Weekly Recap 5/10-5/16/2020
We are back this week with lots of variety! Again, we have an article, video, instagram post, and Facebook post. The article of the week covers pain and the problems with the oversimplified biomechanical model of treating and diagnosing pain. The recap continues with a short video on motivation to train, Instagram post on how to recognized evidenced based practice, and a Facebook post on how to make tracking macros simple. Give everything a good look and let us know what you like.
Article of the Week
Your Back is Not Out of Alignment by Paul Ingraham
This is admittedly a very long article but it is too good not to share. The author talks about all of the problems with “structuralism” which is a term he uses for “the excessive focus — not any focus, just excessive focus — on postural and biomechanical factors in pain problems — the biomechanical bogeymen, the physical quirks that people fear as sources of pain and injury.” At Resilient, we often talk about how pain is multi-factorial and can’t be pinned down to one exact cause or structural abnormality. Resilient Coach Eric Lagoy has even come on our podcast (Episode 3 and Episode 5) to talk about pain experiences and low back pain. While the beginning of the article does highlight the many problems with structuralism, the author does go on to explain that there can be biomechanical causes of pain. Biomechanical or structural problems can be part of the big picture of pain, but it is almost always not the only cause of pain. The next time a doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor tells you that you are broken, have a structural abnormality, need to fix your posture or alignment, have degenerative discs make sure to think twice about what you are being told and remember that you are not a machine and are a resilient being. Make sure to give this article a read to get a better understanding of pain and the problems with structuralism.
Video of the Week
How to Get Motivated to Exercise from Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum of Barbell Medicine
I find that people that don’t exercise or that are new to exercising tend to ask coaches or other members that are consistent with their training about how they are so motivated to train. Most people wake up at 5am or earlier to lift before work or they go at 6 or 7pm after a long day at work. And these people get to the gym 3-5 days per week and they do this week after week and month after month. Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum answer the question of “how do you get motivated to exercise?” in what may seem like a simple answer; but it is very true and relatable to those that are consistent with their training. Watch this quick video to hear the answer.
Instagram Post of the Week
Our Instagram post of the week comes from Adam Meakins (@adammeakins). He put out a great chart that highlights good evidenced based practice versus pseudo evidenced based practice. It is very easy to get information from clinicians and coaches these days with social media and the internet at our fingertips. Anyone can put out information so it is important to be able to identify which people are actually putting out evidenced based information. This chart is extremely useful for helping us determine what information and clinicians we can most likely trust versus who is just trying to sell you on something.
Facebook Post of the Week
This week’s Facebook post is from Kiefer Lammi (who is our guest on our podcast this week!). If you are someone that tracks macros or is thinking about starting to track macros, Kiefer makes a great point of how to make tracking easier. Many people get overwhelmed by having to track their food every day for every meal; but, if you stick to some staple meals, tracking becomes much easier since you can just copy and paste your meals. I think most of us tend to eat the same foods day-to-day anyways and we tend to purchase the same foods at the grocery store. I follow this same strategy and find that it makes grocery shopping super simple as well. I tend to keep 3 meals the same day-to-day and then switch up the other 1 or 2. The meals I switch up help me to satisfy some cravings I may have that day or it may help me to eat whatever needs to be eaten in my fridge.