The Importance of Warm Up

Earlier this summer, a close friend of mine organized a Gutsy Walk. Gutsy Walks take place across Canada, and are a fundraiser for Crohn’s and Colitis (check it out here http://www.gutsywalk.ca/Home.aspx). She asked me to help lead the warm-up for this 5 km walk, and I of course agreed! Now take a moment to think, when was the last time you warmed up for a walk, a jog, or even weight lifting? Now I’m not talking about doing a few arm circles, cracking your neck, and starting your workout. I’m talking about a good 5 to 10 minute warm up. If you don’t warm up for your workouts, it’s time to start. Warming up helps you reduce injury, “wake up” your muscles, and mentally prepare.

Reducing injury is the reason most people know to warm up. But how does it work? Warming up increases your body temperature. At a higher body temperature, your muscles can contract and relax faster, which reduces the chance of injury. You might argue that your body will warm up as you do the workout. Let’s use an extreme example to show the importance of warming up. Imagine that you want to sprint right now. You stand up and just sprint as fast as you can. Does that sound appealing to you? I cringe at the idea and can feel my hamstrings instantly giving out. Now imagine you had a good warm up, you are already breathing a bit heavy and sweat is starting to form on your body. Now you sprint! That scenario sounds much better right? The importance of the warm up is to gradually increase your body temperature. The gradual increase of your heart rate will also reduce the chance of exercise-induced cardiac abnormalities. So warming up will help reduce heart and muscle injuries!

Next, warming up will also “wake up” your muscles. Before a workout you want to prepare your muscles for the activity and movement that will be involved. The gradual heart rate increase has more benefits than just injury prevention; it also increases blood flow to your muscles. Why is this good?  Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, which is used to create energy. By doing a proper warm up, you are ensuring your muscles are getting all the nutrients they need for your workout. Additionally, your warm up should incorporate movements that you will be doing in your actual workout. This will prepare your muscles for the proper movement, and increase your flexibility range during your workout. Use your warm up to make sure your muscles are ready to perform for you when you need them most.

Finally, use your warm up for some mental preparation. I know I've sluggishly started a workout before, not really feeling it but still committing to the workout.  Taking the time to do a proper warm up will help you focus your mind to the task at hand. While going through your warm up, take time to think about each movement you are making, mentally connect with your body. Take some time to think and visualise your workout for the day. Your mind should be just as warmed up as your body for your workout.

By taking time to warm up and mentally prepare, you will reduce chances of injury and increase your performance during your workout. Do a good 5 to 10 minute warm up that focuses on the range of motion you will be doing during the workout. Check out the reference links below for some warm up ideas.

References

http://www.24hourfitness.com/resources/fitness/articles/warm_up.html

http://www.active.com/triathlon/articles/the-real-reason-you-should-warm-up

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek32.htm

https://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/common-misconceptions-about-warm-ups/

Your Body's Fuel

Have you ever wondered what your body is doing while you workout? Where does the food you eat go? Your body takes the food you eat and breaks it down into a usable fuel source. Let’s go over a quick and basic overview of what your body is doing while you exercise!

The food you eat can be broken down into three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Your body will convert carbohydrates and fats into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and proteins will be broken down for use in tissue repair and the synthesizing of enzymes and hormones. ATP is what your body is using as fuel, and it has three different ways to get it which can be broken down into immediate, quick, and long lasting.

The immediate source of ATP is known phosphocreatine. Phosphocreatine is stored in your muscles and can quickly convert over to ATP as you begin your workout. This conversion happens right away, and very quick. The downside of the immediate source of ATP is storage. Your muscles cannot store an unlimited supply of phosphocreatine to fuel your workout, on average you will only have a few seconds of ATP usage from this path.

Next, your body will start using the quick source of ATP known as glycogen. This source of ATP works primarily from the carbohydrates you eat. The carbohydrates are converted to glycogen or glucose, which is turn converts into ATP. This process is relatively quick and will kick in about the time the phosphocreatine runs out. As with the first source, this source is also limited. Glycogen conversion will last about 2 min, and will also create lactic acid (lactate) which is a waste product that will fatigue your muscles.

