The most productive 40 minutes of your day

What is the best form of exercise.

It worries me how much time people waste in the gym doing the 1 hour cardio slog, then 40 minutes weight sessions , 10 minute warm up 10 minute cool down , stretch. This means an unsociable amount of hours in the gym and for what?

There is simply no need .

If you want to lose weight and look good there is no quick fix I’m afraid but you don’t need to move your bedroom into the gym just yet.

Exercise Intensity

What exercise do you do?

If you go for a long run, say 5km plus, you are working moderately hard – open mouthed breathing heart rate fairly high, you keep going for a good half hour. This is considered aerobic – you are able intake enough oxygen to deliver to your muscles and sustain longer periods of exercise.

Anaerobic exercises is high intensity. Consider sprinting. You can only go a short distance full pelt before you stop – breathless, burning and sweating. This is anaerobic. Your body can only take in enough oxygen to sustain activity for very short periods of 30 secs to just over a minute. The oxygen deficit results in lactic acid production which is that burn you feel in your muscles and you have to stop.

Circuit Training

Increases fitness

Now let’s look at Circuit training… which I think is the dogs bollocks.

This combines both aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

Your heart rate goes up and down a lot like interval training. This improves your body’s ability to recovery from more intensive exercise, which means your fitness increases and you are able to do more and go for longer.

At your first session you may struggle to do one or two burpees. After a few classes you will see vast improvements in the number and how your body reacts – breathing will become easier and you will be able to handle the lactic acid burn. As you get fitter the volume of oxygen your body can take in and utilise (VO2 Max) is increased allowing you to go for longer without having to stop.

 

Builds lean muscle -  increased basal metabolic rate

You also build lean muscle through the incorporation of strength resistance training– a combination of stations with functional exercises to hit every muscle group of the body. Even the ‘connecting muscles’ – so fuck off Tracey Anderson. The muscle fibres built through circuits are mostly fast twitch muscle fibres (the ones that allow you to go for a short time but fast and full on). These are more dense than your slow twitch muscle fibres – the ones that marathon runners have so they go for hour and hours. This means they raise your resting metabolic rate so you burn more calories at rest. In translation, you burn more while you are not doing exercise.

Improves muscle balance

Because the exercises are functional – rather than isolated movements like when you are sat like a twat on the adductor machine – these incorporate each tiny muscle in your body otherwise overlooked, and are excellent for improving core strength – something that no number of pathetic crunches will do.

So not only is fitness increased but you also strengthen and tone your body.

This is why circuits are popular for different athletes because they make you use other muscles and energy systems you might not normally use. A marathon runner will not normally sprint or work against resistance and their form may be shit. A lot of runners develop a hyperkyphotic posture which is when your back hunches over. This can lead to all sorts of injuries in the long run. By conditioning their muscles through circuit training they improve their muscle balance and strength which can in turn improve their performance.

Burns a shit load of calories

So  why is this more effective for stripping body fat?

People looking to sustain or build muscle often stay clear of circuits or any cardio for that matter but this should not be the case. They worry CV will eat into their lean muscle. Not so, the release of HGH (Human Growth Hormone) from intensive circuit training allows fat loss with minimul muscle atrophy.

This is a potent fat burner.

When you work out to the point your muscles burn (due to lactic acid build up), your body secretes HGH. This promotes the use of fat as a fuel and spares you eating into your lean muscle.In short this keeps your body fat down and muscle mass high. This is why a lot of body builders work to the point they get DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness). This means the muscle has been sufficiently worked to the point it needs to be repaired – bigger and stronger than before.

Eat the right food

So what about the diet?

You just need to ensure you take in an adequate amount of protein to sustain the muscle.

This does not mean eating mountains of steak. You need roughly 1g of protein per day for every 1kg of lean muscle.

Most fitness professionals will recommend a low carb diet with lean protein to sustain muscle and fruit and veg for essential vitamins and minerals to keep your body healthy.

You do need carbohydrates as these give you energy. But remember fruit and vegetables contain carbs too. A lot of people ask if it’s better to train on an empty stomach ie. first thing in a morning as they will be eating straight in to fat reserves. Carbohydrates (glycogen) are stored in the muscle and liver as energy for 12-16 hours this means you will still be burning these stores if you exercise within that time frame, but there will be less available if you haven’t eaten another meal on top.

