Russ's Grab-Bag Of Assorted PT Forum Goodness

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 2:50pm

What it is

-A place for me to make posts on various subjects related to training, diet, rest, and health.

-A place for you to comment upon said posts and ask questions, either to me or about the subjects I've touched on (or both).

What it isn't
(not necessarily for lack of trying)

-Professional or medical advice. I do not have - and do not claim to have - any formal qualifications re: training, diet, rest, and health. If this is a sticking point for you, steer clear of this thread.

-Trustworthy. I'll be providing sources and labeling my conjecture as such to the degree that it doesn't bog me down. If you see something you're unsure of, ask about it. I'll clarify/substantiate it if I have the means and the energy. And by all means, if you have corrections or answers to my own questions, please let me know.

-Organized. I don't get nearly as far when I'm trying to stay focused and coherent. If a particular subject generates enough interest, Teh El Macho can spin it off into its own thread.

-Lawless. We're still in the PT forum, so please act accordingly.

And now, on with the show.

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 3:36pm

Russ's Model Of Training

Up until recently, my model of training* was much like a tripod.
The three "legs" were:
-Exercise
-Nutrition
-Rest

* (that is, training physical attributes, although a lot of this applies to learned skills as well)

The point of the simile is that if any one of those components is lacking, your training isn't going to do what it's intended to do. (This brings up the question of intent, which I'll get to later)

Sounds reasonable, right? So why "until recently"? Did I discover some great secret to training success?

No.
I got concussed.
I'm still showing symptoms.
And when one is showing symptoms of concussion, one is well advised to avoid strenuous physical activity. In my case, "strenuous" probably includes things like jogging (jaywalking) across the street to the grocery store, rather than sauntering to the end of the block and crossing at the light.

Now, this is not a thread about my first judo tournament (where I got concussed), concussions (although I'll probably discuss them here anyways), depression (a very nasty symptom of concussions), or my subsequent wallowing in self-pity.
The point for you to take away from this is that an event that doesn't fall neatly into any of my three categories managed to short-circuit my training regimen.

And that means my model seems to be missing something. I'm still debating what exactly that something is, and where it fits in.

In order to manipulate the body’s endogenous hormones to insure that maximum growth takes place, the bodybuilder has to first bring his lifestyle under control.

-Di Pasquale, Anabolic Diet

**** happens.

-Anonymous

Now, there's all sorts of things that fall under the umbrella of "lifestyle" (and of "****"). In this sense, they're comprised of everything that could potentially disrupt your exercise, nutrition, or rest. Losing your job, getting in a car accident, finding a new girlfriend, losing your gym shoes, being hit by a hurricane... there's all sorts of things that fall under this category. It winds up being a catch-all. But Hell, this thread's a catch-all too.

So to summarize thus far, there are four things you need to control to succeed in training.
1) Exercise
2) Diet
3) Rest
4) Everything else

No sweat, right?

**sochin101** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 3:42pm

Russ, this is me doing my sympathetic face and nodding about your concussion, while all the time it's just a transparent mechanism to subscribe and mooch all your good ideas/advice.
I know you won't mind.

Your thread has potential.

How long have you had concussion?

**Deadmeat** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 4:47pm

*subscribes*

Always particularly enjoyed your pt related posts.

Bring on the good stuff.

**honesty** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 4:49pm

I agree completely, definitely the four leg analogy, and from personal experience its the fourth leg thats the hardest to control. You have almost total control over your exersize, rest, and nutrition, but its elways the everything else leg that screws you over.

**Asriel** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 4:57pm

*Subscribe*

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 5:03pm

Originally Posted by sochin101

Russ, this is me doing my sympathetic face and nodding about your concussion, while all the time it's just a transparent mechanism to subscribe and mooch all your good ideas/advice.
I know you won't mind.

That's the plan.

Originally Posted by sochin101

How long have you had concussion?

There's lexical ambiguity in this sentence ("this concussion" vs. "concussions"), so I'll answer both - and in the process, maybe hit a few teaching points.

As best I can figure, I've had this concussion since my YouTube - 2009 Sask Open Judo Tournament - Third Match on January 24th, although I don't think I'd realized it until after my fourth match. I may actually have been too disoriented to notice I was disoriented, and the headaches, depression, etc. didn't set in until the next morning. That said, I did have the presence of mind to realize that I shouldn't give into the strong urge to nap (which may be a medical myth).

To pre-empt: I have seen a doctor, and should be hearing from a neurologist Any Day Now (TM). What the neurologist can do to improve the situation remains to be seen.

In terms of my history of concussions, I've been briefly knocked out twice - soccer and skiing. On top of that, there's years of playing football, some of which were spent with inadequate/defective headgear. It's unlikely that even an ideal helmet would protect my brain from all of the trauma it sustained while playing ball (see this), but having one that wouldn't hold air for my entire high school career probably didn't help matters.

There are very few exercises that should be contraindicated. There are lots of people who should not be doing certain exercises.

-Livingston (via ExRx)

It may very well be that because I have a history of concussions, the likelihood of more and more severe concussions will increase, and as such, I shouldn't resume judo. This is something I'm wrestling (sorry) with. But regardless of whether I'm done permanently, I should have accepted the fact that I was temporarily out of commission, rather than doing what I did.

-To my credit, I could have had a few more matches (in a different division) that I opted out of, but the fact remains that I should have called it a day after the third match.
-I also should not have gone to team training the next day (or at minimum, stayed in street clothes).
-And to complete the trifecta, I should not have tried to resume weight training about two weeks after the tournament.

