Anti Depressants..... SSRI's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

I'm back... I know you missed me!

So good question.... Why is a trainer writing about this? What business is it of mine and how can I know much about this. Well the truth is i probably still don't know that much, but I am learning. What i have learnt so far has helped my clients so I thought I'd share.

A tiny portion of why I blog is to spread the word about what i do. Its a difficult thing for me sometimes being categorised as a Personal Trainer, because to many people,  that's just a sergeant major who gives you a kick ass workout with 100 press ups. This isn't me, and I feel I do so much more for my clients than just help them improve the way they look.

Working in the business district of central London has helped me work with a huge variety of clients, and as I've said, it doesn't matter the issue people come to you with, whether it's physical/nutritional/lifestyle etc..... Everyone just wants to lose weight, tone up and look better. 

I've had a lot of clients (sadly) on anti depressants and it's a growing issue, especially in America. Its estimated that 1/10 people in America is on Anti Depressants ( REF http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/astounding-increase-in-antidepressant-use-by-americans-201110203624)

Since 2002 there has been a lot of research on the adverse effects of SSRI's. Some include: liver failure (serzone, it was pulled from the market), breast cancer (paxil esp), suicidality and self harm (6x more likely on SSRI's), increasing violence and aggression (especially prozac), birth defects (40% increase), premature births (up 20%), still birth (2x), slowed growth, pulmonary hypertension (6x)...and more. Then there are the side effects that the manufacturers have admitted: sexual dysfunction and decreased libido, headache, nausea, jitters, fatigue, sleep disturbance, weight bain, anxiety, increased depression, mania and bipolar symptoms, lowered male fertility....and more.

Again this is just my take of things, from health perspective, and from the education I have given myself.

If you are on an anti depressant (Prozac, Celexa, Effexor, Paxil, Zoloft) or you are working with a client on them, then I strongly recommend reading the work of Julia Ross. She is one of the foremost experts I've read on the topic and helped me, help my clients, enormously. 

Now the first thing I do with my clients on anti depressants is to NOT try and take them off them, or say stop. This can create huge issues! People get hugely dependant on these, just to feel good each day of simply get out of bed. Taking this away suddenly can have drastic effects in every area of their life.

Julia Ross assesses people by a whole lot of fairly subjective criteria---the quality of the depression, is it negative or is it apathetic? She said that negative depression (obsessing, suicidal thoughts) is caused by low serotonin, whereas flat depression is caused by insuficcient catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine). The other two possible deficiencies she deals with are GABA and endorphine deficiencies. 

Anti Depressants work in many ways, but the way I follow is by keeping Serotonin in the brain, helping you to feel good. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that helps you feel good.

So this in essence is how the depressants work, they give you the Serotonin to feel good and if you suddenly stop that, people feel very bad!

Now Serotonin is an interesting neurotransmitter. It's made by the body in the sequence below....

L-Tryptophan -> 5 HTP -> Serotonin -> Melatonin 

I have Blogged this before so forgive me if I'm boring you!

So you can see that you make Serotonin from the Amino Acids, 5 HTP and L-Tryptophan. L-Tryptophan is found in Chicken, Turkey, Eggs... Basically protein sources. This is SUPER DUPER important people ...... You MUST intake quality protein sources in order to make these Neurotransmitters and feel great.

Now the flip side....

When you eat Carbs/sugars, the body releases Serotonin, and this in my opinion is one of the main reasons people get so addicted to Carbohydrates. The short term buzz they get helps them feel good but they can't make any more Serotonin from the Carbs. Enter... Anti Depressants.

Yes it's slightly extreme to link the 2 but every client I've seen on Prozac etc, is on a "low fat", zero meat, high carb diet and it makes them worse. Sugar is an addictive drug in itself and adding it to the drugs just exacerbates everything. 

I'm not writing this claiming to be Buddha, and suddenly eating Meat and not sugars, will completely heal the issue, but it's will help immensely and I've got the results with clients to prove it.  

Help your body to make its own Serotonin by eating more Grass Fed meats, healthy fats (did someone say Coconut Oil!) and the right type of natural sugars. Start to heal your gut and reduce inflammation in the body which will lower stress levels and help balance your hormones. Start Tai-Chi, Oi-Gong, go for walks, take time to yourself.... There is so much you can do but everything starts with a choice. And this is, for you to WANT to slowly come off the Anti Depressants and change your life.

It's a big, tough subject this. I hope I have given you some ideas and insight. Once again we see, that everything starts with Nutrition, Lifestyle and a positive attitude.  

Thanks for reading !

X

Marathon training .... On a Dreadmill

BIG congratulations to everyone who completed the London Marathon yesterday. Personally, long distance running is not my thing, but i can fully appreciate the amount of time and effort put in as i've trained a lot of runners competing, so well done!

