zafletes

How it works?
The scientific consensus now is that caffeine has a similar structure to adenosine, which is a natural substance in our body that triggers drowsiness. Caffeine competitively inhibits adenosine by attaching to its receptors, thus blocking the drowsiness effect.

The resulting effect of caffeine being- increased heart rate, blood pressure, wakefulness, and alertness. When it comes to exercise, antagonism of adenosine receptors also results in less perceived pain, less perceived exertion, and enhanced maintenance of motor unit firing rates.

What types of exercises are improved by caffeine?
Edurance
- Recent met analysis of 44 studies looking at caffeine effect on time trails found a reduction in time to completion by 2%. (i.e. finishing a race quicker)

Strength and power
- A meta analysis from 2010 by warren at al found caffeine to increase maximum voluntary contraction of a muscle, and muscular endurance (number of reps to failure for all those bro lifters)

Caffeine fits in a second tier of supplements (below creatine) in its effect size

Dose
Literature points to between 3-6mg/kg before your workout is optimal. Anything above that yells no addition performance boost with the possibility of side effects

Source
pretty easy- coffee. Caffeine anhydrous came out when there was still mixed evidence if some compound in coffee blunted caffeines effect. But this has since been shunned and overall coffee absorption and effect size is A Okay.

Timing 
Taken together however the general recommendation is 45-60 minutes before hand

Caffeines effect over time
Caffeines effect on cycling after 28 days of 3mg’/kg showed performance diminished, whilst the placebo group didn’t. For now maybe wise to prioritise caffeine for your big sessions. And take some time off to enjoy its effects (2 weeks)

Health concerns
The common health concerns pertaining to caffeine are fairly exaggerated within normal ranges of dosing (below 400-600 mg per day), and regular consumption of tea and coffee within this range are associated with neutral to positive effects on a wide range of health outcome i.e. depression, arthritis.

Source: stronger by science

*BIG ANNOUNCEMENT*. Doctor who? Dr. Abdal Zafar! In addition to an online and programming coach we have also introduced a rehab coach
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Abdal is a junior doctor with a Bsc in Sports Medicine and a wealth of experience in Powerlifting. He was also a founding member of Exeter Powerlifting Society (rivals cough cough) and has rehabbed several international athletes and handled several world champions! ⁣
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He has a background rich with knowledge and experience and we couldn’t trust him more to oversee the health of our members.⁣
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Pain Series Part 3- Bad Beliefs

1- Intensity of pain DOES NOT EQUAL how badly you are hurt
Endless amounts of research now shows that the perception of pain does not directly correlate to biological damage. BioPsychoSocial model tells us pain is multifaceted, the same pain stimulus could hurt person A more than person B

2- Bad movement= bad positions= pain
More and more papers are coming out showing that bad movement does not always equal bad pain. (saraceni 2019)
Moreover what we tell our clients regarding pain has more of an effect than we think (Darlow 2013) Look up fear avoidance model for more information

3- Complete rest= loss of adaptation= detrained
DO NOT complete rest= loss of adaptation= detrained. Athletes will want to return back to previous workloads, if they do so after resting and becoming detrained they will have a higher chance of injury/ re-injury. .

**Swipe Right**
Pain Series Part 2- Fear Avoidance Model

What is it?
A model originally developed to explain why some bouts of acute lower back pain resulted in chronic lower back pain. It introduced a cognitive behavioural model to the already present bio mechanical model. Now it is applied to most pain rehab thinking.

What does it tell us?
Pain interpreted can take two pathways.
1- Pain interpreted as not threatening——> Maintain daily activities——> functional recovery
2- Pain catastrophised——> safety seeking behaviours——> long term disuse—> lower threshold for pain

How to we implement this?
Pain related fear turns acute episodes into chronic episodes. For our athletes we should understand that maintaining optimistic and realistic health beliefs will allow injuries to rehab quicker. Changing injury perception and understanding what caused the injury will improve the rehab process.

Take away?
Go to your happy place when hurt.

Reference- Leeuw, M., Goossens, M.E.J.B., Linton, S.J. et al. The Fear-Avoidance Model of Musculoskeletal Pain: Current State of Scientific Evidence. J Behav Med 30, 77–94 (2007).

*Lower Back Pain* SWIPE RIGHT

Above is snippets of a research poster I did last year.

