Taking care of your immunity is often one of the primary health concerns for a lot of people as we move through the winter season. The dryer air, colder temperatures, and often lower daily activity conspire to add their own unique stress to our bodies – in a way that often results in catching the common cold.

However, we don’t have to accept common colds as a regular occurrence in the winter. In many countries, common colds are preventable, and even if symptoms start to develop, they can be rapidly addressed to reduce the duration and severity.

The battle here is won before it even starts. If you are prone to colds, preparing in the summer and fall season will make moving through the winter season symptom-free more of a possibility. In the eyes of Traditional East Asian Medicine, the immune system is directly nourished and influenced by the digestive system. If common colds occur more often than you would like, I would recommend that you take a look how your body processes food, along with what kind of food you are putting into your body.

If you are in need of a digestive boost, consider eating more soups, stews, and slow-cooked meals. Slow-cooked meats and vegetables in a sauce are very digestible for the body. This allows the spared digestive energy to be used by other systems, such as the immune system.

From an external perspective, keeping your outer mucosal membranes moist through dry and cold air days can help to reduce the susceptibility of catching a cold. For example, when the nasal membranes dry out, they can develop microscopic cracks that allow for pathogens to enter past our first line of defense, the skin. Applying a natural oil, like coconut or castor oil, to the inside of your nose can help keep those mucosal membranes soft and healthy.

Keeping warm and avoiding exposure to cold drafts and cold water is another great way to reduce the likelihood of catching a cold. Wrapping the neck, upper back, and lower back can help your body better regulate its defenses. In Traditional East Asian Medicine, pathogens often invade the body by gaining access to these sensitive areas.

I would be remiss to not mention how well herbs can help fill the gaps left behind by incomplete diets. Traditional East Asian herbal formulas can be tailored to the individual to build up their digestive power and strength of their immune system. This year, 2018, can be the year of your fewest colds if you harness the resources available to bring your health into a better state of balance.

If you have any questions regarding Traditional East Asian Medicine or Herbal Medicine, feel free to contact me!

Diego comes from a varied background of fitness and martial arts including resistance training, acrobatics, Capoeira, saber fencing, hand-balancing, and high intensity interval conditioning. As a coach, Diego acknowledges the mental and spiritual transformation that goes hand-in-hand with athletic training and helps cement positive habits into real personality traits. Whatever your training goals may be, Diego can help you find the safest and most effective path to realizing your fitness dreams.

With all of the information and “research” (albeit real or pseudo) it is difficult for parents, kids, and sometime even professional and elite level athletes to know how to best approach training for Sport Performance. While the research is pretty solid and difficult to disagree with, the fact that training (strength training, power training, core training, etc.) is beneficial and valuable for athletes, how to approach that training and what systems approach is most likely to create the best environment for long term success is a bit elusive and confusing.

In a recent seminar at Optima (the National Academy of Sports Medicine’s National Conference) I addressed and explored this issue. To sum it up: here is this quote from Mike Boyle:

“Sport-specific programming is one of the greatest misconceptions in athletics today. The notion that each sport needs its own individual program is fundamentally flawed. The majority of team sports and even many individual sports have similar general needs. All rely on speed and power, with strength as the underlying base. The development of speed, strength, and power does not and should not vary greatly from sport to sport.”

Sport General or Sport Specific: Refining Your Approach

Even though it is difficult to know exactly what is going on with a particular athlete at a given time, there are some governing principles that can explain the phenomena of bruising that occurs without the inclusion of acute trauma.

In the Western Medical model, bruising is the result of blood moving outside of the vessels in a given area of the body. Normally, this occurs as a result of acute trauma that physically damages the smaller vessels and causes a breach in the vessel wall that allows for blood to seep out and pool in the interstitial spaces around tissues. This blood is darker in color since it does not circulate very well, which creates the typical appearance of a bruise. Normally the body repairs the breach in the vessel wall by depositing clotting factors that rebuild the broken tissue and then reabsorbs the excess blood over time.

If you bruise easily without first experiencing acute trauma (like using a vibrating foam roller) that could indicate that your body is not able to tolerate the combination of pressure and vibration which could push blood out of vessels if they are too deficient to maintain their integrity. This could be caused by a nutritional deficiency, like for example Vitamin K, which is used in the synthesis of platelets in the blood, or perhaps a genetic condition, which leaves the vessels prone to hemorrhaging. Another angle to consider is the presence of blood thinning medication in that individual, which could make them more prone to bleeding episodes.

