Training Is Like Farming

Guest Blog by – Michael Boyle

I think I remember Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People making reference to what I believe he called “the law of the farm.” The reference was meant to show that most of the truly good things in life take time and can’t be forced or rushed. Covey described the process of farming and alluded to how it requires patience and diligence to grow crops properly. In addition, farming requires belief in the system. The farmer must believe that all the hard work and preparation will eventually yield a long-term result.

As a strength and conditioning coach, business owner and personal trainer, the concept has always stuck with me. The process of exercising is much like farming or like planting a lawn. There are no immediate results from exercise and there are no immediate results from farming.

First, the seeds must be planted. Then fertilizer (nutrition) and water must be applied consistently. Much like fertilizer in farming, too much food can be a detriment to the exerciser. Only the correct amounts cause proper growth. Overfeeding can cause problems, as can underfeeding. As I sit and wait for my lawn to sprout or crops to grow, I feel many of the same frustrations of the new exerciser. When will I see results? How come nothing is happening? All this work and — nothing.

The key is to not quit. Have faith in the process. Continue to add water and wait. Farming and exercising are eerily similar. Continue to exercise and eat well and suddenly a friend or co-worker will say, “Have you lost weight”? Your reaction might be, “It’s about time someone noticed.” Much like the first blades of grass poking through the ground, you begin to see success. You begin to experience positive feedback. Clothes begin to fit differently.

When my friends or clients talk to me about their frustration with their initial lack of progress in an exercise program, I always bring up the farm analogy. We live in a world obsessed with quick fixes and instant results. This is why the farm analogy can be both informative and comforting.

An exercise program must be approached over a period of weeks and months, not days. The reality is that there is no quick fix, no easy way, no magic weight loss plan, no secret cellulite formula. There is only the law of the farm. You will reap what you sow. In reality, you will reap what you sow and care for. If you are consistent and diligent with both diet and exercise, you will eventually see results. However, remember, much like fertilizer and water, diet and exercise go together.

Try to grow crops or a lawn without water. No amount of effort will overcome the lack of vital nutrients.

The law of the farm.

Plant the seeds.

Feed and water properly.

Wait for results; they will happen, not in days, but in weeks and months.

Only One Body

Guest Post by – Michael Boyle

Imagine you are sixteen years old and your parents give you your first car. They also give you simple instructions. There is one small hitch, you only get one car, you can never get another. Never. No trade-ins, no trade-ups. Nothing

Ask yourself how would you maintain that car? My guess is you would be meticulous. Frequent oil changes, proper fuel, etc. Now imagine if your parents also told you that none of the replacement parts for this car would ever work as well as the original parts. Not only that, the replacement parts would be expensive to install and cause you to have decreased use of your car for the rest of the cars useful life? In other words, the car would continue to run but, not at the same speed and with the efficiency you were used to.

Wow, now would we ever put a lot of time and effort into maintenance if that were the case.

After reading the above example ask yourself another question. Why is the human body different? Why do we act as if we don’t care about the one body we were given. Same deal. You only get one body. No returns or trade-ins. Sure, we can replace parts but boy it’s a lot of work and it hurts. Besides, the stuff they put in never works as well as the original “factory” parts. The replacement knee or hip doesn’t give you the same feel and performance as the original part.

Think about it. One body. You determine the mileage? You set the maintenance plan?

No refunds, no warranties, no do-overs?

How about this perspective? One of my clients is a very successful businessman. He often is asked to speak to various groups. One thing he tells every group is that you are going to spend time and money on your health. The truth is the process can be a proactive one or a reactive one. Money spent on your health can take the form of a personal trainer, massage therapist and a gym membership or, it can be money spent on cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and plastic surgeons. Either way, you will spend money.

Same goes for time. You can go to the gym or, to the doctors office. It’s up to you. Either way, you will spend time. Some people say things like “I hate to work out”. Try sitting in the emergency room for a few hours and then get back to me. Working out may not seem so bad. Much like a car, a little preventative maintenance can go a long way. However, in so many ways the body is better than a car. With some good hard work you can turn back the odometer on the body. I wrote an article a while back ( Strength Training- The Fountain of Youth) that discussed a study done by McMaster University which showed that muscle tissue of older subjects actually changed at the cellular level and looked more like the younger control subjects after strength training.

Do me a favor, spend some time on preventative maintenance, it beats the heck out of the alternative. Just remember, you will spend both time and money.

The 4 Lies You’ll Tell Yourself On New Year’s Eve… and the six steps you can take to ensure that you’ll have your best year yet!

Guest post by – Dax Moy

Liar, Liar!

Have you ever noticed how many good, honest, hardworking people turn into liars at New Year?

It’s an amazing thing to watch as people from all walks of life, all ages and both sexes, go through the whole New Year’s resolution ‘thing’ and tell themselves lies about what the next 12 months will bring them.

You know what I mean.

11.59pm on New Year’s Eve you turn to a loved one and say “This year is going to be different. I’m really going to achieve some great things!” and for that one minute, that one moment in time, you mean it.

You REALLY mean it!

You are fired up, raring to go and ready, willing and (despite the glass of champagne in your hand) able to commit to that new diet, getting that payrise or new job, starting that company, writing that book and a whole host of other great sounding things.

Then the bells ring in the New Year and a funny thing happens.

January 1st rolls around and, whilst the goals are still in your head, they don’t seem as important anymore. (maybe it’s the champagne?)

January 2nd comes and by lunchtime you’re telling yourself that some of your goals are ‘just silly fantasies’ and you scratch them off your list.

January 3rd arrives and, despite a much shorter list than you had just 2 days before, you start to tell yourself that “I’ve got all year to do this. I don’t have to start right now. Let me just ‘settle in’ to the year first and ‘get myself sorted’ and THEN I’ll work on my goals”

Like I said, all lies!

In fact, there are FOUR lies that are used more often than any others at this time of year. Pay attention and you might recognise a few of them from New Year’s gone by…

Lie number one: ‘This year is going to be different’

For some reason, this seems to be one of the most popular of all the lies we tell ourselves yet, the truth of the matter is, for most people, sad though it is, 2010 is going to be EXACTLY the same as 2009 was.

Why?

Because, despite their initial optimism and excitement at what they new year will bring, their strategy is EXACTLY the same as it was last year and, as the saying goes, if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

Most people aren’t looking to MAKE many changes, they just WANT changes to happen.

They’re not really looking to address CAUSES of their shortcomings, they just want the EFFECTS to go away all by themselves.

Sound familiar?

Lie number two: ‘The goals don’t seem as important anymore’

Fibber!

Yes they are!

They’re every bit as important as they were 24 hours ago it’s just that somewhere deep down you’ve started to persuade yourself that your goals are somehow unachievable and, if the truth be known, you’re scared about failing so instead you lie about their importance.

