Slipping on ice

When (not “if”) you slip on the ice, your feet are going to shift away from you.  If your hips are mobile, you have a greater chance of shifting your support into a position where you might be able to avoid falling. 

If your hips aren’t mobile, then you have a greater chance of either ripping some important soft tissue in your groin (ouch!), or planting your face into the floor.

This is why everyone should keep their body moving and strong.

Marine Commando Challenge

As I mentioned a few days ago, I’m doing the 10 km Marine Commando Challenge on October 9th, raising money for the Devon Air Ambulance.

I have a “Just Giving” donation page where anyone can donate money for the charity, and I need your help to get as much donations as possible.

Please click here to go to my page and donate something, and tell all your friends to help me too!

Thank you!

The squat (as shown by my lovely stick man figure here) is a great example of a Keystone Ability (click here for more info).  But if you don’t believe me, listen to what an actual Knight of the Realm has to say on the matter…

http://sheffieldmanofsteel.co.uk/

Only a couple of weeks until I have a go at the Nettle Warrior challenge!  So as a practice run I’m having a go at the Sheffield Man Of Steel tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

Holiday

My friend is going on holiday to Italy for 3 weeks, so she was wondering how will she cope without her regular training 3 times a week?

Holidays can be difficult when it comes to training.  So off the top of my head, here are some of the main problems and how we might get over them…

• Lack of equipment – You are somewhere new and you don’t have access to your usual shiny gym machines, CV toys and weights.  What are you to do?

• Lack of motivation/training partners – This is often the biggest problem.  We seem to be almost hardwired to equate holiday with “eating, drinking and doing sod-all else”.  Without the structure and responsibility that comes with a usual working week and the people we meet, it is very easy to miss the hard work “just this once” and go sit by the pool instead.

• Lack of knowledge – This tends to tie in with the “Lack of Equipment” problem.  Most of us learn the specific machines/exercises of our usual routine.  We know what level/speed/setting/reps etc we normally do, but have no idea what they are doing, or what effect it is having on our body.  Because of this, we are totally reliant on the equipment and have no idea how to replicate the effect in any other way.

So these are the main problems I can think of.  So how do we get over them?

Equipment.

The Planche

Lack of equipment is quite an easy one to get over.  All it takes is a bit of imagination and a willingness to give it a go.

Bodyweight Exercises – This is how people have kept fit and strong for thousands of years.  These exercises can range from the easy (star jumps, walking/jogging, pressups, bodyweight squats, bodyweight split squats etc) to bloody challenging (burpees, pistols, pullups, hill sprints, handstands etc).  I have made a list of several of my favorite exercises, and many of them are bodyweight ones.  Click here to see them all.  If you have a favorite exercise, tell us about it in the comments below.

Iron Cross – Using portable equipment.

Portable Equipment – The next answer is to simply take your training equipment with you.  Portable equipment such as this can come in many forms, such as:

• Skipping Rope.
• Resistance Bands.
• Balls (footballs, tennis balls etc).
• Gymnastic rings.
• Punching pads/focus mitts.
• Your full suitcase.

Kit like these are small, light and you can get them out/put them away at a moments notice.  Of course, as with any new bit of kit, make sure you know how to use them properly before you go at them full tilt!  And you can get kit such as this from most good sports shops.

But because this is “portable” equipment, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can’t use it when you are not on holiday.  They can be part of anyones regular training.

Parkour – using the environment

Use the environment – Again, the way people have kept fit and strong for thousands of years.  Is there a pavement or path?  Go for a jog.  Is there a nice bit of sloping ground?  Try some hill sprints.  Is there a good strong tree?  How about climbing it or improving your pullups.  Is there a park with a climbing frame?  Then climb it!  The only thing that is stopping you is your imagination and that silly nagging voice in your head saying you are too old, or it will be embarrassing.  Sod it!  You’re on holiday!

Lack of motivation.

