How to maximise the effectiveness of your exercise regime

DARCY LITTLE

Tip #1 - Firstly, you must determine your goalsWhether it be to lose that excess weight that’s been bothering you for months or even years, or to be able to get that slam dunk that you’ve always wanted on the court, or if you just want to start looking after your health so your body is in the best shape it can be you MUST first determine these goals. Creating an action plan sounds childish and like a big waste of time but you will be surprised with how much accountability you create by putting pen to paper. Once these goals are created it is much easier to take the next step which is to create a plan to achieve these goals. We recommend using the SMART goal setting system which ensures that all goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Time Bound. Using this method will facilitate the highest amounts of success and get your body to where you want it to be. Ask yourself whether you have ever actually written goals down before?

Perhaps this is what your missing. If you have before and weren’t successful, let’s try again but this time add a lot more structure to your plan to help you in the long run.

S - SPECIFICM - MEASURABLEA - ATTAINABLER - RELEVANT T - TIME BOUND

TIP #1

Tip #2 – Train like an athlete rather than a bodybuilderTraining like an athlete is very different to training like a body builder, which is what the majority of

people in gyms do. Most young guys at the gym can’t think past the mirror,

and the attitude that bigger is better. Whilst a certain amount of size is certainly good for a physical sport like footy, too much size is often detrimental, as your cardiovascular system will have to work even harder than it did previously, just to maintain the level you were at. Not only that, but even a slight gain in size is detrimental if you aren’t gaining at least a proportional improvement in functional strength. Just because you are putting on size doesn’t mean that you are improving your performance, and in most people’s cases, they aren’t improving at all.

TIP #2

BAD

In short if you are doing bicep curls, tricep extensions, shoulder raises and calf raises, you aren’t improving your physical performance for sport at all. You are simply isolating a muscle in a way that it is never actually isolated in sport (or life for that matter), and as a result, gaining nothing. When you are training to improve your performance and functional capacity, you must train your nervous system (i.e. movements) not just your muscles. Your nervous system controls your muscles and every movement you perform, if your nervous system isn’t being trained and improving, neither is your performance. Isolation training does nothing for your nervous system or your performance. Don’t get me wrong, isolation training has a place (specifically in the initial stages of rehab or if there is a real specific focus that you require to correct a deficiency), but other than that, it is a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. If you are an athlete with only limited time to dedicate to strength training (say 2- 3 sessions per week) then you must make every session as efficient as possible with ‘bang for your buck’ exercises. Isolation exercises certainly don’t fit this bill.

GOOD

Tip #3 – Ladies, you NEED TO LIFT!That’s right ladies, you all need to lift weight. It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to lose weight & tone up, or if you’re trying to take your sporting performance up a level, strength training is a MUST! Due to women having significantly lower levels of testosterone (muscle building hormone) and other growth hormones, putting on serious muscle mass doesn’t happen incidentally. Another reason it won’t happen is that women don’t eat enough to support big gains in muscle, when’s the last time you out ate your man at the dinner table? You want to build lean muscle mass as it will make your body a much more efficient machine. This will result in your body also being much more efficient at burning fat. Muscle cells will require more fuel to be in your body than fat cells, therefore if you have more muscle cells, you will be utilising fuel stores that are already in your body. Bad news is, those fuel stores that don’t get used, they turn to fat! Creating muscle mass is the only real effective way to lose fat. Having a higher muscle mass percentage also correlates with a higher Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)2. Your BMR accounts for about 70 percent of the calories you burn every day (makes sense to want to impact on your BMR doesn’t it?).

TIP #3

In addition to your BMR, two other factors determine how many calories your body burns each day:FOOD PROCESSING (thermogenesis). Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also burns calories. This accounts for 100 to 800 of the calories used each day3. For the most part, your body’s energy requirement to process food stays relatively steady and isn’t easily changed4.PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Physical activity and exercise - such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement - account for the rest of the calories your body burns up each day. Physical activity is by far the most variable of the factors that determine how many calories you burn each day and should be the forefront of your weight loss plan.

Weight gain is complicated, it is likely a combination of genetic makeup, hormonal controls, diet composition, and the impact of environment on your lifestyle, including sleep, physical activity and stress3. All of these factors result in an imbalance in the energy equation. You gain weight when you eat more calories than you burn - or burn fewer calories than you eat. While it is true that some people seem to be able to lose weight more quickly and more easily than others, everyone will lose weight when they burn up more calories than they eat. Therefore, to lose weight, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories or increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity or both. The best approach is to include physical activity that not only burns calories, but also creates more lean muscle cells that will burn more calories than fat cells. TAKE HOME POINT: LIFT!

