Ball of (Muscle) Confusion...

Flip through the TV channels most mornings and you can’t miss the infomercials for workouts like P90X or Insanity. Watch for a few minutes and you’ll hear terms like “muscle confusion” or “maximum interval training”. They go from blah to buff in no time with no gym, no trainer and no nutritionist. The promise of quick results has won over many trainers and people looking to get in shape – especially Hollywood stars, who often have very little time to transform their bodies.
But what about us regular people? Do we really need to confuse our muscles or does that just make working out more confusing? And what exactly IS muscle confusion? Put simply, muscle confusion is the principle of changing your routines to keep your body guessing. The human body is very efficient at adapting to its environment. Adherents argue that when we do the same workout over and over, the body's muscles dull to the routine, and any gains made in size and strength eventually plateau. By constantly mixing up exercises, sets and reps, muscles become “confused”, forcing them to work harder and therefore burn more calories. This principle is all about ensuring you have variety in your workouts.
Since I wasn’t quite ready to order the DVDs myself, I decided to talk to one of my former clients who is currently doing the program. Kelley spends about 10 hours a day as a surgical physician’s assistant, so meeting with a trainer or going to the gym became more and more difficult for her. “I’d come home and it was pitch dark, freezing cold and the dog needed to go out. The last thing I wanted to do was leave & go to the gym to work out!” Along with her husband, she began the P90X program this past December.
She described the program as a 13 week (two four-week phases and one 5 week phase) commitment that mixes weights, cardio, ab work, plyometrics, Kempo (kickboxing), yoga and stretching. The “Classic’ phase offers a different workout every day with a larger focus on strength training. The “Lean” phase provides more cardio and less weight training and the “Doubles” phase has some days with two a day workouts and extra cardio. Some of the workouts are 45 minutes, some one hour, with 15 minutes of additional ab training.
All twelve DVDs are included in the set along with a workout and nutrition book. You can also purchase the P90X chin-up bar, bands, push-up bars and recovery formula powder. Kelley uses a preprinted P90X log to set and record workout goals. Since December, she has reduced her hips by 2 inches, waist by 2 ½ inches and dropped 4 pounds. The weight loss might not sound like a lot, but she’s gone down two sizes in her pants and it’s great therapy working out with a partner/husband/friend, too.
I spoke with a few others who have tried the program and seen successful results as well. So does that mean you should try it? Only if you’re willing to commit to the whole plan. It doesn’t work if you only do it sporadically. The program uses the tag line “Just press play..”, but if you also change the channel, you won’t get the same outcome.
Also, a DVD can’t really tell you if you’re doing an exercise correctly, so there is always the potential for doing the exercises incorrectly and not getting good results or the possibility of injuring yourself.
And even if the man on the DVD is yelling and screaming at you to push yourself, a real live trainer will likely drive you harder (I’m just sayin’). As Ross McConnell, a trainer at my gym, says “Until you’ve had your #%@ handed to you by a personal trainer, do not open your mouth and say you can get the same thing from a book or magazine” (or DVD).
Trainer? PX90 ?Trainer? PX90? I’m so confused!!!

"Whatever You Do, Take Care of Your Shoes..."

When I first started working out, there wasn’t a huge collection of different shoe types. I went from walking shoes to running shoes to cross trainers over the years, but I’ve kind of stuck with a brand that fits my wide foot and haven’t changed the style much. I can always tell when it’s time for new shoes because my knees and back start to hurt and my workout suffers.
But lately, I’ve seen some really cool shoes around. My daughter first bought a pair of dark grey and neon pink Nike Lunar Lites and then I began to see trainers at my gym wearing Reebok Zig Zag shoes and the green and orange neon Lunar Lites as well. My son picked up a pair too (green, not pink!) and suddenly my white Adidas looked kind of sad.
Before I made a change, I thought it best to figure out just how to find the right shoe for me.
First and foremost is getting the right size, so have your foot measured frequently. Steven Raiken, MD. the director of the foot and ankle service at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia says, “Foot size does change as we get older, so have your feet measured twice a year. Sizes also vary between brands, so go by what fits, not by what size the shoe is."
Also, it’s best to shop for shoes toward the end of the day. Feet tend to swell as the day goes on and as you run and walk, so try on shoes when your feet are the largest. Make sure you bring the same socks you would normally wear while working out, and if you wear orthotics, bring those too.
And don't think you’ll just get used to the shoe after you break it in. Running and walking shoes should feel comfortable right away, Raiken says. Walk or run around the store (better to look stupid now then be in pain later) to make sure they feel good in action.
The heel of the shoe should fit snugly and you should have enough room to wiggle your toes (about 3/8 to ½ inch between the front of the shoe and your big toe).
And believe it or not, some of the cool features like air or gel inserts and zig zag or springy bottoms actually serve a purpose, absorbing shock or adding extra support.
Know when to replace shoes, too. Don’t go by how worn the top of the shoe is. It might not have any scuffs or wear, but once the back of the sole is worn out or the shoe feels uncomfortable or less supportive, it’s time for a new pair. Typically, you should replace running shoes about every 400 miles, workout shoes about every 5-7 months, and aerobic shoes about every 100-120 hours of use.
Personally, I wear the same shoe (a running shoe) for weight training, cycling, aerobics/cardio, and dance, but if you can afford it, sport specific shoes are a plus. The stiffer spinning shoes keep your feet clipped to the pedals for more power while cycling, walking shoes are stiffer than running shoes with greater cushioning in the ball of the foot, and running shoes are created for forward motion and offer ankle support. To find a variety of running shoes:
www.runnersworld.com/topic/0,7122,s6-240-400-0-0,00.html