If not that then you’ve suddenly realised that the price to achieve them is a little more than you’re actually willing to pay.

That new diet.

The new training program.

The savings account.

The new job.

Sure, you’d like the new body, the better health, the extra wealth and freedom but DOING what needs to be done is the problem so you lie and pretend that the goals are no longer appealing.

Tsk, tsk!

Lie number three: ‘They’re just silly fantasies’

This is a continuation of lie number two but much more harmful.

With this lie you’ve started to rationalise and justify why your goals are impossible and use all kinds of excuses disguised as ‘reasons’ as to why your goals are unrealistic… the biggest lie of all!

Every single one of your goals is yours for the taking if you’re committed to making them happen.  EVERY one!

All you have to do is commit. Make a decision that you want the reward, commit to paying the price and you WILL have that thing or those things come true for you.

When all’s said and done, most of us want pretty simple things. A better home, better health, better relationships and maybe a few baubles thrown in for good measure. What’s so unrealistic about that?

Don’t use the ‘unrealistic silly fantasies lie to keep you from taking action on your goals or you’ll doom your life to a groundhog day repetition over and over and over again while you ‘play it safe’ and ‘be realistic’.

Lie number four: ‘I’ll settle in first and do it when there’s more time’

What a great lie!

This is an ‘I’m not giving up, I just need to get back into the flow at work or school before I attack these goals’ kind of lie that you use to delay things until the time is right.

But wait a minute…

Wasn’t work, school or your other favourite excuse the reason why you couldn’t achieve your goals BEFORE New Year?

No, you know full well that lie number four is simply a delay tactic, that ‘one day’ lie that we all tell ourselves in order to get out of taking action when we know we could, when we know we should. You know, ‘one day when I have more time…’ or ‘one day when I have more money…’ (or whatever else you use to delay your goals).

Regardless of your ‘one day’ excuse, the results are the same… zero. Just like they are every year.

Now, if you’ve read this far you’re probably recognising many of these lies as ones you’ve told yourself in the past, and maybe even ones you’re still telling yourself now. But, like many people, you have no real idea about how to break free from the habit of creating ‘wish-lists’ and then lying about why they didn’t come true.

In short, you’re not really that sure about how to make 2010 any better than 2009 was are you?

Well, if that’s the case then you definitely need to keep reading because I’m about to lay out a strategy so simple, yet so highly effective that, if applied as I describe (the important bit) simply cannot fail.

Interested?

I bet you are!

Well, here’s the thing. It requires 6 steps.

Just 6.

Follow them all and seriously great things will happen for you, miss one and it’s game over on your goals. I can’t put it any clearer than that.

Ok, here is success in 6 simple, straightforward, easy-to-understand steps:

1. Know what you want

2. Know why you want it

3. Know when you want it by

4. Write it down

5. Know the price

6. Pay it

If your first reaction to that list is one of ‘is that all?’ then you’re underestimating the power of simplicity for achieving great things.

You see, that those 6 steps, whilst simple, really do form the most powerful goal achievement strategy on the planet. You’ll be hard pushed to find a single successful person on that planet who isn’t committed to using these six steps on a daily basis.

1. Know what you want

Sounds obvious really, but ask almost anyone what they want to achieve from their diet, their exercise plan, their career and even their life, and you get vague generalities at best.

Let’s be clear on this; Things like “lose weight” or “get fit” or “earn more” are not goals.

They’re not!

They’re simply wishes that are so vague and meaningless that you can pretty much guarantee that they’ll fail.

A real goal, on the other hand, is very clear indeed. It tells you exactly what you’re setting your sights upon meaning that you always have a reference point as to how near or how far you are from completing it.

For example ‘lose weight’ becomes ‘lose 30lbs’ or ‘weigh exactly 120lbs’. ‘Get fit’ becomes ‘run the marathon’ or ‘do 50 pushups’ and ‘earn more’ becomes ‘earn $100,000 a year after tax’

See the difference?

One is open ended and allows for excuses and get out clauses whilst the other hangs the target in plain view allowing you to measure your current level of success and adjust your course as appropriate

So, just what is it that YOU want? (Write it down on a sheet of paper RIGHT now!)

2. Know WHY you want it

It never ceases to amaze me that people will happily set goals that they don’t really care that much about.

They say ‘I’m going to do this’ or ‘I’m going to do that’ yet when you ask them why they can’t explain it.

This is the surest sign that a goal is doomed to failure and is a definite warning sign you should look out for when setting your own goals.

You see a goal, any goal, is nothing without desire to fuel it into action and, in turn, desire cannot exist without a strong WHY behind it.

But not just any old WHY. It takes the ‘true’ why to put any real power into your goals. Let me give you an example;

I coached a lady earlier this year who, for many years had struggled with her weight. She set goals all the time, sometimes reached them but nearly every time found that she quickly regressed back to her old weight and very often added a bit extra into the bargain.

When I asked her why she wanted to lose weight she looked at me incredulous, like I was really dumb. “Can’t you see how overweight I am? Isn’t it obvious?”

“So are many people” I replied, “but that doesn’t explain why YOU want to lose weight.”

“Because I want to fit into nicer clothes” she responded “I want to wear pretty things”

“Why?” “Because prettier clothes will make me look prettier” she said with her

discomfort now becoming obvious.

“Why is that important?” I went on.

“Because…” (she started to cry now) “…I feel ugly the way I am now….” She went on “… and I want to feel pretty so that I can meet someone and I won’t be alone anymore… I want someone to love me…” and the tears flowed.

Now, you might be sitting there thinking ‘poor girl’ and wondering why she had to be put through such an ordeal just to help her set a goal. It might even sound cruel in some way.

Well, let me finish the story and let you decide for yourself.

From the moment the coaching session ended, this lady began an amazing metamorphosis.

She lost over 50lbs (and is still losing more), looks happier, feels happier and now has a relationship with someone who loves her like crazy.

I asked her not long ago “What was the turning point? What changed everything for you?” and her answer was simple “I stopped lying to myself. I told the truth about why I wanted to lose weight, and as soon as I did I realised that not only should I lose weight, but that I MUST if I was ever going to be happy”

That’s what WHY does for goals.

It takes all of the shoulds in your life and transforms them into things that MUST happen, and that’s when the magic begins.

You see, the things you could do and the things you should do aren’t anywhere near as powerful as the things that have the power of MUST behind them.

Once you take your could’s and should’s to the level of MUST, you no longer look for reasons, justifications and excuses or other ‘get out clauses’ and instead you focus making things happen.

Turn YOUR should’s into MUST’s by defining WHY you want your goals.

3. Know WHEN you want them by

A goal without a completion date is like a book without words in it. It’s meaningless.

Until you define the timescale that you’re allowing yourself to complete any given goal you’re simply reverting back to the ‘one day’ lie and the ‘wouldn’t it be nice if..’ wishes that most people make.

