A Healthy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate this spooky occasion I have decided to write a post on the health benefits of pumpkins. When you’ve finished carving, start cooking!

Much like their fellow orange vegetable the carrot, pumpkins are high in vitamin A. Vitamin A is associated with improved vision in normal circumstances and in dim lighting conditions. Vitamin A also helps to improve healthy skin and hair.

Pumpkins improve your cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The high fibre content lowers a consumers risk in coronary heart disease.  Pumpkin seeds are a source of phytoestrogens. Phytoestorgens are associated with lowering hypertension.

Here’s how to add pumpkin to your diet:

Pumpkins are wicked for recipes that works with your sweet tooth. You can make healthy pancake, bread and protein bar substitutes.

Try pumpkin soup. You can add a large mixture of other vegetables such as sweet potatoes, leek and butternut squash.

Make a twist on an Italian classic and create a pumpkin ravioli. This is a good way to add your whole grain carbohydrates to a healthy meal.

See also:

Eating healthy on a budget

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/eating-healthy-on-budget.html

Salad dressings for wicked body composition

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/salad-dressings-for-wicked-body.html

Can Static Stretching be used Effectively in a Warm-Up

Since the 80s various literature has become available regarding flexibility. It tackles the old school of through which suggests that static flexibility can be used in both a warm up and a cool down section of a workout. Dynamic flexibility is favoured as it allows blood to continue to flow through your veins after a light warmup activity. Dynamic flexibility exercises includes leg raises, leg cradles and long lunges. But is there any place for static stretching during a warm up? if so what specific circumstance would need to be in place before we utilise statics stretching.

Case 1: Hip Movement in Running

Imagine a middle aged gentleman begin marathon training for his first intense endurance race. The issue commonly associated with middle aged gym goers I'm the UK would be an anterior pelvic tilt. These people pretty much run like a duck! The 3 factors that  a use this poor alignment are weak lower abdominal muscles, weak gluteus muscles and low hip flexor flexibility. 

If we were to tackle the low hip flexor flexibility we can try dynamic stretches to begin with. We can use many repetitions but if we perform more than 60 dynamic stretches it will become more of a muscular endurance drill. This can be ineffective. If we simply belt a static hip flexor stretch for 30 seconds we will find that the area won't be over active during a run. 

Case 2: Kicking in Martial Arts

If a martial artist wished to kick high dynamic flexibility would be the way to go. You specifically stretch the muscle that needs to allow the grater range of motion whilst warming up the opposite muscle. I would purely stick to dynamic stretching unless the circumstance is a complicated one which requires a physiotherapists input.

I was recently at a Tae Kwon-Do class where we were made to practice a partner stretch for the adductors. When I got up my legs felt too relaxed. They lost much of their elastic property. Kicking out was fine but when it came to retracting the kick the movement was slow and weak.

To conclude this post there are highly specific situations where static stretching can be used. The use of static stretching is to improve the quality of movement patters such as squats, hinges, gait etc. a dynamic stretch is always the first go to method and is enough to prevent injury. 

You may also be interested in:

Hamstring Development for Sprinting:

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/hamstring-development-for-sprinting.html

Thoracic Spine Mobility and Exercise Selection

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/thoracic-spine-mobility-and-exercise.html

Herbs for Health Benefits and Tasty Cooking

Sauces can be fine when the ingredients are healthy and fresh. Most of my clients don't consider alternatives until I mention them. Herbs are incredibly low in calories and provide micro-nutrients. 

Oregano 

This beautiful scented herb provides antibacterial properties which have been proven to take on the most vicious of hospital superbugs. Many people don't know that oregano is used in medicine as well as in common Italian dishes. Oregano is also am anti-inflammatory and is linked to preventing osteoporosis.  

Try oregano with tomatoes, aubergines and lamb. 

Basil

Here is one rich herb. Packed with vitamins and minerals basil also provides antibacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits. Basil is also fantastic for cardiovascular health due to it's high vitamin A content. Vitamin A provides antioxidants which prevents free radical damage by lining body structures. Vitamin A also prevents the oxidation of cholesterol. 

Basil is best with Mediterranean or Asian food. It's particularly good with tomato slices or cottage cheese. 

Thyme

Thyme is a great partner for Basil so feel free to use them together in a dish. Thyme is linked with lowering blood pressure, boosting your mood and improving your immune system due to a high vitamin C content. 

Try this delicious herb with meat dishes and eggs. 

Rosemary

Rosemary boosts your immune system, improves your circulation and fights free radicals. Rosemary contains carnosic acid. Carnosic acid aids in so far as lowering the rate at which the brain ages. Carnosic acid is also important for your eye health. 

Rosemary is delicious with grilled vegetables. It's also a good addition to your BBQs skewers. 

Parsley

With its high vitamin A and C content parsley is a saint for preventing illness. A chemical in parsley named apigenin has been proven to prevent cancer cells from forming. 

Mix parsley into meals which contain pease, tomatoes and mushrooms. It's also good for fish and chicken dishes. 

Ginger

Here we have an anti-inflammatory that reduces joint pain. Ginger is also good for your digestive systems health. It is commonly used to treat gastrointestinal disturbances. 

Ginger is the best herb for homemade baked goods such as flapjacks. 

Cinnamon

Here is my personal favourite! I just love the scent of cinnamon. It's has positive  properties such as being antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and being good for gastrointestinal health. 

Use cinnamon to porch fruit. It's pretty much brilliant for healthy desserts. 

Garlic 

Here's a vampires least favourite! Garlic is often praised for its cancer fighting effect. It helps to prevent the common cold and hypertension.

Winter is coming! Get a home made soup and stew together for a winter feast. 

Coriander

This is a must for those who have a weight problem. Coriander will lower bad cholesterol and lower your blood sugar. You should also take advantage of its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial benefits. This is an around health herb. 