Tip #4 – Train all planes of movement, not just 1Sport, and well life for that matter, more often than not, are played in a 3 dimensional environment, where our bodies are challenged in 3 planes of movement (sagittal, frontal and transverse). So it would make sense to train our bodies in all 3 planes of movement. Yet if you look at the strength training programs out there, about 90% of exercises performed are in the sagittal plane. Conversely, roughly 85% of soft tissue and joint injuries that occur in sport, occur in the frontal or transverse planes 6…an almost completely inverse relationship! So squats and deadlifts for example, are 2 fantastic compound exercises, and are the base foundation of most ‘functional’ sports training programs out there now, however, they are both sagittal plane exercises. A well designed program will include the ‘primal strength patterns’ (squat, dead, bench, chin) as well as frontal and transverse plane movements (lateral & rotational work). Increasing strength will improve sporting performance every time.

TIP #4

Tip #5 – Include the right type of conditioningFor sport, repeatability of a skill is paramount. For the athletes reading, you have 3 different energy systems that provide the energy needed to complete your chosen sport4. You have two anaerobic systems (without oxygen) and one aerobic system (with oxygen). Depending on what sport you play you will have more energy contributions from one system when compared to another. To put it simply, if you’re not training the system relevant for your sport, your performance isn’t going to improve and you might even go backwards! General rule of thumb: if you play a sport that’s intermittent in nature (Rugby, AFL, Hockey, Netball, Tennis etc), then you need to spend the majority of your time developing your anaerobic systems rather than aerobic. If you play a continuous sport (running, swimming, cycling etc) then the majority of your time should be spent developing your aerobic energy system. To shed the kg’s, intensity of effort will be fairly high and ideally saved to the end of your session, so to enhance the body’s excess post oxygen consumption (EPOC). Increasing EPOC will force your body to continue burning fat, even after your sessions has finished, as your body is trying to repay the oxygen debt it took out for the session6. Battle ropes, sled/prowler push, tyre flips, farmers carries & skipping are all good examples of the right type of conditioning.

TIP #5

Tip #6 – Make sure your nutrition is also helping you achieve your goalsIf it grows, it’s probably good for you to eat. Now I understand there’s always going to be exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking it’s a good rule to follow. The more impact that man has had on a food source through the production phase, usually the less nutritional value it has and isn’t worth eating. Think of your fruits and vegetables and animal products that grow freely in our environment, eat those. Now anything that comes in boxes and fancy packaging down the aisles of the supermarkets probably isn’t going to have the greatest nutritional content and is loaded with preservatives to allow it to have such a good shelf life. At CNS we have Accredited Practicing Dieticians on hand that can make this often confusing subject much easier to get your head around.

TIP #6

Tip #7 – Don’t ignore your correctivesAs an allied health professional, I spend the majority of my day assessing & correcting various movement deficiencies. For these people, correcting the movement inefficiencies is their end goal. For the majority of people reading this, you have other end goals that your working towards, ranging from performance goals, to lifestyle goals. What you may not know is that you too will have movement inefficiencies that may be impacting on your ability to reach your goals. Ignoring the limited range of motion through your hips/ankle/shoulder or pushing through that pain that you get in your wrist when you press is something you MUST STOP DOING!

I treat people on a daily basis that have incredibly frustrating & debilitating injuries that could have been avoided. When your body sends you pain signals or prevents you from getting to a certain range of motion, 99% of the time it’s for good reason. Pain can be a great indicator that your mechanics at that joint aren’t up to scratch and if you keep using them incorrectly then more complicated issues are likely to occur. For example an ache in your shoulder when you press might seem like nothing but it could be your body’s way of telling you that you’re impinging on your shoulder structure and if this is done for long enough & often enough, then shoulder surgery will be the only option to correct this. If your range of motion is limited at a particular joint it doesn’t have to mean that your “tight”. It could be that your bodies nervous system is inhibiting further movement as you don’t have the stability to support the joint in that extreme range position4.

TIP #7

If you push through this too aggressively, you’re putting your body in a very unstable position and your begging for trouble, the type of trouble that is not easily fixed. The correction for faulty shoulder mechanics or poor hip stability is MUCH EASIER for everyone involved when compared to recovering from further complications, that more than likely will involve surgery. Where at all possible, surgery prevention should be a major objective for everyone.

Tip #8 – Don’t program hop, BE PATIENTOne of the most common errors that

we see people making in the health industry is getting fed up with their lack of results before they haven’t given their program a chance to work.

Consistency is the key when it comes to making changes and allowing your

body the time it needs to adapt to the training stimulus. That goes for everything,

you need to be consistent with 8+ hours of sleep a night, consistent with your exercise and consistent with your nutrition. For people wanting body composition changes (weight loss) you need to aim for sustainable changes in your body rather than aiming to get to your dream weight by next week. 0.5kg per week of weight loss is a sustainable target to aim for. Some weeks you will lose more/less than other’s and that’s OK. As mentioned previously, your body is a very complicated system and weight loss is a complicated process and as such, you can’t rush perfection.

