A Philosophy of Strength and Health

Just picked up the November copy of Sauce Magazine , a local foodie publication that tends to have interesting articles on area restaurants, chefs and all things food. This issue has an article by Jill Baughman that discusses the controversy over the role of food with regard to seasonal allergies. If you live in the Midwest, and especially St. Louis, you know the region is notorious for having hordes of people who suffer from seasonal allergies and sinus infections. I used to be one of those people. But I changed my diet (eliminated dairy, gluten and animal proteins) and have since eliminated my use of medication to control seasonal allergies and sinus infections, as well as cleared my skin of troublesome acne. Let me share are few quotes from Dr. H. James Wedner, chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine: "There are a lot of old wives' tales about foods or drinks that stop respiratory allergy symptoms, but none of them...

Take that Kenny Rogers. The Karma Fairy came through. You won game two, but she put the pine tar curse on the rest of your pitching staff and they couldn't field a ball to save their hide or win the World Series. And some 5'7" shortstop and his ragtag teammates with the 13th best record in baseball, come together to win 4 games to 1. It wasn't the most beautiful series, but the Cardinals did what it took to win--and sometimes that means simply making fewer mistakes than your opponent. Many times, the winning team makes their own luck. The last time the Cardinals won the World Series (1982), I was in 8th grade and I was in love with 2nd baseman Tommy Herr. I suffered through 1985 (KC) and 2004 (Red Sox). And my lovely husband is a crazed Minnesota Twins fan who takes great pleasure in reminding me frequently that his beloved Twins beat the Cardinals in 1987. This will quiet him down for a while, at least until pitchers and catchers report next spring. I'm ...

As my husband will gladly tell you, I am notorious for leaving things in my pockets. Things which aren't found until they are destroyed in the washer and/or dryer. Tissues, lip balm, money--you name it. I try, but I just can't seem to clean out my pockets before depositing my clothes in the dirty pile. Well, last night I was doing laundry and thought I finally got what I deserved. The knocking sound in the dryer turned out to be my little Lexar 512 Mb Jump Drive, sans it's little protective cap. Great. Was there anything really important on it? Oh well, maybe I'll learn, right? On a whim I decided to see if it still worked. Popped that puppy in the USB port and to my surprise, heard the familiar "cling clang" of Windows XP. Clicked "My Computer" and there was the icon. Clicked on the icon and there were my documents, squeaky clean. Who'dathunkit?

The District Cross Country Championships are this Saturday. AJ will be running on a course she ran back in September, going 21:50 on a hilly course and finishing 15/250. The competition will not be stiff in terms of teams qualifying for the State Championship next Saturday, so there is some pressure but not a great deal. Her team should qualify easily (top 2 teams). We are tapering her resistance training to more basic work and keeping things quick and fast. I watched her run last Friday, where she had a great 21:04 time on a tough course and finished 26/120+ girls (30 teams) with both 3A and 4A schools competing. AJ's school is 3A, meaning it is a smaller school. As a freshman, she ran that particular course in 24:00+; last year she ran it in 22:30. So she's making some great progress overall in her development as a runner. During the race I was able to see her go by 4 or 5 times and it seemed like her stride was a bit too long and her stride frequency a bit slow. It d...

Oh that wasn't pine tar. It was just dirt on my hand. Right Kenny. You were caught "brown-handed." But for whatever reason, you gambled and won. Like many other adults in this day and age--politicians, heads of corporations, other professional athletes--this 42 y.o. baseball pitcher has LIED to the entire world about what was on his hand and why it was there. Straight up lied and denied right at us. Unbelievable? Not today. Deny, lie, deny and abdicate responsibility for our words and actions. This is what our society does now and it trickles down to our young people like you wouldn't believe. Hey, if professional athletes can get away with it, why can't a high school athlete who is accused of violating a high school's drug and alcohol policy get away with the same tactic? The high school doesn't have the blood alcohol reading of my body before or after the dance. I didn't drink and you cannot prove I did. Now let me practice and play....

