May 2008 Archives

[I was thisclose to posting an adorable picture of a stretching cat, but fought the urge ... for now.]

Some athletes consider stretching a mandatory part of their fitness routine, believing it prevents injury, wards off soreness and/or boosts performance. Others skip it, remaining unconvinced of the benefits of stretching, even through the barrage of advice to the contrary from coaches, trainers and teammates alike. (What fortitude this latter group has! Or perhaps they're just lazy?)

Though most experts will still recommend doing what works best for you, the latest round of research goes to the lazybutts. Kind of. Under some circumstances, anyway.

It's a squishy, controversial topic that writer Kelle Walsh tackled in the June issue of Experience Life, covering when, if, and how stretching is most beneficial for athletic performance and musculoskeletal health. If you want to check it out, by all means please do so: "Stretch and Reach: The Unexaggerated Truth About Stretching."

If, on the other hand, you prefer your info bite-sized, allow me to synopsize:

• Static stretching immediately before activity does not prevent injury, and may, in fact, add to injury risk because 1) stretching weakens muscle for a short period of time and 2) it has an analgesic effect, masking pain that would otherwise serve as a warning sign to ease up.
• Additionally, preworkout stretching inhibits the stretch reflex, which helps you, say, jump higher. Stretching just messes with it for a short period of time, but still -- do you want to spend the first few minutes of a game even a titch slow?
• Dynamic flexibility drills (controlled movements done through full range of motion), are the exception to this rule. They're good preworkout and actually increase coordination and muscle response time.
• Ballistic (bouncy) stretching is bad for your connective tissue and insertion points. (But that's old news.)
• Stretching after a workout doesn't prevent soreness. That DOMS is gonna getcha regardless. (And the rhythm will, too, if you stand too close to Gloria Estefan.)
• Stretching after your workout can help you maintain your current level of flexibility, but if you want to see flexibility gains, you should add general flexibility to your regimen. Our experts recommended at least 20 minutes, three times a week. Yoga fits the bill.
• Incorporating a general stretching program (such as yoga) appears to help prevent injury and boost athletic performance. Yoga fanatic Kareem Abdul-Jabar is onto something: When muscle is stretched regularly, it becomes stronger and contracts more rapidly, resulting in increased force and speed.

ONE ANGLE THIS ARTICLE did not cover was therapeutic stretching programs, often prescribed by physical therapists and designed to address compensation patterns caused by spending time in chronic, repetitive positions, such as hunched over a computer (hmm, painfully close to home, that one). For more on stretching to combat muscle imbalances, see "Office Imbalance" from the March 2007 EL archives.

Mike Robertson, MS, makes an important clarification about such stretches in his May 14 blog entry, and gives the go-ahead to include what he calls "acute corrective" static stretches, even in warm-up. It's up to you what you're comfy with, but here's how he describes his stretching strategy:

Pre-workout, we include what's called "Acute Corrective Strategies" to help re-groove better movement patterns in the muscles. For instance, we would stretch your hip flexors, and then follow that up with an activation drill to enhance neural drive to the glutes. In this case, we're very specific in the stretches that we would perform.

After you've included the "acute corrective" drills to optimize neural drive to the glutes, you'd move in to your dynamic flexibility drills. Just as an aside, you can do this either before or after your dynamic flex, it's really more of a preference than a physiological law.

Now at the end of your day, that would be the optimal time to go through an extensive static stretching routine. This is where we would stretch all the muscle groups that we outline within [the Bulletproof Knees program]. Most people have a very poor stretch tolerance, so this should help quite a bit.

ADDITIONAL READING: In our man Eric Cressey's latest newsletter, aside from a mention of his interview here (wahoooo!) he also digs into stretching and its myths. He calls static stretching "relatively outdated," which is music to my ears as I am a proud member of the lazybutts when it comes to the static stuff.

Lastly, Gina Kolata of The New York Times covered the topic of stretching in March: "To Stretch or Not to Stretch? the Answer is Elastic." She concludes that "research to date is inadequate to answer most stretching questions."

How 'bout you? Do you stretch? If so, what works best for you?

I've posted this workout once before, but I thought it was worth a revisit. My apologies if you've already been there done that, but for those of you who are new, welcome! Feel free to sign up for blog updates via email or RSS feed (see the toolbar at right). I mean, it's easier than trying to remember to check back, and laziness can be a powerful motivator.

