Cure-All Juices- Acai and Goji

Acai

“Acai (Euterpe oleracea) is a palm tree from South America specifically in the Amazon basin. It grows between 45 and 90 feet tall. It contains a small, round, purple and black fruit the size of a grape. It contains 12 to 15 vitamins and minerals, 15 to 20 amino acids with monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids. There are numerous phytochemicals, including anthocyanins, proanthocyanins and resveratrol. Health claims for acai, especially from those who sell the product, include antibacterial properties, sexual enhancement, antioxidant capabilities and a host of other applications. It’s only a matter of time before we see some human studies; although it seems those who are getting rich from acai are in no hurry to have their claims tested.

One of the marketing techniques used for acai is its high ORAC score. ORAC stands for “oxygen radical absorbance capacity” and is a method to measure the antioxidant capabilities of various substances. Unfortunately, marketers misunderstand and misuse the ORAC score. Furthermore, this misuse is now seeping into the public domain. ORAC does not measure a substance’s ability against all types of free radicals. For example, a study in the February 2005 issue of the International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition found the acai berry to be ineffective in neutralizing hydroxyl radicals (even with its high ORAC score).¹

Goji

Goji (Lycium barbarum) is also known as wolfberry. It is a shrub with vines and can grow as large as 10 to 12 feet high and 10 feet across. Goji berries are small (1 to 2 cm in length) and red/orange in color. They are found in the north and west regions of China, as well as Mongolia. There are claims that: 1) Tibet is a major source of goji, 2) Tibetan goji is superior; and 3) Goji and wolfberry are different plants. I could not find definite answers to these points of contention, except that trade records indicate Tibet does not export goji.

Goji contains 14 to 18 amino acids, at least six polysaccharides and six monosaccharides. It also contains fatty acids, including linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid. Carotenoids are abundant, especially zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, lutein and lycopene. Calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, vitamin B₂ and vitamin C are the major micronutrients among the 20 to 25 vitamins, minerals and trace minerals it contains.

As with acai, there is not yet a consensus on the exact nutrient profile. Health claims for goji include prevention of cancer, especially in the breast. It has a high ORAC score. Other advertised uses include overall improvement of the immune system, vision, liver function, diabetes, high blood pressure, fatigue and “anti-aging” effects. I am skeptical of the claims made by those who sell these products. The purported health benefits are definitely intriguing, but human research is scant and most of the available data are limited to in vitro studies, which are then extrapolated by marketers.”

This article was written by Dr. Douglas Andersen, D.C. DACBSP CCN

Beware of multi-level marketing products.  There are many homeopathic remedies and vitamin/ mineral supplements such as arnica and proteolytic enzymes that have more backing and aren’t driven by money-making strategies.

There has been a lot of recent press about core strengthening and the importance of the transverse abdominis and multifidii muscles with regard to low back pain and dysfunction.  The newest research reveals that focusing on individual muscles instead of motor patterns is not justified on scientific grounds.  Hence, my recommendation to seek the expertise of an educated, knowledgeable personal trainer, preferably NASM or NSCA certified cannot be overemphasized!  Please do not choose a trainer who took a weekend course and a basic exam and is suddenly now as knowledgeable as an expert conditioning specialist, nutritionist, medical doctor and chiropractor all in one.  I don’t think so.  Stick with the experts people!

I provide exercises for people to do at home, but I continually encourage people to initiate an exercise plan that incorporates focusing on multiple muscle groups at once because it is more effective, and now we have good evidence for that.

I can email the link to those of you who enjoy reading scientific articles.

Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 88, December 2007

ART to Paul Stankowski

By Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Contributor

He almost didn’t get on the plane.

Honest.

He was nervous - scared even - of the next step. Of playing his first round of professional golf in a year. Of seeing if three surgeries in three years was enough. Of wondering if he could come back. Again.

“I was fearful of the unknown,” Paul Stankowski said. “This was different. I’ve won on TOUR. I know what I can do. I know I have the talent.

“But emotionally, I’d turned golf off.”

