How to Recover Your Stride: Recommendations #3-5

Previously I announced my first two picks of new ideas or methods I have tried this year that have helped improve my running. Now for my next three choices.

Number 1 The Ming Method as learned through the book "The Permanent Pain Cure" by Ming Chew

Number 2 Resistance Stretching

Number 3
Z-Health Joint Mobility

I have never really paid attention to the way my joints work and move. Who does unless they are injured? I came across Z-Health right before I started this blog. This was some very new thinking for me. I learned about it when I was searching outside the typical solutions that runners try when they are dealing with injuries or a loss of ability. I learned about it as I was exploring kettlebells and strength training.

My first blog post was about Z-Health. At first, upon ordering and trying the Z-Health DVDs I noticed an instant improvement in my how my body worked. I thought I had finally found the long sought after answer to my stride and imbalance problems. It worked for awhile, and although I did the exercises diligently, they stopped having the full effect that I anticipated. Yes the joint mobility routines helped my body, but the imbalances in my body were too overpowering and joint mobility work on its own did not restore my stride to an acceptable level.

I continued to use the Z-Health routines, but not as often, and tried other joint mobility programs to see what results I could get (see pick #4 below). Eventually I realized that my body needed more than just joint mobility work if I was to fully recover my stride.

In the past couple of months as I have seen significant improvements in my body, running, and stride due to resistance stretching and some of the Ming Method routines. I have begun to slowly reintroduce some of the joint mobility routines (or even just a few of the exercises). I have found them beneficial and a great compliment to the stretching I am doing. I think they work well in conjunction with the other work I am doing: they may help the stretching take hold better and when the stretching helps loosen the muscles the Z-Health drills help my joints relearn correct movement patterns.

I have also learned that you don't have to do all the drills standing up like on the DVDs. Dr. Eric Cobb, the inventor of Z-Health, has sent out some e-mails and one was to try some of the routines sitting or lying down. I have found that this lets me focus better on some of the drills. He also advocates doing the routines at different speeds. The DVD shows the being done quickly, but this is not always the best way. I know the manuals said to do them slower, but wrongly I figured "quicker was better". When I do them much slower I realize now that I find the results can be much more impressive.

What is Z-Health? It is a joint mobility program that helps you use proper joint movement patterns. It re-educates your joints so they function as intended. There are exercises for every joint in the human body from the toes to the head. The exercises are very brief with limited repetitions, but you are training for perfect movement, not for quantity of repetitions. The other aspect of Z-Health is that it claims to retrain the nervous system so that it will function more efficiently. I don't find the exercises hard or tiring. In fact I feel much better after doing them. Sometimes an exercise will result in an immediate improvement. The interesting thing is an exercise for one joint may have an effect in another place on the body. For example freeing my right shoulder can often result in a freeing of my left hip. I have taught some of the exercises to my fourth grade students. They love doing them. For example, before writing we may try some finger mobility drills (which they found hard to do) or when "joint" was a vocabulary word, I taught them some joint mobility drills with their legs and shoulders. They had fun and I often see them repeating a drill on their own.

If you are interested check out the Z-Health website to learn more. I know one person (Paul are you still out there?) who bought the introductory DVD and found it valuable. I bought the package deals. At first I bought the R-Phase with Neural Warm up package and this may be all you need. I then bought the I-Phase package much earlier than I would have needed it just to see what the new drills would be. These are more advanced versions of the drills with different positionings that mimic some of the positions athletes may find themselves moving in. It is interesting, more advanced, but not that essential. I think I tried to work too hard at the Z-Health at first and, as recommended by Dr. Cobb, you should spend a lot of time on the first routines and change them up by altering the speed and your position rather than rush into more advanced drills.

One important tenet of the Z-Health system is the SAID principle. It is an acronym used in human physiology that means "Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand". In other words your body gets better at exactly what it practices. In education terms I often call this "perfect practice makes perfect-imperfect practice makes imperfect". In other words if I have been running for years with a body with poor movements patterns that makes continuous compensations to keep running (which is what my body does for whatever the reason) then I will continue to run and move with those same patterns until I practice other movement patterns and get the nervous system to recognize and utilize these new patterns. So I am an imperfect runner because I keep running imperfectly- that is what I trained my body to do. The Z-Health neural training and joint mobility work alongside other methods of freeing and releasing tight muscle and connective tissue can be an important part of getting back into proper running form.

