Save your wrists: get some parallette bars

Save your wrists, vary your training. Get some parallettes.

If you regularly push up, L sit and practice handstands the chances are you could end up in intermediate hand and wrist pain.

After too many years of coaching, I’d suggest you seriously consider mixing your hand position up by including the use of parallettes. You can now pick up cheap ones any where, although if you intend to handstand with them, you ought to look at what they are suitable for. That said, Ive bought the cheapie set (pictured) about 10 years ago and Im still alive!

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You need to tumble if you want to be a stunt performer

There are many requirements to becoming a member of the British Stunt Register. You can check them out here 
Its clear that for some, tumbling is an essential component: they really need  to learn how to handstand to forward rolls, back roll to handstand, cartwheel, round off
front tuck, back handspring, front hand spring.
The chances are, if you are an adult learner, that fear of going backwards will be a major stumbling block in your future career. At Crossfit london in Bethnal green, we have been running and adult gymnastics programme since 2008 . We have been teaching adult beginners how to do these skills for years.
Im privileged to be part of the tumbling teaching team, even though Im not one of the best ever tumblers.  Im now 58 so some of my demos are a bit wobbly, and at my age, I do like a bit of a comforting spot.
In short I know all about fear and what it does  to your form if you want to jump up in the air go backwards and land on your hands. I leave it to my younger colleagues to optimise your technique and string things together. For me, I know how great it it to nail that 1st handspring, that tuck, that flag. I got those, not when i was 6 or 8 or 16: i got those skills when I was in my 50’s

to be honest, may flag is still work in progress

here is my 1st ever unspotted  back handspring

We have spent our long teaching history building up drill to build your skills. We work almost exclusively with frightened adults !

If you want to check out my lessons in Bethnal Green E2 you can  look at our class schedule and book here.

At the moment, my classes are on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at Crossfit London  If you want a better gymnast to lead your classes,  look for Matthias ( wed) and Tugs (sunday) . You should really check out our fantastic gymnastic strength classes: handstands, levers, muscle up, planches, the flag.

Loads of stuff for you to learn.

Muscle ups, Rings and Gymnastic shapes

Todays special theme was the muscle up, so we picked up some essential skills: the false grip, the “muscle up push up” and other secret stuff

Here are some idea to help you revise

Dish Shape

handstand shape into wall walk

false grip

The muscle up push up and some other stuff you may not have seen

For those who have fallen in love with the  Muscle up and Ring Training for fitness , you may fancy this Ring Training guide its only 99p

Btw my name is Andrew Stemler. Im a london personal trainer based in Bethnal green  E2. Contact me by Email

Fall in love with a concept 2

There are lots of things you can do in fitness . One interesting target is to fall in love with a concept 2 rowing machine . Getting a fast 2k is the ideal , but disgusting, mix of aerobic and anaerobic capacity . People who row fast and well look like people who row fast and well .

Keep an eye on this blog as we discuss proper rowing technique and interesting capacity building workouts .

Btw my name is Andrew Stemler and I’m a personal trainer based in Bethnal Green E2

Back Pain: Cure your back with the Sorensen test

“The race has always been on to firstly predict,  then inoculate against,  back pain. A test known as the “Sorensen test” based on the work of Hansen in 1964, has been popular since 1984.

According to Demoulin et al 2006  ”The test consists in measuring the amount of time a person can hold the unsupported upper body in a horizontal prone position with the lower body fixed to the examining table”

The test is accepted in its discriminative validity, reproducibility, and safety. However debate continues to surround its ability to predict low back pain. No firm explanation, beyond “women rock” , has been offered as to why “chicks” can hold it longer than guys.

Naturally motivation and discomfort tolerance are confounding factors.

A interesting review is available in PDF form at Isometric back Extension tests: a Review of Literature Maureau et al Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics Volume 24 • Number  2001, But in essence,this report says this….(yawn….)

For men, the mean endurance time is 84 to 195 seconds; for women, it is 142 to 220.4 seconds. For subjects with LBP, the mean endurance time range is 39.55 to 54.5 seconds in mixed-sex groups 80 to 194 seconds for men, and 146 to 227 seconds for women” whether thats remotely useful lm not sure, but if you suffer or are prone to lower back pain, (you tend to know by your appalling posture), im going to suggest you move this figure up.

References
Demoulin C, Vanderthommen M, Duysens C, Crielaard JM.  2006.  Spinal muscle evaluation using the Sorensen test: a critical appraisal of the literature. Joint Bone Spine. 2006 Jan;73(1):43-50.”

 

My name is Andrew Stemler.  Im a london personal trainer working in Bethnal Green E2 and the City of London

Bread: Lectins, Goo, Mucin, secretory IgA.3,4. and a big dose of spin

I have no idea if bread is evil. I know that I love it, and that my life without it is a misery. I do know the “vegetable lobby” is dead against bread. I thought it was because of the effect on the  Gylceymic Index (oh those happy early fitness instructor days).

