AWW – Ask Wayne Wednesday – Week 2
Coach Wayne will be answering questions from the members of CrossFit CrownTown and posting the answers here in a blog post weekly. This is a great way to add value to your membership by asking any questions that you have that may be holding you back mentally, physically, accountability wise, motivation wise, or simply just curiosity. No such thing as a bad question. Anonymity will be kept on who asked the question from the private member group.
This week’s question:
I’m feeling more aches and pains lately. Which supplements should I be targeting to help with this? (It’s not just workout soreness. It’s probably related to aging.
I love this question for a few reasons. Firstly, I’m not the spring chicken I once was (43 years old now), and at this point in my fitness journey feeling good without any aches and pains is on the top of my priority list. You have a lot of things at play here, there are many variables, and each person’s situation is unique. I’ll try to answer this in a general fashion not taking into account serious injuries (i.e. car accidents, sports injuries, etc. that were not rehabbed properly, and/or have tons of scar tissue creating compensatory movement injuries or special circumstances).
Regardless of all of those variables, I think the majority of people over 30 years old can benefit from most of what I’m about to discuss. Let’s talk about calcification for a moment. Most of us walking around are deficient in magnesium. Why does magnesium matter when we’re talking about calcium you say? Minerals regulate each other, and the mineral that regulates calcium is magnesium. If we are deficient in magnesium and over consume calcium it only makes sense that we are calcified. Keep in mind that minerals work like a seesaw.
Have you ever taken the aerator off of your sink and seen the calcium build up? That is calcium build up, and those microscopic particles end up building up over time like a corral reef inside of your body. Without magnesium to regulate this extra calcium gets build up in your soft tissues.
If our soft tissues are saturated with calcium, and calcium is the mineral of cement, do you see how you lose mobility and range of motion as you age? You’re essentially being cemented alive. Step 1, stop consuming foods that are fortified with calcium. Instead, eat foods that have naturally occurring calcium. My favorite is raw milk. Also, take into consideration your water source. Make sure you have a RO filter at the minimum to take out any calcium particles in your drinking water.
Step 2, start taking magnesium daily. Keep in mind there are many types, and I am not a doctor so I cannot prescribe a dosage for you. I prefer to benefit from Magnesium Bicarbonate (acid buffer that used to be in our spring water), Magnesium Malate (energizing), Magnesium Glycinate (calming), Magnesium Chloride (topical spray for muscles and armpits after deodorant), and Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom salt baths). Here is where you can find some of the different forms I take. Shop different magnesium here.
There are a couple more supplements that will help, so I appreciate your patience in allowing me to articulate each one. This response is tough to keep short, so bear with me.
Next is Vitamin K2. This vitamin is very difficult to get through nutrition. It is in certain aged cheeses that are not regularly in our diet. Additionally, you’d have to eat so much cheese to get the Vitamin K2 you needed that you’d be overeating fat. That is why I choose to supplement K2. There is a multitude of proven research that shows Vitamin K2 transports calcium in the soft tissues (muscles) and delivers it to your bones.
Americans have a huge problem with weak bones due to your bodies intuitive way of stealing minerals from your bones in order to get what it needs. Cemented, immobilized muscles, and weak bones doesn’t sound like the recipe for longevity does it? Strength train, take magnesium, take Vitamin K2, and your bones and muscles will be supple, mobile, and strong!
You can shop Purely K here, which is the same Vitamin K2 supplement I take. Code: WILLETTE
The last supplement that I recommend for helping with the aches and pains of aging is called Wobenzym. This is a systemic enzyme that is taken before you eat. After the age of roughly 28, your body slows down the excretion rate of your enzymes. It does this as a preservation mechanism to ensure that you do not die too young by secreting all of your enzymes.
These little yellow pills are like PacMan inside of your body gobbling up all of the fibrin. Excess fibrin builds up in soft tissues like scar tissue. This causes a loss in mobility of muscles and joints. It does this by impeding the flow of blood, and we all know that blood flow is life.
By taking systemic enzymes your body is able to have enough chemical reactions to break down your food into small enough particles to be absorbed through your small intestines. When this happens there is less waste product, and less fibrin. Hence, allowing your muscles and joints to have better blood flow.
This product used to be a pharmaceutical product in Germany decades ago. There is proven research on thousands of people who have been using this product dating back to the 1950s.
That concludes this week’s AWW. Thank you for reading! Please share with your friends and family, and don’t forget to subscribe to our email list.
Coach WW