Too Much Power, Not Enough Clutch

The title of this blog can mean
different things to different people;
but if you know anything about
cars, you know what I'm talking about.

I used to have a really fast Audi S6.
300 horsepower, outrageous torque--
but the clutch was seriously lacking.
Instead of transmitting the engine power
to the wheels, the clutch would sometimes
slip and burn.

Our bodies work much like the mechanisms
in a car. Food = fuel. Muscle = engine.
Bones = chassis. But what in the human
body is like the transmission on a car ?
What transmits energy so that you can
move a part of your body ?
It's your joints, tendons and ligaments.
We know we contract muscles... that
leverage our joints... in order to transmit
energy, or "move a part of the body."

But strength of muscle does not equal
"best transmission of power." You see,
resistance training like weight lifting
(and even running) shortens the tendons,
limiting the joints' range of motion.

Former NFL player Cory Walker told
me that when he really got into weight
lifting and getting stronger, he got slower.
His 40-yard sprint times got worse.

Why ?
Inefficient transmission of power.
He got stronger ! But he could not
convert his new power into speed.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
I cringe every time I hear a doctor tell
an elderly patient to lift weights. Dumbells !

You have plenty-enough muscle.
You need to work on your joints.
After all, when you lose a joint,
you lose mobility.
Tai Chi and Qigong improve the joints.

If You Walked Like a Snowflake

GAIT is the term used to describe
the pattern of movement of the
limbs of animals. Human gait is
bipedal, meaning the pattern is
only on "two feet."

If you walk across the room and
back, what do you notice about
your own gait ? Before you read
on, try it. Walk across the room
and make mental notes about the
way you walk.

Did you land heel first and push
off your toes ? Did your knees
bend very much ? How long was
your right step compared to your
left step ? Now try it again and
see what you notice.

In gait analysis, the subject's gait
can be measured in many different
ways. Even if the right and left step
are the same length, they may not
take an equal amount of time. And
likely, they are not the same length.

In fact, almost everyone has one hip
stiffer than the other, which will make
a significant difference between left and
right steps. If the range of motion were
measured acutely in the foot, ankle, knee,
hip and lower spine, a myriad of asymmetry
emerges.

Not only do ankles and knees flex and extend,
they twist. The feet are vastly complex with
with ranges of motion in three planes, as are
the hips. This illustrates how much asymmetry
is possible in the lower body.

As a snowflake forms, it takes on symmetry.
As its branches extend out from the center,
each new joint is a perfect match of the other
joints. But as the human body grows and
ages, each joint range of motion of the lower
body begins to repeat movements based on
necessity, thereby forming habits. These
habits cause increasing asymmetry of gait,
and break down the misused joints over time.
If the habits are bad enough and last long
enough, they may require artificial knee
and/or hip joints to replace the natural ones.

Like a snowflake, there are endless combinations
of lower body joint mobility, making every
person's gait unique. However, there are
standards of movement originating from
Tai Chi Chuan that mobilize joints more
thoroughly, allowing a person to "fix" his
or her gait and save the natural joints.

You'll get no such love from jogging, weight
lifting or even swimming.

Boost Your Athletic Breathing !

Imagine what sports would be like
if you could take classes on breathing.
Imagine being able to breathe so
efficiently and so well that you would
never get winded. Wow. Wouldn't
that be an incredible skill ?

Two days ago, I skied with my old
buddy, Herb. Herb lives in Telluride,
Colorado, which perches at a paltry
8750 feet above sea-level. Telluride
Mountain Resort peaks-out at 12,225'--
so in essence, Herb came "down"
to ski at Alta, which bases at 8530'
and peaks-out at 10,550'.

Lots of people have been at altitude,
and many others haven't. When I took
my parents to the top of Pike's Peak at
14,000 feet, neither one could even walk
a straight line, and my mom knocked
merchandise off the gift store shelves
several times. Suffice it to say there is
less oxygen the higher you go.

Back to my story--
Herb is a great skier. He competed on
the Big Mountain circuit, and has been
shredding mountains worldwide for
almost 20 years. When we skied at Alta,
we hiked, and skied real hard. He couldn't
keep up with me on the hikes, and he was
huffing and puffing when we got down
to the lifts.

