Are We Killing Our Kids with Sports? Part 1 of 3

I have been working with young athletes for over 15 years now.  I enjoy it in part because there is seemingly no limit to their energy, ability to improve and drive to do so.  But more and more I am seeing a disturbing trend.  Kids are getting injured, burning out and coming to resent sports as early as 15 or 16 years old.  By the time many of them get to play at the college level they are so broken or resentful of the process they are either going through the motions because it is all they know, or done with sports.

Now do not get me wrong.  Not every student-athlete is washing out of athletics.  But I do see it more now than I did even 10 years ago.  I am sure there are many scientific papers out there about this but this is more about my observations.  I invite you to add any comments of your own or study references.  Here is what I am seeing:

Most athletes who have a chance to play in college are probably good at more than one sport.  They are just good athletes.  Even though they may be best at or enjoy one sport the most, they love competing with their friends and teammates in several different sports.  When they enter high school they are already 3 or 4 sport athletes and want to continue because they really enjoy it. Over the years athletic participation has become very competitive.  There are more student-athletes than ever competing for a limited number of sports scholarships.  Club programs offer an opportunity to play a sport year around during the high-school sports' off-seasons to get better and be more competitive.  The club programs often market themselves as the best way to get noticed or recruited by college coaches.  So you take a 3-sport athletes, give them the opportunity to play in a high level club to get recruited and suddenly you go from a 3-sport to a 5 or now even 6-sport athlete!  These athletes are also under pressure to perform in the classroom.  College athletic programs are taking grades more seriously than ever so academics count.

I more and more often see student-athletes playing a high school varsity sport and club sport in the fall, varsity sport in the winter, varsity and club in the spring, and 1 or 2 club sports in the summer.  Technically this becomes a 6 or 7 sport athlete.  Every spare moment they have is spent catching up on school work or practicing a sport on their own. Sleep is a secondary thought at best with many of these kids getting 4 - 5 hours a night regularly.  The seasons blend together and there is no time for recovery, rest, or strength training.

The 4 - 7 sport athletes I see have chronic over-use injuries.  Their shoulders are fatigued, sore and tight, their backs are sore and often spasm, they have weak hips, knees and ankles which often lead to strains and sprains.  By the time they are 16 or 17 their bodies are so worn down the student athletes are "band-aiding" themselves together long enough to get through a season or even a tournament.  Mentally they never get a break.

I will make an analogy:  Let's assume you love your job.  You cannot believe you get paid to do what you do and really enjoy going to work every day.  Now lets assume you have to be there 15 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Let's also assume someone runs a chair into your knee every day hard enough for you to feel it but it is not really painful.  And let's say they run this chair in to you 100 times a day.  Every day.  You have 6 or 7 different bosses all telling you to do your job better and all of them telling you how to do it and all of them having different ways they want it done.  How long do you think you would last?  I would probably make it 2 or 3 months and then just be done!  And we expect these kids to do it for years and years.  Think about it!

Next week I will explore some solutions.  I will talk about ways to build better athletes and start making sports fun again and less of a grind.  I will also talk about the reality of what it takes to play sports at the college level.  I welcome your comments and suggestions.  You can post here or e mail me at tom@canyonptandf.com.  And for more information on injury prevention visit www.canyonptandf.com.

The Biggest Reason to Stay in Shape May Surprise You!

The emphasis for most fitness articles, blogs, professionals, and television spokes-people with bad hairstyles is getting in shape.  They are forever showing pictures of normally attractive, but overweight men, women and children in the most unflattering clothing, poses and situations next to photos of, in theory, the same people ripped out of their minds standing next to supermodels on private yachts.  It is as if these people lost 20 pounds and were immediate showered with cash and became the most popular people at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition photo shoot.

But very rarely does anyone talk about the importance of staying in shape.  

Let's be clear.  Staying in shape is important for your heart health, cholesterol levels and all of those critical things.  But the other thing staying in shape does is help prevent injury!  And I am talking about really fun injuries like ruptured ligaments, sprained ankles and pulled muscles.  These are all things that can take you out of work, out of sports and out of day to day life for a very long time and are also quite expensive!

What does staying in shape have to do with this?  I will tell you!  When a person is out of shape and overweight, their body gets used to moving a certain way.  Over the years the body has learned its limitations and moves appropriately.  As a person starts to get in better shape, the body starts to move more efficiently.  It can run faster, move more quickly, lift more weight and do things it never used to do.  These abilities start to happen gradually as progress is made.