So much is out there on how to rehab lower back that its almost impossible to know where to start and what to trust. Dr Stuart McGill is the leading voice in spinal biomechanics and lower back pain. Back pain is a problem that effects 1/3 of the UK population costs the UK economy £10 billion a year and 62% of patients continue to have back pain beyond a year from initial onset. The European Guidelines for Management of Chronic non-specific lower back pain (NSLBP) recommend supervised exercise therapy as first line treatment. However, there appears to be no consensus in the literature as to which types of exercise provide the greatest benefit i.e. stretching the hip flexors and hamstrings, strengthening abdominal muscles and the McKenzie method

The McGill Big 3 along with other things is what I generally base my lower back rehab programmes on. By no means do I say that this method is the ONLY way to do things, but I think that this in combination with other aspects of rehab is the most effective way of approaching non specific lower back pain.

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*My Rehab Philosophy*
After a few years of studying rehab and working with athletes from a range of backgrounds, I've managed to grasp the basics of rehab. This is my rehab philosophy, by no means complete or comprehensive but hits at the key building blocks that make a successful rehab programme.

My Goal
I want to change the narrative thats currently present in the industry "do this *insert random banded glute exersice*and your back pain will go!" Or "Squatting with knees beyond your toes is bad for your knees". PAIN IS NOT THAT SIMPLE!!! We as athletes, coaches and healthcare professionals need to understand pain and rehab is soo much more than a bad movement, or a simple stretch. So much research is now out there proving otherwise, and we need to get with the times.

Working with me
When designing a rehab programme, I address all the key points highlighted in the 'Rehab Philosophy' diagram. This will not only address our rehab holistically, but also aim to give YOU the tools to try and manage your workload and stress to minimise the risk of further injuries.

Hopefully this diagram is as much of a learning tool as it is pretty

Twitter

*My Rehab Philosophy*
After a few years of studying rehab and working with athletes from a range of backgrounds, I've managed to grasp the basics of rehab. This is my rehab philosophy, by no means complete or comprehensive but hits at the key building blocks that make a successful rehab programme.

My Goal
I want to change the narrative thats currently present in the industry "do this *insert random banded glute exersice*and your back pain will go!" Or "Squatting with knees beyond your toes is bad for your knees". PAIN IS NOT THAT SIMPLE!!! We as athletes, coaches and healthcare professionals need to understand pain and rehab is soo much more than a bad movement, or a simple stretch. So much research is now out there proving otherwise, and we need to get with the times.

Working with me
When designing a rehab programme, I address all the key points highlighted in the 'Rehab Philosophy' diagram. This will not only address our rehab holistically, but also aim to give YOU the tools to try and manage your workload and stress to minimise the risk of further injuries.

Hopefully this diagram is as much of a learning tool as it is pretty 🤓

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Pain Series Part 1- What is pain?
Several studies have shown that pain is not directly correlated to tissue damage. Pain is now believed to be more indicative of our body telling us there is a threat and a need for protection (lohen 2017).

What does this tell us?
We as healthcare professionals and coaches should be moving away form the notion that pain is always due to some biological issue, likening the body to a ‘machine’, where a broken part creates issues. Our bodies are more adaptable than that.

Example?
Fillingham 2017 talks about several studies that tested pain perception. One study tested 321 participants in super controlled conditions i.e. same temperature, and gave them the same pain stimuli. It was found that peoples pain score varied from from 4-100 out of 100.

Take away?
Back pain doesn’t always mean herniated disk ;) @ Pain City

*Currently injured? Always in pain? Can never string a few blocks of pain free training?*
Zafletes are excited to announce that Dr Abdal will now be offering Online Rehab Coaching.

Interested in working with us?
Zafletes will be offering a FREE initial video consultation.This will be followed by a personalised 4 week rehab programme. Catered towards trying to get you on the way to being pain free. Open communication, psychological/ stress management, nutritional info and video technique analysis will all be included.

Are you the right athlete for us?
For sure, anyone from beginner to advanced in the realm of barbell training who is eager to learn and rehab from there injury will be welcomed. Uniquely, we will work with your coach to alter your current training to give you the best chance to rehab for your current injuries, and more importantly give you the tools and insight to become a more resilient athlete.

How to get started?
DM us! Or email us [email protected] for more info
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