Sports Performance Coach and Licensed Massage Therapist

Breathing is essential for life.  Without oxygen, we cannot live.

I wrote about breathing in two pervious articles that I suggest checking out if you are interested in more information on this topic.  THE FIRST was about some of the negative things that take place in our body when breathing patterns are poor, while THE SECOND was a video example of how to evaluate breathing patterns in your clients (and these tests can then become the exercises/corrections when breathing is faulty).

Breathing and Recovery From Training/Competition

Breathing can also play an important role in our regeneration strategies, as proper diaphragmatic breathing can be extremely relaxing.

A 2009 study conducted by Martarelli et al, looked at diaphragmatic breathing and its potential in reducing exercise-induced oxidative stress.

Sixteen amateur (male) cyclists where evaluated during an extremely stressful training session.  Following the session, the individuals were divided into two groups:

• The control group spent 1-hour following training sitting in a quite space, relaxing and reading magazines.
• The experimental group, diaphragmatic breathing group, spent 1-hour focusing on diaphragmatic breathing - which was taught to them before beginning the study - in a similar quite space to that of the control group.

The researchers evaluated the athletes for:

• Oxidative stress
• Biological Antioxidant Potential
• Changes in cortisol levels
• Changes in melatonin levels

Oxidative Stress

While oxidative stress was increased following the exhaustive exercise session (as expected), those in the diaphragmatic breathing group significantly decreased their oxidative stress, as reported by the d reactive oxygen metabolite test (d-ROM test) which measures the plasma reactive oxygen metabolites produced by reactive oxygen species (which are free radicals).

Biological Antioxidant Potential, Cortisol and Melatonin

The biological antioxidant potential test is one that evaluates the plasma levels of antioxidants.  Those in the diaphragmatic breathing group showed significant improvements in biological antioxidant potential, which corresponds with reduced levels of cortisol and reactive oxygen metabolites, as well as increased levels of nocturnal melatonin (an important hormone involved in the reduction of oxidative stress, due to its antioxidant properties).

A greater decrease in cortisol, while not statistically significant in this study, was observed for the diaphragmatic breathing group, and the diaphragmatic breathing compared to the control subjects observed a statistically significant improvement in melatonin.

Researchers Conclusions

The researchers stated that, “If these results are confirmed in other intense physical activity programs, relaxation could be considered an effective practice to contrast the free radical-mediated oxidative damage induced by intense exercise.”

The researchers propose the following rationale for the reduced neuroendocrine response by relaxation as seen in the diaphragmatic breathing group:

• Intense exercise increases cortisol production
• A high plasmatic level of cortisol deceases the bodies antioxidant defense
• A high plasmatic level of cortisol correlates with a high level of oxidative stress
• Diaphragmatic breathing reduces the production of cortisol
• Diaphragmatic breathing increases melatonin levels
• Melatonin is a strong antioxidant
• Diaphragmatic breathing increases the biological antioxidant potential
• Diaphragmatic breathing reduces oxidative stress

For those that prefer a visual representation of this process:

Wrapping up

Diaphragmatic breathing is easy to teach, and educating the athletes on the importance of this technique and the importance of relaxation is a cost free way to help athletes rest, recover and regenerate following stressful training and competition.

Patrick

patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

References

Martarelli D, Cocchioni M, Scuri S, Pompei P. Diaphragmatic Breathing Reduces Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress. Evidence Based Complimentary Alternative Medicine. Oct 2009: 1-9.

This week’s interview is with renowned strength coach Mike Robertson.  Mike was nice enough to answer some questions regarding training at his facility, single leg exercises and what corrective exercise is (and is not).

Enjoy!

Patrick

patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

–

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview, Mike.  I am going to go out on a limb here and say that my readers are probably familiar with you and your work.  That being said, you currently run a facility with Physical Therapist Bill Hartman.  I was wondering if you could briefly talk us through a first session at your training facility.  What sort of things do you look for in the assessment and then where do you go from there as far as developing the initial program for the individual?

Sure thing Patrick!