In the perspective of Traditional East Asian Medicine, people who bleed easily have a deficiency of digestive Qi, called “Spleen Qi.” Spleen Qi, among other functions, is responsible for helping the vessels hold blood in its proper place. Spleen Qi is responsible for many “holding” functions in the body, including keeping organs in place, maintaining posture, and preventing prolapses. People who are Spleen Qi deficient will experience a varying degree of symptoms which could include: fatigue, lack of appetite, low quantity/quality of blood, excessive bruising, muscle weakness, and digestive difficulties to name a few. What is particularly interesting is that Spleen Qi is responsible for nourishing the muscle of the body, especially in the extremities. Aggressive foam rolling after a tough workout could promote bruising in some people because some of the Spleen Qi is already exhausted from exercise and the remaining amount cannot do enough to keep the blood in the vessels.

The answer in both cases is to ensure that an adequate nutrition plan is in place to both feed the body and boost the strength of Spleen Qi. This will serve to enhance digestive strength, improve muscular performance, and reduce the likelihood of any excessive bleeding episodes in the future. Beyond an ideal nutrition plan, acupuncture and herbal medicine can further strengthen the Qi of the Spleen and help it perform the functions it needs to, while also improving the levels of energy, quality of blood, regulate appetite, and improve strength.

Traditional East Asian medicine is a huge world of information, but I hope this was helpful in shedding light into some questions that you may have had or observations you have made.

To your health!

Diego Garcia

MAcOM, CSCS

Diego comes from a varied background of fitness and martial arts including resistance training, acrobatics, Capoeira, saber fencing, hand-balancing, and high intensity interval conditioning. As a coach, Diego acknowledges the mental and spiritual transformation that goes hand-in-hand with athletic training and helps cement positive habits into real personality traits. Whatever your training goals may be, Diego can help you find the safest and most effective path to realizing your fitness dreams.

Some experts estimate that as much as 80% of the population will experience back pain in their lifetime (Rubin, 2007).  This estimation is bolstered by the fact that the American population spends at least 50 billion dollars each year on issues related to back pain (MEDTEP, 1994). Individuals should work towards prevention rather than treatment of back maladies. One of the best preventative measures is proper posture in the midst of exercise and activities of daily living to improve spinal health.

Most lumbar disc injuries occur when the spine is in flexion or extension (Callaghan & McGill, 2001). This is one of the reasons that coaches are adamant about cuing clients to find a neutral spine position before proceeding with activity (e.g. shoulders back, tucked hips, tightening glutes). In exercise, one never wants to compromise spine position for the ‘ability’ to load more weight in an exercise (Boyle, 2016). One should practice stability prior to incorporating movement or increasing one’s weight-load, while being mindful of avoiding excessive flexion or extension. The middle portion of the available range of motion has previously been described as the neutral range — this has been purported to be advantageous for preventing injury and enhancing athletic performance (Herring & Weinstein, 1995).

The next time you step foot into a gym, check your positioning. Don’t wait for a coach to correct your spinal position. Take responsibility for your postural and spinal health by learning the basic body weight movement with proper mechanics first and from that point forward, challenge yourself a little more. 

3 helpful tips for back pain prevention:

1. Warm up and stretch properly, paying special attention to the hamstrings and hip flexors.
   1. The hamstrings need to be stretched in order to relieve pressure off of one’s back and prevent anterior tilt of the pelvis. The same goes for stretching the hip flexors as tight hip flexors can produce a posterior pelvic tilt.
2. Maintain a healthy body weight through proper nutrition and an active lifestyle.
   1. A high fat and caloric diet in combination with an inactive lifestyle can lead to obesity, a condition that can put stress on the back. Proper nutrition to maintain a healthy body weight helps you avoid unnecessary stress and strain on your back. It is important to get enough calcium and vitamin D daily in order to keep your spine strong. These nutrients assist in the prevention of osteoporosis, the culprit to blame in many cases of bone fractures leading to back pain.
3. Find a neutral spine position and strengthen your core before applying any sort of load to a workout.
   1. It is very important to work in neutral spine position because the natural curves help to lessen the strain, providing spinal cushion and protection. This position helps the individual attain proper balance, utilizing mainly the back and the abdominals to find the perfect middle ground. The deep abdominals/postural muscles (more commonly known as the core) offer support to the spine in conjunction with the layered muscles of the back. The core is connected to the ribs, pelvis, and indirectly to the lumbar spine, allowing protection for the spin. Each layer of the muscle works to assist the spine in finding balance.  

References

Boyle, M. (2016). New Functional Training for Sports (2nd ed.). Champaign (IL):

Human Kinetics.

