Saturday, July 11, 2015

Using KAATSU To Recover From Broken Ribs
































After his recent motorcycle injury, KAATSU Global provided the following recommendations to professional motocross biker Wil Hahn who has cracked ribs and a concussion:

1. Focus on doing the KAATSU Cycle function on a KAATSU Nano device (see below) during his recovery.

2. Start with 2 "KAATSU 20" Cycles (i.e., 8 cycles of 20 seconds on + 5 seconds off). Each of these automatic "KAATSU 20" Cycles is 3 minutes 20 seconds in duration.

3. Then proceed to 3-5 manual "KAATSU 60" Cycles (i.e., 60 seconds on + 5 seconds off).

4. Because he is in such excellent physical shape, he can manually tighten the KAATSU Air Bands (i.e., the Base SKU pressure) to fairly high levels, but no one should ever occlude or feel numbness while doing KAATSU Cycle or KAATSU Training.

5. He always tightens to a level where his limbs take on a pinkness or a beefy red color when doing KAATSU Cycle or KAATSU Training.

6. After he confirms his CPT (capillary refill time) so it is under 3 seconds, he uses a KAATSU Nano (or KAATSU Master) to inflate the pneumatic KAATSU Air Bands to his Optimal SKU pressure for that day. Again, because he is in such excellent physical shape, his Optimal SKU is much higher than the normal adult.

7. While he is doing the KAATSU Cycles, he can just sit and relax, watch TV, or work/play on his laptop.

8. After he is cleared to exercise after recovering from his concussion, he can begin incorporating the KAATSU Training function and can add in the standard KAATSU 3-point exercises on his arms and his legs to the KAATSU 20 Cycle and KAATSU 60 Cycle protocols. Over time, he can then begin to incorporate KAATSU into his normal training after he is fully recovered from his concussion.







































Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

KAATSU For Powerful Thighs And Hamstrings























Football or fútbol, speed skating or rowing, leg power and drive are what sometimes separates elite athletes from first and second, from gold and silver.

One example is the very intense KAATSU Training program that Olympic speed skaters used to develop their speed and power in their thighs and hamstrings. This workout was developed for Hiroyasu Shimizu (清水 宏保), a 1998 500m speed skating Olympic champion and 5-time world record holder from Japan. While only 162 cm in height (5'-3"), the power and size of his thighs are renowned.

The following 5 basic exercises with KAATSU Air Bands have proven successful:


6 Types of Exercises:
1. Squats
2. Leg Curls
3. Leg Lunges
4. Calf Raises
5. Slide Board

Key Points:
* Focus on doing "non-lock exercises" where the knees are never fully extended and the muscles are constantly engaged with the KAATSU Air Bands on.
* Keep the rest period between sets and between exercises to 20 seconds maximum.
* Build the lactate levels to the highest levels possible.
* Do 3-4 sets of each exercise to failure (maximum effort).
* Failure on each set should be reached earlier and earlier (i.e., 24-40 repetitions on the first set in each exercise; >20 reps on second set; >10 reps in his third set; 1-2 reps on fourth set.

Details:
1. SQUATS
Do deep, quick non-lock squats until failure where the knees are kept at less than 90° throughout the 4 sets.

2. LEG CURLS
Do quickly paced leg curls until failure where the legs were kept at less than 90° throughout the 4 sets.

3. LEG LUNGES
Do deep walking leg lunges where athlete "walks" forward with (or without) a bar bell resting on the shoulders (or dumb bells in his hands).

4. CALF RAISES
Do 4 sets of calf raises with weights on the shoulders and toes in a starting position elevated above the heels (i.e., while standing on a small step or a step board) so the calves are worked.

5. SLIDE BOARD
Skate back and forth on a slide board in a deep squat, occasionally with weights resting on his shoulders.

Copyright © 2014 - 2015 by KAATSU Global

Documentary On Dr. Sato, KAATSU Inventor



Copyright © 2014 - 2015 by KAATSU Global, Inc.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Kicking with KAATSU Aqua

Catalina Channel swimmer Chris Dahowski of Paseo Aquatics understands swimming well from decades as a national-level age-group, high school and collegiate swimmer.

