How important is sports psychology or your attitude and mentality essential for playing a sport or game?
Today at the golf range: Yes, minor adjustments in technique can affect the force created by the club. However, how easy is it to get flustered and throw the club into the grass in rage?
Question of the night:
Are Sports 80% mental? If you don't believe so, why does a reputable university have a mental imagery program division for their undergraduate program?
Tomorrow:
Lakeshore Tower's Workout
Golf stroke recovery/rehab
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Foam to the End of the Cripple Cycle
So today, outside of being a great day of NFL futbol, it was a not-so-great day for pain and trigger receptors. Tomorrow, going to head back to the chiropractor's for some adjustments and jet-massage time. If that doesn't help, I'm paying a visit to the California Pain Clinic.
For those of you who don't have chronic pain, but instead, may experience tight muscles after a workout or even soreness after a day of unusual activity or strenuous activity, here's an alternative method of treatment.
The foam roller.
Shaped liked a enlarged q-tip, this device is your new best friend in recovery and rehabilitation. The process hurts like a($!@*#$@$#$*#, but beyond the pain, there's a world of flexibility, full range-of-motion, and pliable muscles just waiting for you.
As Nate Green puts it, in his recent blog entry, " Stupid People Write Their Own Programs"
"For instance, I hate foam rolling.
Loathe it, in fact. I'd rather...shit, I don't know...stick bicycle spokes in my eyes than sit on a foam roller.
For those of you uninitiated with the devilish torture that is foam rolling, it's great for improving your soft tissue (muscle) quality, enhancing the way you feel and how your body moves, and for making you cry like a little bitch.
Most of us have collections of "trigger points"—little nodules of balled-up muscle tissue—that negatively affect our bodies. Not only do these little buggers hurt when you press on them, they're also the cause of aches, pains, and nagging injuries. You know the knee pain you get every now and then? Or the lower back pain in the morning? Or the "I'm never going to throw a football again" shoulder pain? Probably a major trigger point or two that's screwing everything up.
So we need to get rid of them, and we do that by foam rolling.
But foam rolling sucks, so I never want to do it."
If you're interested following Eric Cressey's youtube video yourself from the comfort of your own home, you can purchase your very own here.
For those of you who don't have chronic pain, but instead, may experience tight muscles after a workout or even soreness after a day of unusual activity or strenuous activity, here's an alternative method of treatment.
The foam roller.
Shaped liked a enlarged q-tip, this device is your new best friend in recovery and rehabilitation. The process hurts like a($!@*#$@$#$*#, but beyond the pain, there's a world of flexibility, full range-of-motion, and pliable muscles just waiting for you.
As Nate Green puts it, in his recent blog entry, " Stupid People Write Their Own Programs"
"For instance, I hate foam rolling.
Loathe it, in fact. I'd rather...shit, I don't know...stick bicycle spokes in my eyes than sit on a foam roller.
For those of you uninitiated with the devilish torture that is foam rolling, it's great for improving your soft tissue (muscle) quality, enhancing the way you feel and how your body moves, and for making you cry like a little bitch.
Most of us have collections of "trigger points"—little nodules of balled-up muscle tissue—that negatively affect our bodies. Not only do these little buggers hurt when you press on them, they're also the cause of aches, pains, and nagging injuries. You know the knee pain you get every now and then? Or the lower back pain in the morning? Or the "I'm never going to throw a football again" shoulder pain? Probably a major trigger point or two that's screwing everything up.
So we need to get rid of them, and we do that by foam rolling.
But foam rolling sucks, so I never want to do it."
If you're interested following Eric Cressey's youtube video yourself from the comfort of your own home, you can purchase your very own here.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sahang Community Church and Football
When have you put the words church and football together? Not to mention girls?
Sounds twisted right?
So today, I ventured upon something semi-new. Same modality, new location. The power to the puff. The puff to our face powder. A flag and a football. The powder puff girls!
Far beyond your television screens, there exists a world of females. Not just your super heros, but your flag-pulling, drill-pumping, all out females who rock great enthusiasm, comraderie and some narly cleats.
