The Joys of Urban Running

I love urban running! Not for long you understand, but the sheer pleasure of taking off out of a hotel & exploring the locale is a real joy that has come late to me.


In Dallas on Day One I asked where the locals ran. Not so much was her response, they all got cars here. However she did recommend I ran around the parking lot several times as it was 'pretty big'. 


Well the beauty of the breaking day in Dallas just meant a trip to the top floor gym was simply not acceptable, and the grass verges proved an unusual and challenging route near but not on the freeway.


I strapped on the Nike Free Runners, and with a rare spring in my step took off. Now I don't run for long,  but neither would I say I 'jog'. As Vern Gambetta would say, "why train yourself to run slow?". (Check out Vern here) 
So I like to get some hip extension to my running gait, and a pace that leaves me 'peching' as we would say in Glasgow as a student with the cardiac Rehab class. After 18 months I am thoroughly in love with running in minimalist shoes: sure, check the debate out (Natural Running Debate-view from the front row & Barefoot Running Protagonists spar online) but my personal pleasure in urban running has definitely been enhanced by the use of minimalist shoes.

Some folks take urban running pretty seriously-I recall seeing in Belgium last year the Running Guided Tour which I figure was a brilliant device: it is a concept that offers runners who travel for leisure or business the opportunity to discver & learn about the history & landmarks of a city with a local running Guide.

Check them out for details for their global operations: 

www.globalrunningtours.com

Wherever and however far you run, just enjoy it!

I love urban running. Just not for too long in one go!

Super Bowl Fever hits US

1 in 5 men would miss a wedding or a funeral to watch the SuperBowl!

Some watch just for the ads! 

Half a million hits on Matther Broderick's youtube 10 second rumoured return as Ferris Bueller! 

Who wouldn't watch for the commercials whether it's for the return of an Eighties celluloid hero, or with the return of polar bears for a renowned soft drink company currently confirmed for a return to the screens of millions?

A couponcabin.com survey found that 21% would swerve the nuptials of a close friend or family member, 20% the funeral of a loved on! 19% would miss the birth of their child! The survey was conducted online in the USA by Harris Interactive of 2625 adults which is a reasonable number in science terms at least: just think of the questions that could be asked & hypotheses proved with that form of study population!

1 in 5 men would miss funeral or wedding for Superbowl article

Of the 47% of respondents planning to watch the game NEXT SUNDAY 37% of respondents would watch the NFL season's finale Superbowl just for the half time adverts! In this category it's women who lead the way, although they lag behind the males within the 1/3rd of the group whom have bet on the outcome of a Superbowl in the past!

The 10 second Mattew Broderick clip has already cranked up almost a half million hits in under 20 hours with no word on whom has posted this, just a promise to reveal on Feb 5th...

It is prompting much analysis in the media however...

analysis of chuckachucka2012 youtube video

Entertainment Tonight's take on Ferris Bueller return

Breakfast tv may be no guide to the state of a nation, but Superbowl fever appears to be gripping over a week before the actual game on Sunday February 5th! This SPACE blog has previously noted how sport can get a bit too serious for its own good (SPACE Blog Aug 2011 'Is sport taking itself too seriously'?), but the pre-game fever in the US almost rivals the obsessiveness that overwhelmed New Zealand during the last Rugby World Cup.


Even statistically, we can say most of us will just look forward to the match itself (and the half time show, obviously...Madonna confirmed in December by the way Super Bowl Half Time Act confirmed ).

Relationships between NFL Combine Measures

Superbowl fever is in the air: Divisional Championships this weekend to decide the finalists!


How do the rookies (newcomers) get noticed & rated against one another? What is the science that pits one College star against another?

Every year the National Football League (NFL) decamps to Indianapolis for a week in February. Athletes attend by invitation only, and are put through their physical & mental paces in front of coaches, scouts & general managers. The tests are standardised to ensure that there is a more scientifically based series of challenges that has evolved into a media frenzy from more humble origins in 1977. The implications of this showcase event is that performance in the 'Combine' affects perception, draft status, salary & ultimately a player's career: implications based on measureable size, speed & strength.

