Want to know the best book buy I've ever made? Well, let me narrow that down a bit, because, well, I've bought some pretty great books. So, best fitness book I own . . . this one! When you assert being the "Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance" you've got my attention. Honestly though, this was not a book I just happened upon. Kelly Starrett is a renowned movement specialist I followed for quite a while for making this book buy. I respect his approach to movement - locating the source of problems and mechanical break down above shouting corrective cues and expecting solutions. This book does not disappoint as he has loaded the pages with a hefty dose of his knowledge. It is written in a straight forward terms, so you don't have to be a specialist to understand what he's talking about. They couple the simple language with photos of movement to assist in understanding the content. 99% of us could stand to move better. Healthy movement helps us to prevent injury. The bulk of the time I hear an athlete express discomfort or pain in a movement we are able to break that movement down and uncover how ineffective mechanics are causing improper loading of the body and thus stressing the body during said movement. For instance, low back stress or pain during a deadlift. Mechanically we are not loading the back in the deadlift, it is not made to apply force in order to move a mass. However, our legs are created to lever and lift. Being able to properly engage our bodies in any movement translates into safe mechanics - which means reduced risk of injury. KStar covers the basics of proper execution of the most common movements we use in the garage. He explains proper mechanics of these movements, how to apply force/torque throughout the movement, and common faults with corrections. In addition to explaining proper techniques, this book also provides great mobility work. Mobility is like lubing the engine to keep things functioning properly. This is especially important when we work in strength movement as the fibers in our muscles want to contract and tighten. Being able to maintain good range of motion is vital to our health. We need to be able to bend over and tie our shoes. We need to be able to reach the top shelf. We need to be able to jump out of the way. You get the picture. We need to be able to bend and stretch around to do normal everyday activities. Additionally, if you don't find yourself with a knot in your thigh or tweak in your shoulder, KStar has packed the pages with options for resolution. Not to mention the handy color coded body you can use to find the solutions your need - anterior and posterior to help you navigate! So, if you're looking to increase your knowledge and add some more tools to your belt you should grab this book. Play with some of his theories, test out some new mobility pieces, see how growing your understanding of movement can increase your physical capacity!
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We can be such a group of people who want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Yet, we seldom show our self the grace we need to make the right choices, the best choices. My question is, when is the last time you took rest? Rest from the grind, the hustle, the work? Do you have relentlessly sore muscles, are you fatigued through the day, do you notice a decrease in the intensity of your workouts as the week progresses? Guess what? You. Need. Rest. However, me telling you that you need rest will never accomplish what actual rest can and will do for you.
We have this tendency to believe that rest is us being a quitter. Or a slacker, or cry baby, or whatever not nice name you call yourself in that conversation. However, I think of rest like giving a dirty baby a nice warm, sudsy bath and then draining off the dirty water, rinsing clean, and moving forward. Quitting, on the other hand, is like giving the dirty baby a nice warm, sudsy bath and then throwing the baby out with the bath water. We wouldn't do that, yet it's what we perceive we're doing when we consider rest. In actuality, rest is simply attending to the needs of the baby. If the baby is dirty, you wash it. You too have needs. Your body has needs. You get tired. You need rest. You are not a quitter. You are a smart person making a solid choice for your body's wellness. As a coach I field all sorts of questions. I thought I'd take some time to answer the most common questions I hear for you . . . the masses.