2 tips that I want to give anyone who is thinking of doing it are - Do your training, when possible, on the road. Unless it's dangerous, bad weather, a new place where you don't know the route, try your best to avoid the Dreadmill. And the reason's.....

Have you ever run on a Dreadmill, stepped off, everything started spinning and it felt like the ground was still moving under you. That's becasue according to one side of your brain it was! Running on the Dreadmill use's a section of your brain called your Cerebellum, whilst running on the road use's a completely different section called your Vestibular system. This is because running on a Dreadmill is an Open Chain movement (which is where you can overcome the resistance of something). In the case of the Dreadmill, the ground is moving underneath you, whereas on a solid surface, you push of the ground.

This is a huge thing for your central nervous system and will change muscle recruitment patterns and your gait cycle, which can ultimately lead to injury when you train on the road.

One thing is see time and time again on Dreadmill runners, is that because the ground is moving underneath them they don't need to push off it ... Hence their hip's don't get into full extension ... which means their not getting contraction/supination of their glutes ... which means that other muscles/ligaments (IT-Band!?) will have to help supinate the foot and pick up the slack of the glutes ... which can lead to injuries and bio-mechanical issue's.

I've just spent another amazing weekend on Anatomy in Motion http://www.anatomyinmotion.co.uk/ in which we analyised gait cycle's, foot scan's and Dreadmill running, so i'm fortunate to have a lot of knowledge in this area. I'll be writing up about some of the things we found last weekend at AiM so stay tuned for that but for now, please take in what i have written.

Most people don't spend enough time outdoors and given that running on solid ground/road it much better for your body than the Dreadmill, here's another reason to get outside and exercise.

"I'll be back" .... soon! X

Poliquins Low HCL Stomach Acid Views..... A different thought!

I had the pleasure of meeting a new client yesterday. Came to see me with cervical spine issues and a fractured right fibula. But anyway, the really interesting bit is this....

He is a specialist Gastroenterologist who runs his own business, lectures, deals with intern's all day and has been doing this for 30 years! Now i'm a huge believer that when you meet someone like this, you should try and rinse them for every single bit of info they can tell you. Nothing rude or anything, but opportunities like this don't come along every day. So i started to question him about what i've read from Poliquin's website and articles. Please bear in mind hear that i think Poliquin is brilliant. Full stop! .... But, you can't just take everything people say as for definite & some of what he says doesn't make complete sense to me.

To summarise, what he honestly said to me was that he very rarely see's anyone with an issue of low HCL, if he does they are of old age, and when i showed him Polquin's articles he said they weren't correct and dangerous for him to be in this position of such educational power and putting out this kind of info.

Now i've got to say hear again (and i mean this), i'm not for a second slating Poliquin. Considering his track record with athlete's, the medal's they've won, the courses he runs, the info he gives for FREE & that he's massively improved this industry, i don't think you can slate him. Poliquin is a world class coach. All i want from this article is to give you all the idea, that you must think for yourselves. Just because someone says something, that doesn't mean its 100% accurate for everyone. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions, based on what you read, hear and think.

Here is an old excerpt that i read about 2 years ago, on exactly this, when i read it for the first time and did a bit of research for myself. Thanks for reading.

A Rebuttal to Charles Poliquin's Article on Stomach Acid.
Dr. Ralph Giarnella MD practices Gastroenterology in Southington, Connecticut.

T-Nation: Besides zinc and magnesium, what other deficiencies do those of us seeking muscle and performance need to worry about?

Poliquin wrote: The most common one, which actually causes zinc and magnesium deficiency, is hydrochloric acid (HCl) deficiency. Back when I was an undergrad many moons ago, they used to tell us that you lose about 1% stomach acid per year after the age of 40. Well, that's not true anymore because our high stress levels these days decrease HCl.

We did a study at our Chicago facility where we gave 160 clients an HCL test. Only two people passed it with a medium score; 158 had a horrendous score.

Giarnella MD: What kind of test did he perform? Hydrochloric acid is only present in the stomach when stimulated by the ingestion of meals (gastric phase) or in anticipation of eating (cephalic phase of stimulation).

Did they put a nasogastric tube into the clients stomach, stimulate them in such a way that the stomach would secrete acid and then suction the contents of the stomach to measure the amount of acidity present? When I was a Gastrenterology Fellow in training, we would measure gastric acid secretion by doing such a test. We used intravenous calcium infusion to stimulate the stomach to produce acid. We would then suction the entire contents of the stomach by way of a nasogastric tube and measure both the amount of fluid produced as well as the acidity. The last time I did that test was in 1976 one year before Tegamet was introduced.

Poliquin wrote: If there's insufficient hydrochloric acid, proteins will pass into the intestine and putrefy instead of being digested.

