Knee Pain when running, how to reduce, reverse and prevent Knee Pain

Several years ago when I was much younger, say in my early twenties, I suffered from knee pain anytime I ran.  To treat this knee pain I used the most current methods known to modern medicine, Ibuprofen.
Upon waking and prior to running I would take an 800mg table of Ibuprofen.  Now this certainly worked, I was able to run without pain, and I was young enough that my stomach and liver and kidneys could handle the damage I was inflicting upon myself with chronic medication.  I also did not know that NSAIDs such s Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen prevent the body from healing and repairing tissue.
In fact I have since leaned that recent studies have implicated Ibuprofen specifically in preventing the body from repairing soft tissue.  This means that when I took Ibuprofen after an ankle sprain, my body had a more difficult time in repairing that ankle sprain that then lead to a higher chance of spraining that ankle again.  It also meant that the damage in my knee that was causing my knee pain also never could fully heal.

So no that I am older, but yet leaner, and faster how do I take care of my knee pain.  Well I changed the way I run entirely.  I no longer run in heavy stability and motion control shoes, instead I run in light shoes with very little heel and minimal padding and cushion.  I have learned how to run on the front of my foot striking on the balls of my feet.  This uses the natural arch in my food like the leaf springs on a truck axle and engages my calf muscles eccentrically like shock absorbers.  By running in this way I also have change the angle of my center of gravity over my point of balance.  In making this simple change I have improved the bio-mechanics of my running motion and I no longer suffer knee pain.  I now run faster, greater distance, all with no knee pain and none of the horrible but silent side effects of chronic NSAID usage.

This is not something that happened overnight.  I spent a few weeks performing drills and conducting short runs to build up strength in my calves and soft tissues.  But in less than a month I was able to run without ever letting my heels slam into the ground and thus absorbing all the shock and impact below my knees.  Running pain free is great.  I learned how to do it from watching video demonstrations of Dr. Romanov and his Pose Method. 

Great Exercise Machine

By far, hands down, my favorite exercise machine, in fact one of the few that I actually use, is the Concept 2 Rower.  Why?
It provides a full body workout that utilizes your muscles in functional movement patterns.
It stressed both the anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways resulting in a complete workout.
It is very safe, it is rather difficult to hurt yourself with it or stack on too much weight.
The electronic module provides a feature for self calibration.
The rower is robust and I have rarely seen one out of commission.
It requires little to no maintenance; you simple oil the chain every now and then.
It takes up very little space when stored in the upright position.
Just about anyone can jump on it and safely push themselves.
The electronic control module provide a great amount of feedback information.
The electronic control module also has a wide variety of workouts programmed in including a game.

Back when I injured my IT band I relied heavily and almost daily upon the concept 2 rower for rehab.  I came back, leaner, stronger, and fast and cut over a minute from my pre-injury 2 mile run!

The concept 2 Rower is for me the best all around piece of workout equipment.  I bought my own to have at home for those rainy, or cold winter days, or anytime I just need a solid but simple workout.

I enjoy the 2K row for the moment but I also like performing Tabattas and 500m sprint intervals.  All of which I find easy to program into the New Workout option on the electronic control module.

If you are saving up for your next and probably your last piece of exercise equipemnt I would put my money toward a Concept 2 Rower.

Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Paelo Breakfast

With all the news about what is or isn't good for you I am frustrated at times with what to make for breakfast.  There are all kinds of paleo "hacks" or ways to make all those bread and pastry items without gluten or without grains.  It is just hard to find something that tastes just like the old but deadly pancakes, or it is extremely complicated to make.  The other drawback is that the macronutrients are always out of balance and you will have to add something else and/or reduce portions to balance the meal.

So my solution is to get back to basics and take more of an Ancestral Diet approach.  I make some bacon, a mushroom and onion omelet, with kale, and a little bit of fruit.  This results in a well balanced 3 Block Zone meal that is about double or triple on the fat, which keeps me full until well past lunch time.  Aside from being extremely tasty, and very healthy, the best part about this meal is that you will feel satisfied and full until you make it to lunch!

