Health and Fitness

Big Rocks

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We all know that exercise is important, that is is the best medicine.

But there’s never enough time.

It takes too long to drive to the gym, change, follow the program card, shower, drive home.

So many of us aim to do it like that, its what the experts and celebrity magazines tell us we need to do.

The experts. The people who own gyms. The fake celebs with too much time on their sponsored wrist watches.

The people who make money from our seldom used good intention memberships.

These people would prefer it if we ignored the less commercial solutions.

There are, of course, many benefits to a well set up gym. Resistance work has been shown to be hugely effective at preventing a wide range of medical issues as we age. They can be sensible for many people, both from a medical and a personal safety perspective (not everyone feels happy walking or running around the darker areas of town). Training with a group or a qualified coach can be far more motivating than on your own.

And sometimes the best gym is your front room, a kettlebell and mat. A brisk walk, a few swings, a few squats, a bit of stretching, 30 minutes. Current advice shows huge benefits are gained from only 30 minutes a day of moderate activity. A 30 minute morning walk, with a few stretches after.

No machines, no noisy sound systems, no strutting peacocks.

Your music, or silence. Privacy, so no body anxiety. No travelling. And a free shower after.

Whatever your exercise style, make it a big rock, something that is really important to you, and figure out how to put it in the bucket first.

Even if that means a 5am alarm.

Its a better start to the day that pretty much anything else.

 

A useful tool for client profiles

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Every day, we take clinical histories of patients and basic medical backgrounds.

Very often, we also do basic biomedical testing – height, weight and blood pressure, to give a brief picture of any issues that need to be addressed immediately.

To allow me the simplicity of calculating the clients Body Mass Index, Guideline Basal Metabolic Rate and Bodyfat percentage, I created an excel spreadsheet.

It also outputs a number of other trackable variables so you get the best bang for your buck!

This is attached here: Formula Tool

It allows for age, and sex as well, so might provide a useful reference guide.

Get the basics right first 

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It doesn’t matter what supplements you take, what your morning ritual looks like, who your guru is or whether you prefer goji berries, blueberries or beetroot as your preferred superfood, if you’re not getting stronger, faster or any achieving any measure you’re aiming for, there’s something not working. 

Nothing happens without enough sleep, enough water, enough high quality macronutrients. If you don’t get the basics sorted first, you’re building your castle on sand. 

So before you start spending on the latest expensive magic product, check you’re getting:

7- 8 hours restful sleep

2-3L water / fluids

75-150g protein

Plenty of vegetables and berries

No? 

Figure those out then move forwards. Basic consistent steps climb mountains. 

Be Ready….

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If you can run 10k in 40 minutes but not carry your buddy 200 yards, are you ready?

If you can squat twice your bodyweight but can’t even run for a bus, are you ready?

If you can walk for hours with a pack but can’t climb a rope, are you ready?

If you can’t swim 25m in a pool, clothed, are you ready?

You never know what life will throw at you. It may be carrying a sick child home from a day out, helping a friend move house, walking across town because the traffic is messed up, or even being caught up in a situation where your skills and fitness are vital to keep yourself, and those you’re responsible for, safe.

Chris Hadfield, in his book “An Astronauts Guide to life on Earth” has a point about being a zero.  You might not be a direct asset to the situation at hand, but you really don’t want to be a burden. Being fit and ready to respond makes you a better zero.

We all like to think we’re fit, but have no idea what that actually means. Being able to run 10k fast is a skill but if you’re washed out for a week after, that isn’t so great. Being built like a rugby prop is useful, if you play rugby. But those guys and girls can also run very fast (at least the professionals), can you?

For its many detractors and weaknesses (not enough endurance based cardio respiratory training in most boxes), crossfit and its like offers a great way of being a better human. Not only do you get faster, fitter and stronger, you can develop mobility and recovery.

Of course, you don’t need to join an expensive box to improve. A few basic kettlebells, sandbag and jump rope are all you need to start.

And get some first aid training. The basics really are basic but could save your life and those who you love.

So be a better human and a positive asset to everyone around you. Get after it.

Linked below is a basic training plan and ready guide. It assumes you can move without pain but little else. Caveat: See a medical professional before starting any new form of exercise plan to make sure it isn’t going to kill you.