Callaghan, J.P., and S.M. McGill. Intervertebral disc herniation: Studies on a porcine model exposed to highly repetitive flexion/extension motion with compressive force. Clin. Biomech. (Bristol, Avon). 16(1) :28–37. 2001.

Herring, S.A., and S.M. Weinstein. Assessment and nonsurgical manage- ment of athletic low back injury. In: The Lower Extremity and Spine In Sports Medicine (2nd ed.). J.A. Nicholas and E.B. Hershman, eds. St. Louis: Mosby Year Book, Inc., 1995. p. 1189.

In Project Briefs: Back Pain Patient Outcomes Assessment Team (BOAT). In MEDTEP Update, Vol. 1 Issue 1, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD.1994.

Lee, J., Y. Hoshino, K. Nakamura, and Y. Ooi. Trunk muscle imbalance as a risk factor of the incidence of low back pain. J. Neuromusculoskeletal Syst. 7:97–101. 1999.

Rubin Dl Epidemiology and Risk Factors for Spine Pain. Neural Clin. 2007; May; 25(2):353-71.

“Handout on Health: Back Pain.” National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal

and Skin Diseases. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 28 June 2017.

The Issue: My biggest problem with creatine has been the barrage of supplements claiming to ‘boost exercise performance.’ It is hard for me to decide which products I should purchase and which I should avoid.  Of course, when going to your local Vitamin Shop/GNC, the employees will urge you to buy the latest and greatest; they want you to spend money. Before incorporating a new addition into one’s nutritional plan, one must explore both the positives and negatives of the suggested supplement. Does creatine really help? What harm can it do? Do I need it?

Research Perspectives: Allegations against creatine have been made with complaints of muscle cramps and gastrointestinal ailments. A problem with these complaints is a lack of evidence and the fact that the issues experienced are common symptoms that occur in the general population, not just with those who consume creatine. Studies show no change in functionality of the liver & kidneys in healthy subjects supplemented with creatine compared to those without supplementation (Kim et al. 2011).

A superfluous amount of creatine (i.e. over the recommended amount) may cause those who have pre-existing renal disease or those at risk for renal dysfunction to be at a higher risk of experiencing related issues (Kim et al. 2011). Controlled creatine intake is imperative along with proper knowledge of potential high-risk factors to one’s health and well-being. Vandenberghe et al (1997) states that long-term creatine intake is beneficial to performance during resistance training. Young women (n=19) were tested for 10 weeks and performed resistance training for 3hrs a week.  The women were divided into two groups, a placebo group and creatine group.  After 10 weeks of training an intake of 20g/day increased phosphocreatine concentration by 6%.  Furthermore, Muscle PCr (Phosphocreatine) and strength, intermittent exercise capacity, and fat-free mass subsequently remained at a higher level in the creatine group. This study was able to conclude that long-term creatine supplementation enhances the progress of muscle strength during resistance training in sedentary females. (Vandenberghe et al, 1997). 

My Personal Experience: Just as doctors recommend we need more vitamin C or higher calcium intake, it can be suggested that if you want to become stronger, an increase in creatine consumption will help you reach your goals. As a collegiate baseball player, I want to be the best athlete I can become. As such, I lift 4-5 days a week. Each day I strive to exceed my performance from the prior one, paying attention to proper form and avoiding unnecessary training gaps. Although progress begins and grows in the gym, proper supplementation is also essential to improving athletic performance. I have been using creatine before & after each workout and I personally have noticed improvements in my performance. I have shown improvement in my bench press, back & front squat, and RDL since taking creatine versus before. I have seen significant improvement in my bench press, where I was stuck at 205lbs for a long while; I have now reached 220lbs two months after I began incorporating creatine.

Conclusion on Creatine: Despite my positive experience with creatine, I still hesitate to quickly agree with the famous claim of “boosting exercise performance.” It may contribute, but its contribution is towards the progress of muscle strength. Upon looking at research, I have concluded that I am not an individual at-risk from creatine intake; however, I am glad that I am educated and aware of which individuals should refrain from this supplement. As my plans included a CSCS certification, I find it more important than ever to be aware of, not only what I put into my own body, but also what I recommend that others put into theirs. Incorporating supplements into one’s training can help improve performance, but only with proper product knowledge and adherence to a training program that offers both safety and growth opportunity. I will continue to include creatine in my training. Should I choose to venture out and consider new additions into my plan, I will be sure to know the science behind the product and its potential effects on my health and well-being.

