Coulee Region Bootcamps

 Since we finally got some snow, I thought I would repost this. 

Winter has finally come barreling down on us here in La Crosse. And that means the doctors will be swamped with the number of people who hurt themselves shoveling snow. I can’t tell you how many people I know have tweaked their backs in their zealous attempts to keep a clear driveway.

Today I am going to reveal my top safe shoveling secrets. For those of you who do not live in La Crosse like me (or any other cold weather location), you still need to know this information too. Why? Because with the global epidemic that is climate change you really never know when snow is coming your way. It even snows in Las Vegas and Arizona for crying out loud!

So, without further adieu, here are my top five safe shoveling tips:

1.) Perform a Proper 5-Minute Warm-up Before Shoveling

Just as very few people properly warm-up before intense exercise, so do many people fail to get their bodies ready for the rigors of shoveling snow. Let’s face it, snow, especially when it’s wet, is a real beast to move around. And if your body is tight and cold then you will dramatically increase your chances of short or long-term injury.

I have created a great shoveling specific five-minute warm-up to get your body ready to rock. There is a special emphasis on opening up the hips and chest to save your back and shoulders, the two most commonly injured areas of broken down shovelers:

Perform each exercise in the following warm-up circuit at a slow, controlled tempo for 50 seconds with a 10 second rest and transition between exercises. Do this warm-up indoors to better increase core temperature and total body blood flow:

Exercise#1- Stationary High Knee Run

Exercise#2- Jumping Claps (modified jumping jacks with arms moving across chest level, palms facing)

Exercise#3- Alternating Forward Lunge, Overhead Reach, and Twist

Exercise#4- Alternating Lateral Lunge with Opposite Hand to Toe Touch

Exercise#5- Prisoner Squats (hands behind head with finger interlocked)

2.) Split Your Stance When Shoveling

Back pain is probably the biggest complaint for avid shovelers. In most cases, a sore or tight back stems from restriction at the hips (see the warm-up above to best remedy this). Most people have tight hips due to all the sitting we do.  More specifically, using a parallel stance puts your lower back at a greater risk of injury due to the greater likelihood of excessive flexion of the lumbar spine that often leads to back spasms in the short run and herniated discs in the long run. However, the simple switch to shoveling with a split stance, where one leg is forward and the other leg is back, will not only help prevent this hyper flexion while bending over and moving snow, but will also actively stretch and open up those tight hips at the same time. Be sure to keep things in balance by doing an even number of shovel strokes with both legs forward by alternating every 10 reps or so.

3.) Point Your Toes In Same Direction of Shoveling

This relates to the last tip. Even when you split your stance, you can be susceptible to injury whenever you perform a rotating back extension (e.g. a shovel toss to your rear). Your lower back was not designed to rotate! So, to further bolster your body, be sure to always shovel snow in the direction that your toes point to minimize excessive spinal rotation that can literally wrench your back.

4.) Shovel EQUALLY to BOTH Sides

This is a further continuation on the last two tips. Another big mistake people make is that they always shovel to their strong sides causing further strength and flexibility imbalances that can put your body at greater risk for injury. So, we now know you want to split your stance and shovel in the direction your toes are pointing, but you should also be sure do the same amount of shoveling  to your left AND right. Do 10 shovel tosses to your left with your left leg forward and then do 10 shovel tosses to your right with your right leg forward. Repeat until your driveway or sidewalk is crystal clear.  This will help balance the stress on your back as well as your arms.

5.) Buy a Condo

No, I’m not joking. The great thing about a condominium community is that they do all of the outdoor maintenance for your home, including shoveling. Honestly, this has saved many people so much extra stress and time, and if it is a viable option and you live in a harsh winter climate, make the smart move and get a condo. It’s hard to get hurt shoveling if you never shovel.

The aforementioned tips will go a long way in keeping your body as bulletproof as possible during the next blizzard. Seriously, it’s not really cool to get hurt shoveling. It’s a sign of an even bigger problem: being overweight and/or highly de-conditioned. And if you do get hurt shoveling, be sure to lie when some asks why you’re in a wheelchair. Just tell them you got hit by a snow plow truck, it makes for a better story and your co-workers or friends won’t rip on you for the rest of your days, ha!

