2013-06-19T03:22:42-04:00 Stacy Irvine, D.C., M.Sc. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=stacy-irvine-dc-msc Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Stacy Irvine, D.C., M.Sc. Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.939516 2011-12-06T21:22:43-05:00 2013-01-04T14:41:35-05:00

Stacy Irvine, D.C., M.Sc. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-irvine-dc-msc/
As a parent of three young children, with a "mild obsession" about their health, I find myself thinking about their daily amount of physical activity. I am fighting a constant battle with the TV and computer to find interesting ways to keep everyone moving. I face similar questions by other parents. It usually starts with, "How much activity is enough?", "What are the best sports to have my children in?" "How much computer or TV time is appropriate?"

The current structure of many sports organizations may increase parents anxiety, and can result in problems due to sports specialization too soon. For example, if you look at most hockey organizations in Canada, certain children are chosen at ages five and six to enter a competitive stream. This competitive team requires the players to commit to more practice time along with games and tournaments.

From a purely physical evaluation, this system is good, because the children are getting much more opportunity to exercise. For an overall athletic development goal, current research indicates that early specialization can lead to problems later on.

Sometimes the product of this specialization system is a child who develops into a skilled player, but does not have great functional movement ability. In other words, they are not reaching their full athletic potential. I end up seeing many of these players at our clinic, as 12-year-old AAA hockey players with chronic injuries related to muscle imbalances and functional weakness.

These cases further emphasize the idea that children at young ages should be working on developing as many movement experiences as possible. Over the past decade I have worked with several high level athletes and coaches and they all support the idea that the best athletes will be developed from multi-sport experiences that begin at a young age.

Scientific research on Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD), most of it developed by Istvan Balyi, has illustrated another very valuable piece of the puzzle when we are looking at how elite athletes are trained. Balyi, has determined that there are optimal 'training windows' that occur for all children. For example, most children will experience their speed window between the ages of six and eight for girls and the ages of seven and nine for boys. This is the time when their bodies, brains and neurological systems are most receptive and adaptive to speed training.

As a coach this means that these ages should be working on speed development within their skills. If you were training a golfer at this age you would not be spending the majority of your time training accuracy, instead you would be working on trying to hit things as far and as fast as possible. This training helps the child access those areas of the brain that focus on speed development.

Once this window is finished, or if an athlete misses this type of training, they may not be as fast as they could have been if they had worked on the appropriate style of training at the right time. Most children will naturally want to work on these skills at the appropriate ages and our current structure of organized sport often does not encourage these behaviours.

What does this mean for coaches and parents? The opportunity to develop these essential movement skills is important for all children, whether they decide they want to be an Olympian or a weekend skier. It involves commitment to a variety of sports, or simply making time available for daily free active play. This will allow each child to be the best "mover" they can be as an adult.

In our increasingly sedentary society, we need to develop skills outside of work and every day activities that keep us active. For most of us, this will involve being comfortable with recreational activities. We learn the skills to be proficient at activity when we are young. A healthy child that loves activity will most likely grow into a healthy adult that loves activity. A sedentary child with most likely grow into a sedentary adult.

This does not mean that children should have no specialized training at early ages. For some sports, such as gymnastics, this is essential for them to be competitive. Most qualified coaches at competitive levels will be aware of these training windows and using them appropriately. USA hockey has adopted this philosophy with a program called, the American Development Model (ADM). This video explains how they use these same principles in practice with their young players:

Parents, coaches and anyone working with children should be focused on what is best for the 'whole' child at that moment in time and not just focused on their skill in a particular sport. If children are enjoying their activities you will have a hard time getting them to stop. This is a good sign! Listen to your children and let them tell you how they would like to play and be active, then provide them with a variety of daily opportunities to experience these skills. The research shows, you will be doing the right thing.
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Stacy Irvine, D.C., M.Sc. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-irvine-dc-msc/ Roy J. Shepard'sEncyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Exercise, our strength will peak by age 25, plateau until age 40 and then show an accelerating decline as we age, with losses of up to 25 per cent by the time we reach 65. Of course, these numbers vary by individuals and there is a large effect of exercise on the rate of decline.

I often question the application of this research when I am dealing with patients that are lifting weights in their middle ages. It seems that for most people there is a common perception that we are at our physical best in our 20s and then it is "all downhill from there."

A more accurate evaluation of strength would be to look at the results of competitive power lifters as they age. In this group we see a much later peak for maximum strength. Many of the powerlifting world records were set by men over the age of 35. Steve Goggins set the all time world record squat, just over 1,100 lbs, at age 39!

You could also argue that, with a group of power lifters it is difficult to make this sport a full time career, and eventually the demands of everyday life would interfere with their optimal training schedule. Based on these ideas, and my own anecdotal observations watching people strength train, I believe that our decline in strength as we age is not as dependent on physiological declines in our bodies, but mostly due to the lack of opportunity to train effectively to build strength.

There are many examples of people who are at their "strongest ever" at much older ages, or you hear someone say they are in "the best shape of their lives" even though they are middle-aged. Professional sport provides further support to this idea, with players such as Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash, and Olympic swimmer, Dara Torres performing at their peak levels in their 30s and 40s.

For the general public, it could be argued that many people never reach their full strength potential, and it certainly does not happen in our mid-20s when we are busy finishing our secondary education, starting out in a new career or starting a family.

For those committing to a new fitness routine, the most common goal is weight loss. Very few people, especially women, focus on strength gains and monitor their strength increases in an organized manner. Most fitness programs are designed to improve the way you look, instead of how efficiently or effectively your muscles actually work. How many of us have dreamed about having a six pack, instead of training our abdominal muscles to actually function to their optimal ability or strength.