Giarnella MD: This statement is blatantly false. The vast majority of protein digestion takes place in the small intestine by way of enzymes secreted by the pancreas and these enzymes require an alkaline solution to function.
If the statement made by Poliquin were true the best diet pill in the world would be Nexium because it totally shuts down the stomach's ability to produce acid.

Poliquin wrote: Carbohydrates will also be left to ferment without adequate digestive enzymes from the pancreas.

Giarnella MD: Another false statement. Carbohydrates are primarily digested by enzymes contained in the brush border of the intestines. These enzymes not only do not need HCL but they work best in an alkaline solution.

Poliquin wrote: Fat digestion is also dependent on the acid's influence on the pancreas to secrete lipase and the gall bladder to secrete bile.

Giarnella MD: Another false statement. Neither lipase nor bile are stimulated by the presence of acid. The only substance produced by the pancreas that is stimulated by acid is Bicarbonate. Lipase and bile are stimulated by the presence of fat in the duodenum by way of a cholecystikinin.

If we were to believe Poliquin's statement that protein, carbs and fat cannot be digested without acid then the ideal weight loss pill should be Nexium. Nexium shuts down the stomachs ability to produce acid, therefore taking Nexium you should be able eat all the food that you want without fear of gaining weight, after all it will all end up in your colon and eventually down the toilet.

Poliquin wrote: Poor digestion of these macronutrients means poor absorption of our basic energy sources. Over the last four years, I've been amazed how a correction in HCL deficiency has led to not only dramatic improvements in physique and strength, but also improvements in a variety of health parameters. Interestingly enough, in strength-trained individuals those improvements are often associated with gains of 15 to 18 pounds of lean body mass within two months!

Why? They are now absorbing proteins and minerals.

Giarnella MD: I would be interested in testing how much HCL acid is really in the capsules Poliquin is giving his athletes. HCL is one of the most caustic acids. Only Sulfuric (battery) acid and Flouric acid are more caustic. Just a small amount of undiluted HCL in the esophagus can cause significant ulceration.

Poliquin wrote: Here are a few of the symptoms of low stomach acid:

belching or gas within one hour of a meal
bloating shortly after eating
bad breath
loss of taste for meat
nausea after taking supplements
brittle fingernails
undigested food in stool
foul-smelling stools
stomach pain
desire to skip meals
estrogen buildup
acne rosacea
depression

Giarnella MD: All false and unfounded statements.

Poliquin wrote: In the US, many experts estimate the deficiency to be in the range of 40 to 50%. Some gastroenterologists are now advancing that it is today�?�¢??s most under-diagnosed ailment.

Giarnella MD: I would like to know who these gastroenterologists are. I have attended national Gastrointestinal conventions, I read GI journals every day and I have never heard anyone state that HCL deficiency is a major problem. Amongst the most sought after and prescribed medications in the world are the Proton Pump inhibitors and H2 blockers better known as Nexium, Tegament and Zanctac. If HCL deficiency were a problem there would be no need for any of these medications

Poliquin wrote: There are a variety of medical tests you can get,

Giarnella MD: I would like to know what these tests are.

Poliquin wrote: but here's a simple test you can do at home (but I suggest you talk to a physician qualified in nutritional medicine before you try it). It requires a bottle of Betaine HCl, at 200 mg potency per capsule.

Giarnella MD: Betaine HCL is a methyl group donor that functions in the normal metabolic cycle of methionine and reduces homocystinuria in patients with inborn errors of methionine metabolism.

Uses

Homocystinuria

BetaineHCL is used in the management of homocystinuria, including forms of the disorder caused by cystathionine synthase (CBS) deficiency, 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) deficiency, or cobalamin cofactor metabolism (cbl) defect, and has been designated an orphan drug by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the management of this condition. Although betaine can correct biochemical abnormalities (e.g., reduce elevated plasma homocysteine concentrations) in these patients, the drug does not correct the underlying basic genetic disorder.

SIDE EFFECTS:
Nausea, stomach upset, or diarrhea may occur

Cost:
Approx. Price: $185 per 180Grams (source Medscape Drug search)

Poliquin wrote: Here's how it's performed:

Step 1: Have a high-protein solid meal (no shakes). Let's say for illustration purposes a 12-ounce steak and vegetables.

Step 2: Eat half the protein, roughly 6 ounces of the steak.

Step 3: Swallow a 200mg capsule of HCl.

Step 4: Eat the other half of the steak and the vegetables.

Step 5: Wait 15 minutes.

Step 6: If your stomach acid is normal, you'll feel like you just drank a hot cup of tea or feel a burn. If you feel nothing, you need HCl as a supplement.

So what do you do next? At every meal repeat steps 1 to 6, upping the dose one capsule per meal until you feel the burning sensation. So if it takes five meals to get a burning sensation, you need on average four capsules per meal. If you get to seven capsules and you have no burning, stop the test you're achloridic, meaning you have almost no stomach acid!

