Time’s a healer

This is a very old saying ‘Time’s a healer’ but it does have some truth in that and whatever you are talking about, time does result in recovery. This very much applies to any of you guys and girls out there who have unfortunately injured yourself from exercising! However, simply resting will not solve the case and this is where this quote might need a bit of tweaking, maybe ‘Qualitative time’s a healer’ or something like that….

We are not made of steel, us humans cannot fall 15,000 feet from the sky and live to talk about it the next day, this is why we skydive with equipment! Thanks to gravity, we cannot fly, cheers to little thorns and needles that we pierce easily and in relation to exercising any weight whether external or bodyweight, used in the incorrect manner can cause some severe damage to our structures! Whether you are exercising for a general goal or an athlete, you will always experience some sort of injury big or minute, you will definitely go through it. We all know that small injuries, easy interventions are put in place – ice pack, heat, rest, chill time etc etc but what if you break a bone or cause disruptions to articular structures? Now that could be surgery or serious hibernation time right?! These sort of injuries do take lots of time to get better and unfortunately people do not want to give it that qualitative time to help recover from injuries. This is what we are going to blabber about today, well I will you all can just sit there and read….

When we experience a serious injury, we all do the same thing – head to the doctors they assess the situation and depending on what you need will refer you on. Now let’s skip all that nonsense waiting bit and let’s talk about the actual rehabilitation of it all. Now when we get referred on to physiotherapists, personal trainers, bio mechanic experts or anybody involved in rehabilitation they all carry out consultations and then help you on your way to recovery by showing you exercises. This is all great until it comes to the time variable…

A rehabilitation programme can range from anything between 4 weeks to even years! Eh?!! Yeah bet you’re all thinking whhhhaaaatt! But the fact of the matter is that when you experience an injury your body takes a biggggg hit and after all healing has been completed there is permanent scar tissue and this leads to inefficient movements. Rehabilitation programmes are put in place to help improve body mechanics and get rid of as much scar tissue as possible. Now I know that majority of people cut their programmes well short of the mark as they want to get back in the gym and work to their goals, however, by not following these programmes through you are again putting so much load on the body and this could again lead you to further injury! I completely understand that people get frustrated when on these programmes as they just take so dam long to complete and even after they are finished you still need to do those exercises to keep injury at bay.

All you readers out there who follow my blog – I urge you if have undergone a serious injury and have been referred to please follow these programmes out because at the end of the day you will be benefiting your body a hell of a lot more than cutting it short and lifting heavy weights again. Exercising is a lifetime investment not a 3 year fix and if it takes you 2 years to get back on track and start exercising as you were pre injury then so be it. Basically what I am saying in a nice way is – Stop being stubborn, listen to the people who know what they are saying and be patient.

Rehabilitation programmes are fantastic programmes because not only do you do them when you’re injured but carry them on when you’re fit and ready. They serve a purpose in terms of articular alignment and neuromuscular stability. They’re fantastic and sometimes doing them can actually be tougher than lifting cars over your head! I believe in these programmes and they do have their place and the great thing is is that you can tweak these programmes to benefit your goals when fit. Buying pieces of equipment like a resistant band or tubing isn’t that expensive and you don’t need to get the big branded names, just go to your local cheap shop and buy a few cool items. Hopefully the exercises been shown to you on these programmes you can try them in your own time which you will need to do. Yes remember people, seeing a physio once a week or twice a month or whatever isn’t enough, you will need to do the specific exercises everyday! So basically I am saying – Man up and do as you’re told! 😀

But remember quality over quantity – time is a healer yes but it’s the quality of the time you spend that will heal the associated problem. Please do not take your body for granted, it goes through hell and back everyday, helping you walk, stand, sit, eat, laugh, prevent diseases, dance, drive, run etc by resistant some sort of force and counteracting that with an equal and opposite force. So when it does break down in a serious way, don’t force it to get back to squatting ass to the grass! Give it the qualitative time it needs with the appropriate rehabilitation programme and then get back to diving off 10 meter cliffs!

Myth Busters – Can you have too much water?

You may have heard somewhere that you must drink plenty of water throughout the day and that it is really good for you bla bla bla. Hang on, before we move on don’t think that I am bashing water, I actually love the element! So just as we are clear on that let’s move on….

Water is actually a vital component of our body as we store a large % of water within our body. The Earth as well is mostly water too so it clearly must be a very important factor for sustaining life. Life without water will not occur, the beautiful fruits, vegetables, mountains, hills, animals and we will all eventually die leaving the planet as a barren inhospitable planet. Our atmosphere will be affected too; changing our surroundings, clouding everything with articulates and could potentially set off chemical reactions which aren’t too nice! Anyway enough of high school physics, let’s get back to fitness!