It’s when these are not used up that your body ends up storing them as fat. For weight loss you need to expend more calories than you take in so think about what you are eating and increase your training. Exercise alone is not enough , you need the correct diet to ensure maximum repair and recovery for your body and an adequate calorie deficit to ensure fat loss.

But aren’t I better off training in the lower intensity ‘fat burning zone’?

The fat burning zone can suck it quite frankly.

If you go for your lower intensity brisk walk on the treadmill you may burn 200 calories in 40 minutes.

You then check your heartrate monitor and it will say 50% calories from fat – meaning you have burned 100 calories directly by using fat as a fuel. However 1lb of fat roughly equates to 3500 calories. Ah.

That’s about 12 hours of brisk walking.

Compare this to higher intensity circuits. In one session let’s say 40 minutes you can manage to burn 500 calories. But the watch says 40% calories using fat as a fuel. Don’t be confused. You are using the fuel from stored carbs which would end up being stored as fat anyway. And in total have burned a shit load more calories overall.

Plus your metabolism burns at a higher rate for hours after training which means even more calories expended.

Plus you have built lean muscle which as discussed earlier allows you to burn more calories at rest.

How long will this take?

A circuit session usually lasts around 40 minutes to one hour, until your body has used up it’s energy stores.

This is great because you get your cardio workout and resistance training combined in one training session.

But going through the moves will not ensure results. You need to push yourself to the absolute limits – the harder the better – to get great results.

A circuit should never feel easy or comfortable. If it is you are not working hard enough. Always look to push it a step further – go faster, go harder, pick up a weight, jump a bit higher.

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it - plato

There is nothing quite like the high you feel when you are done. Sweaty, knackered and like you have accomplished something great. This is what exercise is all about.

 For elite level circuit training visit the professionals www.circuitfactory.ae

Botox Barbie

A few weeks ago I had hit a bit of a plateau and was looking for something to inspire motivation. A few of the ladies at my local gym were talking about the latest craze to hit the market…the Tracey Anderson Method. I nodded my head so as not to lose face with the gym-mother’s clique (walking on the treadmill in full make up with bottle of Evian in hand - you know the ones). Turns out there is this A-List trainer in Hollywood who has transformed the figures of many a woman. Apparently she is to thank for the red carpet bodies of Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston.

I’m not saying I believed this but I had to see for myself. So I hot-footed it to Dubai Mall and picked up a copy…The Tracey Anderson 30 Day Method…complete with DVD.

I read the book cover to cover. Tracey – the smug blonde with a botox fetish and– had been a dancer and a rather heavy one. She had grape-vined into the fitness industry and spent 10 years documenting hundreds of clients stopping and starting various training techniques until like the Frankenstein of Fitness she had created the one that she believes to work. I must admit the words ‘yeah right’ rang in my ears.

Anyway, the Tracey theory:

Empowering the small muscle groups and helping you achieve long lean muscle to leave you looking sexy and feminine.

My initial queries:

Are your small muscles feeling left out? By small muscles she must mean assisting muscles – those that would be triggered in any functional or core exercise.

Develop long lean muscle – suggesting your limps may get longer?  Most muscle attaches to the proximal and distal points of the bone so how on earth could they get longer.

I am assuming by this comment she is encouraging the false connotation that women who do strength/weight training will end up with big bulky muscles. Thank you Tracy for encouraging the common misunderstanding that has been plaguing the exercise industry for years. So back to the TA method.

There are 3 elements: The exercises to be completed daily. The cardio – 2 x 10minute options to be repeated for up to 60 minutes daily. The Diet.

Dubious

I glanced at the diet which has 2 phases. Weeks 1-3 then the final phase or as I like to call it the anorexic mouse phase.

The first 3 weeks of the method are sensible (ish) eating plans – very low in carbs, lean protein and very small portions. This alone will promote weight loss as it is a drastic reduction in calories. The food however is specific and if you are no Nigella in the kitchen or you actually work for a living and haven’t got time to grow, hand catch, prepare and cook your lime wedge and coriander tuna salad then you’re fucked from day 1.

Week 4. This is almost a full liquid diet of broths and ‘shots’ Not tequila, don’t get excited! Of course you are going to lose weight drinking vegetable juice – because there is nothing to it. As well as completely depleted energy levels and keeping you glued to the toilet, you will lose lean muscle and water as your body desperately clings on to it’s fat reserves as it enters survival mode thinking you are starving yourself! Not clever!

Still not convinced

Anyway I put my reservations aside and embarked on the ‘exercises’.