This is a tougher one to crack.  But most of us get over a lack of motivation everyday using 2 things…routine and accountability.  Millions of us grind our way through a horrible daily commute to/from work because it is now “part of the routine”.  And we actually go to a shitty job because of our accountability to our boss/co-wokers/family/bank manager.  So why don’t we use these to help us exercise on holiday?

Routine.

Make exercise part of the routine of holiday.  Something that is automatically done.  Maybe you could go for a walk/jog/swim/ride before breakfast?  Or you could book “activities” on every other day.  These activities can be almost anything:

• Go rock climbing.
• Learn to surf.
• Go kayaking.
• Join that group of people who are going to climb that mountain over there.
• Etc.

It doesn’t matter so much what the activity is (just make sure you enjoy it), just make sure it is routinly booked in to the day and you actually do it.

Accountability.

It is a well known fact that most people do better when someone is checking up on them.  This could be a training partner or coach.  But if you have “announced” you are going to do something, and someone is there expecting it to happen, it is much harder for us to back out and make excuses for ourselves.

Facebook

That is how a training partner/coach keeps us accountable.  But if they are not with you in person (who takes their coach on holiday?) it is quite easy to use your phone, email or social network of your choice to keep in touch.

Arrange your routine with them before you go and keep them updated as to how you get along.  Tell them when you are starting, when you are finishing, how you did, could you have done better.  If you slip up, they are only a button away to get you back on track.

But the important thing is to announce what you are doing before you do it.  Once the announcement is out there, it is much harder to back out of it!

Lack of knowledge.

I think this one is the root behind the above 2 problems.  Essentially, a lack of knowledge is when people don’t know what their options are, or how to get the most out of them.

e.g.  portable equipment, bodyweight exercises and the environment are no good if you don’t know how to use them.  And routine and accountability are all fine and dandy, but if you don’t know they can be useful, you probably won’t ever bother using them.

Each week I speak to people who have come to believe it is simply not possible to get fitter unless you are on the newest, shiniest CV machine in town.  Or they cannot possibly be improving their strength or muscle tone unless they are strapped into the resistance machine with the most flashing lights.  These people don’t know how to use their bodies, but they do know how to use specific machines.

And hopefully this is where I and coaches like me come in.  I can help you work independently of fancy equipment and make the most of the best bit of kit you will ever possess…your body.

But before I finish up, I just want to throw this question out there for you to think about…if you are training regularly, consistantly and properly, what is wrong with taking a week or 2 off?

Contact me or leave a comment below if you feel like it.

Your average gym monkey

I work in a gym, but I don’t think I am your average gym monkey (at least I hope I’m not).  I am not interested in isolating muscles and “maximising the burn”.  Instead, because of my background in Karate, I am more interested in being able to move in strong, powerful, fast and well coordinated ways.

The human body is the most sophisticated, versatile and amazing gadget we will ever own.  Forget your iPad.  As sexy and funky as it may be, it is nothing compared to the body you are living in right now.  So I think everyone should be able to move it properly and get the most out of it.

I was chatting to my friend the other day.  He was telling me about some resistance machines he had used.  They had little flashing lights that guided how you should move, how far and how fast.  Now, I can see how that kind of thing may be very nice and quite useful for absolute beginners, but personally, I would hate it!  Maybe its just me, but I would much prefer to know what I was doing and why, rather than following mindlessly, sheep-like, a machine that was set for the lowest common denominator.

Talk about setting your sights low!  Which sounds best to you:

“I want to be the best I can be”

or

“I want to be bearly adequate”.

So, here are a few basic movement patterns that we should all be aware of, and should be able to do well, every day of our lives, whether you are in training or not:

Push (or press)

This is when the force in a limb is moving away from the body.  Examples include:

• Pressups - the arms are pushing away perpendicular to the body.
• Shoulder Press - the arms are pushing away parallel to the body.
• Leg press – legs are pushing away from the body.
• Punching – arm is moving away perpendicular to the body.
• Kicking - the leg is pushing away from the body.
• Throwing a ball – the arm (and ball) is travelling away from the body.
• Tug of war – the legs are pushing the body away
• Climbing stairs – the leg is pushing away from the body and down into the floor.
• Standing up from a chair – both legs are pushing away from the body into the floor.

