Activate the Caboose! Glutes & Clams

As a writer, I love to read. I'm usually in the middle of a few good books, savoring some bit by bit and skimming others. This week I'm rationing one chapter a night of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I'm loving it. I'm going to buy it for my Dad for his birthday. My Dad taught me how to run.

This is a picture of him trying to teach me how to run. It was taken back in our old Minnesotan neighborhood. Most of the time we laughed because I ran like a stick person, with straight arms and clenched fists, no elbow bend at all. Though in this picture I have tons of bend in one arm, but the arm-leg swing matchup is messed up.

I remember those lessons, along with many practice runs searching for balance on my 2-wheeler. *See that huge orange fire hydrant, I hit that while riding my bike. I finally did learn how to ride my bike. It helped that my little sister started riding hers first--before me! Not right!

Later on, I ran a lot as a soccer player, and then as cross-training with the crew team at UW-Madison. Technically I knew one thing about running--I liked doing it. My speed's changed (+/-) over the years, my elbows bend and my hands are more relaxed. But I have a ton of room to grow--what a great spot to be.

Recently I took Jessi Stensland's excellent Swim-Bike-Run MovementU workshop. We did a lot during the eight-hour session (dynamic warmups, movement prep, movement sessions, regeneration and recovery & snack & lunch)!

I loved many things about learning with Jessi:
- She's passionate about her subject and about helping athletes of any level learn more about their bodies and how to move well for life.
- Most of the drills were new to me and I struggled with some. But Jessi had tons of cue points ready when I needed them. Small little points helping me find that mysterious midfoot or relax my back extensors.
- I was shocked when she immediately figured out the real issue I was having with box jumps wasn't the jumping motion itself, but instead I was worrying about the landing... how did she KNOW my secret fears?!

We focused on points of power and where power comes from in the body. First we looked at the pillar and stabilized our spine by:
1- Activating the Transverse Abdominus. This I could do. Last summer, Bob Seebohar had us contract our TVAs during his entire session at the USA Triathlon Coaching Clinic. And I do a lot of vacuums thanks to trainer Dustin Maher and his effective exercises. *See Dustin demo the vacuum.
2- Activating the external obliques to keep ribcage parallel to spine.
3- Extending through the thoracic spine, cue-push the top of the head toward the sky. I love this one, it feels good to lift up and decompress through my crunched neck area.

Jessi led us through many movements. My best test exercise was the clam shell. Like this with a mini band around the knees. I've always loved the clam shell, so I was happy to do it correctly without activating my ITband. Fire the glute!

The glute bridge test was difficult. Jessi worked with each of us on the bridge, making sure we could perform it with neutral spine. I can glute bridge all day but not with neutral spine. Other athletes moved on to glute marching, but I'm going to focus on the glute bridge for awhile.

If I can figure out how to activate and use my glutes, I'll be stronger & faster. Currently I'm working on body awareness on the bike and run, specifically thinking about those glutes. When I'm running I call it "firing up the caboose" and sometimes it makes sense I get it and can feel the difference. So for now, that's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

Basically I need to change from a stick-arm runner to a glute-charged athlete. I know I have LOTS of power in my glutes. When I can activate them & use them efficiently, it'll be a good thing. Thanks Jessi!

photo: the caboose from our train set.

Read more MovementU user experiences:
http://www.jeffcubos.com/2010/03/14/goingbacktoschool/

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14358-Dallas-Endurance-Sports-Examiner~y2009m12d7-MovementU

GLUTE BUILDERS:
- 3 Power Exercises to Strengthen Your Glutes from Inside Triathlon.

- From active.com Weight-room Workouts for Cyclists Part One. **I love deadlifts! And I'm encouraged to read in this article "deadlifts also strengthen the thoracic erectors, upper-back muscles that keep us more upright and pain-free from shoulder and neck problems due to poor posture." Double-bonus!

- 6x Ford World Ironman Champion Dave Scott talks about getting aero on the bike and how the glutes must be the firing system in this great active.com video.

- Rudy Garcia-Tolson fired his amazing glutes 140.6 miles in 2009 becoming the first double above-knee amputee to finish an Ironman. Read Lee Gruenfeld's profile of Rudy's race experience and turn to p. 58 of the April 2010 Triathlete Magazine for a profile featuring Rudy and his coach Muddy Waters. I'd love to meet Rudy one day, so inspiring!

- This research snippet looks at patterns of leg muscle recruitment in cyclists. There are 91 cycling-related items within the Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology's site.

photo: What a fun, great group of athletes! I hope to connect with you all again in the future. I'm second from the left, black coat, blue shirt.

Questions for You:
- Can you "fire up" the glutes?

- Do you love the clam shell?
- What's your favorite glute-builder?

Dunedin & Quinoa with Jessi Stensland & MovementU

*A classic family vacation memory with the RV in the background. I'm barefoot & in my pajamas.

