Message from the CEO

  

Healthy Running Step by Step, by Robert Forster, PT, and Roy M. Wallack, is due out this Fall and is a must-read for runners of all ages and abilities.

Recovery and Over-training (Part 2)

 

Last week's column dealt with the science of recovery and the importance of constructing your fitness plan with built-in recovery days and the use of recovery strategies. Summer workouts and active vacations can leave you feeling a little burned out -- maybe you have a recurring ache or pain, or you're feeling tired and having a hard time maintaining your weight -- these are all signs you might not be recovering from your workouts. Remember, no one ever got stronger during a workout, it's only when time for recovery is allotted that your fitness and health evolves (read last week's article on recovery here).

 

We received many questions and requests for clarification after last week's posts, and this was one of the most common concerns and questions:

 

Question: "I am a 37-year-old cyclist who only has time for a few hours of riding during the week and one long ride on the weekend. Is possible to become over-trained on such low mileage when I use to do twice as much in my 20s and did quite well?"

 

Answer: Yes! One can easily fall into a rut even with a modest workout schedule, because the human body adapts quickly to any exercise regime. After six to eight weeks of the same type of workouts (the same exercise volume and intensity), your body will adapt. Workouts which originally increased recovery hormones like testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin to help make you stronger lose their effects with repetitiveness and instead increase a stress hormone called cortisol, which directs your body to store fat and water and leaves you feeling tired and fatigued.

 

This week's feature article outlines some of "The Commandments of Recovery" from my new book, Healthy Running, Step by Step, to be published this September. This information is not only for runners; the information will provide everyone a better understanding of why we need to focus on sound exercise program design and recovery strategies to avoid over-training and burnout.

 

Also this week: Stretch and Roll Clinic -- our most popular interactive clinic instructing the proper stretching and foam roller exercises essential for recovery and a healthy body regardless of your sport, activity, or lifestyle. See Event Calendar to RSVP.

 

Pre-order Healthy Running, Step by Step now and enter to win a free Phase IV Video Run Gait Analysis! Simply send us a copy of your pre-order receipt and you can have your running gait analyzed by our expert staff.

 

 

>> Read each week's CEO Message here 

Special Offer: Pre-Order your copy of Robert Forster's new book, Healthy Running Step by Step, due out this Summer by Fairwinds Press, and receive a free signed copy of the best seller, The Complete Water Power Workout Book by Robert Forster, PT and Lynda Huey. Bring in your online pre-order receipt to Forster Physical Therapy or Phase IV and receive a free, signed copy of the water book ($24 value), a must-read for runners and anyone who wants a great workout that's easy on your joints!

The Science of Recovery

 

In this excerpt from Healthy Running Step by Step, Robert Forster, PT discusses the science of recovery and the importance of stretching.

   

Book Excerpt from Healthy Running Step by Step

 

Healthy Running, Step by Step is divided into nine chapters:

 

1) Why Runners Get Hurt
2) Technique and Shoes
3) The Science of Recovery
4) Periodization Training Principles
5) Nutritional Optimization
6) Posture and Flexibility Assessment
7) Stretching and Flexibility Training for Everyone
8) Strength Training For Everyone
9) Running's Big 5 Injuries and How to Fix Them For Good (self-help programs to overcome the most common injuries, regardless of their cause)

 

The book is comprehensive and the information is applicable to all active people, along with those who want to become more active. Covering everything from proper running mechanics, concepts in nutrition and hydration, and specific recovery and rehab programs, this book will teach you why you need to stretch, when to stretch, when to work out, when to rest, and when to alter your training for optimal performance in sport and in life!

 

Chapter 3: The Science of Recovery

 

The Commandments of Recovery and Preventing Overtraining

 

To understand the importance of recovery, the risks of overtraining, and the strategy for getting the most out of your training, approach recovery as a science. Do it by following these 10 steps:

 

1. Remember the Supercompensation Principle of Progressive Overload.
The foundation of all successful training is Supercompensation, a principle in which increasing stress triggers an adaptive response that strengthens the body's physiological systems. Following hard work, you at first feel fatigued and suffer an initial decrease in performance; then, with recovery, the body becomes stronger and more efficient. We can't overemphasize the point that these improvements occur only if time for recovery is provided.

 

The most common problem is that the structural system (infrastructure such as tendons, bone, fascia) can't handle the high training load necessary to bring the metabolic system (energy production) to their peak. Additionally, the metabolic system can be overtaxed and weakened with an inappropriate balance of stress and recovery.

 

2. Honor Your Base Training.
Remember that low intensity "base" training is when you build your metabolic and structural foundation that supports harder work and recovery efforts later in the season. As an example, take vascularization, which is essentially the formation of blood vessels. Improved vascularization aids recovery by ensuring the presence of blood vessels in close proximity to each working muscle cell, thereby delivering the quick exchange of waste products and nutrients with the muscles.

 

Take a resilient skeleton, joints, and muscles, which maintain form and economy of motion, and translate to fewer injuries and easier, faster recovery. It's the same story with the enhanced fat-burning you develop during base training; a lower production of lactic acid and waste products along with a lessened reliance on carbohydrate as fuel makes bonking, or hitting a wall, and cannibalizing muscle less likely, again allowing for a faster recovery.