Check out a Google Image Search these adequate descriptions of such events:Link
I heard about this league through Alex, who is a friend of my coworker, Tu. It's not a semi-professional league or after-school league. Instead, it's a Korean church league. Question, since when does a church have a league on a day outside of a Sunday, right?? In their league, they battle against other churches in a formal setting known as the Turkey Bowl (TKB) and the Love Bowl. Is this a spoof of the Orange Bowl or the Rose Bowl, right now?
Anyhow, a day on the field was refreshing to say the least. Yes, I was a crippled runner, but somehow I still remember all the footwork from Velocity and the drills from the Breakers on Day 1. Legit! On a side note there was another non-Korean on the field who was rocking a "Super Vee" shirt, which I must personally thank right now. Lol. If you were only there Vee to school everyone on proper mechanics, the speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness drills we did for 4 months straight, it would have been more beautiful :).
On a tribute note, I'd like to post three pictures I found. A passion picture featuring Kevin Garnett that I saw at MGM.
Second, a Breakers Try-out poster: definitely need some marketing.
Lastly, the Breakers picture from pre-season Long Beach Tournament 2009: Team Love Sack
and Team Sexy (Lil Wayne's Song tribute at the time)
I'll leave you readers with another post another time about the compare and contrast points.
Until next time...
::On two::
Down.
Set.
Hike! Hike!
Sounds twisted right?
So today, I ventured upon something semi-new. Same modality, new location. The power to the puff. The puff to our face powder. A flag and a football. The powder puff girls!
Far beyond your television screens, there exists a world of females. Not just your super heros, but your flag-pulling, drill-pumping, all out females who rock great enthusiasm, comraderie and some narly cleats.
Check out a Google Image Search these adequate descriptions of such events:Link
I heard about this league through Alex, who is a friend of my coworker, Tu. It's not a semi-professional league or after-school league. Instead, it's a Korean church league. Question, since when does a church have a league on a day outside of a Sunday, right?? In their league, they battle against other churches in a formal setting known as the Turkey Bowl (TKB) and the Love Bowl. Is this a spoof of the Orange Bowl or the Rose Bowl, right now?
Anyhow, a day on the field was refreshing to say the least. Yes, I was a crippled runner, but somehow I still remember all the footwork from Velocity and the drills from the Breakers on Day 1. Legit! On a side note there was another non-Korean on the field who was rocking a "Super Vee" shirt, which I must personally thank right now. Lol. If you were only there Vee to school everyone on proper mechanics, the speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness drills we did for 4 months straight, it would have been more beautiful :).
On a tribute note, I'd like to post three pictures I found. A passion picture featuring Kevin Garnett that I saw at MGM.
Second, a Breakers Try-out poster: definitely need some marketing.
Lastly, the Breakers picture from pre-season Long Beach Tournament 2009: Team Love Sack
and Team Sexy (Lil Wayne's Song tribute at the time)
I'll leave you readers with another post another time about the compare and contrast points.
Until next time...
::On two::
Down.
Set.
Hike! Hike!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Stabilizing the Pain Threshold
Since the last two days off the last entry, I have not stepped foot into the gym. Instead, after Monday night's workout, I woke up like I "hit a wall." It wasn't my lower body, nor was it my upper body. Instead, my back, obliques and core. SHOT.
I felt like I did 10,000 planks and 10,000 Russian twists the night before. I literally rolled out of bed and wondered what I did to myself. In my pain, I realized how much core and breathing technique is integrated in each exercise an individual performs. From tempo control to assisting with force production, breathing requires obliques, intercostals and Rectus Abdominis muscles. Mentally replaying each exercise, I thought about how and when I used these specific muscles Monday night.
The term antagonist stabilizers is defined as a muscle that contracts to maintain the tension potential of a biarticulate muscle at the adjacent joint. The antagonist stabilizer may be contracted throughout or at only one extreme of the movement. The Antagonist Stabilizer are activated during many isolated exercises when biarticulate muscles are utilized. The Antagonist Stabilizer may assist in joint stabilization by countering the rotator force of an agonist.