In effect, you’re giving yourself an excuse not to take action and, as you’re well aware, without action nothing changes.

That’s why, whenever you know what you want and why you want it you MUST set a date for getting it. This adds a sense of urgency to your goal and reinforces the feeling that ‘every second counts’ which, in reality, it does.

You also get to measure whether or not your goals are on schedule or falling behind and, if necessary, exactly what actions it’ll take to bring you back on track.

So, WHEN do you want your goals to come to life for you?

4. Write your goals down and read them regularly

There is a definite sequence to taking a goal from concept to reality and it can best be summed up in three words.

Thought – Word -Action

Up to now we’ve been dealing with thought and deciding what you want, why you want it and when you want it by. This is all mental work and, whilst vital to the achievement of your goals, is by itself, not enough to bring your goals to reality.

You could say that, up to this point, you have a more clearly defined wish or dream but that, nevertheless, it’s still a dream.

To take it from a dream it needs to become real in some small way, either by verbalising it into words or, better still, writing it down.

It’s been shown that the act of simply writing your goals down increases the likelihood of their achievement by anything from 500% to 5000% and that reading those words aloud on a daily basis, even several times a day, increases the effectiveness even further.

Certainly every successful person I’ve ever met or interviewed has told me that they not only have a written list of goals, but that they read it numerous times a day and many carry their list with them at all times.

Why does it work?

Well, it’s simple really. You’re reminding yourself that your goal is important to you. More than that, you’re laying down thought patterns that turn into habits, habits which turn into actions and actions which, when carried out regularly, lead ultimately to your goals.

(If you’ve simply been reading this report and not putting your goals into the boxes I’ve provided, now is the time to go back… fail to do so and nothing changes, your choice!)

5. Know the price

Many people start out setting goals correctly, they know what they want, why they want it, when they want it by and they even write their goals on paper and yet, despite doing everything right up to this point, they find that they never make any real headway toward achieving them.

I believe this is because they often don’t think about the cost of achieving their goals beforehand and so, when the time comes to pay, they’re shocked, stunned and unwilling to do so.

The truth is, every single goal has a price that must be paid.

It might be financial, it might be time, it might be a change of lifestyle, it might be a relationship cost or any number of things, but rest assured, there WILL be a price.

Certainly, at the start of my own career (and even now to a lesser extent) my determination to have my own business, to become a journalist, TV presenter and author meant that I would have to pay the price of longer hours at work, less time with my family and a high degree of financial risk.

That was the price. I didn’t have to pay it but then, if I didn’t I wouldn’t reach my goal. My choice. What is the price of YOUR goal?

Figure it out now, up front so that you can decide before you start whether or not the cost is too steep and if it is, set another goal that you can live with and still be happy.

6. PAY The Price!

Hand in had with step five goes the obvious step of paying the price.

It gets its own category because, unlike knowing the price, paying it is an ongoing investment that you must consciously make every day until the goal is yours.

What we’re talking about is the consistent day by day, step by step ACTION that many people are simply not willing to take.

Sure, they come out of the gate well, they’re motivated to get their goal but, well, like just kinda gets in the way. One day they don’t take any action toward their goals, then two, then three and, before you know it, the goal has fallen by the wayside.

What happened?

They stopped paying the price.

Here’s the thing most people don’t get;

If you’ve been paying the price, and paying the price and paying the price for days, weeks, months and even years, then one day you wake up and stop paying the price the every single payment you made was a waste.

A waste of your time.

A waste of your money.

A waste of your effort.

A waste of your life!

You see, the only way to possibly get your investment back is to achieve the goal.

Anything less than that is throwing away a chunk of your life.

This might sound a bit over the top but nevertheless it’s true.

Once you start paying the price, stay with the goal until it’s achieved.

That’s it!

That really is all there is to getting what you want from life. I know I’ve simplified it somewhat but still, if you apply those 6 steps you’ll get what you want faster than any other means I know of.

I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to read about the four lies we tell at New Year and the Six things that you can do to make 2010 your best year ever.

I know you’ve got lots of other things you could be doing rather than reading my blog and I appreciate you taking the time to read the whole thing.

I’ve done my very best to convey the exact steps that are required in order for you to achieve bigger and better things than you did in 2010 but, as in all things, what actually happens for you in 2010 is totally up to you.

You could brush this off as an interesting little read or as something that ‘you’ll get around to’ but, as I’ve laid out for you here, to do so would simply be to continue lying to yourself and, in the long run, bring about the failure of your goals.

The other alternative is to actually follow the 6 steps laid out for you.

Not kinda, not sorta, not almost but follow them exactly and see what happens for you.

Now, I can’t guarantee specifically what that’ll be but I do know that it’ll be something great and that, whatever your goals are they’ll be that much closer to coming true for you.

The choice is yours as to which route you take, but I do know this; one of those choices leads to certain failure and the other, certain success.

You now know which is which…

It’s time for you to choose!

Truth, joy and love

Dax Moy

P.S – If you’re looking to make some DRAMATIC changes to your life in 2010 then I highly recommend my 100 day goal achievement program The MAGIC Hundred which will guide you step by step through how to make the first 100 days of 2010 the most powerful and impactful 100 days you’ve ever had. But hey, I’m biased in this : )

The Magic hundred is the exact program I used to go from struggling to successful and is the program that Bob Proctor of ‘The Secret’ raved about back in January 2008 and since then the program has been updated and improved upon!

Go check it out for yourself at http://www.themagichundred.com!

Stop Rationalizing And Making Excuses

I recently finished reading Rachel Cosgroves new book  The Female Body Breakthrough and thought it was excellent, not just for females but for males as well. I really enjoyed reading a females perspective on helping other females with their bodies.  I got great insight into how we can better help and serve the females that come to us for coaching.

Rachel does a great job of outlining some of the most common excuses we hear all the time from both male and female clients that keep putting off action to becoming healthy and fit.

” Rationalizations are generally convenient evasions of reality and are used as excuses for dishonest behavior, mistakes, and/or laziness.”  - Dave Kekich

“I don’t have enough time!”

This is the most common excuse and it drives me crazy! here’s a little secret: You don’t find time you make it!  You’ll never suddenly have all this extra time to exercise and prepare your meals, and the good news is it probably doesn’t take as much time as you think. But you have to decide you want this. You only get one shot at life, and as time goes by, days go by, and years go by, you don’t get them back. That’s it one opportunity to make the best out of your given time. Are you setting time aside for yourself, or are you wasting it doing something else? Like maybe coming up with excuses? Isn’t it amazing how much time we have to rationalize and create excuses for ourselves?

You should think of time as being equal to life. Replace the word time with the word life from now on. When you don’t have enough time, you don’t have enough life to get in shape and reach your potential physically and mentally. Time = Life. What do you want in your life? If it is to be a fit, confident and empowered, then make the time.

