As you know from my previous postings, I am a big fan of mobile, almost barefoot type shoes.  The question I get is from people who are in the military goes normally like this “I love my (insert Nike Free, Virbrams, Tigers, etc here) but when I leave or go back on active duty, I have to wear this horrible, heavy stiff combat boats.  Are there any other options?”

The only other option I could find that was pretty close was boots made by Camper out of Europe.  I first saw them at the Z-Health Master Trainer eval in CA this past January as Dr. Cobb had a pair.  They were lightweight and pretty flexible too, but as far as I could gather they were not specially made for military applications.

Camper Boots (from zappos.com)

You are in luck now!  The fine folks at Nike after much R and D have released their SFB aka Special Forces Boot.  I did a Z-Health session on an athlete earlier today who is leaving for Army Ranger school in about a month and he mentioned that he picked up a pair and LOVES them so far.  He said they are quite flexible and super light weight.  This is HUGE if you are doing 5 mile runs in boots and extremely fast marches carrying a crapload of weight on your back.  The last thing you want is a pair of heavy, stiff boats.  Remember, there are reflexes in the foot that go up into the hip, so messed up feet/ankles = messed up hips; thus decreasing your power and speed and potentially adding to injuries.

Nike SFB Men’s Boot according to the Nike website

A 21st century boot for high-speed operators, the lightweight Nike
SFB Men’s Boot was engineered to the specifications and needs of
Special Forces including elite military, law enforcement and first
responder professionals. As the lightest, fastest-drying, highest
mobility performance boot we’ve ever made, the SFB offers superior
comfort for extended wear, straight out of the box

Nylon and suede upper
Nike Free outsole technology
Outsole designed for traction and breathability
Weight: 15.9 oz. based on Men’s size 10

If you are in the military or have loved ones that are, this may be an option for them.  As always, have them check to make sure that it is an option for them, but many times it is now.

Time to get the military up to the 21st century with new footwear.  The amount of energy and potentially reducing injuries is huge.  As always with more flexible shoes, make sure to do your foot and ankle mobility.

Check out the pics below from Nike. com and this link

Nike SFB Mens Boot

If you have found any other boots that are lightweight and very flexible, post a comment below!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

I want to send a special shout out to everyone that is in the military and their families.  Thank you very much for all that you do (many of it, we will never even hear about).

Have you heard this before?

• I am too busy to eat well
• I just don’t have time
• I travel a lot and don’t have time or access to good nutritious food
• Taco Bell needs my support!

Nutrition is very important for athletic performance, both in the gym and on the playing field.  The key is to be CONSITENT.

The wind was up here recently, so I decided to take some time off and go kiteboarding with my friend Rob.  Do you have to let your nutrition slip just to have fun with your friends?  Find out below

What are other tips that work well for you?  Post them in the comments!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

Play Now:

 Nutrition on the Go [5:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Do your shoes suck?

How would you know?

Do you have foot/ankle pain?

Worst…..shoes…….ever

Great “shoes” and happy feet!

Listen to the audio below as I detail

• How to find good shoes
• Why are good shoes important
• Performance applications
• Can better shoes increase your strength and performance?

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

Play Now:

 Do Your Shoes Suck? [7:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I get the question a lot about what it is like to train at the Extreme Human Performance center, so I thought that since I am the research guy, I would do an experiment.

I invited Dave Sandel over since he also trains here in the Twin Cities Minnesota area.  He came over last week and we did some Z-Health on him, got down to business training and he pulled a deadlift PR (personal record) and even took out the 400 lb tire.   We throw in some Kettlebell work just for good measure too.

What Happened?

Before I get to that, here is a short tour of the private facility.

What the heck, that is your garage man!

Yep!  Truth be told I used to train at a big club in the Twin Cities here part time and I could not take it.   You don’t need a room full of chrome to get stronger, move better, and kick a$$.    You don’t need a $4,000 pulley a “wazi strength thing” and stay the hell off the treadmill!

You need basic, top of the line, equipment.   Basics are best, yet nobody wants to practice them.  Lift heavy stuff, set it down, make sure you don’t degrade your movement (if you leave the gym dragging your right leg, did you really get any better?)    Spend your money on the basics and then spend a ton of money on education!  Figure out better (not always newer) techniques.   The body is very complex, why do you think a weekend certification is going to cover it?  Pleeeeeze.  Focus on the nervous system,  since is the chief in charge and runs the show.