The dilly is that the June issue of Experience Life, featuring once and possibly future karate world champ Elisa Au on the cover, just dropped, and I was reminded all over again how impressive her achievements are. (To see for yourself, check out the accompanying article, "Solid Gold Champion.")

And lucky us, she caved (pretty easily, may I say -- she's not as tough as she looks) when I asked her to share her very favorite workout with us. So here it is -- Round 2.

FROM ELISA: I'VE CHOSEN EXERCISES from my training in karate and with my personal trainer, Corey Shackelford. These exercises do not require any equipment -- they rely on your body weight for resistance and focus on the core muscles, which are most important for a strong body.

You can definitely start with fewer reps if the moves are unfamiliar to you. Or, you can add reps and sets in order to challenge yourself.

1. Warm up! [For an article on the benefits of warming up and cooling down, see "Gradual is Good" from the March 2007 issue of Experience Life.]

2. Charlie's Angels Lunges -- Lunge sideways with your left leg, feet parallel, arms straight out and parallel to the ground in front of you (in a gun-shooting position). Twist your upper torso to the left so that your arms rotate 90 degrees, then back to starting position. Step up and repeat on right side. 10 reps on each side.

3. Burpees -- Squat down and place hands on the floor, shoulder width apart. Kick your feet back into a push-up starting position. Bring feet back under you and immediately jump up in a star position (arms and legs all extended). Repeat 15 times. [For a video demo of how to do a burpee, click here.]

4. Arm Shuffles -- Start in push-up position. Shuffle your arms so that your body moves clockwise like a hand of a clock. Try to keep your feet at the middle position as your arms move from 1 to 12. Do 2 times clockwise, 2 times counter-clockwise.

5. Superman -- Lay on your stomach. Lift your legs and arms off the ground and hold position for 30 seconds to a minute. [For pics, see here.]

6. V-Ups -- Lie on your back. Lift your legs and arms/shoulders off the ground to create a V-shape with your body. Lower your arms and legs without letting them touch the ground. Do 15 reps. [Pics here.]

7. Plank Positions -- Place elbows/forearms on the ground, feet in push-up position. Be sure your shoulders are directly above your elbows so that all body angles are 90 degrees. Hold this position for 1 minute. Point right arm straight ahead, parallel to the ground. Hold this position for 20 seconds. Switch arms and hold for another 20 seconds. Repeat with extended right and left legs, each for 20 seconds. Lastly, extend right arm and left leg, hold for 20 seconds, then switch to other side for the last 20 seconds. You will total 3 minutes. [See a basic plank pose here. You got the rest through the description, right?]

For the next three exercises, use small pieces of tape stuck to the floor. Mark 5 points like the 5-side of a die. The outer points should be about shoulder-width apart on all sides.

8. Hourglass -- Start on the bottom two points with feet shoulder-width apart. Jump to the middle point to bring feet together, then jump to the top points to get back to shoulder-width position. Jump back to the middle point, then back to starting position. Repeat 15 times.

9. Figure 8 -- Keep your feet together the entire time on this one. Start at the bottom left corner. Hop to the middle point, then to the upper right point. Continue on to the upper left point, middle, bottom right, then back to the beginning at the bottom left. You have made a figure 8. Repeat 8 times this way, then 8 times the opposite way.

10. Around the World -- Stand on the middle point with one foot. Hop to the bottom left point then back to the middle. Continue to the top left then return, top right and return, bottom right and return. Repeat in this clockwise position 5 times, then 5 times counter-clockwise. Repeat with other foot.

11. Cool-down and STRETCH!

~Elisa

At Cressey Performance, stability balls are holey. No, that's not a typo. I mean employees literally use knives to puncture them. With glee.

Don't believe me? Here's videographic evidence of one of the founders of this Boston-based high-performance training facility, Tony Gentilcore, expressing his disdain for what is, Cressey Performance employees say, an oft-misused piece of fitness equipment.



Their hatred stems from the wide misinterpretation of how to develop functional fitness.

You see, many trainers widely recommend doing squats, lunges, curls, and anything else you can manage while teetering precariously on a stability (or Swiss) ball, balance disc, Bosu ball or wobble board. Countless articles are filled with reasons why this is a fabulous idea, the main being that such exercises add a balance component and thus not only engage the target muscles, but also engage lots and lots of small stabilizing muscles. Meaning, you get the extra benefit of improved proprioception (awareness of your body in space), so why not?! Right? Right?

