Testing My Limits - Part III

Two weeks in, and I swear I'm seeing a difference in my squat.

I'll be honest, though: at first I was annoyed by this whole thing. The first night I did the exercises, it took me 40 minutes. I thought, come on. Then I looked at the workout schedule they post for you on myTPI.com...six days a week! I grumbled about this to Bryan the next day but he refused to indulge me in any kind of human sympathy.

After a few days of pouting and muttering around in my mind about it, I did a little cost/benefit analysis. Is the potential result worth the extra time (and, to be fair, my subsequent workouts took much less time once I learned the exercises and didn't have to watch a video for each one)? The answer was a resounding YES: not only will being able to perform a proper squat propel me forward in my workouts, addressing all my other mobility (or lack thereof) issues could potentially stave off injuries and boost my fitness gains and my performance even further.

That was all it took.

Now...just today, two weeks in, I was able to do 10 pretty decent-looking squats, holding a lacrosse stick over my head. I noticed two significant changes: 1) I felt much more balanced at the bottom of the squat, which tells me my soleus (lower calf) muscles are starting to loosen up, and 2) there was much less strain in my lower thoracic area, which indicates my torso mobility is improving also.

This is working. When I think about what it could do for my golf game, it makes me want to actually take up golf...

Now I'll celebrate with a spoonful of Nutella!

The Great Debate: Ice Vs. Heat

Following injury, many people choose to apply heat because heat feels good and they can use the heat for hours without any pain. But is heat the best treatment for injury? The answer is: Not exactly.

When ice is applied, the body experiences four stages of cold therapy. First, your body feels cold, followed by burning, then achiness, and finally numbness. Cold therapy, also known as cryotherapy, works on the principle of heat exchange: When you place a cooler object in direct contact with an object of warmer temperature - such as ice against skin - the cooler object will absorb the heat of the warmer object.

Why is heat exchange important in cryotherapy? Following an injury, the body responds with vasodilation (an expanding of blood vessels) and a rushing of blood to the area for protection. The injured area becomes swollen and inflamed and will remain this way until treated. This period is known as the acute inflammatory phase and can last one hour, one day, one week, or six weeks depending on what action has been taken to reduce or eliminate the blood that has pooled in the area.

During the acute inflammatory phase of recovery, examination findings include varying levels of pain, swelling, heat, and redness. The goal during this phase is to decrease these four symptoms as much as possible. Cryotherapy is the initial therapy of choice to decrease blood flow and control the resulting inflammation. Following an injury, applying the "RICE" principle is the best treatment: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

We also need to be aware, however, that cryotherapy can potentially be counterproductive to the recovery process if not used properly. Keep ice on the injured area for no longer than 20 minutes, then wait at least 40 minutes before applying ice again. After 20 minutes, ice becomes much less effective and you risk damaging soft tissue; beyonhd 30 minutes, ice has the same physiological effect as heat and draws blood back into the area.

To recap, ice: 1) decreases blood flow and inflammation; 2) blocks pain by numbing; 3) should be used immediately after injury; and 4) should be used after activity which utilizes the injured area.

In contrast, heat: 1) increases blood flow and promoted healing; 2) decreases stiffness and increases elasticity of tissue; 3) relaxes muscles; and 4) can be used before activity for tight muscles.

Failure to timely prescribe the proper therapy can result in delayed recovery. When injuries are treated quickly and properly, the result is less time away from work, sports, and everyday activities.

--Bryan Haig, MSPT

Testing My Limits Part II

Finally, some answers: I finally did my TPI screen with Bryan Haig, our PT. To say it was a humbling experience is putting it mildly. He led me through a series of physical tests, such as standing on one leg, rotating my torso, and doing a squat, all the while studying me, circling me, saying "Hmm...", and typing on the computer. Unsettling.

Then Bryan gave me the results: 3 pages explaining everything from how many degrees of internal rotation I have in my right hip to how well I stabilize my upper body. The descriptions were written to be golf-specific (e.g., "You have limited mobility rotating your thoracic spine...this may limit your ability to maintain a good stable posture during your backswing...). Still, my patterns were clear: limited thoracic mobility, limited strength and mobility in both shoulder blades, some limited lower body flexibility (primarily hip flexors and quads), and, of great interest to me, limited calf flexibility. The sentence read: It is tough for you to perform a full deep squat while keeping your heels on the ground due to limited calf flexibility bilaterally.

I knew this, I guess. Lots of running, especially the last two years, sporadic stretching (I know...), and even though it wasn't something I could necessarily feel or detect when I was in the squat, it makes sense.

The next stack of pages Bryan handed me was my exercise routine, which consisted of 17 exercises. What?! My first thought: yeah, and I'm going to fit this in on top of my regular workouts when, exactly? My second: if you want to do better, then you will fit it in, missy.

So off we go. My "re-screen" is in 4 weeks. Wish me luck.

Jill

Testing My Limits

I want to know why I can't do a squat.

Seriously. My body should be able to do it: I'm pretty fit, relatively strong, acceptably flexible, have played sports since I was 9 and exercised regularly since I was 15. My mind knows how to do it: I've been certified as a personal trainer for 12 years, trained and instructed in a gym for eight. I should be able to do a proper squat. And it bugs me immensely that I can't.

Soon, though, I'll know why. Dr. Clancey and Dr. Berkowitz, fresh from a second-level certification at the Titleist Performance Institute, are going to be screening our entire staff for muscular limitations and imbalances. Through this screening process, TPI helps physicians, therapists, and trainers to identify functional imbalances in the body, then provides "rehabilitative" exercises to correct these imbalances. TPI was developed with golfers in mind, but, as Dr. Clancey explained, its value reaches far beyond the country club. I'd be willing to wager that most of us have some kind of muscular imbalance that's either diminshing our performance or contributing to our injuries. In my mind, knowing my limitations is the first step to getting me into a beautifully executed, biomechanically perfect squat.

Clearly I'm a bit obsessed with the squat,and here's why: I've recently found an incredible workout regimen called Crossfit (http://www.crossfit.com/), and the squat is one of its fundamental movements. The squat fires a myriad of muscles in the body, it's practical, it's challenging, it builds leg strength and endurance, and it's a movement the body understands. It's also key to many of the Olympic lifts Crossfit uses in its workouts. I feel I can't progress until I master the squat; ergo, my obsession.

It's freeing, in a way, to know your limits.

*Jill Settembrino, Director of Ops. (and aspiring Crossfitter), Lawrencville office