It is hard to beleive Christmas is less than 60 days away. It is unofficially the holiday season. Why unofficially? Most people beleive the holiday season starts with Thanksgiving weekend. That may be true, but if you measure the holidays by eating, they actually start with Halloween. Everybody forgets about all the little no-count pieces of candy they eat during and after Halloween. It is time to think about your plans for curbing your eating habits for the holidays. Don’t forget Halloween candy counts. We have already discussed diet and nutrition a little. Try setting up a plan now for the holidays and stick to it. Our next topic regarding a fitness plan is going to be sleep. We will cover exercise last, as it is a large topic to examine.

    Sleep is a very important, but often neglected necessity in life. Sleep is important in rejuvinating our bodies and our minds. Sleep deprivation creates many physical and mental symptoms. The diagnosis of sleep apnea is occurring more and more. Fortunately, it is treatable. Insomnia , interrupted sleep, and just plain old lack of sleep have all become more commonplace in society. The results of these problems with sleep have taken their toll on us physically and in our personal performances. What are the physical and mental problems that arise from sleep disoerders? How much sleep is enough? What can we do to improve our sleep? We will answer rhese questions next week.

    Next Saturday, 11/5/11, we will not be holding our speed agilty session at Grass Lake School. Our staff will not be available. We will resume on Sunday morning, 11/6/11, at 7:30 a.m. Contact us if you have any questions. Have a good week.

    Life can be weird in how things work. Two of us are physical therapists, and the majority of the time we see rehabilitation patients. I happen to be one of those physical therapists. On occasion, not all of the time, we receive a patient who is preparing for an event, i.e. a mrathon or in this case, an Iron Man. My story is about a patient who came to our office with a diagnosis of hip pain. Not much of a diagnosis, because it only describes her symptoms, not the cause. Anyway, her pain appeared very specifically while running. After much history taking and assessment, we determined she had hip pain brought on by poor running mechanics. The poor running mechanics were not because she was a poor runner, rather, an isolated weaknes that became more apparent as she fatigued. We set up a program for her to follow and worked on her symptoms in therapy. She felt better and disappeared early in the summer. I wrote down only the name she went by, Maggie, not her real name, and not her last name. I figured I would remember her real name in the fall when the Iron Man took place in the fall. Well, true to form, I couldn’t remember her name for the life of me. Just last week, I started trying to figure a way out to see if she finished. I just figured I would look up results for participants from Antioch, that didn’t work. The results were by country. Anyway, just as I gave up, guess who walked in our office and left a picture of herself at the finish in Madison? Maggie. On the back it read, “I am an Iron Man.” These are the little things as a trainer and physical therapist that make it all worth while. These are the things that motivate me to keep doing things that may seem a little bit impossible. That was Maggie’s first Iron Man. She is married, works, and has two little children. She is no different than you or I.

    We have been reviewing the key components to a successful exercise program. The last two weeks we covered diet/nutrition. The information covered was very basic. There is a ton of information in all forms out there. Use the resources if you want to know more, or, you can always contact us with questions. We are going to start to cover exercise. This is a very broad term. Think about exercise and we will start on this topic next week.

Have a good week

    It’s marathon day in Chicago. 40,000 plus people lined up this morning and headed out for a 26.2 mile run. The marathon for all of these runners marked the end of a commitment that required much hard work and sacrifice. It’s always amazing to watch the elite runners knock off mile after mile of sub 5minute miles. But, it’s even more inspiring to watch the middle and back of the packers. You see every body type from lean to round. It confirms one thing, you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

    Let’s return to our review of carbohydrates verses proteins. When we left off, we were going to discuss souces of carbohydrates and proteins. Carbohydrates come from fruits, vegetables, and juices. Getting carbohydrates from fruit is a good source. Fruits are high in carbohydrates and also provide fiber. The addition of fiber fills you up more and also slows digestion down. The slowed digestion aids in more absorption of the carbohydrates. Juices are not the best choice for carbohydrates. While juices are a source of carbohydrates, they are also high in calories. Vegetables are a good source of carbohydrates but do not provide as high of a level of carbs as fruits.

    Protein is best provided by lean meats and eggs. Chicken breasts are a good source of protein. They are high in protein and low in fats. Red meat is a good source, but many red meats are high in fat. Egg whites are a good source of protein, however one has to be careful in preparation. Butter and cheese is often used when preparing eggs.

    There are always questions regarding supplements as a source of carbohydrates or proteins. It is always best to get your nutrition from whole, non-processed foods. Sport drinks are most effective after 45min. to an hour of constant exercise. They are very high in sugars and calories. Casein and whey proteins are available in many flavored shakes. A serving usually provides 20grams of protein. Again, these supplements should only be used after heavy, strength training sessions. Check the labels, proteins often have sugar added to improve tastes. They can be very high in calories.

    The benefit of hard work is,”results.” In our case, it’s performing better, losing weight, completing a running race, or just feeling better. Something we try to do is watch our athletes in their sport. We have had just that opportunity over the last two weeks. Some of our athletes play high school football and one plays college. In both cases, the athletes we trained over the summer are playing impact positions. Their names were called frquently for both defensive and offensive play. At the end of the season we will post their achievements and give their names. Sit tight.

   As promised last week, we are going to cover the key components to successful exercise programs. For the next few weeks we are going to cover diet. This week we will start with carbohydrates verses protein. Carbohydrates provide the body with immediate energy. This is especially handy when performing continuous exercise. Protein is a building block for tissue, especially muscle. It is a must when building strength. Protein does help provide energy, but it is a very inefficient way for the body to receive energy. When you require muscle to go in to a mode where it provides energy, you place your body in a traumatic position. More on energy later.

    Carbohydrates come in the form of simple and complex sugars. Simple sugars are processed sugars like granulated sugar or sucrose, a form of syrup used as an additive to sweeten foods and drinks. They are high in calories and inefficient in providing long term energy. Cpmlex sugars come from fruits and vegetables. They provide a more efficient way for the body to receive energy over time.

    Proteins come mainly from meats and nuts. It also comes from eggs and dairy. Where you receive your protein is important. Some proteins are more efficient for the body to digest and use than others. We will be talking about sources of carbohydrates and proteins next week. If you have any questions or comments before that, contact us at info@kcconditioning.com