“I’m encouraged,” he said. “I felt good.”

He also felt worn out. “First day back, my feet hurt, I’m sore and I’m tired,” he said with a smile before heading out to prop up his feet and watch a movie.

A good tired. He had only played a dozen rounds before he got on the plane in Dallas and hadn’t broken par until his 10th round. A friendly one at that.

“A shot is a shot,” he said. “I knew I could hit those and it didn’t matter if it was in competition. The mind is the thing that has to come back. You need that to play out here. I probably never have been very solid mentally. It’s been my weakest link in the sense that I kind of just fl oat around out here. I don’t really focus too much and I hit the ball real quick because if I stay over it too long, I’ll forget what I’m doing.”

Stankowski is playing on his second major medical exemption in two years, having undergone his left wrist in May 2003 and August 2004 and on his left shoulder while he was rehabbing from a torn tendon in his left lower arm last year. He thought they were just going to clean out his shoulder. Instead, they found a tear in the labrum.

And that torn tendon? It happened in round one of last year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - his fi rst tournament back from the ‘04 surgery - so is it any wonder he was a little fearful? After all, two months ago, he couldn’t hold a golf club and he was contemplating a career change.

“I have a lot of ideas of what I want to do when golf is over and I was starting to think about it,” he said, noting he did a little work with The Golf Channel and with XM Radio. “I’d take one step forward, five back.”

The difference this time around was PGA TOUR’s physiotherapy associate Troy Van Biezen. A friend in California helped Stankowski find him and he’s, well, worked miracles in the last few months.

“I found someone,” he said, “who saved my career.”

Van Biezen does Active Release Technique (ART) and within a few months had Stankowski’s hand moving as it should - without any pain. In addition, he worked on all the pressure points on his body to loosen him up and get him swinging freely. Even after the fi rst wrist surgery, Stankowski was playing with a painful shoulder, which could have come, in part, from overcompensating for the wrist. He felt he came back too fast after his surgery in ‘04 - he played at the end of the season and overseas.

And after his last rehab - he tore the tendon on the 16th hole at Pebble Beach and withdrew after round one - he was still in pain. “The pain wouldn’t go away,” he said. “They just said go out and deal with it.”

When he couldn’t, he tried television and radio, but quickly found that wasn’t for him. “It was a lot of hard work,” he said. “I don’t know what Tiger or Vijay’s bread-and-butter shots are. I play with them, I don’t pay at- tention. But I can tell you what they’re thinking. But I liked the team aspect of trying to put together a broadcast and making it sound good or look good.”

But he needed to give golf another shot.

“I missed the smells, I missed the guys, I missed the courses,” he said.

Enter Van Biezen. And Stankowski’s comeback.

He made the turn 4 under and got to 5 under with a birdie at the fi fth hole - his 14th - but he gave it right back at the sixth.

“I’ve been home for so long, it was nice to …” he said, pausing. “I’m glad you’re not Roy Firestone. I might have started crying.”

He didn’t. Not at the course anyway.

“I had no clue if I’d be ready,” he said. “I came out this week with zero expectations and when I got here and started hitting it better, I’m like ‘Okay, okay. Now I think I can do something here.”

What does the future hold? He doesn’t know. He feels good. He’s playing well.

And he has one great comeback round under his belt.

“I’m just thankful to be out playing again,” he said. “It’s awesome.”

For your reading pleasure, here are some articles that support Chiropractic care:

Abnormal muscle function, abnormal forces acting on musculoskeletal structures, abnormal posture or abnormal joint movement may all produce pain. Waddell MD The Back Pain Revolution. Churchill Livingstone 1998: 144.

Translation:  muscle imbalance, unequal forces acting on joints, postural changes, and fixated joints can all produce pain.  Guess what?  Chiropractic, ART, and exercise all address these causes!

Protracted rest leads to a catabolic state with general malaise. There is demineralization of bone and a 3% loss of muscle strength per day. Rest particularly prolonged bed rest may be the most harmful treatment ever devised and a potent cause of iatrogenic disability. Waddell MD Spine Journal 1987; 12(7): 632-644.

