Stay Thirsty My Friends

Friday, February 8, 2013

Mobility:

Row 500m
Posterior Chain Flossing with Band
T-Spine Smash with foam roller
Gristle
Sampson Stretch

Strength:

3×10 Deadlift- heaviest possible, rest 3 minutes between sets

Notes:  These are touch and go reps, no resting on the ground!

Conditioning: 

For time:
30 Handstand Push ups
40 Pull ups
50 KB Swings (24/16kg)
60 Sit ups (Ab-mat, anchored)
Run 1 mile

-20 minute cap-

Notes: Scaling options include, DB Press for HSPU, Jumping pull-ups, and/or reducing reps by 10 for each movement.

Cool Down:

German Hang
Calf Stretch
Couch Stretch
Straddle

Track Night ! (left to right: Tyler, Steve, Eduardo, Tim, Jessica, Zak, Kaitlin, Shelly, Ilyse, Josh, Raheem)

The latest book  I just finished on my continued quest of two books per month is If Naturopaths are “Quacks”…Then I Guess I’m a Duck by Shauna Young.  Although the book is one big rant about the state of the healthcare system in America (and the health of the general population), it is also a testament to the power of food and natural supplements to heal and treat a wide range of symptoms and diseases.

 The following caption is one of her many rants about the importance of water.  I already subscribe to the firm belief that everyone should be drinking half of their body weight, in ounces, per day.  As an example, I weigh 150 pounds, which means I need to drink 75 oz. of water a day to stay hydrated. For every hour of exercise you should add 16 oz. to the daily amount.  

When I finished reading the rant on water I had to be honest with myself and admit that lately I have NOT been drinking enough water, and it has shown by being especially tight in the hamstrings while running.  Just like weighing and measuring your food periodically to double check your diet is balanced, I think there is no time like the present to start monitoring your water intake and make sure you are staying hydrated.  This is one of the many small first steps that are needed on the path to a healthier lifestyle (alongside diet, sleep, stress, and exercise).  By measuring your water intake religiously for only one or two weeks, it will help cement the habit into a normal part of your daily routine.  Enter Shauna:

My Love Affair with Water

Okay, I know you’re going to think I’m kidding on this one, but it’s totally true.  One of the hardest things I do is to get people to drink enough water! I could say to many people that they need to eat kitty litter, and they would say “The kind with the scent crystals, or..?”, but man, don’t ask them to drink more water! The longer I’m in practice and the more I continues my self education, the more I realize and appreciate that water is the gift of life and health.  I would provide incomplete sessions with my clients if I did not emphasize this perfect substance.

Now before you go all judgmental on me, ask yourself, are you drinking enough water? And by enough I mean half your pounds of body weight in ounces each and every day – If you are 150-pound person, are you drinking 75 ounces of water every day? Gotcha, didn’t I? There went your comfortable notion of “Oh I drink lots of water”, the line that I hear dozens of times a week from dehydrated people.  However, you’re not alone.  According to studies, 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, a fact confirmed not only by teams of experts, but by my receptionist Judy, who is a wonderful massage therapist.  While working on me one day, she commented that it was nice to work on someone who is hydrated, so I asked her what percentage of her clients did she feel were hydrated.  She thought for a long moment then said “Well, there’s you…”.  Wow, sad.

It’s amazing how many of the most common complaints I hear from people can be connected to dehydration.  Constipation, headaches, fatigue, weight problems, lack of focus, joint and back pain and hunger pangs to name just a few.  I remember a college student who came in after seeing multiple doctors and neurologists and still had chronic migraines.  The pain pills she was prescribed did a good job of curing consciousness, but her headaches were still with her.  When asked, she told me that due to her busy schedule of classes and work, she was only drinking two or three glasses of water a day.  She started drinking seven (correct amount for her body weight) and the chronic headaches went away, bada-bing, just like that in a matter of weeks.

According to the same study quoted above, even a 2% drop in hydration is capable of triggering problems in short-term memory, fatigue (lack of water being the number one trigger in daytime fatigue), and will slow metabolism.  Joint and back pain was reduced in about 80% of sufferers tested.  And one University of Washington study showed that drinking water also cut down late night hunger pangs in nearly 100% of dieters in their study.

 Not terribly good news for Haagen-Dazs, but good news for you! Still not convinced? How about this: Being sufficiently hydrated has been shown to cause a significant drop in cancer risk.  Yes, cancer.  Colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50%, and a walloping 79% drop in breast cancer.  Just by drinking water!

My Secret for drinking all the water you need is simple: Small doses of room temperature water throughout the day.  If you drink a big glass of water all at once, true, you’ll flush most of it about 15 minutes later.  My advice for clients is to get a big glass (mine’s purple and sits on my desk at all times) or a marked container and fill it with the water you need to drink over the day.  Then drink it a swallow or two at a time, throughout the day.  One friend of mine trained himself on one of his frequent long drives.  I told him to just take a sip of water at the start of every third song her heard on the radio.  He drank two liters of water and ran out of gas before he needed a pit stop.  Not rocket science is it?  But if you do it every day, it will keep you hydrated.  Enough said.