When 20/20 Doesn't Work Anymore

Usually people join the gym and do 20 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of machines, 3-times per week. They never change their routine. If you’re lucky, this will work for you. The main problem is that if you are consistent you’ll hit a plateau after two months. If you no longer lose weight, you’ll likely get frustrated and quit.

Here’s what you should do after the two months of 20/20:

You’ll need to increase the weight lifting workout. It’s quicker to do some basic exercises that involve a lot of muscles rather than using 15 different machines. If you did bench press, squats, and pull ups you would be finished in 45 minutes. If you don’t like free weights, you can do machines but try to use machines that work more than one muscle. Weight lifting should be done the day before endurance exercise.

The following day you should do a light resistance endurance workout. Every calls this “cardio.” Use something like an exercise bike, treadmill, swimming etc. You want to do something that will get your heart going without a lot of strain on your joints. In other words, running on concrete would be restricted. In this workout, you want to exercise up to one hour at a consistent pace.

Research has shown that physiologically, the weight lifting can tear muscle fibers and the cardio can help flush blood through the muscles resulting in less soreness for you. By organizing your workout in this fashion, you’ll get greater strength gains and less soreness. If you did an endurance day first and the weight training on the second day, the muscles would be too fatigued to gain maximum benefit.

The third day of this cycle would be a rest day. Remember that we started out with a 3-day a week exercise program. Now you are graduating to a 4-day a week. Day 4-5 would be the same as day 1 and day 2. You would do weight training the first day, and endurance exercise the following day. Even though before you were exercising more frequently with weights and cardio (3x/week) you were only spending a total of one hour each per week. That’s why you hit a plateau. By adopting this two day cycle with a rest day in between, you are now doing weights two hours per week and endurance two hours per week.

You will find that this system will give you the benefits of continuing progress.

Sacroiliac Joint Pain and How to Fix it

Patients come in all the time with lower back pain that is either localized to one side or it feels like it’s a band of pain across the belt-line. It usually hurts worse in the morning and will loosen up as the day progresses. The pain can range from a mild ache to intense sharp pain.

How we treat this condition involves the following:

Adjusting the sacroiliac joint. We either use the Arthostim instrument or our hands to increase the movement of the joint. The most common finding of sacroiliac joint pain is restricted range of motion. We determine this by watching how the joint moves while you raise one leg upwards, then the other.

Ultrasound or cold laser therapy. If there is swelling within the joint, the ultrasound will help. Cold laser therapy works better, but some people prefer the ultrasound.

Stretching the piriformis muscle and Psoas muscle. These muscles are the prime movers of the hip. Most people with sacroiliac joint pain have tightness on the side of the restriction.

Rehabilitation and prevention of this type of pain requires the patient to perform squats and good-mornings. The greater physical condition the patient is in, the sooner they can start rehab. Ultimately, you want to prevent this condition from happening. Periodic adjustments to the sacroiliac joint and strengthening exercises such as good-mornings are the two most important things for prevention.

What I do on my off time

My kids got to see dad race in Goleta recently. They had a good time. They’re favorite part was going out to lunch. This was a type of race where we go around a set course, so every 3-5 minutes my family got to see how I was doing in the race. Unlike a road race where you take off and are never seen again for 1 ½ hours, or a time trial where it’s as exciting to watch as grass growing, this type of race was more fun for the kids to see.

For those that asked, I did okay. The race seemed to be pretty crazy in that everyone was taking different lines through the turns and it seemed pretty chaotic. After every turn, it was a mad dash to speed up and try to get in front. I would be in the top 10 position and suddenly after a turn if I wasn’t watching it, I would be in 40th place! So I would make an effort to improve my position and within a couple of laps I was back in the top 10. This went on during the entire race.

The pace wasn’t that bad. By the end, the average speed was 24 mph. There were times when we were doing 27-28 mph. It seemed so effortless due to the fact that the majority of the time I was drafting. I told Lisa before the race that my game plan was to find the biggest dude in the race and draft him. It worked half the time.

Some riders were taking some interesting risks by riding in the street gutter to improve their position and I would get boxed out at times, but after the next turn be able to get back. Some riders were weaving side to side a lot, so I tried to stay in front of them rather than behind them. My other tactic was to come home with all my skin too.

With about 5 laps to go, I thought to myself that I probably didn’t want to be next to anyone during a sprint for safety reasons. Also, I’m not exactly a sprinter. For some odd ball reason the whole group just kind of slowed down. Since I was in a good position and I felt pretty good (because I had been drafting for the last 25 minutes) I decided to try to win by taking off. I stood up and just pedaled as hard as I could, hoping that I could hold it for the remaining laps.

Well, it didn’t work. I was in the lead for only one lap.

The group increased their speed, caught me and passed right passed me.

It was a blast though being out in front for a while, having my kids cheer for me.

Now if I can only increase my muscular endurance for just 4 laps…

Nutritional Websites

On our website there is a section under “important links” that relates to nutrition. This is the link to Dr. Barry Sears, the creator of the zone. You can go to the website and become a member for free. One of the benefits is that it can determine your body fat percentage and your lean tissue. It then calculates exactly how many grams of protein per day you should eat, how many carbohydrates and fats.

At first the website is daunting and intimidating. I can tell you that it is worth the effort to learn about nutrition. You can become an expert at this with effort. You don’t have to buy anything on there even though they offer products. For example, I buy my EPA/DHA from a different company only because I get a doctors’ discount.

Read everything on this website because you will learn how to reduce body fat, increase energy, and get healthy.