The KAATSU Aqua-certified coach from Santa Clarita, California has a unique view of enabling his athletes to concurrently enjoy a tough workout and the camaraderie of their teammates.

We push our swimmers in fast-swimming sets for 12-18 minutes. Then we will build a social kick where the kids can grab their kick boards and talk as much as they want during specific times during a workout,” Dahowski explains. “But if they do not give it their all or slack off, then we subtract a minute from the social kick. So if we have a built-in 5 minutes of social kicking within a workout and they slack off, then we knock off a minute of their social kick time.

Believe me, when their social kicking time is reduced, the kids have a great way to focus
.”

The social kick serves another purpose. It is a great way for Dahowski to gauge whether or not his athletes are reaching their potential.

After a really hard set, they start their social kicking. But on the first 50, the kids are totally quiet, just kicking slowly with their kick boards. When they have really pushed themselves, they need time for their body – and minds – to recover. But by the 75, I start to hear murmurings and then by the 100, they are chattering like normal. This is a great indicator whether or not the intensity was there.”

When I start to hear giggling, I know they are ready to go for the next (hard) time
."

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

Déjà Vu, Training Of Misty Hyman Redux






























Courtesy of KAATSU Global, Huntington Beach, California.

In Arizona during the 1990's, two-time American High School Swimmer of the Year Misty Hyman started to put large rubber bands around her upper legs and upper arms under the guidance of her Hall of Fame coach Bob Gillette.

Gillette was innovative and came up with the idea of placing big, thick bands around Hyman's arms and legs in order to restrict the blood flow to her extremities.

After Hyman entered Stanford as America's most formidable high school star in 1997, she continued to use the rubber bands around her legs and arms during certain sets under the guidance of renowned Olympic coach Richard Quick.

A few of her teammates tried the bands around their legs, but Hyman remained a lone star in the revolutionary training modality.

Combined with her innate talents and hard work, her training regimen worked as Hyman graduated from Stanford University with 9 NCAA titles to her credit.


Most famously, Hyman put all those years of training to good use when she pulled off one of the greatest upsets in aquatic history when she defeated Susie O'Neill at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Defending Olympic champion Neill had not lost a 200-meter butterfly race in six years, but Hyman put it all together physically and mentally on swimming’s biggest stage in Sydney.

When Hyman retired in 2004, the close of her career spelled the end of those thick rubber bands.

But a young American coach, Christopher Morgan, was also on the pool deck helping Quick mold Olympic champions and NCAA record-holders at Stanford. He watched Hyman go from a high school star to Olympic champion. But he always wondered about those rubber bands. Why wasn't anyone using them? What exactly did the bands do physiologically? When the limbs are engorged in blood, what happens to the body?

Dial forward 18 years.

Hyman continues to be a role model for swimmers and people of all walks of life. Gillette currently serves as a USA Swimming Master Coach while Quick sadly passed away in 2009. Morgan found his own path to Olympics as coach of the Swiss team as well as a coach at Harvard University.

While at Harvard, Morgan met with a representative of an innovative Japanese doctor who had independently developed blood flow moderation exercise in the 1960s. “Dr. Sato created KAATSU which means ‘additional pressure’. It has been used by hundreds of thousands of Japanese for sports performance, fitness, and rehabilitation over the last several decades. When I first saw Dr. Sato’s sophisticated pneumatic KAATSU bands with sensors inside, it reminded me of Misty’s rubber bands. It was déjà vu in the pool with a highly sophisticated Japanese technological twist.”

Dr. Peter Lansbury, a former Princeton swimmer and currently a professor of neurology at the Harvard Medical School has been using KAATSU bands for several months. He explains, “Dr. Sato discovered the effects of blood flow moderation exercise that he calls KAATSU. He has shown remarkable results with Japanese Olympic medalists and pro athletes and is now working with the Chinese Olympic Committee. Fortunately, he also shared his knowledge with our colleagues here at the Harvard Medical School. But Chris has really run with KAATSU’s applications with his age-group swimmers at Northshore YMCA.”

Morgan describes his pioneering KAATSU training on dryland and KAATSU Aqua in the pool with three young swimmers on his team.