Now you may think ‘is this blog about the lack of water or too much?’ But wait there I am getting there. I needed to explain a little bit about the lack of it, now to the other extreme…too much! Now we have seen national disasters caused by natural causes such as flooding, tsunamis and extreme thunder storms which all are composed of water! This causes drastic effects to human nature and the same applies within our bodies too. Just like flooding can breach people’s houses without knocking on their doors, too much water within our system can also cause drastic effects! Too much water can be very detrimental to health and can dilute important minerals such as sodium. Yes you may think sodium is bad for us but it’s really not, it’s just too much of it is bad. However, if you drink too much water you will actually dilute sodium causing a sudden drop in blood pressure causing symptoms such as dizziness, depression, low blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, abdominal cramps, muscular weakness, vomiting etc etc! This is called hyponatremia and if gets too severe can lead to organ failure, seizures and even death! Now this is all from an overdose of water. Not only that but too much of water can also flood in to organs and cause serious conditions such as kidney problems, liver disease, congestive heart failure and other ridiculous diseases!

Now on another note, if any of you are on medications then remember they all have side effects and some can be a false perception of thirst so please be aware of this and also you guys out there with diabetes can cause increased thirst perceptions so please be aware of this and consult your doctors! Anybody on medication, have existing issues such as diabetes or kidney problems, an urge to drink excessively before and after exercise then please DO NOT take this lightly and consult your doctor! There are plenty of treatments and help out there for over hydration and it is best that you start sooner than later!

Now for you guys who do not suffer from any diseases or on any medication or anything like that and are generally healthy, please do take caution and not to drink lots and lots of water! You have to remember too that there is a lot of water stored in foods that you chomp on through the day. I mean let’s be honest a cucumber isn’t just all green is it, I mean you can literally see a swimming pool in the middle of one! I wonder why apples are so juicy! Yes granted they do have other properties like malate and citrate but they store a hell of a lot of water too. So if you guys are eating an apple, 2 oranges, half a cucumber, a bowl of soup, 2 glasses of fruit and vegetable smoothie a day then your water levels in your body should be quite reasonable. So don’t buy in to this ‘you need to stick your head in 4 gallons of water a day’. It’s more of a guideline to follow stating that you need to keep reasonably hydrated so you don’t suffer.

Now what are good ways of knowing you are relatively hydrated you ask? Well I shall tell you! A good indicator is actually looking at the colour of your urine as blunt as it sounds. I don’t mean you have to stare at it and check with a magnifying glass as to what shade of colour it is! Just check, it should normally be a pale straw coloured yellow. If it’s white then you’re over hydrated or it if’s a darker yellow then you may need to drink a glass or 2. However, if it’s red or brown then you need to definitely go to the doctors as that’s more of a kidney or liver problem! So remember guys and girls – if your pee is a light yellow that’s good! Now another indicator is how you are actually feeling throughout the day; are you feeling healthy, lively, fresh and energetic and can focus on what you are doing? Or do you feel lethargic, hungry, tired or irritable? Remember hunger doesn’t mean that you need food but it can also mean that you are dehydrated so keep that in mind and think when did you last have a big meal and when did you last have a big glass of water?

If you are still finding it hard to monitor your water levels, then try and keep a diary with you at all times recording the amount of water you are consuming and times that you are too. By keeping a log you have proof as to how much you are consuming and from here you can make the tweaks here and there. Alternatively, if any of you are still finding it difficult then speak to somebody in this industry, I don’t mean a hydroelectric engineer I mean somebody like a dietician who specialises in peak performance and they can help you. There are many tests that are available out there to monitor and regulate your hydration levels and to keep your body in correct levels.

 

So remember everybody out there, drinking water is definitely good for you but too much of it as bad as not enough of it. If anybody out there is experiencing any of the above symptoms or other symptoms related to over hydration then please do control your hydration levels or if you need more support then please do contact your health practitioner for advice and support. This is a serious matter and to stay fit and active don’t OVERDOSE … on water I mean!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

It’s that time of year again where everyone is winding down their fitness regime and enjoying indulging without feeling guilty! This is the time to really appreciate all the hard work you have put in whilst munching on cake, sweets and anything else whilst washing it down with the finest beer!

However, I know that in some people’s conscience even when doing well all year round, they feel guilty when indulging at this time of year. But don’t worry! I am literally sitting down, writing this whilst drinking a straffe hendrik beer from Bruges! It won’t harm you at all and that’s me saying it, a person who literally eats healthy and delicious meals all year round and trains twice a day on most weeks! So give up this conscience and enjoy it while it lasts because you still have the whole year ahead to train!