How many times a week do you workout? This is by far the top question I get. My answer will probably shock you - in the terms you are asking, I workout three times a week. Getting to this number has been a journey for me! When I began going to Quinn's Gym I went twice a week. As I advanced in movement and metabolic capacity I increased my attendance to three times a week, then jumped to five times a week. In the past years, I have spent seasons of working out six days a week or even eight times a week when hitting two-a-days. You probably wonder what has changed that I now only workout three times. Well, I have learned - both through further education and personal experience - that three times a week in the garage is enough. By enough I don't just mean sufficient, I mean it is abundantly enough. Anything over three times a week in the garage and I actually begin to see deterioration in movement and strength gains. I am left zapped and often fighting off perpetual soreness and minor ailments. Three times a week in the garage gives me the chance to train my body in strength movements and cardiovascular capacity so that I can live a full life outside of the gym. I take the time freed up by not being in the gym to do other "workouts" - trail riding, hiking (especially with difficult terrain), and trail running are a few of my favorite activities outside of the garage. Getting to this number has all been a part of coming back to my goals time and time again and asking the question, am I making choices to have the life I want? Are my routines building up or destroying my quality of long-term wellness? When I realized my workouts were not aiding, but actually tearing me down I had to take an honest look at my approach. What do you do for workouts? A typical day in the garage looks like any day in a Frank Fitness class or personal session. Two of my three days I do strength work - which varies based on the strength cycle I'm in. Right now I'm doing a Front Squat and Shoulder Press cycle. Then, the third day, I'll pick a strength move of choice for "fun" - it could involve the barbell, kettlebells (like Turkish Getups), or even bodyweight work (like pull-ups or push-ups). Once the strength piece is finished I hit a good conditioning set. My aim is to keep things fresh and varied - both in duration and movement. One day I aim for a sprint workout (6-12 minutes), another falls in the mid-range (12-18 minutes), and then one endurance workout (18-30 minutes). All these choices help me stay strong, heart healthy, and fully functioning. How much sleep do you get? I preface this with, everybody's body is different and as such sleep needs vary. The important thing is giving your body the opportunity to show you how much it sleeps. This means getting to sleep early enough to allow yourself to wake up on your own accord (i.e. without an alarm) for a couple weeks. A challenge for sure, but worth it! I have found that I need nine hours of sleep - which obviously falls on the longer side. However it is what I need to function well, so I make a concerted effort to get my 9 hours every night. When I don't get them all in, I try to make time in my day somewhere to compensate. What does your nutrition look like? My goal is to keep it as simple as possible. The reality is, in addition to being a coach, I am a busy mom. My diet consists of whole foods and my aim is to keep processed food out of my belly as much as possible. I try to fill myself with so much goodness that I'm not hungry for junk. That said, I do eat foods many people dub as "bad" foods. I like a bit of dairy (mainly Greek yogurt, cream, butter, and a tiny bit of cheese), I eat some grains (I have a French toast weakness and I enjoy good granola in my yogurt), and I definitely partake in Peanut Butter M&M's and Twizzlers (especially when they're fresh)! These are exceptions though, not the rule. My diet is dictated by eating foods that sustain my body's nutritional needs (not just building muscle but, even more importantly, healthy functioning organs). This necessitates lots of healthy carbs - fruits and vegetables - to get the natural (not fortified) vitamins and minerals I need. A normal day might look like this:
And while this isn't a common question, it is a common response after these questions, so let's address it . . . Wow, that's great for you, that would never work for me! Actually, you're wrong (insert bomb drop). I know it's scary to deviate from what you've been told and believe. However, have you ever asked yourself why you believe what you do about how fitness is achieved? If you really boil it down, it is the fitness industry. Their job is to sell you fitness, therefore it is an industry. By nature, industry's motive is making bank. What happens is, instead of assessing the reality of what we are experiencing (feeling overworked, broken down, stressed out, and insufficient), we keep believing what we're being told. If we will consume more we will be happier and better off. In this case, if we add protein shakes, recovery supplements, and more workouts then we will finally reach our destination . . . majestic unicorn. However, if we dare to quit buying into the industry we might see we've been caught in a sneaky little rat race. We might realize we don't need protein shakes and supplements to aid recovery! We really just need a day or two of rest! We might understand that chasing the #fitspo is perpetuating the nagging feeling that we are insufficient. The belief that if we sweat more, work harder, and don't give up we will attain our dream body. Does what I say bother you? Does it make you feel like you wouldn't be doing enough? Does it make you roll your eyes at me? Good. Think about that. The truth I have found - through education and experience - is that this rat race lifestyle leaves me worn and, literally at times, broken. My body cannot keep up at those rates. So I have made the conscious choice to choose life. Which has brought me to the answers to above. Got more questions that I didn't address? Or new questions that these thoughts and perspectives made you think of? I'd love to get down to the nitty-gritty with ya! Shoot me a message or find time after class to chat it out! Are you resting? This is your reminder that your body needs rest. This can look like a lot of different things based on the work you've been putting in. Assess your condition and feed your body the rest it needs.
