It's That Time of Year

I'm driving through Wellesley last Saturday morning and I realize what my next blog post is going to be. Every Saturday and Sunday morning from January to April, there will be packs of runners crossing through Wellesley into Newton along Route 16. And every time I see these packs of runners, I cringe. They way some of these people are running looks so painful to me. And if you can get a look at the expression on their face, you know they really are hurting. And I bet a good percentage of these runners (if that's what you want to call them) is dealing with some sort of injury: a calf strain, shin splints, plantar fasciaitis or some other -itis. And I'd also bet a good percentage of these people have no business training for the marathon, unless they are willingly committed to destroying their joints.

I'm one to talk. I've run three Boston marathons, so I'm putting myself in this group. But not once did I very feel good during training. My feet always ached. My back was always sore. I developed shin splints. I ran through a stress reaction in my hip. I strained my calf numerous times. And the last time I strained it was at mile 5 of last years' marathon. Feeling I had to finish the race, I ran through the strain making it worse and worse. I limped to the finish and limped for about 4 weeks after that on a swollen and purple lower leg. All of this to run a 4 hour marathon. No prize money. Just a mylar blanket to keep me warm.

Needless to say, most of us are not made for this type of training. We are not made to jog. We were made to walk or to run, not jog. Jogging is just an incomplete biomechanical pattern that is repeated over and over again. It's not good for you. But that is not going to sway any of these marathon "joggers". They're going to to train for that marathon no matter how bad any one tells them it is for them. So a couple words of advice for these lunatics , "Take care of yourself". Foam roll. Stretch. Strength train. Cross train. Training for that marathon is not just about running, it's about staying injury free.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: DB Floor Press

I feel the dumbbell floor press is effective in three situations :

1. When coming off a shoulder injury, I'll use it early on in the progression back to full range of motion pressing exercises. And to make it even less stressful on the shoulders, use a neutral grip.
   
2. For triceps work. It's less stressful on the elbows than extensions and the triceps responds better to heavier loads. No pink dumbbells will be used here.
   
3. If someone is having a tough time locking out the top half of a bench press.

The exercise is pretty straight forward. Just perform a dumbbell bench press from the floor, lowering the dumbbells until your elbows come in contact with the floor. In order to make this exercise really effective, take a 1-2 second pause when your elbows touch the floor. But do not relax the triceps in this position. Try to keep tension in that bottom position and then return to the starting position by extending your elbows.

What Not To Do

A good amount of injuries are related to posture. And a good amount of injuries can be prevented if your static and dynamic posture is taken into consideration. If you've been sitting at a desk, behind the wheel of a car or sitting in front of your computer looking for Patriots tickets on Ebay all day, here are five things you shouldn't be doing while you're at the gym:

1. Get on the bike. Find a better option to warm up or do your cardio work. You've been seated most of the day, probably hunched over. So stand up, straighten out and get tall!!!!
2. Bench Press. Rather than tightening up your internal rotators even more, work on some rowing exercises or any type of rhomboid and mid-trap work.
3. Seated Military Press, Seated Triceps Extensions, Seated Hip Abduction....anything seated. This goes back to my first point. We're not made to sit on our butts all day, so stand up get get tall!!
4. Bicep Curls. Your arms may look great, but all that biceps work combined with terrible posture is a recipe for shoulder injuries.
5. Crunches. Same thing as the first four points. You're reinforcing that awful, shortened posture. There are plenty of other ways to work your abdominal area: reverse crunches, planks, woodchops, Russian twists, etc..

I told you so

I've been preaching the benefits of strength training to people for years. Well, if you still don't believe me or ma be you just do not want to lift weights, take a look at the article that was in today's Boston Globe, The Unsung Benefits of Lifting Weights.

It's not earth shattering stuff, but it gets to the point. The research and studies do not lie so why are people still afraid of lifting weights?

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Workout Finisher

Much as been made of "finishers" lately. What is a "finisher? A finisher is an exercise or series of exercises placed at the end of your workout designed to finish your workout and you off. It takes the place of the 10-15 minutes of lazy, ineffective, pointless, low intensity cardio that most people are doing at the end of their workout. Finishers can be made up of a number of exercises and consist of different modes of training equipment. I've used a number of different ones, but one that needs no equipment and one I have been using for awhile is the following:

• A1 - Jumping Jacks
• A2 - Mountain Climbers
• A3 - Side-Side Hops
• A4 - Burpees

Perfom each exercise for 30 seconds and then move to the next exercise until all four exercises are completed. Rest for two minutes and repeat the circuit anywhere from 2-5 times. Every couple of weeks cut down the rest interval 15 seconds until you get down to 60 seconds. Youre legs will be burning, your heart rate will be up and that stubborn body fat is going to melt right off!!


**RichRuff AFC Championship prediction**
Patriots 35
Chargers 7

Good luck to.....

...Igor Olshansky. Nice going pal. Just when my Patriots didn't need any more motivation to wipe the field of the San Diego Chargers, you had to open your big mouth. I'm sure a lot of you have seen this clip, but here it is again:



You just got your quarterback killed.

In all seriousness, good luck to the Bedford (New Hampshire), Barnstable and Norton fire and police departments. They are all competing in the 10th 911 Fitness Challenge.
All members of each team had their weights taken and their bodyfat levels measured. Now they have twelve weeks to make some serious changes before I test them again. A trip to Las Vegas and some nice cash prizes are on the line. I'll provide the results in April and let you know if any of these fine service people are going to be partying it up in Vegas.

Getting Fatter Younger

Funny Videos

It's the truth. Children in America are getting fatter. Depending upon which study you read, 25-30% of America's children are overweight. Just drive by any bus stop and take a look at the kids standing on the corner. At least one out of three or four kids is overweight. And that number is going to continue to rise, if we as adults and as their parents do not do something about it. If we do not do something about it, we're setting these kids up for life long health related issues. So what can we do?

1. Educate. Talk to them about the importance of eating health foods and physical activity. If you can sit your kid down to talk about the birds and the bees, surely you can sit him or her down to talk about their health.
2. Play. Go run around with your kids. Play a game of soccer or basketball or dodge ball. Do something with them rather than trying to beat your poor kid up in Madden '08. The bonus to this is you're also getting to get some exercise that you're probably not getting.
   
3. Be a role model. Where do kids pick up their behaviors? Some of it comes from their friends, but some of it comes from their parents. If your child sees you as overweight and lazy, this may become acceptable to your child. I do not have any numbers to back this up, but from my own observations I see a lot of overweight parents with overweight children.

The trend of American children becoming increasingly overweight is going to continue if we as adults do not step in and do something now. And it's not just about our kids being skinny. It's about our kids being healthy.