How to boost your winter health / Winter Bathing

How does jumping in the Baltic Sea on purpose after dark in late November sound?

Fun?
Exhilarating?
Terrifying?
Freezing cold? 

It was all that, and more! 

My husband and I, along with friends who brought us to the bathing house, did exactly that in Denmark recently. 

They called it “Winter Bathing.” 

Here is an old photo of the bathhouse in the summer, when people normally go swimming.
The center part with the divider is where we took our plunge. 

I said to our hostess, “Darn, I didn’t bring my swimsuit.” Bolette replied, “No problem, we don’t wear them!” 

Turns out, the divider in the winter is used to separate the men and the women, hence the “no problem” without a suit. 😉 

There is a distinct formula for your bath:

1. Walk down these stairs and jump in the water first. (My husband thought it would be much nicer to sauna first, and then jump in, but that was not the prescribed regimen.)

2. Zip into the yellow room in the center of the photo below for a 10 minute sauna.

 

Jump or walk down the stairs back into the sea, swim around if you can, and then back into the sauna for ten minutes. Be sure and watch out for these orange blobs in the water:
 
Jellyfish! 

There were lights shining down into the water so you could see them, but they move fast and seemed to move towards movement in the water (created by people splashing around~)so I didn’t get to actually swim. One woman not with our group had been stung, and was scraping her leg with a card to decrease the sting. 

4. Finish up with a dip in the sea, and then it’s time to shower off the salty water, and away you go! 

I have blogged before about the great effects of cold water showering for recovery:  https://justmuscles.net/muscle-soreness/get-rid-muscle-soreness/sauna

And here: Sauna and the benefits of working out outside – https://justmuscles.net/fitness/is-it-betterto-workout-outdoors-or-indoors/ 

So this winter bathing concept won’t be new to Just Muscles loyal readers. 

However, more research  points out even more benefits that I wasn’t aware of: 

“It is only in the last few years, though, that scientists and doctors have really begun to investigate why it is that cold water makes us feel so incredibly well. On a cosmetic level, cold water tightens the pores and flattens hair follicles — hence the long-held hairdressers’ mantra of a final rinse with cold water for optimal shininess. Cold water also promotes lymphatic drainage, leading to improved circulation, and helps stimulate brown fat which can result in weight loss.

A 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that a cold shower a day could make you lose up to nine pounds a year. Given that this costs next to nothing, how long before it’s available on the NHS as an obesity cure? 

Much more extraordinary is the effect of cold water immersion on mental health. In the mid-1990s, doctors in Germany discovered that swimming in cold water reduced levels of uric acid and resulted in a ‘hardening’ of the body, meaning that patients were better able to cope with stress in the long-term. Sitting in cold water also decreases the heart rate by nearly 10 per cent, lowering blood pressure and inducing calm, according to a 2002 study.” 

So given the opportunity to take a “Winter Bath” or join your local Polar Bears Club, I say, GO FOR IT!

How to pick the best cardio machine

My standard answer to, “What cardio machines should I use?” used to be:

Any that you will do 🙂 

My preference would be that the machine requires you to pick up your feet

I am not a big sitting down fan, so if you can avoid sitting down….

Most cardio machines are of the straight ahead variety- running or walking on the treadmill is a moving straight ahead direction sport, biking is a straight ahead sport, ellipticals are too, and step mills or Stairmasters fall into the straight ahead category as well. 



Why is that problematic? 


Well, straight ahead sports create strength in straight ahead sport muscles which get used every time you walk straight ahead. Which for most people, is all the time. 


What muscles are those? Oh you know, the ole quad/calf/low back trifecta. Not the end of the world if you’re good about making sure antagonistic partner muscles are being engaged to balance out the trifecta, but problematic if you don’t. 


Therefore, if you have an opportunity to check out any LATERAL movement machines, please try them! 


I ran across one the other day at a hotel gym, and I notice at my gym- Club Sport Oregon -that it gets used less than some of the other cardio machines. I think most people aren’t sure how it works or it’s advantages, so here’s a quick video that explains why I like it! 

Anything that allows you to move sideways is going to give you a better opportunity to engage lateral stabilizing muscles – aka the GLUTE!