To find out more about Z-Health you can go to their website here:



Here are some of my posts that refer to my experiences with Z-Health. I should mention that the people at Z-Health are very friendly and helpful . They will even talk to you over the phone and answer questions and give some advice.

Aging and Feeling Good While Running

Joint Mobility Through Z-Health

Z-Health I Phase: Joint Mobility with Athletic Movement Drills

Some Reading to Explore on Joint Mobility and Z-Health

Why fast runners need good hip mobility

Ankle Mobility Drills: Can they Improve Hip Function?

Number 4
Ageless Mobility

After working on joint mobility with Z-Health I explored joint mobility exercises further. I came upon the of Scott Sonnon and his DVD "Ageless Mobility". When I ordered and tried this DVD for the first time I was amazed at how thoroughly it worked my entire body. In fact I remember finishing it and being so relaxed and refreshed that I immediately lay down and took a wonderful nap right in the middle of the day. While the joint mobility of Z-Health seems easy on my body and works the joints through their movement patterns, the "Ageless Mobility" worked the tissues around the joints. You will hear Scott Sonnon continuously say that you are "lubricating the joints" or "feeding the joints" as you do these exercises.

This long DVD (over an hour workout) sort of mixes yoga style positions with stretches and worked the muscles around the joints for each joint in the body. The neck movements were fabulous and my neck is no longer sore and tight like it had been for years. I always had a hard time looking to the left and over that shoulder and it was often tight and uncomfortable. After doing this DVD and other work since the beginning of the year, I realize that my neck is no longer a problem area for me. The best way to describe the program is that it "wrings out" the body. That is exactly how it feels. I know I feel so relaxed and loose after I take the time to go through the DVD. It is almost like getting a massage from the inside. Sometimes I only do the first 45-50 minutes and skip the floor exercises if I do not have the time. When you think of all the stresses that running places on our bodies, doing a program like "Ageless Mobility" makes a lot of sense as it seems to debug and destress all the tightnesses that build up.

I should probably do the routine every week or two, but lately have only done it about once a month. I also bought the "Intu-Flo: and "Flow-Fit" DVDs from Scott Sonnen. The "Intu-Flo" DVD has shorter routines at 4 levels and was well done, but it doesn't seem to give the same "wrung-out" feeling as the "Ageless Mobility" DVD. "Flow-Fit" had even shorter routines that are interesting, but not as useful to me.

Not only is this DVD my favorite of Scott Sonnen's DVDs. It is also the cheapest.

Here are my related posts.

Ageless Mobility: More Training for the Joints

Getting in the Flow: Joint Mobility Re-Education

Number 5
Get Out and Try Something New: Relieve the Pressure!

My fifth recommendation actually is my favorite. Just when I was ready to give up on my running because nothing seemed to fully work for me I got a mountain bike. I have done triathlons and bike racing in the past. I have road bikes. I love cycling and was actually a better cyclist than runner (even though my background is in running). I also have had fun with my Kickbike scooter. Unfortunately, when I ride my road bikes or kickbike I get in training mode. I want to go faster and farther. It just becomes another workout.

When my mountain bike arrived I took it out to wooded paths. I had no worry about time and pace. I was just having fun. I enjoyed every minute on my mountain bike. It was such a change of pace for me. I noticed my running felt better after cycling and started to ride it to Wednesday night track workouts as a bit of a warm-up. The mountain bike helped me relearn the "fun" of being outdoors. I was riding trails just off my daily running routes and I had no idea what cool trails were there just steps away from my daily runs. I can't wait until Spring when I can get on the mountain bike again and just enjoy being out in the woods.

After one fun day this Fall I remarked to my wife that not much has changed in the 40 years since I was a fourth grader. I wake up, go to school (I teach fourth grade), come home, go ride my bike around the woods, then take it to the track for a workout where I hang out with my friends doing sports. Life is pretty good!

Never underestimate the power of just having fun and being a kid again, no matter how old you are!

Now that was Fun!

