Health and Fitness

Distraction

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What’s stopping you from making progress?

How do you even know if you are?

Far too many of us turn up to a gym environment, do random things, post about it on a social media channel, and leave again, thinking we are training.

That’s not training bro, that’s messing around.

If you’re mid way through a long cardio session, where you simply have to keep moving for a prescribed time or distance then perhaps letting your mind wander is no bad thing. Especially if it’s getting tough and listening to something else allows you to continue.

But for the rest of us, get your mind out of your phone and into your muscles.

Focusing on your form, the load, the way your muscles are moving has been shown to improve performance significantly, so why throw a free benefit away?

No one on Facebook is going to change your body, only you can. No one on instagram really cares about your latest posed bicep shot.

Stop distracting, start performing.

On: Inputs

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You are the sum of your inputs.

Obvious, really. But go deeper. Look in a mirror. What you see is the cumulative effect of your past.

You. Are. The. Sum. Of. Your. Inputs.

Everything you consumed, whether that is food, fluid or information. The external influences surrounding you. The choices you made.

Sometimes we cannot change our external influences. Whatever some 20 something instagram influencer may say, you always don’t get the choice about where you currently work, where you live or the demands placed upon you by life.

But you do get to choose the nutritional quality of what you eat, what you drink, the activity you do and how much time you spend on specific activities.

If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, start to change it.

Look hard. Not at the superficial aesthetics, but at your root health, fitness and attitude and work on those.

Less time idly scrolling through your phone, more time reading real books. Less pizza, more fresh food. Less sitting on your sofa, more activity.

Small positive changes can accumulate.

And of course, if you have any concerns with regards to your fitness, aches and pains and if you would appreciate professional support, we are here to help.

On: scheduling

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There are 5 main barriers to exercise and lifestyle change.

  • Enjoyment
  • Access
  • Convenience
  • Affordability
  • Environment

Enjoyment: if you don’t enjoy the activity you aren’t going to be able to sustain it. This is not the same as not enjoying it during, when it’s challenging and perhaps painful, but whether it provides a sustainable level of enjoyment that reinforces its benefits over the discomfort.

Access: if you can’t access the appropriate facilities to support the activity then you aren’t going to participate. For example, if you like swimming but the nearest pool is 15 miles away then you are not going do it. Similarly, if the only gym is in a building with stairs and you are less mobile then you won’t go.

Convenience: you’ve found an activity you enjoy and a place to do it. But the timing is wrong, the only available slots or classes are when you are at work, or putting the kids to bed then you aren’t going to make it work.

Affordability: even if the location is good, it’s an activity you enjoy, and the timings are convenient. Another block is affordability. If you cannot afford it you simply won’t be able to do it.

Environment: you’ve got the activity, you’ve got the access, you’ve got the convenience. You can even afford it. The last one is environment. If it feels wrong, or doesn’t allow you to feel right then you won’t do it. From dark streets in the ending preventing you in feeling confident running, gym bros laughing and filming everything, to a crowded and cluttered family lounge preventing a home workout, the environmental barriers can be quite subtle but significant.

Simply being aware of these potential barriers can help all concerned, from health and exercise professionals to patients and clients, plan and adapt their goals to better serve their outcomes.

On: Bowls

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Imagine, if you will, 3 bowls. These bowls are inside you, one stacked above the other.

The first is your pelvis. Already described as a bowl, it supports and holds all above it.

The second is your diaphragm. Separating the organs in your chest from the organs in your abdomen, it forms the top of the abdominal cylinder and should move gently as you breathe.

The third is in your upper chest, at the top of your lungs and about the same level as your collarbones.

This being a conceptual experiment, fill them with water. Then, think about the way you are standing or sitting. Are those bowls going to overflow? Is the water going to run out of the front, the back, even the sides?

Stand easily if you can, weight distributed in the centre of your feet. Soften your knees and ankles.

Then, come up to the pelvic bowl. Tilt it forwards and backwards, until you find the centre, neutral position.

For the diaphragm, you can feel if it is forward or backward and correct.

Ditto the shoulders. Allow them to open, don’t force, allow. A subtle external rotation and lengthening of the clavicle.

Once reflected and considered individually, check in again with all three.