"Carson Christuk is a 16-year-old breaststroker. He has been using KAATSU Aqua 3 times per week after breaking his wrist and dislocating his kneecap during 2013. He says KAATSU has helped reduce and occasionally eliminate the lingering pain of his injuries. But it is the improvement in his best times that have been most satisfying. He was a 2:14 200 breaststroker in September 2013 and then dropped his time to 2:11 with a taper in December. After starting KAATSU Aqua in January, he pulled a 2:09 in February and then ripped off a 2:03 in April at the YMCA National Championships.

Jake Bennett is an 18-year-old freestyler. He had a bad rotator cuff injury since the summer of 2013. It would flare up under high stress or due to high volume. Initially, he used KAATSU every day for 2 weeks to see any improvement. During the first week, he only used the KAATSU Aqua bands on his legs, but then he started up with his arms on week 2. After 2 weeks, his pain was almost gone for the first time in 3 months. Like Carson, his performances skyrocketed. He was a 1:44.9 200 freestyler in September 2013 and did a 1:46.5 in October while he was in pain. But after starting KAATSU in November, he dropped to 1:44.5 in December and just did a 1:41.2 swimming pain free at the high school state championships
.”

Morgan has also used KAATSU with four of his disabled swimmers including 3 Para-National Team swimmers and 1 world record holder. “The Japanese use KAATSU Aqua bands with individuals who are missing limbs or who have had strokes. We place the KAATSU bands on both limbs of our disabled athletes while we carefully identify and monitor the pressure. While it may look like simple bands on the arms and legs, there is a specific protocol that Dr. Sato developed. Like the American Olympic skiers and jumpers who use KAATSU, and the professional athletes in Japan, we look for a certain physiological state and then we work with our swimmers over intense, short periods with some pretty remarkable results."



Dr. Jim Stray-Gundersen oversees KAATSU training with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association athletes where all the skiers and snowboarders incorporate KAATSU into their training regimen. The Sports Science Advisor explains how he has applied KAATSU at the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah. “When we have injured athletes, they can do both KAATSU and Alter-G in order to maintain their strength and aerobic conditioning as they recover. We are also starting to incorporate KAATSU training into the regime of our uninjured athletes. KAATSU allows safe (very light weights), maximal workouts to failure in short periods of time (about 15 minutes), with positive results coming in as little as 10 sessions."

What Bob Gillette and Misty Hyman were working on in the 1990’s may have been more profound that they may have initially realized.

When the KAATSU bands are applied correctly with the optimal pressure which is different for everyone [using the KAATSU Nano unit shown below], the arterial in-flow to the limbs is restricted and the deep venous out-flow is impeded,” explains Dr. Stray-Gundersen.

As the athlete moves, whether it is swimming or doing dry-land exercise, the capillary-venous space becomes distended and congested in the muscle distal to the KAATSU bands. Muscle contraction under these conditions of impeded blood flow and congested vascular space uses up intracellular phosphates energy stores and oxygen at a rate greater than the circulation can replenish them.

Metabolic waste products accumulate and homeostasis in the muscle is lost
.”

As the athlete continue to exercise with the KAATSU bands, the intensity of effort rapidly increases. The discomfort they feel at the end of a race is quickly achieved during practice.

Consequently, as the tissue becomes more hypoxic and energy stores depleted, anaerobic glycolysis attempts to compensate by increasing its rate, which produces some ATP, but also produces a marked disturbance in muscle homeostasis that ultimately leads to muscle failure, or in other words, not being able to continue the exercises,” says Dr. Stray-Gundersen.

The effects that have been seen in combative sports (boxing, wrestling, judo), baseball, rugby, and numerous winter sports in Japan and China are now beginning to be understood by Morgan and others in the aquatic world.

Dr. Stray-Gundersen describes his perspective. “We think, but have yet to prove, that there is a local effect and a systemic effect from KAATSU training. When blood flow is restricted and muscle is asked to exercise with a restricted, engorged circulation, homeostasis is lost in the exercising tissues below the KAATSU belt. The development of hypoxia, acidosis and various other metabolites outside their normal concentrations, stimulates a positive adaptive response in the local muscle and vasculature. Increasing concentrations of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF), which has been shown experimentally, is an example of the "local" effect.

