In our discussion with Dr. Tommy Martin, he tells us a little bit more about him and he shares his top 3 pieces of advice for people wanting to start or continue their fitness journey.
Point 1 is to always have long-term goals in mind.
Point 2 is utilize the application of progressive overload for all parts of your life.
Point 3 is to not be afraid of failure.
To hear us discuss these points in more detail and all of our other great content, click the link below and listen in!
In the Geriatric population, many people agree that physical exercise is a good thing and can be beneficial in increasing longevity and quality of life. However, there doesn’t seem to be a firm consensus of what type of physical activity is best.
Again, most people will agree that it is best to do a combination of all of these types of exercise, but it’s my opinion we should shift the focus more on resistance training. I think it is almost more beneficial for this age group to do resistance training than almost any other age category when you consider the benefits that they can get.
Let’s look at some of the reasons this population should be doing some sort of resistance training. First, just staying generally fit with relatively leaner body mass will aid in all sorts of organ and bodily function. This will give us less overall stress on load bearing joints such as the knees, hips, and feet. Being leaner and more fit will make it easier to get up and move around which can be an issue as people age. Second, overall bone density and muscle mass begin to decline as we age and resistance training can be a great way to help fight that. Falls are a big issue with older people and that is often in part to bone density. Sometimes a misstep or trip can cause a hip fracture which then causes a fall. Having strong robust bone structure is essential for this age group.
This brings me to my next point, which is a few points in one but I think it is one of the most important: Falls. Falls are a major risk factor for older people and if a person over the age of 65 has a fall they are almost worse off over the next few years than if they were to have a heart attack and have an increased risk of dying in the next 2 years following a hip fracture. Falls happen for a few reasons including decreased bone density balance, coordination, and overall strength. Even if one’s bone density is adequate, they might not have the strength or coordination to prevent a fall. Falls really are a big deal, and some sort of resistance training is a great way to try and prevent that from happening in the first place.
Quality of life also improves when you can add resistance training during this phase in your life. If you can physically walk on your own, have balance and coordination to get up and move around without the use of a walker or cane then you are probably going to be able to enjoy life more. You can go for a walk and see nature, you can play with grandkids without worrying if it is too much activity, you can pick things up without worrying about hurting yourself. All these things can be improved by simple resistance exercise a few times per week.
I think part of the reason we don’t see as many older people doing resistance training is because of the mental image we attach to it. If I were to suggest someone needed to do some sort of strength training they would probably imagine a powerlifter with a super heavy barbell and loud heavy metal music. That doesn’t have to be the case at all. Strength training can be many different things and although I think a barbell is a great way to go, you don’t have to use them to get strong. Machines can work just as well and you don’t need to do a 1 rep max to get strong either. As long as you regularly do some sort of resistance training for multiple body parts a few times a week that is all you need to get and maintain strength and bone density. Add in some exercises that incorporate single leg or single arm movements and now you get some added coordination benefits. Another note is we have to remember why you are doing resistance training, your goal is to improve overall strength and stability than the way you workout will be different from a person who has a goal of doing competitive powerlifting.
So if you or someone you know is getting older, please consider doing some sort of regular (2-3x / week) resistance training. It will be beneficial both short and long term and will add quality years to your life.
To set up a fitness consultation call the clinic at (785) 320-6868 and ask for a consultation with me. I can assess movement quality and fitness level and we can get you set up on a track to improve your strength.
My sister called me the other day to ask if I had any recommendations on a Chiropractor in Texas for her husband, as I was walking her through who I think she should send her husband to I realized that I wish more people had this same knowledge when it comes to selecting a Chiropractor.
Of course, I am biased when it comes to what I think makes a good Chiropractor but I think there are some commonalities when it comes to the few good ones out there. I’ll start with a short list of things I think are important and add my commentary at the end.
If they claim to correct subluxations and clear/free the bodies innate ability to heal itself, I would be very skeptical and steer clear.
If the Chiropractor takes X-Rays on every patient they see, I would again be very hesitant to see them.
I would encourage people to look for a Sports Chiropractor or DC with a CCSP or DACBSP distinction.
Look for a Chiropractor that offers more than simply adjusting the spine, some soft tissue and a focus on active care are equally if not more important.
Treatment times in general should be longer than 5-15 minutes.
Look for a Chiropractor who is familiar with the things you do.