Use coriander for Thai food and Indian recipes. 

Chives

A final herb and one of the most popular. Like many of our for mentioned, chives contain vitamin A and C. Chives have been shown to reduce gastric cancer. 

Sprinkle chives on pasta, salads and starch based dishes such as potato salads.

Is there Any Point in Training on a Treadmill

Which is better, the treadmill or the road? Well let's sum up the pros and cons of both. 

The treadmill is a fantastic piece of kit for a biomechanics coach such as myself. I can record my clients gait with basic hand held equipment such as my iPad. Through this assessment I can record multiple cycles of my clients run which saves me from continuously rewinding my video. 

For beginners the treadmill will provide a cushioned surface and often a safety chord to stop the treadmill of the client was to slip. 

Another positive aspect of the treadmill is the easy alterations of speed and gradient you can have. 

As you progress I believe it is essential to brake free from the treadmill. The treadmill does have many negative points. 

The treadmill can alter your mechanics in a negative way. The conveyor belt on the treadmill will provide unwanted assistance to your run which may lower hamstring and glute activation.

The cushioned landing on the treadmill may influence a lowered ability to absorb ground reaction force. Ground reaction force will increase bone density and increase muscular endurance. 

There is a heavy lack of specificity when it comes to slugging out the miles on the treadmill. You can not always alter the gradient to mimic a race course. It is also impossible to mimic the different terrain that is present in these events. Terrain is important as it improves ankle stability.  

So to summarise this post, treadmills are for beginners. Keep drilling your running mechanics and hit the road when you're good and ready. 

You may also be interested in:

Are You Sick of Energy Gels

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/are-you-sick-of-energy-gels.html

Hill Sprints for Speed

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/hill-sprints-for-speed.html

Good Hamstring Stretching Technique

Today I was coaching at the Cardiff Tae Kwon-Do academy. I asked if there was anyone there who has flexibility issues. 6 people raised their hand (but to be honest, there were probably 12 people who should have raised their hand). When asked what area they struggled with nearly everyone said hamstrings. This always comes as a surprise to me because every Tae Kwon-Do instructor I've been trained by seems to place emphasis on the adductors (groin) and hamstrings but neglect other areas. My conclusion was that the participants didn't appreciate the nature of the hamstrings. Without understanding the hamstrings structure how could you understand appropriate stretching methodology to improve their length. 

The hamstring group is made up of three muscles. They are the Biceps Femoris, the Semitendinosus and the Semimembranosus. All three of these muscles originate at the pelvis. Also, all three of these muscles insert at the Tibia (shin bone). There is a lot of focus on maintaining a straight leg whist performing hamstring stretches such as a simple toe touch. This is the correct thing to do but people miss out on 2 important technical applications. 

You must maintain a 90 degree angle on your ankle. Some stretches may not allow you to do this but most hamstring stretches will allow it. Most people will complain that they feel the stretch more in the top of their calf when they do this. Again, the hamstrings insert on your shin bone. It's still the hamstring feeling the stretch!

You must roll your hips forward. Basically you need to assume a duck butt pelvic alignment. This is the first thing you should do when settling into the stretch. If you feel your posture go you know that you are not stretching correctly. You can get so deep into this stretch with poor posture but soon enough your progress will come to a halt due to poor positioning. 

A Guide to Sets and Repetitions

Writing an effective training programme is a complicated skill. I suppose anyone can go about creating a generic split routine with a simple 3 set volume. Difficulties start when you tailor a programme to a client with a spesific goal and complicated biomechanical limitations. Experience level is another thing to take into consideration. I will go about writting an analysis on various set and repetition ranges and where they may fit into a routine.

Here is round up of a traditional look on repetitions:

5 repetitions or under will develop strength.
6 repetitions to 12 repetitions will develop hypertrophy (muscle mass).
Anywhere over 12 repetitions will develop musclular endurance. It is commonly beleived within un-educated social circles that higher repetitions will develop muscle tone better than any other repetition range but honestly, working within the 6 to 12 repetitions range works better for most people I've trained!

The set range will go hand in hand with the repetition-range. A higher set range will be used for lower repetitions and a lower set range will be used for higher repetitions. For example, 5 sets with 5 repetitions will be a way to develop strength whilst 3 sets of 8 repetitions will be a way to develop hypertrophy. This methodology is a very good aid for participants who have just started out in the gym.

I like the work of strength and conditioning coach Dan John. He focusses more on the repetition range than the set volume of an exercise. He splits exercises into groups acording to their demand. Half body exercises are exercises which only work upper body or lower body parts. Never both. This includes squats, bench press and rowing variations. The adiquate repetition range for these parts are a maximum of 25 repetitions. Any more than 25 repetitions will see a drop in lifting technique. Poor lifting technique can lead to injury. Under Dan Johns method the sets will suit the repetition range. 3 sets of 8 will equate to 24 repetitions. 5 sets of 5 will equate to 25 repetitions or going very unconventional 2 sets of 12 repetitions will lead to 24 repetitions. Each of these 3 set and repetition ranges will be appropriate.
Dan John also covers full body exercises such as Olympic lifts. When it comes to full body exercises we should focus on a maximum of 10 repetitions. This is something I heavily agree with as Olympic lifting can cause serious injury when technique fails. So in this case we can use set and repetition ranges such as 3 sets of 3 or 2 sets of 5. When it comes to working on heavy hang cleans my personal favorite range is a simple pyramid. 1 set of 5, 1 set of 3 and a final set of 2 repetitions. On each set I increase the weight.

The repetition range must also be based around the intensity of the resistance. If you lift at 75% of your one repetition max then yes it is ideal to be mindful of the repetition range. But if you look at other methods such as German Volume Training (GVT) you can use a higher repetition range as it only requires you to lift 40% of your one repetition max. This is however completed with a 10 sets of 10 repetitions routine.