Whether the client is there for fat loss or performance enhancement, we take everyone through a full assessment to determine what his or her limitations are before initiating a program.

The assessment is somewhat organic and individual to the client, but everyone does the following:

•  Postural assessment (much like we outlined in “Assess and Correct”)
• Isolated joint mobility and muscle strength testing
• Integrated movement testing (such as squatting, lunging, push-ups, etc.)
• Any tests specific to the energy system of their sports

As you can see, it’s pretty thorough.  It’s funny, too, because everyone who comes in is shocked that we spend so much time with them on day one!  I think we’re used to getting 5 minutes of “face-time” with anyone of authority.

Once we have an idea of their limitations, we take that knowledge and pair it with their goals to develop a training program.  The formula is quite simple, but it works extremely well.

I just noticed on your blog that you have a new DVD being put together regarding single leg training. Does this mean you are giving up bilateral training also? In all seriousness, can you give us a little info about the product and some of the important aspects of both bilateral and single leg training?

Yep, it’s all single-leg work for me from here on out! (Note my heavy use of sarcasm.)

On the topic of unilateral vs. bilateral training, I really try and see both sides of the continuum. I can see the value in promoting single-leg exercises; as a powerlifter coming up, I always included single-leg work in my programming.

On the other side of the equation, I always realized the value of bilateral work. There’s simply very little you can do in a program to replace squats, deadlifts, Olympic lifts, etc.

Is it possible? Sure. But if you can do them (meaning you’re not physically limited in some form or fashion), why wouldn’t you?

I guess the reason I created this product was two-fold:

1. I hate it when people simply jump on a bandwagon, without any idea as to why they’re doing it. “So and so” said to do it isn’t a quality answer. Who are you working with? What are their needs? What are their goals? It’s not as simple as blindly saying “I’m only going to use single-leg exercises” (or bilateral exercises, for that matter).
2. There’s very little quality coaching material out there on the topic. When you really break down a lunge or split-squat, there’s a lot to it! There are tons of coaching materials out there on the squat, bench press, deadlift, power clean, etc., but not much in the way of single-leg lifts. I want to show coaches and athletes what I’m looking at, and if they’re doing something wrong, how to fix it.

Corrective exercise has been under fire by some in the industry as of late. Can you describe what the term “corrective exercise” means to you, why some may “shun” it, and what its best application is.

Corrective exercise shouldn’t even be a term – corrective exercise, to me, is just smart training.

It’s removing movement limitations such as poor hip or ankle mobility.

It’s turning on your scapular or hip stabilizers so you can move more weight.

It’s getting your core turned back on and strong so you can show your true strength and athletic potential.

In reality, corrective exercise is just smart training – removing limitations to unlock your true potential.

It’s not sexy, and at the root of it, it’s not gimmicky either. Too often people associate corrective exercise with foam rolling, activation work, etc. As I wrote on my blog a while back, that’s a strawman.

They’re getting too caught up in the means and methods, versus the end goal – better movement quality and efficiency. I will use any tool in my toolbox to achieve that goal.

This has been a wonderful interview, Mike, thank you very much. Please tell the readers where they can find out more about you, your products, services, and the IFast training facility.

Thanks for having me Patrick!

Most of the action occurs at my site, www.RobertsonTrainingSystems.com. I have a blog that I update 4-5x weekly, a free newsletter, and even a Podcast that you can download for free.

If you decide I’m not a total schmuck, I have quite a few products for sale there as well!

You can also learn more about my facility at www.IFASTonline.com.

Recovery is an essential aspect of the training process. Put simply, if we aren’t recovering from the stresses we are placing on our bodies, we can’t improve.

We typically discuss various training methods and strategies to help improve sports performance, often overlooking the importance of recovery and what we are doing outside of the gym as a way to maximize what we are doing inside of it.

I’ll admit, talking about recovery may not be as exciting as talking about training or ways to create a program that will lead us to athletic dominance. However, it is an important topic that needs to be covered if you want to get the most out of training and prevent injuries and overtraining.