Referring to the workout from Monday, the first two initial exercises directly affected the rectus abdominis. For example, Rectus Abdominis and Obliques counters the Erector Spinae's pull on spine during exercise like the deadlift or squat. This counter force prevents hyperextension of the spine, maintaining the tension potential of the Erector Spinae. Antagonist Stabilizers also act to maintain postural alignment of joints, including the vertebral column and pelvis.
For Hammer machine pulldowns, the diagram outlines the area of interest and pain.
The machine rows, as well as the unilateral bent-over barbell rows, utilized these same muscles as stabilizers and synergists.
The cable machine flies and bench press also required Stabilizers/Synergists = Rectus Abdominis and obliques. If anything, more so just because the surface was unstable, as we were standing and leaning at a 60 degree angle to the floor.
Finally, aside from the muscles utilized, breathing requires that you exhale actively on effort; inhale passively when relaxing from the effort. This ensures that you do not create intra-cerebral pressure. For a better explanation of performance breathing, I have included a bodybuilding.com link
In short, my my delayed-onset muscle soreness was not necessarily from the major muscles that were directly isolated. Instead, my DOMS experiences resulted from activating my stabilizers and synergistic muscles. Be conscious of these muscles when lifting as they are essential to one's form when lifting. Likewise, be conscious of these same muscles role in breathing, which is always essential to overall workout performance.
I felt like I did 10,000 planks and 10,000 Russian twists the night before. I literally rolled out of bed and wondered what I did to myself. In my pain, I realized how much core and breathing technique is integrated in each exercise an individual performs. From tempo control to assisting with force production, breathing requires obliques, intercostals and Rectus Abdominis muscles. Mentally replaying each exercise, I thought about how and when I used these specific muscles Monday night.
The term antagonist stabilizers is defined as a muscle that contracts to maintain the tension potential of a biarticulate muscle at the adjacent joint. The antagonist stabilizer may be contracted throughout or at only one extreme of the movement. The Antagonist Stabilizer are activated during many isolated exercises when biarticulate muscles are utilized. The Antagonist Stabilizer may assist in joint stabilization by countering the rotator force of an agonist.
Referring to the workout from Monday, the first two initial exercises directly affected the rectus abdominis. For example, Rectus Abdominis and Obliques counters the Erector Spinae's pull on spine during exercise like the deadlift or squat. This counter force prevents hyperextension of the spine, maintaining the tension potential of the Erector Spinae. Antagonist Stabilizers also act to maintain postural alignment of joints, including the vertebral column and pelvis.
For Hammer machine pulldowns, the diagram outlines the area of interest and pain.
The machine rows, as well as the unilateral bent-over barbell rows, utilized these same muscles as stabilizers and synergists.The cable machine flies and bench press also required Stabilizers/Synergists = Rectus Abdominis and obliques. If anything, more so just because the surface was unstable, as we were standing and leaning at a 60 degree angle to the floor.
Finally, aside from the muscles utilized, breathing requires that you exhale actively on effort; inhale passively when relaxing from the effort. This ensures that you do not create intra-cerebral pressure. For a better explanation of performance breathing, I have included a bodybuilding.com link
In short, my my delayed-onset muscle soreness was not necessarily from the major muscles that were directly isolated. Instead, my DOMS experiences resulted from activating my stabilizers and synergistic muscles. Be conscious of these muscles when lifting as they are essential to one's form when lifting. Likewise, be conscious of these same muscles role in breathing, which is always essential to overall workout performance.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Training Partner in the Gym
A partner
Today, my brief encounter with someone made me think of the importance of good workout partner, interdependence and independence. These terms are related as they refer to when more than one individual interacts with one another. On the evening class break, Tu and I had casually walked to Fresh and Easy to rehydrate (Yay Monsters and Yellow Gatorade!). As I was ready to check out, I heard, "Hey Girl, what's up?!" In my slight confusion and I look over, to see a face that was distant, yet somehow registered in my memory. A former coworker and Assistant Personal Training Manager @ 24, Mark Oz, was also shopping in the store. It had been probably a good year or so since I had last seen him at 24.
Nancy, who still works, there had said that he had passed up the opportunity to be the PT Manager and left to go back to school along with his girlfriend, who was also another personal trainer. The two of them returned to academic life to do the pre-reqs for Physical Therapy graduate school. At the same time, I discovered today, that he had left to privately train his own personal clients.
