On yer bike!
A number of us here at Best Practice are going in the Brissie to Bay ride on June 24. Enter here. It would be great to have you join us and give you a little training focus going in to Winter.
I would also like to invite who ever is keen to join me personally along with another mate of mine on a kickbike (see below). I have 6 bikes available and this invite is open to any client or member of Best Practice. I will be doing a few training runs over the coming weeks. So let me know if you would like to do this. You WILL be part of the IN crowd on a kickbike no doubt! Looks like fun doesn’t it?
Old age and limiting factors
An interesting read from yours truly 
Exercise as medicine
Personal training has come a long way but perhaps still has a ways to go before ‘practitioners’ are held in the same regard as doctors. More and more research is showing that exercise plays such a vital role in health that the day where it is ‘prescribed’ just like a pill to treat an array of ailments is not far away. If this surprises anyone I can only say, DERRRRRR! Some of us trainer types with more muscles than brains have known this one for years from just ‘doing it’.
Check out this study done by the prestigous Texas University on the effects of exercise in the treatment of depression. It’s an interesting read.
Have a go ya mug!
There is something quintessentially Australian about that quaint little saying. I was reminded of it on the weekend when I participated in the 
annual corporate triathlon event down on the Gold Coast. It was a beautiful morning and I couldn’t help think how very cool it was to see so many people of all shapes and sizes putting in their all in the name of just ‘having a go’. This was no bunch of elite athletes – us included!
Why does one get up at 4.30 in the morning and drive for 1 hour, only to then dive in to some murky water, flay your arms till your lungs hurt and then jump on a bike for some leg pumping fury and finish it off with a run/jog/lurch that heaves your chest that little bit closer to collapse? I believe it is the spirit that we all possess but only few tap in to. Sometimes when I write these blogs I wonder if my words change anything or anyone. If one person reads this and get’s sparked in to action and doing something then it has been worth it. People who push themselves live fuller lives with out a doubt because who knows how far you can go with anything unless you challenge yourself to go further than what is comfortable and experience what is beyond that?
In that same vein, I ask you to join me and who ever this touches, to go in to the next event I set as a target this year for the Best Practice family and that is the Brissie to Bay bike ride on June 24. I will be kickbiking but most I expect will ride a bike but look out for some bonus sessions training with me in the lead up (there are about 7 weeks to go for that event so it is NOT too late).
Winter is fast approaching and looking for something that can keep you motivated to keep those wheels moving in the dark lonely months ahead (okay not so dark and lonely here in QLD but…) is still a good idea. Use any trick you can and reach deep inside and let that encouraging Aussie chant of “HAVE A GO YA MUG!” light a fire in your belly! I hate to say it, but it would be un Australian not to!!
Is it a coincidence?
You have probably heard the saying that a mechanics car is the first one to break down. The thought is that they are good at fixing other peoples cars but run out of energy for their own.
I have to say that I usually have the energy to train myself but over the years I have suffered from recurring back issues and at times could be just like the aforementioned mechanic. This is probably a function of years of one sided sport and the imbalances encouraged by such pursuit and when combined with a refusal to accept any degradation in previously achieved functional ability, you get …… inappropriate loading and intensity leading to repetitive injury and backward steps. Needless to say a very frustrating journey! Perhaps some of you can relate?
Well I am not sure if it is a coincidence or not and I certainly don’t want to jinx myself, but with my recent change in approach to my own personal training routine involving a greater emphasis on progressive strength training and in particular strength of legs and lower back, my back feels stronger than it has for a long time. See a previous entry on the deadlift and you will see the type of exercises I am talking about.
I was brought up on a sometimes punishing cardio training schedule with what was, in retrospect a misguided training routine in my youth. Tennis was ill defined as an aerobic sport at the time and after closer scientific scrutiny revealed the greater importance of anaerobic training [read strength, short burst cardio efforts, high energy power repetitions and agility performance], the folly of what I had been doing became obvious. But, old habits die hard. I never really felt like I was training hard enough unless it involved serious lactic acid and feelings of nausea after a 10k run. I now train more for strength and the changes it is making in my functional ability is significant. I do still put in the tough cardio but even that is feeling more tolerable.