At our Phoenix center alone we've been doing over 250 tests a year for the last four years, and in that time I've never seen one person not need at least one capsule; the average person tested could feel it after five capsules. You're getting better when you start feeling a burn at your initial determined dosage. For example, if you found that five capsules was your initial need, you may find that three days later it starts to burn, so then you'd cut back to four capsules with a typical high-protein solid meal, and so on.

Giarnella MD: If the capsules noted in the above citation in fact do contain Hydrochloric acid then this is a very dangerous and possibly life threatening practice.

I have had patients who developed severe esophageal ulcerations caused by pills which remained in the esophagus too long. Just two weeks ago one of my patients had to be hospitalized and transfused several units of blood because he often would take his medications without drinking fluids. The pills in question did not contain Hydrochloric acid.

On another note, normal acidity of the stomach does not cause a burning sensation. I would be very concerned if anything you eat or drink causes a burning sensation. If there is in fact some HCL in those pills the patients may be developing gastritis (small erosions or ulcerations of the gastric mucosa).

I would love to perform and Esophogastro Duodenoscopy on these clients after they have ingested 5-6 HCL pills and felt a burn. Pass the Maalox please.

Poliquin wrote: Most people achieve normal levels within eight weeks even when they start at seven capsules, but some individuals take as much as 18 months. I have two clients who need two caps a day permanently. Why? Because neither one will ever escape their stress levels (one of them is a real estate mogul and the other is a highly accomplished author). Make sure that your HCL product also contains the probiotic pepsin and the digestive enzymes papain and pancreatin, as they have a synergistic effect with HCL therapy.

Giarnella MD: How would taking HCL pills restore the stomach ability to produce acid in 8 weeks or even 18 months?

Furthermore there is no evidence that stress causes achlorhydria. On the contrary under certain circumstances, which I will not elaborate here, extreme stress can cause stress ulcerations. Patients in the Intensive Care Units are often given acid suppressant drugs to prevent these stress ulcers.

Unless you suffer from chronic pancreatitis or small bowel disease such as Chron�?�¢??s disease there is not need for digestive enzymes. Just another useless supplement.

Poliquin wrote: In addition to the above HCL protocols, here are a few other suggestions to normalize your stomach acid levels. First, avoid carbonated drinks.

Second, avoid all-you-can-eat buffets, as they're America's leading source of food-borne pathogens. Finally, there are numerous herbs that can contribute to raising HCL, such as gentian, peppermint, and ginger, but
be aware that very few controlled studies exist on this topic.

I believe this is so important that my clients aren't given a supplement program until they get an HCL test. Remember, not only are you what you eat, you are what you assimilate!

Giarnella MD: Gastric acid and Pepsin are not critical to the digestion or absorption of foods.

Fibromyalgia! ..... (BIG word!)

Got a new client with Fibromyalgia today. It's a serious issue, causing Chronic Fatigue, disturbed sleep, adrenal fatigue, severe pain in most joints, large inflammatory response throughout the body, chemical imbalances, gut and immune system dysfunction....... Not good! It's estimated that 2.7 million people suffer with this (ref Publications.Parliment 2009).

I want you to read this and see how complicated some clients issue's are. I've been fortunate enough to have worked with a lot of clients in my career and so many people nowdays have serious health issue's. What i thought i'd do for you all is just show you the initial stages of my thoughts, my advice to the specific client, why i'm giving that advice and anything i feel you need to know. Hopefully it gives you a chance to see there's so much more to gym training than biceps curls and bench press. Plus, it gives me a chance to show off and use big words!

This particular clients is suffering with:
1. Chronic Fatigue
2. Very bad sleep
3. Depression
4. Severe pain throughout most joints
5. Worn away right knee cartilage
6. IBS...!!!
7. Bad stomach pains
8. Large amounts of stomach bodyfat (the client feels they have fat too much weight here)
9. Back pain on left side of lower back

(On a personal note, i really feel for the suffering they have and the client was in tears during the consultation)

Physical Static Assessment showed:

1. Stiff right calcanius
2. Right foot arch lower
3. Right hip rotation
4. Left shoulder hip hike
5. Rotoscoliosis (right side higher)
6. Shoulder Protraction
7. Gut distension
8. Forward head posture
9. Atlas subluxation

The client has been advised by the GP and Nutritionist to:

• Do no exercise
• Avoid dairy
• Eat a lot of Vegetables
• Use Soy milk and Soy protein
• Take a Vit D supplement
• Lastly, that the issue couldn't be cured.

Clients Goals:

1. Obviously to reach homeostasis and be Fibromyalgia free
2. Lose weight, reduce stomach bodyfat and tone up.

Now, i can't be bothered to sit here and slam the advice given. Rather focus on trying to be a touch more positive. I have also been provided with current eating plan.