Even the magazine jumped on the balance bandwagon, publishing an article about how balance boards aren't just for balancing anymore. (It was years ago! I didn't know any better!) [Hides in shame]

 
[But ref! I wasn't the only one! Pleeeease don't send me to the sin bin ...]

PROBLEM IS, the latest research shows that while doing such exercises are great for rehabbing ankle injuries, they can actually de-power healthy athletes. So if you're healthy, and your goals have anything at all to do with getting stronger, faster and more powerful, you actually don't want to wobble. (That's not to say you should cut out abs and upper-body exercises like pushups on the ball -- I'm just talking about exercises that involve standing or kneeling on such contraptions.)

But don't just take it from me -- below, an interview with Eric Cressey, MS, CSCS, the brains behind this research and one of the best in the fitness biz. Also, if you're interested, Cressey just released his new book, Maximum Strength: Get Your Strongest Body in 16 Weeks with the Ultimate Weight-Training Program (De Capo, 2008). (I already read it -- two thumbs up, and if I had more I'd point them skyward, too.)

Jen Sinkler (JS): How do you define functional fitness? And how is that different from widely held beliefs?

Eric Cressey (EC): Excellent questions. The term "functional" as it relates to exercise was first applied in a rehabilitation context, as therapists worked to help restore function in patients through modalities that best simulated and carried over to their daily lives. I feel strongly that functional training (or rehabilitation) should be specific to the task at hand for an individual in a given environment. The problem nowadays is that we are trying to say that a given exercise (or training style) is functional to everything -- and that's just not possible.

It goes without saying that different individuals have different "required" and "desired" functions to accomplish in their daily lives. In its truest sense, functional training refers to preparing individuals for the demands that lie ahead in everyday activities, work, recreational activities and competitive athletics. Because these demands are different for everyone, it's important to realize that true functional training programs must be specific to the individual.

 JS: What happens to a healthy athlete who does exercises standing on an unstable surface? And why don't these exercises work to make you a stronger, more balanced athlete?

EC: Our research showed that replacing as little as 2 to 3 percent of overall training volume with unstable-surface training (UST) in healthy, trained athletes impaired the development of sprinting speed and vertical jump height -- and there was a trend toward significance on the agility front, as well. There are a ton of reasons for the decrease in power output and performance. In a broad sense, all of these explanations can be considered fundamentally related to the fact that UST does not adhere to the principle of specificity of training.

The vast majority of athletic endeavors involve stable surfaces where instability is applied further up the kinetic chain. Therefore, it becomes important to differentiate between instability at the foot, which is accustomed to stable surfaces in closed-chain motion, and instability at the torso and arms, which often encounter instability while the base is stable. In this regard, unstable surface training may prove more useful in measures aimed at training the core and upper body musculature (e.g., movements seated on or lying across a stability ball, with or without added resistance) than with exercises targeting the lower body. I could go into a complete physiology and biomechanics discussion, but that took me 94 pages in my master's thesis! Let's just say that unstable surface training provides for some unfavorable biomechanical consequences (namely, overpronation), lower force production and impaired plyometrics activity (longer amortization phase between eccentric and concentric actions).

Believe it or not, there's also some evidence to suggest that healthy individuals who train on unstable surfaces are more likely to encounter both chronic and traumatic knee injuries. My theory is that if you work to lock up an ankle that doesn't need extra stability -- and encourage anterior-weight-bearing in the process (via overpronation) -- you're asking for hypermobility (excess movement) at the joint above.

JS: When is unstable surface training appropriate?

EC: Lower-body UST has a ton of merit in those returning from ankle sprains. UST has proven effective time and time again with respect to addressing the chronic functional ankle instability seen in lateral ankle sprains. Basically, this is a proprioceptive deficit in the peroneal muscle group on the lateral aspect of the shin. These muscles prevent excessive inversion, but if they don't fire fast enough, you're likely to re-sprain.

I also feel that unstable surfaces can be applied effectively in the upper body -- as in the case of unstable push-ups, or dumbbell presses on a stability ball. It really comes down to where you apply the instability. If it's at or above the hips, you're golden.