For my straight ahead sporters, this is key, since the straight ahead nature of their sport (running, biking, etc) doesn’t necessarily allow for lateral muscles to engage. Give it a whirl if you stumble across one, and let me know in the comments below how you liked (or disliked!) it!

How to help a rotator cuff

Here is a photo of a situation that has embraced Chaos! This Callery pear tree is on the grounds of the 9/11 Memorial. Notice the extra bands around the base of the tree to help support it, and if you look closely you can see the burnt sections of bark. However, with a little love and attention, this tree survived and thrives today to tell it’s story. 

So can you! 
 
Whenever something hurts, to me it feels like a little chaos has descended on my life. 
Consider it an opportunity to give yourself a little more love and attention to a part of the body that might need some help. 

In today’s blog, I wanted to target a frequently neglected area of the body in the shoulder called the rotator cuff. Have you had this spot hurt ever or know someone who has? Here’s how you will know: Ever had trouble lifting your arm up over your head to put a sweater on? The usual suspect is the rotator cuff when that happens. 

Here are the four muscles that make up the rotator cuff. Their basic job is to suck the humerus (upper arm bone) into the socket and keep it there. 

This one is called the infraspinatus:

Here’s the supraspinatus:

This guy is the subscapularis….

And finally the Teres Major (it has a Teres Minor friend). 

How would I help these four rotator cuff muscles? 

The first thing I would try is to break loose the three classic tight spots around the shoulder: the chest or pectoralis muscle, the shoulder blade itself, and the bicep muscle on the front of the arm. I made a YouTube video – How to loosen up your neck and shoulders –  https://youtu.be/MpYxDZNs9EY  to demo that awhile ago. 

Next, I would address the three basic directions the shoulder blade is supposed to move. Those are: up and down, side to side or in and out, and rotational. 

Here is a video on how to strengthen two of the three directions .. in your kitchen! 

Let me know in the comments below how you like the exercises and if they impacted how your shoulder feels. If your shoulder doesn’t hurt, consider trying them out to PREVENT anything from negatively impacting how your shoulder moves and feels. Take that chaos head on! 

How to get your hamstrings to activate – FAST

So I was in the pumpkin patch, and noticing lots of little screaming happy kiddos, and one of them had a Brazilian soccer jersey on….which reminded me of a fantastic Brazilian soccer drill I was once taught. In that drill, one partner stands behind a kneeling partner. The kneeling partner squeezes the outsides of the ankles and heels of the standing partner as he/she is pushed on the back (gently, or quickly if you have a “mean” partner!) from the back. 

Man-o-man, that push coupled with the squeeze jacks up your core and hamstrings and glutes FAST! 

Or…you collapse on the floor or ground in front of you instead. 🙂 

Your goal as the kneeling partner (and I suggest putting something like a yoga mat or pillow for padding under your knees) is to have your core and hams and glutes decelerate the push. 

It should look something like my client Gary:

You do not have to travel very far forward. In fact, you most likely won’t. However, the goal is not how far you can travel forward without collapsing, but instead how much can you get those glutes and hammies to kick in and decelerate the fall.

What if you don’t have a partner and not living in Rio? No problem! Grab a handy post or door jam/doorway instead like my client Cliff did below. 

I explain it more in this video (and I use a tractor tire for my post! Let your imagination and ingenuity run wild!) 

If your low back hurts, try the handy dandy snake breathing technique as you squeeze in the post with all of your might. (Snake breathing: teeth together, tongue up against back of teeth, exhale thru teeth making a hissing sound to engage core to help back relax) 
Please let me know in the comments below what you think of the Brazilian hamstring exercise!

How to help your Ergonomics – Top 7 tips!

Have you ever thought about the ergonomics of your workspace? I haven’t much other than trying to optimize 90 degree angles, so when I was asked to present on the topic in a corporate fitness setting, I read up on it. 

Very interesting! 

OSHA.gov defines ergonomics as “simply the science of designing the job to fit the worker, rather than physically forcing the worker’s body to fit the job.” (That is revealing in and of itself- I thought the opposite was true!)

In 2000, their website and pdf tutorial goes on to state that “The Bureau of Labor Statistics (an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor) recognizes MSDs (Musculoskeletal Disorders) as a serious workplace health hazard. These injuries now account for more than one-third of all lost workday cases.” That was in the year 2000, citing 1998 stats. I can only imagine what has happened in 20 years! 