That brings us to the final source of ATP, the long term respiration source called breathing! The oxygen brought in from breathing works with the waste from the glycogen conversion to  create more ATP. At this point, your body will start using the fats from your diet to create ATP.  Breathing also helps the first two sources to replenish, which is why you continue to breathe heavy once you finish your workout. This source will kick in after the glycogen has been depleted, but unlike the other two sources, it can last for a very long time. The amount of time you can use respiration as your ATP source depends on your cardiovascular fitness. That means you can train to improve your body’s usage of fuel!

If you are pushing your training too far and have pushed yourself past your respiratory limits or used up all your carbohydrates and fats, you will begin to use protein as a fuel source. You want to avoid getting into this state, since it will start to use the protein saved in your muscles for tissue repair. This will negatively impact your muscle recovery and muscle building.

As a closing note, eating more macronutrients than you need, like more carbohydrates, will result in the excess carbohydrates being stored as body fat. More nutrients does not mean more ATP! ATP will only be converted as you require it.

References

http://ironman.memorialhermann.org/performance-improvement/sports-science/nutrition/how-the-body-uses-energy/

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/the-bodyrsquos-fuel-sources

My Shoulder Injury

Just a little under a week ago, June 4th, I was doing some 100m sprint runs as part of my athletic power training. I went out with the goal of doing 6 to 10 runs, taking about a 3 minute rest between each run. I had just completed my 6th run and was definitely feeling it, this was the first time I had done sprint runs, so I wasn’t surprised. As I rested for my 3 minutes I thought “I’ll do one more, just push myself to get in 7 runs.” Seemed reasonable, I was huffing and puffing, but my time for each run was only 1 or 2 seconds off, so I figured I could get one more in. Well, it turns out I was wrong! Right at the end of my 7th sprint a sharp pain shot through my right arm. The pain almost immediately subsided, but arm felt weak for some time after. So I stopped my sprints and took it easy for the rest of the day.

The next day my arm was feeling better, didn’t feel weak at all! However… certain positions and usage of my right arm caused that pain to quickly shoot into my arm again. I did my own Google search, as one does, and figured I probably pinched a nerve in my shoulder. A personal Google search is obviously not the best way to get diagnosed, and I don’t recommend people do that. However, it’s a nice way to get a bit of a base before seeing a professional. I luckily already had a physio appointment booked for later that week, so I just waited it out until then.

The physio appointment was 4 days away, and I didn’t want to just sit around and get lazy. I knew what kind of motion caused the pain, anything where my arm was pulled back, so I had a good starting point! I did some lower body and some core workouts that didn’t put any stress on my arm. I also did some low impact cardio, aerobics really, that didn’t require me to swing my arms aggressively.

Adding in the lower body, core, and aerobics has held me over for a bit, but I’m feeling a bit imbalanced with the loss of my upper body workouts. Luckily I have seen a professional and been diagnosed with the cause; I strained my rotator cuff. Another lucky thing for me is it seems to be quite minor. I have a full range of motion, and only specific actions will cause pain. Armed with this knowledge I can add some upper body workouts to my routine that don’t aggravate my rotator cuff. Also, as a good precaution to my health, if I don’t have any improvements in 1 month, I will make an appointment with my Doctor!

Check out this article for some exercise ideas to strengthen your rotator cuff!
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark71.htm

Cardio for Sports Training

The type of cardio training you want to do to improve sports and athletic performance will vary depending on the sport, your goals, and your fitness. For this article, I will break down the different types of cardio and why you would or wouldn’t want to do them. In general, you want to train to mimic the requirements of your sport.

First to consider is steady state or continuous cardio. Steady state cardio is moving at a constant pace that you can maintain. The pace will be dependant on the duration you are doing. Let’s look at why you would want to do steady state cardio training. The most obvious reason for doing this type of cardio is because you are training for a marathon or another type of event that will require you to move for a long period of time. Steady state cardio is also a great training tool to improve your lung and heart capacity, which is a good base to have for any sport. Additional, this is the type of training you want to do if you are just getting into cardio. Next, let’s look over the reasons why you wouldn’t want to do this type of training. Athletics require a lot of strength and power, as well as endurance and because of this, too much steady state training can actually reduce your strength and power. If you already have a good cardiovascular base and you require bursts of speed and power for your chosen sport, then this training is not for you.