Be Ready V2

Open 16.4, its mental

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Scaled Workout

13 minute AMRAP

  • 55 Deadlifts @61kg
  • 55 Wall balls, 9kg to 9ft
  • 55 Cals row
  • 55 hand release pushups

Watching a team mate at the gym struggle through 16.4, it was interesting to note the effect of his mental state on his performance.

I know, from having trained with him, that he is stronger and better than me at all of the moves needed.

But for some reason, he was scared of it. He’d backed out at least once and finally had to face it to get an open score.

Training was not able to parse into competition and this is something you can see frequently. Strong guys and girls crumble under pressure and they perceive themselves as failing.

Dry run it. See the success in your head and take it on from a position of winning before you lift the bar the first time.

And in the end, he did well, getting a full round in before the clock ran out.

Listen to your gut

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Too often you’ve heard the phrase “You are what you eat”. But have you considered the effect of what you eat on your performance, mentally and physically?

We all know caffeine can give you a pre workout boost, carbohydrate drinks are sometimes necessary for energy during a long session and a good recovery meal helps you prepare for the next one. We also know that some people suffer from significant allergies and intolerances that have a huge impact on their lives.

But what if what you were consuming was having a negative effect on you? Not catastrophically but in little ways. That the bread roll with your soup at dinner had triggered a little bit of gut irritation which reduced your capacity to perform through mediated inflammation? That a spot of reflux and indigestion from eating too late and too much had stiffened up your thoracic spine, leading to an inability to squat as efficiently?That the beer to celebrate a good result had set off a minor chain reaction leading to a niggling injury due to reduced healing capacity? That the fructose in your sports drink started a series of cravings for other sugary treats later in the day?

All of these are not uncommon cases of tiny adverse reactions to food and drink, but we too often ignore them. Thats not to say that we need to be utterly soulless and controlling about our diets, simply aware that what we put in has a dynamic and often medium term effect on our ability to perform optimally.

Pay a little more attention to the effect of what you consume and reap the rewards long term.

Why you don’t need your osteopath

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If you can squat, full range of motion, feet together and flat on the floor, arms above your head, you don’t need your osteopath.

If you can train without unexpected pain or discomfort, you don’t need your osteopath.

If you can be in one position for a long period of time (for example driving to competition) and know how to unstick yourself, you don’t need your osteopath.

If you can jump out of bed after a good nights sleep and not “feel your age”, you don’t need your osteopath.

If you do a regular mobility practice and have a solid knowledge of how to get yourself moving out of most issues, you don’t need  your osteopath.

Otherwise, call us and we’ll teach you: 01420 544408

And keep our number close for those acute, it just happened, injuries as well!

 

Focus on the now

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Buddists and other meditators claim that there is no past, no future, only now. Yet we spend most of our time ignoring whats in front of us and instead thinking about what has been or what might be, not being in our heads and focusing on the immediate task. This is not to say that planning (an almost unique skill in humans) is not vital, as otherwise we would be wasting ourselves spinning in circles watching a small screen, but this long term plan has to be combined with appropriate action now.

From a movement perspective, when coaching clients in new patterns, I use 2 key words  as triggers. Attention and Intention. What is the attention on and what is the intention. For example, moving the shoulder joint, the attention is on the joint, the way it feels and glides, while the intention is that the arm should move slowly and under control at all times. Many find this very hard to do as the mind tends to rebel against focusing on just one thing. The same is with running, the attention cannot be on the whole activity, as  we cannot cope with such input, but instead on just feeling the push off, or the chest postion, or another skill.

A five minute challenge, when moving next time, ask yourself: Where is my attention? What is my intention? Not just in a movement pattern but when working as well, it may provide some interesting results.

What Physios don’t want you to know

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And osteopaths, chiropractors or any other manual therapist.

Unless they are making special claims for their technique,  which they can back up with evidence,  the truth of the matter is that all manual therapies are doing one of three things-

  • Breaking down adhesions, scar tissue and restrictions, whether in fascia, muscle or connective tissue
  • Resetting the joint position sense and neural signalling around the affected area
  • Improving fluid flow and drainage of the tissue.