TIP #8

Stick to your program, bring consistency and the results will come. From an athletic point of view it’s the same principles. Elite squads don’t utilise a program for 3-4 weeks and then change the whole design as they lost 2 games in a row. They structure the program using the best methods and they stick to it, in time they have faith that the results will start to appear and speak for themselves. Realistically, drastic changes you make in your training will probably have less of an impact on this season and you may not see the results you’ve been looking for until next season. In essence your teaching your body to become stronger, faster, more powerful and more efficient. This cannot be done instantly, first you need to plant the seed, add the right soil, supply the right amount of sunlight and water and over time you will grow a flower that is yours. Keep working hard & BE PATIENT!

Tip #9 - Don’t train to failure In terms of weight training, training to failure is a bad idea for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s incredibly taxing on your nervous system. Asking your nervous system to maximally recruit every muscle fibre it has at its disposal, and pushing it past the limit repeatedly is no doubt going to take it’s toll on the body.This is going to have a major impact on your body’s ability to recover and regenerate in both the short & long term. That means that not only will you be unable to recover for your next set, you will also find it difficult to recover from session to session. This is because training to failure will drastically increase your bodies resting Cortisol levels (catabolic hormone)7 as well as increasing levels of Adenosine Monophosphate (AMP)8. Increased levels of AMP indicate that the muscle is drained of energy which will negatively impact on protein synthesis, thus increasing your chances of overtraining and an overuse injury. In short, if you train to failure you will likely inhibit growth, strength improvements, reduce recovery and will be more likely to injure yourself. Training to failure has its place for some don’t get me wrong, but for it to be a good fit for you, we’re looking at a minimum training age of 5+ years and a goal of continuing progressions (particularly hypertrophy) after a sustained plateau, which for most of you reading this doesn’t apply. As discussed earlier, not all gains in size are necessary and desirable for the average weekend warrior, besides, if your goal isn’t to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger then failure training just doesn’t fit with where you’re going.

TIP #9

Tip #10 - Stop running blind, seek help The 10th and final tip is to stop putting yourself in situations of uncertainty and seek professional help. No matter your concern, big or small, we’re here to help. At CNS we take your health very seriously and we feel valued to be trusted with something of such high importance to you and as a result we ensure that we give you the best level of care available. There is nothing that should be more important to someone than their own health, so for you to take a step in the right direction towards improving your health, you will receive a warm welcome to the CNS family and our full support every step of the way. The aim of this e-book is to educate and empower you with the knowledge needed to maximise your own health & performance. This guide has literally just scraped the surface of exercise and weight training (I could literally talk for days about this stuff) and a lot of you will probably be wanting more personalised information that is specific to YOU. If that’s the case then there is a special offer just for you at the bottom so keep reading!

TIP #10

So what does a CNS exercise program consist of? Firstly, as discussed, a CNS exercise program will begin with a comfortable chat about your exercise/injury history with the aim of mapping out clearly what your individual goals may be. Once the goals have been created an exercise program can be designed. Now this is where the fun begins, there is a lot of info to take in throughout this section but relax as our staff members will guide you through this process at your own pace to ensure your gaining the right education as you go. From here, initially your exercise sessions will begin with an educational portion where your coach will guide you through the systems & procedures that will be utilised throughout your exercise program. This will involve education & instruction on; • Self Myofascial Release (SMR)• Introduction to Pillar Preparation (including soft tissue,

mobilisation & activation)• Introduction to Movement Preparation (including general

movement, hip activation, dynamic stretch, movement integration & neural activation)

• Introduction to the Barbell Basics and how to master them• Introduction to Recovery techniques and Regeneration

practices

CNS

For those interested in athlete development there are quite a few more components squeezed in that will obviously vary depending on your chosen sport but include;

For an exercise program to assist in improving your sporting performance, the requirements of your sport must first be taken into account. The aim of a good program should be to improve the relative components specific to that sport. For those needing injury rehabilitation it’s different yet again. Ideally you already have a diagnosis of your injury, if that’s not the case we will assess and determine the likeliest diagnosis & refer on for further scans or assessment where necessary.

• Plyometrics• Acceleration• Absolute Speed• Multidirectional Speed• Repeat Speed• Medicine Balls

• Strength Development• Power Development• Strength Qualities &

Periodisation• Energy System

Development

AT CNS WE UTILISE THE 3 PHASE APPROACH TO REHABILITATION.