‘But drinking and eating junk means that you’re losing muscle’ Yeah if I had a pound for every time I heard that I’d be on the forbes list! You do not some how miraculously lose all of your muscle and look like humpty dumpty after eating and drinking for a few days! Fortunately the body doesn’t work like that and if that was the case then every time you had a cheat meal you would be going backwards and never achieve a better body. Sorry guys and girls – doesn’t happen like that. It’s all about having a balance, that 80/20 rule where 20% you can eat and drink what you want and this time of year is the best to embrace that (except for birthdays) and maybe a cheeky holiday every now and then….

Thanks to muscle being a very metabolic tissue, the more you have the more calories they need to eat and therefore your body composition even with junk foods won’t change that much! Now I’m not saying that you need not to exercise throughout this time – yeah why not you can work out too but do it because you want to not need to! Also even if you do exercise, don’t neglect the beers and foods which you have been looking forward to all year. The exercise part for me this time of year is important yes but that’s because I simply want to do it and I enjoy it to keep active but that doesn’t mean I am not going to have a beer …. or 5! Once this time of year is over then you head back to your routine and be disciplined again, at least psychologically you have fed your need and you won’t crave it through the year then.

But whatever you guys want to do this time of year, please enjoy yourselves and make the most of it as time doesn’t wait around! Whatever it is all of you are doing, enjoy it, take up any opportunity which comes your way, take all the free drinks people offer, eat as much as you can, if there’s mistletoe .. crack on !

This time of year is to enjoy everything and enjoy with everyone around you too! I also want to thank everybody who took the time out to read my blog. I am very passionate about this industry and try to share as much as I can on here without making it too boring (I hope)! I also want to thank everyone who has been on my facebook page, twitter and instagram pages and have liked and shared my comments/videos etc. It means a lot that you guys are supporting me and I do sincerely hope you can support me and one another in the following year too! This blog is for anybody and everybody from all walks of life so please feel free to join in and read a few articles if you have spare time. Also please feel free to leave any comments and suggestions and I will do my best to take every comment and suggestion on board and act on it!

Anyway enough of me now – go enjoy your new years with friends and family and hope you all had a great Christmas!

Once again …

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

😀

Myth Buster – Rest is key .. but for how long?

As humans we all need to rest! No we don’t get our power from solar energy although that does contribute but at the end of the day, we need sleep that thing we do at night where we lie there and not be active. It is amazingly boring but surprisingly good for you! Now I hate sleep, I think it’s a waste of time and if it were up to me I’d be up all night writing these strange (but hopefully informative) blogs! However, even I know that rest is key….

Rest is extremely important for muscle and tissue recovery especially after a heavy workout or if you are going through a phase of injury. Rest is very much a part of an exercise programme and for you to benefit and get the maximum gains from your goals then you need to do this resting business! Rest is also a key factor in brain activity and cognitive function and helps rejuvenate your mind and body. We need to be rested to function optimally…but for how long?

Ever heard of too much is also too bad?? Resting too much can also have reversible affects on your mind and body. If you take too much time out of exercising then your body goes through a catabolic phase where it will start breaking muscle down for energy and as muscle is a very much active tissue it needs a stimulus to keep it interested in looking good. It’s like trying to get a lady friend – you need to get out and do stuff rather than sitting at home gaming on minecraft! It’s the same with muscles, they need that excitatory stimulus which is activity to keep them going and building. Now if your rest periods are way too long then you will not be subjecting them to anything fun and they will eventually deteriorate. Not only that, your joints and tissues will suffer too as calcium will not bind as easily to bones as before causing weaker bones. Now for the most of us fitness freaks we hate rest and won’t want to do it for that long anyway but I know that lots of people get caught up in things and they rest for too long and this then eventually causes them to rest for longer and longer and then they slowly cannot be bothered to exercise. This very much implies to people who are suffering from an injury! When you succumb to an injury you have to rest but people take this ‘resting’ phase for granted and take advantage of it. Sooner than later they have rested far too long and they have in fact not improved on their injury and caused more issues! See told you this resting business is a pain!

