Let’s examine the problem. Do you drink plenty of water and may even sip on sports drinks during practice? Despite this you still feel tired or sluggish after the workout. So, what do you need to do to improve your recovery and performance? It’s not just about protein drinks after the workout.

Just like your training, you need to set goals for what we term ‘recovery nutrition.’ These goals are simple and include three primary goals:

• Restore lost electrolytes and fluids perspired during your workout;
• Replace muscle fuel (carbohydrates) burned during exercise. Do not be afraid to consume carbs because fat burns in a carbohydrate flame; and
• Provide protein to promote muscle repair and growth. But, it’s not just about drinking protein after a workout.

The Process
You should be aware that when you exercise, the primary source of energy used by your body is carbohydrates. After burning through what is readily available in your bloodstream, your body moves on to your stored carbohydrates — these are the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver. You have a limited amount of glycogen stored in your body, although it is often sufficient to get you through a typical practice or split routine such as sprinting or running as part of your fat-burning program that you may perform early in the day. Then, what when you need to be in the gym the same afternoon and you haven’t replaced the carbohydrate stores you lost earlier — heavy/sore muscles, fatigue, injuries, and the overall feeling that you are “running out of gas”?

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Give it time
Recovery is an all-day process! It takes between 24 to 48 hours to fully replace your glycogen stores. Within 30 to 60 minutes after exercise, your body can synthesize glycogen from the carbohydrates you eat at a much faster rate. Therefore you need to eat something about 40 minutes after the workout. Also, your heart rate and blood pressure are elevated thus, nutrients are delivered to your muscles and cells more rapidly.

Fuel your Muscles
Your body also uses the carbohydrates and protein you eat during this window of opportunity to help prevent further muscle breakdown. Your body also has a hormonal response to carbohydrates during this period and changes from muscle breakdown to muscle building. This is why it is important to take advantage of quick-digesting, simple carbohydrates and liquids (e.g., chocolate milk or smoothies) immediately after practice. The ideal timing is 35 to 45 minutes after your activity. Then, your goal should be to follow this with a well-balanced meal within four hours – no later!

Eating for Optimal Recovery
What we term ‘recovery nutrition’ should include carbohydrates (this replaces spent glycogen), protein (to repair muscle and tissues damage caused by the stress of exercise – the more intense the exercise, the greater the stress), and fluids (to hydrate and re-hydrate). An ideal fuel would be one that contains about half of your body weight in grams of carbohydrates (e.g., if you weigh 160 pounds, aim for 80 grams of carbohydrates); supplement this with about 15-30 grams of protein – a 5:1 to 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein. If you have a low appetite after exercising, a liquid food/protein drink option may be the best place to start but, don’t always go after the liquid protein.

Examples of good recovery snacks:

• Apple or banana with peanut butter and low-fat milk;
• Fruit and yogurt smoothie;
• Graham crackers with peanut butter and low-fat milk;
• Greek yogurt with fruit;
• Low-fat chocolate milk;
• Peanut butter and honey on whole wheat bread; or
• Trail mix, including nuts and dried fruits, and a sports drink.

Following up your recovery snack with well-balanced meals throughout the day is ideal.

Examples good recovery meals:

• Baked fish with brown rice and mixed vegetables;
• Grilled chicken with salad greens and low-fat dressing – add a whole-wheat roll; substitute broccoli for salad;
• Grilled chicken with a small baked sweet potato and green beans or asparagus;
• Ham and cheese sandwich with broccoli and ‘Silk’ chocolate milk;
• Turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread with a glass of low-fat milk and an apple;;
• Two scrambled eggs with two pieces of whole-wheat toast (add honey), and small portion of mixed berries; or
• Whole-wheat pasta with marinara or tomato-based meat sauce made (use lean meat), and a side salad.