So in the world of Chiropractors there are two big camps, those who practice what is called “straight” chiropractic and then those who are more “mixed” in the way they practice. What this means is that the “straight” chiros choose to only adjust the spine (some only work on the upper neck region) and the idea is they are realigning the spine, taking pressure off of nerves and allowing the body’s innate ability to heal itself to be reestablished. This has somehow been eaten up by the general population of people but unfortunately, there are few great scientific studies that support this type of treatment.
“Mixers” on the other hand tend to look outside of just the spine they will do some soft tissue work and spend time on active care. This is where there is much more backing from scientific evidence, some manual therapy plus active care for best patient outcomes. The “mixers” or “Forward Thinking” group of Chiros tend to look more towards evidence for treatment whereas the “straight” will look towards the philosophy of treatment.
The second point I made suggests you shouldn’t see a Chiropractor if they regularly take X-rays of all patients. First, the evidence for imagining being reliable for diagnosing has become very poor. There are multiple studies on shoulders, low backs, and even hips, when someone gets an image of these areas we could see actual damaged tissue but the patient could be reporting zero pain. The opposite is true, we could take an image and see nothing wrong yet the patient will report pain, does that mean specific structures aren’t responsible for pain? Not really, it just means that it is very hard to tell just by looking at an image if a structure needs helping or not. Not to mention each X-ray will expose you to a certain amount of radiation (although small) if it can be avoided it probably should.
Point three is one of my personal biases, I would first look to someone who recognizes themselves as a “Sports” clinician and there are a few distinctions Chiropractors can get to be recognized as such. One of those is a CCSP or Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician, another is a DACBSP or a Diplomate American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians. The CCSP is basically the first step to getting the DACBSP and requires extra hours learning more sport specific management of patients or events. I happen to have a Masters degree in sports medicine and that is another thing you could look for in your Chiropractor is to have additional degrees. I want to be clear here though, I know tons of Chiropractors who aren’t CCSP’s or have a Masters degree that are very good clinicians and would be considered some of the best in the profession.
Point four is similar to point one, but I just want to re-emphasize that the best evidence for treatment of pain for a patient incorporates more than just passive treatment (simply adjusting or only manual therapy). In fact, there has been more research suggesting that exercise is your best bet for treatment and if the Chiropractor doesn’t try and get patients to do some sort of active care then they probably aren’t doing what is best for the patient.
Point five here is again similar to my last point, but if there isn’t some sort of time dedicated to educating the patient on the mechanics of the situation or exercises that could benefit them then I don’t feel that Chiropractor is doing the absolute best care.
Finally, something that I feel strongly about is if you are going to see a Chiropractor or physical therapist or even your family doctor for that matter, I think there is a lot to be said for being able to understand the sport/activities that the patient does. For example, if you do CrossFit or dance or garden or play basketball, wouldn’t you want your practitioner to be familiar with the demands of that thing? Just like there are specializations in the medical field, there are Chiropractors and physical therapists that understand the demands of different activities better than others. So look for that, do they incorporate things in their website or bio that you like and can relate to?
Ultimately the choice is yours, you can see who you want and spend your money where you like. My intention for this is to simply get you to ask why, why do you want to see someone? If you have been dealing with pain or dysfunction don’t you want to best most comprehensive and evidence-based approach to treat it? This blog isn’t too scientific but the things I selected to write about are things I would look for and hopefully this can steer you in the right direction.
If you live in the Manhattan area and want to set up an appointment, you can call the office at (785) 320-6868.
Well, here we have a special guest blog from a friend of mine Dr. Kyle Bangs who is a practicing Chiropractor south of Portland, OR. He was one of my classmates in both the Chiropractic program as well as our masters in sports medicine.
Dr. Bangs keeps on top of current research and in his blog he gives us some insight into how dangerous CrossFit can be. I don’t want to keep you waiting much longer so check out Dr. Bangs Blog and enjoy!
By now I’m sure a lot of you know what blood flow restriction (BFR) training is, if not I’ll shortly explain. BFR training is exercise done while having venous blood from a limb occluded and arterial blood to a limb partially occluded. Nowadays this is typically done using a fancy pneumatic cuff of some kind, some even have the ability to check the percent of blood being occluded (ideally you want 80% of arterial blood occluded). These cuffs go around the arm or leg while the person does some sort of exercise using light resistance (typically 20-30% of 1RM).The rep scheme that is most often studied involves an initial set of 30 reps, followed by 3 more sets of 15 reps each.
