Flexibility v Mobility + Consistency Over Intensity

 Flexibility vs Mobility

This explanation about the difference between flexibility and mobility from Chris Sommer was very good and to the point.

“Flexibility” can be passive, whereas “mobility” requires that you can demonstrate strength throughout the entire range of motion, including the end ranges.”

I find a lot of people say they have to work on their flexibility, which is true a fair amount of the time, but long term what they need is to increase their mobility. After a few weeks of stretching and gaining some flexibility I find they have to get stronger at those end ranges as mentioned above. People tend to over-do the flexibility and neglect the mobility in certain sports. There is an optimal level of flexibility needed for each sport, not a maximal level. Charles Poliquin taught me this a long time ago. For example, a rugby league player needs to be flexible but he doesn’t have to be as flexible as a gymnast.

Related article:

Will strength training affect my flexibility?

Consistency Over Intensity

Chris also has a good saying to remind athletes that adaptation takes time. He says “Slow down. Where’s the fire?” Adaptations from training can take weeks or months of consistent work. Gains don’t come linearly. You may see next to no progress for a while and then all of a sudden your strength seems to go through the roof all of a sudden or you pick up a skill you had been working on for a long time. It is like something just clicks. Sometimes you just have to be patient.

If you rush you increase your risk of injury. You want to coax the body into building strength or muscle mass not force it. So from one workout to the next we may only increase the load by 1kg but it doesn’t matter you are still adapting and making your way towards your goal. By doing this consistently you can maintain technique and eventually you will have increased the load significantly. If you add 5kg to the bar each workout it will not take very long before you are grinding reps, hitting a plateau, and injuring yourself.

Ed Coan spoke of this at great length in a seminar when talking about longevity in powerlifting. It also applies to other sports. Basically what he said was you can have a long career through making gradual progress from session to session and comp to comp or you can go crazy, train 3 times a day, get really quick results, but only have a short career because you have ruined your body and can’t do your sport anymore.

Weekly Education Review

 Each week our coaches learn about certain topics which we then discuss as a group. This week:

Milenko soft tissue:

Milenko spoke about why using a trigger point combined with movement of the muscle works better to release the tissue you are targeting. This is what Kelly Starrett would call "Smash and Floss".

You apply pressure to an area of painful tissue and move the limb around in all different directions, through as much range as possible. It is like you are trying to perform your own version of Active Release Technique (ART) or trigger point therapy.

The movement is trying to "unglue" the deep mechanical restrictions of the tissue and restore the sliding surfaces.

Sarah sleep:

Sarah gave us a good review of what she learned about sleep.

• You should try to keep your circadian rhythm – this is achieved by waking with the sun and going to bed a couple of hours after it goes down.

• Manage light exposure – get blue light in the morning to wake you up / become alert. Early sun exposure is really good. Block blue light of a night to help prepare for sleep. Light sensors in the eye will be tricked by blue light into thinking it is still daytime. Blue light will suppress melatonin, which is a hormone that helps us fall asleep.

• Sleep improves your memory. If you learn something and then sleep or nap afterwards you will retain more information.

• Sleeping pills can be addictive. You also don’t go through all the sleep stages, so it isn’t quality sleep.

Some other circadian resets are the timing of your meals and exercise.

A good book on circadian rhythm is the circadian code by Sachin Panda https://www.amazon.com.au/Circadian-Code-weight-supercharge-energy/dp/1785042017/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1599944691&sr=8-1

The best book on sleep is Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep in my opinion. It explains the why’s and links poor sleep to so many health concerns. https://www.amazon.com.au/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=matthew+walker&qid=1599944812&sr=8-1

Some articles on sleep we have put on the site:

https://www.totalhealthperformance.com.au/post/2017/01/17/sleep-and-memory

https://www.totalhealthperformance.com.au/post/2017/08/01/sleep-more-to-increase-speed-and-performance

https://www.totalhealthperformance.com.au/post/2017/09/23/keeping-a-regular-sleep-routine-improves-health

https://www.totalhealthperformance.com.au/post/lack-of-sleep-and-it-s-impact-on-hormone-levels

https://www.totalhealthperformance.com.au/post/2018/07/31/sleep-to-lower-your-risk-of-injury

https://www.totalhealthperformance.com.au/post/benefits-of-napping

Toby mechanical advantage technique:

Toby talked about the 1RM front squat straight into the back squat for as many reps as possible.

• This is a way to prolong the time under tension on the muscles.

• It is an accumulation technique for a relative strength phase when done like this. You could use it for relative strength and also functional hypertrophy.

• If you wanted to use it for hypertrophy you could do mechanical advantage drop sets. Basically you take the hardest variation of a lift and then work towards the easiest. An example workout could be:

A1 – Pull Ups – 5 x 6-8, 40X0, 10 seconds rest

A2 – Chin Ups – 5 x max (maybe 1 or 2), 40X0, 10 seconds rest

A3 – Chin Ups Neutral Grip – 5 x Max (maybe 1 or 2), 40X0, 120 rest

Results Matter

 

@darcy.eade has been with us for 2 years now and is by far one of the strongest female athletes in the gym.

She has consistently increased in all her of her lifts while maintain a lean and athletic physique. One of her best lifts being a 115kg deadlift on a podium for 3 reps when she was 13 years old at 57kg body weight.

She is faster on the field and more dominant in tackles.

She achieved her goals through hard work and sacrifice. Most kids won’t be getting up to go to the gym before school, but she does, just like the majority of our junior athletes.

Looking forward to what we can continue to achieve in the future.

#thp#totalhealthperformance#totalhealthperformancecentre#teamthp