Fair weather rider/runner?

We hear you, onto the treadmill or turbo trainer it is then…. Or is it?

Often, we can fall into trying to replicate our outdoor activities inside, without it hitting the right spot. There are both obvious and subtle differences:

• Treadmill/Turbo doesn’t move
• Variances in undulation can’t be replicated
• Scenery and weather
• Milestones in distance

We could look at these in the negative, however it gives us some clues to how to structure our training in a way that supports our love of the outdoor training life.

Perhaps working on our speed, hill work or introduce a different protocol, such as intervals. Maybe introducing a different piece of equipment, such as the rower?

How about working to a specific heart rate range? – this could be as simple as limiting our heart to a particular zone and building speed and endurance in that zone?

Speaking of endurance, we can look at understanding more of how our body reacts in a much more controlled environment, with the bonus of being able to stop and not worrying about how far away from home we are!

Using the equipment to its strengths will allow us to build a stronger platform over the colder months, increasing our outdoor performances once fairer weather returns.

A quick example:

Sprints outdoors – we can sprint between point a and b, we can measure the time and the splits, perhaps even our heart rate. However, instant feedback is still difficult to manage and most of the time we are going to be reviewing these metrics post activity.

Sprints indoors – speed and time can be made constant, allowing us to replicate the same reps consistently, whilst focusing on heart rate, the inverse of that, focusing on heart rate and improving distance or speed.

Changing the routine can enable new targets to be set, moving the needle from ‘argh indoor time’ to ‘how am I progressing?’.

We should also consider cross-training, building up areas to support our outdoor activities, this could be resistance training or class based – we’ll touch on these over the next couple of weeks.

Need some help transitioning from outdoors to indoors? – speak to a member of Team SF to see how we can help make your indoor training more interesting and relevant – info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

I’m healed, I feel like a million pounds, let me at it!

Following on from a couple of weeks ago when we covered adapting workouts, there isn’t a magic point in time when we go straight back to our previous workouts or even workload.

There is a gradual transition, as we rehab, we start to gain strength, movement and mobility. It can be easy to make some steps forward and then think let’s go!

When working through injuries with individuals, we should ensure that progress is repeatable, can we undertake the same action in the next 2 workouts?

We all have those sessions where we feel amazing, it’s safer in the long run to confirm improvement, even if this seems like we are making the overall process longer.

It’s very similar to when we first started working out, does the weight feel easy for 2 sessions in a row? – wicked let’s add a bit more on.

The phrase slow and steady wins the race is a good rule of thumb here, imagine our rehab being a battery that’s at 50%, slow and steady allows us to work up in small increments. Maybe that’s 1% each week, its small tests of the affected area, rather than 10% jumps (and no jokes about fast charging).

Recognising that repair entwines movement, balance, strength and mobility.

For example, a torn muscle may be repaired, however re-introduction of the full range of movement with a load needs to be re-established.

So, what I am saying in short?

Take your time, an extra couple of weeks will pay off in the long run and leave the affected area in a much stronger position than if we try to max it out.

Lastly, when mentioning strength, mobility, movement and balance we should consider that whilst they are connected, we may need to focus on one of these to enable progress with the others.

On the face of it, reintegration can seem complicated – it doesn’t need to be, if you would like some help with getting back into exercise following an injury or are currently building your exercise volume back up and have questions ask a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

This is an interesting subject! There are a lot of conflicting thoughts regarding this topic but let’s have a look through. 

Most people’s first thought would be to reduce the calorie intake as they aren’t working out or being anywhere near as active as they were pre-injury, however, when injured, the body’s natural processes kick into a higher gear, and a body busy with recovery consumes more energy than a body at rest.  Drastically cutting your calorie intake can hinder the recovery process, slowing down recovery and prolonging the return to working out or the person’s sport. 

For injured people who are given crutches as an aid, the effects are multiplied. Anyone who has used these before will agree, using crutches wear you out! Weary shoulders and arms are an expression of the demand that crutches put on you.  

When using crutches your energy expenditure is much higher than walking, as you must stabilise all the way through your shoulders and arms.  

Whether you are using crutches or not, fewer calories mean a drop in strength or power. 