If you fuel for recovery properly, you can overcome many of those sluggish, tired feeling days and improve your performance whether for speed or muscle built. Have a happy and healthy day.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines a concussion, technically called a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), as a complex pathophysiologic process affecting the brain that is generally induced by traumatic bio-mechanical forces secondary to direct or indirect forces to the head. The simple version is that a concussion can be caused by a blow or a jolt to the head or body that disrupts the function of the brain. From falling off a bench in the gym doing box jumps to falling off a bike, there are a great many ways to cause such injuries to the average fitness buff today.

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There are methods that generally work for lowering the risk and reducing the number of activity-related concussions across. For the average gym rat, these can include skill development, protective equipment, and strength training to lower sub concussive forces. All of these considerations can play a part in reducing your chances of getting a head or neck injury, especially a concussion.

Too often, individuals go to the gym and lift, run, etc. then, just as often, end up with an injury. As in sports athletes, preventative measures to injuries should be and adopted process in your workout programs. Any injury can put you out of commission from a few days to months thus, it is important to ensure ways to prevent them are built into your regimen.

Fortunately, strength training will normally enhance performance as well as reduce injuries. The benefits of muscular development are much greater than what was believed in the beginning of the dawn of the pumping iron era with Joe Weider, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and others. It has since become known that one of the important functions of strength training has become the development of the muscle and tendon as a unit, i.e., the muscle-tendon unit attenuates and dissipates force. Therefore, developing a strong musculoskeletal system is needed to protect joints and reduce injuries, which includes the neck and head because this attenuation and dissipation of force is not exclusive to specific joints in only the anatomical system.

Dawn Comstock, associate professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, collected data on 6,704 student-athletes in six sports: boys’ and girls’ soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. She discovered that for every pound of improved neck strength, an individual reduces his or her concussion risk.

Thus, as you may guess, there are many more reasons for an athlete to train this region of the anatomy. The old adage, ‘Where the head goes the body will follow,’ is very true. As an example, stand straight, and then place your fingers lightly on the nape of your neck. Without moving your head quickly move your eyes side to side. You will feel the musculature in your neck begin to contract. Why does this happen? The eyes are not connected to the neck muscles, however, the brain is preparing the body for movement. Just like your arms, it is important to move the head quickly. Thus, training the head and neck will enhance performance.

The respiratory system’s process of inspiration and expiration involves so much more than the diaphragm and the internal and external intercostal muscles. For example, the scalene muscles in the neck are involved in potentially every breath we take. The platysma and sternocleidomastoid are involved in heavy breathing (See Figure 1). Consequently, whether you develop or injure neck muscles, your body’s athleticism will be affected.

We have all heard of BMI (body mass index) and many try to adhere to it. However, this simple tool does not differentiate between fat mass and lean body mass. It has long been argued that heavily muscled, weight-trained athletes are healthy despite their BMI classification. What is at issue is that the athlete who increases muscle mass and vascularity significantly in all areas of the body but the neck region alters peripheral vascular resistance in an acute way. Does this matter? Yes, because peripheral resistance is a function of the internal vessel diameter, vessel length and blood viscosity. So, having a large body and an undeveloped neck changes the force of the delivery system’s blood flow to the head, which demonstrates yet another reason to train the head and neck.

The cervical spine’s associated musculature is regarded as an important proprioceptive organ for postural processes. The muscles are small with a high spindle density. You can think of this region as the hotbed of proprioception. Disturbances of gait can occur by interfering with, damaging, weakening, or fatiguing the muscles of the head and neck. Training this region augments static as well as dynamic posture – our ability to balance. And, if you know anything about working out in the gym, riding a bike, performing martial arts, doing fitness and figure routines, and so many others, you will quickly realize that balance is the primary key to building strength, speed, power, etc. because balance is the foundation allows all else to happen. For example, you’re stuck at a 250 pounds bench press or, your sprint speed is 1/10^th second less than you want. Exercise your head and neck area and you may just be surprised that you will increase your balance and thus, overcome the obstacle. Will this work every time? No, because there is a limit to how much strength, etc. on can obtain, but for those who never work such areas, it will initially help you improve. Perhaps you should consider weak-area training for these body parts.