3 Block Zone, Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Ancestral Breakfast!

For Two People:

5 Slices of Center Cut Thick Bacon  (1 is for the dog)
3-5 mushrooms sliced up
1/4 of an onion diced up
1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil to fry
2 handfuls of Kale
1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil to blend with
4 eggs scrambled
1 Banana (or 4-5 oz of berries)

All ingredients either on the stove or prepped and ready!

Epic Bacon Flip, make the grease to keep the eggs from sticking.

Mix in melted Coconut Oil from top pan into the Scrambled Eggs

Kale, Bacon & banana plated, omelets still cooking.

In the pan split the omelet, as it stiffens flip each half over, then plate when done!

U-shaped Curve to Exercise Benefits

Everyone agrees that exercise confers significant health benefits, leads to not only a longer life but a more enjoyable life.  Exercise has shown again and again to reduce one's chance of cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, heart attack, hip fracture, and other such health perils.  For the longest time many doctors and professionals felt that more was always better.  For decades we have been told that marathon runners were the elite, the most fit among us, and thus the most healthy.
 
But the consensus against such claims has slowly been building from the minority for the past two decades or more.  Evidence that the dose response curve between exercise and health benefits is shaped like and upside down U is now mounting and creating legitimate controversy.  More doctors and sports professionals are now coming to favor shorter and higher intensity exercises.

Physiological studies are now showing that anaerobic exercise carries over to develop aerobic exercise but not the other way around.  From the perspective of the muscle cell and the metabolism of energy this makes perfect sense as cells produce ATP through multiple pathways but aerobic exercise rarely taps into the pathways required from high intensity anaerobic exercise.  Conversely anaerobic exercise taps out all of the pathways which metabolize energy and thus produce and more thorough "exercise."

Thus CrossFit and its now more than a dozen spin-offs (Seal-Fit, Military Athlete, OPT) both official and un-official are bringing the idea of high intensity short duration training to the main stream. 
The bottom line is exercise has a therapeutic range of values.  Below these values one should not expect results, while beyond these values more harm will occur than benefit.  This range differs between people and individual fitness levels, but in my opinion marathons fall outside this range for most people. 

If I spend more than 40 minutes conducting a work out and am not yet completely exhausted then the workout is to easy or I am moving to slow.  Generally I try to keep my workout challenging enough to wear me out in 20 minutes.  

Scrub out Toilet Bowl Stains

I recently cleaned out my apartment as I was moving and changing location and I had to clean the toilet bowl which had the most awful toilet bowl stains.  I tried everything to remove the toilet stains.  Nothing seemed to work, vinegar, baking soda, borax, kaboom, and all the special toilet bowl stain removers.  I scrubbed and scrubbed but could not get the stains to come out of the toilet bowl. 

Finally I found the Pumie, a pumice stone on a handle.  In just a few minutes I had removed all the toilet bowl stains and had an amazingly clean toilet bowl.  I really can't say much else about it, it was simply amazing.  Even after cleaning the stains out of two toilet bowls there is still 90% of the pumice left on the Pumie and it cost less than most caustic cleaning agents that never work!

Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil certainly holds first place in my mind when it comes to cooking and baking.  I use it daily for just about everything.  Whether it is frying shrimp, or frying eggs, I always melt a tablespoon or two of coconut oil into the pan. 

Coconut oil has other kitchen uses beyond just greasing the skillet.  In fact when I want to make a nice fluffy omelet I melt about two tablespoons of coconut oil and whip it into four eggs.  This makes the most wonderful, thick, soft, and fluffy omelets.  And the added fat content keeps my hunger at bay until lunch! 

Perhaps the best part is coconut oil is mostly medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in the form of lauric acid.  MCTs provide a quick and steadier stream of energy that does not spike insulin levels or cause low blood sugar such as carbohydrates.  Additionally MCTs are not readily stored by the body as fat and instead become fuel in our muscles and even the brain as ketones.  

So when I want sustained energy without messing with my insulin or glucose levels I add or take straight a spoon full of coconut oil to my meals.
Later one I will demonstrate how I make omelets, brownies, and pancakes from coconut oil!