How I Ended Up in My Garage

So after the gym I was at filed bankruptcy on me (I did not even know, I found out by going there one night and found a note on the door!).  I checked into a few other places and could not stomach it.   I could not take all the chrome, had to keep your shoes on all the time (love barefoot training), can’t drop a heavy weight and some places you can’t even deadlift!  What?  The most basic function and you can’t even perform it there?  Time for plan B and vowed to set up a place that I could control, right outside my door, done by my rules to get athletes  RESULTS.   I LOVE it and would not trade it for any chrome gym around, no matter the amount of money.  Oh yeah, I control the stereo too—hehehe.  If you bring your Jonas Brothers CD you will NOT be let it.

What Happened to Dave?

I will let Dave tell you first hand.  Head on over to his blog below.  Keep in mind that if you are easily offended, read with caution.   It is all Dave and I did not even see it until he posted it online; so the account is not altered in any way.

Athlete Creator Dave Sandel hits ups the Xtreme Human Performance Center in MN

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

If you are here in the St. Paul/ White Bear Lake/ Twin Cities area Minnesota and want to train here, drop me a line at  Info@ExtremeHumanPerformance.com and we may be able to arrange it.   Serious inquires only and there are only a severely limted number of spots open while I am finishing my PhD.

Thanks for all the comments on the post below

Tennis Elbow Pain: Tendinosis vs Tendonitis

I was hoping to get the answer back to you sooner, but I was holed up in the lab almost all of yesterday running data on the Monster Energy Drink Study so that I can graduate soon!

The good news is that I shot a video for you, so check it out if you want some options to get rid of that elbow pain.

Notes:

• I used a Kettlebell here for a weight, but any weight will work fine
• Make sure it is not too painful.  Pick a lighter weight
• Ideally hit about 10-15 reps with a 5 sec eccentric (lowering) motion.
• You should see some change within about a week
• I’ve found that I needed to do it about as lo
  ng after as it took to make the pain go away.  So it cleared up pretty well for me in 12 days, so I did it for a total of 24 days.
• You can do it every day if you need to
• The volume on the video is a bit soft since I was outside

Again, this is just an option to try.  I had tennis elbows really bad in both elbows several years ago and this works wonders.

Long term, I recommend some mobility work (like Z-Health) to keep all your joints working well.

You wil also have to drop any movements/exercises that are creating pain in your training, yes even if that is the beloved KB swing.   Try a 1 hand swing and see if that is better, if not, don’t do it until you get the pain under control.

Remember, if you are in pain, you will not have amazing athletic performance (and it just plain sucks)

Any comments, let me know!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

I was more than a little skeptical about doing a session with Mike especially since I am an Occupational  therapist by training, but through emails I found that he might be able to help me with my ankle.  I had done all the standard physical therapy, but it still limited my ability to run and exercise.

After seeing Mike I have less stiffness in my ankle (both upon waking and throughout the course of the day).  I have been able to return to some light aerobic activity without having to do as many compensatory movements/positioning of my affected leg to be successful.  I was VERY surprised by the results from just one session.

I would recommend Mike’s services to anyone suffering from pain/stiffness or decreased range of motion that has not improved through “traditional therapies” – (i.e. P.T., chiropractic care, etc.).  After paying a $30 co-pay for every outpatient “Traditional therapy” session (2-3x/week) only to hear that my range of motion was the same week-to-week, I was certain that my ankle was not going to improve any more and I was stuck where I was as far as outcomes after my surgery. 

Mike has changed my outlook on recovering function and range of motion. Get in to see him today!

Heather F.

Mounds View, MN

Occupational Therapist

Thanks again Heather for stopping by for a Z-Health session!

What are YOU waiting for?

Are you seeking to lift more, perform better as an athlete and have less pain?

Email me today at Info@ExtremeHumanPerformance.com  to set up your appointment today!

Appointments are done on a first come first serve basis.

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

MC has posted another short video from yours truly in regards to the post training window.

Does it really exist or is it as mythical as the Loch Ness Monster?

