Bastards

Name:  Bastards

Also known as:  (If you know these by any other name, please leave a comment below).

Main muscles used:  Legs, chest, shoulders, arms, heart.

Other muscles used:  Everything else.

Top tips:

• Start by standing tall.
• Squat down and put your hands on the floor, a bit more than shoulder width apart.
• Jump your feet back into the pressup position in one smooth movement, just like the first half of a squat thrust.
• Keep your belly tight all the time, don’t let it sag towards the floor.
• Do a full, quality pressup, with chest touching the floor.
• Jump your feet back to where they were, just like the second half of a squat thrust.
• Jump high up in the air and tuck your knees tight to your chest, just like a tuck jump.
• Land softly on the balls of your feet, then repeat.

Common mistakes:

• All the same mistakes as the constituent parts (squat thrust, pressup and tuck jump).
• Cutting each part down into smaller and smaller moves as you get more and more tired.

Comments:

The Bastard is a progression on the already difficult burpee.  It is essentially the same move, but with a pressup and tuck jump added.  Because the whole body is being used, it works your heart and lungs a great deal.  The pressup makes it a very good upper body strength exercise.  The explosive tuck jump makes it a very good lower body strength exercise.  The combination of everything makes this a very, very hard, full body exercise.

And it is horrible…hence its name.

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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…

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.

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.

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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?

In case you didn’t notice, it is January, so happy new year!

I’ve been ill (with sniffles) the last couple of weeks, so to be honest I can’t really be arsed to write anything meaningful just yet.  So I’m taking the easy route and simply posting the 5 most popular things from this blog over the last year…so here are the things that have attracted the most attention over the last 12 months…

1. Assessments: The Multistage Fitness (Bleep) Test - Explaining the world famous bleep test you probably did in school, and an mp3 download of the test itself.
2. We are all Kevin and Perry! - Not really sure why this is so popular…because I wrote it when I was in one of my strange moods…
3. Assessments: Body Composition part 1 – Body Weight - The first of a 2-parter explaining the various ways you can assess your bodyweight, giving pros and cons for each.  I enjoyed writing this.
4. Warming up – Do’s and don’ts of a general warm up. - This is a run through of how we should “warm up”, or get ready for exercise/activity.  If you still do the usual of a few minutes of CV and some static stretching…you really should take a look at it, for your own bodies sake!
5. Keystone Abilities. What are they and do you have them? - This is my attempt to steal tried and trusted concepts from my biology degree, and apply them to my coaching.  If you train with me, you will get to recognise the concept of Keystone Abilities.

My cold has nearly gone now, so I’ll be writing more of my usual stuff soon.  Hope you enjoy it.

There are a couple of sentences in there that jumped out at me:

“Specialists in sports and exercise medicine say that too often PE lessons focus on developing sports skills rather than encouraging flexibility and movement.”

Movement in schools

As always, I tend to think “it depends”…but generally speaking, we all need to learn to walk before we can run.  And almost everyone I see/coach want to do advanced, sexy exercises (fair enough, they are more interesting)…but they can’t do the simplest movements properly yet (they can’t “sit”, only “collapse”, they can’t “stand up straight”, only “slump upright”, they can’t “bend at the hips to touch their toes”, they can only “flop forwards and touch their knees” etc).

When you are building anything from the ground up, you must start with the foundations first, before moving on to the finer details.  And kids/people are the same.  Learn technical skills after the basics have been drilled in so they are second nature.

So a guy is trying to introduce new workouts for schools, called “5 in 5″.  I’ve tried to find out about these, but can’t find details on them yet.  If you know more about them, please contact me.  But they are described as:

“The five-in-five routines involve squatting, lunging, pushing, bracing and rotating.”

These moves are basic, everyday, fundamental moves that we all use everyday.  In fact, they sound very much like the foundation work that I find myself going through with the majority of the people I train.  So I want to find out a bit more about it first, but it sounds like something I might like.

As always, if you know any more about this subject, leave a message below.  Or if you know anyone who may be interested, you can “share” this article using the buttons below.

A good Pull Up

Name: Pull up.

Also known as:  Chin up.

Main muscles used:  Back muscles.

Other muscles used:  Arms.