Translation:  If your doctor ever tells you to rest when you have back pain, he is either really old or doesn’t know a thing about back pain.  The article above speaks for itself.  Movement is life.  My job is to help you stay moving.

The annual number of hospitalizations for serious GI complications related to NSAIDS is estimated to be at least 103,000. Conservative estimates of NSAIDS related deaths in the US are 16,500. If deaths from GI toxic effects of NSAIDS were tabulated separately these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of death in the US (similar to number of deaths related to AIDS and considerably greater than the number of deaths from multiple myeloma, asthma, cervical cancer and Hodgkins disease. Wolfe MM, MD et al. Gastrointestinal Toxicity of Non-steroidal Anti- inflammatory Drugs. New England Journal of Medicine 1999 340(24):1888-1899.

Translation:  You may want to thing twice before poppin’ a few Advil in the morning.  If you have to take NSAIDs every day,  you need to get some help and Chiropractic is definitely a good option.  Try it out before taking pills.  That’s my advice.

Results of a study in which 373 patients with their first onset of back pain are followed for 10 years. 89% had recurrences and only 33% had no lost time from work from future back problems. Strategies to manage low back pain must be long term and preventive. Frank MD. British Medical Journal 1993: April 3: 901-9.

Translation:  Low back pain doesn’t really get cured.  It is managed.  If you want the best results possible, combine Chiro care with an active care program that involves corrective exercises, core strengthening, and cardiovascular conditioning.  The more you do and the more committed you are, the less pain you will suffer.  Maintenance treatments help too!

Traditional teaching is that 90% of low back pain attacks recover within 6 weeks, but recent natural history studies suggest that this overly optimistic and over emphasizes return to work. It now seems that 50% of attacks settle within 4 weeks but 15-20% have some symptoms for at least one year. 70% of patients who have acute back pain will suffer 3 or more recurrences. 20% of patients with low back pain will continue to have some back symptoms over long periods of their lives. Low back disability affects around 3-6% of the population each year. Back symptoms are the most common cause of disability for people under the age of 45. Benefits for low back pain in Britain are rising more quickly than for any other cause of chronic incapacity. Waddell MD. JMPT 1995: 18(9) 590-596.

Translation:  low back pain is a definite health concern and usually does not go away on its own.  Chiropractors are probably the best portal of entry doctors to address this rising health condition, so talk to your Chiro and find out what can be done.

The following is a summary of an article about post-workout recovery written by a Canadian Kinesiologist/Exercise Physiologist.  He talks about ice/heat, baths, soft-tissue techniques such as Grasten and A.R.T., and much more. . . great info.  Please email me if you have any questions regarding the content below. 

How can we apply some effective restoration methods such as contrast showers, stretching, soft tissue work, salt baths, electronic muscle stimulation, and massage in our everyday life? Here are some options for all of us.

Contrast methodsAlways start with hot and end with cold (unless you plan to go to sleep afterwards, in which case you should end with heat).

• The duration of each stimulus is 1–5 minutes, but here’s the kicker. Apparently, the body will adapt to the duration so you must vary it each time.
• The body should be almost completely submerged and motion is desirable (particularly in the cold environment, e.g. swim).
• The temperature must be appropriate (hot should be very hot, i.e. up to 110 degrees F, and cold should be cold, i.e. as low as 60 degrees F).
• Repeat the process 3–4 times.

According to Siff, “it is not simply the temperature of a given modality, but also the level of difference between hot and cold temperatures, and the time spent at each temperature that determines how one should use contrast methods.” He claimed that this strategy worked very well with Russian lifters, and he also used it quite successfully with his American athletes.

For contrast showers, Charlie Francis recommends three minutes as hot as you can stand followed by one minute as cold as you can stand repeated three times for the best results. This is performed once or twice per day. It is important to cover the whole body though, including the head. Although in the past, Siff has pointed out that showers with shower heads located only above the body do not adequately heat up or cool down the lower parts of the body, not all of us own a deep Jacuzzi and pool so a shower will have to do.

