Understanding Your Body

Unlock your full athletic potential by understanding the intricate connection between your mind and body, and how it influences performance and well-being. Brain Anatomy, Nutrition, Exercise, & more will be discussed in this section.

Understanding Your Brain

Everything Starts with the Brain

The Brain is the most complex structure in the universe!
Human brain weighs 1,400 grams or 3 pounds.
Over 100 Billion neurons present in the brain.
The brain contains 12 cranial nerves that play a huge role in relaying information.
The brain is about 60% fat and the other 40% is made up of water, protein, carbs, and salts.
The brain is NOT a muscle.
The hippocampus is critical in our memory, learning, and emotions. Its biggest job is to collect short term memories and relay them to the long-term memory storage in the brain. Yes the hippocampus is actually in the shape of a seahorse and hippocampus derives from the Greek word "seahorse".
All brains have 2 hippocampi, one for each side of the brain.

Brain Anatomy Cont.

The Cerebral Cortex is composed of tightly arranged neurons. It is 1/4 inch thick and contains 8 million neurons.
The Cortex performs 3 very important motor behavior functions: organization of complex movements, storage of learned experiences, and the reception of sensory information.
Functions that are found in the Cerebral Cortex: consciousness, imagination, language, memory, perception, reasoning, information processing, and sensation.
The Cerebral Cortex is divided into four lobes: frontal, occipital, parietal, and temporal.
Frontal Lobe: Our prefrontal cortex is found at the front of the frontal lobe and is responsible for most of our executive functions like attention, self-control, and thinking.
Parietal Lobe: Our parietal lobe is found in the middle part of our brain and it is responsible for processing tactile sensory information like pain, touch, and pressure.
Temporal Lobe: Our temporal lobe is found in the bottom part of our brain near the ears. It is responsible for perception and recognition of stimuli, memory, and speech.
Occipital Lobe: Our occipital lobe is found in the back part of our brain. This is responsible for visual processing.

Brain Anatomy

The Cerebrum is the large dome of the brain that is divided into the right and left hemispheres. The left hemisphere is in charge of language use and comprehension while the right hemisphere is in charge of spatial-visual processes.
The biggest part of our brain is the Cerebrum or Cortex which amounts to 80% of our brains weight.
The Cerebellum, "little brain", maintains our balance and coordinates voluntary muscle movement.
The Brainstem is in charge of basic vital life functions like breathing, circulating blood, metabolic functions, the "non thinking actions". This is located inside the base of the skull just above the spinal cord. It is made up of the midbrain, pons, and medulla.
Midbrain: Acts as a relay transponder for our visual and auditory information.
Pons: "bridge" connects our cerebral cortex to the medulla and cerebellum. It stimulates our breathing and joysticks sleep cycles.
Medulla: controls autonomic functions like our blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate.

Brain Anatomy Visual Aid

Physical Activity & Exercise

How Do You Start Exercising?

Type of Exercise

A great place to start is this initial questionnaire called Exercise Inventory. This quick questionnaire helps you discover how you will create an exercise program tailored to your abilities, circumstances, and interests.

A massive obstacle that people consistently run into while attempting to start exercising are the EXCUSES! Facing these excuses is essential when trying to overcome an inactive lifestyle. Keeping a daily Diary of Opportunities to Exercise will help you discover the times in your schedule when you can exercise regularly.

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Endurance/ Aerobic: activities that increase breathing and heart rate. Repetitive and rhythmic. Involving sustained use of the larger muscles in the body.

Goal: strengthen cardiovascular system and increase overall stamina. Aerobic exercises can improve the composition of the body by developing more lean body mass when working at your target heart rate (THR).

Aerobic exercises: running, jogging, swimming, biking, dancing, hiking, skiing.

Strength & Toning: maintaining and improving overall strength, endurance, and power in muscles and bone. Three ways to strengthen/tone muscles are concentrically, isometrically, and eccentrically.

Strength exercises: free weights, machines, daily activities like lifting kids, shoveling snow, and climbing stairs.