Head and neck muscles can be thought of as two distinct muscular units, the musculature that moves the head and the muscles that move the cervical spine (See Figure 2). Each unit must be trained to maximize development and ongoing strength values collected. This aids in overall muscular fitness and generally reduces risk for injury. For example, injuries to the mouth, face and jaw are part of sports activities. Thus, having a strong jaw helps in bracing, clenching against a mouth guard, and resisting the pull of the chin strap in helmets such as riding bikes, rappelling, or playing football. Consequently, strength training of the head, neck, and jaw should be inclusive when designing your exercise program(s).

The following 30-day program is designed to be a challenging full-body workout and is geared for the intermediate level. The program has a duration of 4 weeks for 5 days per week – you rest on the weekend. After all, you do need to take some time to have fun.

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Do not attempt this program initially until you can do at least 25 consecutive push-ups without resting. However, you may perform the resistance exercises. If you do not have access to a gym, just perform the Burpee’s. And hey, if you cannot do them all at once then, do as many as you can, rest 1-2 minutes and do as many as you can again until you complete all the reps.

The program is rigorous, but we recently had a 62-year old who performed it with flying colors although, he is in better shape and most that are half his age. So, if he could do it, likely you can too!

Our workout programs are separated into warm-up, core exercises (Day by Body Part), and warm-down segments. To begin, perform the warm-up exercises each day then, move into the daily exercises. After completion of the daily exercises, choose 3 of the listed warm-down exercises to complete your daily workout. Warm-Up and Warm-Down exercises are described at the top of each 30-Day Program so that you can gain familiarity with them. Additionally, commonly known exercises are only listed, not described. So read the warmup and warm-down exercises to familiarize yourself with them then, begin the program.

At the beginning, the program may seem a bit easy. If it does, this would be a good time to add perhaps one or two additional weak-area training exercises for specific muscle groups you’d like to work on. You may continue to do this throughout the program, but once you get into the last 1 ½ weeks, perhaps 2, the energy requirements for doing the burpee’s and other listed exercises may be a bit much to contend with. So, adjust your training accordingly.

Month 1 – Week 1

Warm-Up Exercises

Warm-ups will work the upper body, mid-torso, and lower body to ensure your entire body is ready for your workout.

1. Shoulder Flexors (3 sets of 12 reps each) – grab a stick of approximately your body length and place your hands on it palm down so that your hands are as far apart as you can reach initially. Let the stick rest on the front of your thighs. Without bending your elbow(s) and in one smooth motion, raise the stick in front of you, over your head and touch the small of your back with it then, reverse the motion back to the starting point – all in one smooth motion. To increase flexibility as your progress in your programs, reduce the width between your hand grips, which will stretch your shoulders more.

2. In-place Squats (4 sets of 8 reps each) – stand with your feet about shoulder width apart while folding your arms across your chest and perform a basic back squat in place. Squatting down then, standing back to starting position is one repetition. Note that those in CrossFit programs erroneously call these ‘Air Squats.’

3. Sit Ups (your choice – 4 sets of 20 repetitions each).

Warm-Down Exercises

Do not just leave the gym after your core exercises each day. As you warmed your body up, you must also warm it down, which will help you relax. You have worked all your muscles and are likely mentally drained from being ‘psyched’ as you have moved with speed and balance. The warm-down will help set the stage for your next workout and take the ‘edge’ off. It is also called a ‘cool down’ by many. Performing the warm-down will also help your body recover more quickly from stress. Choose three of the following after each workout. Choose 2 warm-down exercises from numbers 1-5 below and 1 exercise from numbers 6-8 (the latter are core exercises). Thus, you will perform 3 warm-down exercises after each day’s workout. Choose different exercises each following day from the list; do not do the same ones every day.

