I came across this article in the New York Times recently titled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” and thought it was interesting since I am frequently asked by golfer’s and those looking for more mobility/flexibility about yoga.

My typical answer is, without properly assessing your movement ability, strengths and weaknesses, I won’t have a good answer for you.   Anyone, whether in good physical health or poor, should understand that movement can be helpful or harmful.  And I am not talking just about form or technique, I am talking about being aware of certain movement patterns.  An example being, people with lower back pain typically think that yoga and stretching the lower back are good things to do to relieve pain.  In actuality stretching the lower back may destabilize it more and cause increased pain.

 

Dont’ get me wrong, I am not saying yoga is wrong, but I am saying that not being aware of what is right or what is not right for you is bad.  What really made me agree with the article from the NY Times was this paragraph

     “Not just students but celebrated teachers too, Black said, injure themselves in droves because most have underlying physical weaknesses or problems that make serious injury all but inevitable. Instead of doing yoga, “they need to be doing a specific range of motions for articulation, for organ condition,” he said, to strengthen weak parts of the body. “Yoga is for people in good physical condition. Or it can be used therapeutically. It’s controversial to say, but it really shouldn’t be used for a general class.”

I feel the same way about movement in general. Strength Classes, Pilates, Aerobics, etc can be great or can be detrimental.  The right movement for the right person can be great and a lifesaver, but the wrong movement for the right person can be terrible.  I said it before and I will say it again, Get an assessment to understand your movement needs whether your goal is to increase your general health and movement, or to increase golf or sport specific conditioning you can’t have a plan without assessing where you are.

You can freeze your credit cards in the fridge to stop yourself from using them, or “tie yourself to a mast” to prevent yourself from doing something you shouldn’t, or you could develop your self control.  Daniel Goldstien, the featured speaker, says developing self control is like developing your physical strength…You have to work at it!  Watch the video and work it out.

It’s a great talk to continue yuor motivation and thought process for you new year’s goals!

1) Make a plan- The number 1 reason people come into train is accountability!  I ran into an old client at lunch today, and she said since she has stopped training, she gives herself the OK to finish a workout early, and skip the things she knows she needs.

Solution- If you can get an assessment, see where you stand and get a plan.  Having an organized schedule may help you stay on track, and do what you NEED to do in addition to the things you like to do.

2) Motivation- The first of the year is great becuase more than likely you busted your butt at work or school for the entire calendar year and you made (or allowed yourself) to make some poor decisions and party a little harder than you should have during the holidays.  That mean a few extra pounds, and a few days misses at the gym so Motivation is high.    The problem is we tend to lose that drive as work gears back up and stress hits us.

Solution- Set attainable goals.  Whether your goal is to make it to the gym 3 times this week for the month, or to cut sodas out entirely, set YOUR goal, and track it.  There are apps out there like “Lose It” that will help you write down food and exercise and continue to motivate you and track your progress.

3) Don’t lose sight of what you need- More often than not people want to fall back and go into “Cardio Mode” and live on a treadmill to get back into shape.  Don’t get me wrong, your need cardio but you also need to address your alignment (foam roll) , your core work, and your strength training.  Cardio is just one aspect of your training. 

ADL warm up / cool down from kenneth s nitta on Vimeo.

Solution- Finish your workouts with cardio, and set aside a day or two as a “regeneration day” to focus on your foam rolling and longer term, steady state cardio.  

4) Diet or Exercise?- Most often we become 1 track minded and want to focus all on diet or all on exercise, niether is right, and you need both! 

Solution-  You have a few great tips above for the exercise part, but we haven’t addressed food yet.  Check out Food Rules by Micheal Pollan for some great tips and mind changing eating strategies. 

5) Be Realistic-  I will cover a few things under this topic:

ADL food tips 1 from kenneth s nitta on Vimeo.

- Drink your water, and quantify how much you are getting in.  Look to get about 1/2 your bodyweight in ounces per day and add about an extra 10-20 oz for workouts.

