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MY PERSPECTIVE—BY BILL KATOVSKY
Bill Katovsky is a two-time finisher of the Ironman Hawaii triathlon (1982 and 1993) and founder of Tri-Athlete magazine, which he later sold and the title became Triathlete . He is also the founding editor of Inside Triathlon. In addition, he’s written several books on fitness, media, and politics. His most recent book is Return to Fitness: Getting Back in Shape After Injury, Illness, or Prolonged Inactivity.
I am like so many others whose flawed, wayward path eventually led them to Phil’s doorstep. I should have listened to his counsel ages ago. I should have memorized the holistic message contained in his writings. I should have improved my diet. I should have used a heart-rate monitor. I should have done a lot of things. But I didn’t. And boy, did I ever pay the price for being such a stubborn numbskull.
I have known Phil since 1993. I was the editor-in-chief of Inside Triathlon when a colleague sent me a copy of Phil’s first book, In Fitness and In Health. I admit to just skimming it, but there was plenty of useful stuff about training and racing, so I asked Phil to write for the magazine.
I later left Inside Triathlon and headed over to Triathlete as editor. Phil followed me there as a columnist. We got along fine—but I felt like a heretic in Phil’s company. I was a recreational multisport athlete who sporadically trained about seven hours per week and regularly binged on junk food. Many long bike rides began with a quick stop at the local 7-Eleven, where I loaded up on a custard-filled chocolate donut, Odwalla protein smoothie, and a small bag of potato chips. I didn’t seem to suffer all that much from this haphazard regimen and lifestyle. When you are in your thirties, you can get away with cutting corners and gorging on sweets and carbs; the body is more forgiving.
But once I reached my forties—by then, I had left Triathlete and begun writing books—matters started falling apart, both physically and mentally. My body began to crumble, like a house with an unsound foundation. I got edema and dermatitis in each leg. I was bedridden for months. I had chronic insomnia. I became addicted to over-the-counter sleep and pain aids. I became depressed. I stopped working out. Muscles disappeared. I lost all motivation to exercise. I didn’t bike or run for almost a decade. I felt hopeless and adrift with my declining health. Forget about fitness. I didn’t break a sweat during that entire ten-year period.
In total desperation and panic, I reached out to Phil, with whom I had stayed in touch. I wanted to reclaim my health, fitness, and sanity. But I didn’t know how or where to begin. We talked. We reviewed my options. He put me on a better diet—one with more vegetables and protein. I threw away every single bottle of Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve. The dermatitis eventually went away. But when it came to working out, I kept smashing into the same unyielding wall of adrenal fatigue. The cycle repeated itself. I would gradually build up the running mileage and then overdo it by charging up hills at an anaerobic pace for several consecutive workouts. Then the inevitable would happen. Legs went soft, unresponsive, buttery. The body would say, “No más.” My breathing would become labored, even on short ten-minute runs. I was a classic case of adrenal burnout—a somatic system meltdown from within. Instead of being able to run for an hour, I could barely jog a mile. I would then have to wait three or four months before I could start working out again. Frustration is an understatement to describe my darkening mood during each forced hiatus. Why was my body rebelling?
Phil fixed this problem as well. He suggested that I start training with a heart-rate monitor. As someone who is hyper-phobic of technology, I resisted his recommendation for the longest time. But after my third episode with overtraining and adrenal burnout, I finally bought a monitor, and using Phil’s 180 Formula, I rebooted my training from the beginning. The results went exactly as he has wisely outlined in his books and writings. I went slowly at first, making sure to keep my target heart rate below 128 whenever I went running. On hilly sections, my “running” seemed more like a fast walk. But I was a respectful and obedient slave to my Timex Fitness HRM master, always maintaining an aerobic pace. Within several months, I was comfortably running up to ninety minutes—including hills. Best of all, I hadn’t experienced any adrenal burnout. I was injury-free. (I run in thin, flat-soled Nike Frees with the insoles removed—Phil told me to do this.) I felt reborn. I also started mountain biking again. Six months went by. My aerobic base was solidifying. To test my fitness one rainy day, I went trail running for five hours, with a 2,000-feet elevation gain. I was surprised by how easy it felt. My recovery also went smoothly. Four days later, my legs felt fresh and ready for a forty-five-minute run.
By listening to Phil, I learned to listen to my body. I now expect to have many years of fitness ahead.
Dr. Richard Dominguez, author of The Complete Book of Sports Medicine and orthopedic surgeon at Loyola University Medical Center, says that among the specific stretches that are most damaging to the body are the yoga plow, hurdler’s stretch, toe touching, and the stiff leg raise.
The types of injury created by stretching may be in the muscle itself, the tendon, and ligament associated with that muscle, or even the joint controlled by that muscle.
Exercise repetition from swimming, biking, running, and other endurance sports results in an already slight over-stretched state. In addition, the chemical reaction to stretching, whether from a normal workout or the act of stretching, increases the production of inflammatory chemicals. Adding more stretching only increases the potential for increased inflammation.
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Many athletes stretch because they think it will help performance. But as noted, studies show this is not the case. Static stretching not only does not improve athletic performance, but may actually hinder it.
For those who require a very large range of motion for performance, however, proper stretching may be necessary. But these athletes include dancers, sprinters, and gymnasts, and not endurance athletes.
I had one patient named Randy who came to me with lower back pain and chronic asthma. He was a serious amateur cyclist. He’d begin his morning with ten minutes of stretching, especially what he perceived as his “tight” hamstrings. Then he’d head outside for his ride. He lived in a hilly area, so the first fifteen minutes of his workout were spent climbing hills. When he first used a heart-rate monitor, his heart rate surged to 170 within five minutes. But he could not imagine how any of that was contributing to his lower back pain. By performing manual muscle testing, however, I discovered that Randy’s hamstring muscles were over-stretched and weak, not helping to support his lower back. Therefore, my first recommendation was to stop stretching his already over-stretched hamstrings. Within a couple of weeks, his lower back had significantly improved. This was followed by the difficult task of adjusting his morning ride to avoid the hills. The only solution was for Randy to ride indoors on his rollers for about fifteen minutes before going outside, then riding very slowly until getting past the hills. When he was able to accomplish this, his chronic asthma also disappeared.
