Dear Friends,

The first time I ever competed in the Birkibeiner ski race in Cable-Hayward, Wisconsin was in 1998.  “Participated” is a better term — I don’t want to give the illusion that I was the first great Lebanese cross-country skier. This was no Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled team story. 😄

My skiing mentor, a veteran of 30+ Birkies, let me stay at his rented house. I arrived at the house late the night before the race. Greeting me at the door was a guy who was also staying with us and was, to put it kindly, shitfaced drunk.

I don’t drink and don’t pass judgement on those who do, but I surely didn’t think this was a smart pre-race ritual. He then proceeded to give me racing advice. I nodded along, while thinking ‘Who is this old potbelly drunk to tell me how to race?

I finished my first Birkie in 4 hours. The “old potbelly drunk” finished in 3! SO the second time I did the Birkie, I started drinking and my time got so much better— no no no. The moral of the story is NOT that alcohol is a great performance sport drink.

The moral of the story is that technique matters. While I still finished an hour after this drunken skiing sage, a couple of his racing tips probably knocked a good half hour off my race. I had a blast from the past recently when a young man I treated 25 years ago called me up. He is a pro cyclist who has been hampered by persistent low back pain. An MRI confirmed that he didn’t need surgery, but still, nothing else had helped.

I looked at his MRI (above) and realized that his injury had changed the way his muscles activated. The stabilizing muscles in his back had become so weak they had changed to 40% fat. (Fat requires less energy than muscle.)

He was actually doing all the rehabilitative exercises he should be doing, but he was doing them wrong. Much like my cross-country skiing form, movement alone doesn’t win the race. Efficient movements do. 

So when performing home exercise routines, whether it be yoga, weightlifting, Pilates, biking, running, or therapeutic exercises… make sure your form is correct. Depending on the exercise, you can seek advice from a local trainer, coach, yoga instructor, physical therapist, chiropractor, or heck, even your local drunk if he knows the right form. 😉

Our new Youtube Channel includes many home exercise tutorials! We are passionate about introducing more movement into people’s lives (with the correct form, of course!) – whether you want to strengthen your core, improve low back mobility, use the foam roller that has been sitting in your living room for years, or take up my morning mobility routine. Take a look, and subscribe to follow along with more educational videos!

If you are wondering which exercises may best suit your needs or have any questions about safety and form, don’t hesitate to ask us!

GI Adsorb: actually pulls toxins out of the GI tract, including alcohol. It has many uses, from helping with hangover symptoms to managing diarrhea. It is also commonly used within our detox program.

God Bless,

Dr. Dan