That’s it, that’s all we do. However, the reason you need to keep a good osteopath or physiotherapist on speed dial is because the real trick is knowing which one needs to be done, what tools and techniques should be used when, how and where, as the true cause of the problem may not be at the place it hurts.

One classic example of this, that many have suffered from and lots fail to treat effectively,  is plantar fasciitis. The too familiar pain lancing into the sole of your foot when you first stand up, it is caused by inflammation and microtearing in the fibrous tissue running along the foot, generally near the heel. Traditional treatment is to brace, stretch and possibly inject cortisone, all of which take time and often fail to address the question why it failed in the first place.

A better complete approach, using the above concept,  is to not just treat the foot locally,  but look away for restrictions and signalling issues elsewhere as well. Only then,  once the underlying issue is addressed,  can real recovery and progress be made.

Gym free exercise of the day.

2 minutes breathing practice while swinging arms and legs to open the joints.

3 X 30 seconds skipping on the spot, imagining a rope if space / equipment restricts.

5 x 1 minute Burpee superman interupt. 30 secs recovery between sets.

Squat down, thrust legs back to pressup position,  lower your chest to the floor then take hands up above the head to full extension. Raise opposite hand and leg off the floor. Repeat for the other side, then hands to chest, push up, legs back in to squat position and jump up.

2 minute breathing practice, with stretching.

Notes-

The objective of the warmup is to check and prepare joints for range of motion,  followed by getting the cardiorespiratory system ready.

The core of the workout is to get every muscle in the body firing to stimulate a high level of intensity. By lifting the arms and legs off the ground,  you break the fascial tension that can be used as a spring rebound mechanism,  so it becomes harder.

Scaling if you are unable to do burpees or pressups would be 3 standing air squats with a pause at the bottom, followed by 3 kneeling pressups with hand / leg lift. If the pressups are still too challenging,  wall pressups (pushing off the wall) followed by arm / leg extensions. If in doubt, try the one you think you might fail at to push yourself.

The only person to compare yourself to. 

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Not the guy in the next squat rack, not the girl on the yoga mat who can tie herself in knots and always looks perfect, not the professional on the tv. The only person to compare yourself to is….

You. 

Are you a little bit better than you were yesterday? 

Age inevitably degrades our performance slightly over time, with some researchers considering the average value to be 10% per decade, but most of us haven’t achieved our true potential in any decade so there is no reason why most of us cannot at the very least maintain results with improved efficiency and technical skill. 

Rather than using any comparison as an excuse, figure out what you need to do to be 1% better. Harder work is not always the answer, instead see if you need to get out of your own way by working on mobility, becoming more efficient or focusing on a specific movement. 

Gym free workout of the day

Got 10 minutes? Want to change your life for the better? High intensity short interval work has been shown to be highly effective. Try the following:

  • 2 minutes seated wheel breathing 
  • Then complete as many rounds as possible in 5 minutes of: 5 burpees / 3 inch worm pressups
  • 3 mins wheel breathing

Guidelines 

Wheel breathing– sitting comfortably, focus on your breathing. Allow each inhalation to be followed, smoothly and slowly by each exhalation. Picture yourself successfully going through the workout efficiently, effectively and relaxed. Afterwards, just focus on letting each breath flush all the stress and fatigue from your body, so you’re ready to face the day. 

Burpees– start standing straight, squat down hands on the ground, thrust feet backwards to press-up position, pressup, reverse to stand with a jump out of the squat. 

Inchworm pressups– start standing up, bend forward to touch toes, walk hands out until you are in the pressup position, lower down, hands off the ground into a back extension, reverse to get back up. 

Scaling versions

Burpees- 1 burpees is 3 air squats jumps. Squat down, knees behind toes, then spring back up to jump as high as possible. 

Inchworms- kneeling pushups with back extension. Kneel down, lower yourself smoothly, hands off and extend the back, then push back up again. 

Whichever version you do, try to keep going for the whole 5 minutes.

Semper Pergendum!  

The Camford Clinic. Professional osteopathic sports injury and life management in Alton, Hampshire. 

01420 544408

Info@the-Camford-clinic.co.uk