TSC Video- Blood Pressure

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/medicine/blood-pressure.htm

TSC Video- Joint-by-Joint

Conditioning Part 1

This is yet another topic that is called many different things and interpreted in various ways. Some call it cardio, some conditioning and others energy system development. I guess in the end it makes no difference what it is called as long as what you are doing is the right thing. The following is what I believe to be true with fact-based support from Paul Robbins, metabolic specialist at Atheletes’ Performance. Paul defines his methodology as energy system development. He breaks is system down into 5 phases; base, interval, linear, multi-direction and sport specific (or in our case, tactical specific).

Part 1 of this series will focus on the first two; base and interval.

Base:

This is a starting point. It is used to objectively test for a starting level of fitness. If you skip this step, you take the risk of over or under training. Depending on you fitness level this could last up to 7-8 weeks. The idea is to build up your aerobic capacity to be able to handle the various intensities down the road. For example, you may start with just a steady state conditioning for a week or two increasing and decreasing the intensity based on the day of the week, yet over time always increasing both the ceiling and basement to your steady state. Then you may start to add small aerobic intervals, which would consist of a lower intensity steady state followed by a period of greater intensity steady state.

Intervals:

Interval training is simply a period of intensity following by a period of rest or recovery. Intervals are intense. They are meant to push you to upper thresholds that will take you outside your comfort zone. The idea behind them is to have a maximum benefit in less than half the time it would take you doing conventional steady state work. They are proven to increase your VO2 max better than steady state work because of the demand that you body battles. There are many different methods but they are all based on two things; heart rate and time %. Your heart rate is a no guess way of identifying when you are recovered enough to go again and it gives you the indication of your maximum effort. Without a heart rate monitor it makes it very difficult to guess. The time % is based on your heart rate. It gives you an indication of what your work to rest ratio is. For example, if you were out side running sprints and it took you 30 seconds to complete, which is your work ratio, the sprint and at the end your heart rate was 180bpm, I would like to see a 40bpm drop before you go again. You would monitor how long it took you to get down 40bpm, which would be your rest ratio. So if it took you 1:30 to recover you would have a 3:1 ratio (30sec of work: 1:30 of rest). This is just one way they are many ways and variations but they are still all based on the two above factors.

Power

What is power and why do you as tactical forces? Power is defined as the sum of speed and strength. The faster you can lift more weight is power. You, as a tactical force, need power in your arsenal of abilities because your job is about a controlled chaos. You need to get from point A to point B quickly and strong. That may be carrying a body out of a fire, lifting someone out of a window, or breaking down a door. Similar to all training there is a method to the madness. This is the quintessential piece of the whole strength and conditioning puzzle. It is so vital that we here at the Tactical Strength Club dedicate a piece of everyday of every program to power generation. As we age it is one of the first things to leave us. We have the ability to regain strength and endurance  easier and faster; power is a skill and something that needs to be practiced. In the photos posted earlier, the two pictures of the dumbbells and the medicine balls are examples of what we do here. If you look at the wall that they are throwing the balls against, it is all marked up. we use the medicine balls for a lot of the power work with in a program, especially with you, the tactical forces. They are versatile for any functional movement.

To train for power, we have many different “toys” to use in our programs. Below are a few that have been very successful:

Medicine Balls:

Plyometrics:

Olympic Lifts with Dumbbell:

Olympic Lifts with Barbell:

Olympic Lifts with Kettlebell:

TSC Photos 7/14/09

Weighted chin ups and elevated Bosu push ups

DB push press

MB side toss

The Core

I am not sure who coined the phrase “CORE,” but it has to be clarified and amended. Mark Verstegen says it best by defining it as the CORE Pillar system. Meaning, it is not just your abs, if it was then why wouldn’t we just call it your “abs” instead. It consists of your hips, abdominals or midsection, and shoulders. The pillar system allows you to have a stable foundation of which to move from. Verstegen says to think of the CORE as the wheel hub and the movements are the spokes. You can’t have the spokes move without the hub being in place and stable. On a technical note, Dr. Stuart McGill, renowned back specialist, states that to keep your spinal discs safe and functioning you have 30 degrees of flexion and/or extension; anything beyond that is a compromise of the spinal column. So, you will never hear me advocate doing 100 crunches or sit-ups. There are ways to do them safely, but we first need to get the foundation built first.

We have found that the true functionality of the CORE is actually the prevention of movement. If we look at some of the CORE muscles you will notice they are not intended to be crunched or curled like a bicep or hamstring. Those muscles are long and straight with the ability to both eccentrically and concentrically contract. On the other hand, take a look at your abdominal muscles; if they are clearly defined you will see what people call a “six pack.” They look more like puzzle pieces or building blocks. The function of them is more for stability to protect the lumbar spine and allow the rest of the limbs around it to function.

So lets break this down further. We have defined the CORE system by not just one muscle, but a series and combination of muscle groups. Now we need to show you how they are supposed to function with the right movements. We will do this by breaking it down into the muscle groups above; hips, abdominals, and shoulders. Each group will have a series of movement progressions that can be used for effective and safe training.

**Please note that “real” CORE training will not and is not intended to slim down or get rid of a “gut.” It is the foundation in which we function and perform. If you want to get rid of your “gut” stay tuned for the nutritional and fat loss section. You will learn how to get rid of it by doing no; that is right zero (0) crunches!

Pre-hab

Pre-Habilitation or Pre-Hab is defined as preventative exercise or movements that aid in the reduction of injuries by strengthening the weak areas of your body and/or gaining movement in areas of tightness.

So how do you know what needs the attention and what does not? If you were here at the gym we would perform a Functional Movement Screen on you to assess how and if you can move. But, because most of you reading this are not having the assessment performed on you I will touch on major areas that need mobility and others that require stability. Mike Boyle has written an article called, the Joint-by-Joint approach to training. In the article, Boyle reveals that every other joint in our body needs either mobility or stability. For example, our ankles need mobility, our knees need stability, hips mobility, etc. So what is discovered is a pattern of misunderstanding in our bodies. Low back injuries occur not necessarily because of a weak low back or weak core, but because of a lack of hip and T-spine mobility. So it turns out that the site of the injury or site of the pain is not the source. In most cases, with the exception of impact injuries, when someone is injured it is because of something else that has affected that area. Below is an image of the body with areas that require either mobility or stability:

The hip and shoulder joints are the joker cards of the joints. Seeing that it requires both stability and mobility to operate effectively the way we attack the process is slightly different. For example, the hip joint can be both immobile and unstable, thus causing issues in both the knees and the lumbar spine. Similarly, the shoulder joint is designed for mobility and therefore needs to be trained for stability. If there is too much mobility in the joint the opportunity for injury is increased.

Now that the areas are defined ajoint by joint imagend understood, we can better produce movements and programming.