1. Slow Punch (2 sets of 12 repetitions each) – take a 1-2 lb dumbbell in each hand and raise both hands to your chest so your hand are on about a 30-45 degree angle, palm down. Slowly punch forward with your right hand so that your palm rotates completely palm down, horizontal with the floor and with your arm extended all the way forward, but not locked at the elbow. The ‘punch’ will end up on a mirror image of yourself at about the center of the chest. Return to starting position and then, repeat. After all repetitions per set are done on your right side, do same number of reps on left side. A full set is accomplished when both arms have done the specified reps. You should do the exercise slowly and smoothly going away from the chest into the punch and return – one smooth motion.

2. Front Split Stretch (2 sets 30 seconds each leg) – This is sometimes called a kneeling lunge stretch. Kneel on one leg ensuring front knee does not extend past your toes. You rear leg is basically in an ‘L’ shape at this point. Next, square your hips with the back knee and shin (toe of foot extended so instep is also on floor) flat on the floor. Brace your hands gently aside your front leg for balance and square your shoulders then, stretch your body forward gently into a nice stretch while holding it for about 30 seconds then, reverse position and perform movement with opposite leg forward.

3. Bike (5 minutes)

4. Walk (5 minutes)

5. Deep Breathing (5-8 minutes with music)

6. Plank (3-5 reps initially) – the plank works the entire core, as well as your upper and lower body muscles. Lie face down on your stomach. Lift your body off the floor with your forearms (keeping your elbows at 90° degrees) and your toes. Keep your body position straight as you can (without arching your back). Hold position for 30-60 seconds. If this is too easy, lift one foot in the air for added difficulty. You can also do a variation of the plank on a Swiss ball in two ways: (1) Place your forearms on the Swiss ball with your feet on the ground or, (2) Place your feet on the ball with your forearms on the ground. Keep your abs and glutes tight without arching your back. Hold the position as long as you can. For a more advanced workout, move the ball slightly from side to side.

7. Superman’s (5 reps initially) – lie face down on a mat with your arms stretched above your head (like superman and if you are just beginning, try placing your hands behind your head). Raise your right arm and left leg about 5-6 inches off the ground (or as far as you comfortably can). Then, hold for about 3 seconds and relax – repeat with the opposite arm and leg. If you desire greater difficulty you can do the Superman with a twist. To perform it this way, at the top of the raise, twist to one side, return to the center and twist to the other side. Lower your torso to the ground to complete one rep. Hold a two- to five-pound weight for even greater difficulty.

8. Supine March (1 rep each side initially) – this exercise is particularly good for running type athletes because it builds good core stability by working the transverse abdominis (a deep abdominal muscle that needs to hold the right amount of tension to prevent excessive movement of the pelvis and lumbar spine during running). This exercise helps to maintain the appropriate tension while the legs move freely and alternately. To begin, lie face up on the floor with both knees sharply bent and both your feet flat on the floor. Press your lower back into the floor. As you concentrate on keeping your lower back pressed to the floor, lift your right leg until your right foot comes even with your left knee. Now lower the foot back to the floor. Repeat with the left leg. Continue until you begin to feel an uncomfortable burn in your abs; usually about 20 reps per leg.

