Shovelglove!

About a year ago while doing some research about kettlebells I stumbled across an ingenious invention. The shovelglove. If you want to talk about functional fitness this is functional fitness meets MacGyver.

It all started with a fella who was a bit out of shape, but lacking the motivation to leave the house and go somewhere to exercise. Nevertheless his desire to get his butt back in gear overcame the exercise inertia that had him sitting around and he devised shovelglove. Here's a little excerpt of his story...

"I wanted an exercise I could do right there, in my bedroom, without any fancy equipment.

But I didn't want to do sit-ups or pushups. I didn't want to grovel on my stomach on the floor, like some degraded beast. "There must be some kind of movement I can do standing up, with the dignity of a human being," I thought, "some kind of movement that is natural and interesting, that my body would like to do."

I started making all kinds of spastic movements, hoping to come across something that resonated. I remembered reading something in some French novel about coal shovelers having the best abdominal muscles of anyone the author had ever seen. I started making shoveling motions.

Now there are a few problems with shoveling, from an exercise perspective. For one, if I actually went outside and started shoveling, I'd get all wet (remember, it's raining). The neighbors would think I was crazy, and if I did it at the wrong time I'd actually annoy them. I'd also have to have something to shovel, a waste of space, at least (our backyard is more of back alley). So outdoors is out. But I couldn't really shovel indoors, either. Even if I just did a pantomime with a shovel, I'd need some kind of weight to move, and I'd need some way of keeping it from scratching the floors or killing the cats."

And out of such turmoil and chaos came the shovelglove. Of course if you want to learn more you'll have to visit the website. (By the way, his website is considerably more enjoyable reading than just about anything else you'll waste 5 minutes on today so it's worth a peek.)

A shovelglove then, is just a sledgehammer with the head wrapped in a sweater or towel so that you don't brain yourself or scratch up the floors. The idea behind it is to mimic movements you might otherwise do in "real life" like shoveling, chopping wood, lifting luggage etc. It's really not unlike the new clubbells that are out and being used by the kettlebell types. By doing swinging motions with a free weight that has a center of gravity away from your body it engages several muscles involved in range of motion and works more than just a single muscle group at a time; the same concept that has made kettlebells so popular and effective.

I have yet to try it. My beautiful wife is a little skeptical that I won't wind up putting a whole in the wall...or ceiling...or my face. However, the idea sounds great and I'm confident that my powers of persuasion will win out sooner or later.

While you may not be signing up for a shovelglove class at the local gym anytime soon this shovelglove fella may just be on to something. He even has his own YouTube Channel.

Dare I say, "try it?"

Another good reason to train your core

Ever heard of "Dead Butt Syndrome?" Yeah, neither had I, but it's legit. NYTimes author Jen Miller just wrote an interesting little blurb about her problems with her gluteus medius and I have to say that recently, I can relate a little. Quite conveniently, during the week of a lecture on the lower extremity I noticed some funny pain in my right hip. It turns out my gluteus medius was a bit unprepared for my cross training season.

The problem boils down to this: As an athlete works their legs, they frequently neglect their core which includes the butt muscles. The butt muscles or gluteal muscles are some of the most important, though, especially for runners because they stabilize the pelvis which is the platform for everything that you do. The most important muscles to do this for running are the gluteus medius and minimus (but mostly the medius). When you have a weak gluteus medius your pelvis tilts instead of remaining level.

A quick way to test is to try and balance on one leg. This may be enough to make your pelvis tilt (although it may not be as dramatic as the diagram). If that's not enough, try doing a one leg squat, if your knee turns or bends in towards your midline ("valgus knee") then the odds are good that your hips could use some strengthening. If you still aren't convinced lay on your side and open your legs like a scissors. Have someone push down steadily and firmly but not violently on your leg while you try to keep them open. I was shocked to learn how much weaker my right side really was compared to my left.

Here are a few suggestions.

1) The clamshell

For this exercise you should lay on your side with your knees bent and open your knees like a clamshell.

As you can see by the thrilled look on this guy's face it's not the coolest exercise, but it's practical.

2) Glut Bridge

You can call this whatever you want, a bridge, a butt lift, all the same it's good work for your backside. Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Tensing your butt muscles lift your body so that you make a triangle (your feet/shins and the floor should make a right angle and your body is the hypotenuse).

3)Tight rope walk/Dumbbell walkouts

Don't worry you don't have to have access to a sky scraper to do this one, just a couple dumbbells. Take two dumbbells between 8 and 20 pounds each (start light) and walk around heel to toe like your are balancing on a tightrope. This may not seem like a lot, but because your toes are in line you must stabilize your pelvis with every step. You can see a video here.