Pull (or row)

This is when the force of the limbs is moving towards the body.  Examples include:

• Seated row - arms are pulling the weights towards the body.
• Rowing in a boat – arms are pulling the oars towards the body.
• Pullup - arms are pulling he body towards the bar.
• Tug of war – the arms are pulling the rope towards the body.
• Picking up a suitcase – arm is pulling the case towards the shoulder.

Twist (or rotate)

This is when the torso or limb moves around its own axis.  Examples include:

• Throwing a baseball – the body “winds up” before the throw, then “uncoils” during the throw.
• Swimming freestyle – the body and head twists as you take a breath.
• Throwing a hook punch – the body rotates to generate the power of the punch.
• Swinging a golf club - the body rotates as the club swings around.
• Using a corkscrew – the forearm twists to screw it into the cork.
• Passing a rugby ball to the side – the body twists to the side to increase the range of the pass.
• Reversing a car – the body/head turns on its axis so you can see behind you.

Stabilise (or not move)

This is not a “move” as such, instead it is the deliberate prevention or stopping of a movement.  I use this mostly in core training.  Examples include:

• The Plank - preventing your belly from sagging in the middle.
• Squat or deadlift - stopping your spine from slumping forwards.
• Tug of war – keeping your spine strong and still so it does not collapse and fold in the middle.
• Using a corkscrew – the other hand has to keep the bottle still while the screw is being twisted.

As you can see from some of the above examples, in a single act (eg, tug of war, using a corkscrew) different parts of the body can be doing different moves at the same time.  And things will only work properly if you coordinate all these different moves.

Pec Fly

A prime example is a guy I was helping in the gym.  Now this guy was very big and very strong.  He was showing me how good he was at the chest press and pec fly machines, and he could do almost twice as much as I could!  But he wanted to join the army, so obviously we got round to doing pressups….

…he couldn’t even do 1 of them.

He had been training his individual muscles for ages!  And his individual muscles were very very strong.  But they couldn’t work together for toffee!  He didn’t know how to stabilise his mid-section while pushing with his upper body, and so his belly would crumple half way through each pressup.  If I was being harsh, I would say his muscles were fantastic…but his body was useless.

And I don’t want that for myself or the people I train.  I would much rather fantastic muscles and a fantastic body.  Or am I just being greedy?

So if you come train with me, you won’t find many bodybuilding routines involving “back & bicep” and “chest & tricep” days.  Instead you will learn how to make your body fitter, stronger, healthier, more capable of moving well…actually doing things in your everyday life.

As Alfred said to Batman:

“What’s the point of all those push ups if you can’t even lift a bloody log? “

Contact me today by clicking here or leave a comment below!

Last summer I did my best to explain why everyone (including women and the elderly) should do weight training in order to get stronger (click here).

Well, The American Journal of Medicine have published a report that backs me up!  They say:

“Our analyses of current research show that the most important factor in somebody’s function is their strength capacity. No matter what age an individual is, they can experience significant strength improvement with progressive resistance exercise even into the eighth and ninth decades of life.”

They also say that even people in their 30′s can show declines in strength if they don’t work to keep it.

And one recommendation they make, is:

“Incorporating full body exercises and exercises that use more than one joint and muscle group at a time, such as the leg press, chest press, and rows. These are safer and more effective in building muscle mass.”

Woman strength training – www.gubernatrix.co.uk

Just the same things as I recommend for people (click here and here).

But I still think half the people I talk to will run a mile if I mention weight training and the other half will only ever want to do bicep curls and tricep kickbacks

If you know one of these people, please “share” this article with them using the buttons below.  Or better still, contact me for some proper training!

I’ve been spending the last few months working with Joan, who has been in a wheelchair for a long time.  The goal has been to help her stand and re-learn how to walk.