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Month 1 – Week 1

Day 1: Full Body

1. Back Squat (6 sets of 6 reps)
2. 5 Burpee’s

Day 2: Full Body

1. Sit ups (4 sets of 40 reps)
2. 10 Burpee’s

Day 3: Full Body

1. Dips (4 sets of 10 reps)
2. 15 Burpee’s

Day 4: Full Body

1. Latt Pull-downs (3 sets of 8 reps)
2. 20 Burpee’s

Day 5: Full Body

1. Alternate Dumbbell Curls (4 sets of 4 reps)
2. 25 Burpee’s

Month 1 – Week 2

Day 1: Full Body

1. Front Squat (4 sets of 12 reps)
2. 30 Burpee’s

Day 2: Full Body

1. One Arm Dumbbell Rows (3 sets of 10 reps)
2. 35 Burpee’s

Day 3: Full Body

1. Triceps Extensions (your choice of type – 3 sets of 20 reps)
2. 40 Burpee’s

Day 4: Full Body

1. Step-ups on Bench (with or w/o weight – 4 sets of 12 reps)
2. 45 Burpee’s

Day 5: Full Body

1. Lunges (8 sets of 10 reps)
2. 50 Burpee’s

Month 1 – Week 3

Day 1: Full Body

1. Bench Press – wide grip (5 sets of 6 reps)
2. 55 Burpee’s

Day 2: Full Body

1. Split Squat – approach bar on rack and place bar atop shoulder as you would to do a back squat. Stand with feet apart and step with one leg backward into a lunge position. From lunge position, squat down and up until all repetitions are complete, reverse position and perform on opposite leg (4 sets of 6 reps).
2. 60 Burpee’s

Day 3: Full Body

1. Standing Broad Jumps – assume standing position and squat about half way down. Maintaining your balance, jump as far forward as you can from your current position, landing softly as you can on both feet. An alternate is to jump as high as you can in place, just like the completion of a Burpee (3 sets of 4 reps)
2. 65 Burpee’s

Day 4: Full Body

1. Bench Press – close grip (6 sets of 4 reps)
2. 70 Burpee’s

Day 5: Full Body

1. Bent-over Row – use straight bar (2 sets of 12 reps)
2. 75 Burpee’s

Month 1 – Week 4

Day 1: Full Body

1. Seated (Military) Press (6 sets of 4 reps)
2. 80 Burpee’s

Day 2: Full Body

1. Straight-bar curl (3 sets of 16 reps)
2. 85 Burpee’s

Day 3: Full Body

1. Single Pulley Row )3 sets of 10 reps each side)
2. 90 Burpee’s

Day 4: Full Body

1. Front Raises (4 sets of 4 reps)
2. 95 Burpee’s

Day 5: Full Body

1. 100 Burpee’s

Congratulations, perhaps 0.5% of the people in the country can do this!

Many middle-aged adults are just hearing about this term and have sent questions asking what he or she should look for. Symptoms of the somatopause are weight-gain, especially around the middle; loss of bone density; and declining energy and sex drive, as well as an increase in bad cholesterol, decrease in good cholesterol, and the skin begins to wrinkle.

Millions of dollars are spent by middle-age adults on healthcare, medicine, plastic surgery, health food, and gym memberships attempting to reverse the impact of the somatopause. In this respect, somatopause is a real bummer.

While the somatopause slowly creeps up on you as you age, there are two proven cures: 1) growth hormone injections that can cost as much or more than $1000 per month and 2) exercise.

One can readily see the dramatic difference in cost, especially since the latter, a specific recommended type of exercise, does not even require a gym membership, it’s free.

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There is a specific type of exercise that makes the body release a particular hormone that reverses the somatopause. These exercises are targeted at releasing the body’s anti-middle-aging hormone and doesn’t take a lot of time. These exercises are anaerobic and are therefore of short duration. These exercises are sprinting and other forms of a short-burst, get-you-out-of-breath exercises. This shortness of breath will generally occur in only a few seconds.

Researchers show that the somatopause is related directly to the decline of growth hormone (a natural substance produced by the body) during aging. In fact, biomedical research shows that increasing growth hormone can produce an average response of a 14 percent loss in body fat and an 8 percent gain in muscle. This is very significant since we lose muscle due to sarcopenia as we age. Researchers also report improvements in skin, bone density, and cholesterol.

It’s widely reported that several well-known actors take growth hormone injections for its anti-aging, youth rejuvenating properties. And growth hormone injections have been banned for athletes because of their ability to improve performance. Growth hormone is given to children with clinical stature growth problems to help them grow normally. However, growth hormone therapy does not make adults grow taller, but does reverse several measurable clinical factors of the somatopause.

