Mobility Monday: Hips & Psoas

Hips and psoas.  I almost want to stop at that because it really is enough said.  Your hips and psoas can be such a contributor to everything in your body.  That can be both in things that cause pain but also loosening up in order to maximize performance.  We can't emphasize this enough that you have to get these areas moving and make sure they can handle the stresses you put them under.  Please get after these areas.

Things It Helps: 
-Hip Pain
-Low Back Pain
-Decreased Performance

Accountability....What's That?

By: Joel Luedke

This is a shorter post that I was inspired to writer after listening to Dr. John Curtis, author of "Mindset of a Winner", at a meeting today.  The power of your mind and controlling what you think and how you respond is extremely powerful and appears to often be the missing link in a lot of athletes and people working at a high level.

One of the areas that that really stuck with me was setting the example you want to see and also 

getting people to buy in from attrition.  It is really hard to get people to buy in to utilizing affirmations and visualizing their success in what they have done in the past and what they are hoping to accomplish in the future if you don't do it yourself.  The speaker also talked about how to people who may not want to be a part of something like this to join in and it is finding the people that do believe in it, reap the results and then get everyone to joint along.

All that sounds great but with that we are laying out a challenge to everyone with this post.  First off affirmations will be written by me and posted as soon as I get them done (check back for a #tbt and an update to this article).  The second option we are putting out there is tracking how well we are sticking to the things we need to do on a daily basis in order to get after the goals we set (along with those affirmations).  How we are going to do it is with the "Way of Life" app.  You can track 3 goals on a daily basis for free or for $2.99 you can do unlimited and run it on a daily basis.

Now for the accountability piece of it all.  you can export your results and I am planning to do so on a monthly basis so you can see how well I am sticking to my plan and actually getting closer to goals.

I'm all for anyone joining as it will only improve the system, let me know and find a way to hold yourself and others accountable.

There are a other options that work really well.  Often times setting a 'bet' or 'wager' with a friend or a family member can be the motivation you need to get yourself going.  Often times the fear of losing something like money can be what you need in order to jump start yourself and get the results you are looking for.

LINK: DietBet

APP: Way of Life

BOOK: Mindset of Wining

Mobility Monday: Sliding Surface Recovery

Not all soft tissue work has to be rolling around on a foam roller.  There are a lot of other exercises that you can utilize to help your body out after a heavy day of working out and squatting, deadlifting, etc.  This video also covers some of the rolling ideas that you need to take a look at when working on the junction of the the quads and the IT band and what is the most effective way to get that area taken care of.  You can save yourself a lot of time by utilizing these tips.

Things It Helps:
-General Soft Tissue Recovery
-Improving Sliding Surfaces
-Restoring Motion

Study Spotlight: HRV vs. Predetermined Block Training on Performance

By: Joel Luedke

Training plans are extremely important in any aspect of training both in strength and conditioning and in your running or sports.  In most cases these programs are planned out for the year and they adjust between low intensity and high intensity periods of training.  Coaches will often adjust on feel and based on the feedback of athletes but what if you could put actual numbers and science to it?  This study takes a look at how using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) vs. a predetermined training program

and how it affects performance.

What They Did:

Multiple measure including endurance performance, neuromuscular performance, HRV and serum hormone concentrations were measured before, in the middle and after an eight week training period in 24 endurance trained individuals.

What They Found:

Researchers found that both block style training as well as HRV guided training are very effective when it comes to HIT training with endurance athletes.  The degree to which they worked was the interesting part.  While both groups increased performance the HRV guided timing and number of HIT blocks seemed to provide greater endurance and neuromuscular adaptations compared to predetermined training.

What It All Means:

The good news from this study is your can do really well at improving performance by using predetermined block training when it comes to endurance.  The more exciting news (it may be obvious) is that when you personalize it to how you are feeling and how you are recovering you can increase your performance even more.  There are a lot of ways out there to do this monitoring and it can range from very expensive to almost not costing you anything and that is where it gets even more interesting.

You can use heart rate to help out with how you are feeling and training and track it yourself.  That is easily one way to go.  You can invest some more money and look into a HRV tracking system (i.e. OmegaWave or other options) which will give you the direct data you might be looking for but it can make it a hit to your wallet.  Another, and free, option is to use the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale to assess how hard you worked and also using the recovery scale in order to know how your body is bouncing back.  If you are serious about your training and honest with yourself there is plenty of research out there showing that this can be an effective option.

Bottom Line: Listen to your body and you can not only increase your performance but could do so more than if you just "stick to the plan" because it says so.  Happy Training.

Resource:
Olli-Pekka Nuuttila: Effects of HRV-Guided vs. Predetermined Block Training on Performance, HRV and Serum Hormones

The Short Cut to Success

By: Joel Luedke

Ok, I won't lie to you to start an article off there isn't a magical short cut.  If you've read along with us for awhile you know we aren't big on quick fixes and magic supplements.  On the road to your goals you have to make sure you are setting up success for the long run and that is what we are going to talk about in this article, different ways to change your framework to help set yourself up for success.

The first thing we want to discuss is the concept of "willpower".  Willpower is a finite resource.  There is a lot of information out there to support this concept and some of the most successful and influential people in the world know they can only have to much willpower and decision making.  You have to make sure that you are setting your day up for the chance to use those concepts when you need them most.  

The more you structure your day (particularly diet and exercise) the more control you can yield when it comes to making a decision on if you should eat the healthy food vs. the food that is calling your name that you know you should avoid.  If you have these structures in your life that decision making becomes easier and your results improve.

"Discipline equals freedom." -Jocko Willink

Set up your exercise routine and don't look at as something you 'have' to do.  Use it as your get away in your day and build your structure around it.  Not only will you have the on the day by getting your workout in, you now just made one less decision that you can utilize later.  This routine doesn't have to be 60 minutes of crushing exercise but getting up and being active.  Doing things you want to can get you not only the results you want but can also make it fun.

For your diet you want to find things that work out for you and again, avoid having to make decisions on a daily basis about what you want to eat.  The more you have things planned ahead the easier things are on decisions.  This falls into decision fatigue and avoiding it by using structure.  Another way to help yourself out here is to focus on keeping good and 'healthy' foods in the house.  Not only is it convienent but it applies to the 'decision fatigue' and limiting.  That can also help out if there is something unexpected that comes up in your day and you need to hold strong.

It has been said that creating a new habit takes anywhere from 30 to 66 days.  That's a long time.  Find things you can do that will create small victories.  Nothing happens quickly and when it comes to exercise and nutrition and if it does, it is extremely hard to hold on to and keep up that intensity.  Utilize things that can help you out and make you make less decisions on things you don't need to.

We are here to help so please reach out with questions if they ever come up.

Mobility Monday: Chair of Death Mobility Drills

We are big on sitting as little as you can to make sure your body doesn’t lock up and tighten down.  For this one we dug back into the Mobility WOD archives to find some of the basic yet highly effective mobility drills to help reverse the effects of sitting down.  These are great ideas and easy to implement to make sure you decrease the risk of hip pain and even low back pain that you don’t need.  

Things It Helps: 
-Hip Pain
-Low Back Pain
-Chronic Pain of Sitting

Mobility Monday: Lower Body Mobility Routine-Squat/Deadlift

In a recent posts we took a look the squat vs. the deadlift and how it can affect the body overall.  That has profound effects on your programming for training but in order to make sure that you are ready to do all those squats and deadlift.  This is a good and solid routine to follow in order to get full mobility.

Things It Helps:
-Deadlift Form
-Squat Mobility
-Full Hip Mobility