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Tired of the same old yard games??Time to level up with these AWESOME lesser-knowns!

7/24/2020

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Welcome back! 

If your summer parties, get-togethers, and backyard olympics are still featuring ladder ball and traditional cornhole,  consider these lesser know games that are just as competitive, and demand skill and strategy!   I include three categories:  1) portable and for open spaces,  2) Skill and dexterity games at the table, and 3)  "Giant" adaptations of the classics. 

It's a perfect chance to invest in some new options at your next yard party or tailgate!  Try em out!

Portable and for Open Spaces

Molkky

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Game Type:  Tossing. Grass or beach. Strategy and skill
Summary of play: 
  1. Take turns in knocking down numbered pins with the Mölkky (throwing pin).
  2. After each throw, the pins are stood up again in the location where they landed.
  3. The first player to reach exactly 50 points wins the game
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More info:  Click Here 

Ramp Shot 

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Game Type:  Tossing, with lots of action.  2v2. Grass or beach.  Cornhole on steroids!
Summary of play: Teams of 2. One team throws their color ball, trying to get it into the net for 3 points. If the ball bounces off of the ramp, the thrower's teammate can catch the ball for one point, or hit it back to the thrower to catch for two points (optional).  Race to score 15 points.
​

More info:  Click Here








Hockey Sauce

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Game Type:  Cornhole, with hockey sticks!
Summary of play: The game pucks are "shot" back and forth, same as cornhole, and scored according to whether the puck hits the platform before entering the net (1 point) or enters the net without touching anything (3 points).  Cornhole for hockey players!
​

More info: Click Here

Kubb (Viking Chess)

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 Type: Tossing. Grass or beach.   2v2. Strategy and skill
Summary of play: The goal of Kubb is to be the first side to eliminate all the opponent’s kubbs before successfully knocking down the king to win the game.
If the king is knocked down at any time during the game, the opponents immediately win. 
​
More info:  Click Here



Spike Ball

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Game Type:  Action packed.  Think 2v2 volleyball around a net
Summary of play: is a team sport played by two teams of two players. Opposing teams line up across from each other with the Spikeball net in the center.  Once the ball is served players can move anywhere they want. The object of the game is to hit the ball into the net so that the opposing team cannot return it.
​

More info:  Click Here






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Chippo

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Game Type:  Cornhole, with a wedge!
Summary of play:  Work on your short game in a fun and competitive way!  1 point: Just hit the board on a fly. Boardie. 
3 points: Drain your shot in the larger center hole. 3-Hole.
5 points: Send the ball to its home in either top corner hole. 5-Hole. 
2x points: If you're a surgeon with a sixty degree wedge, bounce your shot off the chipping mat for double (2, 6 or 10) points. Bounce Shot. 

Use this scoring for 3 different game formats!  
​

More info: Click Here

Rollors (yes, spelled this way)

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Type: Rolling.  Level and even surface is best
Summary of play: Each player or team of 2-3 players uses one color set of rollers, and take turns rolling toward the target (release). The rollor must touch the ground within 4 feet of the release. Points are scored by proximity to the release in relation to your opponents (similar to curling).
​

More info:  Click Here

Petanque

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Game Type:  Tossing/bowling (or boules), much like Bocce Ball
Summary of play: Petanque is extremely simple, just like horseshoes. There's a target, and you have to get as close to it as possible.
What makes it so appealing, is that you can be way ahead for a while, yet lose a second later, or vice versa. Because nothing is decided until the last player plays the very last boule. If he or she moves the target ball or knocks an opponent ball out of the way, the layout of the boules - and thus your score - may change dramatically.
​

More info: Click Here

Pool Pong (Bucketball)

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Game Type:  Pong, in the pool!
Summary of play: Each player on a team throws once, trying to throw the ball into the other team’s buckets. If a ball goes into a bucket, then the bucket is removed.
As soon as one team eliminates all of the other team’s buckets, they win. The losing team gets rebuttals. If the losing team makes all of the buckets, the game goes into overtime. If not, they lose and the game is over.
​
More info:  Click Here