So that's my round up on sets and repetitions. Programme design gets far more complicated and like all skills it takes practice to become efficient.

You may also be interested in:

Why Kneeling can Help you when Lifting Weights

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/why-kneeling-can-help-you-when-lifting.html

Improving your Arm Position in the Front Squat

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/improving-your-arm-position-in-front.html

Why We Love to Train!!

I was asked today to make a quick post on why we feel so much better after we exercise. This is just a quick write up but I hope you enjoy.

As someone who loves the gym I can imagine that others will assume that  exercise makes me happy because it’s my hobby. Much like an artist will enjoy painting, I like to rep out in the weights room but there’s a lot more to it than that.

Exercise releases endorphins. Endorphins are a hormone which are associated with happiness. Much like testosterone helps your muscles to grow, endorphins will help to make you feel happier. It’s apart of the reason why you feel so full of beans after exercise. Endorphins will make you feel so much more energetic than you already are so if you do feel tired after a long day in the office it is still worth kicking your behind to the gym!

Use exercise as a tool to lower stress. Stress is an emotional issue which can lead to a raised level of cortical. Cortical is a stress hormone which has been linked to people developing more body fat around the mid-section. Stress can be managed via a somatic intervention such as intense cardiovascular endurance training or heavy weight lifting.  

Exercise helps you to become more. More leaner, more muscular or over all more physically attractive. It provides a sense of achievement that no other activity can. This is why so many people participate in marathons, triathlons or tough mudders! This is why people obsess over their heaviest bench or their fastest 5km. There’s nothing wrong with a confidence boost!

Women Should Lift Weights

Ah again and again I am relentlessly questioned by women who are concerned that they will get "bulky" or will develop "masculine features" if they grab hold of a barbell. It's an argument that is heavily featured on various fitness forums but in the grand scheme of things there is no better way to improve your body composition than by lifting weights. Here are my thoughts on weight training and gender differences. 

Testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone within the human body. It's a steroid. A tool for improving performance and a key component in building masculine features. Although testosterone is present in every person it is predominantly high in men but abundantly low in women.

Men struggle to gain lean mass. It's a constant mathematical task that involves constantly reading food labels, utilising the scales and measuring jugs and staying within the fine lines of building muscle. Too few calories will not lead to desired results but too many will lead to an extra notch needed on the belt! To top it off it is essential within a mass building programme that set volume is high, resistance is high and that exercise induced muscle damage is achieved to initiate the growth and repair cycle. Training for true lean mass is tough. 

So with inadequate testosterone  and an inefficient calorie intake you can not gain a substantial amount of mass. You are however lightly to develop some wicked muscle tone! Learn why women should embrace the barbell.

Lifting gets you lean! 

Performing full range repetitions of gross body movements such as squats, dead lifts and lunges will get your heart working. The sensation is similar to the one you get when your heart is pounding through your chest after a mile of intense running. 

Working through these lifts will engage more muscle fibres. The more muscle fibres that are engaged, the more chemical reactions that need to occur. The more chemical reaction that occur, the higher the calorie requirements. 

Lifting shoots up your metabolism. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of burning calories for several hours after exercise. That is correct. You can pretty much be chilling out at home after a ground solid workout and still be reaping the rewards. The physical adaptations do not happen during a session. They happen during the time in between. 

You can improve your shape. From slimming down your waist line to a curvier back side. More muscle tone actually makes people look as though their body fat is lower than it really is. You can look so much better is much less time.

You can improve your posture. A better posture helps to portray a flatter stomach and projects a more confident self image. 

If you find yourself clueless on where to go with your training please remember that I am always free to message via my website. 

Why I Love the Punch Bag!

When I hit the bag it is the most stress revealing sensation. As I dig my knuckles into the leather I realise that there are so many other benefits that a fighter or even Mr.Average can reap from this brutal fitness attack.

Before working on the punch bag it is worth noting down your body goals. Think about which components of fitness need developing. Do you need to work on your strength or your cardiovascular endurance? Also look at your physique. Do you wish to lower the inches off your waist line or do you want to shred your arms? These questions are important to answer as they will allow you to adapt bag sessions to your needs. 

For participants looking to perform in a combat sport it is obviously beneficial to practice rounds on the punch bag. Make sure that you use techniques that you will use in your sport and more importantly make sure that you hit the bag more times than you would in a normal competitions round. This is essential. I've had so many people in the local TKD class come up to me saying that they have worked on their fitness but still felt heavily out of breath in competition. The intensity should be up in a big way. As the saying goes "the more you sweat in training the less you bleed in battle!" I must also mention that high intensity interval training (HIIT) is also a very useful tool for combat sportsmen and now and then it is worth taking a rest from rounds. To work on strength and power just simply slug away solid technical punches at the bag. See how much you can make it move.

When I take personal training clients to the punch bag it is not to develop competency in sparring competitions. I do it to add fun, variety and a bloody good workout! I enjoy adding the punch bag into supersets with push-ups, medicine ball slams and battling ropes. I keep the intensity high and brakes short and regular. punching in a fantastic workout for the entire upper body and builds considerable muscle tone. 

As a final note I just want to say that good punching technique leads to less injuries. Make sure that you've been instructed by a professional coach before rocking the bag. For information on lowering your chances of injuring your shoulder whilst punching please read the following posts:

Shoulder Injuries and Traditional Tae Kwon-Do Practices:

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/shoulder-injuries-and-traditional-tae.html

Correcting an Anterior Tilt Shoulder Alignment:

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/correcting-anterior-tilt-shoulder.html

You may also be interested in:

Eating Healthy On a Budget: 

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/eating-healthy-on-budget.html

Top 5 Tips for Batch Cooking

Today I was up at 7am. I ate my breakfast, showered up, drove to work and began my busy personal training schedule. I took on 3 hours of office work and broke through a list of clients that needed to be phoned so that they can pencil in their personal training session. Finally I needed to fit in 5 meals. This is often a difficult task as cooking takes time but I got it all covered on Sunday. I spent under an hour over the stove and racked up 9 meals. Take full advantage of this convenient habit. Here are my to 5 tips for batch cooking. 