When a person stops working out, eating correctly, running or otherwise, gets out of shape, it can happen very quickly.  In two to three weeks of inactivity a person can lose virtually all the work they did.  However, the memo does not get to the body right away.  It will still try to move as if the person were still in shape.  So when a person tries to round second base and accelerate toward third, they can pull a hamstring, or when cutting to get to a soccer ball can rupture an ACL or sprain an ankle stepping off a curb.

So do yourself a favor.  Get your butt in shape, and stay there!  Give your body a fighting chance to stay in-tact and help you do the things you want to do.  For more information on getting and STAYING in shape contact tom@canyonptandf.com or duebersports.com.

The Trick to a Stronger Chest, Work on Your Back

I feel like I can hardly walk 5 feet without running across someone talking about how much they can bench, some "newest secret the experts don't want you to know" to make your chest stronger, or some reference to your pecs.  If you were visiting from a distant planet you would think being able to bench 225 is critically important to our survival, seconds only to breathing, consuming all meals in under 5 minutes and rock hard abs.

First, let's clear something up about experts.  We WANT you to know our "tricks."  We go out of our way to demonstrate our ticks in such a way as to show we ARE EXPERTS!  If all we did was run around announcing we are experts and then scurry under rocks you would be much less likely to believe us or pay us large wads of money!

Okay, as for your chest, and its strength.  I would like to mention, by the way, your chest is probably strong enough as it is.  If you can push the door open, or push yourself up off the ground you are probably all set in the chest strength department.  That is, of course, unless you are a professional athlete, or your job requires you to regularly push rocks up hills.  Then you need to constantly increase your chest strength.  So yes, to get a stronger chest you need to move heavy weight in the form of dumbbells, your body, large rocks, etc, but that is only part of the equation.  The other part is your back.  Let me explain.

Your body generally works best when you have balance between opposing muscle groups.  The closer in strength your quads are to your hamstrings the greater overall leg strength you have.  The same holds true for your upper body.  If all you do is chest exercise your chest tends to get tighter.  You might notice your shoulders are starting to wrap around forward a little and your palms are facing the front of your legs.  They should be facing the sides of your legs.  Your chest is now in a constant state of flexion.  And, because of this, can create less force.  Think of it as only being able to partially cock the hammer on a gun.  When the trigger is pulled it can not travel as far and cannot create as much force when striking the round.

If you have been neglecting your back and start to spend a little time on it you will likely notice two things: 1. Your back is nowhere near as strong as your chest.  Can you row as much as you can press?  Probably not.  Second, your chest is tight enough it is not allowing your shoulders to travel back as you pull an object back.  Start doing a ratio of 2:1 back exercise to chest exercise and stretch that chest!  Focus on squeezing your shoulder blades and keeping your shoulders low. Your chest will start to loosen up and your shoulder will start going back to where they belong.  Now you can fully cock that hammer and BAM!

For more on strength and muscle balance e mail Tom at tom@canyonptandf.com or visit canyonptandf.com.  Oh and for those of you following the story of my research assistant, she is two weeks post op, and doing very well.  With a little luck, today we lose the Cone of I Don't Know Why You Hate Me But I am Sorry for Whatever I Did and if You Take it Off I Will Stop Doing It And Love You Forever.

The three secrets to CRUSHING your vertical jump!

Okay, okay improving your vertical jump is not a secret.  There are no heavily armed, stern looking men standing alertly by the Black Book of Sports Performance keeping away everyone except the "experts."  And by experts I mean anyone with $20, a WIX account and the ability to take selfies of him or herself leaping, almost magically on to a plyo box.  And for only $29.95 they will share the secrets with you, risking harsh scowls from the Protectors of the Book.  There ARE, however, several logical steps you can take to improve your explosive power and thus, your vertical jump.