Interesting that they cite musculoskeletal injuries as a SERIOUS HAZARD. 

Another strong choice of words! Remember, this can be subjective since there aren’t any diagnostic tools that can nail down muscle tightness as the culprit. 

One article I read had some great tips, which I will relay below, but some of the tips were designed to restrict the amount of movement the worker had to execute. For instance, one suggestion was to place the stapler closer to the hand so that the worker need not reach as far. Instead, I say put that stapler on the other side of the room and get up and walk over to use it! 

Here is a photo of a sit/stand desk used in this company. This woman has great ninety degree angles at her ankles with her feet flat, and also at her elbows. 

That is tip 1.

Stand up. Go for ninety degree angles at the hip, elbow, knee, and ankles wether you stand or sit. Unfortunately her upper back and neck still hurt, but we will talk about that in a bit. 

Here is a photo of some of the group while they waited for me to begin the talk. Notice no one has their feet flat and they are all trying to get comfortable while sitting. Their hips are rolled back, and they are using the back rests. 

Tip 2

Use your sitting cats and dogs (cat/cow in yoga) to sit in your hips, rather than using the back rests!

Tip 3

Either raise or lower your chair or desk so that your feet can be comfortably flat on the floor. If you need a footstool, use it. Ninety degrees is your goal at every joint. 

Tip 4

The letter “B” is the center of your keyboard, so use it as the way to center your keyboard, not the perimeter. 

Tip 5

Your monitor should be an arm’s length away. Literally. Reach out and see if it brushes your fingertips. 
Additionally, I had an eye doctor client who often chastised me for reading things too closely to my eyes. He had me bend my fist to touch my nose, and the book was to be half an arm’s length away by my elbow. “Check your distance,” he would say to me. 

Tip 6

The top of your monitor should be at eye level, but if you wear bifocals, drop it down by 1-2”. Also throw a glare screen over it to protect your eyes. 

When I presented to the group, I suggested they put a SYSTEM in place. You know what SYSTEM stands for, don’t you? Save Yourself Some Time and Money! (Thank you Martin Rooney of trainingforwarriors.com for the quote.) 

Tip 7

The best SYSTEM tip the group came up with was to use the alarm on their computer, phone, or FitBit and set it hourly. Remind yourself to get up and walk around, drink water, breathe deeply, and take a quick stretch break. Put a system in place, and then go back to the important thinking things! 

Now, my bonus tip.

Remember our standing desk lady who looked good while at her standing desk but still had upper back and neck tightness? Try this:

Pull up on the edge of your desk while you look over the opposite shoulder and drop your head. You should feel a stretch along the neck on the side you are looking away from. HOLD 90 SECONDS. My favorite musculoskeletal & neurological learning point. 

My final quick tip

is to stand against a wall. Make sure your head, hips, and heels are touching the wall. Stay there for 90 seconds to remind your body what straight up and down feels like. Now come off the wall, and if the bonus tip didn’t help, then maybe this will!

What are your favorite office and desk hacks to get your body more comfortable and productive? Let me know in the comments below! 

How to use a squat to determine ankle flexibility

Have you ever taken into consideration how flexible or inflexible your ankles might be, and how that might be affecting your overall body posture?

Let’s use a squat to see if we can find any hints of potential hidden ankle influence.

Place your hands behind your head, and break down into a squat with your legs parallel to the ground at an optimal 90 degree angle, YOUR FEET POINTING STRAIGHT AHEAD with heels on the ground. 

It should look like this but with your hands behind your head (photo credit: unsplash.com) : 

Again: Beautiful diagonal up the back, feet straight ahead, knees bent, and legs parallel to the ground. Note your hands should be behind your head

However, it might look more like this:

A bit of a lean forward, rounding of the back, feet turned out, knees collapsing in, or something other than straight ahead. 

Let’s try a quick fix to the squat: KEEP YOUR FEET POINTING STRAIGHT AHEAD, but now lift your heels a bit as if we wedged a 2”x4” underneath your heels to rest on. In this case we threw a binder under Ian’s ankles to actually lift his heels. Have you ever noticed Olympic lifter’s shoes? They often have a wooden heel wedge built right in.  I suspect it is to mitigate this ankle situation! 

Now how does it feel or look?

