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Ultra Marathoner Dean Karnazes’ 3 Tips For Injury-Proofing Your Body
1. No sitting allowed. “I rarely sit,” Karnazes said, and explained how he avoided sitting as much as possible because of the damage it can do in terms of weakening posture and wrecking the body. His home office is equipped with a stand-up desk which he uses when writing and churning through e-mail. In addition to the biomechanical benefits, there’s evidence suggesting that reducing the amount of time sitting during the day fine-tunes the metabolism even for those who exercise regularly. (Source:“Television time and continuous metabolic risk in physically active adults.” Healy, G. N. et al. 2008. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise)
2. Cross-training. “I think total body training is essential, at least for what I do,” Karnazes said. He injects six quick circuits of a Navy SEAL routine into his normal day. “Between emails. Whenever I’m starting to bonk I’ll pop out a set,” he explained. The routine includes push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups. Karnazes believes it was because of this cross-training he was able to net his 9th finish in 10 tries at Badwater this past summer despite a low amount of running volume going into the race due to a heavy travel schedule. Karnazes also admitted that when he travels the first thing he does upon walking into a new hotel is to check out the gym for a pull-up bar. If there isn’t one he’ll improvise—even if he’s stuck with using the shower curtain rod in a bathroom.
3. Avoiding overbuilt running shoes. “I tell runners to listen to everyone but follow no one,” Karnazes said. He recalled that as a high school runner back in the 1970s he would run to the beach, stash his shoes in bushes and run barefoot in the sand. “Minimalism is nothing new to me,” he said, talking about the new wave of barefoot-simulating running shoes on the market. “I remember meeting with Nike 10 years ago ago and they brought me in to see all of their new medial posts and other widgets and gadgets. I said, ‘You’re overbuilding these shoes. Just let the foot be the foot. You’re causing injuries because you’re forcing these people with poor biomechanics into a good biomechanical position but their bodies aren’t aligned for that.’ What happens is they end up compensating with a weird gait because they’re maligned. When Nike came out with the Free they hit the nail on the head.” That said, Karnazes counsels runners to be careful when jumping into a minimalist shoe. “Try it and see if it works,” he advises. “But I don’t think we’re engineered to run barefoot on the asphalt.” His ultimate advice for starting on the path toward stronger, more injury-proof feet? Start by adding some foot-strengthening work into your routine with occasional short barefoot runs in the sand or on the grass. Plus, use time at home as a conditioner. “When you get home walk around your house all day in bare feet.” Karnazes said that you can add this to the habit of not sitting down. “Stand up more and bounce on your toes a lot.”
To read the full article Visit http://running.competitor.com/2012/10/injuries/dean-karnazes-3-tips-for-injury-proofing-your-body_59817
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The Benefits of Laughter
The benefits of a good laugh are wide-ranging and can include protection from emotional issues like depression and improving the health of your heart. Here’s what experts know about the health benefits of laughter:
- Mental health benefits.Mental health benefits. Although you probably can’t laugh off depression, one of the many benefits of laughter and a sense of humor is that they buffer you against the negatives of life that could lead to depression. As an added bonus, research shows that people who use humor to fight stress also feel less lonely and more positive about themselves. And one recent study found that humor therapy was as effective as widely used antipsychotic drugs — minus the side effects — in managing agitation in patients with dementia.
- Physical benefits.Although we can’t yet say that a certain number of laughs every day will keep the doctor away, studies show that people who say they laugh a lot also tend to be in good health and generally feel well. Laughter is also one of the most commonly used complementary therapies among cancer patients, who find that one of the benefits of laughter is an improved quality of life.
- Heart health benefits.Laughter could be healthy for your heart, too. Some research shows that when you laugh, there is an increase in oxygen-rich blood flow in your body, possibly due to the release of endorphins, which create a chemical rush that counters negative feelings and stress. Activities that increase endorphins include a good workout and listening to music you love, and laughter deserves its place on the list with these other stress busters.
Full Article: http://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/health-benefits-of-laughter.aspx