Is there a magical time that taking in protein and perhaps carbs can help you optimize your athletic events or time in the gym?

Is it time to bust more BroScience?

Hop on over to see the short video by clicking below.

Minute with Mike (2 ), Post Workout Recovery Window: Real or Myth?

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

Doing good on the comments from yesterday’s post, but still need a few more if you want some more info!

Greetings!  Tons of killer updates coming and it was great to meet many of you at the Z-Health/ Dragon Door  “Essential Secrets of Elite Performance”  event this past weekend!  Thanks for all the kind words and anything I can do to help, let me know.

The event went great as the participants got an inside look at Z-Health R Phase, I Phase and S Phase over 3 days and everyone had a blast.

Tennis Elbow: But I don’t play tennis?

If you have ever had tendon pain or forearm pain, it sucks!  I’ve had it in the past and it prevented me from even lifting 1 plate into my cupboard without pain.  To say that my lifting during this time dropped a bit is an under statement.

Notice that we spent tons of time recently on grip (see the link below if you missed out), but OVER USE of grip can potentially cause tendon pain and/or forearm pain.

Killer Grip Series with Adam T Glass

If you have pain, you can NOT be in an optimal state for extreme human performance, period.

Now, this does not mean that you will never see a professional athlete play through pain and put on a good/great performance on occasion, but this is NOT the norm.

When you are in pain, it becomes a top priority to your body and nervous system; eclipsing performance.

An extreme example I have used is to go sprint 100 meters, rest fully, have your buddy “Bruno the Bruiser” kick you square in the nuts and then go run again.  I will bet a ton of money you will not run as fast.

The great part is that your body adapts and we can use that principle to force it to adapt to something better! The technical term is “Davis’s law” which states that tissue will adapt along lines of stress.  Stress= SPECIFIC adaptation to stress.  This is even being used in ACL replacements now to promote better tissue properties.   Check out this post if you want more details

Mechanical Properties Of Tissue and Anatomy

Pain Sucks, I Want a Solution

Tendon pain is not fun.  The cool part is there is a solution as I have outlined below here in the past

TendonOSIS vs TendonITIS

Another option of course is mobility work (I like Z-Health)  via opposite joints as outlined below

Opposite Joints: My Eblow Hurts, You Want Me to Check My Knee?

New Evidence

There was some new evidence published just the other day showing that eccentric exercise works VERY well for tennis elbow (tendonosis aka tendinosis).

Source: Eccentric Exercise Technique Offers Easy, Affordable Intervention for Chronic Lateral Epicondylitis by
Nancy A. Melville (Medscape) from a  study presented here at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine 35th Annual Meeting.

Lateral epicondylitis is the technical term, but most know it by the same of tennis elbow.  The study done by Timothy F. Tyler, PT, ATC, and friends randomized patients with pain from chronic lateral epicondylitis into 2 groups: an eccentric group of 6 men and 5 women (average age, 47 ± 2 years); and a standard-treatment group of 4 men and 6 women (average age, 51 ± 4 years).

Both groups received wrist-extensor stretching (I am such a fan of static stretching, cough cough, er, no)  , ultrasound, cross-friction massage, and heat and ice therapy. The eccentric group performed isolated eccentric wrist-extensor strengthening using a rubber cylinder, called the Flexbar (Hygenic Corp) (note, they also paid for the study, and that does not make it bad, just keep that in mind too)

Results

The eccentric group reported an improvement of 76% in their DASH score (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand -DASH-questionnaire if you really wanted to know) and the standard-treatment group reported an improvement of 12% (P = .01).  VAS (a way to measure pain) improvement was 81% for the eccentric group and 22% for the standard-treatment group (P = .002),   Holy pain relief bat man!  While percentages can be misleading at times, the eccentric group whooped a$$ over the standard, run of the mill, more time intensive and expensive treatment by a high significant (those low p values) amount!

Here is a direct quote from the lead researcher as told to Medscape Orthopaedics

“The eccentric group had a significant improvement in the amount of disability [reported in the DASH score], compared to the standard-treatment group, and there was also a significant decrease in pain, compared to the standard-treatment group,” Mr. Tyler said. 

Sign me up!