1. Start spending a little more quality time on you butt!  When a person jumps, every muscle in the lower body fires.  Yep, every one of them.  However, most people are so focused on the "Core Lifts," like squats, they end up over-developing their quadriceps, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis,intermedius and rectus femoris, which end up doing all the work.  Meanwhile our friends the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and hamstrings end up sitting back watching the show.  Start giving those guys some very specific attention and watch the vertical improve almost immediately.
2. Stop worrying so much about "Explosion!"  Don't get me wrong, explosive exercises are good, nigh, essential to improving athletic ability of all kinds.  But they are only one component. To understand why, you have to understand a little about muscle fibers.  There are essentially 3 types of muscle fiber: Type I, or slow twitch, Type IIa, fast twitch a, and Type IIb or fast twitch b.  Keeping it simple, Type I Fibers are responsible for slow movements like standing and walking.  Type IIa are responsible for jogging and a little sprinting, and Type IIb, mostly jumping.  So naturally people assume, work the Type IIb and they will be more explosive.  WRONG!  Well sort of.  They muscle fibers are a bit like the transmission in a car.  If you start a car in 3rd gear it will stall.  You start in 1st, then shift to 2nd, 3rd, Etc.  Well your muscles do the same thing.  First Type I fires, then type IIa then IIb.  Your body has to go through the entire sequence before you jump!  So yes, strengthen those fast twitch guys.  But to really CRUSH your vertical, give equal attention to the other two types of muscle fibers and work on reducing the time it takes to work through the firing sequence.
3. Change it up.  One of my favorite fitness rules: There is no magical exercise done a magical way that produces a magical result.  Your body needs variety.  If you do an exercise long enough, usually about four weeks, your body simply learns the firing pattern for that exercise. Once it does, your potential to improve using that exercise is essentially over.  When you do the exercise your brain says, "Oh yes!  We know how to do that under this load.  Here we go!"  and then you add weight at your brain says, "Um, no, we know how to do it at that other weight, not this weight.  I'm hungry.  I need a sandwich."  If you change the exercise regularly the brain never quite figures out what you want it to do so it has to keep working to get better and your body might even try to help your brain out and add addition muscle mass to get the job done.

So there you go!  These really are not secrets, just logical steps.  If you pay attention to these steps your vertical jump will improve!  For more information on improving sports performance please e mail tom@canyonptandf.com and check out my page canyonptandf.com. Happy jumping!

Want to avoid an ACL Injury? Here is how to do it.

Last week I found out my research assistant, Matilda, ruptured her ACL.  Many of you probably did not even know dogs have an ACL.  In fact they have two, just like their human friends.  And, like humans, dogs are prone to ACL rupture.  I wish I had known how common it is in dogs; I would have started ACL Injury Risk Reduction protocols with her.  Fortunately for you, the reader, Matilda's tragedy is your treasure, and I will outline ways you can reduce the risk of your own ACL injury.

Good Luck Matilda!

Let's start with some basics.  The Anterior Cruciate Ligament, or ACL is a little piece of tissue in the back of your knee which help keep your leg from falling apart, especially when your knee rotates inward.  Your hamstring, which is actually made up of three muscles, the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris, helps stabilize your knee and protect the ACL.  Most, over 70% of ACL ruptures, or tears, are non-impact related.  It is the twisting, or internal rotation, that causes the injury.  I have seen athletes walking across a field, turn suddenly and then drop to the ground: torn ACL.  The injury almost always requires surgery and rehab lasting several months.  In short, it is considered a catastrophic injury, especially for an athlete.

Girls and women are at much higher risk for ACL injuries and science cannot point to any one concrete explanation.  It is believed a combination of a weak hamstring compared to the opposing quadriceps, the greater angle created by the femur and pelvis,  general joint laxity and a number of other factors could contribute.  The bottom line is every athlete, especially girls and women, should be participating in a program for ACL Injury Risk Reduction. 

The general consensus is no one ACL IRR program is better than another.  I have studied several of the established programs and taken what I feel are the best elements of each and combined them in to one program.  It incorporates elements of flexibility, lower body stability and strength and agility.  The program can be done on a field, or in a gym and does not require any special equipment and takes about 15 minutes.  You can download the program at canyonptandf.com for for free!

On January 29 2015, Matilda has surgery on her ACL and then begins a 10 week rehab process.  She will not be able to leave her bedroom without her leash and butt sling. Although few people require a leash, the recovery process for people is similar.  Take 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week to help protect your knees and if you have any questions please e mail me at tom@canyonptandf.com 

Slower metabolism or slower life?

As we all start to recover from our holiday hangovers I have heard a lot of talk about metabolism.  People say, "Gosh I wish my metabolism hadn't slowed down." Or, "I wish I had the metabolism I had when I was 16!"  People talk of their metabolism like it is their long lost companion who used to stand by, preventing them from gaining weight.  As if, when you were about to shove a piece of Chocolate Silk Pie into your mouth, Captain Metabolism would leap from the shadows, rip the piece of pie from your hand and valiantly consume it for you, thus saving you from the notorious "5 Pounds of Death."

