Brando's Blog

This Blog is Moving!!!

Please note, this will be the last ever blog posted on this site.

I will be closing down this blog account soon as my blogs are now being posted on the new BodyCHEK website at http://bodychek.co.uk/blog/  

Please feel free to join me there.

Shirley Sahrmann: Differentiation and Effective Management of Lumbar Spine and Hip Pain using the Movement System Syndromes Approach

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to see one of the leading physiotherapists in the world deliver her one-day seminar, "Differentiation and Effective Management of Lumbar Spine and Hip Pain using the Movement System Syndromes Approach".

Shirley's style of lecturing like most great teachers I know is one where you laugh just as much as you listen. She has a habit of laughing at her own jokes (even when they're not funny), yet her laugh is hilarious, so you end up laughing after most of her sentences.

Besides the jokes, Shirely showed a series of assessment protocols and exercises to overcome specific hip and lower back conditions or as she describes them 'movement impairment syndromes'.

It was good to hear from a true living legend that many of the things I am doing are on the right track. I also have a few new concepts to take on board and look forward to using them in the near future.

It was also great to catch up with some old colleagues of mine, especially Brucey Butler, Amrit Theocharous and Jenny O'Meara. 

 

Anatomy of Sports Injuries for Fitness and Rehabilitation

"Anatomy of Sports Injuries for Fitness and Rehabilitation" Official Launch Date - 1st October 2011.

Whether you are a professional who helps people with injuries or you would like to know more about your own injuries, the book is being officially released on 1st October 2011.

You can order your copy now! 

Anatomy of Sports Injuries - Coming Soon

On Friday, I received a copy of my latest book, hot off the press. It's always nice when you see the physical manifestation of your hard work.

Whether you have an injury that you would like to learn more about or if you are a professional working with clients who have injuries, this might just be the book for you.

"Anatomy of Sports Injuries for Fitness and Rehabilitation" is available for pre-order on Amazon.  

 

First Attempt at Liver Pate

OK, so I have made my first attempt at making liver pate. 

Even though I seriously lack any skill or creativity in the kitchen, I managed to make a reasonably good job of it. 

I was a little surprised that it actually looks almost edible. And guess what? It actually tastes amazing!

I got the idea for the recipe from the "Primal Blueprint Cookbook", (see below) with just a few adjustemnts based on the foods I need to elimate due to sensitivities.

So you want to know what was in this pate right? The pate was made from the following ingredients:

• 0.275kg Pigs Liver
• 1/2 pack of butter
• 4 small Carrots
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp Dried Thyme
• 1 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 2 pinches of organic Celtic Sea Salt 

I simply cooked the ingredients, put them in a blender and viola, pate!

Eating More and Exercising Less Does NOT Cause Fat Gain - Part 4

OK, so far I've discussed how important it is to balance your steroid hormones if you wish to lose weight.

Well, there is another potentially even more important hormone to consider with weight loss. This hormone is insulin.

Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in response to eating carbohydrates to keep blood sugar under control. The more carbohydrates eaten, the more insulin is secreted.

Insulin also ensures that muscle cells receive amino acids to aid repair and provide energy. Insulin is also the principle regulator of fat metabolism by allowing fatty acids to enter fat cells.

Insulin also has a direct affect on the enzyme Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) which I have previously discussed. LPL helps to store fat in muscle tissue for energy storage and to store fat in fat cells.

Insulin stimulates LPL on the fat cells, especially around the abdomen. Insulin inhibits LPL on the muscle cells reducing the availability of energy, which is likely to make you feel tired and/or hungry.

Insulin also suppresses another enzyme Hormone Sensitive Lipase (HSL) which helps us to burn fat, therefore meaning helps us to store more fat. The more insulin is secreted, the more HSL is inhibited, the less fat you can use for energy and the more that will be stored in your fat cells.

Insulin also helps to pump glucose into your fat cells where they make triglycerides. Triglycerides are two fatty acids joined with one glycerol cell. Triglycerides are large and cannot leave a fat cell unless it is broken down into fatty acids.

Insulin also promotes the growth of new fat cells, just in case your current fat cells become full.

Gary Taubes in his book, "Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It", states that there are a number of stages that the insulin cycle goes through:

1. You get hungry and think about a meal containing carbohydrates
2. You begin secreting insulin
3. The insulin inhibits HSL and stimulates LPL
4. You get hungrier
5. You begin eating
6. More insulin is secreted
7. As you ingest the carbohydrates, blood sugar increases
8. More insulin is secreted
9. Fat is stored as triglycerides in the fat cells
10. Fat cells get fatter (and so do you)
11. Fat stays in the fat cells until the insulin levels reduce

So you see, just eating less and exercising more might not get the job done.

Stay tuned for more information. There's still another important hormone I haven't mentioned yet...  
 

Novak Djokovic's Gluten-free Rise to the Top - Part 2

So why has Djokovic got so much quicker?

Firstly, if you have a food sensitivity, it creates inflammation in the gut. Inflammation in the gut will cause a reflex inhibition of the core-abdominal musculature. A lack of core function will create instability in the joints and reduce strength, speed and power.