Other than exercise and sprinting type exercises, some inexpensive nutritional supplements, and adequate deep sleep, will do the job naturally. Other exercises to perform include high-intensity cycling , interval running, swimming, interval biking, and almost any anaerobic exercise that you can do for 20 seconds as fast as you can, get out of breath, recover after about 30 seconds and repeat the process. Perform these exercises for 2-3 times per week for about 20 minutes of total exercise time, do not count recovery time. Thus, total workout time will be about 40-45 minuts. These exercises are explained in detail in our “Training” section.

Most people want to feel good, lose weight, and restore their energy and appearance to youthful levels, as well as desiring a lean, muscular, sprinter’s physique. You’ll be happy to know that even at age 50 and above, that’s what increasing growth hormone naturally can do if you follow the right type of fitness program.

On a more scientific note, what happens to cause the somatopause? The more you know about it, the better off you’ll be. First, we’ll look at the specific hormone in the body (lack thereof) that is responsible.

Somatotropin, the human growth hormone, is secreted by the pituitary gland under the influence of growth hormone releasing hormone. This secretion falls with age from 500 ug at 20 years to 200 ug at 40 years, and 25ug at 80 years with a concomitant fall of IGF-I (Insulin Like Growth Factor I or Somatomedin C), levels from 240 ng/ml at 30 years, 200 ng/ml at 40 years, and 40 ng/ml at 80 years. IGF -1 is the main effector of growth hormone activity.

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IGF-I or Somatomedin C is the major member of a family of proteins synthesized by the liver in response to growth hormone stimulus. It circulates in the peripheral blood bound on a tertiary complex with IGFBP-3 and acid labile subunit (ALS). In this form Somatomedin C (IGF-1) cannot leave circulation. An increase in the ratio of Somatomedin C (IGF-1) to either IGFBP-3 or ALS has been reported to increase the bioavailability of the Insulin Like Growth Factors. However, this would only be true if the total Somatomedin C (IGF-1) and IGF-II exceeded the binding capacity of IGFBP-3. This has yet to be demonstrated. The measurement of IGFB-3 clinically has yet to be proved of value in either diagnosing or monitoring therapy of growth hormone deficiency.

The increasing incidence of Somatomedin C (IGF-1) reduction with age, results in a clinical hyposomatotropin deficiency syndrome. The symptoms are: sagging cheeks, deep and large wrinkles, thinned hair, lips, jaw bones and skin, pseudogynecomastia, an obese floppy belly, general muscle loss, fatigue, somnolence, lack of self assurance and esteem, anxiety, and low sociability. The laboratory changes seen in this syndrome include: a decrease in Somatomedin C (IGF-1) level below youthful levels, an increase in cholesterol levels with altered lipoproteins, low thyroid hormone levels, high fibrinogen, and an increase in osteocalcin levels. These changes are often accompanied by an increase in atherosclerosis and an increase in cardiovascular mortality.

The measurement of random human growth hormone in serum is of very little diagnostic value because levels change dramatically in response to various stimuli. Dynamic tests of pituitary function such as the Arginine infusion test or insulin hypoglycemia both with measurements of growth hormone levels are valuable but not practical in an outpatient environment. Therefore, the measurement of Somatomedin C (IGF-1) is the best indicator of adult growth hormone deficiency in the outpatient setting, and the test of choice to monitor growth hormone therapy.

The diagnosis of adult human growth hormone deficiency should be considered in every adult patient who presents with suggestive symptoms. The diagnosis should be confirmed by measurement of Somatomedin C (IGF-1).

The FDA has now approved the use of synthetic or recombinant human growth hormone for the treatment of Adult Onset Growth Hormone Deficiency, as well as: dwarfism due to growth hormone deficiency, Turner’s syndrome and wasting due to AIDS.

However, fighting this problem with exercise is should be your first challenge. If you are not able to perform such exercises as described you should consult your physician regarding growth hormone injections. Also, is you attempt any of the described type exercises, please consult your doctor first because they are fairly intense and taxing on the body.