I will not be detailing the exercise program here as it's all individualised to each specific client, and of course i want to protect my clients anonymity. It doesn't matter what the clients issue is, they could have a leg falling off and be walking round in circles! All they want is to lose weight and tone up &, quite honestly, this is something i find very sad about modern society. Very few people put their health first!

So here are my initial thoughts and advice to this client;

• Everything begins with nutritional work. Everything!
• I believe Fibromyalgia to originate in the Gut. Studies show a large overlap between Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Fibromyalgia. A major finding is a connection involving overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine producing gases like hydrogen and methane. These gasses cause intestinal bloating and widespread pain in the body by lowering the pain threshold.
• Bin the Soy and slap whoever told you to consume it. Soy promotes estrogen, which blocks T4-T3 conversion therefore lowering metabolism, which leads to hypothyroidism, which leads to weight gain, and gives off the same "tired" symptoms as Fibromyalgia.
• According to Michael Gershon in the book The Second Brain, “70-80% of the bodies immune system is in the GALT system of the gut!”, and problems with the gut are thought to be the first initial causes of a lot of modern diseases such as cancer. So you REALLY want to take care of your gut
• Begin with the 4R gut healing protocol (Remove, Replace, Reinnoculate, Repair). This is in Paul Chek's book " How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy". I'll write about this in more detail in another blog.
• Start on an HCL deficiency protocol to boost Hydrochloric Acid in the stomach which will help ability to absorb nutrients. My client was asked to take Vit D, well what i'm asking is WHY are they deficient in Vit D. Could be because they are not breaking down and absorbing what they are eating. See this links for more here http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/27/Maximize_Your_Progress_with_Hydrochloric_Acid.aspx

• For the nutritional work i will be following an entirely natural eating plan. Mostly following the advice given in the book ..... http://www.gutandpsychologysyndrome.com/ .... which goes into detail about how many issue's (such as ADHD, IBS etc) are caused by gut issue's from eating the worng foods for your body. I have also instructed my client to start reading it.
• On this note, immediately stay away from any Gluten or Lactose food groups, and only organic Meat, Vege, Fruit for the next month. A definite no, are sugars and starches as small intestinal bacteria ferment carbohydrates into gas which as i explained above, cause widespread pain.
• A food intolerence test ..... http://www.yorktest.com/en/our-tests/product-information/FoodScan113Programme.html?ProductID=2 
• They have also agreed to run a Adrenal and Hormone profile. Being estrogen dominant inhibits T3-T4 conversion and slows down the metabolism so i want to check whether this is the case. But Cortisol also blocks the conversion of T4 - T3 and running on Cortisol from being chronically stressed can cause some of these symptoms to. Also want to check for any stage of adrenal fatigue because this can also cause Chronic Fatigue.
• Raise Serotonin! This is a biggy! Serotonin can help to stimulate the endorphins which work with sedative receptors that are known to relieve common pain. What you don't do here is take a Serotonin supplement or anti-depressant. You just start with the  pre-cursors to the chemical/neurotransmitter you need. So in this case we are talking L-Tryptophan! Our bodies make Serotonin from 5-HTP, which is made from L-Tryptophan. You can find L-Tryptophan in chicken, turkey, cheese, eggs. Our bodies cannot make enough Serotonin and 5-HTP and most people do not get enough L-Tryptophan as they consume to little meat/protein and too many carbs.

Longer term, we will be looking at reducing stress and helping my client to take more time to themselves as being in a constant Sympathetic Nervous System state places continuous demands on eevry system in the body which will eventually break down

Thanks for getting to the end. I know this topic won't apply to many of you but i appreciate you reading it. Hopefully you can see from here that i do know a thing or 2 about the body but what i want you to see most of all...... is how complicated some clients are and how much thought goes into it. If this client trained with someone who didn't know about this and was then made to do drop sets on Squats, bad-ass Tabata training and basically smashed them in the gym, they'd be made MUCH worse!

The gym is a very small part of looking great, feeling great and being great!

Thanks!
B

Quick thanks :-)

My page had loads more hits on it today... so thank you Jade!

Had a couple of responses on the Coconut Oil question, and i've had this repeated over the last few years with clients. It seems ingrained in people that saturated fat kills, cholesterol kills and you will get Calcium from drinking the milk you buy in supermarkets. Wrong on all counts!

Look i 100% agree that the saturated fat you find in some meats, which are fed GRAINS, is a crappy form of saturated fat that could clog your arteries but there's so much current research done on the benefits of saturated fat/Coconut Oil, that i think this is becoming harder to miss.