PHASE 1: PRE FUNCTIONAL - MOBILITY The aim in Phase 1 is to improve the range of motion (ROM) of the joint to facilitate as close to normal, pre injury range as possible. An immobile joint is a dysfunctional joint, and before we apply load, we must first remove that dysfunction. Passive ROM > Active ROM > Resisted ROM.PHASE 2: RETURN TO FUNCTION - RECRUITMENT The aim of Phase 2 is to increase levels of muscle activation to the tissues surrounding the injured site. This is generally through increasing Isometric strength first. This means that the associated muscles will be activated to supply tension to the tissues without a change in joint angle or muscle length (i.e. the muscle fibres become neither shorter or longer). This type of muscle contraction is great in early stages of rehabilitation as it transfers the majority of the force created via the contraction through to the connective tissue (tendons, ligaments etc) that surround the joint which will help to develop stability and in turn more comfortable range of motion. From there we can progress to both Eccentric Strength (fibres contracting while becoming longer) and Concentric Strength (fibres contracting while becoming shorter). Eccentric strength is particularly important during the earlier stages of rehabilitation as it prevents excessive translation to the joint9.

Stabilizing through synergist muscle activation is the best method to use when rehabbing a ligament impaired joint when placed in a position of instability. E.g. strong eccentric hamstring strength when recovering from a knee injury will provide a posterior pull to the tibia which helps offset the anterior force of the quadriceps9. PHASE 3: RETURN TO ACTIVITY - TRI-PLANE STABILISATION

Now the client can begin returning to full levels of pre-injury activity. In an athletic scenario this would included returning to similar activities that would be seen under training and match play circumstances, in a very closed & controlled environment. As Tip 4 discussed, strength through all 3 planes of motion is vital to prevent injuries so it is obviously included in the later stage oh rehabilitation to both prepare the body for these 3 dimensional movements, but also to prevent further injury or re-injury.

PUSH THE BOUNDARIESAt CNS we push the boundaries of health beyond what is generally accepted by everyday people. Why stop there? We want you to be the best version of you, and you can be. Through our holistic approach we ensure that overall function and movement is at an absolute maximum, giving you the best chance of sustainable health & wellbeing. Our clinicians have a broad range of skills and expertise that when combined, make us the premier health facility on the Sunshine Coast. As a special offer to you for downloading this e-book, your initial consultation focused around creating an action plan based on your goals will be just $9! This is a saving of $80 but be sure to act quick before the price returns to $89... So if you’re looking to take your sporting performance to the next level, to rehabilitate an old/new injury that’s stopping you from getting your body where you want it, or you’re just wanting to ensure your time spent at the gym is as effective as it can be then contact us on 07 5444 3983 or email darcy@cnsmooloolaba.com.auBe sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates on promotions and continuing education.

CNS Chiropractic Nutrition Strength@cnsmooloolabacnsmooloolaba.com.au

About the AuthorDarcy Little is an Exercise Physiologist and a Performance Specialist with extensive experience in the Health & Fitness industry. He has 3 tertiary level degrees, 2 in Sports Science, and most recently in Sports & Exercise Medicine. Darcy has worked with elite sporting clubs over Australia through various sporting codes including AFL, Hockey, Netball and Skiing. Darcy has helped members of the Australian XC Ski team to enhance their recovery practices to allow for greater performance over the busy World Cup season which led to two Winter Olympic selections for Australia.

References:

1. Pratley, R. et al., 1994. Strength training increases resting metabolic rate and norepinephrine levels in healthy 50- to 65-yr-old men. Journal of Applied Physiology, Volume 76, pp. 133-137.

2. Connoly, J., Romano, T. & Patruno, M., 1999. Effects of dieting and exercise on resting metabolic rate and implications for weight management. Family Practice, Volume 16, pp. 196-198.

3. Brukner, P. & Khan, K., 2012. Clinical Sports Medicine. 4th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

4. Wiener, C., Fauci, A., Braunwald, E., Kasper, D., Hauser, S., Longo, D., Jameson, J., Loscalzo, J., Brown, C., 2012. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 18th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

5. Barret, K., Brooks, H., Boitano, S. & Barman, S., 2012. Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology. 24th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

6. Smith, J. & McNaughton, L., 1993. The effects of intensity of exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption and energy expenditure in moderately trained men and women. European Journal of Applied Physiology, Volume 67, pp. 420-425.

7. Izquierdo, M. et al., 2006. Differential effects of strength training leading to failure versus not to failure on hormonal responses, strength, and muscle power gains. Journal of Applied Physiology, 100(5), pp. 1647-1656.

8. Gorostiaga, E. et al., 2012. Energy metabolism during repeated sets of leg press exercise leading to failure or not. Public Library of Science, 7(7), pp. 1371-1379.

9. LeStayo, P. et al., 2003. Eccentric Muscle Contraction: Their Contribution to Injury, Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Sport. Journal of Orthopaedics & Sports Physical Therapy, Volume 33, pp. 557-571.