After my brief encounter, and back in the classroom, the flood of memories came back. I remembered how now during lunch breaks Nanci and I would do a workout and he would also being doing a workout with his pod. At the time, our workouts were assigned according to day and repeated accordingly. MWF, or Tu/Thu/Saturday would be set accordingly. At times, I think there were 5 days on, since there was so much downtime between their clients: 12-2, enough for 18-24 sets and cardio to cool down. These allowed for the appropriate splits
Examples:
Day 1:Upper Weights/ Lower plyos
Day 2:Upper Plyos/ Lower Weights
Day 3 Rest
Repeat Day 1 and 2
Day 1: Legs/Shoulders/Core
Day 2: Chest/Tris
Day 3: Back/Bis
Day 4: Cardio/Spin class
Repeat Cycle
Day 1: Legs/Shoulders
Day 2: Chest/Back
Day 3: Bis/Tris/Core
Day 4: Cardio/Spin class
Repeat Cycle
These cycles are grueling, but that is where a GREAT workout partner comes in. Someone to literally push you to the limits. I'm not just talking a spotter, but someone who knows what you are capable of and expects the best form each set and each rep. Interdependence is visible as you see your personal standards raised for yourself and for your partner. You expect the best and know when it is truly in the best interest of your health and muscles to throw in the towel. This workout partner also becomes a factor to your own physical, mental, and emotional health as you progress in the gym and on the charts. At the same time, you realize that a partner is the key to your growth as an individual. The personal progress carries over into other aspects of life in the form of confidence.
Indeed,having a training partner is more than camaraderie, security, and a way to get the most out of your workout... it is also the golden opportunity to unleash your most competitive attitude within.
Today, my brief encounter with someone made me think of the importance of good workout partner, interdependence and independence. These terms are related as they refer to when more than one individual interacts with one another. On the evening class break, Tu and I had casually walked to Fresh and Easy to rehydrate (Yay Monsters and Yellow Gatorade!). As I was ready to check out, I heard, "Hey Girl, what's up?!" In my slight confusion and I look over, to see a face that was distant, yet somehow registered in my memory. A former coworker and Assistant Personal Training Manager @ 24, Mark Oz, was also shopping in the store. It had been probably a good year or so since I had last seen him at 24.
Nancy, who still works, there had said that he had passed up the opportunity to be the PT Manager and left to go back to school along with his girlfriend, who was also another personal trainer. The two of them returned to academic life to do the pre-reqs for Physical Therapy graduate school. At the same time, I discovered today, that he had left to privately train his own personal clients.
After my brief encounter, and back in the classroom, the flood of memories came back. I remembered how now during lunch breaks Nanci and I would do a workout and he would also being doing a workout with his pod. At the time, our workouts were assigned according to day and repeated accordingly. MWF, or Tu/Thu/Saturday would be set accordingly. At times, I think there were 5 days on, since there was so much downtime between their clients: 12-2, enough for 18-24 sets and cardio to cool down. These allowed for the appropriate splits
Examples:
Day 1:Upper Weights/ Lower plyos
Day 2:Upper Plyos/ Lower Weights
Day 3 Rest
Repeat Day 1 and 2
Day 1: Legs/Shoulders/Core
Day 2: Chest/Tris
Day 3: Back/Bis
Day 4: Cardio/Spin class
Repeat Cycle
Day 1: Legs/Shoulders
Day 2: Chest/Back
Day 3: Bis/Tris/Core
Day 4: Cardio/Spin class
Repeat Cycle
These cycles are grueling, but that is where a GREAT workout partner comes in. Someone to literally push you to the limits. I'm not just talking a spotter, but someone who knows what you are capable of and expects the best form each set and each rep. Interdependence is visible as you see your personal standards raised for yourself and for your partner. You expect the best and know when it is truly in the best interest of your health and muscles to throw in the towel. This workout partner also becomes a factor to your own physical, mental, and emotional health as you progress in the gym and on the charts. At the same time, you realize that a partner is the key to your growth as an individual. The personal progress carries over into other aspects of life in the form of confidence.