This practice will make a big difference in your recovery.  The key is the level of difference between hot and cold temperatures as well as varying the time spent at each temperature. And for the most part, you should end with cold. From The Bodybuilding Truth, here’s a method that author Nelson Montana claims will naturally increase testosterone.

It comes from one of the forefathers of modern bodybuilding, Angelo Siciliani, better known as Charles Atlas. Did you know that the excessive heat from a hot shower can lower your sperm count? In fact, the Aztec Indians used this as a form of birth control (don’t ask).  Anyway, Charlie recommends finishing off your shower with cold water. Allow the cold water to flow from the solar plexus onto the genitals. The belief was that these areas contain the highest concentration of nerve endings. Therefore, the cold would stimulate the nerves, which in turn strengthened the entire nervous system. “Stimulate” is certainly the operative word here.

Stretching

At least once a week, you should address the myofascial system.  One excellent way to accomplish this is yoga. Now, do you have to necessarily put aside time to stretch? No, I don’t think so. I think you can kill two birds with one stone. Why not stretch while watching television? The average American watches over four hours of TV each day. You can easily spare an hour of that time to stretch a bit.  A great way to restore collapsed arches and get a nice stretch for your quads, for instance, is to sit on your heels. This is part of the hero pose in yoga. See how long you can last. Practice other poses during this time and make watching TV somewhat healthy and productive.

Yoga will help to improve flexibility and enhance recovery, but if there is another positive, it’s relaxation. It never fails.  The second that happens, the GH spike is equivalent to that of falling asleep at night! Believe me, when you are running around all day long, you need a moment to unwind, and I’ve found that yoga can help.

Now if you can’t afford an instructor to come to your place, don’t sweat it. There are a million videos/DVDs out there that will work just as well.  Pick one up and try it out.

Soft tissue methods

Usually once or twice a month, my friends, Dr. Mark Lindsay, Dr. Bill Wells, and/or Dr. Jay Mistry (all chiropractors), drop by my facility to give me a treatment.

Mark is considered the athlete’s secret weapon.  Suffice it to say, he is a soft-tissue specialist extraordinaire with a number of tools in his toolbox including frequency-specific microcurrent (FSM), active release technique (ART),  proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), active-isolated stretching (AIS), electrostim, and many more.

I’ve written about the value of ART many times. I’ve seen it clear up a number of nagging injuries in a single session. It can restore function, reduce (and even eliminate) pain, and significantly improve flexibility (i.e. range of motion) and strength in just one session. In fact, it can even increase muscle mass as I discussed in my Pop ‘Em Out Muscles article many moons ago.

The point of listing all these guys is that you should be proactive and find a practitioner in your area that performs soft-tissue work. Don’t wait until injury happens to visit one. Go as often as you can afford. Once or twice a month should be doable for most people. (Many healthcare plans will cover treatment as well. Max out your limit if you can.) Not only will it improve your recovery and performance, but it will definitely reduce the likelihood of injury.

Salt bath

20–30 minutes.  The recipe involves Epsom salts, Celtic or tropical sea bath salts, a mixture of facial solution drops from the Garden of Life Clenzology kit, and finally an aromatherapy concoction of lavender and chamomile.

Let’s examine each ingredient separately for a moment.

1. Epsom salts (i.e. magnesium sulfate usp): You want to dissolve at least 500 grams (the equivalent of two cups or 500 mL) in a bath of hot water (the more the better). I say “at least” because if you can afford more, then do so. Also, “hot” means tolerable, not “sear the skin” hot. The former will help you fall asleep (it’s actually the cooling process once you get out that induces sleep), but the latter will require a trip to the hospital and perhaps some skin grafts.

When magnesium sulfate is absorbed through the skin, it draws toxins from the body, sedates the nervous system, reduces swelling, and relaxes muscles. It also acts as a natural emollient and exfoliator and much more. One word of caution though—don’t take an Epsom salt bath if you have high blood pressure or a heart or kidney condition.