Doesn’t sound too bad right? Well, the load used isn’t really an issue, but it burns, like really burns (at least if you do it right). Oh, and the pump you get from it is pretty unreal, so all you bodybuilders out there looking to supplement your accessory work, here you go!
So what is all the hype about BFR? Well as if you didn’t already know, this type of training allows people who physically can’t perform loaded exercises the ability to do some exercise with lighter loads or shortened range of motion but still achieve the results of lifting the heavy loads. That’s right, some studies have shown that BFR training around 20-30% 1RM can be similar to heavy load (70-80% 1RM) resistance training in terms of muscle strength and hypertrophy.
Since BFR training quickly gets rid of the oxygen in the muscle cells, there’s a high load of metabolic stress which gives us that burning sensation; much like doing high rep sets on a normal exercise except with BFR we can get there a lot faster.
Normally we stress muscle cells via mechanical load (ie heavy weights) or actual muscle damage (ie eccentric training). These are the typical training and adaptation methods used in training. These typical methods are great and I don’t think BFR should replace them by any means, but BFR does allow us to stress muscle cells for adaptation when we can’t do the previously mentioned methods.
The metabolic stress previously mentioned is enough to induce a high release of IGF-1 and other growth hormones shortly after the BFR training session. That being said, there is still debate on whether or not the muscle cells actually use those growth factors to adapt like they normally would.
Another important factor we get from performing BFR training is the physical cell swelling that results from blocking the venous return. This cell swelling has been shown to increase protein synthesis of local cells which might be one of the big mechanisms that BFR training utilizes to give us the strength and hypertrophy gains we continue to see in the research.
You’re probably thinking this sounds too good to be true, there has to be a catch and what are the risks? Well, in the research, there has been little to no reports of injury following BFR training. There have been a few case reports of individuals sustaining injuries but when you dig deeper there doesn’t seem to be a direct link to BFR being the culprit. There is a growing number of studies on BRF training with thousands of participants and no serious injury has been reported in the research I have read.
With that being said, the risk is minimal especially when you consider there are some obvious conditions that should be screened for and not allowed to utilize BFR training. Those conditions include but are not limited to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases or any other neurovascular conditions. Checking with a local physician that is familiar with BFR would be your best bet before starting this type of training.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, how do I think BFR should be used/applied? I see two major scenarios that BFR training will be best suited.
When an injured person needs to improve strength and hypertrophy or prevent atrophy during the early rehabilitation phases.
One of the best examples would be an athlete who tore their ACL. Typically athletes will be out for months at a time with an extensive rehab process. Imagine if you could minimize atrophy in the quad and hamstring groups after the injury or after surgery. With BFR training, we could start to load that leg in early rehab phases to rebuild strength and hypertrophy backup before the leg is physically able to load up to 70% of a 1RM.
This is obviously a generalization but adding BFR to the rehab process could increase the ability to normalize strength and hypertrophy after arm or leg injuries and it could minimize the time spent recovering from those injuries.
Another example of when BFR training would be very beneficial is in the case of strength athletes who already have a high level of training volume but want to add more to their programming.
There are many strength athletes (Powerlifters, Weightlifters, CrossFitters, etc.) who are maxing out the hours they are spending in the gym to get the results they are going for. That being said it is very difficult for those athletes to add more volume to their training if their goals are to get bigger and stronger. BFR training offers an alternative that minimally stresses the nervous system, causes minimal muscle damage and is easy to use in addition to your current training. This gives you the ability to increase the overall amount of stress we are putting the cell under which could give you a better chance of hitting strength and hypertrophy goals in training.
Final thoughts:
My bias is for BFR training in the previously listed scenarios. I like the training and think that it can be beneficial to many athletes. However, I don’t think BFR replaces higher resistance strength training. In fact, I think people should accumulate a lot of time strength training before even considering BFR.
BFR is safe and a very effective training method and can supplement both a rehab protocol or a strength program. I encourage people who are interested in this type of training to consult with a clinician or trainer in the area that is familiar with it and give it a try.
Lastly, I know I have made a few claims during this post that you might want more evidence to support. Although I didn’t reference any specific studies during my thoughts on BFR, I will link some of the studies below if you wish to filter through some of it yourself.
For more information about BFR training visit the links below.
Seth Myers, DC, MS, CSCS 