Growing up we took many family road trips within our Winnebago, until it burned down on our way to Disney World... another story. My Dad drove that RV all over the country over mountain passes and across NYC bridges, often while we were still sleeping. During a trip to Florida, we stopped at a gas station to ask directions to a beach (pre-GPS era). My dad asked the man how to get to "Dune-din" and the man had no idea what my Dad was looking for. We didn't know the city was pronounced differently, like "du-NEED-in" vs "DUNE-din."

*Me roasting marshmallows, sometimes golden, sometime charred.

In similar word-confusion, I'd been searching for some darn Quinoa & having no luck! Months ago I read a post by Endurance Guy Toby & wanted to try out the recipe. I paced up and down the grocery store aisles (with 3 kids) looking for pasta in tiny little dot shapes. I tried the "special food" section, nothing. Where was this "quin-no-ah?" I didn't know what I was looking for, too bad I didn't google it. To find something it helps to understand what you're looking for.

And then, this mystery grain (wrong aisle!) shows up again, in Jessi Stensland's MovementU lunch!! See the MovementU menu here.

Photo of Jessi taken by me.

I LOVED Jessi's clinic (more on her content soon) and I'm encouraged to apply the concepts and movements I learned from her. And after gobbling up her snack & lunch, I had to find that yummy quin-oh-ah.

So, I went back to Woodmans and paced the aisles again. This time I checked both aisles of the "special section" and did a cheerleader-style "yes!" after finding the mystery grain. It's pronounced like "KEEN-wah". Later on I learned more about Quinoa from Ben Greenfield Fitness's guest Chef Todd in this session.

I picked up red pepper hummus, avo, ww wraps, spinach, oinion, evoo, sea salt, cherry tomatoes and actual red peppers to try and duplicate the MovementU wraps. I stuffed a little too much into my wrap, but yes it was very good. The next day I added Quinoa to the mix, and that worked too.

And while for now I'm content to let Active Toby climb highest mountains, I have run through the fields. And thanks to MovementU ... I have run, I have semi-crawled, and (while looking for Quinoa) I have scaled the grocery store walls. So I end with this--one of the best songs ever.



Watch on official U2 site

Questions for You:
- Did you know it was KEEN-wah?
- What's one of your best-ever songs?
- How do you like your marshmallows?

The Crazy Football Move & Help from Jessi Stensland

This winter I've enjoyed attending Dustin Maher’s Fit Fun Bootcamps. We do a mix of hi-intensity intervals with weights, core work and cardio. A few times this winter we did a simple looking exercise that I had trouble with.

You roll on your back in a football and next go into a standing jump. (The woman in this NBC15 news clip with Dustin demonstrates the exercise “jump up-roll back-jump up.”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGxPC_DvNXI&feature=player_embedded



To modify I could use my hands to help move from sitting to standing, but I still had issues. It was a little easier if I could cross my legs. I was thinking about the individual movements involved in this exercise and I thought of Jessi Stensland & MovementU. So I asked for help!
Sara: What MovementU principles or performance exercises would you apply to help me improve? I have tight hips and very tight Achilles tendons.

Jessi Stensland:
Great question Sara!!
I watched the video and then proceeded to do the exercise myself, since its not one I normally do. I did it, but it definitely took some body awareness as to what was going to get me through that motion properly. No matter what movement you want to do, whether the Jump Up-Roll Back-Jump Up or a proper running stride or pedal stroke, the same principles are going to help you perform the movement more efficiently and powerfully. We talk about all of this at MovementU. Here’s how I would apply it in this case.

In a nutshell:
1. Self-massage ‘tight’ soft-tissue (muscles, tendons, etc) to increase mobility of your joints.
2. Stabilize your spine with your abs.
3. Use your glutes.

You mentioned tight hips and Achilles tendons.
Before you even begin to move, you’ll want to do a bit of self-myofascial release (in other words, self-massage) to get the blood flowing and loosen up the tissues surrounding the joints. This way you’ll increase the range of motion in your hips before you even move. This can be done with a foam roller (TP Therapy’s new GRID is killer!) Take a couple of minutes (or more) rolling out some of the soft-tissue attached to your hips. Depending on how much time you have, roll out any/all of your lower back, glutes, quads, hamstrings, IT Band and even abdominals (I sometimes use my own hands for this.) Also, for your Achilles tendon, be sure to roll out your calf muscles as well. We review self-massage techniques in the recovery session at MovementU.

To increase the mobility in your spine a bit more, get on all fours and actively flex and extend your spine 5-6 times. The flexibility through your spine will affect your ability to get your body mass in the proper position over your feet, so that you can then push up strongly to reach the standing position.

Next, your ability to keep your spine stabilized is key. At MovementU we talk about this extensively. You want your abdominal muscles active throughout the movement. You’ll have a lot better control of the other parts of your body and get the most out of your muscular strength if you are able to do this.