Feeling Like a Kid Again!

Some Reading to Explore on Joint Mobility and Z-Health

Here are some blog entries and articles that I have found interesting as I attempt to learn more about joint mobility. Unfortunately I haven't found much on Z-Health from the running community. The Z-Health website does say this :

"As for endurance athletes, we recently helped a world-class middle distance runner shave nearly a full minute off her 5k time in two weeks of training. (We had her doing only 1 exercise 3x’s a day so it qualifies for the 3 minute rule!) She subsequently made the US World Cross-Country team and placed very highly in international competition."

I do wish a name was mentioned and that there was follow-up.

My information about Z-Health first came from reading about kettlebells. So it is another group of athletes that may be leading the way and maybe runners will pick up on this soon. Scott Sonnon's "Circular Strength Training" comes from the martial arts.

Here is an interesting post by Sara Cheatham on taking responsibility for your your own pain and healing. One of the strangest moments in my life was the time we were in the hospital awaiting the birth (well, I was doing the waiting) of one of our children. I had a bunch or medical type books with me as I was researching some Physical Therapy techniques or something and the nurse saw what I was reading and asked, " Oh are you a doctor?" My wife still laughs at that one! I have always been looking for ways to figure things out myself. Never do I want to take the "instant gratification" of surgery to try to fix something when other alternatives can be explored.
Here she writes about Kettlebells and Z-Health. Exploring kettlebells this past fall is what led me to looking into Z-Health.

Mike T. Nelson has a blog that I have been reading a bit. I was particularly intrigued by this article about foam rollers and why they may not be the best therapy. He has had another post on "jammed joints " and how Z-Health can help remove the "neurological brakes" that inhibit mobility and performance.

Here is another introductory article from "Kinetic Edge" which explains joint mobility and in particular how Z-Health works with the central nervous system. There are three pages but that may be difficult to notice at first (and music so be ready to turn down your speakers if you need to).

Matt Fitzgerald demonstrates these dynamic flexibility drills from his book "Brain Training for Runners". I have been using them before some runs and highly recommend checking out his book.

Here are some dynamic flexibility exercises (different from joint mobility) from James Madison University.

Getting in the Flow: Joint Mobility Re-Education

I am really enjoying discovering (or recovering) the movement of my body around my joints. First I started with Z-Health which introduced me to the idea of joint mobility. Stretching is something that works on flexibility issues by lengthening your muscles. Mobility issues are cured by mobilizing the joints through motions. I sense that some of my joints are "stuck" in repetitive motions and they need to be retrained back to the original and normal movement patterns.

I like the Z-Health approach and its focus on working all body joints through their range of motion. It also has a neural component that retrains the nervous system so that your joints will remember how to move correctly. I have gained success through using the R-Phase DVD.

I am still learning and adapting to the that system but wanted to know more so I then checked out Scott Sonnen's Ageless Mobility DVD. This also worked on mobilizing the joints but also worked on the surrounding connective tissues around the joints. It supposedly lubricates the joints and "flushes the body with nutrition". Well all I know is that it was pleasant and tiring at the same time and when finished a lot of tension within my body had eased.

Ageless mobility was working but was a long DVD and I wanted to learn even more so I next ordered the Intu-Flow DVD through the RMax website. I have used the beginner level (their are 4 levels) each day for a week now and boy do I like this program. It has some similar exercises to the Z-Health routines (you are working all the joints) but they are done at a more difficult intensity. They feel real good while doing them and my body feels relaxed and more and more in sync each time I run through the routine. I also notice a warm feeling around the tissues surrounding certain joints after doing the routine as if those parts are feeling the good effects of the movements. A lot of the minor aches and pains from my imbalances disappear and I feel that I am getting in control of things for the first time in a long time. I am noticing more looseness throughout my body. Particularly pleasing to me is my hips are loosening up and my knee is not knocking in but starting to be more balanced to the outside. I also notice how I stand more balanced and now that my calf pain is gone the running movement is feeling improved.