2.   Celtic or tropical sea salts: These aren’t just for eating! Adding these salts to a warm bath will help to draw impurities out of your skin and invigorate the water. Salt baths also help with aches, pains, and sore muscles, such as those associated with arthritis, muscle injury, and weight training.

We’ve been favoring tropical sea salts lately because they have a slightly higher magnesium content.

Note: Try adding a pinch of tropical sea salts and squeeze half a lemon into your water. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces, and you will notice a profound difference in your energy levels in mere days. It takes some serious discipline to drink that much water on a daily basis, but doing so can provide anabolic and anticatabolic effects. The water will help lubricate the gut, the sea salt will aid digestion (by stimulating HCL production), and the lemon will reduce acidity. All this will enhance recovery and improve performance in the gym!

3.   Facial solution: Believe it or not, I also add “some” drops of the facial solution from the Garden of Life Clenzology kit to my concoction. I do this not only for the deep cleansing and purification benefits but also because it provides key minerals to aid restoration.   Dunking your face is optional!

4.   Aromatherapy foam bath: When it contains chamomile and lavender, it helps to relax the body, strengthen the spirit (it’s true—my spirit now benches double its body weight), moisturize and cleanse the skin, and promote a more peaceful slumber.

You may not realize that the average skin absorption from bathing is much higher than oral ingestion (see Table 1.) I find that this really helps recovery, and it’s great for your    skin too if you care about that stuff. Again, you will sleep like a baby after this.

Table 1. Average skin absorption versus oral ingestion. These calculations are based on hand skin absorption rates. The hand is a better barrier against harmful substances compared to other skin areas, which are highly sensitive. This means that the true absorption rates are significantly higher (Fox 1998).

Electronic muscle stimulation (EMS)

Two methods that I predominantly incorporate are a) the Kotts method 4–6 hours after a workout as a double split method (i.e. 10 sets of 10 seconds high intensity followed by 50 seconds of rest is Kotts’ protocol used by Francis and others to promote strength gains of up to 20 percent) or b) the primary method, which is a low intensity pulsating fashion that gently massages the muscles (at low intensities, Siff and Verkhoshansky point out that EMS provides a “massaging” effect facilitating removal of waste products and delivering nutrition to the muscles through an increase in local blood supply) usually the day after a body part.

AerobicsCardio, which is a slang term for aerobic training, can have many drawbacks including increased oxidative stress and premature cell aging. It shuts down the immune system and increases the incidence of mononucleosis. It also lowers trace mineral levels, increases cortisol production, slows down metabolism over time, negates strength, and decreases power and speed scores.

Holy cow, the list goes on really. The increased cortisol production alone can have several negative consequences such as a decrease in T4 to T3 production and an increase in a catabolic state (i.e. breakdown of muscle tissue for energy). It can also cause immune suppression, a push of oxidants to the brain, and increased abdominal fat. It’s enough to stress you out (pun intended).

For a real in-depth discussion on this topic, attend the Energy System Training seminar held periodically by Olympic strength coach, Charles Poliquin. You will wait an hour in any parking lot for a closer spot after hearing what Poliquin has to say!

The theory behind using cardio (or more specifically, low-intensity steady-state aerobic activity) for restoration though is that the increase in circulation will accelerate oxygen and nutrient delivery to your muscles to speed up healing and recovery. According to Jeff Spencer, more rest is not better. You need nutrients to heal, and you must pump the garbage out of the body with active recovery!

good, but don’t waste much time or energy on aerobic training or feeder workouts to enhance recovery between workouts!

NutritionThis is a huge topic that gets discussed quite a bit so let me just touch on a few points to improve recovery.

