What Is Functional Training And Why Do You Need It?

Every endurance athlete should incorporate functional training into their yearly plan. Functional training helps maximize strength and power while preventing injury. A properly designed functional training program will increase sport specific strength and muscular endurance, even-out muscular imbalances and increase flexibility and agility.

Functional training is the utilization of exercises which involve complex, multi-joint movements of the upper body, core and lower body in each exercise. These movements enable greater overall bodily functioning and performance enhancement through improved coordination and the proper stimulation of muscular "firing" patterns.

Functional training utilizes multiple muscle groups in an integrated fashion. This is beneficial for many reasons. You challenge your body to work as a whole, rather than isolating individual muscle groups, which is how we move in most of our daily tasks. For example, when you perform exercises on a stability ball or an unstable surface, you have to recruit deep muscles from the abdominals, hips, back and pelvis. Therefore, potentially more muscles are strengthened and more calories are burned during one exercise.

JC Santana says, "Functional Training revolves around two very basic principles. The first is the "kinetic chain", which simply illustrates that the body never moves a single joint in isolation. Rather, the kinetic chain is a series of joints working synergistically through multiple planes. By design, we are functionally, integrated beings.

The second main principle of Functional Training describes the physical world it deals with: gravity, ground reaction forces and momentum. These three physical factors act upon all movements and thus training. Gravity is the basis of resistance training. Everything we do requires that we overcome, or at least neutralize this force."

So, lets look at some important considerations to take into account when we are implementing functional training.

These points all, in one way or another, deal with the kinetic chain principle, gravity, ground reaction forces or momentum.

Functional training must:

1) Be specific, or mimic, the target activity. This includes all of the appropriate joints, as well as the speed and amplitude of movements. The principle of specificity dictates that you "train like you play/live".

2) Not be restricted or supported by external means. No machines or artificially stabilized positions.

3) Eventually integrate a significant amount of controlled chaos into the training. Sports, and life in general, are chaotic and unstable in nature. The more chaos an individual rehearses, the better they will react under unrehearsed-play conditions.

4) Deal with multi-joint, multi-planar movements. In real life, especially sports, movements do not occur along a single joint or a single plane of motion. Therefore, the kinetic chain must engage all three planes simultaneously.

5) Approach loading and development from the inside out. Load the system internally (i.e. bodyweight) first, then add external resistance. Develop the core of the body first, then develop the extremities.

6) Involve, in the case of rehab, the cause of an injury. The cause of an injury must eventually be part of its cure, or prevention. For example, if planting a foot and rotating to change direction injured the ACL, then, planting and rotating must eventually be part of the conditioning program to prevent the injury from reoccurring. It is specificity at its simplest form.

7) Have an evaluation criterion that is incorporated into the training. That is, the tests must be part of the training and the training part of the tests. This way a "test/evaluation" is merely seen as training by the athlete.

8) Be progressive in nature. Basic conditioning and skill acquisition before advanced conditioning and skill execution. Slow and controlled to fast and chaotic.

9) Be fun and make sense. If it is not fun, then compliance will suffer and so will results. If it does not make sense, chances are it's not functional and not optimally effective.

In the end, functional training is the most effective approach to performance enhancement. Year round, but especially out-of-season, endurance athletes should incorporate functional training into their conditioning routine.

A properly designed functional training program will increase one's strength, balance, stability and mobility. It will even-out muscular imbalances, strengthen weak muscles and relieve tightness so one can move and play more effectively all while avoiding injury!

How to Survive Your First Open-Water Swim

 8 Tips for The New Triathlete 

-Susan Lacke 

Runners often tell me they’d love to check out the triathlon scene, but they can’t (or won’t) swim.

They say swimming is hard, the mass start looks scary, and open water just gives ‘em the heebie-jeebies.  And I've got to admit, they have a point.

Most of us log our swim training in the pool. When it comes to our first open-water swim start, we get a reality check when the starting gun goes off.

I wish someone had warned me of this — in the first 5 seconds of my open water swim, my mind rushed with a frenetic string of thoughts:

• Why are these people so CLOSE to me?
• Where's the black stripe on the bottom?
• Why can't I see my hand in front of my face?
• What is that thing floating up from the bottom? Is that a lake zombie?
• I can't breathe. Am I going to die?

In spite of all the pool hours I had put in, three minutes into my first open-water swim I was flipped over, doing the backstroke, and gasping for air.  I'm sure the spectatheletes on the shoreline were thoroughly amused.

As for the zombie, turns out there was no creature of the undead in the lake — just a stick. 

Everyone's first open-water swim is scary

Usually, so is the second one. To be honest, the third one is, too.  But something amazing happens each time you get back in the water: It gets less scary.

After that disastrous start to my first race, my triathlon friends sat down, listened to my fears, and offered the words of inspiration which I will never forget: "Shut up and get back in the water..."