Benefits of Exercise

Exercise works wonders for the body and brain of every human. We see a decrease in muscle tension, increase in concentration, improved strength, posture, and flexibility, along with increased energy level, weight loss, improved physical health and overall health.
Exercise creates chemical releases of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, which acts as a natural high that relieves stress.
People who were physically active reported better sleep at night.

What Does Daily Exercise Look Like?

We should aim for 30 minutes of moderately intensity exercise (150-300 minutes a week).
75-150 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise a week as well.
Strengthening exercises twice a week.
We should also aim to reach our 10,000 daily step count.

Flexibility & Stretching

Static and Dynamic Stretching

The most common type of stretching is static stretching, which involves holding a specific position that puts the muscle under tension until a stretching sensation is felt, and then repeating this process. Static stretching results in increases in joint range of motion. The greatest change in ROM occurs between 15 and 30 seconds when it comes to a static stretch.

There are two types of dynamic stretching: active and ballistic stretching. Active stretching typically involves moving a limb through its complete range of motion and repeating the movement several times. In contrast, ballistic stretching consists of quick, bouncing movements at the end of the range of motion. However, due to a higher risk of injury, ballistic stretching is no longer recommended.

Dynamic stretching replicates the movements you'll perform in the sport or activity you’re about to begin. It helps to practice those movement patterns, allowing the muscles to activate more quickly, which can enhance power and improve coordination.

What Kind of Stretching To Do

Stretching done as part of a warm-up before exercise is believed to decrease passive stiffness and enhance movement range during physical activity. Generally, static stretching is considered most beneficial for athletes who need flexibility for their sports, such as gymnastics or dance. On the other hand, dynamic stretching may be more appropriate for athletes whose performance relies on running or jumping, like basketball players or sprinters.

Personal Words on the Importance of Flexibility& Stretching

All throughout my childhood, my parents praised the importance of stretching and being flexible not just for sport but for my general health in the future. I would sit in front of the TV and stretch while the family was watching from the couch. This stemmed from my father being successful as a wrestler and he would be more than happy to show us how flexible he was when wrestling my brothers and I. If you read the Education & Experience section, you know I played goalkeeper in hockey and soccer, a position where being flexible pays well. In my 20 years of sport, my only injuries were contact injuries that resulted in broken or fractured bones but I would've had at least 5 times the amount of injuries I had if I didn't stretch every day. Making split saves where people would view it as painful or excruciating, felt great to me and felt like a secret advantage. Your body can be bent and molded in so many different ways and you never know what to expect in contact sports, freak accidents happen.

Athletes Who Come to Mind

We all know how great of a quarterback Patrick Mahomes is but what we don't know is how he trains. His performance trainings are wildly different than what you would expect a typical football player to do. His strength coach bends and stretches him in so many ways so that his body can be hit, folded, bent in a way that isn't natural but his body still rebounds from it. He rarely misses games and he is viewed as a tough player with multiple examples of taking big hits and still being able to play the game of football. Michael Phelps and Simone Biles are a couple other names that come to mind when discussing peak flexibility.

Nutrition

What is Nutrition?

Nutrition: scientific study of nutrients and their action, interaction, and contribution to a healthy body.

Nutrients: substances needed for bodily function. Divided into 2 classes: Macro Nutrients (Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins, Water) and Micro Nutrients (Vitamins, Mineral, Trace elements)

Each nutrient provides one of the three vital functions.

1. Provision of the energy required by cells

Carbs and fats are the primary nutrients for providing energy for cells. The energy content of nutrients is expressed in kilocalories (kcal). You may have heard of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) the main energy storage and carrier molecule.

2. Promotion of growth and development

Proteins are the primary nutrient involved in both growth and development. Dietary proteins supply the required amino acids for cells to synthesize cellular proteins. Nutrients calcium and phosphorus are important building blocks for bone.

3. Regulation of Metabolism

Vitamins, minerals, trace elements, water, protein are all involved in this process. Minerals and Trace elements have critical jobs in the regulation of numerous metabolic processes. Sodium is required for control of extracellular fluid balance and neural transmission.

Nutrition

Carbohydrates

Comprised of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms. Carbs are a key source of fuel for skeletal muscles and the brain.

Carbohydrates to eat before (1-3 hours) exercise: oats, whole wheat bread, healthy cereals, pasta, blueberries, raspberries, apples, potatoes, bananas, crackers, rice cakes, smoothies, PB and j sandwich, trail mix.