So now you have yet another option to get out of pain and back into the gym or your sport with a vengeance!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

If you want to know the exact routine I used for my elbow pain in the past, drop a comment below.  10 comments by this Wed at 5pm and I will put a post telling you EXACTLY what I did.

Source: American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) 35th Annual Meeting: Abstract 8345. Presented July 11, 2009.

Other  References

Br J Sports Med. 2007 Apr;41(4):188-98; discussion 199. Epub 2006 Oct 24.

Chronic tendinopathy: effectiveness of eccentric exercise.

Woodley BL, Newsham-West RJ, Baxter GD.

Centre for Physiotherapy Research, School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. brettandsteph@xtra.co.nz

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of eccentric exercise (EE) programmes in the treatment of common tendinopathies. DATA SOURCES: Relevant randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were sourced using the OVID website databases: MEDLINE (1966-Jan 2006), CINAHL (1982-Jan 2006), AMED (1985-Jan 2006), EMBASE (1988-Jan 2006), and all EBM reviews–Cochrane DSR, ACP Journal Club, DARE, and CCTR (Jan 2006). The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) was also searched using the keyword: eccentric. Review

METHODS: The PEDro and van Tulder scales were employed to assess methodological quality. Levels of evidence were then obtained according to predefined thresholds: Strong–consistent findings among multiple high-quality RCTs. Moderate–consistent findings among multiple low-quality RCTs and/or clinically controlled trials (CCTs) and/or one high-quality RCT. Limited–one low-quality RCT and/or CCT. Conflicting–inconsistent findings among multiple trials (RCTs and/or CCTs). No evidence-no RCTs or CCTs.

RESULTS: Twenty relevant studies were sourced, 11 of which met the inclusion criteria. These included studies of Achilles tendinopathy (AT), patella tendinopathy (PT) and tendinopathy of the common wrist extensor tendon of the lateral elbow (LET). Limited levels of evidence exist to suggest that EE has a positive effect on clinical outcomes such as pain, function and patient satisfaction/return to work when compared to various control interventions such as concentric exercise (CE), stretching, splinting, frictions and ultrasound. Levels of evidence were found to be variable across the tendinopathies investigated.

CONCLUSIONS: This review demonstrates the dearth of high-quality research in support of the clinical effectiveness of EE over other treatments in the management of tendinopathies. Further adequately powered studies that include appropriate randomi

I tracked down Mike while preparing for the RKC cert since I noticed he was an assistant RKC instructor and also a Z-Health Master Trainer.

I was skeptical about it, although I had purchased the Z-Health R-Phase material and was using the Neural Warmup where I began to notice some slight changes in the way I felt and moved.

After one session I was surprised by the results. I had much better movement in my left glute and increased range of motion in my T-spine (an area that needs considerable more work). I did my exercises and was able to keep these corrections even to this date several weeks later.

I would absolutely recommend Mike as he was extremely professional and engaging.

I went on to pass my RKC and am now signed up for the Z-Health level 1 (R Phase) cert to learn even more.

Stephen “Steve” Ruiz, RKC
Edmond, Oklahoma
Land Specialist in the Oil and Gas Industry

Thanks Stephen for the kind words and you did great at the RKC!  I will see you again at the Z-Health cert here in Minnesota in mid Aug.

There is still time for YOU to sign up for the Z-Health R Phase cert here in MN or your area.  Feel free to contact me with any questions by posting a comment below.

I will be at the Z-Health/ Dragon Door  “Essential Secrets of Elite Performance” most of the day Sunday, so if you are there be sure to say hi!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

We have a special treat from “Unbreakable” Adam T Glass as the “Killer Grip” series rolls on.   As mentioned in the past, the Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC) is coming up in less than 8 weeks!

Be sure to check out Adam’s amazing blog at

Walk the Road Less Traveled 

Adam what would you recomend to me at the top 3 (or 5) grip exercises I should do?

My 2 main goals are
1) increase my raw DL from (current PR is 410 lbs)
2) increase my snatches (current PR 32 kg for 75 reps in 5 min)

Adam T Glasss

How about that for a conclusion to our gonzo grip series!  If there is something you want more from the extreme human himself, Adam, drop some comment love below and we will see if we can pull him from his cave in bumbletown North Dakota for a follow up!  Thanks again Adam for all the time on this!

Rock on

Mike N