- Get your sleep.  You need about 8-10 hrs per day  if you get less you are “draining your sleep savings account” which will limit your recovery and your gains. 

- Limit your stress.  Increased mental or emotional stress in addition to the phsyical stress you are putting your body through during workouts accumulate and will limit your gains.

- Long Term weight loss is really fat loss.  It takes work and dedication, so don’d kid yourself and set reasonable goals when it comes to fat loss.  I tell my clients that dropping fat is a behavioral approach, realize you will have to give somethings up (alcohol, sweets, salty, fatty).  How bad do you want it?

I hope you enjoyed the tips, and the videos are from me and my friends at the Athletic Development Lab.

ADL power from kenneth s nitta on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

Having a proper warm-up based on your needs and physical evaluation is essential to having a focus and time effiecent workout.  Using foam rolling, neuromuscular activation, and dynamic stretching all prepare your brain anf body for the work ahead.  Check out the video for more info.

I will post more videos as our series grows.

Enjoy!

ADL warm up / cool down from kenneth s nitta on Vimeo.

1. Sit at the edge of your chair; This promotes better posture and engagemnt of your core and trunk muscles.
2. Learn to Pack your neck; Neck Packing is a way to ensure good head/neck/spine posture as it prevents your head moving too far forward of the rest of your spine and body. 
3. Brace your core; Bracing is engaging your abdomin. The easiest way to feel and learn how to brace is by coughing. When you cough, your midsection tightens up. Maintain that tension is great for helping stabilize the lower spine and encourages breathing by use of the diaphram.
4. Start Kneeling; By taking a 1/2 kneeling position, you stretch one of the most notorious muscles for lower back pain, the hip flexor. By taking a knee, tucking your hips under slightly and engaging your glutes, you will stretch the hip flexor and potentially provide relief for the lower back. I also encourage exercising from a 1/2 Kneeling position to challenge your balance and hip strength/stability.

5. Start Foam Rolling; Foam Rolling is a form of massage by which you apply pressure to tight spots in your muscles. By releasing tension from these areas, you will improve your muscle quality and circulation.

Last month I was interviewed by Livestrong.com on the topic of  How to get back into Working Out Everyday

The write-up was done really well and included tips from myself as well as from 2 other trainers.  Give it a read for some great usable info.  For the rest of my tips read below!  Enjoy!

Take the time to get a physical assessment

1. Trainers nowadays are highly skilled professionals and are great at identifying what work you need to put in.  Find a credible trainer, get an assessment and if you don’t want to work with a trainer on a regular basis get a PROGRAM.  Working out should be fun, challenging and a learning experience that keeps you motivated.  Let the experts help with that.  After all, the idea is to create a habit that you can continue, so do the right thing once and get after it!

Warm-up

1. Foam Rolling, aka “the poor man’s massage” is a great tool/technique to warm up with.  If you are just getting back into exercise, I am guarantee you will have areas that are tight, knotted up and painful.  Using a foam roll will help to loosen up knots and promote blood flow.  It will also help to improve the quality of your muscle tissue which in the long run is the goal.
2. Warm-up after foam rolling.  Start with a good stretch routine (such as active or dynamic stretching) to open up the hips and activate your core muscles.

Core Training

1. We have all heard of the core, but do you know what it is? I describe the “Core” as your hips, pelvis, spine, shoulder blades and shoulders.  That’s a lot!  Learning techniques such as “bracing the core” (tensing your abs, obliques, and deeper ab muscles) or shoulder packing (engaging the muscles in the upper back to promote better posture and stability of the shoulder) are necessary and all “Level 1” techniques that I teach on a daily basis. The core is probably one of the most overly used terms AND least understood areas of the body.
2. I start all my “Level 1” clients with the “Anti-Workout” a core routine that challenges you to NOT flex, extend or rotate from the spine.  It’s one of those workouts that looks easy, but kicks your butt!