Indeed,having a training partner is more than camaraderie, security, and a way to get the most out of your workout... it is also the golden opportunity to unleash your most competitive attitude within.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Back in the Game
Although I didn't make it to Los Cab, we made it to GG Sport 24. I haven't been to 24 in so long, I had to ask Jhonny if the Bella Terra one had these new check-in tools. No longer my card or ID to get in, but it's like a tanning salon (Yes, I fake bake): 10 digit phone number and your index finger. Beautiful.
We started with sauna to elevate our body temperature. It is always so awkward to be in there at peak times, as there are many unsightful things to see in there (Hint: old men swimming need a place to dry off). After that, a simple warm up on elliptical and it was time to hit the weights.
@ the Power Rack:
Squats Warm up with Bar x 10 reps
65lbs x 8 reps
95lbs x 8 reps
95lbs x 8 reps
Superset
Hammer Pulldown Machine
70 lbs x 8 reps
Unilateral
70 lbs x 8 reps
70 lbs x 8 reps
70 lbs x 8 reps
@ Power Rack
Deadlifts
65 lbs x 8 reps
75 lbs x 6 reps
75 lbs x 6 reps
(PS, the last set burned so bad... I definitely was at lactic threshold. My hip flexors and hamstrings are not as strong compared to weight with Squats)
Superset
Hammer Row Machine
90lbs x 8 reps, Unilateral
90lbs x 8 reps, bilateral
90lbs x 8 reps, bilateral
90lbs x 8 reps, bilateral
These supersets were with Jhonny. In order not to waste time switching weights, he kept the same weight but increased his rep range by twice, so in the 15-20 range for cardio.
All the freeweight benches were taken for dumbbells,
So we did the Nautilus Cable Machine
Cables:
Incline Flys, Bilateral
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
Cables:
Bench Press
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
Lat Pulldowns (Advanced: Knees on Bosu Ball for stability/core work)
25 lbs on each side x 8 reps
25 lbs on each side x 8 reps
25 lbs on each side x 8 reps
Superset
Bent-over Dumbbell Rows
12 lbs unilaterally x 10 reps
12 lbs unilaterally x 10 reps
12 lbs unilaterally x 10 reps
Agility work cooldown with Hopscotch tape that was on the gym floor :)
Link
We started with sauna to elevate our body temperature. It is always so awkward to be in there at peak times, as there are many unsightful things to see in there (Hint: old men swimming need a place to dry off). After that, a simple warm up on elliptical and it was time to hit the weights.
@ the Power Rack:
Squats Warm up with Bar x 10 reps
65lbs x 8 reps
95lbs x 8 reps
95lbs x 8 reps
Superset
Hammer Pulldown Machine
70 lbs x 8 reps
Unilateral
70 lbs x 8 reps
70 lbs x 8 reps
70 lbs x 8 reps
@ Power Rack
Deadlifts
65 lbs x 8 reps
75 lbs x 6 reps
75 lbs x 6 reps
(PS, the last set burned so bad... I definitely was at lactic threshold. My hip flexors and hamstrings are not as strong compared to weight with Squats)
Superset
Hammer Row Machine
90lbs x 8 reps, Unilateral
90lbs x 8 reps, bilateral
90lbs x 8 reps, bilateral
90lbs x 8 reps, bilateral
These supersets were with Jhonny. In order not to waste time switching weights, he kept the same weight but increased his rep range by twice, so in the 15-20 range for cardio.
All the freeweight benches were taken for dumbbells,
So we did the Nautilus Cable Machine
Cables:
Incline Flys, Bilateral
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
Cables:
Bench Press
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
15lbs on each side x 8 reps
Lat Pulldowns (Advanced: Knees on Bosu Ball for stability/core work)
25 lbs on each side x 8 reps
25 lbs on each side x 8 reps
25 lbs on each side x 8 reps
Superset
Bent-over Dumbbell Rows
12 lbs unilaterally x 10 reps
12 lbs unilaterally x 10 reps
12 lbs unilaterally x 10 reps
Agility work cooldown with Hopscotch tape that was on the gym floor :)
Link
Constant Reinvention
I faced a realization yesterday. As we were resting at Starbucks, I realized that for once I feared the gym. Anytime I get bored or angry frustrated I work on my applications for grad school. I even had time yesterday to reactivate my AMCAS application for medical school. I mean it's the exact same format as PharmCas, so I might as well do it, right? So although most schools have a August, September or even early October deadline, there are still some allopathic Medical School's that are accepting ,even November 30, December 1st, December 15th deadlines, which is definitely plenty of time to submit. I mean, 1/35 chance is all I need, right? Meaning, there are 35 schools with these open deadlines. All I need is 10 or so secondaries and only 1 to offer me a ticket in.