 

Need I say it again? Better recovery today translates to the ability to work harder tomorrow.

 

Read More . . .

 

>> Pre-order Healthy Running Step by Step here

Special Offer: Bring in your online pre-order receipt for Healthy Running Step by Step to Forster Physical Therapy and receive a free, signed copy of my first book, The Complete Waterpower Workout Book. 

Stretching and Your Health

by Robert Forster, PT

PART 1

It has occurred to me that most people spend more time taking care of their teeth on a daily basis then they do the rest of their body. The human body is a mechanical device that requires maintenance just like any other machine. You would never think that your car, lawnmower, or bicycle could be used consistently day in and day out without some effort to keep it in good working order. Yet, too many of us think we can get by with little attention to body maintenance. After 40 years of helping people get past injury and achieve their health and fitness goals, it is my opinion that stretching is second only to movement itself in maintaining good physical health. While athletes and those who exercise regularly have heard that stretching is important, few understand why and most non-athletic people think they don't need to stretch at all.

Movement is Life

Movement is life! We were made to be in nearly constant motion. From early man up to the industrial revolution, our ancestors spent most of their waking hours in nearly constant movement. The search of food, water and shelter required it. Accordingly, for the body we have inherited, movement is vital to every bodily function from healthy digestion to proper brain function. Although our bodies were engineered for very efficient movement, the largely sedentary lifestyle we have adopted since the industrial revolution has robbed us of the efficiencies built into this otherwise economical machine. The average American is sedentary for far too many hours every day to not expect problems. Add up all your active hours and subtract from 24 and you will see your sedentary time ranges from 18-20 hours a day (7-8 hours of sleep every night, 1-3 hours commuting in the car, 6-8 hours at your desk, and then home for TV on the sofa or some combination thereof).

Without movement, tissues lose their extensibility and research has shown that even those who spend 90 minutes a day at the gym experience detrimental changes at the cellular level with all the time spent motionless each day. Many of these sedentary hours are spent in the sitting position fighting gravity to remain upright. In this slumped forward posture the joints of the hips, shoulders and trunk are rounded forward allowing the soft tissues in the front of our bodies to become tight over time. Poor posture begins as bad habits but becomes fixed as the connective tissue elements of our body adapt to the poor alignment. Joints operating in poor alignment suffer damage and premature aging. To understand why this occurs and how to prevent it, we must look at the physiology of connective tissue.

Physial Therapists to Gold Medalists >> NBC4 Los Angeles

NBC4's Dr. Bruce Hensel discusses the training and rehabilitation of Olympians and London 2012 gold medalists Allyson Felix and Kim Rhode at Forster Physical Therapy.

Dawn Harper-Nelson isn't the only Olympian to come through and benefit from Forster Physical Therapy. Olympic skeet shooter and London gold medalist Kim Rhode, and 200 meter sprinter and fellow London gold medallist Allyson Felix, have both conquered their own injuries and setbacks through Forster PT.

 

NBC4 Los Angeles' Dr. Bruce Hensel delves into the training and rehabilitation of these two Olympians -- just a small sample of the more than 40 whom Forster has treated -- at Forster Physical Therapy and Phase IV Health and Performance Center.

 

>> Watch the video here

Pre-Order Healthy Running Step by Step

Pre-order Healthy Running Step by Step before its arrival in stores and online in August.

Click here to pre-order Healthy Running Step by Step, the new book by Robert Forster, PT, and Roy M. Wallack, due out this August from Fairwinds Press, and gain automatic entry into a raffle for a free VO2 test!

 

(Click here for more information on VO2 testing.)

 

Don't let an old injury keep you from enjoying races, morning runs, or attaining fitness goals. In the first part of Healthy Running Step by Step, authors Robert Forster, PT and Roy M. Wallack recommend the best training based on your fitness goals, including strength training, cross training, sprints, yoga, and plenty of rest. Part two goes a step further from other books by addressing the most modern methods of treatment -- including current studies on the amount of rest required, new and controversial surgical operations and injections, the newest and most effective gear, and barefoot/minimalist running as a form of healing. If you are recovering from an injury or want to prevent becoming injured in the first place, Healthy Running Step by Step is a must-have guide.

 

Available in stores and at Phase IV and Forster Physical Therapy this Fall!

 

• Format: Paperback
• Publication: August 2014
• Pre-Order Price: $24.99

Phase IV and Forster Physical Therapy, the Exclusive Physical Therapy provider for the LA Marathon, are now the Exclusive Providers of EC3D gear in Los Angeles!

 

Scan with your iPhone or Android to call Phase IV for more information, sizing, or to order your EC3D Compression Gear.

 

Find us and join some of our social networks for scientific health & training tips and advice as well as chances to win  Phase IV services and products:

Forster Physical Therapy

Office: 310-656-8600  www.forsterpt.com

Phase IV Scientific Health and Performance Center

Office: 310-582-8212  www.phase-iv.net

Click Here to view archived newsletters