Tests include:
40 Yard Dash
Bench Press (225lb reps)
Vertical Jump
Broad Jump
20 Yard Shuttle
60 Yard Shuttle
3 Cone Drill
Position Specific Drills
Cybex Testing
Wonderlix Test

The teams are then allowed 60interviews in 15 minute intervals in addition to physical baseline measures, a drug screening & an injury evaluation.

A recent study investigated the relationship between the athletic skills measured at the Combine. The study population was measured from draftees from 2005-09.

Sprint times & change of direction ability tests & the three cone drill were nearly perfectly correlated, suggesting similar skills are being measured. The Jump Testing scores were more strongly associated with longer sprint distances suggesting mechanisms such as the stretch-shortening cycle which may be more important at maximal or near-maximal speeds.

However, there were weaker correlations between change of direction ability with sprinting & jumping suggesting less association & independent motor skills. Bench Press performance is positively correlated with outcomes in all running drills & inversely correlated with jump abilities. The authors have therefore intimated that upper body strength may be of little benefit to these tasks. They conclude that whilst the 3 cone drill or a single shuttle drill may be deemed sufficient as a measure of change of direction ability. Independent motor skills need to be measured with another battery of tests.

Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (1): 226-231, 2012

Exercise changes fat in the body - compelling new hormonal evidence for running!

Researchers from Harvard Medical School & the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that exercise can produce a hormone in the body that can lessen the susceptibility to obesity and diabetes and other health issues.

Mouse & human muscle tissue was tested, with the scientists charting how muscles cells can communicate with other cells in the body  - particularly fat cells - and alter the biochemistry of the body after exercising.

PGC1-Alpha is produced in muscles both during and after exercise. It appears that this is what produces many of the benefits of exercise, but it was the Harvard study group that identified a novel process occuring to a membrane protein known as Fndc5 which spikes in expression with this increase in PCG1-Alpha. The protein breaks apart, and the novelty turned out to be a previously unidentified hormone which is secreted as Irisin. 

LV = Lipid Vacuole

This hormone acts on white adipose (fat) cells, turning a development of brown-fat-like cells. Brown fat is  more physiologically desirable than inert white fat calls, as they require energy & use oxygen:  they burn calories! That this also happens to the deep fat around the organs is also important in health. Until 2009, the assumed logic was that brown fat was in far greater quantities in babies than adults, but now it appears that irisin (potentially exercise-induced irisin) can be seen in older humans. 

Brown Fat Cell

Furthermore, rodent studies that have shown that irisin injected into white fat cells do indeed turn brown, and that glucose-tolerance was improved despite a high-fat diet. Human study participants whom volunteered for a jogging programme demonstrated higher levels of irisin after the programme finished than beforehand.

In summary, Irisin is thus induced with exercise and is shown in both mice & humans. Even mildly increased irisin blood hormone levels can cause an increase in energy expenditure with no associated changes in movement or food intake. This results in improvements in obesity & appears also to maintain glucose homeostasis with the implications for diabetes in humans.


Key message? Physical activity increases irisin levels in healthy people & changes fat cells from white to brown as a result. 
Exercise: All Good!


Here are some details:

A PGC1-α-dependent myokine that drives brown-fat-like development of white fat and thermogenesis

• Pontus Boström,
• Jun Wu,
• Mark P. Jedrychowski,
• Anisha Korde,
• Li Ye,
• James C. Lo,
• Kyle A. Rasbach,
• Elisabeth Almer Boström,
• Jang Hyun Choi,
• Jonathan Z. Long,
• Shingo Kajimura,
• Maria Cristina Zingaretti,
• Birgitte F. Vind,
• Hua Tu,
• Saverio Cinti,
• Kurt Højlund,
• Steven P. Gygi
• & Bruce M. Spiegelman

• Affiliations
• Contributions
• Corresponding author

Nature

 

(2012)

 

doi:10.1038/nature10777

Received

 

14 August 2011 

Accepted

 

13 December 2011 

Published online

 

11 January 2012

New Fascia Information Published

There has been much written in this blog on fascia / connective tissue - be prepared for even more!