In addition, we think there is an important systemic response, where the loss of homeostasis is communicated to the brain (KAATSU practitioners are aware of the discomfort in their muscles) and the brain responds by increasing breathing and heart rate, as well as initiating an "anabolic" cascade. The release of growth hormone from the pituitary, which has been shown experimentally, is an example of this "systemic" response. This has the effect of causing muscle both distal to the KAATSU belts and proximal to the belts to adapt and get stronger
.

In essence, KAATSU presents a very effective and highly efficient mechanism that coaches and trainers can implement with their athletes to get increasing circulating levels of growth hormone and VEGF, that is otherwise difficult and very taxing to do."

Essentially back in the 1990s, Hyman had a secret weapon in her training regimen that was far ahead of her time. While her strength off the walls, technique, stamina, and mental outlook all came together at the Sydney Olympics, Hyman had been uniquely developing her vascular system over the years.

At the same time half a world away, KAATSU began gaining a foothold among athletes in Japan. Based on his own research and patented concepts and equipment, Dr. Sato began conducting medical and scientific research with the University of Tokyo Hospital and other researchers and physicians in Japan. With a rapidly aging population, KAATSU started to gain adherents throughout Japanese society. KAATSU was even used with comatose patients and those with neurological diseases.

For every Japanese Olympic medalist who used KAATSU, there were many more individuals – from teenagers to their great-grandparents – who integrated the KAATSU in their fitness and rehabilitation programs. Last year, KAATSU has begun used by Chinese and American professional and Olympic athletes in various sports.

Its first use in the aquatics world in the U.S. was by Vanguard Aquatics in Huntington Beach, California. Coaches Uros Dzelebdzic and Sasa Branisavljevic have quickly developed one of the best age-group water polo programs in the country. They continue to refine KAATSU’s use with their age group and high school players.

Dzelebdzic summarized his first test, “KAATSU appears to be an effective short-term training method that improves performance significantly more than traditional high intensity training. Athletes who used KAATSU had almost a 4% increase in speed compared with athletes who did not use KAATSU.”

But like Gillette, Dzelebdzic may only be scratching the surface of KAATSU.

"Together with Dr. Sato, we established the Center for KAATSU Research at Harvard Medical School and the KAATSU Research Foundation,” says Professor Lansbury. “We base our research on the specific protocols for safe use that Dr. Sato discovered, researched, and confirmed over the past 40 years. Each athlete uses different KAATSU pressures that are appropriate to them; the coach confirms this pressure before workout which can differ from day to day.

KAATSU can be used widely in various realms, from corporate wellness to the NFL. Besides exploring different medical and therapeutic possibilities of KAATSU, the sports performance possibilities for this technology are obvious based on the research and practical applications at all levels of Japanese sports and medicine
.”



KAATSU Aqua will be introduced at the 2014 American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida this week. For more information, visit www.kaatsu-global.com.

Copyright © 2014 - 2015 by KAATSU Global

A Positive Mindset For Brain Surgery

For who? Baby Boomers, retirees, student-athletes
For what? post-surgery, strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery



























Dr. Lyle Nalli was surprised when his hearing went out after he hopped out of workout one day.

"I just couldn't hear with my left ear," said the 53-year-old podiatrist from Huntington Beach, California. "I got out of the pool and thought there was water in my ear. It would not go away. I thought there was wax in the ear, but there was nothing.

I took a hearing test that showed a loss of hearing, but the doctors did not know why
."

After consulting his colleagues in the medical community, he went in for an MRI. "It was positive for acoustic neuroma (AN), a swelling of the nerve," he recalls. The tumor was 3 mm in diameter and located inside his cranium between the inner ear and his brain stem. "After consultation, there were 3 options: just observe and let it be, gamma knive, and a surgery to excise it. I decided on surgery at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles with Dr. Slattery who I cannot say enough positive things about." He decided on an immediate surgery because he felt he was healthy enough to get through the surgery, there was no chance of coming back after excision, and he could eliminate the worry for the rest of his life that the tumor was not getting bigger.