Removing the offending foods for long enough will allow the immune system to calm down and for the inflammation to reduce, allowing the core muscles to function at their optimum. Some foods however, will need to be eliminated for ever, such as the case with Celiac's disease.

This will enable maximum, strength, power and speed.

In addition, he has lost weight. He has probably lost weight from excess water retention and excess body fat. So not only is he stronger, but lighter too, which equals a much greater power to weight ratio.

He also has more energy and can sustain a high level of performance for longer periods.

I’m amazed that elite level sport still blindly advocates high gluten meals like pasta and bread. I would estimate that around 95% of clients I have tested, tested positive to gluten/gliadin.

Identifying and eliminating food sensitivities is not only useful to maximise performance, but also to overcome many conditions.

I have helped people with the following conditions after identifying food sensitivities:

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Crohn’s Disease
• Chronic Fatigue
• Acne
• Eczema
• Asthma
• Hay fever
• Obesity 

I use the most advanced and most accurate form of testing currently available, The Mediator Release Test.

Tests have shown a 94.5% sensitivity and a 92.7% specificity with a split sample reproducibility of >90%. Most other tests show below 50% for accuracy or reproducibility.

It tests 150 different foods and food chemicals against four different immune responses whereas most other tests only test against one immune response. Testing against just one  immune response means you can be tested but still not identify a number of offending foods.

Please contact me if you would like to take a food sensitivity test, but I can’t promise you’ll be number one in the tennis rankings by the end of the year.

 

My Current Workout Routine - Part 4

Today, I managed to complete Lunge, Squat and Bend patterns. Got to strengthen my knee before the start of the tennis season!

 

John Terry's Nerve Injury

You may have seen in the media yesterday that John Terry, former England captain has pulled out of the England squad for tonight’s game with France due to nerve pain in his right leg. 

So, what can cause this kind of injury?

There a number of causes that include: 

*      Lumbar disc bulge

*      Piriformis syndrome

*      Weak Gluteal muscles

*      Spondylolysthesis

*      Spinal Stenosis

*      Scar tissue

The common theme with this kind of injury is that one of the nerves that supplies the leg, the sciatic nerve, is usually being irritated, causing the pain.

A disc bulge at the lower part of the lumbar spine (L5/S1 or L4/5) can  occur (and is common) after a prolonged period of time with a flat back posture. A flat back posture is when the natural curvature of the lumbar spine is lost and has less than a 30-degree curve.

A flat back puts pressure on the front of the lumbar discs and pushes them backwards towards the spinal cord. If there is enough pressure on the disc, it can bulge and rub or even herniate against and entrap the nerve, irritating it. This can cause the pain to travel down the leg along the nerve.

A tight Piriformis muscle, which is in the same region as the gluteal muscles can also entrap the sciatic nerve, causing pain along the sciatic nerve.

Weak gluteal muscles (hip abductors) will cause the spine to excessively side-flex when walking, jogging and sprinting. Excessive side flexion is caused by the inability of the gluteal muscles working (as a force couple) with the adductor muscles and quadratus lumborum muscles to stabilize the pelvis from side to side (frontal plane).  This is known as a Trendelenburg Sign. The side to side motion of the lumbar spine creates excessive pressures on the edge of the discs, pushing them outwards to the opposite side. This lateral bulging of the disc can also irritate the nerves.

Spondylolysthesis, which is a break of part of one of the vertebra (pars articularis) and causes a forward slippage of the affected vertebra, which can also entrap the nerve supply.

A spinal stenosis, which is a blockage of the spinal canal whether it’s due to boney growths, congential issue, scar tissue (often from surgery) or a spondylolysthesis, can also cause irritation to the nerves.

If I had to guess (I never guess when working with clients), I would guess that John Terry has a flat lumbar spine pushing his lumbar discs towards his spinal cord and may have weak gluteals muscles too further adding to the problem.

However, what needs to happen is a full assessment of his posture, measurement of his spinal curvatures, assessment of his abdominal function, nutritional status and movement pattern analysis to find out the causes of his symptoms and address the causes.

I have had a number of clients with Sciatic symptoms and it is normally very easy to correct with a corrective exercise programme, nutrition plan and manual therapy (to release any trigger points in the muscles and fascia and to release any nerve adhesions).

These conditions however, do tend to become more challenging to resolve once surgery to that area is introduced due to the build up of scar tissue, so surgery should always be a last resort. John Terry is at one of the biggest teams in Europe and I have no doubt the medical team will have him back playing within four weeks, no problem.

My Injury Rehab Progress

I have left the corrective exercise phase behind and am now into week one of a hypertrophy (muscle building) phase. Today, I focussed on pushing patterns, which meant my pectorals, anterior deltoids and triceps got a blasting.

It will be interesting to see how sore those muscles are in the next couple of days as I haven't done that type of workout for some time. I was amazed at how much weaker those muscles were than a few months ago.

I used a lifting tempo that was very slow on the lowering (eccentric) phase which means the muscles have more time under tension. Time under tension is a required factor to build muscle. 

Going into this week, I had no pain or discomfort in my shoulders or knee, so it's fingers crossed that the tissues have healed and can handle the intensity of this phase.

I'll keep you all posted!

In the meantime, if anyone has any injury rehabilitation questions, please feel free to ask.