Bonus: Since I knew having to sprint to catch my bus to work would cause my symptoms to flare up (and probably impair my recovery), I should have taken this into account with my lifestyle (taking the time to pack my bag before bed so I can get to the stop on time, etc.).

The teaching point here is this:

If you're sitting at home, it's time to head to the gym, and your thought is "I don't feel like training", go anyways. If you get there, warm up, and still don't feel like training, you can call it a wash, ascribe it to overtraining, and head back home, but odds are you'll warm up to the idea as you warm up physically.

But if you're sitting at home, wanting to head to the gym, but you're not confident in your ability to make it through the workout uninjured... you should put some thought into staying home. And if you do go ahead and train, listen to your body while doing so.

---

Another teaching point: "Logical inferences" can be totally wrong.

Acutely, in an effort to restore the neuronal membrane potential, the sodium-potassium (Na1-K1) pump works overtime. The Na1-K1 pump requires increasing amounts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), triggering a dramatic jump in glucose metabolism. This ‘‘hypermetabolism’’ occurs in the setting of diminished cerebral blood flow, and the disparity between glucose supply and demand triggers a cellular energy crisis. The resulting energy crisis is a likely mechanism for postconcussive vulnerability, making the brain less able to respond adequately to a second injury and potentially leading to longer lasting deficits.

-Giza and Hovda, "The Neurometabolic Cascade of Concussion"

Short on glucose supply? The logical inference is that boosting blood glucose should help things.

Great. Except that it doesn't.

We found that fasting animals for 24 hr, but not 48 hr, after a moderate (1.5 mm), but not severe (2.0 mm), CCI resulted in a significant increase in tissue sparing. This 24-hr fast also decreased biomarkers of oxidative stress and calcium loading and increased mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria isolated from the site of injury. Insulin administration, designed to mimic the hypoglycemic effect seen during fasting did not result in significant tissue sparing after moderate CCI injury and in fact induced increased mortality at some injection time points. However, the administration of ketones resulted in increased tissue sparing after moderate injury. Fasting for 24 hr confers neuroprotection, maintains cognitive function, and improves mitochondrial function after moderate (1.5 mm) TBI. The underlying mechanism appears to involve ketosis rather than hypoglycemia.

-Davis et al., "Fasting is neuroprotective following traumatic brain injury"

Why? I'm not sure, but I have two theories:
1) The brain's absorption/metabolism of glucose in this situation is rate-limited by something other than blood glucose level, and/or
2) The elevated level of ketones increases the brain's effective energy supply beyond the decrease in energy (if any) due to lowered blood glucose concentration.

---

I think I've figured out where "everything else"/"lifestyle"/"****" fits into the model.

The tripod itself is unchanged - exercise, nutrition and rest, with the height it reaches representing your achievement.

Lifestyle is the ground upon which the tripod rests.

The narrower the tripod's base (your preparation for **** happening), the less likely it is to remain stable when the ground shifts (**** happens).

**sochin101** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 5:12pm

Originally Posted by TheRuss

As best I can figure, I've had this concussion since my third match on January 24th, although I don't think I'd realized it until after my fourth match. I may actually have been too disoriented to notice I was disoriented, and the headaches, depression, etc. didn't set in until the next morning. That said, I did have the presence of mind to realize that I shouldn't give into the strong urge to nap (which may be a medical myth).

To pre-empt: I have seen a doctor, and should be hearing from a neurologist Any Day Now (TM). What the neurologist can do to improve the situation remains to be seen.

In terms of my history of concussions, I've been briefly knocked out twice - soccer and skiing. On top of that, there's years of playing football, some of which were spent with inadequate/defective headgear. It's unlikely that even an ideal helmet would protect my brain from all of the trauma it sustained while playing ball (see this), but having one that wouldn't hold air for my entire high school career probably didn't help matters.

It's odd how concussion affect different people differently.
I've been knocked out probably 5/6 times (the most recent last Tuesday!) and I've never suffered a concussion. Or the effects of concussion.

Have you read: Amazon.com: Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues: Christopher Nowinski, Jesse Ventura: Books ?

**honesty** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 5:12pm

I think there is another area though, that you need to control to succeed in your training. You've got your 3 legged stool analogy above with life/everything as the ground, but what about the mental aspect. Out of mental, exersize, nutrition and rest, mental is really the thing you need to get in line first.

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 3/01/2009 5:39pm

Originally Posted by sochin101

Have you read: http://www.amazon.com/Head-Games-Foo.../dp/1597630136 ?

I have not. Have you, and if so, is it any good?

Originally Posted by honesty

I think there is another area though, that you need to control to succeed in your training. You've got your 3 legged stool analogy above with life/everything as the ground, but what about the mental aspect. Out of mental, exersize, nutrition and rest, mental is really the thing you need to get in line first.

Well, from my perspective, the model is really designed to shed light on the answer to one question: "What's involved in successful training?"

The "mental aspect" doesn't fit in as a discrete portion of this model, but not because it's not important. Quite the opposite, in fact - it isn't one part of the model because it shows up everywhere. Mental failures manifest in errors in exercise, diet, and rest. They show up in lifestyle errors. They even show up at the top of the tripod - if you set the wrong goals, you may reach them, but you'll wind up in the wrong place.

And in the other direction, the "mental aspect" transcends the scope of the model. If you don't have a baseline level of desire, or you don't know enough to identify what you don't know, you'll never wind up asking the question that the model's designed to help answer.

Rest assured, though, I won't be neglecting it. The preceding few paragraphs are hints re: aspects of it that I'm planning to touch on.