As with the Ray Peat work i posted on my L-tryptophan blog (go and read it). Ray isn't keen on ANY polyunstaurated fats for consumption and he has unbelievable science knowledge and experience to back him up! I mean this is quite a hardline to take but i personally feel the guy is way ahead of his time and gradually you'll start to see a lot more of this info come out in the public domain.

But the main point i want to make here, apart from thanks for reading, is don't take my word for it. I promise I research what i write here, it's come through my continued education, the hours i've spent reading, studying, learning and my love for the human body..... but, i want all of you to educate yourselves as well. Check these topics, read about them and get back to me.

If you choose not to, to ignore it or just say i'm talking rubbish or it's wrong, then you will lose out on the chance to take control of things, look, feel & perform better. But i know you don't want that......

Thank you!

The ATLAS Bone

Ladies & Gentleman, take a look at this bad boy of a bone. The Atlas Bone!

Always sounds to me like some Greek porn film, but this bone(r) is very important to you and that wonderful body of yours.

Have a look at the pic I stole from Wiki just for all of you. Actually a great little pic this and I think it can help you understand how any issue’s with the Atlas can effect your body. Now you’re looking at the back of the neck/cervical spine, right below the base of the skull. As you can see the Atlas is quite a wide bone and in a lot of clients I see (nearly all) the Atlas has been shifted out of place on them. The technical, or Chiropractic, term for this is a subluxation. Now the Atlas can shift sideways, flex up and down, rotate, do all 3, just one, etc. Point is it can move around into various positions.

Now just think about the positioning of this bone. Considering it’s location at the top of the neck/just below the Occipital bone. All the nerves that activate the muscles of the body have to run down through here to do their job. There are also ligaments, tendons and muscles that attached onto the Atlas itself, such as the subocciptal muscle, rectus minor muscle, inferior oblique muscle, plus also the Vertebral Artery.
So where I’m going with all this science info…..

So if the Atlas gets Subluxed out of position, it can literally block the nerves down one side of your body from working properly and also change all the muscles lengths down both sides of the body, like a bad domino effect. I’ve seen personally with clients who have very poor grip strength that an Atlas adjustment, instantly improves their grip by a huge amount. The body is connected, so you change one thing, you change the whole thing.

What I’ve also had with clients is that they’ve come to see me when they’ve been in pain for years and their Atlas has been overlooked as the root cause of the problem. It makes sense to me to start looking here if there are problems (particularly with the upper section of the body) as a change here, even small, can have much larger implications on your body.

I’ll be writing more about this topic soon, so make sure you check here soon. Just realise the Atlas can literally change the alignment of your entire body. Bottom line, if you've had headache's neck pain, eyesight issue’s, arm pain, shoulder pain, lower back pain… it could be coming from your Atlas!

B

P.S. Just in case you ask….. this is the guy I use with clients to re-align the Atlas. He is fantastic!  http://www.sportscareuk.com/chiropractic-london.html

Coconut Oil

Organic, extra virgin oils are great for your health, you already know this. Now Extra Virgin Olive Oil is good, but easily the best is Extra Virgin Coconut Oil!
Here are some PubMed links to research done (mainly for justification so you don't just have to take my word for it)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22164340

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20645831

Now i'm waayyy behind with this news, in fact i've been using Coconut Oil for about 4 years after reading the fantastic book "The Coconut Oil Miracle". The bottom line with what i'm going to write is.... You should be using Coconut Oil everyday!

Now, because i'm so nice, i'll summarise what i tell my clients with regards to beneficial info so you don't have to read through 50 paragraphs & can finish reading all the other blog's i'm sure you follow.

Ben loves Coconut Oil because.....

1. Its reduces Inflammation in the body by raising HDL cholesterol.
2. Its the only oil you should cook with, as the Hydrogen bonds in it don't de-nature at high heat. ALL other oils (olive oil, vegeatble oil) do de-nature. So you end up consuming rancid oils which can break down the wall of the gut lining and cause gut issues and inflammation. Bad times!
3.A study in the Cook Islands, showed the people their got 50% of their daily calories from saturated fat, mainlty Coconut Oil, and they had a big decrease in heart problems and lived longer than expected. Are you seeing the recurring theme here Sherlock.....
4. Yes Coconut Oil is made up almost entirely of saturated fat, but no thats not a bad thing! This is because of the Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). These quite wonderful fatty acids have been shown to stimulate the metabolism, improve Thyroid function, improve digestion, strengthen the immune system, and protect against bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, as well as protect the heart and arteries from the conditions that cause heart disease. Boom!
5. Coconut oil has also been used to enhance utilization and retention of calcium and magnesium.
6. Osteoporosis (which in my opinion occurs mostly though Hormonal problems, Cortisol production and sugar) can be helped then as both the above are massively benefical for this disease. As the Coconut Oil improves mineral absorption.#
7. People suffering from B vitamin deficiencies have been helped simply by giving them coconut oil as it enhances the absorption of the vitamins already in the food.
8. Struggling to make it 10........ :-) It is used medicinally in special food preparations for those who suffer digestive disorders and have difficulty digesting fats. For this reason, it is also used for the treatment of malnutrition.
9. Coconut Oil is not stored as fat by the body (as most healthy fat is not) and is instead used for fast energy by the body.
10. It is a fantastic moisturiser...... but don't tell anyone i use it for that!!
11. Well happy i made it to 10.