Skill and Dexterity Games At the table

Pucket

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Game Summary:
Pucket is a frantic dexterity game. Players race each other to clear the pucks from their side of the board by catapulting them through a small hole leading to the other side (the "gate"). Any pucks that arrive on your side must be sent back before you win
​
More info: Click Here

Crokinhole

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Game Summary:
Another dexterity game. Players alternately try to flick their discs into the center hole of the round board or into higher value fields. In the flicking fight for points, opposing players will try to hit each others’ discs to knock them out of the playing area or into lower scoring positions.
​

More info: Click Here

Rollet

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Game Summary:
Rollet is a two to four player fast rolling ricochet game. The aim of the game is to roll steel balls down your chute so as to knock the wooden ball into your opponents’ goal. Rollet demands a good eye, timing, and teamwork.
​

More info: Click Here

"Giant" Adaptations of some of the classics!

Yardzee (giant Yahtzee)

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Giant Connect4

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Giant Checkers

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Giant Jenga

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Giant Chess

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Giant Scrabble

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1+1=3!  Compound strength gains with the right movement and rep pairings!

7/16/2020

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Hi everyone,  welcome back!  We're looking at  powerful PAIRINGS in wellness this week

The word of the day  is COMPOUND!   This powerful word connotes an appealing concept of creating something BIGGER  than the sum of it's parts.   It is why we combine spices, pair the right wine with cheese,  or put money into long term investments.  We like to pair things together to give us a return on investment!   

Weight training demonstrates this concept beautifully.  Strategic, and progressive OVERLOAD is the key component in producing strength and increased muscle mass.  These gains, in turn,  boost metabolism, making it easier to burn calories and manage weight down the road, while the increased strength further allows more and more gains, and this positive feedback loop continues.  This is the DEFINITION of compounding!

Problem is, many don't design their resistance training properly enough to maximize the time spent during a training session.    ORDER and TYPE of exercises MATTERS if you want to maximize the compounding effect of strength training.  I'm going to discuss one aspect of this concept,  since there are too many to cover in one post!
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X-factor in compounding gains:  NEURAL PATHWAYS

I don't want to go into the physiology too deeply,  so I'll just give a quick explanation of what neural pathways are in regards to strengthening.  Essentially,  when we lift weights, there are two ways we get stronger: 
  1. Due to changes from the overload within the skeletal muscle fibers themselves due to the overload principle (hypertrophy - exhibited by increased muscle size and tone)
  2. Due to increased nerve excitation from the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM.   Muscle fibers need nerves to signal to them to contract - neural drive.  Neural drive (VIA NEURAL PATHWAYS) to the muscle determines if, when, and to what degree muscle fibers are activated to produce force
Neural drive is why you can experience an increase in strength without seeing an increase in muscle size, or why someone who has a smaller build can be stronger than one who is more muscular.   The more nerves that fire, the more muscle cells can contract, and the more they adapt muscle fibers to grow!

Analogy Time!

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Think of NEURAL PATHWAYS like the interstate, and each vehicle as one nerve impulse.  The more lanes you build, the more volume of traffic (nerve impulses) can get through, and in less time!   Strength training opens up neural pathways, like adding lanes on the interstate, allowing more traffic (nerve conduction) to each muscle group.  Crude analogy, but it gets the point across!   ​​
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Multi-joint lifts = where the gains are!

Structuring a workout to maximize this opening of neural pathways is done using a specific order of exercises.  I am of the belief that EVERYONE of any age and walk of life should be able to perform the big lifts (deadlift, squat, press, pull) properly, and with confidence.   It is the first thing I work on with the vast majority of my clients.  The list of all the reasons is too long to get into now, so I will just hit on their relationship to the central nervous system

When you want to lift something, the brain has to coordinate a complex message to the muscles, via the spinal cord, and specific nerve root to the proper muscles.  If the message is to lift a pencil,  there are fewer signals required, and fewer motor units (muscle group + nerve) are recruited to complete the task.  If it is to lift a bag of dog food,  additional motor unit recruitment are required to complete that task.  Have you ever tried to lift something that turned out to be a LOT heavier than you were expecting, forcing you to reset, brace, and try again?   Unless overridden with focus and preparation, the brain will try to accomplish any perceived task with the FEWEST amount of resources possible. 