Train Natural Movements

1. The one piece of equipment everyone has is their own body! Learn to use it, move through the hips, stabilize the spine, and move through the shoulders.  Try working out in various positions (standing, kneeling, side stepping, rotating).  Working out is more than sitting on a piece of equipment, grabbing a handle and counting reps.  I teach 7 natural movement patterns Push (vertically and horizontally), Pull (vertically and horizontally), Squat, Lunge and Twist.  Mirror muscles are cool but being fit and functional are more important in the long run.

Cardio

1. When most people think about getting back into training, they go straight to the treadmill.  Understand that your fitness is also dependant on other factors.  Do not neglect your mobility, strength, coordination, power or cardio training.  You need them all.

Enjoy!

A couple of months ago I was interviewed by Wyatt Myers on the Topic of Barefoot Running, and the recent popularity of Barefeet.  While the article has not been published yet, I think there is some great information.  The interview is below, enjoy!

 Q: What are your credentials:

• Cal State Fullerton, Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Kinesiology(2004)
• Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), Certified Golf Fitness Instructor, Level 3 (CGFI-3)
• The Egoscue University/The Egoscue Method, Postural Assessment Specialist Level2 (PAS-2)*
• National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)
• National Exercise and Sports Trainer’s Association (NESTA), Personal Fitness Trainer (PFT 2)

I am the founder of RFK Training, a personal training service located in Newport Beach California and  have been a personal trainer for about the last 10 years.  My specialties are in the areas of corrective exercise training, functional training and rotary sports (such as golf).  I take a whole body approach to training no matter where my clients are in the goals, or needs and the feet are no exception. 

 My training style covers:

• Improving the quality of muscle tissue (through the use of myofascial release modalities)
• Improving posture through mobility and stability training
• Improving coordination in all foundational movement patterns
• Improving strength, power and sport skills based on each client’s individual needs

 
Q: What is barefoot running, and what are its origins?
 
Barefoot running is just that, running in bare feet and I guess we can include in very minimal shoes.  It’s origins truly began with the dawn of man, but as we have developed and progressed as a society we got smart and developed things to cover our feet for protection from the elements.  Somewhere along the way we went crazy and took a good idea too far, but more on that later.

Q: What are the benefits of running in this fashion?

Bare foot running is not usually a place I would start with most people but definitely somewhere to progress to.  Bare foot running has the benefit of allowing your foot to function as it was intended to.  Most people are familiar with the terms “pronation” and “supination” which describe movements of the arch of the foot, but we have been conditioned to think that pronating or supinating are bad. In actuality these are actions a healthy foot should commonly do in stepping/ walking, and squatting activities.  The problem is most people’s feet are poorly conditioned and are stuck in either pronation or supination and do not fluidly move between the movements.  

From a training aspect, most people are not ready to run in bare feet but I train almost ever client in their bare feet.  Training in bare feet conditions the foot, ankles, knees, hip, spine, etc into better movement.  I believe that how your foot strikes the ground dictates which muscles fire in which sequence through the kinetic chain.  When the quality of foot function improves in people, walking, jumping and running are usually progressed to.  Even then, distance running is something progressed into in bare feet.

Q: Did the book “Born to Run” play any role in its growth in popularity? How so?

I believe the book “Born to Run” has played a huge role in the recent popularity of bare foot running.  It was a great story in a best selling book which I think resonated with most everyone that read it.  There is something primal about being bare foot and running.  In one part, the book describes running as one of the reasons why modern man evolved and our ancestor’s went extinct.   It definitely made me question some of my training methodology, and had me change the way I do things myself and with some clients.

Q: Why has the practice grown more popular recently, in your opinion?

This is a tough question for me to answer, but I will say this… Being barefoot is cool, I am barefoot most everyday at work.  While it may look weird initially to the outsider looking in, as you begin to understand the benefits of it, it becomes a reasonable thing.  Most people that are “physical” and exercise, start to develop kinesthetic (or body) awareness.  The more you move the more awareness you have, as you progress and become more critical of your movement and you begin to realize that proper movement makes you feel good, and things that limit or restrict movement may end up hurting. 