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”

“I am destined to be fat it’s in my genes”

Some people are skinny without trying,  no matter what. Good for them. That doesn’t mean you should just give in to your genetics and be fat and unsatisfied, never reaching your full potential in life. It will take some work, but you can look and feel amazing no matter what your genetics are.

“I am on my period and I have cramps.”

You will actually feel better if you exercise. One of the reasons you feel down in the dumps at this time of the month is that your level of the brain chemical serotonin is low. Exercise boosts serotonin naturally and will make you feel better. Plus, it will keep you from sitting around and having a pity party because you’re bloated and on your period, and I know what goes along with a pity party, chocolate. Get to the gym! Also, as your body is changing, your hormones should stabilize and reduce or eliminate menstrual cramps.

“Work is hectic. I have too much to do at work.”

You have to make time. Work will always be there. Life is passing you by while you are busy working. You should take time for yourself every single day. Exercising will give you more energy at work, clear your head, and make you more productive. Work is not an acceptable excuse. Take one hour a day for yourself, no exceptions. If it means waking up and hour earlier , do it!

“Eating the same foods is so boring. I’m sick of chicken and vegetables.”

Sounds like whining, Eating does not, and should not equal entertainment. Get creative! You need to enjot fueling your body and how the healthy food makes you feel. Tune in to how great you feel when you’re eating those “boring” foods. The feeling you get by being in shape should outweigh how boring the food is.

“I’m too tired”

Have a strategy that you will always go to the gym and start your workout. Do 1 set of everything and see how you feel. If you’re still exhausted and not into it, go home and get some R&R. You can still feel good that you did 1 set and come back and hit it hard in a day or two. But usually once you get started , the endorphins increase, the tiredness begins to fade, and you start feeling better.

“I walk. I sn’t that enough?”

No. It is not enough. What happened to our society that walking is now considered exercise? Walking is part of living an active lifestyle. You should walk when you can, but it is not the challenge that will transform your body. You have to put a challenge on your body that it’s not use to in order to get it to change. Go for a walk as part of your relaxation.

“I’m too stressed!”

When you are under a lot of stress, you actually need exercise even more. The right amount of exercise can be the drain in your tub to help you manage stress. relieve some of the tension, and boost your endorphins to make you feel good.

“My kids come first.”

If you don’t take care of yourself, you are actually being selfish. Don’t you owe it to your kids and family to be the best you can be, feeling full of energy, feeling good about yourself, and being a healthy role model for your children to look up to? If you that everyone depends on, break down, then what? You have to take care of yourself first so you can take care of everyone else. This is not an excuse, but all the more reason why you have to make exercise and eating right a priority.

“I fit in my clothes and don’t need to exercise. I feel good enough”

Is life about getting by, settling for “good enough” No, it’s about living life to the fullest, feeling and looking your absolute best, and having fulfilling relationships and experiences that are all part of being the best you can be, not just “good enough” Life is not about just getting by. Don’t settle for “good enough”

“When you make an excuse , you are only telling a lie to yourself”

“Do, or do not. There is no try.”

a big sets/reps MISTAKE that most make…

7 Cheap and Natural Ways to Fight the Cold and Flu

Guest Post From the Wise Bread Newsletter

By Lori Kerrigan

Over-the-counter symptom relief is a normal and common reaction for the millions of people who suffer from the cold and flu each year. However, for my family, limiting how much acidic and unnecessary medicine enters our bodies is top on my priority list. In my research, experience and wisdom gained from others, I have found 7 cheap and natural suggestions for beating the common cold or flu.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

On Backwoods Home Magazine, Linda Gabris discusses the many valuable uses of ACV. I can personally attest to the MANY benefits of this wondrous creation. (Even when I do not have a cold I drink ACV to aid in detoxifying my body, and to speed up my metabolism.)

To fight a cold, Gabris suggests mixing two tablespoons of ACV with one cup of boiling water. She recommends adding honey if you would like to sweeten the taste (ACV is not pleasant tasting to most people, though after a few months of drinking it, I now enjoy the taste). You can drink this as a tea and is said to be good for relieving a cough and breaking up phlegm. Another benefit to the ACV tea is inhaling the steam which can lead to a relief in the painful congestion that builds up.

It is not recommended to give to children under 2. Cut the dose of ACV in half for kids over two.

Garlic

Cheap and effective…and smelly, but, if you can deal with the smell, you have an inexpensive, way to fight off a cold with a powerful punch. Alicin, which gives garlic its odor, also gives garlic its antioxidant compounds to fight the virus, and shorten the duration of the cold. There are different ways to take garlic: supplements, powder, extract, oil, mixing it with food, or eating a clove whole or mixed with food. Garlic is safe for children (mixing it with apple sauce is said to be a tasty way for kids to eat it), though avoid giving children supplements as there is not enough research to know if anything but fresh garlic with kids is safe.

Ginger

Another little guy with a powerful punch! Research on Catalog, by Rita Hutner, states that ginger is a diaphoretic that contains particles active against rhinoviruses (a common group of cold viruses). Basically, ginger raises your body temperature, forcing your body to perspire and sweat out the cold…nice…sweating without working out! If your child does not like the tea, put about 3-5 tablespoons of ginger, wrapped in a cheese cloth, in a warm bath. This will help them sweat out the cold, in a more enjoyable way.

Ginger is also a blood thinner — talk to a doctor about taking it if you are taking blood thinning medicine.

Green Tea

One of my favorites, even when I do not have a cold. Many “A List” celebrities drink this to keep healthy, speed up their metabolism, and to detoxify their body…not to mention, it tastes great, especially with a little lemon and honey (which are both helpful for soothing a sore throat). When it comes to shortening the length of a schedule disturbing visit from the cold or flu virus, green tea aids in ridding your body of those nasty toxic viruses that causes the many aches and pains keeping you from tending to your to do list.

This is not recommended for children.

Chicken Soup

Your mother’s suggestion of treating your cold with chicken soup was not in vain. Chicken soup contains mucus fighting elements, steam to relieve congestion, carbohydrates to give you energy, and veggies to aid in giving your body the nutrients it needs to stay strong while fighting away the cold. Keep to low sodium though. Some sodium is good for regulating the amount of fluids in your body, but too much will dehydrate you.

Rest

Your body is working overtime to fight this nasty little virus invading your body. Resting gives your body the ability to strengthen itself to fight these toxins, and also gives your body time to repair itself. Even if you are a constant doer like myself, step away from your to do list and rest, it might be painful for a while (believe me, I know), but the recovery for your body will aid in getting you back to your most effective self.

Water

We have all heard that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is imperative to our health. This is even more true when fighting a cold. Water will flush out your system, aid in digestion, and fights fatigue.

Follow these five tips, fight that nasty cold, and get back to the many roles you play in your life. Most of these tips are also helpful for ending the agony you and your kids are in when they get hit with cold or flu bug. Feel better soon!

