Injuries from training come in all forms and travel the spectrum of severity.  Major injuries aside (muscle tears, spinal complications, etc) the most common injury in the gym is the muscle strain.  Strains typically arise from overworking a unconditioned muscle group, poor mechanics, or can simply surface due to overtraining – all of which can be remedied by taking caution and action immediately after the stain.

Unfortunately, all too often I see a simple strain reap considerable havoc on an individual because the rehab of the injury was carelessly handled or ignorantly intensified – a simple strain that could have been remedied in a couple days instead lasts weeks and promotes muscular and postural distortions that can lead to other issues. Here are helpful strategies to consider:

1.  Don’t try to stretch your way to a healthy state – Muscles that are strained try to protect themselves by shortening slightly as a response to trauma.  Immediately trying to stretch the muscle will only cause an already shortened muscle to overstretch and possibly worsen the strain to the level of tearing.  Strained muscles would rather be left alone for a short time, as stretching immediately is far too volatile. Furthermore, the onset of the strain will not show it’s true colors immediately: think of a bruise, you don’t know it’s severity until the next day.  Don’t go making things worse by stretching what you’re not aware of just yet.

2.  Ice is always best – Inflammation is a protective physiological response to injury.  Typically it’s a beneficial response at first but the increase in water volume in and around the injury will continue to decrease mobility of the area, which continues to stretch the muscle fibers and possibly increase the damage. Icing doesn’t have to be cumbersome – 2-4 treatments/day at 8-10 minutes/treatment should suffice to decrease inflammation to a large degree.

3.  Heat is not the first remedy – Heat should only be used after the majority of inflammation subsides, so the 24 hour rule of applying heat isn’t always relevant.  Heat will help re-introduce circulation to the injury and therefore decrease rehab time.  Furthermore, a little heat will help when it’s finally time to gently stretch the area – warm muscle fibers are obviously more mobile and malleable.

Last blog I discussed ordering breakfast at IHOP and the issue surrounding the quality of ‘turkey’ bacon as opposed to pork bacon.  It dawned on me that many people are likely not privy to the power of assertiveness when attempting to order a quality (fairly lean meal).  The following are some ideas to keep in mind:

1.  Egg whites are almost always available if there already an option for ‘egg substitute.’  If your looking to minimize fat in your egg product then egg whites are likely the best alternative.  Again the concern here is CONTROl of your order.  For example, you’re likely able to control the fat content of your egg whites much more efficiently than you are the pancakes that accompany your meal.  Think in terms of sparing fat from one part of your meal to allow for it in another part of your meal.  Additionally, egg whites VS egg substitute will contain greater quantity of protein by volume.

2.  Don’t be afraid to ask for ‘no oil’ or as little oil as possible when making your eggs.  Generally cooks don’t like this because it’s much easier to make a scramble with copious amounts of oil and the eggs don’t stick to the fry pan.  If you stipulate when ordering that you understand the eggs won’t look great with no oil, and if you’re nice when asking, the server will likely pass on your concern for fat to the cook as you directed.

3.  If ordering pancakes, toast or anything else where butter is used as a condiment, assume first the the butter will be on the food when it comes to the table.  And if the food is hot, that butter will have already melted into the food.  Simply ask for no butter on everything in a nice way.  If you want to use butter then you now have the control of portion sizing.

4.  There have been many times I’ve asked for no oil used in cooking my egg whites, only to have them literally swimming in oil or butter.  Instead of irritating the cook and asking for another order the way you’ve asked you can simply lay out a number of napkins and press the eggs into the napkin to soak up the oil.  This process might turn some heads but it’s much better than eating some eggs with your oil.

Always keep in mind that politeness goes a long way when making special requests with your order!!

This morning my wife and I went to IHOP (don’t cringe, u can actually create a decent breakfast meal if you’re assertive) for breakfast.  While determining our selections my wife commented that she would get the two eggs and bacon (turkey bacon) because it was turkey bacon and it was obviously better than pork bacon.  Her comment was more like a question to me, as I’m the Nutritionist in the family and according to her I know all.  To her dismay I was against the choice.  This was my reasoning:  we’re in a restaurant and we can’t assume that they’re purchasing choice in a quality (lean) style turkey bacon is a reality.  After all, it’s a restaurant and they’re looking at they’re bottom line all the time.  If it were an outstanding lean turkey bacon they would have labelled it so on the menu.  Furthermore, just because it’s ‘turkey’ doesn’t mean that it’s lean, or at least as lean as pork bacon.  Again, because we’re in a restaurant we don’t have the control of knowing the cut so we must assume it’s the cheapest (most cost efficient) and thus not as health as other cuts.