UPDATE: My laptop and phone are currently dead. As in, completely! So please stick with me, once they're up and running i'll be heading hardcore into exercises, the best, the worst, how to do them, best combinations, best rep range's, new ones, old ones, etc. Contact me with any questions. See you very soon!

B

High Fat vs Low Fat, Soya & Weston A. Price

It's official..... i've hit rock bottom! Using the Daily Mail is very low i know, but, the info here is worth reading and i love all my millions of blog readers so much i'm willing to take all the abuse for using such degradable sources

Have a read boys and girls:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2105132/Damn-low-fat-diet-How-reformed-vegan-John-Nicholson-gorges-foods-granny-enjoyed--felt-better.html

I may write about some of the topics in here in more detail at a later stage but take some of that article in. Admittedly with a pinch of salt (Celtic Sea Salt of course), but i like stuff like this as when good info reaches commercial sights people believe it more easily, sad but true, and it shows we're getting the message through!

Points for you from me,

• Soy is genetically modified shit!
• Personally, i wouldn't eat fermented Soy either.
• Soy contains trypsin inhibitors which block protein absorbtion
• Soy is a GM food and sprayed with a milllion pesticides which are phytoestrogen's and used as Estrogen by the body. Never a good thing!
• And read all you can by the Weston A Price Foundation. Learned this when i studied at the CHEK Institute in San Diego and

http://www.westonaprice.org/

Thanks for reading!

A small part of my take on Tryptophan + Ray Peat extract on his article entitled "Tryptophan, serotonin, and aging"

Tryptophan is important for people. Its an amino acid found in foods such as seafood, chicken, turkey, & spinach (yes spinach). We need Tryptophan as it helps make other chemicals/neurotransmitter's in the body. It goes like this:

Tryptophan > 5-HTP > Serotonin > Melatonin

So you can see you need Tryptophan to make your Serotonin and Melatonin (which is your sleep hormone). problem is that many people don't have enough quality, grass fed meats in their diet (or spinach) and become low on Tryptophan. You see, thats a problem for me as it can help you feel good and i've worked with numerous clients who need a lot more quality meats in their nutrition.

But there a slight catch........

While Tryptophan is important, an over adundance by consuming too many crappy Tryptophan supplements, can cause problems in the body. I'll let the one and only, Ray Peat explain

"Malnutrition, and specifically protein deficiency, produces an inflammatory state that involves extreme serotonin dominance. Stress or malnutrition prenatally or in infancy leads to extreme serotonin dominance in adulthood. Other functions of tryptophan are reduced, as more of it is turned into serotonin"

"The fatigue produced by “over-training” is probably produced by a tryptophan and serotonin overload, resulting from catabolism of muscle proteins and stress-induced increases in serotonin. Muscle catabolism also releases a large amount of cysteine, and cysteine, methionine, and tryptophan suppress thyroid function (Carvalho, et al., 2000). Stress also liberates free fatty acids from storage, and these fatty acids increase the uptake of tryptophan into the brain, increasing the formation of serotonin. Since serotonin increases ACTH and cortisol secretion, the catabolic state tends to be self-perpetuating. This process is probably a factor influencing the rate of aging, and contributing to the physiological peculiarities of aging and depression"

Here is a link to Ray's page http://raypeat.com/

Fantastic extract from Ray Peat on Tryptophan and Serotonin. I won't be posting loads of stuff about nutrition as there's so much info out there already but people who know a lot more than me. But, you (my advid reader) may not know where to look and who to trust.

Ray Peat is brilliant. God he's deep, and his articles take 100 times to read due to length and detail, but he's really ahead of his time and knows his stuff inside out... and backwards... and probably in Zulu!

This article (which isn't owed by me nor my own work) details how taking Tryptophan supplement can cause a lot of problems.

Bottom line, get your Tryptophan from the proper nutritional sources and you will look and feel a load better!

Shoulder Rehab Exercises

Shoulder Rehab exercises!

Here are a few floor exercises to help improve strength & stability in your shoulder. Of course they are Closed Chain Upper Extremity Exercises.

Don't focus so much on the specific exercises, but more on the certain technical points behind them.

Let's take the 4 point Horsestance exercise above with me bent over like I love it....