1. Consider your leafy greens. 

Kale, rocket, water-cress and so many other crunchy veggies can be ate raw. This obviously means that you're avoiding a heap of time in the kitchen but also taking on essential micronutrients from a fibrous energy source. Vegetables can lose micronutrients when they are cooked so get your salads on the go. 

2. Stuff up on your meat. 

Centre your meals around lean sources of meat. You can roast a full chicken and devour it into tiny pieces with a knife. This will supply a generous amount of meat for one person. Also the George Forman Grill is fantastic gadget which grills your protein lean in next to no time. 

3. Fish for tinned food.

The nutritional content of tinned tuna is fantastic. The omega 3 fatty acids, the low carbohydrates and of course the high protein. Tinned tuna can last a very long time and is perfect for consuming cool with a salad. 

4. Starch up. 

Value bags have become very easy to get a hold of at any major super market. It is important that you have a large sauce pan. You want to be able to heat up as much pasta or rice as possible. 

5. Spice it up.

Okay not just spice. Buy herbs as well. Sauces can result in a high sugar or calorie content. Use a cheaper way to make your food exciting. Everyone should look,

Correcting an Anterior Tilt Shoulder Alignment

As promised here it is. This is a post on correcting an anterior tilt of the shoulder joint.

This post is a follow on from the last post on shoulder injuries and traditional TKD:

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/shoulder-injuries-and-traditional-tae.html

However anyone may find this literature a valuable resource for developing healthy shoulders.

Firstly we must consider the shortened muscles that are in need of a good stretch. The Latisimas Dorsi of the mid-back is the skeletal muscle that body builder develop to achieve the desired V-taper. If the Latissimus Dorsi is short it can result in awkward alignment issues such as the lumbar spine arcing whilst over head pressing. On this note it is important to point out that it is not advised to perform any direct vertical lift or Pull Up variation if your Latisimas Dorsi is short. Practice stretching your mid back with a simple lying down position. Place a small soft object such as a bean back or balled up socks beneath your lower back as you lye facing the sky. From there lift your arms towards the sky and then down so that they are positioned on the floor above your head. The socks will help to ensure that your back doesn’t elevate as you stretch. More on this subject can be read from the following post on thoracic spine mobility and exercise selection:

http://icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/thoracic-spine-mobility-and-exercise.html

Another important part of developing correct shoulder alignment is to lock those scapulars (shoulder blades) into place. Try a “no more money” drill. Keep your elbows on your waist and see how far back you can stretch your hands. You will also experience a stretch on the front of your shoulders.

Finally work on your Anterior Serratus. Perform Push Ups but push further at the top of the movement. Try to lift your self as high off the floor as possible, wedging your shoulder blades to your rib cage.

These exercises should be practiced lightly but often. Keep those shoulders happy!

Shoulder Injuries and Traditional Tae Kwon-Do Practices

Unfortunately shoulder problems often go hand in hand with practicing TKD. Many people associate TKD injuries with sparring as the contact involved can cause impact injuries. However this is not always the case. This post is written to make people aware of the damage that traditional TKD practices can do to their shoulders.

Let's take a look at a retracted punch in a traditional TKD Tul or Poomsae. Your palm is faced upwards when you hold a tightly clenched fist. The fist is situated next to your waist and your elbow is substantially pulled back. This results in your shoulder tilting forward as well as your scapular (shoulder blade). 

Now for the muscular contractions involved. Your upper trapezius muscles are contracted to cause elevation and retraction of the shoulders. Your Pectoral Minor flexes as the Anterior Deltoid Stretches. Your lower Latissmus Dorsi and Serratus Anterior also stretch to allow this retracted movement. This is far from a neutral shoulder alignment. 

As the shoulder tilts forward it causes an unusual positioning for the glenoid humoral joint. This anterior tilt has been associated with shoulder impingement. Shoulder impingement is the name given to the rotator cuff of the shoulder catching onto a skeleton structure around the joint. This skeleton structure is called the acromion. This ware and tear will eventually cause permanent damage if this is not rectified quickly. To make matters worse the long term effects off poor shoulder alignment can cause the acromion to morph. When the acromion morphs it will be rounded into a position that may cause further discomfort. 

Here's how you dedect shoulder impingement. Simply place your right hand on your left shoulder. From there keep the hand where it is but lift up your right elbow. If you encounter any pain you should consult with a doctor. You may have impingement. Make sure you repeat the process on the other side. 

Counter measures to prevent this from happening are within your instructors capability to lead an adequate cool down. Stay in tune for tomorrow's post on correcting an anterior shoulder tilt. 

You may also be interested in:

Why the Pull Over is a Fantastic Exercise

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/09/why-pull-over-is-fantastic-exercise.html

Weight Training Myths in Tae Kwon-Do

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/09/weight-training-myths-in-tae-kwon-do.html

The Effects of Stretching on Strength Performance

It's common for people to ask me "does stretching have any effect on my strength?" The answer is yes. It is also common for people to ask me "does stretching lower my strength?" That is much more unclear. Various factors must be taken into account. Each of these factors are based on the bio-mechanical demand of a specific task. Here are two examples which demonstrates the correlation between strength and flexibility.

Example #1: A power lifters capability to deadlift.

A deadlift involves extension from three specific areas. They are the ankle, knees and hips. To aid in hip extension it is often beneficial to have low flexibility on the hamstrings. This is down to an improved reflex arc. The reflex arc is the elastic property within a skeletal muscle fibre which triggers the muscle to tighten as it goes deeper into a stretch. So there you have it. Low hamstring flexibility can add poundage to your deadlift. It should also be noted that participants who are particularly inflexible will struggle to get into the correct starting position to lift the bar in the first place so don't overdo tightening up your hamstrings. You should still practice cool down stretches.

