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I’ve written a few times (1, 2, 3, 4) before about how important it is to ingest carbs while racing a distance that takes over ~40-60mins to enhance performance. There still seems to be some resistance to doing this; some of it is fueled by pseudoscience, but some is fueled by the very legitimate concern that ingesting 30-60g of glucose/hour will cause GI distress and potentially an even more detrimental impact on performance.

There’s no doubt, GI distress is often caused by factors other than the carbs ingested during the race (such as ingesting slowly absorbed, slowly metabolized fat, protein or fibre in close proximity to or during a race). So before trying to fix your carb situation, first make sure that it is indeed your problem.shutterstock_335916845

Training the Gut

So how do we train the gut?  And does it work?  CLICK HERE to read my latest in the Run Waterloo Magazine. 

Let’s target the hip abductor muscles! In my last article I discussed the importance of core strength and control to stabilize our trunk when we run – specifically the importance of the hip abductor muscles.

To refresh, the hip abductors help to bring the leg to the outside of our midline to counteract the moment of force where our leg naturally wants to move toward the midline each time our foot hits the ground.

We have several hip abductor muscles in our body, the majority of them are in our butt muscles! Gluteus medius (Gmglut meded), gluteus maximus (GMax), gluteus minimus (GMin) and TFL (tensor fascia latae). The focus of this article is going to be on the gluteus medius because of its important role in stabilizing the pelvis.

Why do the gluteal muscles become weak? Most of us spend our days sitting and therefore develop weak gluteal muscles making it harder to recruit them during exercise. This can lead to improper use and poor muscle patterning of other muscles to try to compensate for a weak GMed which may increase risk of injury somewhere down the road.

Using techniques to help isolate these muscles can increase their activation and ultimately improve performance. So, how do we target these muscles? A few electromyographic (EMG) studies can help us out!

Study #1: One leg vs. two legs for Gmed activation 

This study used EMG signal amplitude to measure GMed activation in 5 different weight-bearing exercises; double leg stance, single leg (SL) stance, single leg squat, single leg stance on a cushion, and single leg squat on a cushion, where the cushion was an unstable surface underneath the foot to make the exercise more difficult.

To no surprise, the results showed that a SL stance placed higher demands on the GMed than double leg stance and SL squats are more demanding than SL stance. As for the SL exercises on the cushion; the GMed muscle was activated more, but not significantly more than on flat ground.

Study #2: How do we activate Gmed even more?

This study used EMG signals to measure muscle activation patterns of the GMed (among 3 other hip muscles) during 5 unilateral weight-bearing exercises as shown here:
picss

They compared the level of activation to the subject’s maximal voluntary contraction. The EMG signal amplitude had to be between 40-60% of the maximal voluntary contraction to have sufficient intensity for strengthening.

Of the 5 exercises, the results for the GMed showed the highest amount of activation during the wall squat! The next exercises for activation were as follows: forward step-up, lateral step-up, backward step-up and then mini squat. The authors suggested that these exercises may be used as progression exercises towards the wall squat.

TFLStudy #3: What happens when the gluts are weak?

The last article looked at hip abductor muscle activity during resisted side-stepping exercises in either a squatted or standing position. They found that both the GMax and GMed had greater muscle activity during the squatted position than the upright posture. By being in this squatted position, the TFL muscle is less active which means the gluteal muscles should, in theory, be more active. This is important because if the gluteal muscles are weak, the
TFL will compensate which may lead to further underuse and weakening of the gluteal muscles.

Practical Applications

Here are a few key take home points for activating the Gmed to help enhance our running:

  • The GMed plays an important role in stabilizing the pelvis/hip joint during weight-bearing
  • GMed activation is greater when the base of support is less ie: during a side bridge, unilateral squat and lateral step up
  • Some key exercises to get the most activation from the GMed:
    • Single Leg Stance
    • Single Leg Wall Squats
    • Forward Step Ups
    • Lateral Step Ups
    • Side Steps with a resistance band around the knees/ankle (aka: Monster Walks)

And does strengthening GMed actually help to prevent injuries?  As always, the answer is that it depends, but check out this article  from Dr. Delanghe exploring how GMed strength work can decrease injury-causing variability of motion at the knee.

Happy strengthening!

Last week I spent most of the week with a mild head cold. Nothing crazy, but enough to motivate me to review my old imtraining-and-performancemunology notes yet again to relearn what I already know (it’s always fun picturing the T-cells destroying the bad stuff). Times like these also motivate me to relearn other things, like how nothing gets rid of a cold other than some basics including: sufficient rest, fluids, stress management and a good diet.

Sometimes when I’m sick, I’ll also scan the literature for new research on the common cold. Usually it’s more of the same: sleep deprivation triggers a depression in immune function, more research is needed to show if supplement X helps, excessive exercise causes a depression in immune function while light exercise may help, and so on.

However, in today’s search, I came across something new that may help us cope with the common cold. The only downside is that this new information applies to a small subset of the population. It fact it’s so specific, it’s almost not worth mentioning and learning…other than the fact that the specific subset I’m referring to is exactly who we are: athletes to train vigorously in cold weather!

What does the science say?

In general, it’s has been proven time and time again that popping vitamins does not help to speed up the recovery associated with the common cold if you are already sick. Long-term supplementation also does not help to prevent the common cold. There is some research suggesting that long term supplementation may reduce the duration of the cold, but that always sounded like a lot of effort and money for a marginal improvement on something
that rarely happens.

So I had long given up on vitamin C. Maintain a healthy diet rich and fruits and vegetables, and that was all I needed in my mind (if I achieve said goal).

Continue reading HERE in the WRS Magazine 

Last month I wrote about how much of a difference light shoes make. In summary, the study I referenced showed losing 100g/shoe will result in just under a 1% improvement in running economy (RE) as long as all other features remain equal.

At Health & Performance, this article generated a lot of good questiontraining-and-performances. The main ones revolved around if it was good to race in the LIGHTEST shoe possible.

In response, I discussed the importance of features such as cushioning providing a boost in RE. Utilizing a shoe that completely lacks cushioning will provide a boost from lost weight, but this change will be at the expense of the spring-like action from that missing cushioning.

Where is the perfect balance?

Once I explained this, the next question became: Where is the perfect balance? How much weight in cushioning is worth it, and just how much of a boost does it provide?

My easy answer was/is to go with a lightly cushioned racing shoe that feels comfortable, and to not worry about the rest. My favourite is the New Balance 1400, which comes in at just over 200g/shoe, but does have some cushioning. The cost of that 200g, I assumed, would be more than offset with the benefits that the 200g provided. That being said, in a world where we strive to be pro-science, evidence-based and anti-fake news, I wanted to dig a little deeper to provide a more clear and proven answer.

What is light enough?

CLICK HERE to read the rest in the RW Magazine

Hi there! My name is Kayla, I’m a physiotherapist, wannabe runner, and chocoholic.  You can check out my full profile HERE.  This is my first article and so I thought I’d start with a short introduction about me. As a physiotherapist, I specialize in studying human movement. As a (former) competitive athlete, I get the opportunity to combine my physio knowledge with active experience! Continue reading Intro to Kayla Ng & Strength Training and Running Pt. 1

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