A great way to train this is to practice maintaining a neutral spine throughout all of your movements both in life and training. To doing so, you must turn on your abdominals and you keep your back extensors relaxed. Here is a great article that explains neutral spine: http://fitnotes.net/neutral-spine-awareness-and-ma.html
Activate and strengthen your abdominals in the proper movement patterns during glute bridges, lunges and squat patterns (using single and double leg and varying depths…going as deep as you can while maintaining neutral spine.)

Once you stablize your spine in the movement, you’re going to want to rely on your prime movers, your glutes, to get you from that seated position to standing, and ultimately jumping. Your ability to use your glutes is key. Its another hot topic throughout the day at MovementU. You’ll want to make sure they’re working for you by activating them with those same exercises: the glute bridge, lunge-in-place or squat. The lunge is a great way to increase hip mobility and help you use your glutes at all ranges of motion, like you’re trying to do in this movement.

Tying it all together…to perform the Jump Up-Roll Back-Jump Up:

1. First, momentum and some abdominal strength will get your body into the first position. Your core abdominal muscles should be strongly engaged throughout the entire motion.
2. Next you’ll stabilize with the glutes as you start pushing through the heels, and continue using your glute strength, while still engaging your abdominals, as you roll from your heel to your midfoot and finally through your toes to perform the jump.
3. Ultimately your joint mobility, abdominal strength and glute strength will be the key players. Learn lots more about them all at MovementU!!
   
   Jessi Stensland is a professional endurance athlete and movement specialist. See class schedules at http://www.movementu.com/classes.html. Watch this short video to get a sense of what MovementU is like.
   

Questions for You:
1- Can you do the crazy football move?
2- Do you practice neutral spine?
3- What would you like to know more about from this post?

Thanks Jessi!! I can't wait to attend MovementU next weekend!

Pain in the Neck! :-(

A week ago I did something to my neck, and it hurts. I have limited mobility turning to look left and also leaning my head to the left. I've had a "sore spot" where my neck and shoulders meet for several years that I got when I started riding my bike a lot for IM training. But this new pain was on top of that old sore spot.

This morning I went back to Dr. Aberle, a Madison, Wis.-based Chiropractor who I used years ago. At that time I had mostly Graston Technique done. In addition to Graston, ART and other chiropractic treatments Dr. Aberle now offers Advanced Biostructural Correction (TM).

My body has many issues going on, I'll try to summarize correctly:

- my eyes are at different levels

- my mouth is at an angle

- my back teeth are higher than the front teeth (twist on different quadrant)

- my shoulders are rounded and tight

- my 1st ribs are pushed forward which limits my breathing

- my spine is missing its curves where it should be curved.

OK. This is bigger than a kink in the neck. I was surprised to see how working on my right

shoulder, arm and my right inner leg all helped relieve pain and give me more neck mobility.

I knew a little about fascia and its role in the body, so when Dr. Aberle spoke about its role in postural problems it made sense to me. To learn more watch this video - with the 3-D skeleton model it's easy to understand what's going on in the body.

It reminded me of professional triathlete and movement specialist Jessi Stensland and her experience with structural changes in her body and related performance. I remembered reading her post on active.com related to asymmetries and imbalances. Read it & check out the photos with examples! I'm attending Jessi's new MovementU clinic in March. I'm excited to learn more about my body and how I can start moving well!

My hubby and I met Jessi a few weeks ago when she was in town for a video production assignment. During the ride to dinner, my husband Ken said, "I used my abs once when running ... when I sneezed." Jessi totally cracked up in the back seat and said, "Can I use that?" Follow MovementU on twitter and you'll see Ken's quote.

Questions for You:

- What hurts?

- Tell me about your posture.

photo: public domain image

Meet an Athlete Escort & √ Out the Bike Count @ Ford Ironman World Championships

Thanks Jessi Stensland for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert. Tune in this Saturday for NBC's broadcast of the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships 4:30-6 EST. 96-second teaser preview here.

As triathletes we LOVE numbers! So of course it makes perfect sense to find The Bike Count at the Ford Ironman World Championships! Triathlete Magazine sponsors the count and many industry volunteers make the annual event possible.

#1 - Cervelo crushed the count again (462 up from 415 in 2008). My hubby's bike made top 4, mine top 12. In the Kona Count you'll also find tallies on wheels, helmets, saddles, aerobars, components, power meters, compression socks, footwear, speedsuits, apparel shorts, apparel tops and apparel suits. Find the list of top bike brands here.

The Bike Count takes place at bike check-in the day before raceday. I'd love to be a counter! And my hubby's CPA skills are top-notch! But until we land on the Big Island I'll follow active.com reporter Jessi Stensland and Alice, an athlete escort, as they take us through the check-in process here in this short video.

link here



On Topic:
Turn to p.146 of the Jan 2010 issue of Triathlete Magazine for the Kona Count.