Example #2: A martial artists capability to kick.

Let's take a turning kick (a.k.a. Round house kick) as our example. Say you wanted to land a strong turning kick to a pad held at stomach height. You will need to be capable of kicking at stomach height but if you only have the flexibility to do that but are incapable of kicking higher you will struggle. Your tight groin muscles will resist against the upwards motion of your kick, you will risk injury and increase your chances of gaining muscle soreness the next day.
If however you can kick much higher than stomach height you will find the kick easier. This is because the flexible adductors will allow the kick to flow through without substantial resistance. The range of motion you have (in this case the capability to kick head height) past the range of motion you need to perform a set task (in this case a kick to stomach height) is called the flexibility reserve. The more flexibility reserve you have the less lightly you are to sustain an injury.
You can also have too much hip flexibility for kicking. People who are capable of performing a box split past 180 degrees often find that they struggle to retract their leg quickly after kicking. This is due to a low reflex arc and can result in slower counter escapes in sparring.

To conclude this post I will just say that with every sporting task you can have too much or too little flexibility. Always consider these vital factors:

1. Consider the bio-mechanical demands of the sporting skill that you intend on completing. Just consider what I said on deadlift strength, flexibility and the reflex arc. Too much flexibility will lead to poor elastic property's of a muscle whilst  wry low flexibility will put a halt on a full range of motion.

2. Where there is flexibility there should be strength. If you improve your flexibility without placing resistance work into the mix you will find that performance benefits of improved flexibility will be low. There is no point in increasing your range of motion if you don't have the strength to operate the muscle within that range. Make flexibility practical.

If you liked this post you may also like:

Competition Prep for Armature Athletes

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/09/competition-prep-for-armatures.html

Lower Limb Development

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/10/lower-leg-development.html

Don't Bother with High Altitude masks.

There are two types of people who wear altitude masks. The first type are those who love to draw attention to themselves (even if it's not in a good way). The second type are those who are actually gullible enough to believe that there are physiological benefits to wearing those stupid gimp masks! Before you go about thinking you are Bane from the "Dark Knight Raises" please read this post.

Take it from a man who studied physiological adaptations to altitude as the main part for him physiology exam during his degree. Nothing good will come of splashing out cash on altitude masks.

I get amused to see people weight training with altitude masks. This is particularly bizarre as heavy weight lifting is an anaerobic activity anyway. Anaerobic literally means without oxygen. The main glycogen stores in your body are utilised for energy and are broken down via the ATP\PC system. What does happen during lifting whilst wearing a mask is a negative thing. As well as oxygen being depressed so is your air supply in general. This reduces the stability of your mid-section and lowers your chances of lifting heavier weight. This basically means that to restrict oxygen will have no positive impact on your lifts and therefore is a daft idea.

Using an altitude mask is more popular with endurance athletes. There have been masses of studies which demonstrates the effects of altitude on the body. There is a heavy correlation between time at high altitude and an increase in red blood cell count. This is due to the low supply of oxygen that causes a homeostasis response to initiate the body's manufacturing of more red blood cells.
Now here's where it gets really important to read. Don't forget why you started high altitude training in the first place. We don't go out of our way to improve red blood cell count. We are looking to improve performance.
Yes red blood cells are produced in a higher quantity and yes they do aid in the transport around the body but how effectively can they do that when blood plasma (the fluid in your blood) doesn't produce as quickly? The large saturation of red blood cells will begin the slow oxygen transfer down which is opposite to the desired effect.
Another negative effect involves a lowering of skeletal muscle tone. As a panic response to low oxygen levels your body will brake down the amino acids of your skeletal muscle tissue.

To conclude please don't bother with an altitude mask. There's better pieces of kit for less money which will be much better for a variety fitness goals.

You may also wish to read:

Resistance Training and Lateral Movement

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/09/resistance-training-and-lateral-movement.html

Why the Pull Over is a Fantastic Exercise

http://icankeepup.blogspot.it/2015/09/why-pull-over-is-fantastic-exercise.html

Injury Prevention for Swimmers

Swimming can be a fantastic sport. It involves a high demand of mid section stability, cardiovascular endurance and glenoid humoral flexibility. It provides a means to exercise without the resistance of your body weight, a task that is essential for some rehabilitation clients. The water can often act as support for your joints if you are injured but way really impresses me is the new range of horizontal resistance that water can offer. Horizontal resistance is useful for shoulder and hip stabilisation.

There are negative aspects of training in the water. First of all it doesn't improve bone density. For improved bone density we need substantial external force such as the resistance applied by weight training. For swimmers biomechanical faults can surface if careful consideration isn't taken.

Repetitive front crawls are a pain in the back side. I often have triathletes approach me with short pectoral muscles, tight upper back muscles, weak rhomboids and inactive serratus muscles. This results in a forward tilt of the shoulder which is associated with rotator cuff damage. Due to the low extension/flexion movement of the hips whilst swimming athletes often encounter tight hip flexors. This results in a forward tilt of the pelvis.

The breast stroke is the recreational favorite. It's easy to dip in to your local swimming facility and take a few leisurely lengths before easing off in the steam room. The breast stroke however is a nightmare for causing imbalances around the hips. Glute tightness drastically effect the walking gait in a negative way. I often find that participants who breast stroke on a regular basis find thenselves walking with their toes pointed outwards. The breast stroke is made even worse by people who swim with their face out of the water. This will obviously increase neck tightness so please just stop it!

I would recommend a few strength drills and a few flexibility exercises to realign your body for increased performance and wellness:

Press up - use this standard classic for increased serratus activation and a wider variety of movement.

Face pull - this is one of my favorite back exercises. It improves glenoid humoral mobility and strengthens the lower portion of the trapizius muscle.