Look at how you are training and know that if you aren’t both, moving towards heavier weights and improving your technique in the tried and true movements of the dumb bells and barbells, you are probably losing muscle. Also note whilst there is always a place for exercises that build the core like Pilates and Yoga [and the different forms of cardio] your program is not complete unless you are pumping some iron designed to be progressive and build muscle.
Omega 3 is ABSOLUTELY critical to your health & performance…….
The omega-3 discovery
The omega-3 essential fats help building muscle, reduce inflammation, improve insulin metabolism, promote brain health and protect against cardiovascular disease. They are becoming the health miracle of the 21st Century.
However, the omega-3 phenomenon all started over 30 years ago with a few young Danes dog-sledding their way to Greenland to check out some Eskimos.
Danish scientist Dr. Jörn Dyerberg, then, a young researcher, set off with a couple of colleagues via dog sled over the ice and snow to check out the lifestyle of the Greenland Eskimos, or Inuit as they prefer to be called. This was back in 1970 and Dr. Dyerberg was curious how the Inuit’s could eat an extremely high-fat diet and still have one of the lowest death rates from cardiovascular disease on the planet.
The scientists analyzed blood samples from the natives and identified high levels of two long-chain fatty acids, now called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The researchers published this landmark paper in The Lancet in 1971 and the omega-3 phenomenon began.
Now, some 14,000 papers on the omega-3s have been published, including close to 8,000 human studies.
Dr Paul Cribb, Metabolic Precision. www.mp-body.com
If you want to really understand this fully and believe me when you do, your motivation for eating better will be increased dramatically. Then read this ! I+I+Special+report+1
Inspirational story. 54 year old woman achieves some great things
Check this one out from the files of metabolic precision success stories.
The deadlift and rehab?
I really loved this post I found regarding the importance of the deadlift and rehabilitation of a back injury. It touches at the very heart of how I am shaping what we do here at Best Practice. Most of you know I have been studying Metabolic Precision which is a process and structure for transforming bodies and living an extremely healthy existence. It encompasses a very strategic way to eat combined with a scientifically prescribed training program to get the utmost return for effort put in, which is absoultely fantastic. But what about the person who has an old injury to deal with? How do you get to the big exercises that stimulate the most growth? Important moves like the squat, deadlift, a rowing action and or a bench press. when there may be compromised movement patterns in place?
It will always be about firstly identifying issues, getting appropriate musculo skeletal treatment when necessary and then not being afraid to push for real and continual progression to improve integrity so more challenges can be met, for both daily living and other goals such as muscle growth or at least maintenance – remember that most of us lose muscle as we age which seems to be strongly associated with everything we label ‘as getting old’. Way to avoid? Lift progressively heavier weights and vary the movements as the body adapts.
Read this post because it is intelligent and makes sense.
p.s you can probably pass on the videos unless you are as geeky and as interested as I am in the technical explanation around the biomechanics of this move!
Muscle matters….big time!
Forget this, “I don’t want to bulk up” line. If you are the average person, unless you actually strive to get stronger you won’t not only not stay the same you WILL get weaker because of the old “If you don’t use it you lose it” principle. You see as we get older we seem to get more efficient at conserving energy with our movement, which physiologically means we recruit less muscle fibre, which in turn leads to muscle wastage, which is unfortunately pretty much a certainty of aging.
What you may be able to control with a concerted effort however, is to reduce the amount and speed of that loss and with a science based strength program you may in fact be able to still build muscle in to your 90′s. Now, how much quality of life do you think you will have if your muscles can still help you move the way you want to do the things you want to do in your life as you get older? More than the person who doesn’t address this issue and ends up not being able to get out of that chair I can tell you!
If you are a client of best practice expect to pick up a scientific review of why muscle matters so much from the studio or gym this coming week. It will give you all the evidence you need to start knowing why you absolutely have to starting lifting weights and I am not talking little ones! The intensity of training is another variable that is non negotiable in the goal of building muscle and preserving functional ability. But there is a warning: Don’t take this on with out expert advice because it is easy to do this the wrong way and lose valuable time or in fact hurt yourself.
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