Over the next few articles, we will take a look at some methods of helping to improve recovery and (hopefully) prevent overtraining.  In this first part, I just want to give a little background of what overtraining syndrome is, how it happens and some of the signs and symptoms of overtraining.

Overtraining Syndrome

In a nut-shell, overtraining is the accumulation of stress (both training and non-training stressors) which, when not tended to properly, leads to a decrease in performance with physiological and/or psychological symptoms that may take weeks or months to recover from.

I think she missed the warning signs.

Whenever an imbalance between training/competing and recovery occur, there is a possibility for overtraining.  On a small scale, some overtraining is thought to be beneficial, and is often referred to as “overreaching” - a process where the athlete purposefully overtrains slightly with the idea that they will increase recovery at the end of the overreaching phase of training and take advantage of “supercompensation”, which occurs when fatigue dissipates and the new level of fitness is able to manifest itself.  The needed period of recovery from overreaching may last a few days to a week, and athletes will show signs of overtraining (decreases in performance, fatigue, delayed recovery between training bouts, poor sleep patterns, etc); however, the athlete should be monitored to ensure that none of these red flags of overtraining get out of control - often athletes will be asked to train to an 8-10% decrease in performance before going into the recovery phase and allowing supercompensation to take effect.

The concept of overreaching is a controversial one, as many coaches don’t want to put their athletes into these overtrained situations, even it is only for a brief period of time.  I also tend to err more on the side of caution and feel that putting someone purposefully into an overtrained state should not be the goal of the training program.  Additionally, when working with athletes who play in sports that have long competive seasons or play multiple competitions per week (baseball, basketball, hockey, football, etc…), the goal should really be to keep the athlete healthy and free from overtraining, so that they can perform optimally come game time.

Stress and Overtraining

Things like travel schedules, long flights across time zones, poor nutrition/food choices on the road, and stresses imposed on the athletes by their coaches all may add more stress on the athlete, leading to a further potential for overtraining/under recovery.  If the stress of training and competition is not bad enough, athletes also have to worry about the stress of their everyday lives.  Things like social stress, financial stress, and family stress can all play a role in decreasing ones ability to recover from training/competition. 

Athletes of all ages, from high school through the professional ranks face life stresses that need to be taken into consideration when evaluating the overall program and the amount of stress you are placing on a given athlete.  Bartholomew and colleagues showed that high amounts of life stress impact ones ability to adapt to a strength-training program, with low-stress individuals showing significantly greater improvements in squat and bench press strength than those with high-stress levels.  This study was conducted on 135-undergraduate students who trained twice a week (1.5-hour training sessions) for 12-weeks.  This amounts of 3-hours of total training per week, is a far cry from what is expected of an athlete at the college level (between practice, training and competition) and in most cases, high school athletes are even exceeding this amount of training per week.

Inflammation, Tissue Trauma and Overtraining

Several authors have set out to understand the underlying cause of overtraining syndrome and how the overtraining processes is initiated.  Some of the proposed mechanisms have been:

• Glycogen Hypothesis, which has looked at reduced levels of glycogen as markers of fatigue and overtraining.
• Central Fatigue Hypothesis, which looks at, reduced levels of circulating tryptophan (an amino acid), which cause it to be taken up in the brain to a greater extent.  Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, a neurotransmitter which, when elevated has effects on the body such as increased need for sleep and reduction in appetite (both are tell-tale signs of overtraining).
• Glutamine Hypothesis, which seeks to explain the decrease in immune function and increase in illness during periods of overtraining, as glutamine is an important amino acid used for fuel by lymphocytes in the immune system.
• Hypothalmus and Hypothamic-pituitary-adrenal axis implications, where the blood catecholamine, glucocorticoid and testosterone levels are altered.
• Lack of day-to-day variations in training, which expose the athletes to “burn-out” and potential overuse injuries.

Together, all of the above theories explain some aspect of overtraining syndrome, yet a definite underlying cause has not been concluded upon.