Better? 

Why??? 

Why is your squat something less than perfect, but improved with the heel lift?

Ankle flexibility! 

Turns out that you need between 10-15 degrees of what’s called dorsiflexion (flexion is to decrease the angle in a joint, so bringing your toes toward your shin is dorsiflexion) in the ankle joint to make that squat look and feel good. When do you get 10-15 degrees of dorsiflexion? 

Hardly ever. Certainly not when you sleep- your toes are pointed down then (plantar flexion) for a good 8 hours a day. Therefore, you are in the opposite direction when you sleep for 1/3 of your life. Additionally, when you just stand or walk around, you are not in dorsiflexion either. 

Changing ankle mobility is one of the best ways to improve your squats. Squats shouldn’t hurt your back! 

So what muscle can impact ankle flexibility? The Soleus! 

The what????

Take a look. Hiding under the top most layer of calf muscle (the gastrocnemius) highlighted here in yellow is our new friend the soleus. 

 

Let’s peel away the gastroc and take a closer look at the soleus:

Remember last week’s blog about the calf tightness and the back line fascia? Well, here is another contributor to that bunch of fascia. All the white stuff in the picture is fascia and tendons, so we have to keep that soft tissue mobile in order to help the ankle. 

How exactly do we do that? 

Let’s try a standing soleus stretch.

Actually, any calf stretch you do can be also turned into a soleus stretch if you simply bend your knee. For instance, if you are dropping your heels off of a stair step, and you keep your legs straight, then you stretch the top layer gastroc. If you stay in that stretch on the stairs and bend your knees, now you are stretching the soleus. Alternate between the two, and you hit both layers of muscle. 

Try this as well:

 
Step forward one step. The back leg is bent as it is our focus. Keep your heel down, and sink into that back knee and unless you are super flexible you will feel tight in the ankle. Hold it for 2 seconds, and step forward. Do this for 5 yards, and then try a twisting variation. 

Twisting variation:

Try a “monkey grip” for your hands- one hand makes a fist and the other covers the top in front of your chest. Same step forward, and now twist into the front leg keeping that back heel down. Does the rotary stretch feel slightly different? It most likely will!

Let me know in the comments below if you discover any ankle flexibility issues! 

Lunges. 

One of my favorite exercises, done properly. Most people like to keep their knees fairly close to their body, creating ninety degree angles. 

I had my coworker demonstrate the classic lunge below:

If you want to work your quads, do your lunges in this way. They will get tired fast!  However, if you want to work my favorite Triple Threat Threesome of glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors, you must allow those long legs to stretch a little further apart. 

Something like this:

Let that back leg really extend so that you can feel the hip flexor stretch on the front of the back hip, and then drop down into the hip flexor on the front leg. When you’re ready to come back up, please drive through the front heel so that you can engage the glutes and hamstrings while rising. 

Now we’re talking! Use those big powerful muscles on the back of your leg to get you back up. 

If you like to do straight ahead sports like running, walking, biking, and swimming, you need to do lunges and other strength exercises in a DIRECTION OTHER THAN STRAIGHT AHEAD. 

You are already naturally strong in that direction because your sport- i.e. walking the dog- creates that strength. 

Please consider moving in another direction to make sure your hips stay strong if you step off the curb wrong or hit some gravel and lose your balance. 

I love moving sideways.

I have blogged numerous times about walking sideways. That is a direction other than straight ahead. However, have you considered yet another direction? 

How about 45 degrees? 

How often do you move in that direction? 

Here’s a quick video on how to do a lunge in a 45 degree angle, which is a vector often missed by the masses. Does it have to be a perfect 45 degree?

 No. Absolutely not. Move in any variety of 15-85 degree angles, because you never know when that angle might come in handy!

Let me know how your incorporation of multitude of lunge angles is going in the comments below…let’s not have stepping off the curb be a major preventable disaster. 

How can you help plantar fasciitis?

Have you ever had the bottom of your foot hurt before? You can barely put weight on that foot in the morning and you limp around awhile until things loosen up….or your heel hurts and you find yourself at the shoe store desperately buying shoe inserts or orthotics or heel pads trying to take pressure off of that poor foot. 