From a metabolic point of view (the amount of energy required to maintain tissue) you could class muscle as a very high-priced plot of land.  

If you cut too many calories, muscle is one of the first things you lose, it is better to monitor the injured persons weight fluctuations rather than the number of calories they consume. It could be said that it is better to retain as much muscle mass as possible, even if you put on one or two pounds.  

So, what are the best nutritional facts for gym goers who are recovering from injury? 

Eat a well-balanced diet, with a huge emphasis on fruit and vegetables. The dietary requirements you follow when you are training are just as important when you are recovering from an injury. 

I can guarantee most people will look for a magic nutritional fact sheet for when they are injured, trust me, in a blind panic, I did, I must’ve researched every nutritional book, website and revisited all of my initial training but it simply comes back to the same principles as when they are training – a well-balanced diet. 

If you are used to undertaking high intensity training, then you will probably find you eat a lot of carbohydrates, so your breads and potatoes, which the body rapidly burns when taking part in HIIT training. When you are injured, you don’t need quite as many as when you were training, instead, swap and focus on healthy proteins.  

Higher amounts of protein, like what you would be consuming if you were undergoing intense training, help retain muscle mass, so make sure your diet includes lots of chicken, poultry, fish, lean beef, and try to cut back on the bread and potatoes. 

Keeping hydrated is still super important. Injured people won’t sweat as much as people in training, and they might not think about the importance of maintaining their hydration levels. But as a key component to overall general health, it is still recommended that injured people remain conscious about remaining hydrated. 

Don’t look for a magic pill.  

Super doses of vitamins and minerals or anti-inflammatories don’t necessarily speed up the healing process. The initial inflammation that accompanies injury, in fact, serves as a catalyst for the body’s healing process, so the introduction of large quantities of anti-inflammatories can deter, rather than encourage, healing, obviously, always follow your GP/Healthcare Providers/Physios recommendations.  

As frustrating as it may be, and believe me, I know how frustrating it is, the best course is the steady and sensible approach, not an overnight quick fix. 

Give the body the building blocks it needs, eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats, and be sure that you’re consuming enough calories to support the healing process. From there, add in appropriate rehab exercises and let the body do what it does best! 

For more information on nutrition and calorie intake when injured, speak to a member of Team SF. Info@spikefitness.co.uk or call 07597215652 

One of the most difficult parts of working out when injured (or when returning from injury) is not measuring ourselves against the pre-injury workouts. Second to that is finding the limits of our current level of ability.

Often, we can undertake a workout feeling like a million dollars only to find after the workout that we may have overcooked it, this can easily lead to further disheartening.

Identifying movements that we can perform is key, mixing these with any prescribed exercises (from physio, consultant etc.). The idea here is that we can still perform exercises to our pre-injury level whilst interspersing our rehab exercises.

When looking at the volume and intensity for our workouts, we should look to build this up slowly and in line with our rehab, it’s better to leave feeling we had some more in the tank and be ready to go the next day than push a little too hard and be both uncomfortable and unable to work out the next day.

Trying to cover all permutations here would make this very long and possibly a tad boring, instead let’s look at some themes towards these:

• Identify rehab exercises – these will normally be prescribed, this could be from a sports masseuse, physio, consultant etc.
• Understand what body parts we can continue to train – if we have a lower limb injury, what can we do with our upper body, do we have any areas which we could improve?
• Find a way to integrate our rehab exercises – where do they fit, how often can we undertake them, do we require any specific equipment?
• Consistency beats intensity – day by day, week by week gradual improvements will have you back faster than trying to jump back into it too fast.
• Knowing when to start transitioning – so we are feeling good, time to hope back into our previous program right, maybe not straight away – another topic and one for later in the month! – oh exercise cliff hanger….

Exercising whilst injured can seem confusing, daunting, or just complicated! However, it can be done and there are normally lots of alternative exercises you can undertake – some you may even like and keep doing post rehab.

If you would like some help with working through an injury, pop us a message 07597 215652 or email info@spikefitness.co.uk

Where do I start on this one!!!! 