In this series:
Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland
Rudy! @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Learn more about Stensland's day-long MovementU workshops here. Read @TriBoomer's MovementU report! He calls MovementU the "best day-long triathlon training clinic evah!" My hubby Ken and I are super excited for MovementU's Madison area class in 2010, dates to be announced soon!

Questions for You:
- How do you feel about numbers?
- Where does your bike brand fall in the count?

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman Islands.

♥ Rudy! @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Thanks Jessi Stensland for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert.

In anticipation of the Dec. 19th airing of the NBC Ford Ironman World Championships broadcast, I'll feature several of Stensland's active.com video features from Kona with bonus info from Stensland. She'll answer what it's like to be on site covering THE IRONMAN, what stories touched her most, what race day is like and more!

Rudy Garcia-Tolson
Two weeks before competing in the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships double-above-the-knee amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson got an infection in one of his stumps. He took the prescribed antibiotics and stayed off his feet--no running until race day for this 21-year-old triathlete. So Garcia-Tolson absorbed his latest challenge and continued prepping for 140.6 miles of Big Island decisions.

On the Thursday before race day Active.com reporter Jessi Stensland caught up with Garcia-Tolson to chat about his Kona experience and the BIG race! "I've always been a Rudy fan," says Stensland.

Click on Jessi's active.com Ironblog interview with Garcia-Tolson below:


video link

And watch NBC's Ford Ironman World Championships feature Dec. 19th from 4:30-6 EST. Preview here!

Questions for You:
- What's your top logistical challenge as a triathlete?
- Rudy calls swimming his passion, what is your favorite tri discipline?

On Topic:
Challenged Athletes Foundation: Rudy's story
Athlete: Lee Gruenfeld profiles the amazing Rudy Garcia-Tolson "the Torpedo."
Ossur: make Rudy's prosthetics
Scott Rigsby: first double below-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman on prosthetic legs. Read more about Rigsby here.
Sarah Reinertsen: first single above-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman (DNF in 2004, came back to finish strong and to win hearts in 2005).
Cheers also go to: Bob Babbit, Cherie Gruenfeld, Paul Huddle, PowerBar, David Bailey and Terry Martin for supporting Garcia-Tolson!

In this series:
Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Learn more about Stensland's day-long MovementU workshops here. Read @TriBoomer 's report from MovementU! He calls MovementU the "best day-long triathlon training clinic, evah!" My hubby & I are super excited for MovementU's Madison-area class in 2010! Details to come!

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman islands.

Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Thanks Jessi Stensland, for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert.
In anticipation of the Dec. 19th airing of the NBC Ford Ironman World Championships broadcast, I'll feature several of Stenland's video features from Kona with bonus info from Stensland. She'll answer what it's like to be on site covering THE IRONMAN, what stories touched her most, what race day is like and more!

Jessi Stensland is a storyteller.
"I like to capture life and stories," she says. "Those that are simply fun, that spread joy to the world and/or are inspirational and/or educational."

As part of her role at active.com Stensland has the pleasure of reporting from the Ford Ironman World Championships. "This year Kona was a lot of work but also a blast," she says. "Over the years I've realized how much more intricate of a process it is to really do it well, more efficiently and easily."

To produce each video feature Stensland needs: a vision for her topic, excellent supporting footage and the ability to engage her subject and to put him or her at ease. Stensland loves bringing out her subject's natural self while getting the story. She stays flexible too, giving the interviewee freedom to tell his or her story and letting the interview go where it needs to.

"I enjoy having a hand in all aspects of production: being on-camera, filming and editing," she says. "It's very helpful to know all three. While I'm on camera I'm also thinking ahead as to how useful the time I'm spending is, in relation to how I'll have to edit it later."

Creating a simple two-minute video from start to finish can take 90 minutes to produce. In addition to the actual interview time, Stensland must digitalize the video from tape to computer, make cuts and adjustments to the footage and audio, and insert pre-roll and title screens. Then the final piece is compressed, outputted and uploaded to the web site. More integrated features combining interviews, quotes, footage and music, can take 3-4 hours start to finish.

It's all a perfect fit for Stensland who loves sharing stories with the world. Video production takes her to new places where new faces wait to share their adventures with her. Keep up the good work Jessi!

Stay tuned for Stensland's features on: bike check-in, the Voice of Ironman Mike Reilly, Dig Me beach, Rudy Garcia-Tolson and race day!

Learn more about Stensland's day-long MovementU workshops here. Read @TriBoomer 's report from MovementU! He calls MovementU the "best day-long triathlon training clinic, evah!" My hubby & I are super excited for MovementU's Madison-area class in 2010!

Question for You:
- What's your dream job?

Also Read:
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman Islands.