Ah, tough love.

For those of you with a serious case of open-water heebie-jeebies, I offer this same gem to you: Shut up and get in the water. To make your first open water swim a little less scary, here's what you need to know.

1) There is no such thing as a lake zombie.

Sure, you may think it's a ridiculous statement, but I have to utter this to myself before every swim start. As a child, I had nightmares involving lake zombies, and even though I know this is an irrational fear, I still get nervous.

Chances are, you have an irrational fear, too — maybe you're scared of being eaten by a shark, or you're fearful that you'll drown and no one will notice until it's too late.

For every fearful thought, you need to have a rebuttal. If you're scared of drowning, for example, remind yourself of the many kayaks, swim spotters, and lifeguards surrounding the swim. If you're scared of sharks, know how rare shark attacks are in your ocean. If you're scared of lake zombies, well…a good start is to avoid Mexican food and horror movies before bed.

2) There are, however, other creatures in the water. Deal with it.

There will be fish. There will be vegetation. There will be insects.

If you're like most swimmers, the thought of the critters in the water will send you into a mild panic. Relax. You'll probably never come in contact with any of these – the mass start of an open-water swim typically scares fish off and clears the area of floating sticks & weeds.

If you're still scared, just remember — you're the giant invading their home. Most fish aren't going to attack you — they'd rather hide in the fishy panic room until you leave.

3) Get the right gear.

A pair of goggles that fog up will exacerbate your nerves. A wetsuit that is too tight will make you feel like you're choking. A trisuit that isn't skin tight will act like a net for lake gunk. No one likes to be blind, suffocated or slimy. To avoid this, make sure you go to your local tri shop and get the proper gear, then test it out before race day.

4) Have a strategy.

Apprehensive swimmers may want to start in the back of the pack. Others choose to swim wide (on the outside, or right/left, of the pack). Some like to have the buoys directly on their left/right-hand side so they don't get lost.

Whatever your preference, make sure you know the pros and cons of your strategy. If an extra minute or two on your swim time isn't that big of a deal to you, it may be worth it to start in the back to keep your wits about you.

Additionally, know that strong swimmers in the pool aren't always strong swimmers in open water. Make sure your training includes drills that will strengthen your ability to perform in open water.

5) Keep calm.

I know, I know — it's easier said than done.

When you're surrounded by other swimmers, especially during the mass start, you'll feel like you're in a washing machine with 700 ninjas. This tangle of legs, arms, and water can be  overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Just focus on what you are doing and where you need to be at the moment. The chaos almost always dies down within the first minute or two of the swim, as the pack spreads out. Stay focused and avoid pushing or kicking someone in retaliation — they likely didn't mean to bump into you, and anger and frustration will only amount to wasted energy.

6) Breathe & blow.

I use this trick every single time I swim. When we panic in the water, our natural instinct is to flip onto our back and catch our breath, taking in large gasps of air. This is classic hyperventilation, or taking in too much oxygen, causing our heart rate to rise and our head to feel dizzy.

While most hyperventilating people breathe into a paper bag to calm down, that strategy doesn't exactly work in the water. However, the same principle applies.

Instead of flipping on your back, stay face-down. Focus on turning your head to get a good breath of air, then stick your face in the water and focus on blowing bubbles at a steady rate. It will force you to regulate your breathing, and will take your mind off whatever it is that's causing you to panic.

7) Watch where you're going.

A common cause of anxiety for open-water swimmers is the challenge of navigating the swim. Even though swims tend to be in a straight line with minimal turns, there's no black stripe on the floor or lane markers in the lake, making it very easy to get off course.

A swimmer who isn't paying attention to where they are going can look up and find they are several meters off course. That swimmer will then scramble to get back on course, overshoot the mark, and get even more anxious about zig-zagging all over the water.

To avoid this, practice sighting while you train. Look up as often as you need to see what is ahead of you and whether you need to tweak your direction. On race day, know the layout of the course, including how many buoys you'll pass and what color the turn buoys are.

8 ) Make a smooth exit.

Don't ruin a good swim by stopping short and breast-stroking to the exit. Know where the swim exit marker is located, swim with purpose towards it, and don't stop until your fingers graze the lake bottom. Swim one or two more strokes until you can push yourself up with both arms, then stand up. Give yourself a second to adjust to the change from horizontal to vertical, and exit the water running.

Tips To Be More Productive In 2011 (Part 7/Part 8/Part9)

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Getting Healthier and Shopping Smarter. This week, we talk about managing one of the most efficient, yet biggest time killers of our day and age: Information Overload!

7. Manage Email - Did this year feel like being a slave to your email? Follow these tips to help regain control over email, and your life!