Researcher Lucille Lakier Smith has proposed the idea that overtraining may begin with (and be caused by) tissue trauma. 

First, it is important to note that some level of tissue trauma is not bad.  In fact, a little bit of trauma is needed in order to force an adaptation (hence the name Adaptive Microtrauma).  If we don’t impose some level of stress on our bodies, then we have nothing to adapt to, and no improvements are made.  The pattern then looks like this:

Train (impose a stress on the body) –> Recover from that stress (heal)–> Train again (breakdown a little more) –> Rinse and repeat

Training leads to trauma, which leads to a local inflammatory process and the release of cytokines.  Cytokines are basically like messengers which, transfer information from cell to cell and, when they are found in increased concentrations in the blood, they can transfer information around the whole body, having a more systemic effect.  There are various types of cytokines with some having pro-inflammatory properties and others having anti-inflammatory properties.  Three important pro-inflammatory cytokines are interlukin-1ß, interlukin-6, and tumor necrocis factor-? (NOTE: interlukin-6 can have anti-inflammatory properties as well). 

During phases of training where recovery is not optimal (overtraining) and inflammation is elevated, or during periods of injury, pro-inflammatory cytokines may play a large role in communicating to the body that something is wrong. 

Houston, we have a problem!

In the end, these cytokines may lead to the signs and symptoms that we get when we are in an overtrained state.  If we are smart, we heed our bodies warning and back off of the training stimulus to allow for recovery to take place.

Signs and Symtoms

As you can see from the diagram above, overtraining syndrome has a negative effect on many of the bodies processes and recovery from severe overtraining can be a substantial task. 

Here are a few signs and symptoms to look out for:

Physiological

• changes in blood pressure
• changes in heart rate at rest, during exercise, and during recovery
• increased frequency of respiration
• increased oxygen consumption at submaximal exercise intensities
• decreased lean body mass

Psychological/behavioral

• constant fatigue
• reduced appetite
• changes in sleep pattern
• depression
• general apathy
• emotional instability
• decreased self-esteem
• fear of competition
• gives up when the going gets tough

Information processing

• loss of coordination
• difficulty concentrating
• reduced capacity to correct technical faults

Biochemical Parameters

• rhabdomyolysis
• negative nitrogen balance
• elevated C-reactive protein
• depressed muscle glycogen levels
• decreased free testosterone
• increased serum cortisol

Immunological Parameters

• constant fatigue
• headaches
• nausea
• complaints of muscle and joint aches and pains
• gastrointestinal disturbance
• muscle soreness tenderness
• one-day colds
• swelling of lymph glands
• bacterial infections
• increased susceptibility to and severity of illness, colds, and allergies

Monitoring your training

The question always becomes, “how much stress is too much, and how much is just enough?”  Truth be told, the answer is probably going to be found in the individual, as different athletes will adapt better to different training interventions. 

Having a training journal and a periodized training program is a great way to ensure that you prevent overtraining, as you can look back at what you have been doing when you start to feel some of these symptoms come on, and in turn, plan properly for future training blocks - which should include blocks of recovery and restoration.

If you are a coach in a team setting, it may be more difficult to properly plan training around the individual.  Knowing your athletes is an important aspect of coaching, and many coaches have employed the use of rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scales from the athletes, to help plan training.  I talked briefly about this in my article on flexible non-linear periodization a week ago.

A recommendation by Robson-Ansley and colleagues is to have athletes complete a session RPE document following a non-steady state aerobic training session (IE, weight training, interval training, speed work, competition, etc).  The athletes are to complete the document at least 30-minutes following training, to ensure that they make a proper appraisal of the days training session, and don’t just rate it has highly fatiguing based on how they felt right after completing the last part of an intense workout.

Conclusion

Overtraining syndrome is a very serious issue that affects many athletes and should be avoided at all cost.  Several processes are involved in overtraining syndrome and it appears that tissue trauma due to inadequate rest/recovery may be the potential underlying factor which begins the whole processes.  There are many signs and symptoms of overtraining and they can affect psychological, pysiological and performance processes.