For a man who has been training and racing all his life as a competitive pool and open water swimmer, health was not an issue. Not only has Dr. Nalli been a regular at local events, he has placed at World Masters Championships and was on a world record-setting Catalina Channel relay with his Long Beach Swim Focus teammates. "The nurses and staff nicknamed me The Athlete because my resting heart rate was so low. In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), my resting pulse of 38 beats per minute kept on tripping the alarm."

Like his open water swims, Dr. Nalli knew the inherent risks, but he had prepared himself as best he could and left the preparations and guidance up to Dr. Slattery. "In surgery, he cut into my skill about the size of a quarter (24 mm) behind my ear. He drilled into my skull and then gave me a spinal tap and drained out the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). This caused my brain to recede and gave the doctor some slack to work with. Then he made a cut to excise the tumor around the brain stem where the facial nerves, hearing nerves, and balance nerves are located. He cut out the balance nerves and then shaved off a bit of the hearing nerve in order to save my hearing. Six hours later, the benign, slow-growing tumor was out and he patched me all up."

Dr. Nalli's story now becomes one of inspiration and shows the advantages of staying in shape as one ages.

"I was in ICU for 3 days and then I stayed in the hospital for a week total. For the first day and a half, I went in and out of sleep I had a throbbing headache and a sick, sour taste in my stomach for 4 days. It was hard to sleep and I had this strong sense of smell of cat urine and burnt eggs. This taste and smell did not go away for days and I immediately lost 15 pounds while I was in ICU. I lost my sense of balance and my head felt like it was spinning when I did things like try to walk or read or watch TV. Patience and time were what was needed. Even after 7 days, I wasn't able to walk upstairs and listening to music and reading was just tiring. I learned patience."

Fortunately, his healthy body built up over the decades through swimming got about to start healing itself quickly. "I just go around to waiting and watching. This was exactly the opposite from all my experiences in athletics and swimming. Imagine in swimming if a coach asked you to just do nothing in order to get better? But that is what I did."

But time means different things to different people. And Nalli was definitely different.

3 days in ICU, 7 days in the hospital, and on the 18th day after 6 hours of brain surgery, Dr. Nalli ventured back to the pool. He was weak and his muscles had atrophied. He started to use KAATSU and KAATSU Aqua to gain back muscle and recover to where he was before.

"After 2 weeks, Dr. Slattery was surprised at my recovery. I had to have help to walk and keep my balance. Once I got back in the pool, I was so elated to even kick. But I felt nauseous when I did a flip turn or even turned my head to breathe. I was very happy to be able to do 25 yards of freestyle, but I mostly did kicking. I was careful and couldn't do flip turns and even breathing side to side was tough. But day by day, I got better and used a swim snorkel. I started out doing 500 yards, then 1100 yards, then 1800 yards."

Remarkably, less than 4 weeks from his skull being cut open with a drill, Dr. Nalli had gradually upped his distance to 5000 yards and was regularly doing KAATSU Training on land and KAATSU Aqua in the water.

"I just got in and decided to do a 500-yard swim. Once I was able to do that, I decided to do 1000 yards total [40 laps of a pool]. It is just progression. I am happy that I was healthy before the surgery. The wobbling is getting less intense and the dizziness is going away sooner.

I entered U.S. Masters Swimming Nationals less than a month and competed in the 400 individual medley and distance freestyle
."

Dr. Nalli continued to do KAATSU every day during his recovery. He further augmented his physical therapy with KAATSU Aqua training on a near daily basis as part of his overall rehabilitation in a quest to return to his former swimming speed.

Some of his post-surgery workouts included using KAATSU Aqua Bands on his upper arms and upper legs in the pool, swimming 1-2 laps slowly while building up lactic acid that would normally result if he swam intensely. As his limbs become engorged in blood, he did KAATSU Aqua sets of 25 yards and 50 yards. He did anywhere from 200 - 800 yards in total distance with the KAATSU Aqua Bands as he reached failure when the lactic acid in his arms precluded him from swimming further - and served as a catalyst for a significant hormonal response.

Looking at his sparkling blue eyes and wide smile, his joy in swimming was clearly evident and a credit to his positive mindset and a long life of healthful living.

Copyright © 2014 - 2015 by KAATSU Global