It is crucial to take in some protein every 2.5–3 hours to maintain a positive nitrogen balance. The question is how do you do this with a busy lifestyle? Well, most people will use the quick and convenient nutrition of protein bars or drinks to get it in. The problem is that many bars are loaded with binders and fillers, and they use inferior sources of protein. As far as powders are concerned, most of the top selling (heavily marketed) brands use cheap, raw materials. Most people do not rotate their powders (i.e. whey, casein, egg, rice, pea, etc.) and consume this stuff several times a day, every day of which could lead to allergies down the road. But there is a simple solution…

We know that we have time to eat (and hopefully prepare food for) breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Why not make double the portion of each that you’ll divide over two meals? Voila, six solid meals that you can consume throughout the day. You can add a shake post-workout and you’re covered.

The post-workout period is actually very important for recovery. This is where you want to target most of your high-glycemic carbs to replenish depleted glycogen stores, but most people overdo it! The average workout consumes about 200–300 calories. Let’s assume that all those calories are used from carbohydrates. Well, that means that we only need about 50–75 grams of carbs maximum post-workout (remember, there are four calories per gram of CHO).

As mentioned above, the best carbs post-workout are high glycemic. We use tropical fruits mixed with a fast-acting protein source like whey isolate or hydrosylate. An hour later, move to a slower releasing protein like casein and/or whey concentrate and use low glycemic carbs.

Red meat (which is a stimulant) and eggs (which are high in tyrosine) are great in the morning. Chicken and tuna are excellent at lunch. And choose fish (which is higher in Omega-3s), turkey, and dairy (which are both high in tryptophan) at night.

We tend to go higher in saturated fat and mct’s in the morning (these are high energy fats such as butter or coconut oil as well as the animal meats), monounsaturated at noon (such as olive oil, olives, shaved almonds, and avocados, which are all added to the chicken/tuna salad), and polyunsaturated at night mainly in the form of Omega-3s (e.g. fish oil, flax seed meal/oil, chopped walnuts, etc.), which will improve insulin sensitivity that tends to decrease at night.

Green vegetables are favored throughout the day and fruits only post-workout as I discussed above. Occasionally, we’ll eat them at night as the last meal of the day (e.g. a mixture of cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, chopped walnuts, and mixed berries).

Supplementation for recovery is another article for another time, but I won’t leave you completely empty-handed. I’m sure you realize the importance of vitamins for recovery. Well, we have experienced excellent results with intramuscular water-soluble vitamin injections…more than oral ingestion…and even more than IV administration. Dr. Larry Baker, a competitive bodybuilder and medical doctor, has four versions that he has formulated with the aid of a compounding pharmacist. This stuff works! That’s all I can say for now until we finish our experiments, but it’s not often that you actually “feel” something from your vitamins.

For now, I’ll leave you with a tip that I picked up from Poliquin on what to look for when purchasing a multivitamin/mineral supplement. Scan the ingredient list for magnesium. If it ends in the suffix “_ate” (e.g. magnesium citrate), then it’s good. Buy it. However, if it ends in “_ide” (e.g. magnesium oxide), then it sucks! The former are generally Krebs cycle intermediates and have a much higher absorption rate than the latter. Magnesium is a relatively expensive mineral. If they use the “_ide” form, then it generally indicates that they use cheap raw materials. This is the form that you usually find in most drugstores.

SleepLast but certainly not least is sleep.

Sleep is regulated by two entirely different systems—the sleep homeostat and the circadian rhythms.

The sleep homeostat “functions like a drive that builds up during wakefulness in pretty much a linear fashion and is discharged when you sleep…The homeostatic pressure to sleep depends not only on how long you are awake but on how active you are while awake” (Marano 2003). Two of the best methods to influence the sleep homeostat involve exercise and heating the body such as by taking a warm bath before bedtime.

When you do not get much sleep (which will happen occasionally on weekends), you should still wake up at the same time but catch up with a power nap. Naps should never extend beyond an hour or else you will enter REM sleep, which will adversely affect your sleep that night. It’s best to take a nap after eight hours upon awakening and for only 20–45 minutes. A trick that I learned from Dr. Istvan Bayli is to simply soak the feet in cold water right after napping. The feet contain many nerve endings, and this will perk you up in no time. Just in and out is all it takes.