My point is this.  After all this time, living with a nutritionist, having answers to nearly all her questions and being a competitor herself, my wife is still confused from time to time.  Confusion is totally understandable!  The industry, media and health professionals don’t always see eye to eye on trends or factual tid-bits, thus we get conflicting information continuously.  Use your instincts to guide your choices – typically you’re going to be right.

I’ve been so scattered lately posting about my wife and her contest prep.  I should have taken advantage of the first four weeks after our move to El Paso – I had time to unpack most of the house (spare bdrm is still a mess), and set up our backyard pool area with speakers and tend to my landscaping.  For the most part that’s been about the extent of the leisure.  Since then my business, Built in El Paso, has nearly quadrupled, I’ve created another aspect of Built where I cook the meal plans that I’ve designed for my clients (now shopping and in the kitchen nearly 10-12 hours/wk), ran a Groupon ad that was extremely worthwhile, started cooking all my meals for my wife for her contest prep,

co-hosted a competitors clinic and ran the entire live broadcast for the 2011 West Texas Classic in Lubbock last weekend with my wife.  My wife continues to get up at 4:00 AM for work and arrives in the gym everyday at 4:30 to train with me for an hour, then spends another hour on the tread at home.  When she’s not working (10 hour days)  she’s updating the NPC Texas website and uploading all the pics and video for the recent contest we just ran the live feed for or helping me with my website updates or uploading video or pics – not to mention hanging with our son.

I’m not complaining, I love to be busy and honestly work well under a fair load of stress.  The problem is Sondra’s lack of sleep and our lack of time with our little boy Cooper.  Sondra is moving in a very positive direction and is only about 7-9 lbs out of contest weight.  She continues to lean up, gain strength in the gym and trains harder with each session. It’s great to see her text every third or fourth morning describing the new muscle or separation she’s seeing in the mirror in the morning when she’s driest.  She really is such a competitor, loving the entire process and always communicating with those showing interest or experiencing the process that she’s going through.  My hat is tipped to Sondra for keeping her head high and dealing with my continuous pushing in the gym, with hydration or eating on time.

Keep it all up baby, it will pay off on stage and you will be incredible!!!

Since posing is such a large part ofprep starting at the 10-week point, I thought itwould be fitting to re-iterate to Sondra that she can be an incredible poser and has proven just that in previous contests.
Sondra is learning a whole new approach to posing, namely the “T-Walk”, as defined in Figure America posing rules. And based on what she learned yesterday at the Fitness NM Celebrity Prep Camp, there doesn’t seem to be too many rules governing the way she presents herself in this T-Walk other than the basic shape of such a walk and some minor details of addressing the judges and callout movements. I will have to research some video of the Universe top amateurs doing their stuff to assess what she can get away with.

This is always the issue when switching organizations – in this case, NPC to Figure America where I know NPC like the back of my hand. The structure and simplicity of NPC posing rules promotes a large sense of sanctity while Figure America allows for more personality and thus my perceived ambiguity in posing rules. Then again, I’m just not familiar with the later so it’s obviously foreign to me.

Anyway, take not of your pic here Sondra. This is a near-flawless pose honey, largely based on your perception of self for this contest – a plain fact that feeling great about the body you present prompts an incredible presentation. Rest assured, we will create that same feeling for this May show!

For those of you new to Figure (or any other physique format for that matter) and wondering when you should start posing for your contest, I would suggest starting when dieting commences (somewhere around the 16-20 week mark). It’s always better in your first contest to start early and get a solid grasp on it then wait until the last minute, have a great physique and unfortunately present it poorly because posing was an afterthought in your prep.