I am not a doctor and this should not be considered medical advice. Always consult your doctor.

The Truth About Health

Guest Post from Dax Moy

If you’re fatter than you should be, if your skin is poorer, your hair more brittle, your energy is lower, your mood lower, your blood pressure higher, your muscles weaker, your bones more brittle or your immune system poorer then…

…It’s YOUR Fault!

I’m not judging you, I’m merely stating a fact, so don’t overreact and quit reading. If you do, you’ll miss why it’s your fault and, more importantly, what you can do about it.

Look, here’s the truth about health.

The truth that hardly anyone out there seems to want to address or talk about, but the one that can and will make all the difference to both the quality AND quantity of your life… if you act upon it.

The truth is, your health is YOUR responsibility.

It’s not the government’s job to keep you healthy.

The government is merely a large ‘for profit’ company of sorts that does what it can to ensure that the profit and loss accounts of a nation remain balanced.

Even if a government could tell you exactly what, when and how much to eat (which they can’t even agree on), you know you’d cry ‘nanny state’ or whinge, whine and moan about freedom of choice and ignore what you were told anyway, right?

You know you would!

Don’t believe me?

How many of the current government nutrition guidelines are you following right now?

See, what I mean?

It’s not the medical community’s job to keep you healthy.

As much as doctors are widely regarded as health experts, the truth is that most of them know very little at all about health. Doctors are, in fact, experts in illness and disease.

When you’re already sick or badly injured a doctor may well be the best person to go to but in terms of maintaining or improving health they know very little indeed. For example, a recent study paper showed that 75% medical schools surveyed failed to reach their quota of 25 hours of nutrition education during the entire 4 year course.

We’re talking about doctors here!

Most of them have not had a single week of nutrition education during their entire educational and professional careers. And if their nutritional education is lacking, their knowledge exercise and fitness is practically non-existent.

Still think it’s your doctors’ job to keep you healthy?

It’s not the media’s job to keep you healthy.

As obvious as that statement is, there are still far, far too many people who get their ‘health’ advice from magazines, daytime TV shows and celebrity watching through the media.

They reason (I guess) that if it’s on TV or in the papers it must be true yet, if it were then it wouldn’t change from week to week would it?

You wouldn’t follow high protein one week and macrobiotic the next just because some Hollywood celebrity was reported to be following it would you?

Yeah, right!

Look, the media are about one thing and one thing only; selling their stories to magazines, radio or TV. It’s not about what’s the best, what’s the safest or even what’s the fastest.

They’re about one thing above all. News. But news doesn’t make you healthy does it?

Nor does following a dietary regime simply because someone from a movie is doing it (Besides, they neglected to tell you about the 2 hours a day with their trainer, the 1 hour a day of yoga, biking for 45 minutes, their afternoon massage and their sauna and steam that they were doing alongside their ‘miracle’ cookie diet!).

It’s not the food producers’ job to keep you healthy.

The food producers aren’t interested in keeping you healthy. They’re interested in keeping you spending!

Who do you think it was that created all the e-numbers, long worded ingredients you can’t pronounce, additives and addictives to your food in the first place?

Who do you think it was that spent BILLIONS each and every year to practically hypnotize you into eating it?

Who stands to lose out if you stop buying denatured, additive enhanced, nutrient poor foods?

So not only isn’t it their job to ensure you have clean, good, wholesome food, it’s not even in their best interests to do so!

See, that’s what I mean about it being your fault because it’s clearly not theirs!

But maybe the word ‘fault’ is a little to strong. Maybe I should have just said ‘responsibility’.

Yeah, that’s more like it.

YOU are responsible for your health. No-one else.

YOU are the only person who can do anything at all about making and keeping yourself healthy across the course of your life and when you’re not it’s because you’ve handed over responsibility to someone else.

Don’t pretend you didn’t know this…

Let’s not kid ourselves any longer.

When it comes to what you’re eating on a day to day basis, you know exactly what’s right and what’s wrong don’t you?

You know, for instance that including plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables into your diet every day is a step in the right direction, right?

Sure you do, there’s not a single person on the planet, kids included, that doesn’t know this yet for some reason it’s a conveniently forgotten truth when it comes to shopping for groceries.

You know also (even if you’re vegan or vegetarian) that a diet that includes fresh meat, fish and poultry is superior in quality that has been allowed to roam free and graze on grass and grain is healthier than animals that are farmed intensively, injected with antibiotics and steroids and fed on animal remains and ‘slops’, yet you still buy the awful stuff ‘because it’s cheaper’.

You’ve known all along that a bunch of food additives that make your drinks and candies fluorescent blue and ‘taste funny’ aren’t good for you haven’t you?

Yet you still buy them for yourself and your kids ‘because they like them’.

You also know that a diet high in sugar is bad for you don’t you? You’ve both seen ad felt its effects in both yourself and others and have often commented that you ‘really should cut down’ but, for some reason, you never really get around to it.

And you’ve certainly known for some time that there are certain things, certain foods and drinks that when you take them just make you feel YUK!

Yet you, like most other people, continue to eat them and drink them because you say you like them when, in truth, you’re addicted to them… and you know that too!

So, you see, its not that you don’t know what to do. You do, and you have all along.

The trouble is, you don’t do what you know.

Worse, you don’t do what you know and you make all kinds of excuses about why you can’t or why it wouldn’t work for you even if you did.

The truth is, if you did what you know you need to do, what your instincts have told you many times that you need to do then you’d see results.

But you’re not… so you don’t.

Time to stop pretending!

Let me know what you think?

The Medical Community Doesn’t Get What We Do

This is an entertaining guest post that may ruffle a few feathers from Thomas Plummer an authority on the business of fitness. Thomas usually isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

I must say after reading the post myself,  I am grateful and fortunate to have relationships with some of the best MD’s and alternative practitioners in the Boston medical community.

The last blog on personal responsibility triggered a small debate concerning how we as an industry can induce a tighter bond between the fitness world and the medical community. We all dream of this partnership and the money it can provide, but there are huge barriers that are preventing this with both sides unable to solve the issues that could bring us together.

Paul Grymkowski, one of the legends in this business who was instrumental in building the Gold’s gym brand into an international presence, asked in his response to my last blog how we can get both sides to understand and build a continuum of care that would benefit both the fitness world and the national health of this country.

First of all, the new generation of fitness professional is seeking a wellness solution for their members, which is something the chains have been unable or unwilling to go after in the clubs. This total fitness and wellness solution often contains total body functional training, nutrition guidance and weight management, supplement support, and other keys to a sustainable healthy lifestyle. Our weakness is that few clubs have all these components as part of their normal offering but that is changing, especially in the smaller clubs (3000-12,000 square feet) built upon the premise of providing a complete solution to living a healthier lifestyle.