In an effort to help athletes better recover from training; the following series of articles will be focused on methods of recovery and regeneration.

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

References

Meeusen R, Duclos M, Gleeson M, Rietjens G, Steinacker A, Urhausen A. Prevention, Diagnosis & Treatment of Overtraining Syndrome. European Journal of Sports Science March 2006;6(1):1-14.

Bartholomew JB, Stults-Kolehmainen MA Elrod C C, Todd JS. Strength Gains after Resistance Training: The Effect of Stressful, Negative Life Events. Journal of Strength Cond Res 2008; 22(4):1215-1221.

Smith LL. Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological adaptation to excessive stress. Med Sci Sport Exer 2000;32(2):317-331.

Smith LL. Tissue trauma: the underlying cause of overtraining syndrome?
 Journal of Strength Cond Res 2004;18(1): 185-193.

Robson-Ansley PJ, Gleeson M Ansley L. Fatigue Management in Preparation of Olympic Athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences, Feb 2009;1-12.

It seems like everyone is blogging about the books they are currently reading.  I’m sure this has something to do with the fact that the holiday’s are now over and people are getting around to making some purchases with their gift cards.

Anyway, I am a fan of reading, so I figured I’d throw my current reading list into the mix.

The first three are some cool books about the brain and how it controls the way we function, both physically and mentally. These books cover a variety of topics such as:

- Pain
- Our mind/body maps
- Neurological disorders
- Obsessive compulsive disorders

1) The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge

2) The Body Has A Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Anything Better by Sandra and Mathew Blakeslee

3) The Mind and The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley

This next book is one that I stumbled upon a few months ago and finally got around to picking it up. It is a book that goes over concepts of reading and interpreting research, and how to apply our findings to the real world.

4) How To Read A Paper: The Basics of Evidence Based Medicine by Trisha Greenhalgh

The final two are books that I have been meaning to pick up for some time now. They are filled with great information and I was really excited when I finally got them in the mail! The first one has some excellent guest chapters authored by Stuart McGill, Aaron Mattes, and Dr. Leahy (the developer of ART). The second is all about the nervous system and neurodynamics.

5) Functional Soft Tissue Evaluation and Treatment by Manual Methods by Warren Hammer

6) Clinical Neurodynamics: A New System of Neuromusculoskeletal Treatment by Michael Shacklock

Knowledge is power! The goal is to get better at what you do everyday. What are you currently reading?

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

Today’s interview comes from Dublin based Strength Coach/Soft Tissue Therapist Robbie Bourke.  This great interview, Robbie goes over the importance of soft tissue therapy in athletics and some of his ideas regarding strength training for Gaelic football.

Hope you enjoy it!

Patrick
patrick@optimumsportsperformance.com

1) It is great to have you do this interview Robbie.  Since most of my readers here, across the pond, may not be familiar with you, please give us some background on yourself.
 
Well to be honest I am just a baby in the world of strength and conditioning. I am 22, from Dublin Ireland. My background is, as an athlete, I played hurling and Gaelic football for my local GAA club. I have always had a huge passion for sport and fitness and always knew that whatever career path I choose was going to be one that involved something in one or both of these areas.
 
I did a basic personal training course when I was 19. From there I got my first job at Dublin City University (DCU), which has both a commercial gym, and high performance gym. I started my career in the commercial gym and hated every second of it. It was your typical commercial gym. All that matter was membership retention, membership retention, and….. let me think….. what was it….. oh, membership retention. Program design and nutrition advice didn’t matter one bit.
 
The head Strength Coach for the high performance gym at DCU at the time (and still is today) was Martina McCarthy. She really took me under her wing when I first wanted to get into the field. I soon started to realize (the more I studied, and talked to Martina) that nearly everything that I was taught on my original PT course was Bullshit!! After a year of working in the commercial gym I quit to take up a part time job in the High Performance Gym.
 