So far my experiment with adding the joint mobility component to my routines is paying off and I hope it continues to improve my movements and running. I look forward to moving up to more difficult levels of the Intu-Flow system in particular, I am looking forward to learning how to use the clubbells that came with the DVD I ordered. It is not sold on Amazon, but it is through Scott Sonnen's website. I wasn't sure what they would do but since I am also experimenting with and enjoying kettlebells I decided to see what these could do. They feel a lot heavier then you would expect and feel fun (in a Star Wars sense)when you start whirling them around but I am holding off on learning exactly how to use them for now.

Ageless Mobility: More Training for the Joints

I got home from a great day of teaching, after a week off, and found a message that Steve Wolfe would be off snowshoeing again with Bill Morse at the Horse Hill Nature Preserve so I grabbed my gear and headed out immediately to meet these two for a workout in the woods. It was indeed a good day for snowshoe running and we did about 4 miles. When I got home I was happy to open a new package that arrived from Amazon.com.

Now you must think I am partly ADD with all the different things I try to get my running form down because here I am with something new to try. I had read that Z-Health may be derived some from Scott Sonnon's Mobility exercises. I may not be correct on this, because there is only a limited amount of information that I have found. So I ordered Scott Sonnon's "Ageless Mobility" DVD to give the two systems some comparison and because I am very curious about what it takes to improve my functioning as an athlete knowing that I have some very serious limitations.

I don't think of myself as old, but my body has been telling me for years that it is not handling exercise the way that it should, so getting something that has "age" in the title seems odd to me on one level. I still think I have the outlook, goals, and enthusiasm of a 20 year old. It is just that, well, things don't seem to work right that often! Next January I will hit 50 years old, it would be great to not only be in the best shape of the past 10-20 years when I do, but to run pain-free and with the stride of someone much younger. If I could, I believe the time goals I would like to reach would be much more easily attainable.

This evening I plopped the DVD in the player and gave it a shot. The program claims that it is a "genetically-programmed sequence of movements, lubricating each joint, one after another, until the entire body becomes fully flushed with nutrition". It says that, "Once each joint is well oiled and ready to move, then soft, flowing yoga movements, easily learned, release the body of chains of tension. This specific process helps prevent daily aches and pain." It sounded good and a bit different than the Z-Health drills that seem to target the joints. This seemed to emphasize the movements, muscles, and connective tissues around the joints.

This is a very well-done DVD and the quality and instructions were easy to follow and well explained. While the Z-Health program started at the feet and worked up this starts at the head and works down. I immediately found the neck mobility drills more intense and it felt like they worked at a much deeper level. Scott Sonnon teaches you how to move and it is easy to get in the correct positions but it is not easy to perform. I do not "work" or feel any tiredness while doing Z-Heath, but this worked muscles and required you to push and keep pushing as long as you could do it correctly and the breathing, which is so important, was always emphasized.

Many of the movements were similar to yoga style movements, but the explanations and instructions left me feeling like I was doing things properly as it literally felt like I was wringing out my body. The movements for the torso: shoulders, back, and hips burned a bit but I felt comfort in the fact that according to the directions I was doing thing correctly and this was how it was supposed to feel. Indeed they felt "good" too, like I was moving "stuck" tissue into proper patterns.

The DVD was a workout, at almost an hour, I think. Whether it just worked me hard, or the combination of teaching, snowshoeing, and stretching left me feeling suddenly tired, but I went from being wired and energetic like I had felt all day to suddenly being calm and tired at the end of the DVD. I plopped down into bed and took a nice long relaxing nap as soon as it was over!

I did like the workout. It was not working on the joints in the same way as Z-Health although many exercises were similar in movement. This seemed to work the tissue around the joints more than the Z-Health which seems to more on the movement of the joint itself, but whatever the similarities and my understanding of both systems I am definitely a beginner in understanding either.

I am hoping I feel just as great from the work tomorrow as I do now and feel it may become another tool in my arsenal. I try to do Z-Health daily as it is quick and easy. This took more time and effort so I may try it once or twice a week. It was recommended as a weekly workout that you can do up to once a day if you choose. If you struggle trying to understand yoga and want something a little more structured and easy to follow that doesn't turn you in to a human pretzel then even from my one viewing I would highly recommend this DVD. I know it won't sit on my "useless" DVD shelf like many other yoga or Pilate's DVDs I have tried do.