Flexibility and its impact on the body.

The benefits of flexibility training

The word flexibility refers to a joints ability to move through ROM or range of motion. There are a number of benefits that come with having good flexibility. Good flexibility will improve your physical performance, reduce your risk of muscular tears and injury, reduce back pain, improve posture and coordination as well as enhance general well being.

In daily life muscular tension and imbalances may develop which will cause pain and restricted movement. With regular stretching we can improve flexibility and increase your range of motion, softening muscle tissue so that you can function with minimal effort.

Flexibility training can improve your sporting performance and reduce your risk of injury. With less tension in the muscles of your legs, hips and butt and more joint range you will run more efficiently and faster because you will have a greater length of stride. On the rings in gymnastics great flexibility through the lower body will provide less resistance in the legs and hips when attempting a posture like the L hold where the legs are held horizontal while you are supporting your body weight with your upper body. Reduced muscle tension and resistance will result in less chance of over stretching or tearing muscles and tendons. Stretching lengthens muscles and reduces fatigue, which will aid injury prevention.

Lower back pain is such a common problem for people and athletes. However, regular flexibility training of the hips, butt, hamstrings, quadriceps and other muscles attached to the pelvis will reduce the tension and stress placed on your lower back helping you to maintain good posture and body alignment.

Flexibility gains are best achieved after exercise when your muscles are warm. This is the safest time to take your joints and muscles to their maximum range as they are more pliable. After exercise the best form of stretching is static stretching. Static stretching involves elongating the muscles to the point of slight resistance without pain and holding the position for at least 15 seconds or more. Static stretching after exercise can increase the temperature of muscle tissue, which increases circulation, the transport of nutrients and improve recovery.

           

            Not only does flexibility training increase performance and reduce muscle soreness, it is also quite relaxing. With less tension in the body and better circulation you will be feeling happier and healthier all the time. 

October 31 2011 Daily Dose

3 Rounds for time

Run 400m + 50 BW squats + 20 Back extensions

This is a super basic task that anyone from beginner to advanced can complete.

Will take between 6 and 10 minutes for most.

Sitting on the fence of starting exercise

For anyone that is sitting on the fence deciding whether or not to get started in regular exercise I put forward a coin toss. Head you try it and tales you try it. Listen let's be honest what's the worst that could happen. If you aim for steady constant improvement and apply yourself to the daily task you will come away with an improved work capacity. Work capacity is just a fancy way of saying effort. Each session or workout requires a certain amount of effort on your part to complete. The more effort you put in the more effort you have available to you to use in daily life. That's what is so cool about training. By increasing your ability to produce and use energy you are increasing your capacity to run, think, act, work and play to get the most out of your life now and in the future. Fitness is a hopeless word. There are so many different ideas about what fitness actually is. Is it strength is it agility power balance speed endurance and if a sprinter is fit then how does that co
Late to a marathoner. The marathoner has poor power, speed and ability to generate force but can maintain his steady pace of running for hours. Is that fitness?? I personally dont like the word because the meaning is lost. I prefer work capacity. Your capacity to work, be it running, swimming, thinking, cooking entertaining ...whatever it may be comes down to one thing. Your physical capacity to make it happen in the form of skill and energy. Training for improved work capacity will positively impact the quality of your health. It will positively impact the quality of your life and directly affect the intensity, commitment and total involvement of yourself to any particular task. By taking the step toward being active you are making great leaps and bounds in your life and what you can achieve. Start small and build every single day. Every day expose yourself to something that increases your intensity, challenges your ability to apply force, demands more strength speed agility endurance, balance coordination and skill, everyday expose yourself to the true challenges
Of being an athlete and becoming an athlete and open yourself up to a new world of getting more from you. Every day is a brand new day and with every new day comes new opportunity to get more from yourself. I bet you believe there is more you have to offer. Start here now. Make the decision and turn your life towards actively increasing your work capacity!!