Honestly, the problem is that the only research (before we came along, that is) was done on injured patients and untrained individuals. Comparing them to healthy, trained athletes is altogether inappropriate. As a result, rehabilitation protocols were promoted to healthy individuals as an effective training initiative when, in fact, they are counterproductive.

In spite of this new research, you won't likely see a change in people using them this way simply because a) few people actually read the research and b) a lot of people have a significant vested financial interest in the success of these implements, so they aren't about to jump ship when they're still separating people from their money with poor training recommendations.

JS: Who does have the green light to do exercises standing on balance contraptions (i.e., what if you don't care about getting stronger, faster, more powerful)?

EC: At risk of sounding insensitive, if you aren't concerned about being stronger, faster or more powerful, then you have no right to complain when you get hurt. Unstable surface training in the lower body impairs power and rate of force development. Even if you're not an athlete, even if you're a 90-year-old woman concerned about falling, don't you think that fast and forceful muscle actions are going to help prevent you from breaking your hip?

Honestly, I wish more weekend warriors would think of themselves as athletes, and not just gerbils running on treadmills or circus clowns standing on stability balls.

JS: How should healthy, competitive athletes train instead? What kinds of exercises should we do?

EC: Squats, deadlifts, lunges, Olympic lifts, bench press, push-ups, rows, chin-ups [ed. note: of course!], bridges, medicine-ball throws, sprinting, jumping, sled pushing/pulling, mobility drills, etc.

The list could really go on and on. We do a thousand things, but honestly, aside from a few unique circumstances, outside of the realm of rehabilitation, lower-body unstable surface training isn't justified.

ON THAT NOTE, please enjoy the following videos. (What do you think Mr. Cressey would have to say to these fellas?)

[youtube sLW-RpX0T38& http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLW-RpX0T38&]



[youtube JlSKNTotop8& http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSKNTotop8&]

Do you have questions? Differing opinions? Stories of stability gone wrong? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. And remember, if you want to get your hands on Cressey's new book, Maximum Strength, click here.

[From left to right: what a tendon is supposed to look like; one with tendinitis; one with tendinosis. Credit: Vicky Earle]

Did you know that most athletes who believe they're plagued by tendinitis (also spelled tendonitis) actually have tendinosis (also spelled tendonosis)? Stupid athletes.

Just kidding -- in many instances, a doctor or physical therapist misdiagnosed the problem, and that misdiagnosis can mean wasted treatment time, prolonged pain and lost sports seasons. Stupid doctors. (Kidding again!)

But there are some pretty important distinctions. Tendinitis involves inflammation of the tendon, doesn't last longer than a couple weeks and heals just as fast, while tendinosis involves degeneration and can go on and on (and on), until you're able to stimulate collagen regeneration in the injured area.

As far as treatment options go, while tendinitis responds well to ice, rest and anti-inflammatories to treat the inflammation, tendinosis does better with therapeutic exercises -- mainly of the eccentric, or negative, variety.

Had I known that five years ago, I might have had a less irritating relationship with my knees. Some of the same strengthening therapies would have held true, but I wasted an awful lot of time treating inflammation that wasn't there.

The differences between the conditions, as well as some of the best treatment options, are covered in more depth in the May Experience Life article "Tendon Trouble," which, if you've ever struggled with a case of tennis elbow or runner's knee that you can't shake, is worth a read.

I also really like this article at Runnersweb.com. Some highlights:

• At least 25 percent of athletes treated for knee problems at major sports clinics are typically diagnosed with tendonitis, but there is strong evidence that the majority of athletes diagnosed with tendonitis are not really suffering from the disorder.
• The "tendonitis plague" may actually be a severe outbreak of tendonosis, not tendonitis.
• A reasonable course of therapy for tendonitis, an inflammatory condition, would involve the use of anti-inflammatory drugs; in fact, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications have become the mainstay of treatment for so-called "overuse" injuries to tendons. The trouble is that there is evidence that anti-inflammatory drugs can actually have a negative impact on the progress of tendonosis, in effect retarding the healing process.
• It is clear that a tendon [suffering from tendinosis] needs to be mechanically stimulated in order to begin the process of activating its fibroblasts and synthesizing significant quantities of new collagen fibers; complete rest would prevent this from happening.
• One tried-and-true treatment for tendinosis involves the deliberate, eccentric loading of a painful tendon and its muscle, a process which seems to accelerate strengthening of both the tendon and its associated sinew.