This is probably one of the quickest ways of achieving optimal posture smoothly, balance the bowls, check how they move when you breathe and then, get on with the business in hand.

Of course, if you need help balancing the bowls, can’t find a neutral position or are struggling to fix it in any other way, please book in, we are happy to help.

On: Heat

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The UK and much of Europe is currently experiencing a heat wave (mid July 2022).

We are, by and large, not used to this although I fear that we may need to adapt, due to climate instability.

For those of us who enjoy activity, being active in the heat is a challenge and can be a medical risk for many.

Because not only do we have to take into consideration the temperature on a thermometer, but we also need to account for the humidity, since this has an impact on the body’s ability to lose heat. It is possible to run marathons in the desert more safely than a humid summers day.

Hydration status, electrolyte balance and other physiological conditions also have a role.

So how do we develop flight rules for exercise in the heat?

Firstly, know your body, and pay attention to it. Getting off the aircraft from a cool region and plunging straight into a desert marathon is asking for trouble. Allowing time to adapt and preferably having mimicked the conditions previously is a much smarter idea.

Secondly, understand your hydration and physiological status. Medically, you should expect a fluid balance of approximately 30ml per kilo per day. This does include the water in vegetables and fruit so is not just liquid water. You will also need to maintain a good electrolyte balance for yourself. If you are a ‘salty sweater’ (your t shirt develops white stains as the sweat evaporates or your lips taste salty) then you will need to replace more of both sodium and potassium in the correct proportions. Most sports electrolyte supplements cover this and advertising aside (we are not sponsored) Succeed caps, SIS electrolyte tabs and High Five electrolyte tabs have always done well during my endurance training career. Others are available and you don’t need the sugary sweetness of most sports drinks for anything under an hour anyway.

The other, under reported element to track during activity is heart rate. In general, if your heart rate is higher than you would expect for a specific workload, then you are possibly dehydrated and certainly accumulating heat stress, with your body finding it hard to stay cool enough. If it is dropping and you are struggling to elevate it to the target ranges then you may be suffering with cardiac fatigue. In either case, back off, drink, reflect and wait for it to settle before making the decision to go or no go. A personal rule is to take off 10 beats from my target heart in non acclimatised heat as a safety margin.

Summary:

  • Heat is a stressor
  • Acclimatise and adapt if possible
  • Hydrate using electrolytes if indicated
  • Monitor heart rate if possible and set yourself safety limits

Onwards and stay cool.

And of course, if you need more detailed input on optimising your training, resolving injuries and improving your health span, contact us.

Note: this article is a generic guide and not specific advice. If you have any health concerns or underlying conditions, seek support from your registered medical professional and care providers.

On: Gravity

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We exist in a gravitational field. You may not appreciate it for the most part but it has influenced your evolution for the past few billion years.

What we don’t tend to do it treat clients or patients in the appropriate gravitational plane. We barely even consider it.

And yet we wonder why we sometimes don’t have the success that we want when resolving issues.

We assess and examine while the patient stands or sits, then lie them down for our convenience.

Instead, why not examine and treat them in the plane that leads to dysfunction. This may lead to insights and interventions apparently disconnected from the presentation but linked and required.

Swimming problems? Standing exam is fine, but clarified in prone, sidelying or supine. Running issues? Listen to the body then treat sitting at the very least. Lower back pain? Get the patient to demonstrate relieving and exacerbating positions and listen, then apply your skill.

Want to create a relaxing outcome, then perhaps removing gravity is a good thing, unloading the heart and helping the lymphatic and venour drainage systems work effectively. But for more active therapies, it may be that following the gravitational field is a good idea.

Using gravity may well offer that differnce that can improve your practice.

Using gravity to change the relationship of the patient can pay dividends.

On: Keep paddling

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Or walking, running, swimming, cycling, dancing, lifting, playing.

Anything that gets you hot and out of breath, 3 to 4 times a week.

As more research is carried out into the causes and underlying mechanisms of post disease processes such as long covid and ME/CFS, a number of the researchers are following paths that lead to dysfunctions in patients mitochondria.

For those who for whom school biology was a while ago, mitochondria are generally considered the power plants of the cells, turning energy you consume into energy your cells can use.