Reverse Fly - exadurate this movement with light dumbbells. Focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement and opening the shoulder blades wide at the bottom of the movement.

Roll out - here we have an incredible exercise that will work the muscles for the property in which they are designed to perform.

Single Leg Romanian dead lift - at one point or another every last one of my clients will practice this exercise. It is a fantastic way of improving hip biomechanics. Biomechanical perfection involves feet pointing forwards, glutes tensed and a perfectly straight line between your heal and the base of your skull.

There is a lot more to learn about a swimmers training programme so feel free to ask.

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Why Kneeling can Help you when Lifting Weights

There are so many variations of various exercises performed in gyms globally. The dynamics of a shoulder press can simply be changed by switching from machine to dumbbell or seated to standing. There are two base positions that I rank highly which are very underused. They are the single leg kneeling position and the double leg kneeling position.

The single leg kneeling position simply involves the participant lunging down onto one knee whilst keeping the foot of the opposite leg situated on the floor in front of the body. This position provides a stretch for the hip flexors and enforces more stabilising property's of your mid section muscles to initiate. This position is also useful for those wishing to perform unilateral (single arm) exercises as your mid section will be challenged to stay stable as oppose to rotate. Therefore this base position is very good for people who struggle to hold a good posture and for those who have poor abdominal, oblique and lower back strength.

The double leg kneeling position simply involves the participant to go down into a two knee standing position. When this is practiced correctly you will find that the glutes need to activate quite powerfully. This provides a practical base position for people who have inactive glutes. Take a look at many people with participants with an anterior pelvic tilt, office workers or people who often gain a hamstring injury. They can all benefit from practicing their weight training exercises with a double leg kneeling position as it could very well correct their problems.

A big positive aspect of these two variations is that they provide a good foundation for participants with poor posture. These kneeling positions allow people to work around the hip joint without worrying about the range of motion around the knees and ankles. As posture improves it becomes important to progress to a standing position so that good knee and ankle alignment can be practiced. However that does not mean that you must neglect kneeling when your posture has improved. Go back to a kneeling position now and again because it will re-enforce your improved technique.

Lower Leg Development

The lower leg is an interesting subject within sport. The main areas which we focus on are the anterior tibialis, gastrocnemius and the soleus.

 Due to the nature of these skeletal muscles, high repetitions have become the popular way to develop them. This is situated around their muscle fibre type. The lower limb muscles are predominantly built of type 1 or slow twitch muscle fibres which respond better to higher repetitions. Type 2 muscles fibres are fast twitch orientated and are responsible for speed and power generation. The reason why our lower limbs are predominantly slow twitch is due to our need for these muscles to perform continuous tasks such as walking or even stabilising the ankles as we stand in one place for a long time. In my experience it is not necessary to individualise lower limb muscles within a weight training programme unless there is a special condition, including rehabilitation interventions and control of muscular imbalance. In running bio-mechanics I have repetitively witnessed runners with inactive anterior tibialis muscles. This is often down to practising movement with poor form.

Compound lifting may accidentally bring the lower leg into correct anatomical balance. Whilst lowering into a barbell squat the anterior tibialis undergoes stricken isometric contraction which basically means it's tensing hard whilst remaining perfectly still. This can counteract lower limb imbalances that are related to over development of the calves. If you are looking to build as good bulky looking calves then isolate them with heavy weights when you next visit the gym. Just remember to keep the repetitions high and watch out for imbalances. If you're a sports man, just stick to compound lifts.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Maybe you are a student scraping up the last bit of cash from his or her loan or you make national minimum wage and struggle to make rent at the end of the month. I've been there. That is why I've gone about creating a guide to eating healthy on a budget. Unlike most budget guides this goes by macronutrients.

Protein

As a student all I heard in the kitchen was complaints about the price of meat. I agree that meat can be expensive but you can work it out.
First of all you need to know where to shop. For example farmfoods offer 5kg of chicken breast for £10. It's also worth taking a trek down to your local butcher as they can often have some fantastic prices on fresh, organic products.
Then there's the packaging and perpetration to consider. Chilled meat is often more expensive but a pack of canned tuna will provide a protein source for 5 meals for under £2:50. Frozen products will last longer and more often than not they offer better value for money.
Finally you need to know why meat is important. Meat contains all essential amino acids making it a complete protein. Meat is also high in iron which is essential for oxygen utilisation. A meal with a complete protein and green vegetables will have a similar effect. A favourite of mine is scrambled egg with spinach.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are much easier to get ahold of at a low cost. Students live off pasta dishes and bread. Let's focus on portion control. 1 fist size gathering of carbohydrates is a portion so a mountain of pasta is not on!
You can go to your local super market and buy gigantic value packs of up to 5kg. The taste is hardly different although in some cases the texture of these meals are not the best. Just mix these carbohydrate part ions in with your meat and vegetables and you'll be as happy as Larry. If you must eat bread please buy it fresh. The mainstream brands place so much preservatives in their bread that your everyday loaf can be a nightmare for your body composition goals. A good rule to go by is this:

"If the carbohydrate portion you are holding dissolves under a running tap it does not have the adequate fibre content that your digestive system needs."

Fruits and Vegetables

First of all let's look at fruit. Pits high sugar content has given it a bad reputation in today's world of weight loss but they hold important micronutrients. Most fruit gets neglected because of inconvenience. People don't like to spend a few minutes pealing a orange or chopping up a pineapple. If you don't eat fruit often you should consider starting with grab and go fruit. Something you can pick up and eat there on the spot with no hassle such as an apple. Don't let any fruit go off. Have containers ready so that you can chop your fruit and frees them into a healthy meal that you can pull out at a later point. On that note I will point out that some store bought frozen fruit has a better nutrient quantity. This depends on how quick the fruit was frozen after picking.
The same applies to vegetables but if your vegetables are starting to see better days just chop it up and stir fry it, stir fry dishes are brilliant as cooking a good stir fry requires little perpetration and offers more nutrients due to the fast cooking process.