Unfortunately, I do not think our metabolism is as much to blame as we might hope.  And to demonstrate why, I will use this very unscientific comparison.  And although it is not, on any level, even remotely scientific, I think it illustrates a point.

Let's take a look at the typical day for a teenager such as you once were.  Maybe you played a sport or two.  Maybe you had a job, maybe both.

6:30am: Alarm goes off.
7:00am: Alarm goes off and she actually gets out of bed, does her hair, puts on make up and grabs a quick bite to eat.
7:45am: School Starts.  Every 45 minutes she is up and rushing to another class because someone thinks 2 minutes is a perfectly logical amount of time to get from class to the locker to the commons to talk to friends because we cannot text during the day because our teachers suck but we do it any way and they don't know lololol and then to class.
11:00am  PE class which happens to be volleyball
12:30: Run to the car, drive qui... VERY carefully to Taco Bell for the first real food of the day, and drive VERY carefully back to school.
12:50: More sprinting from class to class.
2:45: Hurry and get ready for practice so as to have time to discuss all the important details of all the texts that may or may not have been sent during the day.
3:00: Practice!
5:15: Drive VERY carefully to work, eating a granola bar on the way.
5:30: Work, cleaning the grill, bussing dishes and waiting the occasional table.
9:30: Eat cold dinner
10:00: Start homework
1:00am: finally go to sleep after updating Instagram.

Now let's take a look at your typical day:
6:30am: Alarm goes off.
7:00am: Alarm goes off and you actually gets out of bed, do your hair, put on make up and grab a quick bite to eat.
8:00am: Arrive at work, sit in your chair, snack on the food in your drawer, and on the cookies Barbara, who is TRYING to make the entire office fat, brought in AGAIN and type.
12:30: Go to lunch.
1:15: Return to your chair and do pretty much the same thing you did that morning.
5:30: Go to the gym.
6:30: Collapse in a heap after your personal trainer kicks your ass for most of an hour after being 5 minutes late, doing a 10 minute warm up, chatting, complaining about Barbara and then starting your workout.
6:45: Prepare and eat dinner.
8:00: Collapse in a heap in front of the television because your day was EXHAUSTING.  In fact, you worked SO hard you deserve a piece of pie.
10:30: Turn off the news and go to bed.

Now before I get a bunch of nasty e-mails about how that is NOT your typical day and how your worthless teeneger sits around all day doing nothing, understand I am just illustrating a point.  As with anything health related there is always an exception.  However, the younger we are, the more we TEND to move.  What may seem like an exhausting day to us is a day off for a teenager.  So instead of blaming your metabolism, take an honest look at how much you move versus how much you consume.  Try eating a little less, and moving a little more and I bet our old buddy metabolism is back to the rescue!

If you have any questions about how you can move more, please e mail tom@canyonptandf.com or comment on the article below,  And visit www.canyonptandf.com for great ways to stay active!

New Year, New Resolve, New Plan for Success

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!  I know I did.  I was able to spend them with family and friends and really, one cannot ask for much more.  But it was soon time to get back to work. This week I was featured in the Longmont Times-Call and Boulder Daily Camera as a local expert on Making and Keeping New Year's Resolutions.  For the few people in Free America and around the world who do not actually read those topical, ground-breaking publications I thought I would share my incredibly creative, yet simple idea.

Step 1: Print out a blank calendar and purchase some fun stickers.
Step 2: Think of 5 small lifestyle changes you can make and do every day to help reach a bigger goal. For instance:

1. Eat 3 servings of vegetables each day.
2. Eat 3 servings of fruit each day.
3. Prepare all meals at home.
4. Exercise 60 minutes every day.
5. Stretch 10 Minutes per day.

Step 3: Put the goals and calendar somewhere you have to look at it every day.  The bathroom mirror is a great place!  By way of comparison, under a pile of paper on your desk is a bad place.

Step 4: Each time you do all 5 activities (YAY!) give yourself a sticker for that day!  At the end of the month grade yourself.  

    A= 28 - 31

    B= 24 - 27

    C= 21 - 24

    D= 18 - 20

Step 5:  Reward yourself.  Maybe an "A" is a new pair of jeans or a "B" is a pay-per-view movie. 

 And, believe it or not, you will find your results will be their own reward!  If you end up with an "A" it means you have made your goals all but three days out month.  Of course you are going to see results!

Give it a shot, I dare you!  Try it for 60 days and see how you do.  E-mail or post your questions or results.  For more information or helpful tips visit www.canyonptandf.com or message me at tom@canyonptandf.com.  Happy New Year!