The next type of cardio training is aerobic intervals. Aerobic intervals require doing a movement at a higher intensity followed by a lower intensity. Typically you will go at a higher intensity for 1 - 3 minutes, followed by 1 - 3 minutes at a lower intensity. This type of training is great for any sport that is interval based, where you will be performing for a short period of time, followed by a short rest; hockey is an excellent example. This type of training can also be adapted for non-interval sports by having a longer rest period between high intensity intervals. Interval training helps your body adapt to increases in energy requirements that many sports need. Do not do this type of training if you are just starting out. Work your way up to interval training.

Finally, anaerobic interval training. Anaerobic interval training is doing an activity for a short duration at maximum effort, followed by a long rest. A good example is sprinting for 100m, then resting for 3 to 4 minutes. This training is obviously very good for short distance sprinters, but it can help almost any athlete. In most sports, a short burst of maximum energy is required to get that goal or push yourself into a better position. Anaerobic intervals will help condition your body for these events. This training has the added benefit of working your muscles for power as well. This training is very intense, so definitely do not start with anaerobic intervals. This training has little benefit to long distance runners, or any other sport that requires you to move at a relatively constant pace for a long period of time.

To summarize, all three types of cardio can have a benefit to your athletic improvement, you just need to review your goals and your current physical condition. No matter the cardio type you choose, an important thing to consider is over training! Over training will negatively impact your improvement, and can cause you to become exhausted and under perform during your practices or games. Go over with a trainer the amount and types of exercises you are doing as you might only need to add in 1 cardio session a week.

References

https://www.athletestrengthandperformance.com/cardio-vs-conditioning/

http://www.stack.com/a/the-best-cardio-exercises-for-athletes

Cardio for Muscle Gains

A lot of people looking to bulk up and build muscle do not do cardio. The thought is that cardio will impair or even reduce your muscle growth. Just look at marathon runners! The “no cardio” thinking is not 100% true. People looking to build muscle and make big gains should not completely dismiss cardio, they just need to approach it correctly. Let’s break down what you should be doing and how often.

An important factor with building muscle is losing fat. Let’s look at the cardio and fat burn chart from my Cardio for Fat and Weight Loss post (check it out for a breakdown of the chart below). In that post, I went over how a higher heart rate (HR) burns more overall calories, and therefore more fat. I’m going to use the same logic here, but turn it up to 11!

HR % from max	% fat burned from total calories burned
65 -70 %	60 %
70 - 75 %	50 %
75 - 80 %	35 %
80 - 85 %	20 %
85 - 90 %	10 %
90 - 95 %	5 %
95 - 100 %	0 %

An important part of adding cardio to your muscle building routine is to make sure you aren’t overworking your body and burning muscle. In order to make sure you aren’t burning off your hard earned muscles, intensity and duration are important factors. Let’s start with intensity, bring it to the max! Remember how we talked about the body type of long distance runners? Now think about sprinters. Short and intense is the type of cardio you want to aim for. A good example would be sprinting 100 m, then resting for 4 min, and repeat 4 to 10 times. With this intensity, your duration is going to be fairly short, which is good. You want your cardio to be 20 minutes or less. As for the weekly basis, 2 or 3 times at most a week is all you need.

Doing 10 sets of 100 m sprints is a lot of energy and requires a good cardiovascular base. If you are just starting to add cardio into your weight workout start easier and longer. Go with a steady state HR you can maintain for 30 minutes and build yourself up. Once you can maintain a cardio session with an HR at 80% of your maximum HR, start doing your high intensity cardio.

An important thing to remember when adding cardio into your workout plan is the additional calories burned. Make sure you aren’t over training and burning up too many calories, this will negatively impact your muscle gains. It’s a good idea to review your workout and diet with a trainer and a nutritionist to make sure you are maximizing your results!

References

http://www.muscleforlife.com/cardio-and-muscle-growth-friends-or-foes/

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-muscle-prof-best-cardio-for-preserving-mass.html