I don't do "cardio." No jogging, no stair
climbers, nothing of the sort. But I did
take lessons on how to breathe; and I dare
say that no one is ever waiting on me when
it's time to hike or do something that requires
a high "aerobic threshold."

This is no fantasy. I've been working on my
breathing for seven years, and can say with
confidence that I can breathe far better than
you can. The old BaGua masters like Wang
Shu Jin would practice martial arts for three
hours without ever opening their mouths. And
if you don't know BaGua, it's more physically
demanding than anything !

Hmmm. Are you starting to think maybe
there's a big hole in your athletic training ?
Well, stop lifting "dumbbells," and start
learning Tai Chi just as soon as breathing
development makes sense to you.

Plea To The Middle-Aged Athlete

I have a forty-something year old

friend in Park City named Harold.

He is a great ski racer, and a total

maniac when it comes to training

and staying active. A couple years

ago, I saw him at a party. He couldn't

stop bouncing his leg around, so

I asked what was up. He said he

had developed tendonitis around

one knee, and that it bugged him

all the time.

My biological father was a track-star,
a champion, a phenom. In his 20s and
30s, he kept running: 10k races and
everyday training. At age 42, he had
surgery on both knees, and never ran
again. I was a 22-year old athlete at
the time, and this scared the hell out
of me.

You know what I'm getting at.
If you're over age 40, but still train
like you're 20, you've got mounting
physical issues that you believe will
get better if you just stay active. You
might see a sports medicine doctor,
or you might just pop your Motrin
from a Pez dispenser & ignore the issues.
But deep down, you know you're doing
the wrong thing because you've watched
your older friends dropping out, one by
one, for years and years.

(The United Health Care commercial
where the lady reluctantly admits she's
"a runner," and continues to run despite
her failing knees DRIVES ME CRAZY!)

The Chinese say that if you practice
the proper methods, you will be healthy
and live a long life; but if you practice
improper methods, sickness will enter.

Why is it that no one sees Lance Armstrong's
testicular cancer as a result of improper
training ? Why don't people equate the
thousands of hours he spent with his nuts
squished between his legs, and the tiny
bike seat up his DMZ as the CAUSE ?
Bicycling is fun in small doses, but it's
absolutely devastating to a man's health
if he does it too much.

Salt Lake Magazine recently ran a story
about a local runner who ran and ran and
ran; opened a running store; then found
out he had cancer ! The article put him
on a pedestal with Lance Armstrong,
instead of saying the truth--
"He ran so much he got cancer."

Why do people worship the physicality
of Bruce Lee ? THE GUY IS DEAD !
Do you have any clue that Bruce Lee's
insane training regimen gave him the brain
aneurysm ? Look at his posture in the
photo above. Does that look healthy
to you ? Dead, dead, DEAD !

Wake up ! Stop beating on yourself !
Start taking care of yourself !
I beg you !
If you train hard, you know lots of
people who used to train hard but
simply can't any more. Do you really
believe it won't happen to you ?

Talk Radio w/ Glenda the Good Nurse

On November 10th, I went on air
with Glenda the Good Nurse on
K-Star Radio 1400 AM. We had
a great conversation about Healing
Exercise, and I believe I introduced
a number of concepts that seem
like common sense all twisted up
in fitness buzzwords.

Please click the links to listen:

How To Pick A Tai Chi Teacher

What Is Tai Chi ?

Tommy's Bio and About His Famous Dog

What Is Healing Exercise ?

What Is QiGong (chee-gong) ?

What Are The Benefits of Tai Chi ?

Fitness Is A Dirty Word...

On Preventive Care

On Breathing

On Sitting Exercise

Closing Segment

The Funny Bone of Health Care

You don't want to pay your taxes.

But you do anyway, because the

penalties for not are pretty stiff.

Begrudgingly, you "allow" the

I.R.S. to take a sizable chunk of

every dollar you earn.

Your government collects your

tax money, and divides it up for

expenditure, based on priority.

Safety comes first.

Yup, a whole bunch of the $$ goes to

the military. Think about it. Without

the impenetrable bubble the military

creates over our country, you would

be focused on your family's survival

every day of the week. You wouldn't

be whining about many of the things

that bug you right now.

So after your government pays for your

safety, it spends a big chunk of dough

on health care. $2.2 trillion dollars a year,

or $8000 per person so says the Whitehouse.