Meeting up with the Fascial Fitness group in Munich last weekend really fired my imagination, and from the correspondence also those from across Germany too!


The Research Group has just showed that the water content of fascial tissues (usually around 68%) decreases during tensional loading and that this fluid extrusion is associated with a decrease of tissue stiffness (i.e. the so called ‘tissue creep’). This is revealed in a new paper just published.


During a subsequent resting period new water is soaked up again by the tissue and the fascia regains its initial mechanical resilience. Possibly similar changes in fascial properties may happen during yoga stretches, sport/exercise induced tissue strain, or in some of the fascia oriented manual therapies. 


Interestingly, when the tensional loading is strong enough and the subsequent resting period long enough, then a ‘supercompensation’ can be observed, in which a temporary hydration increase occurs as well as stiffness increase beyond the initial values. 
The authors speculates that similar temporary ‘strain hardening’ effects may play a role during some sports activities as well as in occupational medicine. 


Strain hardening of fascia: Static stretching of dense fibrous connective tissues can induce a temporary stiffness increase accompanied by enhanced matrix hydration.
Schleip, Duerselen, Vleeming, Naylor, Lehmann-Horn, Zorn, Jaeger, Klingler.

J Bodyw Mov Ther 16: 94-100 (2012)


Free Fulltext Version of this paper

Munchen: Glad to be Back!

Munich, Germany. In January. 

Thermometer hovers above zero, and snow periodically falls.

The meeting of minds inside BodyBliss (www.bodybliss.de) near to the University included luminaries from the German worlds of Pilates, Rolfing & Research such as Robert Schleip & Divo Muller. 

Under discussion was fitness of the connective tissue, material we have already described within this blog as fascia.

Check out for more information the following:
Fascinating Fascia
MELT this Winter
& the Dynamic Chiropractic article It's the Fascia Stupid!

The health of the connective tissue, and the influence of nutrition, fluids & exercise all loomed large over the weekend as methods of movement were shared, and the potential for further explanation & understanding for specific groups thoroughly investigated.

Skype conversations were had to Canada with Sports Chiropractor Walter Kesnick, and to Denmark where the acclaimed author & structural integrator Tom Myers (Tom Myers, Anatomy Trains) was teaching alongside our friend & colleague Stanley Rosenberg.

The upshot should be an exciting one for patients & athletes within SPACE as well as wider afield-expect some exercise that you may not have previously been asked to perform! There is certainly room for experimentation as the knowledge base grows, and hopefully SPACE will have a small part of that!

Auf wiedersehen Munchen - es war großartig!

Ich komme wieder!

Happy New Year from SPACE - US and EUROPE!!!

All the best to all our patients from all the staff at SPACE!

Now recovered from the revelry of Edinburgh's Hogmanay in Princes' Street, we are ll now committed to helping you making the most of 2012: let's play!

Watch out for changes to the roster at SPACE early this year.

Some immediate upskilling or travel required for some: trips to Europe early this January for Kenny (to Luxembourg) & Stephen (Munich)  whilst Gordon Mackay returns from East Coast US & Sharon from Arizona; all back into SPACE Central in the next week.

Kenny is operating as physio to Scottish Mens' Volleyball whilst Stephen heads to meet with Robert Schleip at his Rolfing Institute in Munich (see our link to the Fascia Blog from 2011 Fascinating Fascia )to discuss Fascial Fitness and some updates on the wonderful world of fascia prior to the 2rd International Congress which occurs later in the year in Vancouver.

Stick with us this year, read the blog, follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, engage online or by email or phone!

Let's play 2012!