When I go into any gym I always lots of ellipticals.  They always seem to be the busiest piece of equipment in the gym. I’m sure the people using them have goals of losing weight and being healthy.   They rely of these machines to help burn fat while being easy on the joints. 

Now I think if someone has a knee injury, then the elliptical may be the only exercise they can do without pain.  That is great.  As long as they are doing something for their health, go ahead.

However, the elliptical machine can cause problems of it’s own.  Check out this article that explains more:

http://www.thespec.com/article/813467

Basically the elliptical machine put the user is a forward position.  The hip flexors are shortened and over time short hip flexors lead to back pain. 

So what are we to do?  Either have knee pain or back pain?  Is that our only choice?

Absolutely not!

Start strength training for goodness sake.  Proper strength training routines that use a full body workout are the best exercise for you.  Strength training helps build lean muscle.  This lean muscle burns fat like crazy. 

Strength training also can help keep your joints healthy.   By using the proper exercises and correct form you strengthen the muscles around your joint.  You can also improve your joint mobility and muscle flexibility.  Neither the elliptical or treadmill can do that.

It may be intimidating to start strength training.  You may not know where to start.

It’s really easy.  Pick a few exercises.  Let’s use bodyweight squats, pushups (put your hands on a higher surface like a table or chair to make them easier), and lunges.  Now do 10 reps of each.  Start with the squat, then pushups, then lunges.   Do them as quickly as possible then rest 30 seconds.  Repeat 3-5 times.  That is a great workout with no joint impact. 

At Coulee Region Boot Camps in La Crosse we always balance the exercises over your entire body.  Your form is always monitored to ensure safety for your joints and muscles.  And using our interval style strength training will help you melt off 9x more fat then running on a treadmill or elliptical.

I hope you can see how ellipticals should be a complement to a exercise program.  They should never be the whole program!

But if you have to use the elliptical please stretch your hip flexors before and after.  That’s all I ask.

Almost everyone wants 6-pack abs or a flat abs.  For decades most people have believed that doing a few thousand crunches a day will get us a magazine model midsection.

I want to speak out against crunches.  They will not get you the tight stomach you desire.  Yet they are the go to exercise for almost all “core” training in gyms and fitness classes today.  So why does this happen?

Because people are lazy.  It’s much easier to just lay or your back and bob your head up & down.

That needs to stop now!

Here are several reasons to never do a crunch again in your life.

They are Dangerous – check out this article that mentions Stuart McGill, who is one the the worlds leading spine biomechanists.  He has been studying the spine for 30 years and has seen or recreated every injury you could imagine.  Crunches put huge shear and compressive forces on your spine.  That may be fine if you want a herniated disc, but I’ll pass.

They do not work – how many people do you know that do tons of crunches and yet do not have abs of envy. Yet they keep at it.  Ever hear the definition of insanity?  It’s doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.  Men’s health mentioned a study that showed it takes 20,000 crunches to lose 1 pound.  20,000 crunches = 1 POUND!  That would take days to complete.  No thank you.

They are boring – have you ever tried to do a few hundred or even thousand crunches?  Laying in one spot and looking at the ceiling for a half hour doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time.  I would rather just close my eyes and take a nap.  That would be more productive than crunches.

As you lose weight crunches become less effective – the lower your bodyweight the less resistance on each crunch.  So the better fat loss results you get, the more crunches needed to get keep getting any results.  See 1^st reason above, more crunches sounds like  recipe for disaster.

Athletes do not do crunches – think of some of your favorite athletes.  Chances are they are lean and have great looking abs.  But they don’t do any crunches.  Most of them get a six pack by staying lean and doing their sport (think snowboarders and surfers) or doing anything but crunches.

So what are we supposed to do to get a sexy midsection?  Stay tuned and I will give you the best bang for your buck exercises to do just that.

Take care.