Of course, it’s more complex than that and they tend to have a number of other roles, but essentially the research is showing that problems with these tiny batteries can lead to bigger problems elsewhere.

Whilst treatment modalities are still being developed, and for lots of sufferers recovery is going to be challenging, requiring multidisciplinary support, for the rest of us, we can reduce the risk to ourselves but optimising the efficiency of our mitochondria.

How? Use them.

It has been shown that endurance exercise stresses them in just the right way to make them stronger.

Finding that sweet spot depends on a number of factors including your genetic predisposition, your training history and the epigenetic environment (a catch all phrase for the nutritional, psychological and environmental pressures), but for the 80% rule, anything at low to moderate intensity for long periods of time will have a positive effect.

Prepare for an unknown future.

Get stronger, move further, fuel better.

Of course, if you have any more questions, musculoskeletal restrictions or want more technical input, contact us.

On: Nature

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Take a walk in your head. Out into the countryside. Not the bucolic picture of fields and animals and Sunday afternoon picnics, but the disconnected country. No mobile phone, dark woodlands, no shops or easy takeaways for food and water. Go further. Away from all the signs of humanity. The raw and unfiltered natural world.

Could you thrive there? Could you survive there? The experts will tell you in a temperate environment, you have 3 days without water, three weeks without food although in reality it would almost certainly be faster than that before death caught up and tapped you on the shoulder.

Even people who spend their time in that world, who practice and prepare, would not travel out without caution and care.

Because we are, as humans, pretty rubbish. We are not the apex predator we believe ourselves to be, far too many of us are prey animals with forward facing eyes (apparently the mark of a hunter).

We moved from hunter gathers to agriculture around 12000 years ago. And even before that we worked best in tribes, and carrying tools.

Knowledge weighs nothing, and although you may never need to know how to find and filter water, what plants can be eaten or how to catch and dispatch animals, spending time outside and reconnecting with the real world away from devices and screens, preferably with others is demonstratably good for you in every way. And of course, if you wish to learn those other skills, then find a reputable teacher who can guide you safely. Instagram, as one instructor put it, is not your coach and nature will still win if you fight her.

Even better is to find a tribe to do it with.

Learn to move, to feel earth under your feet and let your eyes settle on a distant horizon.

Your body and brain will thank you.

On: Self, Family, Community

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We are all linked, it is one of the joys and pains of humanity. We are nothing more than mammals that tell stories, and make tools, but far too many of us forget that and think we are above and disconnected from the rest of nature.

Reconnection with what supports and upholds us is vital for all of us, and all of us. No person is an island, or can exist for long as one. Neither should we. As the wheel turns, and peace becomes war, light, dark, the fragile nature of nature is revealed to those who recognise it.

What has this got to do with promoting optimal physical and mental health? Everything.

Unless we take time to listen and reconnect with our body’s requirements, we cannot develop. If we cannot develop, we cannot support ourselves. If we cannot support ourselves, we cannot support our families, our communities and the wider world.

For example, regular mobility work means less risk of injury, which leads to less time off work, or training. Improving your diet means better health and less need for medical support at some point in the future. And, if you are seen to be doing these by others, you might inspire them to try as well, another unintended benefit.

Looking further out, if we can help our family reconnect then we can have a positive influence on them as well.

And so on.

We must reconnect and re-engage with our selves, then our family, then the community, all the time holding onto the natural environment that supports us.

If you feel you need any help working though musculoskeletal issues that could be holding you back from being an asset, please contact us to see how we can work together. And then our skills can be used to help improve you, and the positive changes can roll on.

On: teaching the basics

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Following a conversation post training, I was pondering on knowing the basics. We so often absorb information and forget that, for many, the things we are talking about is brand new.

For example, the reasoning behind certain elements within a coaching program may be to access fast twitch or slow twitch fibres, depending on the desired outcome. For those who don’t do physiology, these are the different fibres within the muscles that have different properties and roles and require different inputs from a training plan.

Similarly, when we are providing therapeutic interventions of any form, the client almost certainly doesn’t have our background, or training, so you one may need to provide education under the radar to allow them fully informed consent. This also helps you by working through the elements of the treatment, which can further reinforce your technique and skill.

So, as a client of any practitioner, I encourage you to ask questions if you don’t understand something, so that the understanding can spread and grow.