Froller magic - foam roller magic

Foam rollers
Wow
What an excellent tool for ironing out some of that nasty tension we get across all areas of the human body. Who would have thought that such a basic tool could extend the spine, massage quads, open the hips, lengthen the deltoids and smooth out the calves and achilles all within about 20minutes. Well they can. 
If you suffer back pain get your self a foam roller. Put it horizontally across your shoulders and roll up and down across each vertebrae creating shape mobility in the spine and getting the knots out of the muscle tissues and fascia across your trunk. This is an awesome thing to do if you have rounded shoulders or simply if you have an office job and sit down in front of a computer all day. 
Roll around on these and knot out any tension in the body. Think of your body and muscles as bands of tension and lengthen them out with your foam roller. I guarantee the purchase and time spent on the roller will dramatically improve your mobility if used properly and regularly

October 25th 2011 - Pull and Rip

Daily Dose

5 Chin ups L hold
5 Handstand Push ups HSPU
5 Squats

Every minute for 30 minutes

October 24th 2011 - Lose that belly

Daily Dose

30 Jack Knife
30 burpees
30 Situps
30 Sec L hold (using chin up bar, hands on ground beside you, parallel bars, kitchen bench, whatever suits)

Burn that tummy ... because the rest of you is aching so your abs may as well join the party :)

October 23rd 2011 - Pump

DAILY DOSE

8 Sets

Squats (heavy) - A weight which allows you to complete between 2-9 repetitions otherwise, too light!

8 Sets 

Bench Press (heavy) - A weight which allows you to complete between 2-9 repetitions otherwise, too light!

October 22nd 2011 - Rest

Take it Lax

No training today as such

Take the time to practise a skill like stability from planking, L holds, experiment with chin up grip or maybe a light day on the rowing machine to get used to a good rythym. Today the training world is your oyster, save some energy for tomorrow though!!

October 21st 2011 - Run ya toosh off

Daily dose

3 rounds for time
400m Sprint + 10 burpees + 30m hill sprint + 30 sit ups

Quote Game

"You don't get paid for the hour, you get paid for the value you bring to the hour"

Guess who??

October 20th 2011 - pull pull pull

Daily Dose

7 rounds (1 minute break between rounds)

-7 rope ascents with L hold Posture (15ft rope)

Rest and complete interval training

5 rounds no rest
- Sprint 1 minute jog 2 minutes holding 3kg Med ball

October 19th 2011 - Calistenics

Push up practise.

20 push ups in as many varieties as you can create.

-Incline, Decline, One Arm, One leg, Knees and palms, knuckles, toes on gym ball, toes on med ball, inverted, inverted on bricks, legs wide, legs close, Palms wide, palms close, Clap, One arm on step, palms on med balls etc

Get creative and beat that nasty fatigue barrier!!

Total 300 Push ups

Achieving your goals

A friend of mine set out to improve his fitness and cardio health a little over 3 months ago. He and a mate decided that they would start running together and set out to run every tuesday and thursday together. After a few weeks It was put to my attention that my friend thought I was too fit and to fast to ever want to run with him. This was ridiculous and we set a day to run together the following week and discussed some of his goals, ambitions and reasons for making such a change in his life.

October 18th 2011 - Rest

Why does food and drink have to be a picture of a cheese burger and soft drink. Has the world really come to this that the link we have to food is best captured by a picture of junk. Surely there are better choices!


ANYWAY
Take a chill pill Bill and put ya feet up!

October 16th 2011 - Ladder of Presses

Daily Dose

LADDER CLIMB - Climb as many rung of the ladder as you can. Climb the first rung of the ladder by completing 1 rep of both exercises. Then complete 2 reps of each. 3 reps of each...Continue this for as many rounds/ rungs as possible. 

Record time and Ladder rungs.

Bench Press 150lbs

Handstand Push up

Alternatively

Push up

Shoulder press ( A weight that is challenging to you)

October 17th 2011 - Time Trial

Daily Dose

6km run for time - Get a PB on your last attempt or set yourself a target and record it!!

GOOD LUCK

October 15th 2011 - TABATA

Daily Dose

TABATA - 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for each exercise.

Complete 8 sets

Jack knife
Lunge jumps
double unders
KB Squats

(KB = Kettle Bell, You can use a dumbbell or any weighted object you like. Choose a weight that will be challenging and stretch your limits)

October 14th 2011 - Rest n Reco

Take a day to rest

October 13 2011 - partner workout

5 rounds

Piggy back sprints 100m
30 pushups

3 minutes rest between rounds

Record each rounds time and post to site and feel free to discuss the workout Nd any challenges you had completing today's workout. All feedback and discussion regarding the site is welcomed!