Winter has finally come barreling down on us here in La Crosse. And that means the doctors will be swamped with the number of people who hurt themselves shoveling snow. I can’t tell you how many people I know have tweaked their backs in their zealous attempts to keep a clear driveway.

Today I am going to reveal my top safe shoveling secrets. For those of you who do not live in La Crosse like me (or any other cold weather location), you still need to know this information too. Why? Because with the global epidemic that is climate change you really never know when snow is coming your way. It even snows in Las Vegas and Arizona for crying out loud!

So, without further adieu, here are my top five safe shoveling tips:

1.) Perform a Proper 5-Minute Warm-up Before Shoveling

Just as very few people properly warm-up before intense exercise, so do many people fail to get their bodies ready for the rigors of shoveling snow. Let’s face it, snow, especially when it’s wet, is a real beast to move around. And if your body is tight and cold then you will dramatically increase your chances of short or long-term injury.

I have created a great shoveling specific five-minute warm-up to get your body ready to rock. There is a special emphasis on opening up the hips and chest to save your back and shoulders, the two most commonly injured areas of broken down shovelers:

Perform each exercise in the following warm-up circuit at a slow, controlled tempo for 50 seconds with a 10 second rest and transition between exercises. Do this warm-up indoors to better increase core temperature and total body blood flow:

Exercise#1- Stationary High Knee Run

Exercise#2- Jumping Claps (modified jumping jacks with arms moving across chest level, palms facing)

Exercise#3- Alternating Forward Lunge, Overhead Reach, and Twist

Exercise#4- Alternating Lateral Lunge with Opposite Hand to Toe Touch

Exercise#5- Prisoner Squats (hands behind head with finger interlocked)

2.) Split Your Stance When Shoveling

Back pain is probably the biggest complaint for avid shovelers. In most cases, a sore or tight back stems from restriction at the hips (see the warm-up above to best remedy this). Most people have tight hips due to all the sitting we do.  More specifically, using a parallel stance puts your lower back at a greater risk of injury due to the greater likelihood of excessive flexion of the lumbar spine that often leads to back spasms in the short run and herniated discs in the long run. However, the simple switch to shoveling with a split stance, where one leg is forward and the other leg is back, will not only help prevent this hyper flexion while bending over and moving snow, but will also actively stretch and open up those tight hips at the same time. Be sure to keep things in balance by doing an even number of shovel strokes with both legs forward by alternating every 10 reps or so.

3.) Point Your Toes In Same Direction of Shoveling

This relates to the last tip. Even when you split your stance, you can be susceptible to injury whenever you perform a rotating back extension (e.g. a shovel toss to your rear). Your lower back was not designed to rotate! So, to further bolster your body, be sure to always shovel snow in the direction that your toes point to minimize excessive spinal rotation that can literally wrench your back.

4.) Shovel EQUALLY to BOTH Sides

This is a further continuation on the last two tips. Another big mistake people make is that they always shovel to their strong sides causing further strength and flexibility imbalances that can put your body at greater risk for injury. So, we now know you want to split your stance and shovel in the direction your toes are pointing, but you should also be sure do the same amount of shoveling  to your left AND right. Do 10 shovel tosses to your left with your left leg forward and then do 10 shovel tosses to your right with your right leg forward. Repeat until your driveway or sidewalk is crystal clear.  This will help balance the stress on your back as well as your arms.

5.) Buy a Condo

No, I’m not joking. The great thing about a condominium community is that they do all of the outdoor maintenance for your home, including shoveling. Honestly, this has saved many people so much extra stress and time, and if it is a viable option and you live in a harsh winter climate, make the smart move and get a condo. It’s hard to get hurt shoveling if you never shovel.

The aforementioned tips will go a long way in keeping your body as bulletproof as possible during the next blizzard. Seriously, it’s not really cool to get hurt shoveling. It’s a sign of an even bigger problem: being overweight and/or highly de-conditioned. And if you do get hurt shoveling, be sure to lie when some asks why you’re in a wheelchair. Just tell them you got hit by a snow plow truck, it makes for a better story and your co-workers or friends won’t rip on you for the rest of your days, ha!