Carbohydrates to eat after a workout: avocado toast, yogurt, berries, granola, brown rice, chocolate milk, fruit smoothies, oatmeal.

Fats

Lipids: Greek word Lipos meaning fat. There are 3 classes of lipids that exist: triglycerides, phospholipids, sterols.

Triglycerides provide major sourcing of stored energy in fat cells, storage depot for fat-soluble vitamins, insulation for body, protection of vital organs.

Fatty Acids are a fuel source for muscles and other cells. They contain limited amounts of oxygen molecules.

Trans fat is a type of unsaturated fat that occurs naturally in small amounts of meat and milk. It can increase the shelf life of processed foods.

Minerals

Minerals make up about 4% of our body weight. If our body needs more than 100mg of a mineral per day then we classify that as a Major mineral like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chloride, and magnesium. On the smaller side of mineral consumption (<100mg) would be the Trace minerals like iron, zinc, copper, selenium, and iodine.

Calcium: dairy, tofu, orange juice, leafy veggies, fortified foods.
Phosphorous: dairy, fish, soft drinks, meats bakery products.
Potassium: spinach, bananas, orange juice, milk, meat, whole grains.
Sodium: table salts, condiments, sauces, soups, chips, processed foods.
Chloride: table salt, some veggies, processed foods.
Magnesium: green veggies, nuts, chocolate, wheat bran.
Iron: meats, spinach, seafood, broccoli, peas.
Zinc: seafoods, meats, greens, whole grains.

Protein

Comprised of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, some include sulfur. These chemical elements form amino acids. Proteins facilitate membrane transport and is an essential role in the immune system. Animal proteins such as beef, chicken, fish, eggs, milk contain all 9 essential amino acids.

Proteins to eat before exercise: PB and J, Oatmeal with milk and fruit, trail mix, fruit smoothies with protein powder

Proteins to eat after exercise: Eggs and toast, Greek yogurt and fruit, salmon, chicken, protein bars, protein powder, tuna, peanut butter, small fat % beef, protein shakes.

Vitamins

These are organic substances that participate in a variety of metabolic processes in the body and are required for life. Fat Soluble and Water Soluble are the two main categories of vitamins. Fat Soluble are Vitamins A (carrots, greens, milk), D (fish oils, milk, salmon), E (vegetable oils, cereals) and K (green veggies) that are found in the lipid portions of food and are stored within lipid components of the body.

Water Soluble are vitamins such as thiamin (seeds, pork, peas), riboflavin (milk, spinach, mushrooms), niacin (tuna, salmon, chicken), pantothetic acid (mushrooms, eggs, broccoli), folate (range juice, organ meats, green leafy vegetables) biotin (cheese, peanut butter, egg yolks) vitamin B-6 (animal protein, banana, spinach), vitamin B-12 (animal foods, oysters, clams) vitamin C (citrus, strawberries, greens). Most water soluble vitamins are eliminated in the urine and not stored for prolonged periods in the body.

Water

I would recommend trying to drink 80-104 ounces of water a day. A gallon is 128 ounces so a gallon is great or 8+ water bottles a day works too. Water is important for carrying nutrients, carrying oxygen to cells, and it lubricates our joints. It dissolves minerals and nutrients to make them accessible to your body. Water helps regulate body temperature, improves our blood oxygen circulation, improve mood, boosts energy, and aids in cognitive functioning.

2-3 cups before exercise.
1 cup every 15-20 minutes during exercise.
2-4 cups after exercise depending on weight loss.

What Do You Eat/Drink When Sick?

Avoid foods with high levels of sugar. Foods you should eat: Chicken soup/broth, fruits like bananas, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, also green leafy vegetables. One that I like is a banana, honey, and granola or oatmeal mix.

Water is king but gatorade/powerades are great too just try to get the low or zero sugar ones. Drinking alcohol can weaken your immune systems ability to fight off infection.

Sleep is a massive cure to illness. Sleep clears out neurotoxic waste and repairs cellular functioning in our body and minds. Make sure you getting 8+ hours of sleep when you are feeling ill.