References

Kim, Hyo Jeong, Chang Keun Kim, A. Carpentier, and Jacques R. Poortmans. “Studies on the Safety of Creatine Supplementation.” Amino Acids 40.5 (2011): 1409-418. Web.

Vandenberghe, K et al. “Long-term creatine intake is beneficial to muscle performance during resistance training”. Journal of Applied Physiology Vol. 83. 1997.

http://jap.physiology.org/content/83/6/2055.short

Justin was born in Huntington Beach, California and moved to Long Valley, New Jersey when he was eight years old.  Justin will graduate with a B.S in Kinesiology in May 2018.  Justin currently plays baseball Westmont College under head Coach Robert Ruiz. 

Justin became interested in Kinesiology because of his involvement in baseball.  He loves the idea of working with athletes and helping them to become faster and stronger and reach their full potential.

Justin plans to get his CSCS and attend graduate school after Westmont.

The supplement industry grows rapidly as new and advanced products repeatedly claim to boost your exercise performance. One product that is widely advertised by supplement shops is creatine monohydrate. 

Creatine is a highly researched supplement, however the science behind creatine is not widely advertised. Creatine itself is a naturally occurring amino acid that can be found in natural foods such as meat (especially beef) and fish (especially salmon and tuna) and is also made by the human body in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas; It is then converted into phosphocreatine which is then converted into ATP, a major source of where our body gets energy other than glucose (Ehrlich, 2014).

The Question: If creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid in our body, why do we need to take it as a supplement?

The Process: The article International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation and exercise states that when we perform high intensity exercises, our phosphocreatine stores become depleted due to our body converting it into ATP, which is then used by our muscles.  When a creatine supplement is taken, the liver, pancreas, and kidney have more creatine to break down into phosphocreatine; this results in an increase in the amount of phosphocreatine molecules to convert into energy (Buford et al. 2007). 

The Effects: Studies show that creatine monohydrate is the most effective nutritional supplement in terms of providing lean body mass and anaerobic capacity (more ATP/more energy).  In one study, Creatine supplementation enhances muscular performance during high-intensity resistance exercise, fourteen active men were divided into two groups: a creatine group and a placebo group. Both groups performed a heavy load to failure bench press; 5 sets to failure based on each subject’s predetermined 10 repetition maximum.  Subjects also performed a jump squat exercise, which consisted of 5 sets of 10 repetitions using 30% of each subject’s 1-repetition maximum squat.  The creatine group ingested 25g of creatine monohydrate per day & the placebo group ingested an equivalent amount of placebo (Buford et al. 2007).

The Results: The subjects were assessed by diet, body mass, skinfold thickness, pre-exercise and 5-minute post-exercise lactate concentrations, and peak power output for the bench press and jump squat. Creatine supplementation resulted in a significant improvement in peak power output during all 5 sets of jump squats and a significant improvement in repetitions during all bench presses and jump squats.  Furthermore, a significant increase in body mass of 1.4kg was observed after creatine ingestion. In this study, one week of creatine supplementation (25g/day) enhanced muscular performance during repeated sets to a heavy load to failure bench press and jump squat exercise (Volek et al. 1997).

While this is just one study’s conclusion, the article International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation states that “nearly 70% of these studies (creatine’s effect on performance) have reported a significant improvement in exercise capacity, while the others have generally reported non-significant gains in performance” (Buford et al. 2007).

Stay tuned for my next post where I will dive into further studies of creatine monohydrate. 

Works Cited:

Buford, Thomas W et al. “International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Creatine Supplementation and Exercise.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 4 (2007): 6. PMC. Web. 19 June 2017.

“Creatine.” University of Maryland Medical Center. Ed. Steven D. Ehrlich. A.D.A.M, 26 June 2014. Web

               http://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/creatine

Justin was born in Huntington Beach, California and moved to Long Valley, New Jersey when he was eight years old.  Justin will graduate with a B.S in Kinesiology in May 2018.  Justin currently plays baseball Westmont College under head Coach Robert Ruiz. 

Justin became interested in Kinesiology because of his involvement in baseball.  He loves the idea of working with athletes and helping them to become faster and stronger and reach their full potential.

Justin plans to get his CSCS and attend graduate school after Westmont.

by Chris Ecklund, MA, CSCS, USAW, PES, TPI

Current trends in Fitness and Health (e.g. CVD risk factors, increases in BMI, Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Orthopedic injury in knees and backs, etc.) are not exactly following an upward trajectory, though some of them are beginning to taper off. Perhaps this is a turn towards the positive?