And that is the important bit…she needs to relearn how to walk.  How do you teach someone how to walk?  Is it just a case of ”put one foot in front of the other?”  At first, I thought it was as simple as that.  But I now know, if you do that you will fall over.  There is a hell of lot more to it than just that.

Just some of the things you need to do include:

• Transfer your bodyweight from one foot to another.
• Balance on one foot.
• Transfer your weight from one part of your foot to another.
• Control the hip in in such a way that it does not collapse under the weight of your entire body.
• Coordinate all these things through many different joints (hips, knees, ankles etc).
• Stabilise and control the moves from your upper body so they don’t cancel out the moves from the lower body.

Luckily, most of us do all the above without even thinking about, or even being conscious of it.  We can even do it when we are asleep (sleepwalking)!  But how do I take this massively complex task and simplify it to such an extent that I can teach it?

Well, the current strategy I am following is:

Going from bigger to smaller.

And by this I mean:

• Bigger to smaller joints (hips -> knees -> ankles -> toes).
• Bigger to smaller moves (moving the body -> moving the legs -> moving the feet).
• Bigger to smaller muscles (body/”core” muscles -> hips muscles -> leg muscles -> foot muscles).

So we are prioritising bigger things over smaller things.  First we worked on “core” muscles to improve sitting position and strengthen the back half of the body.  This is to compensate for the increased amount of work done by the front half when wheeling the chair (we used exercises that were adaptations of Scapular Retractions, Seated Rows & Back Extensions).

Next we worked on standing up.  This involved waking up/strengthening bum and leg muscles and (very importantly) the nerves that control/work them.  This involved adaptations of the Bodyweight Squat.

Now we have gotten this working well, we are moving on to the actual walking part.  This is a much more complex move and I have a feeling that it will take a bit longer to progress through this part, but she has got off to a flying start!  This week she walked about 20 meters, from one exercise station to the next  Before this, I had not seen her walk more than 1 meter!  So bloody well done!

The hip movements that were already being practiced in the standing up, need to be made much more delicate, precise and coordinated.  This takes a lot more fine control over the joints.  And this also means that smaller, “unsexy” muscles (i.e. the ones we don’t drool over looking at in the mirror) have to start working harder and playing their part.

Also, the smaller joints (eg knees) are going to become more important.  So we are going to start work on them any day now.  But I was asked yesterday about the ankles.  They felt a bit weak, as though they may give way while walking.  And this is totally understandable.  When you have been sitting in a chair for months/years, the muscles controlling the ankles are going to weaken.  And if that joint is unstable, it may give way. 

But even with the strongest, most stable ankle in the world, you are not going to walk anywhere if you can’t move your leg from the hip.  So while we are going to work on stabilising/strengthening the ankles, our focus is still going to be on the bigger issues (i.e. the hips).

So Joan is doing bloody well and making good progress.  And the main reason for this is the amount of hard bloody work she  is putting into the basics.  And that is the bit that I love to see.  She consistently comes in and works her socks off time and again.  I don’t think she has had an “easy” training session yet.

So bloody well done!

So the moral of this story is, when it comes to joints, movements and muscles,

go from bigger to smaller.

Don’t spend your time worrying about the tiny details, if you don’t have the big things sorted out first.

If you have liked this article, don’t forget to use the little buttons below to share it with your friends or anyone you think it might help.

I’ve actually stopped procrastinating and actually signed up!  Yep, Jane asked me if I wanted to give it a go, and before my brain engaged, I just said yes.  So this summer, I will be running the Nettle Warrior race…wish me luck!

Click here to go to their website.

If you want to see how well/bad I do, why not subscribe to this blog?

We should all strive to have a fit and capable body.  I don’t care if you are:

• A young, up and coming athlete eager to perform at you maximum.
• An average Joe office worker wanting to get a bit fitter and lose some weight.
• Retired and wanting to maintain the quality of your life while you draw you pension.

Fit and capable body trapped inside.

A fit and capable body is hidden away inside all of us, and for health, performance and quality of life reasons, we all should try to help it get out.