Here are 3 bonus tips added in just for your reading pleasure:

Shop late. At the end of the day there are some fantastic discounts on the end of the isles.

Freeze. Anything can be frozen and it will stay fresher for longer.

Batch cook. It's easy to prepare up to 8 meals in 40 minutes. Just check out gethin_rhys_james on Instagram to see some of my meals.

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Using a Suspension Trainer in a Weight Training Programme

Suspension training has increased in popularity over the last decade. There are many different pieces of kick from TRX, the basic gymnastic rings or my personal favourite the Jungle Gym XT. They bring balance to overall body conditioning. You can lift heavier in the weights room but work on stability on your suspension trainer. Suspension trainers are light, portable and best of all progressive to all fitness levels.

Try using a suspension trainer for the post activation potentiation (PAP) phase of a warm up. PAP is basically the part of the warm up that overloads your muscles to promote neural drive. For example a sprinter may perform 5 repetitions at 80% of his 1 repetition max on a squat. This will promote more nerve pathways to become active when he sprints which will result in a faster run. I’ve found that practicing single leg squat variations in multiple directions generally promotes the same effect but without any need to rack a heavy barbell up with weight. For athletes looking to improve their bench press a suspended push up will improve serratus activation and encourage scapular stability.

Suspension trainers are handy for improving movement patterns. Especially the squat. Too many people avoid activating their posterior chain when they squat. Practicing a squat on a suspension trainer will encourage participants to push their hips back whilst keeping the body upright. Therefore suspended squats work as good somatic feedback prior to a set of barbell squats to reinforce good form.

Suspension trainers are also very useful for unilateral exercises. Single arm rowing variations and lunging actions are easy to progress with suspension trainers. I’ve managed to get clients into full pistols within a months work on a TRX. I would always recommend practicing bilateral strength movements first such as your standard power lifts. This is to avoid fatiguing a muscle before you lift heavy as poor form from fatigue can result in an injury.

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Resistance Training and Lateral Movement

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Is it Okay to do Cardio Before Breakfast?

First of all lets reveal the theory. It goes like this. An overnight fast lowers blood sugar so glycogen levels fall. This will result in your body using fat as it's primary source of fuel as oppose to glucose. Furthermore the low insulin level from the abundance of food will result in fat brake down and will therefore improved the availability of fatty acids to be used as energy for our morning jog. Believing in this hypothesis of improving your body composition is just silly!

The most important thing to consider whilst lowering your body fat percentage is energy in by comparison to energy out. The harder you exercise the more calories you'll burn afterwards based on the increased metabolism.
Fasting followed by cardiovascular work has been proven to increase the utilisation of fat during the session but this can change based on a number of different physiological aspects. Even if you did predominately burn fat during the workout your body will tap into your glycogen stores to recuperate afterwards anyway but If you tapped into your glycogen stores first you will burn more fat after the workout. This is a much more comfortable way of lowering your body fat as you will have the option to ingest a light meal before training.

Basically any benefit you've made to run before breakfast will be counteracted. Now for more negatives. Your glycogen stores deplete overnight so your body relies on the brake down of amino acids in your muscles. This continues until breakfast but is escalated by morning cardio due to the high energy demand. In a nut she'll you lose muscle tone!

If you want to lower your body fat you simply need to eat less and work your body harder. There is not easy way to go about it.

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Improving your Arm Position in the Front Squat

The front squat is a wicked bilateral exercise for strengthening up those mighty quads. Done correctly your glutes and hamstrings also get a brutal burn. A proper front squat is essential for developing good quality clean and jerk technique. An issue comes from the arm positioning. Although we can substitute for an alternative grip you can not replace pointing your elbows forward if you want to get involved with olympic lifts. I have gone about writing this post to explain barriers to good arm positioning and how we can overcome these barriers.

First of all we must look at the length of the Latisimas Dorsi. The Latissimus Dorsi is a large triangular skeletal muscle tissue which originates on the lumbar vertebra and inserts to the humorous. When developed well it brings the well desired "V-taper" figure. The Latisimas Dorsi or "Lats" for short is dangerous to the lower back when it's range of motion isn't good. People with short Lats will find that their lower back rounds when they lift their hands in the air.
Try lying on your back and stretching your body as long as it will go. As you do this keep your abdominals braced. This will prevent over extension of the lumbar spine. Perform 3 sets of 30 seconds 4 times per week to see good progress.

Use your serratus. These muscles appear to look like fingers around the ribs on people with less body fat. They take charge of shoulder protraction. This muscle will help you to stop strangling yourself with the bar!
Stand 1 to 1 and a 1/2 feet way from a wall. Place your elbows against the wall to that your forearms and vertical. Finally slide your arms up the wall until they can't go further without coming off. You'll feel your shoulder blades hold tight against your ribs.
Another technique for the serratus issue is a standard push up. When you perform a push up stretch up as high as you can and feel your shoulder blades hold tight against your rib cage. This is probably the must practical serratus exercise there is.

6 Things a Tae Kwon-Do Fighter can Learn from a Sprinter

6 Things a Tae Kwon-Do Fighter can Learn from a Sprinter

A sprinter has much of the attributes that a Tae Kwon-Do (TKD) fighter needs. Successful sprinters require strength, speed, dynamic flexibility and well co-ordinated biomechanics. What can we take from a sprinters training programme? How can we utilise and adapt a sprinters training programme to suit it to our needs?

Lift Weights

The mythology which goes along side martial arts and weight lifting was mentioned in another post:

http://www.icankeepup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/resistance-training-for-tae-kwon-do.html

Lifting heavy does not slow you down. You just need to lift correctly and no, that does not mean light weight and high repetitions. Just remember that lean mass is heavily associated with speed. If you practice being explosive you will become explosive.