Now remember that rest is essential but it’s about how much somebody needs. You need to be disciplined and need to listen to your body. If you’ve done a massive leg session and cannot feel your backside for 2 days after then naturally you’re not going to be doing weighted lunges and so you rest! However, you can still work on some other body part and then go back to lower body once you’ve recovered. The same applies to an injured area; yea sure at first you need to have bed rest depending on the severity but after some time if you feel that you can start moving your limbs then please do it! This doesn’t mean that you go to a cross fit session and have a work out but to do at least something at a low intensity to maintain and condition your joints and tissues. Lots of athletes over compensate meaning that they rest for the allocated time they need and then rest a bit more just to allow 100% recovery of muscles prior to their next session. This works out just fine for both your psychology and physiology as you are prepared for your work out. But don’t take advantage of this by resting far too long as this will just lead to time wastage and disorganisation of a training programme!

Rest is a vital component for all of us but we cannot take advantage of it! We need to be disciplined, need to listen to our bodies and stay organised to keep us on track. Without these co factors, our ability to calibrate rest times will be a tough challenge and this will consequently lead to diminishing health. So if you are sitting (resting) whilst reading this, I want you to think about how much rest you have actually had and think if it’s enough or too much and then .. do something about it!

Myth Buster – Crunches for core

Maybe it’s the wrong time of year to talk about this kind of stuff but I’m going to run my mouth now for a good few minutes.

Now lots of you out there must think that doing crunches all the time is the best way of improving your core. I mean obviously, if your stomach is hurting after a million crunches then naturally you must think ‘yay I’m getting those abs of steel!’

I can tell you now that if you didn’t do all those crunches everyday you can still achieve a strong core! Your core is your foundation and doesn’t matter what shape you’re pulling whether sober or not your core will be working to stabilise body movements! This just means that your core is working in a multi directional way rather than constantly in a ‘bending’ manner as you would do in a crunch situation. Always carrying out flexion based exercises such as crunches can actually cause more damage than good as you are putting a lot of stress on to your spinal ligaments and eventually they will lose their elasticity and become a lot less efficient in their work. Basically what I’m saying is that if you annoy your tissues they’re going on strike – bye bye spine!

Like I said before your core is a multi directional system and it only makes sense that if you challenge it in different ways you will benefit a lot more. By carrying out big compound moves such as squats and press ups you will be stabilising and improving core strength and endurance. You’d be surprised that how much your foundation is functioning when carrying out press ups! Not only that, but by doing compound exercises you are working many other joint systems in tandem which all relate back to core stability. Lots of fitness experts strongly believe that your core stability ranges not only from your abs but to your upper and lower extremities. These peripherally active stabilisers all help your foundation and in turn your central foundation helps peripheral stabilisers. To put all this in 1 sentence – Your joints help each other to stabilise and carry out optimum functional movement. That would have been much easier to type!

So if you guys and girls are wondering now what kind of exercises you can do for improving the core then here are some:

1.Boxing or a form of martial arts
2. Compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, chin ups, press ups,
3. Power based exercises such as clean and press, snatches, Kettle bell swings
4. Dynamic bodyweight movements such as hand walks, bear crawls, spider walks, burpees
5. Single leg exercises such as single leg deadlift, single leg shoulder press, and single leg jump squat

Now there is no excuse to try some of those exercises listed above out. Who knows you might enjoy some of these and progress on to more challenging exercises. Now don’t these exercises sound more interesting than doing lots of crunches again and again and again! Keep the workouts different and vary the exercises to keep tricking your body and you will find it a lot more beneficial.

All this talk about core and exercises is fun and interesting especially when you actually try them out but remember if you do suffer from chronic back pain with or without leg pain then you should adhere to an appropriate programme given by a trainer qualified in this area. Yeah don’t be going on and swinging kettle bells left right and centre if you do have back pain. Don’t worry you’ll get there after an appropriate programme. Like I said before having a strong core can be brought about with a variety of exercises but the most important part is to achieve this without any excess pain or discomfort!

Peanut butter – Friend or foe?

Who here loves peanut butter on toast? I do! I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who slaps peanut butter on toast and chucks it in their gob. It is amazing! But waittttttt! It’s fattening right?

There are a lot of people out there who are completely against peanut butter and thinks that eating it will turn you in to Augustus Gloop. WRONGGG!