Doing 2-3 sets of these exercises with 8-20 reps per set 3-5 times a week will work wonders. Another important aspect of taking care of your hips is to be sure and stretch. Just a little bit of extra time each day doing these exercises and stretching could mean the difference between playing and sitting on the sidelines.

For more core workouts and butt rehab try here and if you specifically are looking for a runner's core workout check out this workout at the Runner's World website.

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Simple Garlic Hummus

A tasty snack with good fat and a good price too.

1 can of chick peas (14 oz)

1/4 cup of yogurt

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

2 Tsp minced garlic

1.5 Tbsp olive oil

Salt- to taste

1 Tbsp Tahini (optional)

Combine all ingredients in your blender or food processor and mix until smooth. Mix less if you like your hummus a little coarser.

Serve with Pita bread, fresh vegetables, pretzels or any of your other favorite dipping delicacies.

You need fat too!

I realize this is something that is hard to swallow, but it's true. You need fat too. Before you blow me off and keep "fat" on your black list read a little further.



You're body is made up of cells. A couple hundred years ago you might have looked at me and just said, "huh?" But thanks to the microscope and some advances in science (as well as public education) I feel pretty confident you can track with me here. Now where were we...ah yes, cells. You're body is made up of cells. Skin cells, stomach cells, hair cells, muscle cells, fat cells and more. Despite the fact that these cells all are part of different organs and systems, they have more in common than you may think. One of the things that all these cells have in common is their outer layer.



Cells have what is called a membrane which is composed of a lipid bilayer. What that basically means is that each cell is encased in a double layer of fat molecules. That's right fat molecules (aka lipids). And an important source for those cell walls is the fat that you eat. The fat you eat and cholesterol that you eat and that your body makes are mostly responsible for making the walls of your cells. The combination of those two components helps to determine how hard or soft those walls are. In the ideal world it would be the perfect combination of not too soft and not too hard, but every person is a little different based on their diet and their genetics.



This is part of the reason that trans fats are such a big deal. Initially when trans fats were invented we thought they were a great cheap solution to always needing plant or animal products, but as we quickly found out it's hard to beat nature at it's own game. By now it is impossible to go into a store without seeing bags of anything and everything labeled "0 Grams of Trans Fat" or "Trans Fat Free." That's because we learned that when trans fat gets included into our cell walls it tends to pack very tightly together. This means rigid cell walls (among other problems). Fats made by people and animals are almost exclusively cis-fats. While trans fats generally make straight linear molecules, cis-fats have some twists and bends in them. They create little extra spaces for molecules to move around and your cell membrane stays "softer" so to speak. Because of all of these problems trans fats are one item I would say are okay to put on the official "bad" list.

Another fat to avoid in excess is saturated fat. Saturated fats have similar properties in your cell to trans fats, but are naturally occuring in animal products and still not as bad as trans fats. This makes intuitive sense because we all are aware that eating a stick of butter or having bacon with every meal (both of which have a large amount of saturated fat) is not a good idea. Saturated fat, though, is not necessarily something to completely eliminate from your diet. For one, it would mean eating almost no animal products which is not a truly healthy or realistic option. In addition, your body can handle saturated fat and deal with it without too much difficulty, but just like any other nutrient if you eat too much of it you will not be happy with the outcome.

Now there are a couple of fats that are good for you. Namely unsaturated fats as well as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Unsaturated fats are found in nuts, seeds and other plant products and they are generally liquid at room temperature when they are isolated (as compared to saturated fats which are typically solid at room temperature-this is another good indicator of the quality of fat you are eating. Have the solids sparingly and enjoy the liquids). These unsaturated fats are the kinds that will leave your cells' walls soft and happy instead of rigid. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are important for multiple uses in the body, but they can't be made by humans, so they need to be eaten instead to be included in our bodies.

But now I've been babbling long enough, let's get to the payoff.

If you had to distill all of this information into a quick application it would be this. Don't avoid fat because you think "fat is bad." Fat has twice as many calories/gram as carbohydrate or protein so it's important to eat less of it if you want to avoid packing extra supplies of it on your body. However, it's not necessary to avoid it altogether and isn't good for you to do so either. Try enjoying some almonds instead of potato chips or using olive oil in place of butter. These are good ways to make sure that you get the fat you need without overdosing on the fat you don't need.

I know it's complicated, but you can do it. If you are just tuning in, check out more of this series on the three main nutrients under the Nutrition tags.