The circadian rhythm, on the other hand, is tied to cycles of light and dark. Darkness causes the pineal gland in the brain to secrete the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. Although bright lights or melatonin tablets can be used to affect the circadian rhythm, my favorite method involves tanning beds. Believe it or not, tanning beds are also useful to improve circadian rhythms and increase vitamin D production, particularly in the winter. It also gives you a bit of color, which improves muscularity and enhances well-being. I like to “fake bake” once a week in the winter, usually on a day I’m not training.

Another piece of advice I can give you regarding circadian rhythm is to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Set your alarm for both! Most people are watching television or on the computer during the time they should be sleeping. Once that alarm goes off, stop whatever you’re doing and just go to bed. You can always continue the next day.

We should set our circadian rhythm around that of the sun. When it goes down, so should we. When it rises, again so should we! But most get to bed far too late, and this will inevitably wreak havoc on many key hormones. It’s been said a thousand times that every hour before midnight is like two hours after. So as my colleague, Chad Waterbury, has mentioned, it is best to front-load your sleep before midnight.

Variety in restoration and training is important. Siff notes that “it is an important principle among the Soviets that intensive (i.e. near maximal load) training alternates with a wide variety of passive and active recuperation techniques…They caution against the use of only one relaxation technique (e.g. massage) since the body rapidly adapts to relaxation as well as exercise techniques.”

I have presented a number of practical restoration techniques in this article. Now go out there and recover!

References1. Archangel Health News. August/September 2005 Health Newsletter.

2. Catanzaro JP (2002) Pop ‘Em Out Muscles. T-Nation, http://www.t-
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6. Francis C (1997) Training for Speed. Australia: Faccioni Speed & Conditioning Consultants.

7. Hartmann J, Tunnemann H (1995) Fitness and Strength Training for All Sports. Toronto,     ON: Sport Books Publisher. http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0920905420/qid=1035154897/bodyessence-20

8. Marano HE (2003) How to Get Great Sleep. Psychology Today Magazine. http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20031028-000007.html

9. Montana N. The Bodybuilding Truth. http://www.elitefitness.com/

10.  Mysteries of Sleep. http://www.mercola.com/2006/feb/11/mysteries_of_sleep.htm

11.  Poliquin C (2003) Biosignature Modulation and Energy System Training.

12.  Poliquin C (2000) Protocols to Gain Maximal Strength & Muscle Size; Achieving the Ultimate Workout; and Customizing the Fat-Loss Approach for Clients.

13.  Serrano E (2005) SWIS International Weight-Training Injury Symposium.

14.  Siff MC (2000) Personal Communication.

15.  Siff, MC (1969) Supertraining.

16.  Siff MC, Verkhoshansky YV (1999) Supertraining, 4th Edition. Denver, CO: Supertraining International.

17.  Spencer J (2005) Recovery Strategies Used to Win the 2005 Tour de France. Advances in Sports Medicine Leading Edge Update.

18.  Supertraining Forum. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/ 

19.  Tate D, Siff MC (2000) Supertraining and Westside Strength Camp.

20.  Zainuddin Z, Sacco P, Newton M, Nosaka K (2006) Light concentric exercise has a temporarily analgesic effect on delayed-onset muscle soreness, but no effect on recovery     from eccentric exercise. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 31(2):126–134.

John Paul Catanzaro, BS, CK, CEP is a certified kinesiologist and exercise physiologist with a specialized honors bachelors of science degree in kinesiology and health science. He owns and operates a private gym in Richmond Hill, Ontario, providing training and nutritional consulting services. For additional information, visit his website at www.BodyEssence.ca or call (905) 780-9908.

Check out John Paul’s DVD, Warm Up to Strength Training, for some powerful techniques to increase strength and improve performance. It has received a thumbs-up from many experts including Dr. Eric Serrano, Dr. Mark Lindsay, and Dr. Ken Kinakin as well as Olympic strength coach, Charles Poliquin. Visit www.StrengthWarmUp.com  for more information.

Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.

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