Peanut butter is fattening correct, but consuming it in balanced quantities will improve your health in the long run. Yes you may think that eating fat turns you fat but that is a complete and utter misconception! If I told you to go munch on salmon or avocado or coconut or even beef then you will by all means go to your nearest supermarket, buy some of these and have a meal out of it. What you don’t realise is that you are consuming a lot of fat here. Quality over anything my friends out there! It is the quality of the fat that you need to think about. Peanut butter is made of peanuts ….. obviously. But peanuts contain excellent amounts of monounsaturated fats, protein, energy and iron. It also contains a few vitamins and minerals such as vitamin E, folate, magnesium and vitamin K. Yes granted it is high on calories but it is a fat and fat in the body keeps your appetite at bay a lot more than carbohydrates so therefore you will stay fuller for longer resulting in not consuming too many calories in the long run! Now let’s just track back to that fat – monounsaturated. Peanuts contain plenty of mono and polyunsaturated fats. These types are excellent for your heart and cardiovascular system. They are protective fats and reduce your chances of high cholesterol, diabetes, strokes and obesity, diseases which all stem from what you are chucking in to your body. Now these fats do miraculous things within your adipose tissues (fat cells). You would think that eating fat means storing fat but no no no, they actually encourage our enzymes to release fats from these cells to be used as energy. It’s like reverse psychology eh! These fats are then used for protection, energy usage and in general maintenance of your body and mind. See so peanut butter isn’t sounding so bad after all is it?

Another factor and advantage of peanut butter is that it isn’t that expensive to buy. I know that healthy foods are extremely expensive and personally over priced, however, a jar of peanut butter isn’t extortionate. I mean you buy a couple of pieces of salmon and you’ll be selling yourself on the street to pay for it! However, peanut butter is financially more beneficial and it comes with the same quality of fats as salmon!

Peanut butter is an excellent source of energy, you will literally run like the flash after a couple of spoons of this! Due to the release of long lasting fats, your body can metabolise this whilst preserving the protein. Peanut butter is widely used as an energy food as it is very effective! It keeps you fuller for longer, energised and you know that it will keep protein levels topped up!

So when people bad mouth this food, please before judging, just look at the content of nutrition and see what it has to bring to the table. This fat business of fat is bad for you is absolutely wrong and a massive misconception! Remember my good readers, every cell in your entire body needs fats to stay healthy! As long as you aren’t consuming a litre of peanut butter in the day then this can be very effective for your health and gym performance. A couple of tablespoons in the day with a banana or on toast will go a long way and I can vouch for that as that is something I do. In fact I have it with my boiled eggs most mornings 😀

Best of the outdoors

Working out does not have to mean you need to lift sledge hammers, weights, alligators or anything else you can find in the gym over your head. Lots of people accustom exercising with lifting large sums of weights and this can have a psychological effect on them. The term ‘exercise’ is just the ability to move your tissues through their range of motion which leads to utilising energy within the body to accelerate this movement. So whichever way you choose to workout whether it is through labouring, working in a warehouse or a gym goer you it is a form of exercising. Don’t get caught up in the old ‘you need to get yo ass to the gym to workout’. Personally, I find it boring constantly going to the gym and doing the same old stuff, you need to change it up mix and match things to get the most benefit and more importantly to enjoy what you are doing. Sometimes it’s nice to go back to the old ages where we didn’t have the internet, phones, instagram and cars, where we relied on the great outdoors to get our exercise…..

Mother nature as ruthless it can be through natural destructions, it is an amazing veneer of terrain for us to exercise on. Exercising in the natural environment is great for our minds too, colours such as greens, scenery such as hills, trees and even animals play an amazing role for our minds, not to mention another very important thing … anyone guess? It’s the gas we breath. Oxygen!! Oxygen fuels all of our cells, without it we will die, each and every cell in our body loves the molecule, it’s like chocolate cake for them! They want more and more. When we go outside and take big deep breaths we effectively engulf mass amounts of oxygen which helps to dilate our blood vessels, give us energy and improve brain activity too. All this helps improve our concentration and mood throughout the day.

There are plenty of benefits to exercising outdoors and yes you can take your functional equipment to parks or wherever you wish to go and have a workout there. You could even go for a hike or a bike ride or even spreading a mat out and doing some stretches and yoga. The idea here is that whatever type of exercise you are doing, you have a view not just looking in the mirror at yourself or the squat rack next to a boring old wall…that can get boring after sometime.

If you are one who hasn’t tried working out outside, or haven’t done it in a long time then go give it a go. Even if you want to have a bodyweight workout, go get some music, a bottle of water with maybe a piece of fruit and have fun! Be creative and don’t worry about taking up space – there’s plenty of land around so you don’t need to knock in to the screamer next to you. It’s so refreshing doing a workout outside, you don’t need to suffer at busy peak times of the gym which can lead to stifling air and a lack of equipment available.