I started training barefoot about 4 years ago.  My focuse was on finding out why I had good balance in one leg but not the other.  Throughout the last 6-8 years I have tried different shoes, and I noticed the more flat the shoe was (less of a heel lift) the better I did.  Then the Nike Free came out and I was able to experience a “bare foot” styled shoe and I thought they were the best things ever so I wore and trained in those for years, but my balance never seemed to improve.  About 4 years ago, I first saw the Vibram 5 Finger shoe and realized it had what I needed for where I was in my training career.  It separated my toes so they were forced to function independently, it was flat to the floor, which gave me greater stability and I noticed my balance and strength improve.  Now I am not going to say the shoes did it, but I am going to say they helped, greatly.  The training was smart, and the equipment (Vibram 5 Fingers) helped.  Eventually my feet became more efficient, I think greatly due to the separate “boxes” for each toe, and my ability to feel my feet more in my training.  So now I am barefoot in the gym and when I run my local trails, such as El Moro, I run in my Vibrams for some coverage/protection.

 Q: Can you give me a list of the pros and cons of barefoot running, and a quick explanation of each?
 Pro’s:

1) Improved efficiency of the foot- being bare foot allows for an environment in which each part of your foot can do it’s job.  Your arches are allowed to pronate and supinate as needed, your toes are free to grab, push, separate, and squeeze as needed for balance.
2) Decreased risk of overuse injuries- Most overuse injuries of the foot and ankle start because of a lack of proper function.  Most modern shoes are too confining in the toe box causing and under use of the toes, too stable at the arch (especially “anti-pronating” shoes), and too elevated at the heel (which shortens the Achilles tendon and calves before they even get a chance to move).
3) It just feels good- The first thing most people look for in shoes is how “cool” they look, and a the next thing is comfort, I don’t believe you should have to search for comfort, but unfortunately the science of shoes is based around “support” and “stabilizing” and the more ridgid shoes have become, the less comfortable.  Look for the flattest soles possible, if you are new to minimal style shoes, start with something a little more stable and work into a less stable shoes.  Vibrams are a great option to walk around and train in as you will get independant toe movement and they will be stretched into proper resting lengths.

The human body is about use it or lose it, and pain is a sign from your body that you are losing something.  If you listen early enough you can get it back whether it’s mobility, stability, strength, coordination, endurance, etc.  You just need a proper plan.

Con’s:

1) Lack of coverage- Depending on what you do barefoot, you may need some coverage.  Things to consider terrain (rocky, rutted, roots, slick ground, etc), temperature of the ground (hot/cold) and other factors which may require some coverage.  As mentioned earlier I trail run in my Vibrams to avoid excess heat and burning my feet in the spring and summer and so I don’t’ cut myself on rocks, etc.  It’s just my preference.

2) Lack of education- If you have injuries or asymmetries or poor contorl of you feet, do not just go out and start running bare foot thinking it will cure it.  Depending on what issue you have you may need to address mobility or joint stability first.  Walking barefoot may be a good place to start, but before any training routine, check with a properly certified trainer to assess your movement function and get on a plan.  Most people that have trained in shoes, often train in the wrong shoes and their bodies will adapt to that, you need a plan to adapt to bare feet as well. Train smart, and train injury free.

I placed an order for Renew’s Probiotic formula as well as the Liver Cleanse.  The reason I decided to use the Probiotic was based on Brenda’s information from her special.  Although I tend to eat pretty clean most of the time, I have always wondered how well I digest and process foods so we will see how the Probiotics go.  I also chose to try the Liver Cleanse.  With all the toxins in the environment, and even within foods we eat, the Liver is constantly taxed to purify the body.  I figured some support wouldn’t be a bad thing.

I ordered the products and received them quite quickly (even they are carried at most local stores such as Whole Foods) and have been using them for about 4 days now.  I will update my findings again in about a week or so.