Post from: My Health HQ

Top #1 Tool For Muscle Building

The famous inventor Thomas Edison once said “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

Some view natural alternative health remedies as a temporary fascination that will fade into the sunset over time while others perceive alternative health treatments as the way of the future. But the idea that they may lead the way seems the more plausible of the two theories, with preventative medicine replacing that of reactionary medicine.

One of the great myths about alternative natural remedies has been there is no firm scientific evidence confirming the effectiveness of natural treatments. To dispel this all one has to do is pick up any credible natural health reference guide or naturopathic medicine manual. And despite the attempts of many major pharmaceutical companies continuing to marginalize the use of alternative natural remedies they continue to develop medicines based on the very natural treatment that they wish to discredit.

The idea behind the use of natural healing is something referred to as full spectrum approach. This concept is much different than that behind that of prescription medications. Let’s look at how the two theories would be almost diametrically opposed. For our example let’s use my neighbor John who smokes, doesn’t exercise, and has high cholesterol.

John is already on a number of medications and goes for his annual physical only to find that he has high cholesterol. His doctor tells him he really should quit smoking and then writes a prescription for a statin medication and tells John to come back in three weeks for a follow up. In the follow up tests show the statin has crashed Johns cholesterol too low leading to muscle aches and pain. The doctor makes the needed adjustment in dosage and suggests mild pain relievers if pain persists.

Now let’s look at the naturopathic approach. John hasn’t smoked in years due to the advice of his natural health specialist. He uses exercise as a moderate tool to help him relieve stress and boost immune system function. Upon testing high for cholesterol levels his doctor suggests eating fish a couple of times a week and reducing his intake of saturated fat to below 10 percent of total calories and suggests a fish oil supplement. He tells John that diet modification should bring his high cholesterol numbers down but tells him there are a number of natural remedies available if needed.

If you eat a high cholesterol high fat diet, don’t exercise, smoke, are overweight, and are constantly bombarded with stress chances are you will likely be very unhealthy. This will ultimately lead to numerous conditions and medicines being prescribed, as is the case with John. And quite honestly the use of alternative health remedies likely wouldn’t do much good anyway, since they are most effective as a part of an overall approach consisting of diet, exercise, and supplementation. In other words alternative natural remedies should be used in addition to a healthy lifestyle rather than a tool to continue to make unhealthy lifestyle choices.

The two examples above are the push and pull involved. 

The question is does the use of prescription medication enable bad behavior or is an necessary tool in the fight against disease? The answer likely falls somewhere in the middle, leading us back to the debate about the usefulness of alternative natural remedies.

Post from: My Health HQ

Are Alternative Health Remedies A Useful Tool Or Just Outdated Medicine?

I recently received a call from a client in Dallas who noticed that one of the local stores is installing the Retul 3D Motion Capture System and wondered if it was better than the fitting she received from KGS Bikes. The explanation is a little more involved than a Q&A question so I decided to bump my scheduled ezine article for this one.

The KGS Fitting System, those by Serotta, WobbleNaught, Carmichael, Specialized, Cyfac, Body Scan, Fit Kit and others, use a procedural system that gets a specific outcome and these may or may not even use the data generated by a motion capture system.

Retul has become the gold standard in fitting tools in the past 18 months. The reason I say it is a fitting tool is that Retul can be used with any fitting system. It is 3D Motion Capture System that can accurately measure sensor points which are attached to rider or are indexed to a bicycle.

Retul has a competitor in Dartfish, which is a 2D motion capture system that I own. I am planning on purchasing Retul to augment my fitting services so here is an explanation of how I deal with fitting systems and motion capture systems. The crosshair laser that I use to measure bicycles is another reference tool that is independent of the fitting system. It helps to separate the two as there is overlap and thus room for confusion.

Fitting Systems – KGS vs others. Many of the fitting systems on the market today feature equations or benchmarks that a rider should use to calculate the best way to fit a bicycle. Fit Kit is one of the earlier systems that use a plumb line to determine Knee Over Pedal Spindle, WobbleNaught uses 33 different measurement points of the rider and the bike to get a computer generated setup for that individual rider and that individual bike. Carmichael uses angles and geometry to assure that an individual is set up within an acceptable range of angles on the bike. Serotta and others use a combination of measurements and riding on either the owner’s bike or a setup bike.

What separates the KGS Fitting System from the others are two specific processes:

1) I have developed a system of finding the best, most efficient and balanced position for an individual using my custom setup bike, through scientific analysis using a step by step approach to find that perfect setup whether the rider is young or old, fit or unfit.

2) The use of a setup bike with a power meter, that is 100% infinitely adjustable and capable of producing the workload that you as the rider really produce on the road, is critical. My system determines a proper bike setup, rather than a setup based on the limitations of a specific bike.

Fitting Tools – Setup bike. The setup bike was just described and is the core of my fitting system. It has road, mountain and time trial handlebars, different saddles, adjustable cranks from 150-230 mm and almost all modern pedal systems. Since the bottom bracket is the datum point, every other conceivable position is determined by the location of the saddle and handlebars. Since all riders interface with the bike in exactly the same place, (pedals, handlebars and saddle), if the setup bike is able to be positioned to find the rider’s best position it can be found, documented and repeated.

The setup bike is not the system any more than one’s bike on a trainer would be. In fact, my system is good enough to find the perfect setup even if it would be difficult to build a real bicycle with those specifications. This is because I don’t assume that the bicycle industry has created a stock frame for you, I assume nothing. When we get through the fitting process we know exactly how to build a frame that is perfect for you, or to specify a stock frame that works with your body.

Cross hair laser – This fitting tool is what I use to accurately measure the handlebars and saddle relative to the bottom bracket. These lasers do nothing but project two lines into space, but the accuracy attainable from this device is fantastic.

Dartfish Advanced Video Analysis – I bought the Dartfish software and used it with my fittings for a few years but found that the only thing that really worked well was the ability to show ankle placement and the time it took to show the client problems was better spent in showing a solution rather than highlighting the problem. Dartfish is a great tool and some clients can benefit from it but most are better off letting me show them how to get better form rather than see how bad their form is in the first place.

Retul – The Retul system is a 3D motion capture system. The reason I am getting one is the ability to capture the fitting session and not only save that data but analyze it with other setup data. I have the ability now to get people setup properly on the bike. That is not the point. Having a system that gives me better resolution of all the aspects of a rider’s position and being able to save it is important. Another part of the Retul system is a sensor that can be triggered when it touches parts of the bike so the critical dimensions of the setup bike can be captured more quickly and with the same accuracy that I use now. I can save a few minutes doing documentation which usually means I get more time to spend helping the client with specific problems.

In summary, a bad fitter will not do a significantly better job with Retul. All the fitting procedures and knowledge that the fitter used prior to the acquisition of Retul are used after the device is purchased so many bike shops are still stuck with the age old discovery: Bike fitting is not easy.

It has taken me years of study to get really good at bike fitting and I still learn things every day. I feel lucky to have a studio that I can use to really do a client some good. I can’t speak for other shops and studios, but I work not only hard but as smartly as I can to put the client first and get an awesome outcome. I can’t wait to get my own Retul system but the fact that I just have my knowledge, skills and setup bike means that current fit clients will get what they want and need, which is a custom setup that works for them.

At the end of the day, I still find a lot of stock bikes don’t fit grownups well. It is irritating as I have a lot of educating to do when people find out that it is not they that are abnormal, but the bike they want to buy that may not be the one for them.

Post from: My Health HQ

KGS Bikes Fitting vs. Retul – The Difference Between a Fitting Tool and a Fitting System