Go nuts and be creative with what you want to do! Go for a hike and during the hike get down and bust out a set of 20 or so press ups. If you see a bar or a tree with solid branches then why not crack out a few sets of chin ups. You can even use the tree trunk for ski squats and wall walks. If you’re on the beach then why not do some running followed by a few stretches then swim, maybe if the beach had rocks you could carry out a hardcore boot camp style session – chuck rocks around the place without hitting others around you obviously. If you’re in the mountains somewhere then why not just go for a long day hike. If you want to hit the trails, then get on a mountain bike and smash some muddy routes out for the day – Believe me this is very difficult! You’ll have jelly legs after that.

There are many ways of exercising and taking advantage of the great outdoors. I’m not saying it’s a substitute to the gym but it can be a nice change to the standard few sets and reps you do. It is also beneficial for muscle growth as it adds a shock to your system and improves motor unit activation by making them work in varying ways.

So give it a go, you have nothing to lose, nature is a free landscape gym for us to use. You will only benefit from it and who knows you might start manipulating your workout schedule with more of the outdoors!

A break down of a deadlift

Most of us know that deadlifts are a good test of strength.  This exercise is very common in the gym.  The guy in the corner shouting..yeah he’s the one doing a million kg deadlift !  Nevertheless, whatever weight you lift for the deadlift, you want to carry it out with the best possible technique.  Deadlifts are a fantastic exercise for lower body strength and stability.  They work practically all lower body muscles and also improve your grip and shoulder strength.  They can be used for strength gains, power lifting, building muscle mass and even for rehabilitation exercises.

Now if we dissect the actual move and look at each component of it, then you will see that there are many muscle groups that work in synergy (together) to help lift the weight with the best possible technique.  When you improve on this, you will find that you will be lifting more and more weight, provided that you carry this move out with good technique.  This is what we will be elaborating on in this blog, the different ways of improving your deadlift.  No need to thank me people…..

1. Strength for the upper body – Although the lower body muscles are the prime muscles which are being targeted, your upper body muscles such as your lats and traps help with stability, lifting and lowering phase of the exercise.  This is why it is vital to improve your strength of these muscles.  A lot of barbell shrugs and dumbbell shrugs will help improve strength in your shoulders and even forearms.  To help improve your lats, try doing chin ups and even weighted chin ups.  A lot of pulling motions will activate the lats and improve lower body stability.

2. Grip strength – This is a must!  You will notice that your grip plays a massive part when you start lifting heavy weights.  A lot of people think that they cannot lift a heavy weight because they think they haven’t got the strength in the legs but in fact your grip may be the main contributor to your inability to lift that weight.  So make sure to improve your grip strength by carrying out lots of static barbell and dumbbell holds and farmers walks.  This way you are training your arms and hands to deal with the movement of the weights in your hand and this will encourage you to hold the weight even tighter within your palms.

3. Core strength – During the actual lifting and lowering phase of the deadlift, your core muscles are constantly engaged in an isometric manner.  Yes granted there is the element of spinal flexion and extension in which your superficial core muscles play a huge role, but throughout the move your deep core muscles must be engaged efficiently to carry out this exercise.  This is why you see lots of guys in the gym wearing a weight belt, because this helps their core stabilise so they can lift heavier.  Personally, I don’t like these belts as I rather just let my core activate without the assistance.  But to help your deeper muscles engage try different variations of exercises such as 1 arm/1 leg planks, 1 leg bridges, hand walks, back extensions and even side plank walks.  All these variations will help improve core stability.

4. Flexibility – Flexibility plays a massive part in strength.  There are many receptors within your tissues which respond to external and internal stimuli such as muscle contraction, breathing rate, heart rate etc etc.  These receptors which are involved in muscle contraction and relaxation really have a vital part in orchestrating your performance in the gym!  They are like the traffic wardens, yes everyone has to listen to them whether you like it or not.  The same with these receptors, they determine how much and how fast a muscle will contract.  In order for muscles to contract, opposing muscle groups must relax and again there are receptors for controlling relaxation too.  Therefore, if these receptors don’t allow optimal relaxation, then you will not achieve optimal contraction of the muscles being worked as they will be fighting against each other.  In order for efficient contraction of muscles, you must keep these receptors happy to allow that smooth and efficient contraction and opposing relaxation.  This is where stretching comes in handy!  Try using the foam roller, carrying out static stretches, dynamic stretches, doing some yoga, pilates and even going to a deep tissue masseuse to alleviate any stiffness and knots.  With all these different types of stretching techniques, you will improve the elasticity of muscles and therefore improve their receptor signalling which in turn will help improve strength!  I hope you understand what I’m trying to say !