Present methods to combat these negative trends are, in my opinion, generally erroneous and may lead to poor outcomes, such as the following:

• Doing Long Slow Distance Cardio as the main source of Energy System Development.
• Jumping on the Gluten Free (or Dairy Free, or Vegan, or Juicing) bandwagon.
• Going all in on High Intensity, Orthopedically Risky Training protocols as the Gold Standard (i.e. Tabatas, Crossfit, Bootcamps).
• Taking on the P90X “Muscle Confusion” and “Do a Different Workout Everyday” Mantras as your own.
• Doing Nothing.

While none of these are inherently negative, we often have the wonderful response to these ‘new’ trends to embrace the novel and jump in without thought. Taking on the mantra of “more is better” as one’s own without proper evaluation on whether or not the chosen method is the right one results in improper care and recovery.

Case in point: Not everyone needs Steady State Cardio training (as was heavily promoted in the 1970’s). It’s not necessary for everyone nor even advisable for many.  It is important to choose a training method that fits you and works for you.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology’s explored the idea of dosage as related to health benefit in the study “Leisure-Time Running Reduces All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Risk.”  Specifically, it looked at the associations of running with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risks in 55,137 adults, 18 to 100 years of age (mean age 44 years)” to explore the “long-term effects of running on mortality.”

The conclusion?

…5-10 minutes a day is great and will improve most health measures.

For those wondering, “Is more actually better?” take a look at the study by the American College of Cardiology, titled “1197-358 / 358 – Are Cardiovascular Risk Factors Responsible for the U-Shaped Relationship between Running and Longevity? The MASTERS Athletic Study”.

The synopsis of the study is this: those who ran more than 20 miles/week actually decreased life longevity compared to those who ran less that 20 miles.

Ask yourself:  

“What is my goal? Why do I train? How much do I actually need?  What is the minimum effective dose?”

Assess your needs, research your options, and make an educated decision.

To many, the focus of healthy aging is to live as long as possible. We have seen the life expectancy in the United States increased from 47 years to 79 years over the last 150 years, but the maximum lifespan (oldest age people are capable of living to) has only increased marginally during the same period. There appears to be an age, between 70 and 100 years old, where our bodies are naturally no longer able to keep up with the challenges of everyday life and as a result, shut down (Fries, 2005). Therefore, the primary goal of healthy aging is to live through our physiologically set lifespan with the highest quality of life.

The compression of morbidity hypothesis was developed by James F. Fries of Stanford University School of Medicine and proposes that living an active lifestyle with good nutrition and practicing abstinence from dangerous habits such as smoking delays the onset of disability until the last years of life (Fries, 2005). For example, a sedentary and active senior may both live to 85 years old, but the sedentary senior may become disabled at age 75, while the active senior may not reach the same level of disability until age 84. The active senior will be able to maintain their lifestyle of choice for an additional 9 years.

A 21 year-long study following a group of runners with an average starting age of 58 years old found that the runners developed a disability corresponding to challenges performing one activity of daily living, such as walking, 8.6 years later than the control group (Chakravarty et al. 2008). The differences between groups diverged increasingly at higher levels of disability.

Additionally, the runners did not experience more osteoarthritis and had fewer knee and hip replacements than controls (Chakravarty et al. 2008; Chakravarty et al. 2008).

Habits like exercise, healthy nutrition, and not smoking are important because the occurrence of a significant medical event late in life often leads to disability. Seniors should exercise as protection against injuries that could threaten their self-sufficiency. It is never too early or too late for anyone to start.

Seniors can benefit from the cardiovascular components of aerobic exercises (e.g. hiking) and the improvements in strength and stability that come from intelligently programmed weight training. In the runner study, the investigators note that the runners should be viewed as multidisciplinary athletes because many of them gave up running for other training modalities during the study (Chakravarty et al. 2008). Fries suggests that the most important thing is to find an activity you like and stay as active as possible (Fell, 2015).

Understanding the concepts behind the compression of morbidity can lengthen the time seniors can live full, independent lives.

Further Reading:

Chicago Tribune Article

Overview of Compression of Morbidity

Review of research

Tyler was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California and began training at Prevail in 2016. He attended Westmont College and will be attending medical school this fall. While at Westmont he graduated Summa Cum Laude, led a student-run homeless outreach program, and volunteered with medical clinics in Mexico and Bolivia.

After Tyler’s mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), he became interested in the cellular mechanisms behind the disease. He conducted his Major Honors project at Westmont on the role of the microbiome in inflammatory arthritis and conducted summers of research at Harvard Medical School studying the role of macrophages in RA. Including his critical care clinical research at Cottage Hospital, his research has resulted in seven presentations, three at national medical conferences.