These are to be completed daily – without fail – and progressed week by week to day 30.

I inserted the DVD and was met by the Plastic Anderson – she does not crack a single smile throughout the entire workout. Caution, her infuriating smugness escalates throughout the DVD: please refrain from punching your television set during the workout.

TA goes through the movements for around 10 lower body, 10 upper body and 10 ab exercise. I cleared a space in my living room and lay on all fours trying hard to copy the routine, but it felt more like re-enacting a game of twister. Right hand blue, left leg green as I thrust it behind, up and away from my body – very close to doing the splits.

The exercises I would consider as ‘toning’ – rather like stuff you would do in yoga / pilates / legs bums and tums. They do ‘tone’ but I wouldn’t call them ‘innovative’ as TA claims.

The problem with these exercises is that they are ridiculously laborious. And with nothing to look at but Tracey botox brow it’s far from an enjoyable experience!  I had the book open…I had the DVD playing and I’m sure I still wasn’t quite getting it right.

30 days of this which took me a good 45 minutes and I’m still not convinced it is better than a run or a weights session.

You are taking the Piss!

And last but not least comes the cardio option.

I decided I would go for 40 minutes which consisted of playing all two of the 10 minute routines and repeating them. Not exactly spoilt for choice here.

Now there is a reason Mr Motivator got his name…aerobics instructors are meant to get inside your head and push you to get a really beneficial cardio workout…sadly with Prozac Barbie over here that is not the case. 10 minutes of nothing more than –make it up as you go along- dancing – can’t even call it a routine as there is no clear pattern to follow and for those of us blessed with the grace of an elephant, co-ordination is a challenge. It’s more an opportunity for TA to show off her dancing skills and sponsored workout outfits.

As for my attempt - I was half expecting Jeremy Beadle to pop up from the grave with his candid camera – I felt like a leprechaun doing a bad rendition of river dance. And was I getting a good workout? More like a work-under. Heart rate around 110 bpm so no, not really. Nothing a good shopping spree around Mall of Emirates wouldn’t beat.

The ‘routine’ involved way too much jumping and twisting and after 4 days I was left with agonizing knee pain. I consider myself a fit individual and my knees have never bothered me before so I was not best pleased about this and left to think about poor other individuals no doubt going through the same ordeal. The lady from the gym only lasted 1 week and had the same problem.

Tracey is adamant that no other training is to interfere with her ‘work’….so no gym, visits no brisk walking no nothing. This requires a certain amount of trust…you have to have 100% confidence in this woman and that your soon to be celeb-worthy body is safe in her capable hands. As I stare into her emotionless, paralysed eyes I can’t quite commit myself but there are people out there hundreds and thousands apparently who will readily believe that in 30 days they will be rivalling the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Complete Bollocks!

But what do I read when I open the book for the first time.

Funnily enough who is Tracey Anderson’s business partner? None other than the Paltrow herself. She even writes a foreword at the start of the book the cheeky mare. Bet she’s rolling in the takings.

For only 70 usd you can buy a 14 day supply of Tracy’s perfect performance wellness formula. …designed to effectively execute your muscular structure workouts.

In English please. Personally I can’t sleep at night because I am so concerned about my performance wellness…and what the heck is a muscular structure workout?

To summarize, this is nothing but a clever PR and marketing strategy.

At the end of the day, if you stick to this plan for 30 days you will of course lose some weight and be able to see a bit of definition, but what happens next? Do you continue to sustain the brain-dulling routines and the celery stick diet? My pet hamster eats more than you’re advised in week 4.

Nothing beats lean, clean and basic. Same goes for exercise – anything that gets your heart rate higher than 160 bpm is high intensity – train in this zone 5 times per week – alternate your exercises, train your muscles – enjoy your exercise and mix it up so you don’t get bored.

Be a little bit wiser and save yourselves the 200 dirhams.

I'VE JOINED A GYM...

Gym Membership

So you’ve finally joined the gym in search of a fitter, healthier lifestyle…that’s the first step. But what comes next? Holding a membership card to Fitness Forever doesn’t make you fit or mean you have accomplished anything other than receiving 20% off at burger king.

A gym is the background environment for your goals to be achieved. You need to know how to use it, how to push yourself to get where you want to be.

Too many gyms are focussed on membership sales (fair enough), getting your money then leaving you to it with some unenthusiastic gym instructor at your first and possibly last gym visit.