5. Corrective exercises – Now this is a big one to know!  Without going in to too much detail about this topic I will just try and explain what I mean in a few sentences.  Corrective exercise is a programme to improve the human movement system so that each move you carry out is done with the least amount of stress placed on passive structures such as cartilage, bones and tissues.  Any dysfunctions within your kinetic chain will cause muscle imbalances, injuries and other problems within your body.  This in turn will hamper your progression to lift heavier on the deadlift.  Therefore, it is very important to rule out any imbalances within your tissues and correct them as soon as possible.  If you feel that your posture or techniques are not up to scratch or are suffering from continuous injuries and joint immobility then I would suggest that you speak to a health professional who has knowledge in this area.  You can also look this up on the internet and carry out a few rehab and conditioning exercises yourself too to speed up your recovery.  Now remember, these programmes can take time to eliminate your faults, but give yourself that time and patience to do it!

6. Variation of a deadlift – Don’t just stick to the standard one!  There are many other variations which will improve your overall strength for the deadlift.  Try doing roman deadlfits from the rack position – this way you are just focussing on the lower back and hip area to improve synchronisation between the 2 to help with the lifting and lowering phase of the deadlift.  On these rack deadlifts you can load up and focus on that technique!

The steps above are a guide to a breakdown of a deadlift.  Now I can go on for a long period of time talking about a million other steps but frankly that’ll bore you reading about them all!  This is why, I have just put 6 steps for you to read through which I think are some of the most important ones to practise.  Yes there are exercise plans out there specifying to improve your deadlifts and usually they will come with ‘deadlift focus’ exercises too which will again help improve your strength.  Have a good read through these 6 steps and put them to practise.  If in any of these steps you don’t quite understand what I’m getting at or can’t get an idea of the specific exercises then please look them up on the internet or better yet ask a fitness professional for exercises!  So get in that gym and practise if you want to increase your strength on a deadlift.  In 12 months I want you deadlifting the front of cars!

Berrytastic!!

If you didn’t already know what I am going to talk about, well let me tell you….Berries!!!

Berries are a fantastic source of food which can be added to a variety of dishes!  Not only do they enhance the flavour of food but pack a healthy punch of antioxidants and other nutrients.  Now in the wild you will find a variety of different berries and each one of them comes with their own amazing health benefits.  Yes granted they are all excellent sources of antioxidants which improve your immunity, circulation, brain function, lowering of LDL cholesterol and digestion but they all have their unique attributes.  So let us explore the world of berries shall we…or only a few, I am not writing about all berries !

Goji berries come with an array of antioxidants which improve your skin and internal systems but not only that they are a fantastic anti inflammatory which help reduce sore muscles.  Betaine, a nutrient within goji berries vastly improves brain function, help you sleep and even aid in the building muscle process for all you hulkamanias!

Mulberries not only contain iron to help the kidneys, liver and blood but they contain nutrients for treating fevers and heatstrokes!  Yes they are cooling foods in that respect as they cool you down, get it ?  Certain types of mulberries such as dried white ones have been used in China for a long time to improve the health and integrity of the nervous system.  Alongside this, these amazing berries contain antioxidants to treat dry conditions such as dry skin, dry strained eyes and dry mouth and throat too.  Multitasking at its best!

Cranberries are extremely good for preventing issues such as urinary tract infections.  Certain materials within cranberries will help prevent the build up of infections in the urinary tract and even prevent stomach ulcers from occurring.  These berries contain a toning and astringent effect meaning that they will alleviate sore throats, laryngitis and even digestive problems…if you know what I mean.

Blueberries contain mass amounts of antioxidants that improve your vision, alleviate urinary infections and improve your memory too.  A neurotransmitter called dopamine which your brain releases is used for memory, alertness and cognitive function increases in production when you tend to eat berries such as these.  Now this doesn’t mean that you eat a few berries and you end up like Matilda but eating a handful of these will improve your brain function.

Above are only a few types of berries which are good for you.  There are many other berries out there with added benefits to improve your everyday life.  Some berries come in different forms of the same type which again contain slight tweaks in nutrients to improve your health.  Try different sorts such as elderberries, blackcurrants, blackberries and even strawberries, they all come packed with flavour, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and the rest to make you a healthier person.

You may not know this but the leaves which originate on the berries contains amazing nutritional properties too!  This doesn’t mean you go to your nearest park and start eating leaves or if you see a random berry with a leaf, please don’t eat it!  Head to a shop where they contain the leaves for you to try.  You usually brew the leaves in hot water to let the nutrients infuse and then have it like a tea.  See a little tip for you berry enthusiasts out there..or is it just me ?