As a hypertensive, I’m suspicious of bread because of  its excessive salt content: but there is, increasingly, lower salt bread available, and as I discovered in later life, I could always eat a slice a day, rather than the  loaf recommended by the state registered dietician  ( who knew!)

But apparently, its  Lectins, not Carbs are the real evil. Lets get skilled up and learn what lectins are. have a look at this article

http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html

So lectins are wolves in sheeps clothing, they sneak up on (gut ) cells, pretending to be , well sheep presumably, then they stick a dust buster into the cell wall, meaning it wants to hoover up every bit of sugar going ( so, a wolf, with a vaccum cleaner, disguised as a sheep in your intestines…..) .

So, every loaf of bread does that to every  intestine cell? ( Its, just that that’s a lot of wolves….)

No!

“Glucosamine is specific for wheat lectin and it is this specificity that may protect the gut and cartilage from cell inflammation and destruction in wheat (or gluten) responsive arthritis”

Doesn’t that mean that if you have Glucosamine, you are ok, and can eat bread?

But certainly many people tolerate these foods — why?

The answer lies in the balance of gut flora and a person’s immune system.  When you have adequate “beneficial flora” ( oooh, I sense a TV Advert) , it serves as a protective barrier against substances that travel through the intestines, including lectins.

But importantly, beneficial flora are needed to keep the production going in the intestines of two lectin-protective substances, mucin and secretory IgA.3,4.

Mucin, like lectin, is a “glycoprotein” ( use this word at parties) in the mucus lining of the intestines.  When lectins travel through the intestines, they should have mucin to bind to, rather than intestinal cells.  But if mucin is missing, lectins will bind to intestinal cells instead.  Secretory IgA also binds to lectins, preventing them from causing damage. (Buts JP, et al. Digestive Disease and Sciences. Feb 1990. 35(2): 251-56.)

According to  Cordian et al “the interaction of dietary lectins with enterocytes and lymphocytes facilitates the translocation( this is bad)  of both dietary and gut-derived bacterial antigens to peripheral tissues, which in turn causes persistent peripheral antigenic stimulation. In genetically susceptible individuals, this antigenic stimulation may ultimately result in the expression of overt  rheumatoid arthritis” (British Journal of Nutrition British Journal of Nutrition (2000), 83: 207-217 Cordain et al)

This is a useful source as it  reminds us that there are lots of things in your gut that you don’t want in you, which is why some stuff passes through us, others get “slimed”, and, more importantly,  that’s why you have a gut.

But it can break down in 3 circumstances

(1) disruption of ecological equilibrium which allows intestinal bacterial overgrowth,

(2) deficiencies in host immune defences, and

(3) increased permeability of the intestinal barrier (Berg, 1992).

Failure of intestinal barrier function resulting in the systemic spread of gut-associated bacteria has been termed bacterial translocation( I actually like this word and want to use it more at parties).

This is why, apparently,  its important to take some nice live yogurt every so often, if you are a pisshead/ fast food eater, every few days would be a good idea. Don’t fall foul of marketing. Food companies are still  the deceitful fuckers they always have been, so most probiotic yogurt is just a liquid sweet.  An interesting observation  comes from another blog writer  (http://www.good.is/post/is-yogurt-really-that-good-for-you/)

“The only problem: Some so-called probiotic bacteria don’t contain strains medically recognized as beneficial. As one expert told Tara Pope Parker, “To say a product contains Lactobacillus is like saying you’re bringing George Clooney to a party. It may be the actor, or it may be an 85-year-old guy from Atlanta who just happens to be named George Clooney.”

So just be careful, treat bread with suspicion( there’s still an addictive sugar rush, and you may be one of the unlucky ones), and eat a bit of live yogurt ( the plain boring stuff). Above all,  be conscious of the motivations of  the diet advisor. I know of  diet experts who fess up to being x vegetarians ( presumably fanatically so) and now all they can see is their mums arthritis, and they set out on a misguided mission to “save everyone” even those that don’t  need it. Mind you, if I knew someone had auto-immune issues, I’d suggest they knock out bread as a trial (but they need to have the auto-immune disease).

I was also surprised to learn that, allegedly, if you have dairy issues, its worth trying yogurt as its already partially digested and easily  available to your body.

Still, I think the real warnings are, “everything in moderation”. Notice patterns , because you could be one of those people who cannot take bread. Act on the info.  But also watch the “religious nutters” I’ve read loads of times about lectins. No one ever added the bit about how the body deals with them.

So that’s a bit “spun” isn’t it boys and girls

Any way, My name is Andrew Stemler, I work in London as a personal trainer and can be found in Bethnal Green E2  or the City of London