The Gym Induction

I remember my first gym experience at the tender age of 16. I got off at the bus stop (A mission in itself - I had avoided being knifed on the way in through central Bradford), new trainers, gym bag, towel and plastic water bottle in tow!

I was met by John at the gym desk…he had been lent on what I later found out was the ‘Adductor’ machine chatting to a female in a tight Adidas top. Why is it that women are obsessed with the Adductor Machine? It will not get rid of your fat thighs – It works your inner thigh muscles – you’re adductors, but squeezing your legs together will not get rid of the inches of fat…it may however have some benefits towards birth control.

I waited nervously until he approached me, clipboard in hand – I love how you give any fucker a clipboard and pen and suddenly they have an air of authority.

So my induction consisted of the following:

10 minutes on treadmill

Leg press 3 x 15

Adductor (YES!!!) 3 x 15

Chest Press 3 x 15

Shoulder Press 3 x 15

10 minutes x-trainer

Stretch

This was jotted down on a card which was placed in John’s drawer behind the gym desk for me to get out at each visit and tick off my attendance. I remember thinking that they must check these to make sure you come…yeah right.

John robotically said I was to book my next programme assessment in 6 weeks time…and off he disappeared into a back room…probably to wank over the Adductor Machine lady. I don’t think I ever retrieved my card again and certainly didn’t stick to my ‘3 times per week’.

Results

This is why so few gym joiners make the conversion to gym users. They get into it for a couple of weeks…they lose a couple of lbs then for some reason they don’t go back and wind up spending the rest of the year paying out their direct debit for something they don’t use.

Simply signing up for gym membership and going 3 times a week to sit in the steam room for an hour will not work. You need to be motivated, and monitored to make sure you are training properly. You need to be pushed constantly and vary your exercises so you continuously make progress and avoid plateau. Following John’s induction programme may challenge a new gym user for the first week but after then it’s nothing. Your body has adapted you don’t get the sore reminder in your muscles the morning after and you don’t burn as many calories next time, all because your body is used to it.

Motivation

It can be hard to motivate yourself in the gym – unless you fork out for a personal trainer only some of which are decent. Some people prefer exercise classes. You are surrounded by other people and being constantly pushed by an instructor. Possibly the most popular and highly regarded of exercise classes is the spin class. I am a spin instructor and unfortunately only around 40% of participants put the effort in to get some sort of result from the class. This is frustrating. There is only so much an instructor can do – screaming at the top of your lungs whilst demonstrating good form can only do so much…getting off your bike and turning up someone’s resistance can be embarrassing for them…god forbid a member complain about you to the management.

So how can you get the most our of a spin class?

Correct Technique

Firstly your bike set up should be correct – arrive early and ask the instructor. If they don’t know then here’s your cue to leave. Secondly you need to maintain resistance. All too often people freewheel their way around a spin class.

I had a lady that did this she would sit there proud as punch while her legs were moving at dangerously fast speed yet she didn’t drop a bead of sweat – to her this was proof of her elite fitness. No matter how many times I urged her politely to increase the load she would look behind her thinking I was speaking to someone else. How blunt can you be before you insult someone. At this time I was fairly new to instructing – now I am a lot more direct. It all went wrong for this lady the day she freewheeled in her ankle skimming jogging bottoms, which became stuck in her bike, ripping her trousers down and tying her feet to the pedals – it took the general manager 20 minutes to cut her free and she was left bearing her M&S knickers to the entire gym…so be warned!

You need to keep tension on at all times, stay in control of your legs, tighten your abs to support your back and upper body - and if the work feels ‘too comfortable’ at any point, you are doing it wrong.

Results come from hard work and hard work isn’t easy!

One thing I ask (shout) during my classes is the check-list:

Sweating?

Burning?

Breathless?

If you are dripping with sweat gasping for air and your quads are on fire then you are putting effort in and doing something right. If your heartrate is over 160bpm (depending on your age this might kill you if you are 82) you are working high intensity.

Beating the Plateau

Once you have mastered the correct way to ‘spin’ and endured a fair few classes you will notice improved tone and strength in your legs, perhaps some tone in your arms, your fitness levels improving and a few kgs shed…give it a couple of weeks and you reach a stalemate.  The scales stay fixed, there is still noticeable muffin top and no visible 6 pack - yet you still feel like you are working hard.