So now you know a little bit about the importance of berries but you may be wondering what foods could you add it to?  Seriously guys and girls, just add it to anything and everything.  You can put berries on your salad, in your yoghurt, even make a smoothie out of it, put it in your hot oats in the morning or even mash some up and make your own amazing jam!  Just be creative with the berries and where you are adding them in, it’s so much more fun that way!  All you are doing is amplifying flavour and nutrition in your foods by throwing in a handful of berries.

These foods are a great addition to your already healthy diet, they come with natural sugars, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients which will improve your external and internal environments.  So get going and have fun with your berries, go buy a pack of fresh or frozen ones and start chucking them around the place!  Eat well, stay fit and carry on your daily life…..with a few berries!

Rolling time!

“My legs feel stiff!  I cannot physially work out today!”3 days later….. “Still cannot move my legs!”  Does this sound like you?? If so then read on please, if you don’t experience this then read on anyway.

Overtime through repetitive movements, coupled with poor posture certain muscle groups tend to tighten whereas others lengthen.  If we take the bench press for example, if Joe Bloggs carries on doing benching and neglecting any pulling motions then he will for definite shorten his chest muscles whilst lengthening his back musculature.  So when we experience this for an extended period of time, there will be dysfunctions within your body, which leads to inflammation (your body’s repair system, as weird as it sounds) and this then leads to muscle trauma causing spasms.  Now I am not talking about spasms like you have one leg jiggling around, I am talking about spasms occuring at a cellular level which we call microspasms.  Not going in to too much science but we have certain receptors in our body which control this behaviour.  A spasm is just a constant contraction of a muscle group so when these receptors keep firing off, it’s not letting the muscle relax and take a chill pill.  This in turn keeps opposite muscle groups relaxed which you might think is a good thing – well yes it is but when they are subjected to that much relaxation then they tend to weaken and won’t do their job properly.  It’s like you go on a beach holiday for 6 – 8 months getting fed calamari and ice cream day in and day out.  Yes definitely at the start it’ll be awesome but after time you’ll look like a big fat lump, not being able to move and next thing you find is that people are rolling you on to the plane!  So anyway that is basically what happens, certain muscles are constantly contracting due to receptors whilst others are relaxing!

Now all this leads to the next issue which is muscle adhesions!  Adhesions are when muscles lose their elasticity.  When you keep a certain muscle contracted for a considerable amount of time then it will obviously not return to its normal length.  This is why we need to stretch after a prolonged time doing 1 activity.  See it’s all making sense now right?  So when muscles lose their elasticity, they cannot operate properly and this in turn causes inefficient movement patterns which then leads to injuries.  So you can see it’s just a vicious cycle of short muscles leading to injuries.  But do not stress as there is an answer!

We have established that when a muscle shortens it gets stiff and limits movement, so the best thing to do is lengthen that muscle and a good way of doing that is by investing in a foam roller!  If you guys have never heard of one, foam rollers are basically rollers made out of foam 😀  That is literally what it is and it is a great tool to use to release any muscle tension and adhesions.  Now the great thing with the roller is that it is a portable piece of kit which you can take with you to work, holiday or keep at home.  The main objective of these is literally to iron out any lumps in your muscle fibres causing that tightness.  The duration, intensity and surface area of rolling depends on you.  What you need to remember is the longer you roll over a tight muscle the more you will loosen those fibres or on the other hand the more pressure you apple (intensity) for a less amount of time will also redue the tightness.  Now you can buy all sorts of rollers, they come in different shapes and forms, hey you can buy a golf and tennis ball and use them as rollers for small areas such as shoulders or neck.  Which brings me on to surface area – The bigger the muscle which needs to be lengthened the larger the surface area needs to be.  You don’t want to use a golf ball on your legs because it’ll take about a year to roll and iron out the fibres!

So they are the advantages of using this piece of kit.  Just remember; surface area, duration and intensity and you’ll be on your route to a more supple and injury free body system.  There are a gazillion different exercises which you guys can try.  All you need to do is look them up or buy a book with rolling exercises and you’ll find in no time you’ll be pulling all sorts of shapes on that roller!  Yes you may look a bit silly trying to roll over your adductors but end of the day it’s preventing you from creating any more unnecessary micro tears and potential injuries which leads to lack of neuromuscular coordination and muscle imbalance.

Is this the only type of stretching?  No not at all, there are partner assisted stretches, PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitate), passive etc etc and they all have their advantages.  But for something that could potentially emulate a deep tissue massage I think that this type of stretching is very beneficial.  So give it a go and see how it works for you.  Don’t think it’s a magic pill where you casually do 1 rolling session and you’ll be free as a bird, no no you need to have a few sessions on it to see the benefits.  So in the words of Limp Bizkit – Keep on Rollin !