My role was to help train all athletes that came through the facility. Our main athletes were gaelic footballers, hurlers, rugby players, a bit of soccer players, and track and field athletes. I stayed for another year before I decided it was time to do an internship with one of the big guns, like Boyle or Cressey. So I got an internship with Mike at his Winchester facility last fall. I still hope to intern with Eric at some stage.
 
But that is my story so far!
  
2) Aside from being a strength coach, you also practice soft tissue therapy.  This has been a great combination that I have been implementing for some time.  Please tell us how soft tissue therapy fits into the program for your clients/athletes and why it is so important to you.
 
I don’t know how I came to decision that I wanted to do neuromuscular therapy (NMT), but I am glad I did, as it is one of the best things that I have ever done. It has given me a much more holistic approach to training. I am currently doing a Higher Diploma in NMT, and have the pleasure and honor to be taught under world renowned therapists such as Leon Chaitow, and Judith DeLany, who is someone I know you admire greatly too.
 
As for how do I combine it?
 
I like you do believe that soft tissue work is essential for our athletes/clients if they want to see maximal results. In a team group setting though it is not feasible to do tissue work on every athlete individually, so in that situation the foam rollers, tiger tails, med-balls, tennis-balls, or even sliotars (a hurling ball), will be used for the athletes do get their soft tissue work done.
 
What I also love about soft tissue work when I do have my hands on someone is that it is a constant assessment. You are feeling, and weaving your hands through tissue, trying to constantly assess the feedback you are getting. It is another tool in the toolbox, and a valuable one at that.
 
I will always encourage my athletes to get regular soft tissue work. Whether it is a manual treatment from myself, someone else or just some foam rolling, I just want them working on the tissue quality. 
 
3) You recently started working with a Gaelic Football team in Ireland.  What are some important aspects of Strength and Conditioning that you hope to bring to the team?
 
To be honest, just good old STRENGTH. A lot of the guys that I will be working with have a training   age of zero (0), so they are pretty much beginners. The fact that they are beginners means that any increases in strength alone, will increase speed, power and decrease injury.
 
Now don’t get me wrong here and think that I will put (as Gray Cook would say) fitness on top of dysfunction. One thing that a lot of GAA players seem to have is really poor posture. So this is another thing that I will be looking to improve upon. Some people would call this “corrective exercise”. To me strength training is corrective exercise. Just as long as the proper volume, intensity, and progression are put in place, this will help improve any poor posture.
 
As for poor movement patterns which a lot of these guys will have, I like to work on this initially in warm ups and rest periods through some form of mobility/stability exercises. Then once these patterns clear up, I will re-force them by putting good old solid strength on top of them. You will also find that the soft tissue work that we discussed above will help in this process too.
 
Nutritional habits are also something that I think that I can bring to the table. Now I am not, and do not claim to be a nutritional expert, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that McDonalds isn’t exactly ideal food before training/practice. 
  
4) If you could give an athlete one piece of advice, what would it be?
 
This is a tough one. This is where you wish you could come up with something original and meaningful. Something that would make people think, that’s an invaluable piece of advice.
 
I would always tell my athletes never ever stop believing! Belief in one’s self is probably the single greatest thing that any athlete can process. All the greats had/have it – Ali, Pele, Tiger, Federer.
 
One quote that I got from Lance Armstrong that I love to say to my athletes also is – “Pain is temporary, but quitting last forever”.
 
So I guess my advice would – Always believe in yourself, and never ever give up (without a fight).
 
5) Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, Robbie.  Please let my readers know where they can find out more about your work and upcoming projects.
 
Its my pleasure Patrick. Thank you for having me.
 
You can find me at www.allthingsstrength.blogspot.com. I am hoping to get a lot more video content on there over the next while. As for upcoming projects, I will be traveling a bit this year. I am hopefully going to Seattle to work with Tim Vagen for a few weeks. I also hope to go to Westside Barbell this year to visit Louie, and finally I hope to visit Coach Peter Rouse in California at the end of the year sometime. I will keep everyone updated on my travels on my blog.
 
As for now I am busy writing, designing, and implementing strength and conditioning programs at Na Fianna GAA Club in Dublin