On the other hand are the clubs that work against almost everything that is right for the client. These membership mills do nothing more than take membership money, turn numbers and rent equipment. Sadly, we are more known for these clubs in the industry instead of the ones trying to move us into this century.

In most clubs, if you actually get in shape walking on a treadmill by yourself a few nights a week after work it is more likely an act of God feeling sorry for your fat ass and lack of social life rather than a solid fitness program. The large majority of people left to their own devices do not understand fitness and simply push a few machines and spend an hour at a very slow pace walking on a tread and watching Oprah. You might feel a little better compared to sitting at home staring at a mind numbing television show but nothing is happening to that forty-pound bag of donuts hanging off your ass and there is definitely nothing happening that would excite a major health insurer enough to pay for you to be there.

But again, we know how to provide fitness today and many clubs are providing a complete solution although it is seldom sold that way to the members. We still do nothing more in most fitness facilities than push low intensity, self-directed activity to lose weight and manage health and don’t offer any type of real health and wellness support. Most clubs shy away from this level of sophistication because they simply don’t have the skilled personnel to provide this help and others fail the consumer because they are too cheap and can’t charge for the service.

What all this means is that while we are weak at offering total support for a healthy lifestyle at many clubs there are a rising number of smaller facilities that would qualify for an insurance boost because they can track attendance, offer weight management, and talk about lifestyle changes that negate fitness in the real world and these clubs would be an ideal blend with the insurance world.

On the other side of the debate, medical people don’t get fitness. I was recently diagnosed with a mild case of atrial fibrillation and then sent into the equivalent of medical purgatory, where I have been tested, probed, received three cardioversions, and put on medicine that was supposed to improve my health but did nothing more than make me want to lay under my desk and sleep. After almost a year of chasing rhythm my doctors have decided that maybe all that wasn’t really necessary and maybe just an aspirin a day is all I really need.

I did, however, learn things along the journey. First of all, some of the fattest people, most out of shape people I have seen work in the largest cardio specialty clinic on Cape Cod. Out of the large number of staff wandering the halls supporting at least 10 doctors only three would qualify as in shape and the rest would fall into the Wal-Mart Saturday morning Little Debbie crowd. There is also a small percentage of the doctors that are in horrible shape, which you might consider ironic considering their specialty. Obviously most live in the world of “do as I say not as I do”.

The second more frightening thing is their willingness to just prescribe drugs to everyone they meet as patients and most of these drugs are things that they casually prescribe for the rest of your life. This shouldn’t surprise me, however, since the calendars in the offices were all furnished by drug companies, the check out person was drinking coffee out of a large cup with the name of a drug on the side and many of the other charts and illustrations on most of the walls were proudly provided by drug companies who splashed their names prominently on each piece.

Lifetime drugs mean lifetime patients and while the doctors may not be thinking that way visiting their offices is sort of like going to a PGA event where the average player has about 7-8 different logos on his shirt. If you are displaying that many logos the perception is that someone must be paying you.

We discussed drugs often but we spent very little time on health and wellness. I was by far one of the youngest patients through their clinic, which is quite amazing at 56, but sadly every solution was a drug to take the rest of your life with a minimal discussion of what those drugs might do to you and the quality of your life.

My experience highlights why we will find it so difficult to build a bond between what we do and what the belief system of a doctor in our country is taught to do. Doctors don’t understand fitness, few proscribe anything beyond walking a little and cutting back on whatever is considered bad food in the press, and lifestyle is vaguely discussed because if the doctor learns too much it might get in the way of presecribing the drugs.

In our world, we want to prevent illness. In their world, they only treat symptoms and most doctors don’t seem to have the time to find out why things are going bad and how to change things further up the line that might be causing those symptoms.

Every insurance company in the country should be paying for a fitness membership, but how do you verify compliance? Every insurance company should be offering weight management help but no one can agree on what we should be eating or which diet we should be on although why we don’t at least go after soft drinks, junk food and high fructose corn syrup is beyond my limited wisdom.

We should also build a new version of BMI and reward people who maintain a lower, healthier weight instead of telling a professional athlete that according to the current system he has an index of 30 and is obese though he is as healthy as he will ever be in his life.

We should be the first thing a doctor prescribes to any patient if we can live up to that responsibility by providing a solid product and support that really works. At this point, too few of us in the industry can provide the verification that fitness as practiced in this specific facility can make a difference in someone’s life.

The good news is while not now then soon. The old dogs are dying and the new owners are rising and may they howl at the moon for the next ten years. Modern fitness works, is verifiable and there are owners who provide total support for a lifestyle change. Our time is coming but we have a little dead weight to get off our shoulders first.

I Love My Legs

Guest Post Article – by Rachel Cosgrove:

I love my legs!

It all started in dance class, looking into the mirror at my legs which were not as long and thin as I would like them to be. Other dancers in my class had long legs, but I was all torso with short legs. I used to use tricks such as hiking up my leotard with a string that I used to tie through and in the back with a bow to make it high cut showing more hip making my legs look longer. I also used to get in trouble from my dance teacher because I would tie a sweatshirt around my waist to cover up my lower body. And like many women, when I sat in a chair with shorts on I was self conscious of how my thighs spread and if I got a glimpse of myself in a window my eyes would go straight to my legs thinking – “Ugh! My legs are so chunky.” I also remember standing in the mirror and from behind grabbing my inner thighs to see what I would look like if my thighs were thin and didn’t touch. C’mon girls, you have all done this…if only I had longer, thinner legs…

My legs were strong and had muscle and could do lots of turns in dance class, I could even do the splits. Actually I tore my hamstring doing the splits when I arrived for a performance late and didn’t warm up and went in to the dance cold and dropped in to a split and ripped my hamstring. I had to wear a big brace to school and hobble around. But my hamstring miraculously healed and I was able to do the splits again. Isn’t the human body amazing – how resilient it is? But I never appreciated this; instead I just hated my legs.

As I started to learn more about exercise science and realized all of the aerobics I was doing might not be helping my lower body situation and was making me store more fat than I was burning there, I switched up my exercise routine and made strength training my priority workout. My legs started to look closer to the shape I wanted, looking more toned and defined.

But I could do all of the Pilates and stretching I wanted and my legs are not going to become “long lean dancers legs.” They were still short and still my least favorite part of my body. Even with being in the best shape of my life, my legs would still be my least favorite part. When I competed in fitness competitions my abdominals would get leaner and leaner and my legs were the very last to respond. I would usually stick with baggy black pants, the baggier the better!

The ironic thing is I married a man who happens to be a “legs” guy. He loves it when I wear a short skirt and show off my legs and he loves my legs. If I had a choice I would always wear pants, but with his encouragement occasionally I started to wear skirts. Isn’t it interesting how my least favorite part of my body is his most favorite part? Sometimes we girls are just so hard on ourselves instead of enjoying our bodies.