Quick post about how my wife busted it today in the gym.  Shoulders, bi’s and abs today and I can honestly say that she took it all and handled it.  My relentless mentality toward intensity hit an all-time high with her today when she got under the bar for push presses and though I could see she was scarred and insecure of her abilities she took it all and gave some back.  It’s pretty fun being able to treat your wife like one of your hardcore male training partners and push her to the limits and beyond.

Thanks baby for training so hard, being an incredible student and training partner and for inspiring me!  I know we will go far once again and I can’t wait to watch your little body grow and change and see that fantastic showmanship that you present when you know you’re at your best.

So it seems as though I ruffled feathers with my Beware of False Claims post yesterday and the proposed idea that I may have been irritated, took offense, was aggressive with my message or was just plain arrogant.  I apologize to anyone who may have construed my message accordingly!  I wrote a response to a paraphrase of a message instead of hearing the message for myself.  I have my suspicions that interpretation is the culprit here and I should have  clarified the original message before responding to it – that was my mistake.

My wife is always enthralled in her contest process and thus becomes involved in the many social networks that include others striving for her same goal.  My wife has the benefit of living with a Nutritionist who can address in great detail (often times entirely too detailed and chemical for her liking) anything related to her process.  Furthermore, my wife has many years of competitive experience with me and realizes that I’m not credible just because I’m her husband – I’ve earned it as her coach.  My attempt to contribute the the nutritional/fitness education of others is my nature, it’s my profession and my passion.

The fact is, I heard something that sounded faulty and like I said, people often run with anything that is different that what they’re currently doing (especially if they are finding poor results).  New competitors often flip flop too often and get increasingly confused when the information continuously contradicts itself – always striving to find that magic solution to contest prep.  My original post was an attempt to inform people that suffixes in professional titles don’t always correlate to valid statements, that articles in magazines aren’t always legitimate, that what worked for your friend in his or her contest prep may not work for you and most importantly that textbook nutrition doesn’t always apply to real life, extreme athletics.

For the record, my wife wasn’t alarmed with the claim I wrote about, though she obviously brought it to my attention in hopes that I would respond to it.  The bottom line is: take in all the information out there and see what works for you.  Everyone is different and each of us respond to the nutritional demands and physical stressors of contest prep differently.  Every competitor will agree that the hardest part of contest prep is continuously adjusting to the ever changing demands of your body in hopes to find the same or better outcome each time.  Train hard, eat consistent and good luck to all – your struggles and commitment are inspiring!!

As we enter the critical time of contest prep I’m feeling pretty confident in Sondra’s ability to pull this off and look very presentable on stage.  Her weight isn’t where I thought it would be (thought she’d be into the 130′s by now and she’s a couple pounds away) but I’ve never had much interest in weight for any of my competitors and have always gauged their progress on look and body comp.  Plus, Sondra is training entirely different this time around and I suspect the fat loss is optimal but the volumization and lean tissue increases are prompting the slower drop in weight.

I will comp her again tomorrow morning – really for my own curiosity to see if my above instincts are valid – but I know she’s dying to know as well, as I think she has a hard time reading me many times and interprets my sometimes relaxed or introverted opinion of her progress as negative.  She often times looks to me, as many athletes do of their coach, for validation that all the bullshit we put them through is really paying off and not really a waste for all that they sacrifice.  Though I’m always very supportive when she’s giving 100% I do have a tendency to remain subdued in my interpretation of her proposed contest look and I think that frustrates Sondra to some degree, or at least makes her feel behind in her prep.  Anyway, we’re going to be great on May 21st!!

There’s a star-studded caste of professionals talking this year at the 2011 West Texas Classic. Jennifer Rankin, Crystal King, Jen Cook and myself will offer a competitor clinic before the competitors meeting with topics ranging from posing specifics to physique modeling and sponsorship acquisition.  I will be discussing the all important and often unused exit strategy for nutrition post contest – how many times have you blown-up within four days after being on stage and look nothing like the stellar physique you recently had?  There’s a way around this dilemma and I’ll discuss it.

Visit www.westtexasclassic.com for more information or to sign up for this informative clinic offered by competitors for competitors.  By the way, it’s not to late to register for the contest itself.  This contest has been around for eight years and Andrew Zamora promotes and incredible show that is truly for the competitors