Accelerate

Most participants would see a punch bag and try to kick it through the wall. Honestly, this is what I love to do. It feels good to squat down, load up a your leg and swing a thunderous 360 into your target. Now ask your self how much do you telegraph your kick when you do this. Don’t always focus so much on the contact. See how quickly you can get your foot from the floor to the bag and back.

Multi Twitch

Another pit that the average TKD participant fall into is what I would call the “one kick wonder” habit. Through every traditional pattern or line work combination we are taught to perform one solid kick followed by landing. This is often the case for most sparing combination practice on the pads. To improve neural drive and to lower time between kicks try smashing out as many kicks as you can in 10 seconds. It’s not the best method for nailing the technical aspects of the technique but it will certainly sharpen you up for the ring.

Dynamic Flexibility

It’s rare to go into a TKD class and find an instructor that uses dynamic flexibility exercises efficiently. Most instructors opt for more static stretch variations which is perfectly fine at the end of a workout but it’s no good for a starting point. Look at it this way. Why on earth would you make all this effort to promote blood flow to your limbs through a warm up based cardio station and follow it up with static stretches which lowers blood flow? Static stretches also lowers neural drive so you’ve actually making your kicks weak before you even begin the main part of the session. Opt for leg raises and lateral lunges. You’re blood flow will improve and your dynamic muscles will respond more powerfully to kick practice.

Try Plyometrics

Plyometrics have not been proven to build a substantial amount of power. The are however a superb method of increasing the rate of which maximum strength is produced so therefore it is best partnered with a well designed weight lifting plan. Plyometrics also aid in joint stabilisation for safer training. Finally Plyometrics provides more efficient energy usage by teaching us how to absorb ground reaction force correctly.

Look After your Ankles

There are two types of ankle flexion to be concerned with. The first one is dorsiflexion. Dorsiflexion is the given name to the sagittal plane movement of your toes pointing up towards the sky. The second is plantaflexion. Plantaflexion is when you point your toes down.

When a TKD competitor fights it is common to see pool ankle stability due to a lack of dorsiflexion. When every you bounce off the floor there should be dorsiflexion present. The participant should start to plantaflex their ankle as they make contact to the ground. This helps to keep the ankle stable.

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Do you Need to Feel Sore After Exercise to Get Results

There is nothing more annoying than that little git who claims that he's not aching the day after a tough workout. Sometimes you question if this person actually pushed himself/herself during the training session or did this person make excuses. Be ready to offer the benefit of a doubt.

What is this soreness that we encounter the day after exercise? More engrossing why does it come the next day?
When we exercise we create small brakes within our skeletal muscle fibres and by small I mean microscopic. We do not feels these brakes. Within the next 12 hours our circulating blood enters and expands these brakes and cause what is known as delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS for short.
Much research has gone into DOMS and physical adaptation. When skeletal muscle tissue damages it rebuilds with more density and strength. This response is centred around our body's need to handle the stressful environment that has been stowed upon it and will be stowed upon it again in the near future. DOMS does not cause the physiological adaptations. Exercise induced muscle damage (EIMD) does.
DOMS has been used as an indicator of EIMD. What other indicators are there without expensive medical technology? There are none. So how do we ensure that our workouts are intense enough?

First of all we should never experience DOMS for more than one day after exercise. DOMS for 2 or more days shows us that our routine has caused too much EIMD. If this becomes a habit you will find that injury or overtraining will occur. This is drastically impacts results in the weights room or performance on the pitch.
Second of all we must not feel aggravated or concerned if we don't get DOMS. You may still have EIMD but various factors can prevent soreness such as hydration, body temperature and cool down routine.
Ensure that your figures are correct. A minimum of 6 exercises should be present in every resistance routine, a minimum for 3 sets per exercise and a total repetition range between 20 to 25 on each exercise.
Feel the challenge. Do you struggle to complete the last few repetitions on the last set? If so then you're using the correct resistance. If not it will show in your future training results.

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The Rules of Effective 30 Minute Workouts

I was recently asked to write a post on 30 minute workouts. There are many out there. Take a look at the most popular fitness magazines and you will find articles such as "the 20 minute office workout" or "the 15 minute park bench circuit." Although these workouts are often based on full body and well balanced exercises they miss out physiological principles that are important to follow during a short workout. There is no time to burn a substantial amount of fat during a 30 minute workout and therefore we must focus on the calorie deficit we can produce through raising our metabolism. As we are low on time we must also keep working. There is very little time to stop.

Metabolism booster #1: Utilise Resistance Exercise Properly

Use compound exercises. Compound exercises will produce more calorie burn. The more muscle fibres we recruit in an exercise the more calories we burn.

Centre your resistance routine around ground based leg exercises. Ground based leg exercises will increase the heart rate and pressurise the axial skeleton. The axial skeleton is basically the spine and cranium and placing pressure on your spine raises your core body temperature. Squats, lunges and dead lifts are ideal.

Use dynamic tension. Flex your muscles throughout the full range of each and every exercise that you do. This will recruit more muscle fibres for a raised metabolism and development of muscle tone.

Use tri-sets. Place three exercises back to back. This saves time and improves circulation.

Here's an example of a body weight circuit.

10 Bulgarian split squats on the right leg
10 Bulgarian split squats on the left leg
10 press-ups

Repeat 2x

Metabolism booster #2: Use High Intensity Interval Training (HIIt) to your Advantage

A good HIIT workout will improve your cardiovascular health in under 5 minutes but will also fire up your core body temperature. You need short work periods but even shorter rest periods. My favourite is a Tabata. This simply involves 20 seconds of hard work and 10 seconds of rest for 4 minutes. Attempt this brutal body blast with mountain climbers as your exercise of choice. I find this to be a wicked heart raiser.

Follow these rules and you will carry on burning calories for hours after you've completed your workout.

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