Getting to the Point!   Thus, when a heavy lift is required, say on a deadlift or squat (again, I'm using the term heavy in relation to an individual's relative strength) we are forcing the brain to recruit more than the minimum resources throughout the lift.  This enhanced neural pathway incurred by these heavier dynamic lifts remain open temporarily to ALL muscular functions along that same nerve root, both acutely (short term, within the same workout), and chronically (over time)! 

And THUS, heavy lifts done earlier in the workout will increase effectiveness and nerve conduction to ALL muscles innervated by the same nerve root.  The deadlifts and squats done earlier in the session, will enhance recruitment of all lower body muscles during the smaller isolated lifts (leg curls/extensions, lunges, calf raises, etc) BEYOND what they would otherwise! 

​Increased recruitment = more muscle cells forced to get stronger and bigger = more gains with less effort!  Favorable ROI indeed!

Best pairings for enhanced neural pathways

  1. Warmup using a dynamic warm-up ( BUT NO ISOLATED STRETCHING!)
  2. Start workout with one or two COMPOUND, MULTI-JOINT lifts.  Deadlifts,  back squats, bench press, pull-ups.  Best to choose only one or two bigger lifts in one session
  3. Work up to your 5-8 rep max weight (meaning, reps number 7 and 8 are pushing your strength limits, but doable without sacrificing form or body position.  One more rep not possible or safe to do if you tried).  4-5 sets
  4. Perform other isolated lifts for smaller muscle groups.  3-4 sets of 15-20 reps, but to muscular failure

Summary of pairings
Compound Movement
​5-8 rep max. 4-5 sets
Isolated movement pairings
​15-20 rep max. 3-4 sets
Deadlift
Leg curl, single leg hip hinge, calf raises,
Back or Front Squat
Lunges, seated leg extension
Horizontal press (bench, dumbell, weighted pushups)
Shoulder exercises, biceps curls, triceps extensions, grip and forearm work
Pull (pull-ups, heavy rows, lat pull, etc)
Lat pull-over, high rows, reverse flies, any other isolated work for the upper back and shoulder
If you would like help in designing your workout, please reach out for guidance!  I would be happy to help

Until next time!
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Gut Health!  Don't overlook the importance of healthy waistlines

7/14/2020

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Welcome back!  

This week we're looking at gut health!  We would be remiss to not explore the health risks associated with an unhealthy waistline.  Obesity alone carries many serious health risks, but experts have been telling us for decades that belly fat has unique risk factors if not in proportion to the rest of the body fat distribution in the body.  As the waistline goes up IN RELATION TO OVERALL BODYFAT, so does risk of serious disease risks, including heart disease, diabetes, many cancers and dementia.  But it may be a confusing message to digest, so let's explore!

Location, location, location

 What makes the midsection uniquely situated to increase those risks?  It has to do with two distinctly different locations of fat accumulation: 

  • SUBCUTANEOUS - the fat the lies underneath the skin.  In terms of the midsection, it is between the skin and the abdominal wall. This is the type of fat that can be seen and felt all over the body.  Subcutaneous fat, while unhealthy in large amounts, is relatively benign, compared to it's ugly cousin:
  • VISCERAL - visceral means "between organs".  This is the fat that accumulates deep within the abdominal cavity and pads the space around the PANCREAS, LIVER, and INTESTINES.  Remember, fat is metabolically active tissue, meaning it releases hormones, and ultimately acts as an endocrine gland.  Additionally, when these fat cells break down, they literally shower the pancreas with lipids and other substances,  and then infiltrate the PORTAL VEIN (the major blood vessel coming out of the pancreas leading to the liver)  in concentrated quantities.  This overload of fat cells (lipids) into the bloodstream can lead to blood LIPOTOXICITY​

Lipotoxicity disrupts production and sensitivity to insulin (the hormone that is produced by the pancreas to deliver glucose into muscle cells) and disrupts other normal regulatory functions.   Further, when these cells die, it incurs an INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE (by release of inflammatory cytokines - previously discussed in this BSNF blog post).   Inflammation alone further compounds the health risk with it's own long list of health risks!  This disruption in regulatory functions and inflammation, in a nutshell, is where the elevated health risk comes from.  