Additionally, you find yourself icing your foot at night, and in the morning, and heading to the PT to get some really fun Graston (instrument assisted soft tissue manual therapy) treatments. How is that scraping the bottom of your foot going? 

Nothing seems to have any lasting effects so far. What would I have you do? 

Let’s take a look at what might be happening. 

First of all, here is the actual plantar fascia itself. Attach -itis to it, and you’ve got inflammation of the plantar fascia. 

How does the plantar fascia get tight? 

Well, if you subscribe to the latest research on fascia, and you happen to read a book called Anatomy Trains by Thomas Meyers, you trip over this interesting illustration below. The story goes that Thomas Meyers took his cadaver and instead of cutting straight down to get to the bone and the muscle and the organs, he cut sideways and discovered various connected fascia areas he termed “trains”. The one on the back of the body is pictured below, called the Superficial Back Line. 

Notice it starts at the base of the foot where the plantar fascia is also located, and creates a chain of connected tissue up the back of the leg all the way to the base of the skull. 

I have actually already blogged about fascia before, and in that blog we tried a test:
 Is it tight hamstrings or….

Is it tight fascia? 

Here’s a quick review of the test: Lean over and touch your toes, and note the hamstring tightness you feel. Now briskly roll the bottom of your foot on a golf ball for 15-30 seconds, and then lean over again. What happened? Is any of that hamstring tightness impacted? If so, you are suffering from tight fascia- specifically from that back line. 

Interesting, eh?

Wrapped up in that fascia is the calf muscle, and the hamstring, and the back muscles. 
Add in some legitimate muscle tightness from any of those three muscles, and you could start to feel tugging at the attachment points- in this case, the foot or the base of the head, and voila, there is one potential source of the plantar fasciitis (or headaches!) 

Normal people do things like wear a boot all night like the one pictured below:

 

Or they roll their foot on hard rollers like this one….

 

However, my clients do something in addition to those symptom-focused treatments. I have them use the foam roller on their calves – that’s an obvious one, and sometimes makes a BIG difference, but I also have them roll their quads. 

Why quads? 

Well, if your quads get ridiculously tight, they are going to interfere with the hamstring’s ability to function, and then the hamstring can’t help the calf. Now the calves get really really tight, and start to pull on the place they attach at the base of the heel. 

Take away the quad tightness, take away the calf tightness, and keep working on the hamstring (and of course glutes!) function. That is the long term solution! 

Here is my client Jillian using the double roller solution- one roller under her hips to support her low back, and the second roller on the quads themselves to break down the tightness. 

While you are there, try some hamstring curls (bringing your heels up towards your hips) on the roller! That will engage the hamstrings and help take pressure off of the calves. IF you feel your quads while doing a hamstring curl, I promise you have some quad tightness to overcome! 

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or what you think of my solution to the plantar fasciitis situation. Now get back out there and hike! 🙂 

What is Orange Theory?

Recently I dragged my daughter into a local Orange Theory. What is all the hubbub? I have seen several pop up in various locations, and wanted to know why you might like to join them in a sweat fest. Well, here is the lowdown on the franchise that now has 1000 locations nationwide including one on the Nike Campus.

 How does it work? 

First of all, there are three stations that you will work in. Treadmills, Rowing machines, and a strength station. Before class you line up outside the room and are given a high-five from the Coach as you walk in and a station- I was rowing machine 1, and Sarah was rowing machine 2. We were to proceed to Treadmill station 1, and strength station 1. Very organized! There is room for 30 participants which requires signing up via their app prior to coming to class. 

Rowing machines and treadmills are relatively self explanatory. However, they build in intervals at each station. The rowing station for instance was 300 meters, and then 30 medicine ball jumping jacks. You alternated between the two exercises, and at the end of the designated time period for that station, you moved to the next. Treadmills had three speeds, and you were to work in each of the three based on the coaching prompts. 

The strength station has a screen with moving avatars on it to show you what to do, and then how many times. Again, you try to get as many done as possible in the time period allotted. Lots of pumping music going! 

Here is a photo of the changing of the stations thru the glass from the lobby. They also provide a wet wipe to wipe down your machine after you use it. Thoughtful!
 

The goal

is to get into the orange zone- which is 85% of your heart rate max for 12 of the 60 minutes of class. 1 minute equals 1 of what they term SPLAT points, and you want to get 12 splat points. This is accomplished by wearing a Bluetooth armband heart rate monitor that you purchase, and you have real time monitoring on the screens above you. This picture below shows the various heart rates happening in the class at that moment. 

