www.MichaelReid.ca

Tennis Ball Massage - Shoulders

Massage therapy has been an important part of high level sports for many years.  It has been known to be beneficial for recovery and injury prevention.  Although good research to prove this either way is hard to come by, I think the majority of coaches would say yes to regular massage therapy for their athletes.  The only downfall is cost and even though one time per month is not an issue for the serious athlete, to go every week may be to much of an economic strain.

Some Reasons for Tennis Ball Massage

✔ improved range of motion.
✔ reduce scar tissue and adhesion's.
✔ relax over active muscles.
✔ supplement your regular massage therapy sessions.

But there is one option to the rescue, the great tennis ball. You can get massage therapy when ever you want for less then $1. It is a great way to work out adhesion's, trigger points or scar tissue on many parts of your body.  It is so simple to use, just roll on it and when you find an area that is painful you have just found the jack pot. Generally, the more painful it is the more you need to do it.

For Water Polo, Hand Ball, Baseball and other overhead throwing athletes, I recommend that you focus on the shoulders since this is the most common area of injury

Key Points
✔ start in the standing positions and progress to lying positions.
✔ time needed is directly correlated to your tissue health.
✔ at the beginning you may need ~10 minutes per shoulder.
✔ after a few weeks this should be down to 5 minutes total.
✔ perform 2-4x/week.
✔ can be done before or after training and on days off.

You can see me suffering on the video linked below.

Enjoy the pain!

Be Well,
Mike Reid

http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=8EVxjpiKSqw

Protein Supplements - are they needed?

I got the below question from a parent.

"Hi Mike,

Do you think a 16 1/2 year old boy should take protein supplements?  

Thank you."

This is an interesting question and is definitely not one that is clearly yes or no.

Before I even get into how much protein we need to consume (because I believe this is what I am being asked) lets first remember that a protein supplement is just protein! 

Well, duh! 

But what I mean is that it's really no different then the protein you get from fish, meat or eggs. 

It does not have any special anabolic properties when compared to other protein sources from whole foods like eggs, chicken or fish (of course the protein supplement companies will try to convince you otherwise).

How much protein do athletes need?

• Approximately 2g/kg (1g/lb) of body weight should be enough.

• Note that the recommended is 0.8g/kg but this is way to low for athletes.

• The 0.8g/kg is based on sedentary people.

• Do not worry about having to much protein and the health of your kidneys.

          Read this  http://johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/kidney.htm

Is a protein supplement needed?

• If you truly are not getting enough protein from your diet alone then they can be useful.  Probably more of a concern with someone eating more of a vegetarian diet.

• It's all about convenience, so they are useful to use when at school when you are away from home and unable to get some real food in you.  This obviously can be solved by simply planning your meals ahead of time.

If you are going to use a protein supplement.

• First, read the label.  Most protein powders are loaded with crap like artificial flavors, coloring, sweeteners and tons of sugar.  It should just be protein and natural flavor like cocoa powder.  You can also buy just plain protein powder then add your own flavor with fruit.

• Can you digest it or does it give you gas, cramping or diarrhea (which are all signs of digestion issues)?  It is no good for you if you cannot digest it or the people around you!

• Can you tolerate the taste?  Protein supplements are well known for tasting more similar to sewage then actual food.

• You get what you pay for, if you are going to invest in supplements then you cannot worry about the cost.

What do I recommend?

• There are not many of these products I recommend but two that I have used and comply with my nutritional values are:

http://sequelnaturals.com - this is a meal replacement shake, all vegan, so if dairy is an issue this may be good for you.  The chocolate is good, I have not tried the other flavours.  26g of protein and 15g of fiber per serving!  The fiber is like almost half of your daily requirement.

http://www.naturalfactors.com - just whey protein with flavour.  Double Chocolate is really good.  Note that whey is from milk protein.

Added bonus, both of the above companies are also Canadian!

Sorry for my European friends, I do not think you can get either of these overseas.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Potato Chips are not good ...

This huge, the latest nutritional research says to avoid potato chips and eat more fruits and vegetables!

I thought potato chips was a "super food" to be consumed every day with a coke.

Imagine an alien or another life form from some other galaxy was observer us eat and live.  They would come to the same conclusion and if they had us in captivity, they would probably feed us a diet of coke and chips.

After all that must be our "natural diet".  

Be Well,
Mike Reid

Naruszewicz et al. Chronic intake of potato chips in humans increases the production of reactive oxygen radicals by leukocytes and increases plasma C-reactive protein: a pilot study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009; DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26647

ABSTRACT

Background: Relatively high concentrations of acrylamide in commonly ingested food products, such as French fries, potato chips, or cereals, may constitute a potential risk to human health.

Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the possible connection between chronic ingestion of acrylamide-containing potato chips and oxidative stress or inflammation.

Design: Fourteen healthy volunteers (mean age: 35 y; 8 women and 6 smokers of >20 cigarettes/d) were given 160 g of potato chips containing 157 mg of acrylamide daily for 4 wk.

Results: An increase in acrylamide-hemoglobin adducts in blood was found in all the study subjects, with a mean of 43.1 pmol/L/g hemoglobin (range: 27–76; P < 0.01) in nonsmokers and 59.0 pmol · L^–1 · g^–1 hemoglobin (range: 43–132; P < 0.05) in smokers. Concurrently, a significant increase (P < 0.01) in the oxidized LDL, high-sensitivity interleukin-6, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and -glutamyltransferase concentrations was observed in both smokers and nonsmokers. A significant increase in reactive oxygen radical production by monocytes, lymphocytes, and granulocytes and an increase in CD14 expression in macrophages (P < 0.001) were found after intake of potato chips. Twenty-eight days from the discontinuation of the experiment, the variables under study decreased to some extent. It has been shown also that acrylamide increases the production of reactive oxygen species in isolated human monocyte-macrophages in vitro and decreases the cellular glutathione concentration.

Conclusion: These novel findings seem to indicate that chronic ingestion of acrylamide-containing products induces a proinflammatory state, a risk factor for progression of atherosclerosis.

Received for publication July 4, 2008. Accepted for publication December 2, 2008.

We All Need to Understand Team Work

Do you work or play on a team? 

If yes, then this video is for you.

This is a video about former NBA player Mark Eaton and of how he went from aspiring auto mechanic to professional athlete; by the way. he happens to be 7'4''.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYEaGQk4-Z4

Hydrogenated Oils . . . no laughing matter

Are you Wasting your Time?

Take a look at your strength program. 

Is it filled with machine based exercises or free weights?

Are you training to become a better athlete or are you neurologically putting your body to sleep?

In the past 10+ years of coaching, I have had only one athlete that I had to almost exclusively use machines.  He was a very special athlete who was recovering from a severe head injury, could not walk, used a motorized wheel chair and had many motor and mental issues related to his head injury.  With him, I had to use machines for most of his training.

Now I must ask you, if you are using machines, then why?  

Do you have a serious physical limitation that limits you from learning to squat, bend, lunge ...?

If you can walk then you can learn to squat or deadlift.

Sumo Deadlifts - If more athletes just did this one exercise they would be so far ahead of the rest of the pack.  This is a lift that you are definitely NOT wasting your time on!



The Sumo Deadlift is actually one exercise I highly recommend for throwing athletes like Hand Ball, Water Polo and Baseball but also for athletes who do a lot of jumping like Basketball and Volleyball.

Be Well,
Mike Reid