Top tips:

• Start and end the move from a dead hang, with your arms straight.
• The first movement you make should be to squeeze your shoulder blades back & down, and lift your chest up & out.
• End the move when you cannot pull your elbows any lower.
• Your hands should be wide enough apart so your forearms are vertical when you are at the top of the move.
• Think of pulling your elbows down to your hips.
• Think of arching your back and stretching your chest up to touch the bar.
• At the top of the move, think of squeezing your shoulder blades back together and down.
• Try to bend your elbows forwards through the move, instead of out to the side.

A good Pull Up

Common Mistakes:

• Cutting the move down, so your arms never get anywhere near straight.
• Thinking of pulling yourself up by bending the arms.
• Having your shoulders hunched up by your ears.
• Hunching forwards and turning the move into some kind of Abdominal Crunch.

Comments:

This move can be classed as a Keystone Ability due to all the things that need to come together to make it work.  Probably most important of all, it needs a good strength to weight ratio.  So getting stronger and losing excess fat will make it easier.

A bad Pull Up

All the points mentioned above can be applied to the popular gym machine, the Lat Pull Down.  If you are using this machine, pay special attention to the “not hunching forwards” tip.  This is one of the most common mistakes I see everyday.

A good Pull Up

Name: Pull up.

Also known as:  Chin up.

Main muscles used:  Back muscles.

Other muscles used:  Arms.

Top tips:

• Start and end the move from a dead hang, with your arms straight.
• The first movement you make should be to squeeze your shoulder blades back & down, and lift your chest up & out.
• End the move when you cannot pull your elbows any lower.
• Your hands should be wide enough apart so your forearms are vertical when you are at the top of the move.
• Think of pulling your elbows down to your hips.
• Think of arching your back and stretching your chest up to touch the bar.
• At the top of the move, think of squeezing your shoulder blades back together and down.
• Try to bend your elbows forwards through the move, instead of out to the side.

A good Pull Up

Common Mistakes:

• Cutting the move down, so your arms never get anywhere near straight.
• Thinking of pulling yourself up by bending the arms.
• Having your shoulders hunched up by your ears.
• Hunching forwards and turning the move into some kind of Abdominal Crunch.

Comments:

This move can be classed as a Keystone Ability due to all the things that need to come together to make it work.  Probably most important of all, it needs a good strength to weight ratio.  So getting stronger and losing excess fat will make it easier.

A bad Pull Up

All the points mentioned above can be applied to the popular gym machine, the Lat Pull Down.  If you are using this machine, pay special attention to the “not hunching forwards” tip.  This is one of the most common mistakes I see everyday.

Single leg squat – or a "pistol"

Name:  Single Leg Squat

Also known as:  Pistols

Main muscles used:  Legs, bum.

Other muscles used:  Hip flexors.

Top tips:

• Use only 1 leg at a time, but make sure you do equal work on both legs.
• Keep the heel of the supporting foot planted firmly on the floor.
• Sit your bum back and down.
• Tilt forwards from the hips as much as you can and use your arms to help keep your balance.
• Help keep your balance by holding onto a wall/door/pillar etc.
• If you have trouble keeping the other leg horizontal out in front of you, try doing these standing on a step, so you don’t need to lift your leg up so high.
• Keep your chest sticking up and out as much as you can.
• When trying to get back up, don’t think about straightening your leg.  Think about trying to push the floor away as hard as you possibly can, through your heel.

Single leg squat – or a “pistol”

Common mistakes:

• Supporting heel coming off the floor, as the foot rolls onto its toes.
• Not sitting the bum back into the squat.  You will never get low unless you stick your arse out.
• Giving up when it goes wrong the first few times.  This move is difficult.  Just keep trying.
• Waggling the supporting knee all over the place as you go down/up.

Comments:

As I mentioned above, this move is difficult.  Dont even think about trying it unless you are totally rock solid with the standard bodyweight squat.  Remember, the strength needed for this is effectively double that of the standard bodyweight squat, and I haven’t mentioned the balance aspect that makes it harder still.

For it to work, quite a few things need to come together.  These include strength in the lower half of your body, strength and stability in your ankle and knee joints, flexibility around the hip joint, balance and confidence.  So this is another example of a Keystone Ability.

If you can’t do this at first, try to identify your weak point.  Are you most lacking in strength, balance, flexibility?  Once you know your weak spot, use more traditional methods to improve it, and then attempt the single leg squat again and see how you are progressing.  Good luck!