This could be:
Remember that your body needs balance. Just as much as a hard workout can be rewarding, so can a properly placed period of recovery. Treat yourself to both! Recover. Rest. Relax.
Our body needs periods of reprieve. It's a necessary part of growth. If we are pushing full throttle all the time we will end up burnt out and on the road to injury. Our bodies can only endure so much grinding. For the benefit of long-term wellness be certain you maintain a cycle of work and recovery. Hard work is great. Hard workouts are awesome. Tough strength sets are important. Gassing conditioning is crucial. However . . . all of this is in vain if you do not build recovery into your routine. Why? All the grind will wear you down physically and mentally and ultimately lead to injury. So here are a few ideas of ways for you to add recovery:
800m Jog
Then, 5 Rounds 20 Step-ups 10 Plank with Arm Rotation 5 V-ups 400m Jog When I meet a newbie to the garage I can expect one common thing, no matter the person, they expect me to make them better. It doesn't matter where they come from, how old they are, what they do, etc. The common thread is that their goal is to improve. The distinction is - improve on what? Let's focus on the part we all have in common though . . . improving.
While the improvement list varies from athlete to athlete, it does not change the singular motivation shared - help me be better. What becomes so important is cutting through what we think we want and getting down to what we actually value. It is our values that will most impact our lifestyle and therefore our ability to create change or improvement. These values, whether we've openly recognized them or not, will have the power to build us into who we're aiming to be or, quite honestly, wreak havoc on any work we're putting in. Let me explain better. You come to the garage and you tell me you want that bikini body by June (you all know who you are). I can set you up on a killer workout program. Shred pounds and build strength to give you that toned look you're thirsting for. However, this is about 4% of your day. So let's think how effective this will be when you skipped breakfast, ate a donut with a latte at 10am, had salad and soda for lunch, grabbed a pack of peanut M&M's from the vending machine around 3pm (oh and another Diet Coke, you do have to make through the rest of this work day, good grief), come workout, go home and eat dinner (which is chicken and broccoli - we're doing good, right?), and then, after the kids are down you have a glass of wine . . . or maybe two, depends on how easy they went down. That's not all though, now you're going to binge watch your new favorite show which means you finally hit the sack at 12:30am just so you can start this cycle all over at 6am. So go ahead and tell me, how effective do you think that single hour in the garage is going to be for achieving bikini body by June (and I am NOT just talking to the ladies - you gents know who you are with your six pack for summer)? Your values tell me that you don't really care about that goal you told me about. Your values tell me a very different story. Now before you just quit everything because this seems like such a hopeless and deflating post, I want you to pause. I want you to really think about what you value and then determine yourself if your lifestyle properly reflects your values. I'll go first. I value life long wellness. I want to be healthy now and I want to be healthy later. I want to play with my kids, my grandkids, and, if I'm super blessed, even my great grandkids. I want to enjoy life everyday for the rest of my life with my fun loving husband. These things require me to have a healthy functioning body. So, I look at how I am living and ask myself, "am I living into this value?" I am not perfect, hear that first, but high on my priority list to live into this value are: working out, eating well, sleeping plenty, and keeping my stress low. I workout 3-5 times a week completing a strength and conditioning to keep my heart healthy and my body moving well. I eat mainly meat, fruits & veggies, and nuts - I partake in a little grain, a little dairy, and as little sugar (that is not naturally occurring in my food) as possible! I sleep 8-9 hours a night, without question. This keeps stress down and allows me recovery. Also to keep stress down I stay connected to the Lord, exercise, eat well (funny how those jump right back in there), and make effort to have margin in life. I am not saying I do this perfectly all the time. I am saying it is always on my radar. I am always attempting to improve and do it better SO THAT I can feed what I value most! Take some time. Sit down alone and really think about what you want in life. Not a new car, or that fun trip, but how do you want to live. What quality of life do you want to have? Then ask yourself, are you really doing what you need to do to achieve and sustain that? |
AuthorMy name is Tiffany and I am the owner and trainer at Frank Fitness, a garage gym. I provide workouts to increase/maintain cardiovascular wellness and build strength. My goal is to help athletes maintain life-long wellness. Archives
January 2018
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