However, back to the main point, in times of lonliness, boredom, frustration, I would drive straight to the gym, multitask some cardio with some ESPN or even do a weight circuit. After even just a 30 minute workout, I come out walking on air, refreshed and calm.
I realized that I no longer walk into the gym, because I am scared of the large gap between what was and what is. More recently, I found out that the nerves innervating my intercostals that originate near my midback are inflammed, meaning that I have a limited range of motion with any obliques or torque motion. Not to mention, imagine not being able to breathe deeply, as the same muscles that line your diaphragm are sore. These muscles aren't sore from a hard core workout, but get numb when I sleep in a certain position, or twist or move my arms too fast. It is now at the point where sometimes, I can't even move when I'm driving sometimes because my right goes numb. I feel so limited and cripple and is only now that I realize how important my own health is.
This only makes me thing What if I can't even Olympic lift anymore? What if I go into 24 and attempt to do squats and can only do the bar now? Before, the bar would be part of my "dynamic warmup," as it properly called, with t-rows, hang cleans, front squats before I would do combo lifts with snatches, clean and jerks and overhead squats. All of which were done with weights. Ahhhhhhhh, there was once a time, when we (Nancy and I) would do 2 plates on each side for freeweight squats, only after opening up with a Plyometric routine. We were so gung-ho about pushing it to the limit at one time, people would come up to us and ask for tips.
Now, I fear what I am capable of. Meaning I know that what I do with my routines are going to be 60% or less of what I was once capable of. I guess this may be a defeatist attitude, but I realize that the working out is about constant reinvention.
Reinventing your workouts to prevent plateaus. Reinventing your limits and new personal standards. Reinventing one's starting point and method of action.
We will see how much blood, sweat and tears I face @ the gym this week.
See you Los Cab
- Nicole
However, back to the main point, in times of lonliness, boredom, frustration, I would drive straight to the gym, multitask some cardio with some ESPN or even do a weight circuit. After even just a 30 minute workout, I come out walking on air, refreshed and calm.
I realized that I no longer walk into the gym, because I am scared of the large gap between what was and what is. More recently, I found out that the nerves innervating my intercostals that originate near my midback are inflammed, meaning that I have a limited range of motion with any obliques or torque motion. Not to mention, imagine not being able to breathe deeply, as the same muscles that line your diaphragm are sore. These muscles aren't sore from a hard core workout, but get numb when I sleep in a certain position, or twist or move my arms too fast. It is now at the point where sometimes, I can't even move when I'm driving sometimes because my right goes numb. I feel so limited and cripple and is only now that I realize how important my own health is.
This only makes me thing What if I can't even Olympic lift anymore? What if I go into 24 and attempt to do squats and can only do the bar now? Before, the bar would be part of my "dynamic warmup," as it properly called, with t-rows, hang cleans, front squats before I would do combo lifts with snatches, clean and jerks and overhead squats. All of which were done with weights. Ahhhhhhhh, there was once a time, when we (Nancy and I) would do 2 plates on each side for freeweight squats, only after opening up with a Plyometric routine. We were so gung-ho about pushing it to the limit at one time, people would come up to us and ask for tips.
Now, I fear what I am capable of. Meaning I know that what I do with my routines are going to be 60% or less of what I was once capable of. I guess this may be a defeatist attitude, but I realize that the working out is about constant reinvention.
Reinventing your workouts to prevent plateaus. Reinventing your limits and new personal standards. Reinventing one's starting point and method of action.
We will see how much blood, sweat and tears I face @ the gym this week.
See you Los Cab
- Nicole
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