Treadmill Running

By Dr. Michael Cerami

Aggghhh! I know a lot of people don’t like it but it’s an evil necessity when the weather turns bad. Here’s what I do to minimize the drudgery.

Use a good treadmill. 

• There’s a dramatic difference between a quality treadmill and one that’s seen it day or past its prime. If you are at the gym, try to pick the newest one available and make sure you try a few different styles as you make prefer the feel of one manufacturer more than another.

Warm up:

• Spend 5-10 minutes getting accustomed to the feel of the treadmill platform. When you are ready to start your workout you’ll have your joints “calibrated” to the rebound.

Distraction:

•   I like to listen to music or podcasts when I run as there are plenty of options to motivate or distract you. I would caution you to NOT spend the entire workout focused on one thing like the TV or iPod as the transition to outdoor running in the Spring can be challenging after months of visual stimulation.
• The newer treadmills have some great technology that will mimic outside topography so you can actually run your favorite loop or design your own workouts with a little effort.

Form:

•    Don’t turn into a hamster. Break up your workouts with different areas of focus. Form, speed, stride rate can all be addressed on the treadmill.

Comfort:

• Bring your towel, sweat band, water bottle and use a good fan if you will be running for more than 30 minutes. You won’t be cooled as much indoors as you would outside so you’ll need some extra help moving the air past you keeping the equipment from getting gross.

What do you mean I don’t look like Craig Alexander when I run?

By Dr. Michael Cerami

Earlier this year I had my running gate filmed and analyzed by my triathlon coach outside on a football field. Besides the normal running gate, we did a variety of running drills to help improve form and efficiency. Before we were kicked off the field (It turns out you are not allowed to be on the East High School football field for any reason- even in bare feet!) we were able to try some new ways of moving through our run. Afterward we viewed ourselves.

All I can say is “OMG!” My perception of my running form was quite a bit different than the person I saw on the monitor. I envisioned myself as a slower, older version of Ironman winners. I was pretty far from that perfect form. The interesting thing about running is that almost everyone can get from here to there; but do it effectively and quickly may require some retraining especially if you haven’t run before or are getting a bit older like me.

I intuitively thought “I know how to run! I’ve been doing it since I was 2 years old. What is there new to learn?!” How wrong I was. The combination of years of activity, lack of focus, post ACL surgery and more had all added up to me developing poor running form. The interesting thing is that there is NO WAY I could evaluate my form on my own. None of us has the proper perspective to evaluate our running form. We just can’t see

The other mitigating factor in this discussion is that poor running form puts you on the fast track to injury. As our form deteriorates either over the years or during a longer distance event, we begin to recruit other muscles and unbalance our system to the point of becoming extremely inefficient. As all of these components stack up a lot of people feel like they need to give up running completely or just don’t have fun anymore.

Running should be play and not all work. It’s not all about the miles or hours you put in. Unless you can let go, your exercise might start to feel like another job. That’s not exactly why we started running is it?

Consider having yourself recorded (you can use your phone) either at the store or out in the field. Then spend a little time with your coach or Lisa Menninger here at the store going over your foot strike and gait analysis. You’ll be surprised what you can learn by watching yourself. Your coach will give you some drills to work on which may include barefoot drills, backward running and a whole bunch of seemingly crazy stuff. Give them all a try and then re-recode yourself. I bet you’ll look better and feel like you’re running stronger within a month. It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Dr. Michael Cerami is an avid runner, cyclist and triathlete. He writes a weekly blog on his website and sees patients monthly for no-charge injury assessments at The Salt Lake Running Company. He can be reached at 801-486-1818 or online at www.utahsportsandwellness.com

Study: Omega – 3 Supplements May Actually Affect Aging

By Dr. Michael Cerami

Balancing our fatty acids is associated with longer telomeres – the things that protect our chromosomes from breaking down.

image via Google images

PROBLEM: It’s an eternal and irreversible certainty that as we get older, our telomeres shorten. Every time a cell divides, a bit of the chromosomal end-piece is clipped off, our DNA diminishing in length; can we at least save our telomeres? And – let’s be honest, here – can we do so without making any major lifestyle changes?

METHODOLOGY: Researchers at Ohio State University put adults (over one hundred of them, middle-aged and older, mostly overweight but otherwise healthy) on a four month regime of already-known-to-be-good-for-us omega-3 supplements. The pills, derived from cold water fish like salmon and cod, were administered in two different doses, while a control group received placebos.

RESULTS: Members of both groups given the real stuff had longer telomeres than the sugar pills group – a promising sign. But the differences in telomere length reached statistical significance when looked at as a function of the lowered ratios of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 in the experimental groups’ blood.

