Health

Here’s a recent article from Usana Health Sciences (a vitamin/supplement company) that I found interesting. The source data for the article is from the JACN.

Beneficial effects of [magnesium] are similar to statin drugs

Because of its many cardiovascular benefits and good safety profile, many researchers suggest that magnesium supplementation could be a viable alternative for those who cannot or choose not to take statin drugs.

Statins are a class of drugs commonly prescribed for individuals with elevated cholesterol levels, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. While statins are effective, they also carry undesirable side-effects, and some people cannot, or choose not to use them.

A review published in the October 2004 issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that the essential nutrient magnesium provides many of the same cardiovascular benefits ascribed to statin drugs.

The authors noted that both statin drugs and magnesium can inactivate the enzyme responsible for the first step in cholesterol formation, thus lowering LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. Both can improve the function of blood vessels, reduce inflammation, and provide other cardiovascular benefits. Magnesium, however, can also help elevate beneficial HDL cholesterol levels while reducing triglycerides. In addition, magnesium is necessary for the enzyme that converts essential fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids) into compounds that reduce inflammation. Optimal levels of magnesium also provide natural calcium channel blocker activity, which helps dilate blood vessels and control blood pressure.

Because of its many cardiovascular benefits, relatively low cost, and good safety profile, the authors suggested that increasing magnesium intakes through diet and supplementation could provide a viable alternative for those who cannot, or choose not to take statin drugs.

Note: If you are currently taking a statin drug to lower cholesterol, do not discontinue its use except on the advice of your physician. This information is not meant to imply that magnesium supplements should replace all statin drugs. However, adequate magnesium is very important for cardiovascular health, especially for those at risk for coronary artery disease.

Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 23, No. 5, 501S-505S (2004)

If you are interested in increasing your magnesium and aren’t interested in taking vitamins, you can certainly get it from foods. Here’s an interesting link indicating which foods contain this mineral.

I think barefooting is getting a good deal of attention right now.

A few years ago, I was hiking the famous Kalalau trail and a group of women came walking up the trail barefoot. They were 6 feet tall and looked as though they lived outside. Regardless, they were barefoot on a slippery-ledge-fall-down-to-the-rocks-and-die trail with sharp rocks all over it. I also just have to mention that they had serious chin hair. It was quite a sight.

Probably about a month ago, I was reading on Mark Sisson’s blog about barefooting. It was on his page about fitness products he liked best where I found vibram’s five fingers. I have had the shoes for about 3 weeks now and I have to say that I totally prefer them to my hiking shoes! Actually, all shoes unless I’m in deep grass in the Midwest (chiggers are horrible) or riding motorcycles or on horseback.

When I wear them, I cannot walk heal to toe. It’s just too painful. It’s just like going barefoot. Without shoes, it’s difficult to walk heel to toe…especially on natural surfaces. I walk from the ball of my foot or mid foot first. It’s necessary to test the ground for pokies before committing the full body weight. My feet are very quiet.

When I wore them to work, every single person was interested in them. This is not an exaggeration. People contacted me after their initial sighting on how to buy them. During a staff meeting, I sized someone up with a metric ruler. Hilarious. Totally Hilarious.

Another very neat thing is that I when I put on my normal athletic shoes, they feel heavy and like pillows. It’s weird to walk heel to toe.

I find them perfect for gymnastic or ground parkour moves and tree climbing.

From 2000 to 2006, I had debilitating back pain. There was no memorable accident that brought it on. I had back surgery in 2002. It didn’t fix it. I had two problems.

1. Pain down the leg so bad I couldn’t stand for more than 3 minutes without throbbing pain. It would go away if I sat down for a few minutes. Then I could walk or stand a few minutes more.
2. If I lifted something or did any kind of exerting full body movement, I would have a feeling of broken glass in my lower glute. It would come on slowly for a couple of days and peak on about day 3 and taper off another 3 days. On the peak days, I would rather urinate in my bed than get up and walk to the bathroom. Although, I chose to make the walk, it was that painful.

Either of these pains could appear on either side of my body. I saw many Doctors. I saw multiple physical therapists. When finally an orthopedic surgeon saw a herniated disc in an MRI and recommended surgery, I was elated. I was ecstatic! I believed that must be the cause and was happy to finally have found out what this pain was from.

After the surgery, I was in incredible pain. I was so weak. I laid in bed for 2 months. As I began to feel good enough, I began to walk around and do more. It was month 3 when pain #2 came back. I couldn’t believe the surgery didn’t correct it. I was glad to be rid of pain #1 at least. However, when pain #1 came back, I became seriously depressed. My back began to spasm just from sitting. It was horrible.

It seemed that pain #1 was manageable as long as I didn’t lift anything over 30lbs. As my twin girls were around a year old, I could carry one of them at a time. Pain #2 would come about every 3 weeks it seemed. One week out of a month, I would be bedridden. Did I mention I was 27? How did this come to be? How could I be disabled and not have had any accident?

In 2005, I decided to see a Rolfer. In fact, I saw this man right here. It was incredibly painful. However, I felt quite different afterwards. He said things like Tensor Fasciae Latae and Ilio Psoas. He also said I had no butt and that was part of the problem. Huh?

As I said, I felt different. Also, I decided this pain wasn’t going to keep me from living. I figured I do whatever I wanted and if it wanted to hurt it just would. About this time, I saw the circus Cavalia. I realized I missed my calling when I saw these crazy feats of strength and agility. It was so far from where I was physically at the time, but so close to me in another way. I searched in San Francisco and found the San Francisco Circus Center.