1. Set a time frame: Only check email at certain times of the day, or even week. Don't work at your computer with email on all the time...email is a big distraction, and you will be much more productive without it on all the time. The truth: the world is not going to end if you don’t check your email every ten minutes! And more often than not, obsessive email checking is used to kill time, not because we really need to be in constant contact.
2. Use Gmail: If you are using a different web based email then waste no time in switching to Gmail. Switching will make you much more productive. Gmail has some amazing features, including filters keyboard shortcuts, and if you use a desktop client like Outlook or Thunderbird, then Gmail also provides for IMAP, which makes life much easier. 
3. Prioritize using Labels / Folders: It is very important to differentiate the important emails from the unimportant ones. Practically all email clients allow you to set filters, which will automatically apply labels and re-route incoming mail to specific folders. You can make folders named "Friends," "Reply Today," "Upcoming Trip," etc. Then, when you open your inbox, emails will already be shifted to their respective folders, and you can go right to the important emails first.
4. Be Precise: Be precise and to the point when answering emails. You could even skip "Hello" and "Regards" if you want; I don't think anyone will mind...Learn to use one-liners effectively. Use copy and paste to incorporate repetitive texts in form emails. 
5. Delete Ruthlessly: Don't save email you think might be useful later...rarely will you ever use it again. Information from other sources is just too available these days. Often, the subject line will tell you whether you even want to read an email or not...if not, delete it. 
6. Don't leave it for the next day: Try and finish replying to the emails and clearing your inbox within the time frame you decided. I know, it's not always possible, especially if you get more than 100 emails a day, but if the emails go pending then the next day it becomes much more difficult for you to sift through your inbox. Think of your inbox like a snowball, the more it rolls, the larger it gets. 

8. Use Your Cell phone the Right Way - Just can't keep that phone away for a second? Too hooked to it? It's time you free yourself from its shackles. Take calls only at certain times and during emergencies, never during a meal, time with your friends, or a nap, and ONLY if you know who is calling.

9. Speed Up Web Browsing - Needless to say, a major chunk of your time this year will be consumed in browsing the web. 

A. Specify specific times for browsing, and avoid endless surfing. Depending on your profession, you need to keep up on news and trends and opinions. But there are sites that are “work-oriented” and sites that just plain aren’t. Stay away from the "just plain aren'ts."

B. Use RSS feeds for your favorite information providers.

C. Tools like PageAddict and RescueTime will help you follow where you spend your time online. A reality check is much needed, since most of us aren’t even aware of how many hours we spend on truly useless distractions, or constantly checking and rechecking our favorite social sites.

  D. While absorbing new information is never a waste of time, staring at the same stuff all day certainly is. Bookmarks and search histories are great for accessing the sites we visit most often. Unfortunately, they also tend to trap us in a pattern of checking and rechecking the same sites over and over again. Most people don’t “browse” the web so much as retrace their old steps. Not only does this waste time, it limits our ability to learn new things and explore new areas of the internet.

E. Instead of checking your favorite news and social media sites repeatedly throughout the day, give yourself a nice, healthy dose first thing in the morning, and then move on. Not only are you not going to miss anything during the productive hours of your day, there will be that much more to see when you return for another dose in the evening.

Tips To Be More Productive In 2011 (Part 5/Part 6)

Dang, its been a month. I knew I was busy, but where did the time go? My bad, and I'll try not to let it happen again...

Last month we talked about managing your time, and finding helpful ways to be more efficient - all so you can be more productive in the New Year. This week we continue with that theme as we talk about Being Healthy and Shopping Smarter:

1. Set the Right Goals -

2. Track Your Progress Towards Your Goals - 

3. Get Your Finances in Order 
- 

4. Manage Your Time
-

5. Get Healthier
- Start now by implementing one, or several of these ideas, to make yourself, and those around you, healthier:

• ·           Brush your teeth in the morning and before bed
• ·           Do 15 sit-ups/day
• ·           Read the health news headlines of the day
• ·           Straighten your posture
• ·           Eat an apple
• ·           Stand up and stretch
• ·           Resist the impulse purchase of a candy bar
• ·           Do 10 lunges/day
• ·           Drink a glass of water three times per day
• ·           Smile
• ·           Put a package of oatmeal in your bag for a healthy breakfast or snack
• ·           Ask to have your salad dressing on the side
• ·           Open a window
• ·           Take a deep breath, or several deep breaths
• ·           Always wear your seat belt
• ·           Wake up 10 minutes earlier
• ·           Wash your hands
• ·           Put on hand lotion
• ·           Check your blood pressure
• ·           Jog in place for 9 minutes/day
• ·           Ask a friend to join you for a healthy dinner
• ·           Put down the remote control and get up to change the TV channel
• ·           Hug your kids
• ·           Replace your next cup of coffee with a cup of tea
• ·           Take a 10 minute break everyday
• ·           Suck on a breath mint
• ·           Add a little pepper to your salad
• ·           Take a quick walk
• ·           While watching TV, do 5 push-ups during the commercials