Now, the government's job is to use its

best efforts and brightest people to keep

the country in good health.  But U.S.

citizens don't take good care of themselves.

This raises the price of health care, which

comes from your taxes, which you didn't

want to pay in the first place.

So, every citizen's healthcare costs the

government a certain amount of money.

And the longer we live, the more we

cost. So with better health care, we will

live longer, and cost the country more

money, which comes out of the taxes

that we don't want to pay.
You follow me ?

At some point, your government has to
make tough decisions on how to pay for
everyone's health, even though folks won't
take care of themselves and they're living
longer and longer. Believe it or not,
the government does a better job taking
care of people's health than most people
do for themselves.

So what do U.S. citizens expect ? Evidently,

they expect to sit on the couch and watch

TV in a completely safe country where they

shouldn't have to vote or pay taxes. They expect

to live a long time-- despising the thought

of exercise-- but when their bodies do

break down and get sick, the good citizens
of the United States expect the government to

assure their health by paying the medical costs,

even though they poison themselves with sodas

and alcohol and foods full of MSG. They expect

the U.S. of A to try and wipe their asses while

they picket and chant and point their fingers at

the U.S. of A for doing a terrible job.

So what do I need to do ?

I feel like I should be banging pots and pans

in the street to get people to wake up ! We

are living in a fantasyland, where most will not

take any responsibility for their own health.

Worse yet, everyone wants the U.S. government

to simply handle it. But they don't want to vote,

pay for it, or do anything to help.

HealthCare in Austria, China & The U.S.

My wife sent me this article about
a high school football team bowing out
of a game because of the risks:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130511940

I have thought for a while that
football contributes in part to the
health problems in the U.S. Think
about how many boys play football
through the high school level, and
how many males get injured in their
football "career." It's a lot. Also consider
that our national sport of football has
very few people "doing" it; generally,
we sit on the couch and "watch it."

This got me thinking about the national
sports of Austria and China. In Austria,
skiing is the national sport; just about
everyone skis. In China, it's martial arts;
most people practice them, but especially
Tai Chi.

There are lots of factors to a nation's health
care profile: wealth of the nation, number
of doctors, lifestyle, sanitation, etc. But when
you look at some statistics, you might be surprised
about the place you live in.

According to NationMaster.com, reviewing
the top obesity countries, you might not be
surprised that the U.S. is number one in the world.
Austria is #24 and China's not on the list.

But you might be surprised that in the category
of "probability of not reaching age 60," you have
lots of the Kyrgyzstans, Uzbekistans; Georgia,
Bulgaria, Latvia, Russia--
and then at #24 is the United States !
Austria is #31; China's not on the list !

In the category of "per capita government
expenditure on health," the U.S. was number
five with $2,368 spent per person per year.
Austria was number 20 at $1,551 p.p.p.y.
And China was #121, at a whopping $88.00
p.p.p.y.

Conversely, in the "private expenditure on health
as a percentage of total expenditure on health,"
(meaning percent you pay for your own healthcare...),
China ranked #26 at 66.3% (meaning they pay
this percentage of their own costs). The U.S.
ranks 51st with 55% out-of-pocket. And Austria
ranks #116 at 30.1%.

In the category of "total population life expectancy,"
Austria is #15 with 79 years. The U.S. is #28
with 77 years. And China ties (for an adjusted spot)
with 71 years.

In the category of
"percentage of life lived in ill-health: female,"
The U.S. is #6.
Austria is #27.
And China is not on the list !

It can be said that the U.S. is the wealthiest
of the three, but the most sedentary. Overall,
we can live a long time, but not in the best
of health. Likely, it can be said that we are
at least as unhealthy as China, even though
we're richer and have better healthcare.

It can be said that Austria is a fairly wealthy
country, and that it's citizens, though they
eat plenty of pastries and cheese, stay pretty
active, live healthy lives, and live a long time.
And Austria picks up most of the bill.

China may have wealth, but its money doesn't
make it into the healthcare system. People
have to take care of themselves. Adjusted to
the fact that they have such a huge population,
and fairly poor sanitation, it can be said that
the Chinese do a much better job taking care
of themselves than most countries. They have
a much higher probability of reaching age 60
than we do; have far fewer females with ill health--
and that's on $88 government dollars per year !