The fish pill groups also had a %15 reduction in oxidative stress, the disease-causing condition behind sciences’ much-enthused over endorsement of red wine and dark chocolate.

CONCLUSION: Getting enough omega-3 fatty acid to change the balance of oils in your system may help 

preserve the length of your telomeres, with the potential to reduce the risk of age-related diseases.

IMPLICATIONS: Something as simple as a nutritional supplement, these results suggest, can significantly affect the aging process. These findings come on the heels of another results published from this same experiment, which associated omega 3-fatty acid supplements with lowered inflammation. Looking back at this first phase of analysis, the researchers believe that the reduced inflammation is likely responsible for the changes now observed in the subjects’ telomeres.

Americans tend to have ridiculously high ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in our blood. We eat lots of eggs, chicken, and nuts and far fewer amounts of fish (this study didn't look at the effects of omega-3 from plant sources). Unless we can convince everyone to convert to the Mediterranean diet (which, incidentally, everyone should totally consider), boosting our omega-3 intake is an easy way of reducing this ratio from its average of 15-1 to what the authors suggest would be much more beneficial ration of 4, or even 2, to 1.

The full study will be published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Utah Sports and Wellness has very affordable test to measure O6 to O3 ratios.

Ask the front desk.

Eating Better: A Simple Topic that’s Far from Simple

By Cari Junge  

Because each of you are one of a kind and require tips specific to you, I feel a sense of dis-service providing fixed guidelines for this issue, therefore, I’m providing you key content and resources from a national expert as a starting point. After, I will layer in some intuitive sense for you to apply authenticity to your process.

1. Eating Better is a choice only you can make. Therefore, look at those areas associated with your intake that are ‘beyond your control’ and those ‘within your control’ as your starting point. For example, it may be ‘beyond your control’ that your workplace constantly has a plethora of sugary cookies, soft drinks, etc… free and readily available. It’s within your control to create rituals, rules and alternatives to keep you from indulging, with a healthy mind and manner. From there, you need to understand what ‘better’ means for YOU.

2. Explore and Understand the Whys. To enroll those rituals for a lifetime, we likely need to know why we break them at times in order to develop a healthy aversion. My client shared with conviction the emotional connection. From there we were able to explore what happens in the brain and develop realistic patterns to break bad habits formed from brain chemistry alterations. Then its trial and error time to nail down lasting solution.

3. Cleanse your System Free of Toxins. No matter how much change towards eating better we make, and stick with, our body and therefore our mind is human living with high levels of stress and toxicity 24-7, 365 days. Our detox and digestive system weakens and requires a regular tune-up. Tune into next week’s Nutrition Spot focusing on tips and tools for healthy cleansing during the Fall Season.

To explore more into my brief of Harvard’s eating guidelines, check out this website:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/

Here are Harvard’s top 5 on how to build your plate with a thorough break-down of how and what in the site for each step below:

1. Fill half of your plate with vegetables and fruits.

2. Save a quarter of your plate for whole grains—not just any grains.

3. Put a healthy source of protein on one quarter of your plate.

4. Use healthy plant oils.

5. Drink water, coffee or tea.                         

And then … Stay active!

One of My Current Obsessions

 By Cassie

Hey guys! It’s Cassie - one of the faces you see behind the scenes at our office.  I've decided to jump in on the action here at our blog site and share with you parts of my life outside of Utah Sports & Wellness.

I have to announce my new favorite protein shake … Vega One. Before, I was either drinking 

be – Beautiful (found at GNC) or Pro Performance Whey Protein. Not to say they were bad, they are both amazing products, I was just looking for more of an all natural, vegan replacement that still had the benefits of my regular protein supplements.

Vega One is a plant-based, soy, gluten and dairy free nutritional shake you can find in four flavors. I purchase mine at Whole Foods. My addiction is chocolate, so naturally that’s my favorite flavor. I usually drink it for a breakfast replacement or for a post workout meal. 

To make it more exciting, I add these few things:

 About a cup of whole oats
A teaspoon of natural peanut butter
A cup of vanilla almond milk
About a cup of water (to make it less thick)
One small banana

Let me know your favorite shake combinations! :)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->

Stay Fit, Be Comfortable

By Dr. Michael Cerami 

Sounds Counter intuitive right? Yes and no. Stay with me.