Training with a goal of increasing your strength can be a very rewarding experience because the gains are easily measured with the weight you are able to push or lift. If you have not trained in this manner, you will probably see significant changes within the first few weeks of training. Most importantly, if you do not try to improve your strength as you age, you will lose muscle mass. When you lose muscle mass, your metabolism decreases and your ability to maintain a healthy weight will diminish.

In my experience I see many people who are missing three essential components needed to build strength properly:

1. They do not lift weights that are heavy enough.
2. They do not consistently monitor their progress and increase the amount they are lifting.
3. They do not consume enough protein in their diet to help maximize their muscle development.

If you are someone who has never tried resistance training before, it is best to start out with one month of base training, ideally working with resistance two to three times per week. Base training would consist of light weights and higher repetitions. During this training you would focus on proper lifting technique.

To build strength, I think you need to lift heavier weights with lower repetitions (six to 10) and it is very important that you lift to failure regularly. Lifting to failure is defined as not being able to complete one more rep of the weight because your muscles are completely exhausted. For this reason it is helpful to lift with a professional or a partner. Monitor your progress and try to increase the weight you are lifting every few weeks. Adequate rest and proper nutrition is important for these increases to occur. I believe you should have at least one to two days off between sessions and you should try to consume at least half your body weight in grams of lean protein per day.

A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition, showed that a higher protein diet was the most effective for long term weight loss and can also produce a better blood lipid profile in obese patients. This is not an excuse to go out and eat a huge steak every day. You need to find healthy, lean forms of protein such as fish or chicken. For vegetarians, it is important to combine your proteins to ensure you have a complete amino acid profile at each meal.

If you follow the above guidelines consistently, you will notice significant strength gains. These improvements will allow you to function better in your everyday activities and eventually increase your lean muscle mass to improve your metabolism. If you have no idea how to strength train, I recommend working with a professional in this area, at least until you feel comfortable working on your own. Another good resource is a book called Maximum Strength, by Eric Cressey and Matt Fitzgerald.

Gaining strength as you age is possible. If you feel that you 'physically peaked' in your 20s you need to change this way of thinking. Research shows us that our perceptions of aging have a significant impact on our physiological systems. If you limit yourself based on how old you are, your body will respond by manifesting those limitations. If you remove those limitations in your brain, you are one step closer to a healthier, stronger and physiologically younger you.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.964448 2011-09-22T15:30:15-04:00 2011-11-22T05:12:01-05:00

Stacy Irvine, D.C., M.Sc. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-irvine-dc-msc/
In his bestselling book, Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina lists 12 rules that explain how brains really work.

I am particularly interested in rule #1, stating that: Exercise boosts brain power. Dr. Medina's book explains that exercise will stimulate the birth of additional neurons in the hippocampus of the brain and that this neuronal growth creates a positive environment for your brain development.

Dr. John Ratey, the author of, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, has further explored these concepts in an experimental environment, testing children's cognitive abilities with and without exercise. Based on these findings, Dr. Ratey believes that exercise prior to learning or testing is an effective way to optimize the functioning of the neurons in your brain.

Exercise has also demonstrated a positive influence in the prevention of cognitive decline in older populations. University of Illinois neuroscience professor, Arthur F. Kramer in his meta-analysis looking at exercise and the aging brain, concluded that, "the benefits of physical exercise or physical activities promotes brain and cognitive vitality well into older adulthood."

Based on this research, I think we can safely say that, in addition to the many health benefits we already know about exercise, brain development can be enhanced by exercise. For these, and many other obvious reasons, I find it very discouraging to witness the continued decrease in the physical activity levels of children, both in and outside of school.

Currently, the public school systems in Canada, offer physical education classes one to two hours per week for most grades. In many high schools there is no requirement for physical activity. Our growing problem with childhood obesity supports the idea that children are becoming less active.

Inactivity in children is not only negative from a physical health perspective, but I believe it could also have a detrimental impact on students learning and overall brain development. I think our growing population of inactive and obese children will not reach their physical or intellectual potential, if they remain inactive throughout their formative years.

This is a major problem that parents, teachers and all levels of government cannot ignore. I have been involved with many discussions around these issues, but I have yet to see effective solutions. Obesity is still increasing in our country.

The idea of exercise as a tool for brain development should be very attractive to anyone involved in education. A practical solution would be to start each school day with 30 minutes supervised physical activity. Teachers and students could participate together. This would allow everyone to start their day with enhanced brain function. A brisk walk through the neighbourhood, or laps around the school would be enough exercise to provide significant benefits. It is quite possible you would be able to recruit a few parent volunteers to help supervise the students. I am sure most adults would benefit from an extra 30 minutes of activity a day.

A simple way to benefit from these findings, as Dr. Ratey has suggested, would be to use exercise as a "primer" to enhance your brain's ability to function. This is such a simple concept that is rarely utilized in our busy world.

I have a couple of ideas to help get you started with your brain development: The next time you have a very important meeting that requires quick thinking and active listening, head out for a brisk walk 10 minutes before the meeting, climb some stairs or (if you have a private office) try some standing squats alternating with wall push ups.

If you are a student, try exercising prior to your exams and important lectures. If you are a writer or journalist, try exercising right before you sit down to formulate your latest ideas. Finally, if you are a parent and you have something important to discuss with your children, ask them to take a walk with you in a quiet place where you can share ideas, enjoy nature and build some mental strength. The research shows they might actually be listening and absorbing the information more effectively.

The message is simple. Do some exercise and build your brain!]]>