)

#2. Check Your Distance

You should be able to run at least 3/4 of your race distance with ease. It's not necessary to practice the full distance, but doing a practice run is a confidence boost. You will feel less nervous if you know you can complete the full distance having done 75% of it with barely trying.

#3. Merge Your Training Runs

Running intervals, for time, endurance, and speed are all necessary, separate, training techniques. However, now it's time to combine them. Start training with one run per week during which you "run your best." Have a session running fast and long, with little recovery time, if you require walking breaks, will be great practice for building your endurance.

#4. Plan for Race Day

Start planning for the morning of the race. Think about what you will eat for breakfast, and what snacks or gels to bring for the run. Decide what to wear and run a few times in the outfit to make sure it's comfortable, and nothing bothers you about it. Plan for rides or parking, and be sure to consider all of the practical matters like urinating before the race, what you will eat the night before, optional things you might wear depending on weather conditions, etc.

#5. Ask Friends and Family to Come Out

You'll need a cheer squad. Ask friends and family well in advance to come out and cheer you on. Plan for a celebratory big breakfast / dinner, for when you triumphantly cross the finish line and everyone can celebrate.

Being prepared for race day will ease nerves, and save time on the big day. This will leave more free time for training, and will have you relaxed at the starting line, and pumped for the race.

Eat Simple, Eat Small, Weigh Less

I try to write a lot about nutrition on here because that is often the biggest Achilles heel that people are facing when their goal is weight loss.

However the problem I find with writing about nutrition is trying to NOT sound preachy. I don't like preaching to people because it feels like I am trying to convince them to do something they don't want to do.

In the back of my head I sometimes even imagine what a 12 year old version of myself would say. "Booo! I hate vegetables! Give me more bacon!!!"

And sometimes the 12 year old in me wins, and I have bacon maybe once per month.

But if you consider I eat approx. 90 meals in a month - and the vast majority of those meals are healthy meals - I would argue I am winning most of the battles - and therefore winning the war.

And that is the piece of wisdom I want to pass on to other people out there struggling to control their inner 12 year old. Yes, you can still have bacon. But try to make it part of a healthier overall meal (like making a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich), keep the amount of bacon you eat relatively small. And don't go back for more.

Now take that philosophy and apply it to many of your other more unhealthy meals that you might enjoy.

#1. Pile on the lettuce for every hamburger you make for yourself.

Or if at a restaurant, ask for EXTRA lettuce on your hamburger. Pile it on there! Same with other healthy veggies you enjoy, get more of those on your menu item of choice.

#2. Learn how to make FAST HEALTHY FOOD. Examples below:

Pita Pizza. Spread canned diced tomatoes on a pita and season as you like, with pepper, basil, oregano etc. Spread a thin layer of shredded cheese. Add the toppings of your choice. Jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, green/red pepper, spinach diced onions and mushrooms are a few suggestions. Bake at 350 F for 4 to 5 minutes.

French Lunch. At the grocery store grab a whole grain baguette or bun, cheese and red grapes. This small meal is loaded with nutrition: Fiber, anti-oxidant fruit, healthy fats and protein. Remember to eat just a small amount of cheese.

Egg Muffin. Microwave an egg for 1 min in a cup. Add to a toasted whole grain English Muffin with a bit of cheese, thinly sliced turkey (or veggie alternative) and tomato. Season to taste.

Cottage Cheese. A good sized portion of cottage cheese (3/4 cup is ideal), diced tomatoes, and chopped scallion. Add some pepper. It is high protein and you will feel surprisingly full! Still hungry? Eat it on a slice of toast or with a side of carrot sticks.

Sandwiches. Learn how to make some unusual and tasty sandwiches that maybe you have never tried before. Apple slices, tomatoes, berries and more can make for some interesting, fast and healthy sandwich alternatives. Best served on whole grain bread.

#3. Eat Healthy Snacks Regularly.

It doesn't matter if it is apples, veggies, oranges, grapes or whatever. My personal favourite is carrot sticks. Just stock up on your favourite healthy snacks and make them your go to at 10 AM, 2 PM, and 8 PM so you are eating healthy in between meals.

#4. Always remember the Small Portions Mantra.

You don't have to eat like a pig to fill yourself up. Try eating smaller portions and eat healthy snacks in-between meals. What you will learn over time is that you will eat less during the larger meals if you are eating healthy snacks in between. With time your stomach will also shrink in size and it will take less food to fill you up and mentally you will realize you don't need large amounts of food.

#5. Break your Cravings for Carbs.

Try going on a low carb diet for 30 days and see if you break your cravings. That means only eating small portions of bread, pasta, rice, sugary foods. In 30 days your cravings for such foods should be diminished. Your goal during this is to stabilize your diet by introducing more healthier food into your diet and using those foods as your source of energy instead of heading straight for the high carb / high sugar foods.

#6. Learn How to Grocery Shop Healthy

Eating healthy doesn't have to mean a trip to an overpriced specialty food store, surrounded by items you have never heard of. Your normal grocery store has everything you need. Healthy nutrition can start with the staples you have on hand, and foods that are readily available in the corner store. Eating healthy means you can eat more often, feel satisfied, and lose the weight you have been wanting to drop. All while eating healthy foods that you already enjoy - you just need to learn how to utilize those foods more and buy them more often.