If dance is part of your routine, you may need “dansneakers; like sneakers with a split side. Although the soles are rubber, they allow rotation on the ball of the foot and don’t stick to the floor.
I’ve also seen the new “toning” shoes that claim to build muscle tone and increase calf and gluteal muscle activity. Whether it’s the MBT, Shape Up from Skechers, or Easy Tone by Reebok (they have a great marketing campaign), the jury is still out on the shoes.
Your best bet is to know your foot idiosyncrasies and the type of activity you’ll be doing. Do your research before buying shoes at a larger chain store or online. A smaller store geared to running, biking or dance can give you more personal attention, but may cost a bit more.
In the meantime, just check out what people who do the same activities as you are wearing. In a TV or magazine ad, a shoe modeled by an elite athlete always looks good. But before you buy, find out what fits and what works for “real” people like you.

"Saved By The Bell(s)..."

My 90 year-old mother’s motto is “You’re never too old to learn something new!” She plays piano, bridge and card games. She takes water aerobics and rides a recumbent bike. She’s on her computer every day and even has a Facebook page. Open to new experiences, she never gets stale or stuck in her ways. I think she tricks her body into thinking it’s starting over and that’s how she stays young. It’s like that with your workout. If you keep doing the same routine over and over, things stay the same. With that in mind, I decided I needed some new tricks up my sleeve and signed up for a training seminar.
Talk about doing something different! The first instructor had us out in the parking lot carrying sandbags, pulling sleds and yes, pushing cars; his rationale being that intervals of work can beat out rhythmic cardio for fat burning. While I agreed with him in theory, I don’t think you’ll see me doing the Plane Pull, Fridge Carry, or the Anvil Carry and Drag in ESPN’s World’s Strongest Man Competition. However, the other workshops introduced me to some new equipment and a better way to use some others.
I learned about a new variation of the stability ball called the Bosu Ballast Ball. Now if you’ve been in a gym in the last ten years, you’ve definitely seen a stability ball, but the BOSU Ballast Ball is the first new innovation to the original I’ve seen that makes sense. The Ballast Ball has about 3-5 pounds of a grainy sand-like material inside which really challenges the core. The ballast also acts as a stabilizer when the ball is on the ground, so you have more options for the exercises you can do on it. Also, the ballast (sand) is loose and shifts around inside, giving you both visual and audible cues for how to do different exercises You can do all the familiar exercises while sitting, lying and leaning on the balls, but the more you use it, the more the advantages of the sand ballast become apparent. The added weight also allows the Ballast Ball to act somewhat like a medicine ball when you perform swinging and rotational movements. The sand makes it really challenging to try and stabilize your body and forces you to tighten your abdominal and core muscles, and the filling can increase the intensity of an exercise when you shift it around in a circular or wave-like motion. You can actually jerk the ball to make the filling fly to one side, then the other, which forces you to really engage your core muscles (or get thrown off-balance).
I bought one of the balls and have been experimenting with it ever since. Because the ball is stable, you can squat and sit on it without it rolling away. The ball stays in place, adding more variety and stability to my workouts. You can also combine exercises for some great functional training. One move we learned in the workshop (also shown in the video that comes with the ball) involves squatting to the ball, hinging back for a crunch, and standing back up to work the core and lower back. The move really hits deeper core muscles from the crunch to the stand. Unfortunately, I have yet to see one of the Ballast Balls in a gym, but it is available to order (with a training DVD) at either:

http://www.bosu.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BOSU/itemdetl.html?item=BOSU_Ballast_Pro
or
http://www.power-systems.com/p-3789-bosu-ballast-ball.aspx

In the next workshop, the focus was on something called kettlebells. Kettlebells require you to focus on whole-body conditioning because lifting and controlling a kettlebell forces the entire body, and specifically the core, to contract as a group, building both strength and stability at the same time.
Traditional weights work in just one plane of motion and rely on leverage and static fixed positions, but in daily life our bodies move in three planes of motion. The moment you pick up a kettlebell it triggers instability, which engages all 38-core muscles. When used correctly, kettlebells also engage all four major body systems - Nervous, Cardiovascular, Muscular and Skeletal.
Originally used in Russia, the kettlebell became a tool for strongmen performing feats, The kettelbell's center of gravity is 6-8 inches below the center of your hand. This increases the difficulty and benefit of many of the exercise you do. Kettlebells also offer users a wider range of motion than dumbbells that just sit in the palm of the hand, and they also better simulate the way we carry things in our daily lives. I for one was worn out after the instructor had us doing “pick ups”, “swings”, “push-presses”, and “Turkish get-ups”, along with traditional squats, lunges, and deadlifts (made even more difficult with the bells).
Most gyms have some form of kettlebells available, but you would be wise to spend a session working with a trainer who can teach you how to safely work with kettlebells and show you the various grips and movements. You can also order a set with a training DVD or book at http://www.power-systems.com/s-3-kettlebells.aspx
In the lululemon (I really don't work for them; I just love their philosophy and clothes!) manifesto, they say to “Do One Thing A Day That Scares You”. I guess my mom has taught me the same credo, so I was glad I tried something new. It WAS difficult, and to tell you the truth, the guy making me pull sleds and push cars did kind of scare me. But I ended up really learning and enjoying something different. So, don’t let your fear of the unknown keep you from trying something new in your workout. Who knows, you might actually like it!