But this past year I had a huge realization about me and my relationship with my legs. I finished writing my book, The Female Body Breakthrough, and in my Fit Female Credo I have a ton of stuff about mindset and having positive mental dialogue and how powerful it is. And every once in awhile I would still catch myself having the occasional negative thought of, “My legs look fat.” I always catch myself and say something positive immediately because I know how damaging this mental dialogue can be, but I was disappointed at how often this would pop in my head.

Between my legs looking closer to the way I want them to(they still aren’t long ) by using strength training and wearing skirts more often and the fact that I had graduated from my big baggy black pants to tight black pants that hugged my butt and legs, I was pretty proud of myself and how far I had come. I feel confident wearing and showing off my butt and legs in tight pants and tight jeans and in a skirt and do it more often and very rarely have issues with my legs anymore.

As confident as I feel now about my body(which I do) I am still a woman…. And occasionally even I would slip back into my old ways and have negative thoughts enter my head about my legs. Then a client said something to me – “You always wear black pants. So do I because it hides my legs.” And I thought to myself…hmmm, why do I always “hide my legs” with black pants because I wanted to tell her, “You should show off your legs – they look great and you have worked hard to look as amazing as you do!”…but I couldn’t because I was guilty of the same thoughts – to “hide my legs” with black pants. I was still self conscious of my legs.

Then I had lunch with a friend who I used to dance with and she mentioned something about how she wore pants because there was no way she wanted to show her legs off in the gym where she was meeting me because she was self conscious about her legs. Again this seemed absurd – why would she think that she has to wear pants to come in the gym? She isn’t overweight and in fact looks great. But then I realized these are the exact same thoughts that I have.

A few weeks ago I started training for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) Half Ironman and am raising money for the organization. My niece is my inspiration and is who I am doing it in honor of because she is going to be able to benefit from CAF and what they offer to get her involved in sports she may otherwise not be able to play. I was out on my bike riding 50 miles or something crazy like that and it hit me – Why in the world would I ever spend another day, minute, second not being completely grateful for my legs and what I can do with them – I can run, I can bike, I can lift weights, I can dance, I can do anything with these wonderful legs and my niece would love to have them. I love my legs! My legs should be my most favorite body part, not my least!

You see, my niece came in to this world with determination, born 3 months premature and weighing only 2 pounds. She is truly a miracle. She spent the first months of her life in an incubator at UCLA to continue her development until her lungs were strong enough to breathe on her own. She had to have Lasik eye surgery a couple times because her eyes weren’t developed yet, she also had to have a shunt put into her head which drains fluid off of her brain and she will have that for her lifetime. And as she grew into the unstoppable girl that she is now we discovered that being born premature had resulted in her having Cerebral Palsy (CP). Her CP affects her lower body and basically means that her nervous system is telling her legs to be switched on all the time so she can’t relax her muscles and then contract them, instead they are always contracted and in tone. This makes it difficult for her to control her legs and walk without a walker. She has to wear braces to put her feet and ankles in a position so that she can walk on them. She can take a couple of steps, but needs a walker or help for anymore and is unable to run. This is a permanent condition and will not get worse, but is not something she will grow out of. She has hit many milestones in her development and has pushed her limits to do more than the doctors thought she would. When she was first diagnosed, the doctor said – “See how she doesn’t move one leg and then the other.” Well, within the week she was moving one leg and then the other. Then it was that she couldn’t go from kneeling to up on her knees and once again she was kneeling no problem within the week. It was like she just needed to hear what she couldn’t do and she was determined to prove them wrong. After being told she would never be able to get around on her own she now, using a walker and with braces on, gets around with no problem.

Marie is 7 years old now and has had more obstacles in her first years of life than most of us will ever have in our lifetime. Heck this little girl has had 5 brain surgeries, and 2 Lasik eye surgeries and she is legally blind in one eye. So having CP isn’t going to get her down or keep her from doing everything she wants. Where there is a will there is a way, and let me tell you this little girl has the will! She has an amazing personality, is so outgoing and smart and is one of the most popular girls in school because she is so friendly. The last thing she wants is for you to feel sorry for her. She just wants to be your friend and may need some help getting around every once in awhile, but loves to have fun! Like I said, she came in to this world determined and will go after and have everything she wants in life. Nothing will stop my niece as she grows up and overcomes the obstacles she has been faced with at such a young age. She is always asking me to go exercise and loves coming to the gym to do a workout never putting any limitations on her self.

Despite having, as my niece’s best friend at school puts it, “legs that don’t work very well”, my niece will grow up being active, using her body and loving her legs and everything she has because she is a miracle. She doesn’t see any limits for herself. I hope to inspire her to be the best she can be. I feel like my niece and I are kindred spirits – she inspires me everyday and my motivation for what I do in life is to be a role model for her as she grows up.

I think about her when I think about the vision for our gym in 5-10 years and how it will be a place she can come to exercise, she can work, and be involved in exercise and fitness. I think about her when I work out and how I have no excuse because she doesn’t give herself an excuse. She inspires me every day.

Then it hit me – How can I possibly hope to be an inspiration to my niece if I am still having occasional thoughts that my legs are fat. How can I even think that? Why would that even cross my mind?

I have no reason to complain. I vow that I will never ever have even a fleeting negative thought, feel ashamed, self conscious, or ever feel anything other than total and complete appreciation for my legs and what I can do with them. I will wear shorts and skirts more often, I will show them off and I will even try to stray from my favorite black pants every once in awhile. Although I do love my black lululemon pants, so no promises to not still have them as a staple in my wardrobe, but I promise to not use them to “hide my legs” and instead to show off my legs! My legs will be one of my favorite parts of my body!

I hope this article will open the eyes of other women in the world who might feel self conscious about their legs to once and for all enjoy your body! Enjoy your legs! Run and cycle more miles with them, lift more weight with them, dance to more songs with them, do those last few reps you didn’t want to do with them in your workout and never ever have a negative thought about your legs again! Think about my niece who doesn’t complain and I think you can agree you have no reason to complain!

How Healthy is Running?

Guest Blog Post from Mike Robertson

A few days ago, I reviewed a NY Times article which espoused the benefits of running on joint health.  If you’d like to see my entire write-up, I’ve provided the blog link below:

Running Blog

The biggest issue I had was when the author stated that the best way to keep your knees healthy was to “not get injured.”

Really?  It’s that simple, eh? (Cue Canadian Flag and maple syrup)

So that got me thinking – how many runners get injured every year?

And while I know people love to run, what can they do to prevent injuries?

Obviously I’m biased because I think strength training and other forms of energy system training (EST) are superior, but let’s see what kind of information is out there.  My goal was to go into this without my typical bias towards running.  I did, after all, compete in cross country in high school!

Let’s begin by going over some of the relevant research that’s available first and foremost.