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Measure up!

Waist measurements 35 or more inches for women or 40 or more inches for men, are the typical markers where increased risk is introduced, and chances are you’re harboring a potentially dangerous amount of abdominal fat.  Run a tape measure around the upper part of the ilium (hip bone).  Relax completely, and exhale before reading the accurate mark of the tape measure.
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Facts are stubborn things
-John Adams
Here are some stubborn truths about visceral fat that may surprise you.  Be sure to read the GOOD NEWS towards the bottom of the post

  • We are born with many biological factors contributing to visceral fat accumulation.  Genetics, birth weight, ethnic background, and gender can affect visceral fat accumulation. 
    • Native Americans, Pima Indians, Hispanics, and people living in India and South Asia have a higher likelihood of abdominal obesity (as well as type 2 diabetes).  
    • White men and black women tend to accumulate relatively more visceral fat compared with black men and white women. M
    • Menopause, and having children can contribute to female risk
    • Men have a higher tendency to accumulate abdominal visceral fat compared to pre-menopausal women,  and is mainly due to the higher dietary fat uptake by their abdominal visceral fat (sourced here).   Men create more, and bigger, transport modules called CHYLOMICRONS, and thus carry more fat to the visceral areas.  See the image below comparing male and female. 
    • As women go through their middle years, their proportion of fat to body weight tends to increase — more than it does in men — and fat storage begins favoring the upper body over the hips and thighs.
  • Subcutaneous fat is far less metabolically active than visceral fat- it can even release some beneficial substances, including the hormone leptin (the hormone that indicates the FULL feeling when eating).  
  • A common misconception is that beer consumption can specifically lead to belly fat accumulation. This misconception gave rise to the term “beer belly.”  Beer, like all calories, contributes systemic weight gain (sourced in this study)
  • ​​You do NOT have to be overweight or obese to face these hazards if you harbor excess fat inside your abdomen. Even people of normal weight can accumulate harmful amounts of hidden fat beneath the abdominal wall.
  • The mechanisms that create visceral fat can differ than it's subcutaneous counterpart.  This means that it may demand more rules to eliminate/prevent it's formation, than simply calories in/calories out!  Stubborn indeed!
  • Of course,  no amount of sit-ups, crunches, or planks will address visceral fat.  Spot reduction is not a thing, no matter how much you might feel like it works!  It still follows the systemic mechanism as normal weight management (of course, possibly with different approaches)
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 Male VS Female. sourced here
  • It helps to know your shape!  The "pear shape" is healthier than an "apple shape", in terms of carrying bodyfat
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Good news!  Lifestyle can overcome our predispositions!

Here are some ways to counteract our biological drives to create visceral fat.  This is especially important for those already dealing with a 
  • Exercise.  Exercise. Exercise!  Both cardiovascular activities and strength training help slow down formation, and help manage healthy levels
  • Limit carbohydrates, especially simple sugars, white rice, and starchy foods.  
  • It has been shown that Intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating may also help improve your body's insulin response and reduce visceral fat.  Start with several days per week with the popular 16 and 8 rule (fast for 16 hours, and eat normal amounts within an 8 hour period)
  • Spread out consumption of dietary fats throughout smaller meals.  Based on mechanisms highlighted in this study, spreading out the amount of dietary fat intake into several smaller meals should reduce the likelihood of abdominal visceral fat accumulation by reducing both the size and number of CHYLOMICRONS (those cells that carry lipids from small intestine to visceral areas)
  • Move as much as possible, and avoid sitting for long periods
  • DON'T SMOKE
  • GET MORE SLEEP!  Can't state this enough.  A rested body is a healthier body!  You need 8 hours - this is no myth.  Yep, even you.
Thanks for hangin out with me as we discuss this very important topic!  This is EVERYONE's business, not just those already living with unhealthy waistlines.  Keep that gut healthy!

Until next time...
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    tim deboer

    Welcome to the Broad Scope Narrw Focus Blog!   I hope you find a lot of useful and applicable information as we explore the broad world of Wellness together.  Check in often, as there will be new posts weekly!  Enjoy

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