This is plateau – your body becomes accustomed to what you are putting it through. This is why it is important to vary your exercises. You can’t just spin every other day and hope for the best – try a variety…even ‘Bodyshake’, ‘Vibradance’, ‘Kalumbarumba’ or some novelty GX class if they float your boat, anything that gets you moving and pushes you out of your comfort zone!

Monitoring

A good way to monitor your progress and push yourself is by investing in a heart rate monitor and checking your maximum and average heart rate during a workout. No I am not a part time sales rep for Polar or Garmin!

The advantages of a heartrate monitor and sports watch are that you can check your heartrate output during exercise. You need to consider your maximum and average heart rate. Review the results recorded on the watch after completing a workout – if your maximum heart rate is 190 bpm then that is quite high – good for you – but if you held it there for 2 seconds and it remains at 120 the rest of the time you haven’t really done much there have you. Whereas if your average is around 150bpm you have had a pretty intense workout.

Just try not to get obsessed with calorie counting. I used to train a member – he would start his watch the moment he stepped foot on the gym floor – we would spend the first 20 minutes chatting about his cat or who died on Coronation Street – then he’d chime – “ooh I’ve already burned 100 calories stood here talking to you!” …Not quite how it works!

Summary

So…well done if you have joined a gym…now use it wisely and properly. Fannying about on the X-trainer for 20 mins every day does not constitute productive exercise.

Remember your motivation – what are you goals, and who will inspire you – whether it be a gym instructor writing programmes for you every other week – a personal trainer to crack the whip at regular sessions – the over zealous lycra clad GX instructor barking instructions down the microphone - maybe it’s going to the gym with your mate who will add an extra 10kg as you bench press! Put the effort in – you know the signs if you are working hard – a high intensity average heart rate, standing in a puddle of sweat looking like you’ve pissed yourself and having soreness in your muscle the next day! Remember to mix it up – variety is key – work different muscles, anything that gets your heart rate up whether it be dance, kick-boxing, swimming, aerobics, weight training. Combine these and you will maintain a successful workout programme. 

FAT AND UNFIT... HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

The Situation

Today’s society has become obsessed with appearance. Everyone wants to be thinner, fitter, sexier, more muscular. The media has recognised this and sets the unachievable levels of perfection. Modern day role models are 6 ft supermodels and men’s health buff bronze hunks. People thrive on hoping that becoming something perfect will bring them success and happiness. That is why despite how well-educated a person is they seem to throw all commonsense out of the window when the next fad diet appears. Could the apple cider vinegar fat flush really make you look like Kim Kardashian!? If it worked for her could it work for me?! No fucking way 16 stone Sue Perkins from Hull. 

Two tablespoons of vinegar wont save you especially not if it’s going on your fish and chips. Change your way of thinking and anything is achievable.

Healthy Eating

Consider your diet. We know what we need to eat we had it drilled into us at school - Lean protein, wholegrain carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables. Think of the food pyramid at school – it’s all about portion control. Then why is it difficult? One word…Sugar – it’s in our cornflakes it’s in our starbucks – it tastes nice and once you’ve had a bit you want more…hmmm sounds like an addiction to me! If it’s not then why can’t people just stop! Don’t be weak -Go without for two weeks and you will no longer regard a balanced meal as plain and boring you won’t reach for the ketchup, you won’t go to bed thinking about chocolate hobnobs. A healthy relationship with food will return and you will feel in control. Fad diets simply don’t work because it is impossible to maintain microbiotic menu or 3 carrot sticks a day.

Exercise

So you’ve managed to cut the crap. Now get off your arse – no excuses. Too many people say they don’t have time to work. Funnily enough there is still time to watch your favourite soap on TV or fanny about on facebook for hours on end. Stop viewing exercise as a chore – it should be a fundamental part of your daily regime. If you want to change the shape of your body – and don’t even think the word liposuction – exercise is essential. Anything that raises your heartrate and gets you sweaty counts so find something motiviating and fun- Rambling, playing football or morris dancing whatever floats your boat! There are so many options out there so many different activities to try. Not only does exercising have countless health benefits but it can improve your social life, which leads me to my next point,

Environment

Do you have any friends who exercise, someone you could buddy up with at the gym or are they the type of person who sit in the pub content with a packet of pork scratchings and a pint of bitter? Then no fucking wonder you’re sad and overweight! It’s too easy to fall into old habits if you associate with others that are still in that mindset. Perhaps your friends give you a hard time if you challenge what they deem as acceptable behaviour? Then why are you friends with them? I think that people become so attuned to what’s familiar that they are afraid to venture outside familiar surroundings. It’s human nature to poke fun at something that they don’t understand or makes them feel threatened. If you turned up to the pub with your new hot bod would your friends be proud of you and rejoice in your success or would they be envious and jealous putting you down to validate their own sad lives being too weak to do something about it themselves?