Jacobs SJ, Berson BL.  Injuries to runners: a study of entrants to a 10,000 meter race.  Am J Sports Med.  1978;6(2):40-50.

In this study, Jacobs et. al provided a questionnaire to 451 entrants of a 10k race.  47% of the entrants had suffered an injury in the past 2 years.  After digging a little bit deeper, the following factors were associated with injury:

-       More miles per week

-       More days per week

-       Faster race pace

-       More races per year

One final note:  The questionnaire also covered treatment of said injuries, and in this case 76% who received care had reported good to excellent recovery.

Lysholm J, Wiklander J.  Injuries in runners.  Am J Sports Med.  1987;15(2):168-71.

In this study 60 runners were followed over the course of a year.  Out of those 60, 39 suffered injuries.  What’s even scarier, out of those 39 participants they actually suffered 55 injuries!  That means that many of these runners suffered multiple injuries within the same calendar year!

The study goes on to compare the differences between sprinters, middle distance runners, and marathoners.  I was most interested in the middle distance runners, because this description covers the “recreational” runner who saunters into your facility.  Not surprisingly, the most often injured  areas to these runners are backache and hip problems.

This confirms a lot of what we see at IFAST – the prototypical “rec runner” has terrible core and hip stability.  Typically their first 2-3 months with us is just building these up to more normal levels so they can resume training.

One final point to note: This study mentions that marathoners were actually injured less frequently than sprinters and middle distance runners per 1,000 hours of training.  Now, I’m not ready to take this 100% at face value, as a whole host of factors need to considered here.  Quite simply, there’s a profound difference between the training styles of all three types of athletes including training intensity, what constitutes “training” (marathoners just run for a long time, sprinters run really fast then take long breaks, etc.) , but it leads me to the following question:

Could it just be that people who run marathons are biomechanically more efficient and basically born to run compared to their lesser counterparts?

It’s definitely something to take into account.

Macera CA, Pate RR, Powell KE, Jackson KL, Kendrick JS, Craven TE.  Predicting lower-extremity injuries among habitual runners.  Arch Intern Med.  1989;149(11):2565-8.

In this study, 583 runners were followed for one year.  In that time frame, 252 men (52%) and 48 women (49%) suffered injuries.  This study wasn’t particular illuminating, but it did confirm that

-  One of the greatest risk factors for future injury was a previous injury

-  You were at increased risk if you’d been running less than 3 years

Marti B, Vader JP, Minder CE, Abelin T.  On the epidemiology of running injuries.  The 1984 Bern Grand-Prix study.  Am J Sports Med.  1988;16(3):285-94.

The researchers in this study used a questionnaire to determine the injuries of participants in a 16 km race.  Out of 4,358 male runners, 45.8% had sustained injuries in the previous year.  Risk factors for injury included more mileage, and a history of previous running injuries.

Following our earlier thinking, this study went on to describe that in 33-44 year olds (1,757 participants) the number of years running was inversely related to the incidence of injuries.

Walter SD, Hart LE, McIntosh JM, Sutton JR.  The Ontario cohort study of running-related injuries.  Arch Intern Med.  1989; 149(11):2561-4.

In this study, 1680 runners were followed for one year.  In that time frame, 48% suffered at least one injury.  Again, the greatest risk factor for injury was a high mileage.

Most importantly for our purposes, runners who were injured the previous year were at 50% higher risk for a new injury during the follow-up period.

Summing up the Literature Review

While this is definitely just a cursory review of the literature, it definitely provides us with some food for thought.  Here are the cliff notes, in case you didn’t read all that!

-       Anywhere from 45-65% of runners will be injured in a given year.

-       Running mileage seems to be heavily associated with injury.

-       Previous injury is a great predictor of future injury.

-       New runners seem to be at increased risk when compared to older runners (not necessarily in regards to chronological age, but “running” age).

MR’s Current Thoughts on Running

After reviewing the literature, here are some thoughts I have in regards to running:

-       I’m starting to think that running isn’t that far off from the Bulgarian system of weightlifting.  If you’re unfamiliar with the Bulgarian system, it’s best described as a meat grinder.  Take a ton of athletes, put them through intense workouts multiple times per day, and whatever comes out on the back end comprises your Olympic team.

Is recreational running really that much different?  It’s not on the same level, but sit back and think about it for a second.

Several of the above studies mention that those who have been running longer are actually less likely to get injured.  Again, it comes down to biomechanics – who is biomechanically designed to run?  Those people who are genetically gifted and built to run typically do so more successfully, and with fewer injuries than their counterparts.  The Bulgarian weight lifting team is going to be comprised of the guys who can best tolerate the workloads associated with their sport.

Running is no different.  While everyone thinks the can run, it’s more selective than we give it credit for.

Let’s take it a step further and think about it in this regard:  Michael Phelps wouldn’t be the greatest swimmer in the world if he was 5′2″ with a short spine.  Usain Bolt wouldn’t be the greatest sprinter in the world if he was 5′10″ or had stubby legs.

I’m sure people will hold me to the stake for comparing elite/Olympic level athletes to recreational runners, but the point I’m trying to get across is that whether you want to admit it or not, genetics play a role.  Great runners are genetically predisposed to run.  Recreational runners, on the other hand, are not only going to be less successful, but they’ll generally take more lumps along the way as well.

-       I’m still shocked at how many runners think “time off” is a magic bullet.  Research clearly shows that if you’ve been injured before, you are at an increased risk to get injured again!  The car analogy gets a little overplayed, but it makes great sense – if a car is out of alignment, putting it in the garage for a few weeks will keep it from getting worse, but it won’t address the problem.  The second you take it back out on the road and start cranking things up, the underlying issues are still there.

-       Along those same lines, if you DO get injured, it’s in your best interest to determine what your biomechanical issues are and address them ASAP.  There is no magic bullet – but if you really enjoy running, you’re going to have to do MORE than simply run to get healthy.

At IFAST we typically use a multi-faceted approach that incorporates soft-tissue work, mobility training, acute corrective strategies, strength training, and even static stretching to address the underlying issues.

If you don’t fix what needs fixed, you’re going to be left spinning your wheels.

-       Finally, for those of you just getting into running (or getting back into running), you absolutely, positively must ease into your mileage.  Again, it’s been proven time and again that running mileage is heavily correlated to injury.

Returning to our car analogy, the longer you drive that car the more any little issues are going to be exposed.  The same thing holds true for your body – the further you run, the more those little flaws or asymmetries are exposed.

This was meant to be a quick and dirty blog post, but it turned into something much, much larger.  Hopefully if you are a runner, or work with runners, it’s provided you with some insight into getting (and keeping) people healthier over the long haul.

In the future, I’ll be sure to review some more literature on the topic, along with provide insight into our training methods.  Until then, good luck and good training!

Stay strong

MR