In other words, rather than endlessly icing, resting and popping anti-inflammatories, those of us with suspiciously long-lasting "tendinitis" might be better served by adjusting our routines and doing eccentric exercises to stimulate healing.

[photo courtesy of shoeboxin on flickr]

I cannot be stopped. From writing about pull-ups, anyway. I can be stopped all-too-easily from actually doing them.

But after this post, I promise to try to attempt to consider writing about pull-ups less often. (Sorry -- as far as promises go, that's the best I can do right now. Kelly at Fitness Fixation and Crabby at Cranky Fitness are talking about pull-ups, too, so that reeled me in all over again.)

If you're new here, please allow me to inundate you with previous pull-up posts so you, too, can choose between feeling irritated or inspired: "How to Do a Pull-up (or 15)," "Pull-Ups Ad Nauseam," "Tomorrow's Work Out: Pull-Ups" and "Lax in L.A."

After "How to Do a Pull-up (or 15)," my former rugby teammate and longtime friend Halvo left a comment announcing that not only can she do 37 consecutive pull-ups, but that she's recently been working toward one-armed pull-ups. (What?!) To add insult to injury, she then advocated trying pull-ups with added weight. Which is great advice, don't get me wrong -- if you can already do at least a handful of pull-ups. Or more than a handful.

But many of us are struggling to get to that point, so I wasn't surprised when I received an indignant email from a reader saying, "Who IS that girl, anyway?!"

 
[Pull-ups are whatEVER.]

WHO IS HALVO? She's a Mensa-belonging, Wedge Co-op-loving, rugby-playing, sweet-as-pie fitness freak who occasionally likes to break things in dark alleys. (Things people put out as trash. And she cleans up her mess afterward.) And she will be visiting Philadelphia next weekend, so if you're in the area and you'd like to feel her biceps, let me know.

At my request, she took some video of herself doing her thang on the pull-up bar, and she sent me three videos in all. One of her cranking out some very impressive almost-one-armed pull-ups; one of her doing a few with added weight; and one of her doing a superhuman number of pull-ups. Pretty amazing stuff, even if you don't bother with pull-ups yourself. Something is up with the last video, so you'll have to settle for the first two.

Single-Armed Halvo
Warning: She appears to attack the videographer afterward, so the camera gets a little Blair Witch Project for a second there. Get your barf bag.

OneArmPullup_JS.mov 

Heavy Halvo
Warning: Extreme jealousy may ensue after watching this video.

WeightedPullup_JS.mov 

Halvo says: "I started really working on pull-ups about a year and a half ago. I think I could already do 12 in a row, but my form was probably pretty bad. I do pull-ups two or three times a week, on the same days that I lift my shoulders, back and biceps. I do three sets of as many regular pull-ups as I can, resting 30 to 60 seconds in between. Interspersed throughout the rest of my workout, I do a set each of wide-grip pull-ups, parallel-grip pull-ups, chin-ups (underhand grip), one-armed pull-ups and L-pull-ups. I add weight to all but the L- and one-armed pull-ups."

If you didn't get that barf bag yet, might want to grab it now. Oh, to be that strong ... [wistful sigh] (But take heart -- she has little bitty stick legs.)

IN PURSUIT OF THAT KIND OF STRENGTH -- or at least the kind of strength it takes to do a single pull-up, which is enough of a feat -- Experience Life published the article "Clear the Bar," which features an exercise progression that, if all goes well, will result in your doing an unassisted pull-up.

If you recall, the photo shoot for the article was held in L.A., at the gym where the reality TV show Work Out is filmed. (Yes, I met Jackie Warner, and as with most celebrities, she's tiny in person.)

 

The night before the shoot, I was informed that we would be shooting some accompanying video of the exercises, and that I would be providing commentary.

This is what I said: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo!"

This is what my editor said: "You'll be great. Good luck!"

Well, I was decidedly NOT great. The idea of being in front of a camera wipes my brain perfectly clean, which I proved with take after (mis)take where I appeared not to know my own name or where I worked.

The only thing I could have answered for sure was the question, "Do you like being on camera?" (NO.)