What motives you to be active ...

I like to be active because I love the feeling of having energy when I need it. I like to feel strong and feel power in my body to lift, to help others with daily tasks and to for the physical benefits that come with good strength. 

WHAT IS IT  FOR YOU??

October 12 2011...speed vs endurance

400m run
50 bw squats
50 sit ups

1 round

October 11th 2011 - Don't burp at the dinner table

5 rounds

200m sprint
6x burpees
6x sit ups

October 10th 2011 - Great stint of training

AWESOME TRAINING OVER THE LAST 5 DAYS

You have well and truly earned yourselves a rest day to relax and let the body grow stronger fitter and faster.

Rest days help to repair muscle tissue and to restore normal function of the body. Giving your body a rest from lifting weights and pounding the pavement will aid strength gains, muscle development and give rest to weary muscles, joints and nerves.

Enjoy yourself

If your like me.... you would rather be training...I get the itch to do something tough but forced rest is necessary at times.

October 9th - Row happy

Skills Training

Dead Lift (play around with increasing loads and intensity whilst keeping perfect technique)

8,8,7,7,6,5,4,3

Chin ups

8 rounds of max reps (play around with grips wide/close/under/over)

Daily Dose

3 rounds for time

Repetitions of 21/15/9 (For the push ups and box jumps)

300m Row

Push up w/Toes on box

Box jumps with dumbbells


Record your time in comments!!

October 8th 2011- clean and jerk that kettle

5 rounds for time

200m sprint
6 kettle bell clean and jerks
6 chin ups from dead hang

Post time and weight to comments

October 7th 2011 - Short Circuit

20 Chin ups

19 Squats 20kg

18 Chin ups

17 Squats 20kg

16 Chin ups

15 Squats 20kg

14 Chin Ups

13 Squats 20kg

12 Chin ups

11 Squats 20kg

10 Chin ups

9 Squats 20kg

8 Chin ups

7 Squats 20kg

6 Chin ups

5 Squats 20kg

4 Chin ups

3 Squats  20kg

2 Chin ups

1 Squat 20kg

Record your time + tell me what the workout felt like... If you are reading these and not attempting them you are wasting your time. Get out there and CRANK IT OUT.

Good Attitude and Good luck

October 6th 2011 - Skippy the bush Kangaroo

7 rounds

1 minute x Bench press 50% of 1RM 

(1 Repetition Maximum = the most weight you can press once)

30 Bench jumps
40 Double knee jumps
50 Double unders

Strength training benefits - Reason 6

Increased bone mineral density

Strength training put demand on your bones in 2 ways. The direct stress that is applied to the bones and the pressure from the muscles growing and working creates tension on the bones. This causes the bone to lay down minerals and will over time increase the density and health of your bones. Adults lose bone density at a rate of around 2 percent every decade however with strength training you can reverse this by stimulating the production of minerals.

October 5th 2011 - mid section

Back extensions x 40
L hold chin ups x 40
Back extensions x 30
L hold chin ups x 30
Back extensions x 20
L hold chin ups x 20
Back extensions x 10
L hold chin ups x 10

(load up with 10kg ankle weights)

October 4th Rrrr

Rest up

TrickyFit Daily Dose: Scaling Daily Dose

TrickyFit Daily Dose: Scaling Daily Dose: Daily Dose is functional fitness prescription programmed for advanced athletes however anyone can do it and the results are yours to gain. ...

October 3rd 2011 - Heavy

Dead walk

2,2,2,2,2,2,2

60 seconds rest between sets

Dead walk 4x 100m 60 seconds rest between sets

Dead walk/ Farmers walk involves carrying a heavy load in each hand and walking as fast as you can with the load for the required distance. You can use a heavy dumbell, kettle bell, sand bag, concrete bag, car tyre  whatever works for you.

October 2 2011 power through

24, 18, 12

30kg lunge + rotations
50kg thrusters

October 1 2011 - pump

Today's workout is

100 double unders
100 chin ups
100 dead lifts @ 40% of 1RM
100 sit ups