crossfit

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

Can’t does not exist

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Not only is it a contraction of cannot, it is a word that disempowers us all. You cannot do that, I cannot do this. These phrases mentally weaken us by throwing up barriers that restrict our perspective.

Instead, reframe the statement. From I cannot, move to what is stopping me? With almost every goal and outcome, there are obstructions, whether physical, social or psychological. Some of these are with good reason and purpose (you cannot jump off the top of the london eye, for example), but for almost everything else, with a change in the way the statement is created, a path and a way forward can be discerned. From identifying what you want to achieve, it is possible to understand the knowledge you need to gain, the skills that can be learned and so step by step, move closer to where you wish to be.

We can get better, because we’re not dead yet.

Frank Turner Get Better

 

Total body circuits for injury detection and prevention

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There are a few simple exercises that, if carried out correctly, can help prevent injury in other areas of training by allowing you to spot where and when you are weak.

Amongst my favourites are:

Kettlebell swings. Preferably a full range of motion. http://www.catalystathletics.com/exercises/exercise.php?exerciseID=251These work pretty much everything and can be used for strength, conditioning, warmup, incredibly useful.

Turkish getups. http://www.catalystathletics.com/exercises/exercise.php?exerciseID=255 They look simple but demand huge range of motion and coordination of all the major joints to be successful.

Single arm overhead squats. http://www.catalystathletics.com/exercises/exercise.php?exerciseID=236 Another all over body exercise which will make everything fire in the correct sequence.

Dead hang pull ups http://www.catalystathletics.com/exercises/exercise.php?exerciseID=39

Mountain climbers, just to finish off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J4hRICVjRo Focusing on maintaining a stable trunk throughout the movement.

By doing these as a circuit, ensuring good form at all times, they should prepare you for any other, more focused gym work or training you wish to do. Or, if you’re time compressed, just doing a 10 minute of a few of them (not everybody has a suitable pull up station in their home) will bring huge benefits.

One of the best resources for improving mobility is Mobility WOD, which has hundreds of excellent videos for fixing all the areas you may feel are restricted.

And if in doubt, come and see us for a full assessment of the issues.

80:20 Revisted

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With the forthcoming release of Dr Kelly Starrett’s new book, I have been reconsidering the advice we tend to offer injured (or preferably non injured) athletes. Dr Starrett (a Phd physical therapist) offers practical and applicable advice on injury prevention and recovery, stating that if you cannot perform basic functions safely (squatting, stretching etc) then you need to sort them out before you try running.

These days, with web access virtually ubiquitous in the western world, there is a surfeit of information available at our fingertips. The difficulty is in discerning what works and what doesn’t. With the rise of athletic “biohackers”, who promote tips and tricks for small percentage improvements, finding the signal amongst the noise is even harder.

For most of us, performance improvement comes down to three simple things.

  • Optimise Nutriton / Diet
  • Train efficiently
  • Recovery / Sleep

Dr Starrett covers much of this in his excellent book Becoming A Supple Leopard and reviews indicate he will cover this in the running guide.

Breaking down the above bullet points, optimising diet means ensuring you eat cleanly and sensibly most of the time, getting a suitable balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, with plenty of micronutrients. Nothing clever or fancy but by not doing this, you are ensuring that your body is not going to operate effectively. This is the base upon which all the others stand, mentally and physically.

The part we all think about is the training aspect. We plan, prepare and put in the hours and miles to attempt to achieve our goals. But are we doing it in the most efficient manner? Could we save time by cutting out junk miles or hours in the gym, since more is not always better. Is there such a thing as a recovery run, or easy workout? Would that time be better spent with friends and family, which might help improve our mental state, or doing mobility work (as described by Dr Starrett)?

This ties in to point 3, recovery and sleep. Do you recover enough? Are you waking refreshed and ready to go each morning without needing an alarm or two? There is no set formula for this since the factors involved in recovery are complex, including external stressors, but by tracking basic biomarkers (resting heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation (SpO2) etc) and personal reflection, we are able to observe how our bodies are responding to the load we place upon them. If your resting heart rate is elevated and your SpO2 depressed then you are simply not recovering from the load. Another simple test is to attempt to create a change in your heart rate during a training session. If during a run or ride, you cannot easily elevate your heart rate by increasing pace or effort, then there is a possibility that you are neurologically as well as physically tired and as such, backing off would be advised.

Some people are beginning to use heart rate variability (HRV) to track their stress and recovery. Like many tools, this gives a view into the workings of the body, in this case the autonomic nervous system, which can be used to explore the effect training or stress is having. Many researchers and doctors have shown that there is a link between low variability and mortality from a number of causes but these are measured using ECG over a long period of time (24 hours), especially after an acute myocardial infarction. Some work is being carried out with regards to the use of HRV to track physiological changes due to stress and training and although this appears to be useful over long term measurements, such that trends can be visible, it appears to be a back up to the other measurements and as such, outside of the 80% rule of most efficient use of resources.

To conclude, eat to meet your nutritional needs, train efficiently and recover effectively. Then start making the 20% changes.

Unlock your potential

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What would happen if you could:

  • Train more effectively
  • Recover faster and more efficiently
  • Heal from injuries quicker
  • Maximise your resilience

It would unleash your performance in every area of your life. You would have more time to spend on relationships, work or play, achieve more when competing and have less noise in your head when the time comes to focus.

The secret? To get out of your own way. Most of us are held back by learned patterns, old injuries and poor habits, trying to do more and more with less and less. Restrictions in one area reduces the body’s capacity to deal with stress in others. A tight hip will shorten your stride and overload the achilles, a stiff upper back will drop your maximal squat, restricted shoulders will limit your press or swim stroke. Mentally, stress at work will reduce your ability to make solid nutritional choices, family concerns will eat into your training mindset, anxiety will limit your performance at competition time.

If you can figure out what is restricting you, then removing those blocks can make huge differences.

Each persons blocks are different. Physically, look first at the ankles, hips and thoracic spine. Any old injuries, scarring or tissue changes (tight, weak, short) can affect the rest of the body in many ways. Can you perform the basic movements (push, pull, bend, squat, lunge etc, cleanly and pain free?)

Another physical issue is not listening when we need to rest, by ignoring the subtle clues in our physiology. Is your resting heart rate elevated, are you feeling more fatigued than normal for this workout, is your nervous system tired? (This can be tested via heart rate variabiity apps and simple biomechanical tests). Are you sleeping sufficiently? Once those areas are cleared, look at specific areas related to your sport or discipline and optimise your strengths and minimise the weaknesses, a process that will take a lifetime of self observation.

Mentally, we are always fighting against the patterns and habits picked up from everyone around us. Fear that we are not training hard enough can lead to overtraining, learning not to listen to the inner voice of weakness during a difficult moment, belief in an internal monologue that tells we are not good enough, often imposed by others, copying or competing with our training companions when we should be backing off.

By reading the cues, listening to ourselves and seeking the support and expertise of professionals, you can unlock your true potential in every domain.