Thursday, March 20, 2008

Graston Technique in the News

Hello all,

Here's a news report on Graston Technique, one of the methods I use in my treatment. Gary, you can testify that it works great for athletes. Here's the link sent to me by my mentor Warren Hammer, the Chiropractor who helped write the manual on the technique.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/health&id=6016526

Best, Norm Eng, DC, CSCS

Monday, March 17, 2008

Mother nature

Crazy weekend with the tornado that hit Atlanta!!! I hope and pray that everybody is OK. Here's a nice little comment I read on the AJC.com's health section from an avid runner. Reporter Adrianne Murchison is writing a great series about her trials and tribulations in training for the Atlanta ING Marathon:

On Saturday, Blogger John Tackett posted:
“Well this morning, at 4:30 a.m., despite the damage to downtown Atlanta, I did an 18 mile run from my home in East Point to my office in Buckhead. Got a little wet when the rain came through about 6 a.m., and it was eerie to run down the middle of Peachtree (and I mean the middle of the street) in downtown and not encounter traffic. Only other people I saw downtown were police, clean-up workers, and lots of homeless folks.
There was a local news crew there and they reporter yelled out at me, “Why in the world are I running after all that happened last night?” My response, “Despite what mother nature throws at us, we as humans need to get back into our daily routines as soon as possible.”

Friday, March 14, 2008

Inspiration

Last year I had a client in her 60's, who was suffering from a chronic heart condition and she was on numerous medications prescribed by her doctor. When I first started with her, I was a little hesitant about how to approach this routine. I wondered if I was training a delicate flower, that would quit halfway through the routine. Heck no! Although we had some minor limitations, this woman trained with a heart of a lioness!! I would work with her 2-3x per week, and she would rarely miss an appointment. There was NO quit in her! If I asked for 8 reps, she would give me 10. She always wanted to try new and challenging exercises, routines many would say she's too old for. I had her doing traveling lunges and physio ball push ups for sets, 2 exercises many males and females half her age couldn't do. Her workouts were intense, as that is what her "no quit" attitude demanded.

She possesses this heart of gold and a spirit that says never quit, never give up, never surrender. I'm not going to give any names, as you know who you are. Thank you for being an inspiration to myself and many others.

Best,

Norman T. Eng, DC, CSCS

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Marathon Nutrition

Great article I read online about marathon nutrition.

http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/Nutrition.cfm

Best regards,

Norm

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Truth Behind Strength Training for Marathons Pt. 2

A few days ago, I asked in a rhetorical manner how bench press, curls, tricep press downs, and leg press can help a marathon runner. Many still believe these exercises can magically improve their performance if done 2x/week, but like I wrote in prior publications, it can actually inhibit performance.

Let's paint a mental picture of an elite marathon runner. Okay, do you envision what I do? I see a waif individual, with the appearance of thin, yet lean, muscle pasted to their legs. These ectomorphic stick figures appear sickly, almost anorexic, but at the sound of a gun, they're ready to run 26.2 miles at a remarkable pace.

The runners that I speak of typically don't have bulky muscle, as their competencies revolve around being light weight and flexible. Now I'm not dismissing weight training for runners, but all I'm saying is the focus is in the wrong areas. So what are the right areas?

Well firstly, let's work on core strength, and no I don't mean just ab exercises. If you haven't done so already, read my latest article on Jon Doyle's baseballtraining secrets.com.

http://www.baseballtrainingsecrets.com/articles/baseball-core-training.php

By core training, I'm thinking about exercises like planks, Turkish get-ups, reverse hyperextensions, and overhead medicine ball throws.

Squats are ok, as long as they're done at high intensities, meaning decrease your rest time between sets. Marathons require endurance muscles, thus you have to train them as such. Longer rests between sets are more characteristic of power lifters and body builders.

Anyway, keep an eye out for part 3. If you have any exercises that you like, feel free to put them in the comments section and we can discuss it further.

As for now, I'm off to the gym.

Best,

Norman T. Eng, DC, CSCS

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

CORE strength

Check out the latest article I wrote on CORE strength.

http://www.baseballtrainingsecrets.com/articles/baseball-core-training.php

Best,

Norman Eng, DC, CSCS

Mental "Can't Do."

Bright and early this Atlanta morning I was training an individual in a local gym. Towards the end of the workout, he said he started to get extremely frustrated because I asked him to do push ups and his arms crumbled underneath him before he could even finish 1. He had done bench press, pre-exhausting with dumbbell flies with great intensity early in the hour. You could see the self disappointment painted all over his face.

I told him the following:
"You've had a hard workout thus far. You're not supposed to be able to do push ups at this point of the workout. There's a difference between physical 'can't do' and mental 'can't do.' Physical can't do can be overcome with time. Mental can't do is overcome from within."

It's that mental "can't do" that keeps many of us from fighting on. Whether it's in business, sports, weight training, or whatever one strives to achieve. Don't let that mental "can't do" get the best of you.

Remember, if you don't reach your goal one day, don't quit. Come back to fight another day.

Best,

Norman T. Eng, DC, CSCS

Monday, March 10, 2008

The Truth Behind Strength Training for Marathons

Every time I enter a gym, I witness firsthand the mistakes people make while lifting. Arched back, cheating with momentum, ......the list goes on.

I've encountered "endurance" athletes in the gym and observe their selection of exercises and technique. I know they're endurance athletes because they have that skinny runner's build and are walking advertisements for Asics or the latest marathon or triathlon held in the area.

Let me pose a question, and I'm going to be frank. How do bench press, curls, tricep press downs, and leg press help in running a marathon? Newsflash.....it doesn't. If anything it can inhibit marathon performance.

So what exercises should a runner do? Hold onto your seats and I'll fill you in later.

Best,

Norman Eng, DC, CSCS

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! Here, I will talk about many things, but most importantly, relay information on sports, training, performance conditioning, and sports chiropractic.

Come with me on a journey and I will be sure that this will be an informative, enlightening, entertaining, and fun experience.

Best,

Norman Eng, DC, CSCS