Ski Better, Ski Stronger!

Stand up.  Sit down.  With ski/snowboard season upon us, that remains a powerful mantra that can help you return to the most simple joys of moving your body.

Skiing/snowboarding is both simple and complex.  It's simple because it can be as easy as  "stand up, sit down."  It's complex because it requires a very active and aware presence of your core, as well as your continuous orientation to where you are on the mountain.

The "stand up, sit down" mantra (thanks to my friend, Tyler Gould for this) works like this: the muscles you engage when you move to "stand up" will force you to push into the mountain, and thus, you'll turn. The movements required to "sit down" will allow you to rest into a more aerodynamic position so that your body can enjoy your speed and fluidly absorb the shocks from moguls--until the next turn.

You can learn to turn more efficiently by practicing this simple exercise: From a bent knee position, try standing up by pushing into the balls of your feet.  Where do you feel tightness?  If you're like me, you'll feel it in your quadricep muscles and your low back.

Now try standing up by pushing into your heels (if you can do it without falling backwards).  Do you feel tightness in your hamstrings and low back?

Now try standing up from the center of your feet--what is sometimes called "the eye of the foot," or in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Bubbling Spring.  Do you still feel tightness in your quads or  hamstrings?  Or do you feel a lengthening of your quads, hamstrings, and low back simultaneously?  Pushing up from this strong diaphragm of the foot reduces strain on your leg and low back muscles, which in turn gives you more strength, stability, and flexibility.

Rolfers refer to this as a "palintonic" stretch: while your feet are pressing into the mountain, your head is being lifted against gravity. This lengthening is the sensation you feel as your body's  fascial network re-maps itself--awakening and strengthening your core, improving your stability and flexibility.

In a previous blog post, I talked about stretching the postural (or tonic) fibers of your hamstring muscles. This is also a good pre-skiing (and post-skiing) stretch that will assist your body/mind to feel your core, and help orient you to the space around you (on the mountain).

Another great series of exercises for both before and after skiing/snowboarding are the spinal flexes (video at link).  I don't agree with the video's suggestion to do the first part of the exercise faster:  Instead, I would recommend that you keep a speed that is comfortable to your body for all 3 parts.  You can either time yourself and do each exercises for 30 seconds to 3 minutes, or exercise for a count of 25, 54, or 108 inhalations--whatever is most comfortable for your body.

A daily regimen of these stretches, as well as other yoga exercises can keep your fascial network free and lubricated.  A Rolfing tune-up can also assist you with feeling that palintonic sense of lengthening throughout your body.  

Join Robert this Sunday, December 9th at 11am at the Healthy Living Market Learning Center in South Burlington, Vermont to explore these and more exercises...or you can make an appointment for a Rolfing session.

Tight Hamstrings, Quads, or IT Band? Where's your balance?

Wherever you are right now – stand up.

Feel your feet on the floor, and notice if you are favoring your heels more than your toes, or vice versa.

If you’re favoring your toes, what do you notice about the front of your thighs (the quadriceps muscle group).  Do they feel tight like they are working all the time?

If you’re favoring your heels, what do you notice about the back of your thighs (the hamstring muscle group)? Do they feel tight like they are working all the time?

There are many reasons that muscle groups become tight – and they can get locked long (overstretched), or short (overuse).  If you favor your toes, then your hamstrings are probably locked long, and your quads are probably locked short.  If you favor your heels, the opposite is likely the case.

When your muscles get locked tight and short, the fascia supporting these muscles continues to add more fascia to support the overuse pattern.  With stretching, that fascia can loosen up and allow the muscles to carry less tone (and less tension for you).

There are many types of hamstring stretches (in yoga, pilates, etc); most of these exercises stretch what I call the action fibers of the muscles.  These are the fibers that are ready to go at a moment’s notice.

But muscles have another type of fiber, too, which I like to call postural fibers.  These muscle fibers are working all the time to keep you from falling down – sort of like the background music that sets your mood (overall tone in your body).

Even if you do hamstring stretches as part of your daily routine, you may find that your hamstrings still feel tight. In this case, it’s possible that you need to lengthen the postural fibers.  Postural fibers respond to slow, willful movements so that your nervous system has a chance to respond to the new conversation you are introducing.  This can lead to lasting change.

While some of you may have tried to loosen your hamstrings and quadriceps by stretching your ITB (Ilio-tibial Band)—myself included—this is counter-productive as this article nicely describes (http://thebodymechanic.ca/2012/03/17/stop-foam-rolling-your-it-band-it-can-not-lengthen-and-it-is-not-tight).  The ITB is a band of thickened connective tissue that is meant to provide balance between the quads and the hamstrings.  Trying to change the ITB affects the equal sign (=, or rather the < or > sign), but  doesn't affect either side of the equation (ie, the quads or hamstrings).  Thus, if there is an imbalance before foam rolling, that imbalance will likely remain after foam rolling.

The rest of this article describes one of my favorite exercises for lengthening the postural  fibers of the hamstrings.  In addition, a colleague, Lu Mueller-Kaul, writes about one type of hamstring postural fiber stretch on her blog (http://lumuellerkaul.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/tight-hamstrings/ ; she has made this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWekWTFXKM&feature=youtu.be).  This is a great passive exercise.

==============================

Mobilizing the Origin of the Hamstrings

(courtesy of Lael Katherine Keen)

You need a surface/floor upon which it is possible to slide.

Start seated on the floor, with knees bent, feet on the wall (works best on a wood or tile floor). Place a folded blanket (or towel) under your sitbones:

With your feet still on the wall, have a friend slowly and lightly pull on the blanket, allowing your pelvis to slide backwards—using the hamstrings insertion as the fixed point of the stretch and mobilizing the origin. Continue sliding back until the shortness in the hamstrings begins to show up. If the hamstrings are quite short, they will prevent the knee from fully straightening. If they are a little longer, the client’s legs will straighten but his back will get pulled short from below.

============================

After you’ve tried this exercise, stand up.  What do you notice about how you stand on your feet, and how the front and back of your thighs feel?  Hopefully, you’ll feel more balance in your feet and your thighs.  Another test, if you’re having trouble noticing any different sensation is to bend forward to touch your toes:  does the tension in the back of your thighs/calves feel different?

Posture is an ongoing and dynamic activity in our life that fees on our activities, relationships, and work.  The postural fibers in our muscles, as the background music/tone of our body are a major key to maintaining our overall posture, especially as we get older.