You might have noticed those flashy rolls in the cabinet at the whiteboard at 3-2-1 Fit. But what are they actually for?
Foam rolling is done by rolling over a painfull/tight areas to make them relax (or actually, the surrounding fascia), increase blood flow and loosen up the muscle. You can do this either with the foam roller or with something like a tennis ball. It's best comparable with a deep tissue massage, only you get to both do the massaging ánd get the pain. You also save money. Triple win. Multiple studies (including 2 linked below) have shown positive short term effects of foam rolling on strength, flexibility and recovery. The mechanism involved is a relaxation of overtensed muscles, allowing you to move more freely after. The key is not to be a warrior and go above your pain threshold: your body will perceive this as a threat and will not relax at all. The ideal timing would then be right before exercise, to release the tight fascia and move more freely after. Never forget though that an overly tight muscle might just be a way of your body telling you something is wrong. You might be weak or in some areas, causing other areas to pick up the slack. If you need frequent foam rolling before you can get anything done, be sure to see a movement specialist to check where you are lacking. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637917/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4299735/ . New gear at the gym!!! Todays workout is a full body blaster, good luck! I used to do a lot of jump training when I was younger, because I wanted to dunk a basketball 🏀. So Plyometrics was a term I came across very often, in fact, it was probably one of the first things I learned about! Plyometrics is a term that is thrown around very liberally these days. But what exactly is it?
True plyometrics, as they were first introduced by Soviet coaches in the 60’s, are also known as the “shock” methode. By jumping off a height, landing and immediately producing an explosive force afterwards, the muscles are loaded very heavily (this can generate forces up to 3-5 times bodyweight), first in an eccentric and then in a concentric way. By practicing this, the transfer of force becomes quicker, which is a very useful quality for sprinters, jumpers, … and basically any sports that involves these elements. ⚡️ Nowadays, people refer to plyometrics as well for simpler jump exercises such as ladder drills, hops, and other drills where total contact time and transition between eccentric and concentric is much longer. So, who is this for? 📈 This type of training can give very short but intense burst of load, so high level plyometrics are not something I’d recommend to a beginner. You want to be sure your body can handle these high loads first. If you have been exercising injury-free for a while and want to jump higher or sprint faster however, plyometrics can be a great idea for you. Home workout #14! It's only normal that this one is all upper body, since we just went to Fibo :D One of the most popular recent trends in nutrition is definitely intermittent fasting ⏱. This comes down to eating only for a limited time period during the day and fasting for quite a long time after that. Some forms even extend this to not eating for a day, followed by a few days of normal eating. The pattern is clear: prolonged periods of no caloric intake. (note that it does NOT say you should lower total caloric intake per se, but only limit the number of hours you get them in)
Intermittent fasting has been shown to have positive effects 📈on triglyceride levels, cholesterol, blood pressure, hormone levels and overall weight, although the number of available studies so far is very limited (and the number of long term studies is even lower). I have been doing 8/16 (8 hours of eating and 16 of non eating) intermittent fasting now for probably around half a year and after some initial hard days, I must say I’m happy I made the switch. The biggest benefit for me is the mental freedom it gives you in your non-eating periods. You don’t even have to think about eating. I was surprised about how easily I wanted to grab something to nibble (and that was usually not the healthiest thing). Snacking was more programmed in my system than I ever thought. By doing intermittent fasting, those opportunities were severely limited. 🍕🌭🍰 I would recommend this for people who want to lose weight, for the simple reason that the number of hours where you will be allowed to eat are just so much smaller, which will often times result in less calories in and weight loss as a result. Periodization refers to the sequential use of different training stimuli in the shape of exercise selection, volume, intensity, focus and goal of the training, often with the goal of peaking towards a certain competition. By intelligently varying these factors, training results are optimized. 📈
There are different ways of using periodization: - "Traditional linear periodization": training is structured in blocks with different focus points. For example, you would focus 6 weeks on strength endurance, then 6 weeks on maximal strength, and then 4 weeks on power output. Every block builds on the last one. - "Undulating periodization" refers to training where volume and intensity go up and down repeatedly. This can happen on a weekly basis (for example: week 1: squats at 70% all week, week 2: 80%, week 3: 75%, week 4: 85%) or on a daily basis (variation within the week, for example: monday at 80%, friday at 75%) There is mild scientific evidence that periodized training might have benefits over non-periodized training. However, there are some severe limitations to these studies, most notably lack of standardization of overall training volume between compared groups and a limited duration of studies (very few studies go over 12 weeks). So... what does that mean for you? I would not recommend you to do any program that has a periodization approach over 3 months unless you meet the following qualifications: a) ✅ You are in a more advanced training stage and have more problems making improvements. b) ✅ You stick with a program all the way through and don't miss more than 5% of all sessions. There is very little benefit in doing a periodized program where one phase builds on the other, and then quitting after phase 1. c) ✅ You should not be someone who gets bored too often. Periodization may use a lot of the same exercises or focus for multiple weeks. Photo credit to Breaking Muscle Alleen benen werk vandaag! Get ready for some jelly legs! When I was a kid, I would do a lot of push-ups. I’d do 20 one day for a max set, then aim for 21 the next day. I was good at maths, and my 4th grade maths skills lead me to believe that with this 1 repetition increase, I would be able to do 365 more push-ups by next year if I could just stick to the program. Easy. Shows like Dragonball Z only made me believe it more 💪.
Fast-forward to almost 20 years later and I’m not quite there yet. I am such a failure. Why did I not succeed? Wasn’t this the perfect plan on paper? Enter training science 📈. When you start off with strength training, the majority of the initial improvements are neural. You get better coordination in the exercise, learn better what muscles to use, your central nervous system gets triggered to work harder, … This can lead to quick boosts in strength, but they are limited in their potential. True muscle-building takes a little longer to get going. When your neural adaptations don’t give you that weekly strength increase anymore, it’s time for your muscles to actually get stronger. This is a process that’s a lot slower than those first few weeks but has a much higher ceiling. In short: it wasn’t my fault after all: it was a little more complicated than I first thought aged 12. (photo credit from research by Moritani and DeVries) Unless you are thé top expert in a certain area, you are not all-knowing. As a sports professional, I face new problems and questions everyday. And that’s perfectly ok, it would even be strange if I didn’t.
To me, a coach is someone who can guide an individual to a higher level. He/she shows you what to do, why and how. Someone who can bring value to your life. A coach should have a deep understanding of what you want to achieve and the struggles you are going through. The coach has often been through the same issues successfully and wants to share that knowledge with other people. That’s why I choose to be coached myself. I worked with Michaela Breeze not too long ago, and am now on a program by Greg Everett, both high level Olympic weightlifting coaches. I read a monthly newsletter by Jonathan Goodman from the online trainer academy, and today I bought the Precision nutrition education. If you’re not learning on a consistent basis, you are falling behind in an ever-evolving world. Investing in yourself is the best investment you can ever make. |
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