6. Shop Smarter
- 

• ·      Purchase gas when it is cheapest, but only if you have a half of a tank or less
• ·      Make a list before going shopping…and buy only items on the list
• ·      Buy items you know you will NEED when they are on sale
• ·      Eat before you go to the grocery store
• ·      Avoid Shopping in Convenince Stores
• ·      Do Not Buy Toiletries at Grocery Stores
• ·      Shop with a friend who will keep you from impulse buying
• ·      If you won't use it, don't buy it
• ·      Try store and generic brands
• ·      About prices: Compare, compare, compare
• ·      Buy at the end of the season
• ·      Buy items before you run out of them
• ·      Get what you went in after and get out
• ·      Avoid crowds - do not shop after work, on paydays, or just before holidays

Tips To Be More Productive In 2011 (Part 4)

Last week we talked about tracking your goals, and finding helpful ways to get your finances in order - all so you can be more productive in the New Year. This week we continue with that theme as we talk about managing your time:

1. Set the Right Goals -

2. Track Your Progress Towards Your Goals - 

3. Get Your Finances in Order 
- 

4. Manage Your Time
-Wish you had more than 24 hours in a day? You wouldn't if you knew how to make the most of those 24 hours you have. So, improve your time management skills and get started with these time management tools. Here are a handful of tips to consider:

• Make Lists - Write down as much as you can. If you don’t carry a planner or notebook already, start. At least carry a small, simple, white-lined notebook. A simple To Do List is often a huge help to anyone. You’re goal is to avoid a list that reaches outrageous length and is overwhelming to even look at. 

• Make Use of Down Time - Use walking, driving, showering, or otherwise "dead" time to plan. Think about what your goals are for that day or the next. Which goals are most important? Prioritization is the key.

• Reward Yourself - Whenever you accomplish something, especially the important things, make sure to take the time to reward yourself. A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess’ used the “Martini Method” to get things done. Burgess set a goal of 1,000 words per day. When he finished his word count, he’d relax with a martini and take the day off. Maybe a martini isn’t the ideal reward for some of us, but the method stands useful. 

• Concentrate on One Thing - The human mind works more efficiently when it is focused. Multitasking is actually a disadvantage to productivity. Focus on one thing and get it done. Take care not to bleed tasks into each other. At times, multitasking may seem like a more efficient route, but it probably isn’t.

• Avoid Procrastination at All Costs - When trying to be more productive and trying to save time, procrastination should be avoided like nothing else. It is the ultimate productivity killer.

• Set Personal Deadlines - Nobody likes deadlines. They cause stress, aggravation, worry, and, more stress. A guaranteed way to alleviate some of this stress is to set your own earlier deadlines. Be realistic but demanding of yourself. Challenge yourself and, referring to tip 3, reward yourself for meeting a difficult challenge. Not only will this save you time and make you more productive in the long run, but you will also have a buffer time with little to no penalties compared to those received for missing a real deadline. 

• Delegate Responsibilities - It is not uncommon for people to take on more than they can handle. The overestimation of one’s abilities, though not necessarily a bad thing, can often result in stress and more work for an individual. To avoid this unnecessary stress, do not feel bad about delegating tasks.

• Set up a Long Term Planner - In the everyday drab of life, we can often lose sight of our goals. Setting up a long-term planner will help you envision your long-term goals and rationalize your current objectives. Whenever you find yourself thinking “Why am I putting myself through this work right now? I could be home watching Lost.” just take a look at your long term planner and you’ll be reminded of paying off your mortgage or saving up so you can retire at 45. Revise this long-term planner monthly to keep goals up-to-date.  

• Employ a program like RescueTime - This is a lightweight app that records and graphs how you spend your time on your computer. Those "2-minute" breaks to check out Digg, or play a flash game on some website, or email Aunt Betty, can add up to quite a bit of wasted productivity and wasted time. RescueTime will allow you to see exactly how you spent your time and will even send a weekly report to your email.

• Work in a Team - Although giving up responsibilities is a scary thought for some, it is an invaluable method to increase the average team productivity of all involved. Make sure the team goals are clear and make sure everyone knows who is responsible for given tasks. Make sure all lines of communication are always open. A clogged or blocked line will have the opposite effect on productivity. Give tasks to those who are best suited for them and things will get done faster.

• Be Careful to Avoid Burnout - Burnout occurs when your body and mind can no longer keep up with the tasks you demand of them. Don't try to force yourself to do the impossible. Delegate time for important tasks, but always leave time for relaxation and reflection. Review your recent accomplishments and make sure you feel good. Review and reflection is one of the best ways to gain confidence, and means more productivity.