There are different components of a fit and capable body.  Here are my favorite ones:

• Cardiovascular endurance.
• Muscular strength.
• Flexibility/mobility.
• Balance.
• Agility.
• Coordination.

Cardiovascular endurance.

This is the ability of our heart and lungs to take in, process and mobilise enough oxygen to the appropriate parts of our body.  In other words, so we don’t run out of breath and have to stop so often.

• For athletes, this is important so they can maintain a high work capacity throughout their particular event.
• For average Joe, this is important to keep a healthy heart, to help control their bodyweight and so they can do all the things they need to live a full and happy life.
• For a pensioner, this is important so they can still play with the grandchildren, do the shopping, do household chores and to keep their heart healthy.

For more information on fitness, click here or here.

Muscular strength.

This is the bodys ability to move itself and other objects and (importantly) to help prevent injuries.  In other words, you are able to pick that heavy thing up, move it round the place and not put your back out.

• For athletes, being strong enough to excel at their chosen sport is an obvious advantage.  And their reduced risk of injury means they can spend more time training/competing and less time in rehab.
• For average Joe, being strong often means “looking good naked”.
• For a pensioner, being strong can mean that they are less likely to get injured if they fall or are hit/knocked by anything.

You can read all the things I have written about strength by clicking here.

Flexibility/mobility.

Flexibility

This is the ability of a joint (eg hip, shoulder, knee etc) to move through its range of motion.  In other words, you can bend all your joints and they are not seizing up.

• For athletes, this is important so they can actually perform the moves needed in their sport.
• For average Joe, this is important to reduce chances of chronic stiffness and pains.
• For a pensioner this is important to prevent joints from getting stiff, and so maintaining independence (eg they can tie up their own shoe laces etc).

For information on stretching to improve your flexibility, click here.

Balance.

Balance

The ability to remain stable on your feet in less than ideal circumstances.  In other words, you don’t fall over on your butt as soon as you stop concentrating.

• For athletes, this is important so they can hit/kick/throw/jump etc from various positions.  They don’t have to waste time “getting into position” before they do what they have to.
• For average Joe, this means they can experience much more in their lives.  eg they can ride a bike, they can lean over and see round the head of the person standing in front of them at the concert etc.
• For pensioners, it means they are less likely to fall and injure themselves, or trip over their cat etc.

We all find ourselves in less than perfect situations throughout our lives.  And good balance usually means we get through them without falling flat on our faces and embarrassing ourselves.

Agility.

The ability to change directions of travel quickly, effectively and in a predefined or random way.  In other words, we can weave and dodge around things.

• Most team athletes need good agility in their sports, to either defend against opponents or to overcome these defences.
• Average Joe needs agility to get through a crowd to the bar, or to not embarrass themselves while playing with the kids and because life just generally puts things in our way.
• Pensioners need it, because a lack of agility usually ends in a fall.  And that is potentially very dangerous.

Below is one of the most spectacular display of agility I have ever seen…

Coordination.

Coordinating everything

The ability to get many different things working together, so the whole outweighs the sum of the parts.  In other words, putting together all of the above to make a body that is capable of many wonderful things, instead of ending up slumped in a sofa, unable to get up for fear of failing miserably.

• Athletes need it because all of the above physical attributes mean nothing unless they all work together to achieve the ultimate goal.
• Average Joe needs coordination to achieve the most everyday tasks.  Driving a car requires great coordination, because both feet and both arms are doing different things at different times in different places, and they all need to happen at exactly the right time, or you end up crashing.
• Pensioners need it for the same reasons.  Getting through life needs all the above things to happen at the right time in the right place.  Otherwise, we lose our independence and our quality of life decreases.

Conclusion.

It is obvious that athletes, average Joes and pensioners will need vastly different levels of the above components of fitness.  But by maximising each component, each population can and will improve their health, fitness and ability to get through life in a good way.

There is so much more to exercise and movement than just “toning up my belly a little bit”.

And I try to make sure my coaching improves all of the above, as much as possible.

So if you want/need help with your health and fitness, contact me now, or spread the word using the “share” buttons below!