Hands under shoulder, thoracic spine extended, slight anterior lumbar curve, etc etc, but here's the key! Notice... The Humerus (upper arm bone) is externally rotating at the glenoid humeral joint, i.e. The elbow is pointing back, not rotated to the side. This helps to activate the scapula retractors, which in turn helps to stabilise the shoulder joint.

Most of you will feel this in your triceps which isn't bad but the place you really want is the upper back musculature. Make sure you retract your scapular to help this but externally rotating the humerus will help with this.

I can't stress how crucial this bit of technique is! Without it the humerus is internally rotating, scapula will wing, shoulder may protract & you'll be hurting your shoulder. Fantastic example of how one small change in technique can make a huge difference to an exercise and help you get the most out of it!

It also apply's to the press up/push up/whatever you call it! 2 points here
1. The further your elbows abduct, ie move from your ribcage the more pressure through the glenoid humeral joint. So i recommend keeping your elbows close to the body
2. Again, making sure you externally rotate the humerus will activate those scapular retractors & provide shoulder stability. Ya get me!

The scapula much prefers to work in the sagittal plane (But that's another blog entirely), so the more frontal plane you go and abduct the scapula, the more you risk hurting your shoulder!

I see so many numpty's doing Open Chain resistance band exercises for their shoulder rehab and getting nowhere. Don't be another numpty!

B

Forgot to say.... Welcome to my first blog!

My 1st Blog!

So happy to be doing this & so happy you're here reading this. Thankyou so much for coming to my blog, I want you to check on my updates regularly, follow me on Facebook, read all the info, practise, tell all your mates, get them to tell all their mates & spread the word about this.

You are about to learn about a great passion of mine..... The body! I've been working with the body for nearly 9 years now & every day it fascinates me as it always has.

I want to write this blog to spread the word about the work I do, to teach some of the amazing info I've been fortunate to learn & learn even more from the questions you may have! ( so don't be afraid to contact me)

Stay tuned!

Rehabbing YOUR Shoulder!

Rehabbing YOUR Shoulder!

There could be a million reasons for shoulder pain and getting to the root cause is a learned skill. Let’s start with a simple, and very common issue.

Scenario: Mr Pecs 2012 is getting severe shoulder pain bench pressing 1000KG for the 4^th time that week. Shock!

                            

Now lets start with the basic info. If you train a muscle more than its opposing group (i.e. chest and back), it will cause an imbalance & create a change in joint angles. This changes posture & causes pain as that joint isn’t where it’s supposed to be.

Getting slightly more technical…

Most of these cases will involve some form of Thoracic Kyphosis/flexion of the middle to upper spine. Thoracic flexion will shift that shoulder joint out of position, impinge the joint and cause pain. So you can do all the back training you want, pound the resistance bands and train your Rotator Cuffs until you turn blue…. But it won’t help, until you correct the Thoracic Kyphosis which is protracting the shoulder and causing the pain

To Rehab your Shoulder, you need:

1. Thoracic Extension
2. Condition the scapular retractors
3. Which you do through CLOSED CHAIN UPPER EXTREMITY EXERCISES……BOOM!

A closed chain movement is one in which you can’t overcome the resistance of something. An Open Chain movement is when you can overcome the resistance of something. So during a press up, you can’t push the ground away from you, you push away from the ground. That’s a closed chain movement. Walking is closed chain as you push away from the ground with your legs.

• So is the bench press Open or Closed Chain??

Yes, you were correct! It’s Open Chain as you are overcoming the resistance

Are internal/external arm movements with the dyna-band Open or Closed Chain?

• Correct again (wow you’re a natural), it’s an Open Chain movement ….. And that’s the problem with it!

WARNING, BIG WORDS: During a Closed Chain movement the distal section of a joint is fixed and the proximal section is moving. Distal is the section furthest away from the body and proximal is the closest section, i.e. when you walk the bottom bit of your thigh bone (femur) is fixed, whilst the top of it moves of the bottom bit.

This is so important for shoulder rehab as if the proximal section is working, you will be conditioning the scapular retractors, which helps to stabilise the scapula, which in turn will give it extra mobility and help the healing process speed right up.

Examples of good exercises for this are;

1. Press Ups
2. Swiss Ball Jacknife
3. Planks
4. Horsestance
5. 4 Point TVA Activation
6. Chin Ups
7. Scapjacks

Using the resistance bands to rehab the shoulder DOES NOT work. You need stability of the joint, to gain mobility. Resistance bands try and gain mobility first without the joint being stabile.

Now I do have a specific way of doing the above exercises to help the shoulder even further which I’ll post tomorrow (you lucky people!)

There are tons of reasons for shoulder pain, but if you’ve been suffering, you’ve started treatment and you’re looking to start exercising with it again, start with CLOSED CHAIN UPPER EXTREMITY MOVEMENTS.

B