This month, we'll visit a very commonly injured joint: the knee. Runners (who do not run properly, as in most cases is true) learn to live with it. Others limit their activities because doctors tell them to and end up making things worse (many doctors only know how to fix, not prevent, other than by keeping you stationary). The bottom line, it's like when some irate person screams at me: it's not me. With the knee, it's not the knee. The knee is cool, moves only in one direction. It's the hip (too tight, not engaged) or your ankle (not pivoting, especially when keeping your heel anchored to the ground rather than loose and mobile in many movements) that mess things up for the knee, who gets the blame for their screw-ups. So, in your drills, you want to develop mobility and stability in your hip and ankle complex to protect your knee from rotational and adduction forces.How has our knee evolved? The ape leg is straight from hip to foot. We have displaced our upper leg limb (femur is at an angle in relation to tibia fig.1) from its midline ("valgus" -look the word up-) in order to be able to place our feet under our center of mass when walking upright.See the pictures below to compare. Notice the shorter legs and wider stance of the ape-like skeletons (fig.2), which served a different purpose and used a different weight distribution. (To be continued next month, when we explore the back and spine.)

The most important nutrients we can take in come for free. Here's what they are and what they do for you:

• Gravity: affects bone density, health and movement systems, fundamental to all life on Earth.
• Air: (20% is Oxygen) primary limiting factor in physiological and health function. Remove oxygen and your pH drops to more acidic levels, your glucose and nitric oxide levels get affected, leading to chronic disease and without proper delivery of O2 to tissue cells (especially with rising pollution levels), your health would dwindle fast!
• Water (duh!): Yeah, OK, so we pay for water, but we could easily live with the water from our taps if we wanted to, but we don't like the taste. Well, it's like sex: we don't pay for it (you maybe, in the back corner), but really, we do... Anyway, 60-80% of our bodyweight is aqua, providing the needed liquid environment for chemical reactions and fluid base for body secretions and excretions (sweating, urination). Lose water, get cramps, sore muscles, reduced mental clarity, constipation, fatigue and the like from the resulting increased sensitivity to toxins.
• Sunlight: Yes, that big bright ball in the sky that some movie folks tried to reignite in their 2057 timeline (although it would take a few billion years for us to feel the sun's warmth fade if it died today) gives us vitamin D (80% of which is derived from skin enzymes that are sunlight activated). The precursor to Vitamin D is cholesterol, that naturally occurring steroid in our system. Vitamin D can be classified as a hormone and is essential to maintaining calcium/phosphate balance, glucose balance and fat metabolism (osteporosis, heart disease, diabetes). Keep your vitamin D up to keep chronic pain away! Also, Sunlight heps you regulate your sleep/wake cycle, and hormonal production. Lose sleep, create stress, release cortisol, trigger insulin release and extra sugar to go into your fat cells, get fat. So, put on your Speedos and head on to the beach! The darker your natural skin tone, the more sun you need.

Obviously, you don't control gravity and air, but you can control water intake and sun exposure. Of course, there are considerations for skin cancers, but with proper protection, you can get a healthy sun glow. You will feel and look better (no one ever received compliments for looking pale and sickly. People who've been sequestered in dark places usually have ailments of many kinds, and dark skinned people who live in cold climates with little skin exposure to sunlight have higher incidences of illnesses).

Over time, I've had this conversation with many a client, partly because as research progresses, theories change. However, there are a few constants, and this segment on time management references back to last month's nutrition section and acts as a reminder on how to time your meals. It is quite simple actually: you burn carbs when your activity level increases. Thus, only eat carbs up to an hour before, as well as during, physical activity. If you are sedentary or will be sedentary (i.e. sitting at your desk or relaxing), focus on your fiber and protein (even higher natural fat) intake, as you burn fat at low activity levels. Front loading your carbs during the day and easing off of them is not a bad thing to do, but if you are going to exercise intensely in the evening , then you will need the carbs to fuel your workout. Also, the theories of not eating after a certain hour (6 or 8PM seems to be the common myth) is not a good plan. Just beause Oprah says she doesn't eat past 6 doesn't mean you should listen to her. First of all, she gets up around 3-4AM. Second, her weight is not under control!

Similarly, do not train your body to utilize fat at high activity levels because it will try to replace it by holding on to ingested fat (that is achieved by having a high fat, high protein meal or shake before working out. This is why I do not like the Muscle Milk protein brand because their shakes have high amounts of fat they claim your body will burn. Stick to low carb, no fat whey and casein protein brands).

Make the most of your time at the gym by using time as your guideline for each set rather than repetitions. Use a stopwatch with a countdown timer. (If your watch doesn't have that function, you can pick one up for cheap at just about anywhere for less than a popcorn and soda at your local movie theatre.)

Doing any exercise for a predetermined amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds, 1 minute) forces you to be accountable and push yourself till the "beep" releases you. With a set amount of reps to perform, you're more likely to stop short of your goal when you're tired, lazy or simply not motivated. Having the stopwatch also releases you from the pressure of having to keep track both of your reps and looking at a clock if you don't have the stopwatch. By training for what I call "time attacks", you can choose to compete with yourself by beating your reps in that given time if you still want to keep count, but you also train like an athlete, for whom most activities are timed. You'll find also that by setting your timer for rest and work intervals, you can keep your workout more efficient either by doing more in the hour you dedicated for working out, or simply doing your routine in less time.