Exercise Of the Week

Short and simple this week.  A great total body exercise that focuses on ‘extensor chain’ strength and endurance along with active flexibility and balance.  Remember to go slow, avoid momentum and do not use your back to stand up, use your leg and Hip.  As always 3 sets of 10-15.

Squat reach to a Row

Bench Press

I had a long conversation today with the Chief of a small town department.  He works for a small city paid department nearby and it seems they had their annual PFT.  One of the ‘tests’ was to bench press a % of your body weight a certain number of repetitions.  He knows of 2 guys who tore their Rotator Cuff (easily out for 9 months) and two more who significantly strained their shoulders.

Really folks, when did laying flat on your back 1) prevent injury 2) improve balance 3) improve muscular endurance 4) become a test.  What does it test exactly, the ability to lay on your back and have pretty pect’s! or to just see how quickly you can destroy your shoulder and keep the Doc busy.

Hidden Sugar

Heavy Data

I came across a study that shows most EMT’s are have a BMI in excess of 33-35%.  Normal values should be in the mid. 20’s.  Now, before you all get huffy over using BMI (I personally don’t like it!) the whole point of the study was two fold.

1) The trend of Medics is getting heavier year after year.

2) there is a correlation of higher BMI to higher rates of Lost work days, injury & medical claims.

So there you have it, exercise more and eat less = less injury! Now how easy is that…..

Random Thoughts

If a fitness and job specific test uses a series of  ’tests‘ that are outdated and not applicable to Public Saftey, but those tests ares valid (from the 70’s) does it make sense to keep using them?  Should we continue to standardize something that science has invalidated?  should we continue to give bicarb first in every code because that is what they used to do?

What does this do for a medic/officer or Fire Fighter?  anyone, anyone?

Cave Man Posture

Responders, I have spent the better part of a beautifuil weekend here in NC hunched over the computer working on my presentations for Atlanta, Iowa, Virginia etc.  A few 3 hour lectures is a lot of talking!  No matter how good your postural stability and endurance is gravity and repetitive strain will eventually win.  So the stretch of the week is one of my favorites.  It is a Latissimus/back/shoulder and hip stretch.  As always hold for 60 sec., remember to breathe and relax into the strtch.

Diet Tracking

Just so all my responder friends do not get the idea that I spent an idle holiday weekend relaxing on the lake I added 32 pages of new content to the Fit Responder Book and expanded the program.  I added a substantial section on Nutritional tracking.  Tracking what you consume every day will lead to healthier eating habits and thus reduced weight.  I included a weeks worth of daily tracking logs and wellness goals.  I also drastically expanded the resistance band section of the program.  Everyone that purchased the ebook will receive an update in the next few weeks, after I clean up the text and photos!  Hope everyone had a good, healthy and safe weekend.

Food for Thought

If you are like most of us, grabbing a quick burrito seems like a good way to get a semi-healthy meal.  Did you know that a chicken burrito with rice, beans and cheese has

1200 calories!

57 g of Fat

56 g of Protein

Responders, we only need 30g of protein every 3-4 hours, the rest takes it’s toll on your kidneys and will convert to fat if not burned.  Many diets are based on 2000 calories per day, this baby has almost a full days calories in ONE serving, can you say metabolic slow down.  57g of fat! is an entire days fat in one meal. Do I need to say more.

Instead get a burrito with chicken and beans only, salsa, lettuce and tomato, make it really healthy and add some grilled veggies.  No cheese and other sauces, they will only serve to up the fat and calorie count.  Another trick is to only eat half, save the rest for 3-4 hours later, not only will you save money but you will substantially cut the caloric load as well.

“And then I was Running”

Anyone that knows me knows that i am not a distance runner.  I have been training very hard for the past 2 years to go from a weight lifter/ sprinter to a more balanced athlete.  I have never run distance for the simple fact that I am flat footed and running distance hurts.  With a few years of balancing out my hips and working on my gait I am now able to run 5-7 miles in a respectable time.  So here we are at the beach and running each morning and after 3 days my ass hurts! sore and stiff (the beach is angled).  But I feel good and it allows me to have a few extra beers in the pm.  its all about balance folks!

Relaxing

Well, the fit responder is on vacation! So I got up this Am and ran 4 miles, then I had a few cold ones on the beach. It’s all about balance folks.