At the end of class, your summary is then up on the monitor and emailed to you. 

Here is my summary.

My daughter told me that she would look up on the monitor, and guess I wasn’t working hard based on the fact that I wasn’t in the Orange zone. Then she said she looked over and I was actually dripping in sweat, working as hard as she was. Interval training happens to be something I am relatively trained for courtesy of summer soccer, so it requires a big effort by me to hit the Orange zone. 

Notice I only got 8 of my 12 splat points. Sarah got 14.  I promise I was working super hard! My heart rate profile was similar to a guy who the coach said had been working out 4x/week for 6 months. He also didn’t get very many splat points. This was disappointing since they make such a big deal about the Orange zone part…if you are well trained in their system, how do you keep making the splat happen?? 

Finally, they did a quick 3-4 minute cool down, which was great since the high-five was our only warmup. 

IF you need help getting motivated and like group sessions with loud music and a coach, this seems like a good option.

IF you aren’t good about doing intervals, this seems like a good option.

IF you know what muscles you are supposed to target with the strength work, and you feel them when you do the strength moves, this seems like a good option. 

However, the lack of warmup and the lack of information about the target muscles in the strength station were problematic for me. They could take the avatar and at least highlight the body part targeted on the person moving! 

What is your experience with Orange Theory?

Sarah liked it. I like it, but of course I don’t want anyone hurt and drop out because of the “work hard to get your splat points” environment. Plus when you get fit, how do they keep motivating you? Let me know in the comments below! 

How to warm up for whitewater rafting

We chose to start this fantastic rafting trip at 9:30 in the morning. That meant up by 6am, warmup and run with the doggie for 50 mins, make breakfast, and hit the road by 7:45am. 

Then we sat in the car. For 75 minutes. 

I was so excited to get to our destination and all geared up that I forgot to think about the potential physical requirements of the next sport of the day: whitewater rafting.  

Have you ever been rafting? I have been before, but it never required a wetsuit, helmet, booties, and splash jacket as well as a life vest. We were in 42 degree water that was direct snow melt from Mt. Adams in Washington. It was beautiful, cold, and clear. With lots of 3, 4, and one class 5 rapid the river demanded some ability to move well in the raft. 

I always say, “you never know when being fit will come in handy!” Share on X

In this case, a lot of adrenaline and high levels of fun and excitement overcame any movement restrictions I might have experienced. However, in retrospect, I think the following three exercises would give your hips a quick targeted warmup. I was just too excited to think it through clearly, and I zipped through my explanation in the video as well! 

Watch the video here, and I tacked the trip over the waterfall on the end…look for the guide to triumphantly pump his arm in the air! 

If you’d like some explanation of the three exercises, read on…

Let me know in the comments below how you get ready for a big outdoor excursion like rafting or kayaking. 

Exercise 1: Deep, full squat

If you don’t have a rafting paddle to hang onto, then grab the edge of the sink, and drop all the way down into your hips so your glutes hit your heels. Drive thru your heels to use those glutes to power you back up. Practice a few fairly rapidly- our guide insisted we move quickly enough before he could feel good about taking us through the bigger class rapids. We used this to pop into the inside of the raft, which was essential when we went over the waterfall. That was exciting! 

Exercise 2: Bench half pigeon from yoga 

In this case, I place one bent knee up on the bench, and then drop the back leg back into a semi lunge. I stretch the hip flexor on the back leg as I lean forward and open up the bent knee, stretching the inside of the thigh. Try both sides. Since this is a warm up situation, only hold the stretch for 2 seconds, and then release. If you use it cooling down, then hold it the full 90 seconds. 

Exercise 3: Figure Four

I chose to sit and demonstrate this, but you can certainly try it standing. Cross your foot on your knee, and bring the knee that has the crossed foot on it closer to your body. That will give your hip flexor a chance to engage as well as the inside of the hip to stretch again. You also use your core to stabilize the whole position, and then try the other side. Again, are you warming up or cooling down? Warmup: Only hold 2 seconds, and Cool down feel free to hang in there for the full 90 seconds. 

Have fun! Give rafting a try!!