Regardless, the finished product can now be found in Experience Life's video section (who knew we had one of those?!). Also posted below. No promises about the quality -- it's literally our art director Lydia holding the camera and me reading the descriptions from the article as our fitness models Megan and Kaese did the exercises. But sometimes it's just nice to see exercise demos, and the video serves that purpose adequately enough.

Experience Life Pull-Up Series

Warning: I should have introduced myself by saying, "Hello, I'm a giant toolbox."

Oh, and since in the video I completely forgot to introduce each exercise, they are as follows: standing lat pull-downs, assisted L-pull-ups, resistance-band pull-ups, eccentric (or negative) pull-ups and partner pull-ups. Enjoy!

[Chia seeds: delicious, nutritious and itty bitty.]

I had intended to write this post at 9 a.m., when I arrived home in a particularly good mood after a long walk with my dog, Zoey.
 

[She may not be pretty, but she's got a great personality.]

It was already 68 degrees in Philly (6 hours later, it's now 78 -- no complaints from this former Midwesterner), and I'd taken a detour past my favorite sign in the city, pictured below. (For Philly natives, it's on the back side -- pun totally intended -- of the Free Library on 7th and Carpenter.)
 

[Why is "poop" in quotation marks?! What does it really mean?]

After deciding it was a banana vanilla Wallaby yogurt kind of morning, I took it a step further and decided to add two tablespoons of the chia seeds I'd received in the mail the other day.
 
Chia as in Ch-ch-ch-chia Pets? Yes, the very same.

Turns out chia seeds are high in soluble fiber (7 grams per 2 tablespoons), calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, niacin and zinc. They contain powerful antioxidants (chlorogenic and caffeic acids, myricetin, quercetin and kaempferol flavonols). Plus, they're a good source of protein and higher in omega-3 fatty acids -- which protect against inflammation and heart disease -- than any other plant source (higher even than flaxseed). To boot, they're gluten free and have very little sodium.

I heard about chia seeds through two of my favorite fitness bloggers, Crabby McSlacker at Cranky Fitness and MizFit of MizFit Online. More specifically, when MizFit wrote this guest post on the topic back in March, I was convinced enough to place my order same day.

I did some further digging, and wouldn'tchia (<it's like taking candy from a baby) know it, it's looking like chia is poised to be the next superfood.

Mehmet Oz, MD, was on Oprah speaking to the benefits of chia (see the clip here), and Andrew Weil, MD, wrote an article in Prevention magazine called "Chia Seeds Are Good for the Heart." There are even books extolling the virtues of the chia seed -- take The Magic of Chia: Revival of an Ancient Wonder Food by James Scheer, and Chia: Rediscovering A Forgotten Crop Of The Aztecs by Ricardo Ayerza Jr. and Wayne Coates. And -- I can't resist this little plug -- Experience Life featured these Omega3 Chia Energy bars in the May issue.

Now for a few disclaimers. I'm in Mark Sisson's camp when it comes to so-called "miracle foods." (Click here to see his assessment of goji berries.) As with the goji, chia seeds are probably not a solution to all of your health problems. They are just really good for you, is all. And adding something to your diet that isn't processed to the hilt and full of additives -- that is, on the other hand, packed with nutrients? To me, that seems like good sense, but probably not a miracle. Or maybe it is a miracle that we, collectively, seem to be starting to have better sense about what we put in our mouths. Your call.

My other disclaimer is that while the taste of chia seeds was completely inoffensive -- in fact, I really liked the nutty crunch they added to my yogurt -- when I got distracted for a bit and then came back to my dish, I discovered a slippery, gelatinous coating around the seeds. Also not offensive, but definitely something to be prepared for.

According to the article "Chia Seeds: The Ancient Food of the Future" at www.living-foods.com, "This gel-forming reaction is due to the soluble fiber in the chia. Research[ers] believe this same gel-forming phenomenon takes place in the stomach when food containing these gummy fibers, known as mucilages, are eaten. The gel that is formed in the stomach creates a physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break them down, thus slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar. In addition to the obvious benefits for diabetics, this slowing in the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar offers the ability for creating endurance. Carbohydrates are the fuel for energy in our bodies. Prolonging their conversion into sugar stabilizes metabolic changes, diminishing the surges of highs and lows [and] creating a longer duration in their fueling effects."

Think of it as all-natural Gu, I guess.