Protein for Health

Whey protein has been around for decades since its first use on medical patients with wasting syndrome.  From there it was found to support pre- and post-workout muscle building, and now it is found in many shapes, sizes, and flavors, each with its own twist on marketing.
Most of these twists are gimmicks and the more flashy the marketing the further I stay away from them.
Research I have read shows that whey protein best supports the building of muscle tissue, while casein protein best supports the prevention of muscle breakdown.  Whey breaks down faster providing the immediate substrate amino acids needed for muscle synthesis, while casein digests slower, providing a more stable and long term supply of amino acids while also prompting the body through various growth factors to retain the muscle mass already present.
For these reasons I am a big fan of combining whey and casein protein in my pre and post workout shakes.
What I do is mix into a shaker up
12 oz of raw milk with about
20 to 30 grams of honey and
one scoop of Mt. Carpa Double Bonded Protein (Goat Milk) or Vital Force Double Bonded Protein
This provides about
three blocks of protein, (21g)
four blocks of carbs (36g)
three of good vitamin rich animal fat (9g)
Between waking and exercising I will take a few sips of this to prepare my blood with glucose and amino acids.  Then after my training I will drink the rest of the shake.
I have had great results with this and am pleased that it is composed of whole foods and not supplements. 

Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is very common these days and it has a number of contributing factors and causes which makes it rather hard to fix when approached in the traditional way.  For almost a week I have had some mild lower back pain and I know it was caused by performing several sets of deadlifts at a low weight after not really training for about two weeks.  The pain is mostly tolerable and just annoying but I feel it when I run and it prevents me from working out at my desired intensity. 

Even though I have a good idea of what caused my lower back pain I still want to address certain things that will contribute to its treatment.  Just like when we render first aid to anyone where we always control shock, when I suffer with any ailment, especially lower back pain, I want to control stress.  Stress alone is enough to cause lower back pain and certainly can exacerbate lower back pain.  On the positive side by soothing my stress I can help my mind and body with its natural functions to clear out damaged tissue and repair and remodel new tissue. 

I also want to keep moving my body above, below, and around the affected area, I use caution and go slow and pay attention to my breathing, this helps keep the lymph flowing to clear out damaged tissue and prevent the formation of fat adhesions.  I must also pay attention to what and how much I eat so as not to provoke excess inflammation in my lower back.  I also rely upon self-myofacial release (SMR) with the foam roller and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) with a jump stretch band.

One key thing to remember is that simply treating my lower back pain helps to organize my mind and body toward its natural healing and repair functions and really gets the ball rolling in the right direction.  I think that doing something constructive is better than doing nothing, and the more faith I have in the treatments I use the better those treatments will work 

I like yoga for this because it helps reduce stress, keeps me moving, and helps my lymph move out.For something to just dull the muscle pain I like using arnica.

Daily Vitamin B Revamp & Background

Health, wellness, physical fitness, strength, stamina, endurance, and resilience all find themselves critical to my profession as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces. Now though my mom thinks I am special, the Army does not, I am just your average guy in boots without any super powers. In fact I started paying attention to my health and fitness after failing to complete parachute school due to an overuse injury.

Suffering a contusion to my IT Band granted me entry into the “care” of the medical establishment, where I was told to apply ice, and ibuprofen. Ice made it worse but it’s what “the experts” told me to do and I was still unable to run and thus failed Airborne School. Physical Therapy consisted of some static stretching and more NSAIDs, but did introduce me to the foam roller. In pain and unable to run more than a few feet without my knee “locking down” I took charge of my health and started my search for answers.

During my years of searching I learned that NSAIDs prevent your body from healing, ice slows down the tissue repair process, and static stretching prior to exercise reduces your performance. I discovered that doctors learn and know little about food and nutrition but are under immense pressure from many directions to overprescribe medications. Along this journey I have acquired a massive library, written papers, and earned several certifications: CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, CrossFit Movement & Mobility Certification, NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist, NASE Certification, and a Masters in Exercise Science with a focus in Performance enhancement and injury prevention from CALU.

I have coached Soldiers, friends, family, peers, and superiors to better health and fitness. Now I want to share things that I have learned and help you metabolize all the conflicting messages regarding health and fitness.