Find supportive friends, try new things and meet new people with similar goals:

To Conclude…

These are simple steps towards leading a happy healthy life. Take a look at your life and ask yourself what your goals are what you want to achieve – weight loss, improved muscle tone, improved fitness – if you are serious about reaching these goals– then consider what is stopping you or what has stopped you in the past and deal with it. Don’t kid yourself trying quick fix fads – they don’t work. If you need some help speak to a professional – a good personal trainer, a doctor, a nutritionist -  not your mates down at weightwatchers! Stop being a lazy shit. Stop finding excuses. Cut the crap, combat your cravings - gain control and associate with positive, likeminded people.

INJURY TABOO

The Persevering Gym-goer

When you are injury free you can wakeup on a morning and think – yes I might just go for that 15k run before lunch I’ve never even heard of shin splints…or I’m going to do some really heavy squatting at the gym my back is stronger than a steel ox. It’s like when you’re a kid and you can eat ten poptarts with no detrimental waistband consequences. Then one day injury occurs and your world can fall apart. We might have felt a niggle or a twinge and trained through it…sound familiar? How easy is it to get half way into your training session and think – actually I have a strange sensation in my left calf better stop before I hurt myself. It’s like telling a fat kid in a sweet shop to have a cabbage instead. Not gonna happen. Once we’ve started we literally can’t stop ourselves. Avid gym-goers share this poor lack of judgement which in the long run could save them weeks of ‘recovery time’ and hundreds of pounds on physiotherapy bills.

Poor Decisions

I was once an injury virgin. Then one day I fucked everything up. I went to one of those sports shops and allowed myself to be coaxed into buying an expensive pair of trainers. I was accosted by ‘Kev’ – a young greasy shop assistant whofor some reason had been overlooked by McDonalds and snapped up by the sports footwear establishment. Anyway he filmed me running on a treadmill –perve – and pointed out my ‘knock knees’.

I lapped it up thinking this is brilliant I will be the next Paula Radcliffe (without the stopping for a piss) in these bad boys. That very evening I went training feeling shit hot in my new footwear. I remember it was fartlek and at the end of my 3^rd or 4^th lamppost sprint my shins were ridiculously tight as if they had expanded to twice the size.

Did I stop – did I fuck. I didn’t give it another thought.

My First Injury

The next day I went on my morning 5k run. 2 minutes in and I had to stop my shin bones felt like they were about to snap in half and the muscles down my shin were burning, so tight that my feet could barely move up and down… I was running like a retarded duck. Now you know the feeling when you get dumped. We’ve all been dumped even if we were 10 and it was that ginger kid who decided he liked marbles more than you.

Anyway it’s fucking awful your heart sinks your chest tightens you can’t breath – well that pain but 10 times worse is how I felt. I laugh now but seriously – The Jeremy Kyle Show flashed before my eyes. Gone were my fitness dreams of entering marathons and iron man competitions – now I was destined to forever sit on the sofa nursing my spastic legs eating KFC with 10 kids on the dole and probably married to trainer shop Kev.

Dramatic yes- but that is how ridiculously devastated I was and any fitness fanatic will empathise.

Physio’s Dream:

Over the few years I saw a number of physiotherapists…Some were shit…some were good ….but  I ended up with a list as long as my arm of imbalances and issues and overcompensations that were contributing to my fucked up running. During this time I had to adapt to training in the gym – no more running. I completed my REPS qualifications and diploma in sports massage therapy. I began to understand my body – the muscles and the balance between exercise and overtraining. I found a physiotherapist I liked who talked sense and gave a damn good rub down. Overtime I went out running again. If something hurt I stopped…or slowed down. If my legs tightened I had a couple of days off.

Injury Prevention

Nothing beats a bit of common sense–if you buy new trainers fucking wear them in first and don’t go sprinting your arse off. At the end of the day it’s your body and you need to look after it. If you are going to put it through gruelling workouts and high impact activities I 100% recommend Sports Massage once a week if you can. It will allow you to monitor your body and help prevent injury as well as enhancing your performance. Don’t be a cocky shit we all break from time to time so it’s good to be prepared just in case.