If the athletes are truly quad dominant and you want to initiate posterior chain strengthening, why spend so much time—weeks--on a quad dominant exercise? Let’s get to the point, the human body responds to appropriately applied overload. I am curious to know just how bad the posterior hip and ankle flexibility is in female middle distance/distance athletes—and thus the need for this drastic remediation. I would tend to think the opposite is true—that males are more prone to inflexibility. Just my experience with high school boys. Are the male middle distance runners asked to do this exercise or just the females? Is the macho bias of the collegiate weight room showing through with prescription of this particular exercise? Reminds me of the George Carlin routine (weight room version): On the MEN’S side of the weight room, we do: HACK SQUATS On the girls’ side of the weight room, we do: si...

Well, I'm bummed. A young athlete I know has been kicked out of one of the USOC Olympic Training Centers--for the second and final time. All of the talent in the world. This kid's physical abilities allowed her to walk into a great situation--room, board, college tuition, health care and training--a situation and opportunity many athletes in Olympic sports never have. This kid has the capability of representing the US in London in the 2012 Olympics, but the chances of that happening are greatly decreased now as she will be forced to fend for herself for training space and coaching. Maybe I'm cynical, but it seems many of today's young athletes have trouble remaining disciplined and making good choices. Alcohol, sportsmanship, working as a team--heck, just showing up to training on time--many of them just don't seem to get it. The coaches are forced to act as baby sitters for people who cannot seem to keep their pants on or keep themselves sober--even at World...

Anybody else checked out the sport specific training article in the latest T&C? I have to say I am utterly shocked and disappointed in the article by Matthew Ludwig, assistant strength coach at the University of Washington. I was hoping to find some extra goodies and inspiration for AJ's workouts--which have been going well and I'll update after today's tough race. You can see a full summer workout program for the Huskies women's distance runners here . The long track sprinters and hurdlers actually get to front squat. Why is this? I don't see how incorporating a "sissy squat" into a program helps any athlete gain the proper lower extremity strength and mobility to do any kind of other squat. What is wrong with simply having them stay upright with a med ball or other implement and encouraging closed-chain ankle dorsiflexion? Why do the long track/hurdlers do front squats, but not the middle distance women? AJ has been taught all kinds of squats: b...

Get the lowdown here. Stick it in your head and have a great weekend!

Finally took the time to look over this ChiRunning stuff. A friend of mine is going to one of their workshops in Atlanta. I'm skeptical. From what I can tell from the website, this is a very slickly-run gig. Lots of product available for sale--they have even made it really easy for anyone (affiliates!) to make some money, by providing the html code for products to embed in your website so any click through from your site brings you an easy 20% commission. I can't really find any good references on the actual techniques they teach, just general lay terminology: core strength, don't over-stride, don't focus on a heel-strike. In one sense, it seems like they are providing some good BASIC info to the adult runner. If you've ever watched a 5k or marathon, it is PAINFUL to watch many of the participants move. There is no wonder why there are running injuries in the masses. Most recreational runners are not blessed with naturally efficient running mechanics or...

Got some new cycling shoes today. Carbon-soled bling. Once again, I chose to shop in the men's section because the color and functional design in the equipment was better than that in the women's section. Men's equipment and clothing functions better and looks better. Always. That's because it is designed for an ATHLETE. Women's stuff seems to be designed for men to look at women or for women to really not perform at an elite level. Not even recreate. I am happy companies are finally beginning to manufacture sport equipment designed specifically for women. Size and anatomy are different. We are not simply miniature men. But, and this is very common with cycling equipment, the women's specific design (WSD) stuff is usually has at least one of the following characteristics: 1. Inferior componetry--bikes get the crappy, low-level groupos, saddles, etc 2. Looks frumpy--not cool and fast 3. Nasty pastel colors 4. Designed to show skin, not function as ath...

So I've been absent for a few days--nothing like an 18 y.o. cat with a kidney infection and kidney stone, along with redefining my affiliation with Dartfish to distract me. But here I am. I'm speaking to a group of individuals enrolled in a weight loss program through the Washington University Program in Physical Therapy next week. My friend Cindi (Cinister, the super cyclist and registered dietician) has invited me to speak for the second year. The topic du jour is resistance training: Don't believe the Hype: Be Smart, Be Healthy, Be Strong. My goal is to get these people to actually understand that using weights and training with real resistance is NOT going to cause any undo masculinization or lead to that great American fear, unwanted bulk. Who the hell started this absurd myth anyway? Every week this fitness myth is propagated by mass media. Why on 9/25 our wonderful Post-Dispatch "Health & Fitness" section carried a special article from the Was...