I couldn’t believe that a premier circus school was 10 blocks from my house and that they had master chinese circus instructors teaching classes! I signed up immediately. I took beginning chinese acrobatics and I didn’t have any back pain whatsoever during that class. I was rolling, flipping and doing handstands. It was fantasic. I was in that for about a year and didn’t have any of pain #1 or #2 show up at all.

Things got hectic and I stopped taking classes and just focused on commuting to work and working long hours. I was sitting for about 16 hours a day at the computer. It was about a month after I stopped taking those classes that I got and episode with pain #2. I was completely pissed off as I thought I had it figured out. I needed to be active to keep the pain at bay. So I had a clue.

I figured I needed to not sit anymore. That was hard as being a software engineer requires long hours at the computer. At least in this day and age. So, I decided to transition to a different career as a personal trainer. In a previous post, I talk about the school I chose.

I’ve completed the school now, but during one of our practical sessions. I was being trained by a really functionally strong person. He recommended that I do 100lbs for my stiff-legged deadlift. I hadn’t had any pain for a long time and figured I was ready. I normally did 60lbs at that weight, keeping it light given my history. After doing a couple of sets for 20 reps, I felt the pain #2 starting in my glutes. I thought, “Oh, you dummy! You knew it was too heavy.”

However, things were a little bit different now. I had 6 months of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology under my belt. I began to think about the movement and the muscles involved. I headed straight for the foam roller and began to work the hamstrings. I found a tender spot on the biceps femoris right at the ishial tuberosity. I focused the pressure on the tender spot and worked around it as well. It was not comfortable. However, when I finished and stood up. I had NO PAIN. IT WAS TOTALLY GONE.

I couldn’t believe it. It was totally fantastico! It had been close to 7 years that this illusive bugger had caused me so much pain. I had seen multiple doctors and multiple physical therapists and the cause was revealed to me at the National Personal Training Institute. I couldn’t believe it. But, then again, I could.

I had been learning about the agonists and antagonists in movements and what happens neurologically when the agonist is concentrically contracted and the antagonist is eccentrically contracted. I had been learning proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (say that 3 times fast). I had been learning about anterior pelvic tilt and synergistic dominance. I learned that I had it.

All my back pain was caused by sitting too long. When one sits for long periods, even in an ergonomically correct position, things begin to change. The hips are about 80 percent contracted and so are the hamstrings. This puts those muscles into an isometric contraction for long periods. They stick that way. There are more technical ways to say that and one could go into the inflammation that occurs from continually firing muscles fibers, but I’ve already written a book in this post. The glutes are stretched which makes them week. The abdominal muscles are mostly turned OFF and the erector spinae (your low back mucles) are also isometrically contracted. So, when the body sits for long periods, the hip flexors get really tight, the back gets really tight and the hamstrings get really tight. Those hip flexors are strong and will hold the pelvis in the same position as sitting when standing. Add the hamstrings (which are like iron cords when they are tight) with the erector spinae and one has to arch the back to stand up straight.

It’s not a good thing for the body and it’s totally correctable. I should note that I can now lift plenty of weight and any time I have the pain come on, I work the tender spots in my hamstrings. It goes away. I’m so greateful to have this knowledge.

Back in April 07, I ended up looking at some old bookmarks and found a link my wife had sent me to an Evolutionary Fitness blog by Arthur De Vany. (She sent me this as I often talk of becoming as strong as an ape and do a lot of body weight exercises. I also often joke that I’m not made for modern life and that the Caveman life calls to me.) The writings there definitely were well in contrast to what I had paid 1000’s to learn as I was becoming a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Consultant. Not everything was different, but there were some big ones.

I was curious and did a lot of reading. Here’s a summary of contrasts I found:

• It wasn’t the steady feeding cycle that I had just learned was required to boost the body’s metabolism.
• It wasn’t following the USDA Food Pyramid.
• It wasn’t doing “cardio” for hours on end.

Here is a very simple interpretation of what I found.

• Consistently be variable in the exercises you do.
• Do short intervals of high-intensity.
• Eat fibrous vegetables, fruit, and fauna. Aim for nutritiously dense but calorie sparse foods. Nutrient density is more valuable than caloric content. This may not be true in all cases.
• Eating should have some variability as well.
• There was a great deal of positive words on Intermittent Fasting. Here’s a supporting link from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on fasting.

Transitioning to evolutionary fitness

As I continue to explore Evolutionary Fitness for myself, I think it’s advanced. I mean I think it’s advanced for some. Many of the people I see day to day would probably suffer some ailments (or just out right keel over) if they did short bursts of high-intensity movements. Also, telling someone who’s greatest part of the day is visiting the bakery that they shouldn’t eat grains would probably get me hurt. So, I think entry into Evolutionary Fitness definitely will require a major mental shift for most.

For me, I am having great results. I think it’s fantastic. I’ve been doing it consistently variably for about 2 months.

• My body fat has dropped 2%.
• I’m not thinking about my joints aching anymore. That’s because it’s a rare occurrence now.
• Indigestion is a thing of the past. Things are working smoothly.
• I am stronger and faster.
• People who haven’t seen me in a long time say I look like I am really in shape.

In a couple months more, I am going to go in for a physical and get my blood work done. I’m curious to know how things look on the inside of my body.