Staying active, healthy and fit does require effort and discipline but beyond the usual discomfort of pushing yourself, there’s no reason to add to that by not being prepared with the right clothing and equipment. This becomes immediately evident with the change of season we are currently in. If you dress to warm or too light you will be discouraged from continuing your efforts. 

via google images

The great thing is that with all of the advances in today’s technical clothing, you can be assured to find clothing that adjusts to your changing body temperatures and does an amazing job of keep you in the comfort zone. I recommend Salt Lake Running Company as a place to start as you can try clothing on for sizing and they have a great selection all year long. www.saltlakerunningco.com

A few thoughts:

Toss ALL of your cotton socks and t shirts.

     
     Cotton does not insulate and absorbs moisture which makes the cotton rough and then causes rubbing against your skin and can wreak havoc on your feet during a long run or even a long day at work. Wool or a synthetic blend will regulate heat better and be more comfortable. I even switched to wool dress socks at the office years ago and I wear them all year long. I love them.   

Know your perspiration rate

     
You don’t need to be super specific, just know how your body reacts to exercise. I perspire a fair amount which helps me cool down quickly so I always wear something on my head when running. I changed recently from a full cap to a visor after speaking with a friend who runs long distances. Having the crown of my head exposed turns out to be a big help in keeping my overall temperature down. If you are running with a cap now, maybe try a visor instead. It made a big difference for me.

      My body heat builds up pretty fast, so running with my dog Rita in the morning for the next 6 months means dressing warm enough to start in cool weather and knowing how much heat I’m going to generate later in the run (am I going long, or up hills) to wear clothing that’s light enough as I heat up. I also have less hair up top than I did in the past so I always take a light synthetic or wool cap (visor in the sun) when I run in cool weather that I can take off and stow in my tights without causing bulk. I’ve also come to learn my hands change temperature pretty quickly so I bring a very light pair of gloves on my runs that I usually peel off in the first mile and I can use them later if the wind picks up. Also, research has recently shown that the hands act as temperature regulators for the brains assessment of heat and cold so managing their comfort can affect your entire body.

Don’t be uncomfortable it you don’t need to be. Re-assess your clothing and see if it needs some tweaking and you’ll have more fun.

Thanks for reading.

Dr. Mike

“WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT TAPE ON YOUR LEG?”

And other questions answered about Therapeutic Taping. (Part 2 of 2)

By Dr. Michael Cerami

In the last blog article I gave you an overview of therapeutic taping and what it can do for you to increase performance and reduce injuries. If you watched the Olympics, you saw how many athletes were “taped up” in almost all of the sports. Even the female platform divers from China had therapeutic tape on their lower back to facilitate the muscle contraction during their event. Pretty stunning considering you wouldn’t assume divers needed taping.

One of the neatest things I think about taping is that it’s a very affordable way to treat your injury or try to improve your performance (increase endurance) that doesn’t really have any downside. The tape retails for about $20.00 per roll which gives you at least 10 applications so you can try a few methods. The manufacturers websites are very helpful and athlete friendly. The only caveat I would have to add is that if you don’t get improvement with the tape, don’t completely write off its effectiveness. Being taped by a professional may solve the problem as it assess the treatment from a more complete and functional standpoint with a higher degree of accuracy. We’ve had great success at Utah Sports and Wellness taping immediately after an injury to reposition the tissue and restrict joint motion in certain planes. This information may be unavailable to the average consumer.

We’ve received a number of questions about taping that I’ll try and answer here:

How long should I keep the tape on?
• Always apply the tape to clean dry skin. Even though the tape may stay on the skin longer, it will lose its effective after a maximum of 5 days.

Can I get the tape wet?
• Absolutely. If it’s applied correctly, it can be used for any event and activity even under wetsuits.

I’m having a hard time keeping it stuck on my skin, the ends keep peeling up; what should I do?• Getting the tape on right takes a little skill at first, but is quite easy once you figure it out. Always round the edges of the tape once you cut it. Tear the tape in the middle to remove the backing. Stretch only from the middle of the tape and never the ends or last 1 1⁄2” of the tape. Each end need to be “non‐stretched”. Vigorously rub all of the tape at least 20 times to heat up and activate the glue on the tape. These methods will ensure a longer lasting application.

How do I tape my knee or ankle? The tape seems to get loose right after I apply it.
• When taping your knee or ankle, remember to straighten your knee when applying the tape so when you bend it, the tape actually tightens. When taping the foot (in general) bring your toes toward your nose while taping so the tape stays tight when the foot returns to a neutral position.

Note: I will be doing a taping seminar at Salt Lake Running Tuesday October 2nd at 7pm. Please contact the store for details.
Dr. Michael Cerami is an avid runner, cyclist and triathlete. He is available for a no charge consultation one Saturday per month at The Salt Lake Running Company (700 East store) by appointment. He can be reached at 801-486-1818 or online at www.utahsportsandwellness.com