There are so many different responses to an injury, and everyone has different coping strategies when it comes to dealing with an injury. Some of the main emotional responses to an injury are: sadness, being super frustrated, feelings of isolation, feeling a loss of identity, lack of motivation, sleep disturbance and anger. 

These are to be expected when you are not doing the things you love to do, no different to taking a child into the sweet shop and telling them they aren’t allowed any sweets! 

I could waffle on for hours about the psychological effects of having an injury, but I shall try and keep it to the point, look at a few of the above topics and finish with some coping strategies that have helped me and may help you, if you ever suffer an injury. 

Anger and frustration – oh boy, the anger that comes with it! Constantly saying to yourself, ‘why did this happen to me?’ ‘If only I had done x, y & z’, even blaming everyone around you for something that is no one’s fault apart from just a bit of bad luck!  

This goes hand in hand with being super super frustrated at not being able to do the things you love to do or lift the weights you know you are capable of lifting pre-injury. If you have a group of friends who you train in the gym with or if you are in a sports team and all of your friends are training, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing everyone else doing all the things you wish you were doing.  

Take an athlete for example, their life normally revolves around training, matches, events and competitions, which means the majority of their social circle will be involved in the sport they are currently unable to do! This can lead to a loss of identity and feelings of isolation, this can lead onto a huge lack of motivation, with one of the most common phrases being said to yourself ‘what’s the point?’  This can have a huge impact on your recovery, as the lack of motivation will prolong how long you are out of the game for.  

This can also be the case for someone that just enjoys a workout. As we have touched on in previous articles and social posts, exercise is a great stress reliever, so when you have had a bad day there is nothing better than hitting the gym or smashing out a workout to relieve the stress of that day! So, what do you do if you can’t do that? You then become stressed out after your day at work, stressed at the fact you can’t work out and even more stressed that you’re stressed in the first place, and it is just a huge ball of stressy mess! This can then hinder your recovery, you could start feeling more fatigued, have sleep disturbances, muscle aches and pains, chest pains and high blood pressure, in other words potentially undoing all the good you were doing when you were working out!  

So, what can we do about all the emotions that you feel with an injury? 

Firstly, know that what you are feeling is totally normal, and it is important not to block those feelings out. Don’t hold them in, talk to people about how you are feeling. 

Having been through injuries recently and still undoing treatment for them, I have been through every emotion listed above and still am in a way.  

For me personally, social support is the key! To have people that just got it! They knew how I was feeling, and they have done every possible to get me through it, even when you have a severe lack of motivation, you are angry AT THEM for no other reason than for just being angry and frustrated at the fact you can’t do everything you could a few weeks or months ago. However, it is these people that will get you through.  

If you are in a sports team or an athlete and your life revolved around training and competitions, there is no reason why you can’t go along to the training sessions, you may not be able to do any sport specific training, but there is nothing stopping you doing your rehab exercises, or other types of training that could help with your chosen sport with your friends and teammates, this will give you back your identity that you feel like you lost, and you are still socialising with your friends, so no longer feeling so isolated, so when they talk about something that happened in training you won’t be missing out as you were there just not doing the same drills as them. Same with the gym or workouts, fitness facilities can be a very social place, even though you can’t go in and do your original workout, why not go in and do your rehab exercises or if you have an injury to the lower extremities, why not work on your upper body and vice versa (it is always best to speak to a specialist to ensure the exercise you will be doing will not affect your injury or find out what adaptions you could use). It is only going to benefit you in the long run by speeding up your recovery.  

There are so many other options to help you on the road to recover as well, including: 

Realistic goal setting – focus on setting small goals to get you to your main goal, which is ultimately the conclusion of rehab! Focus on physical goals, psychological goals, performance goals, split these into daily goals (i.e. rehab exercises which need to be completed).  

Be optimistic – this can be the hardest to get your head around – accept the new norm, at least temporarily, redirect the time you spent working out on to your rehab exercises, eat right, keep your diet in check, you might not be burning as many calories as you were when you were at full fitness (more to come on this in the coming weeks), don’t obsess over lost results which is very hard to do when you can see no light at the end of the tunnel, however, there is a light no matter how dull or how far away it seems, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.  

Focus on the present – OK, so you can’t work out at the moment, or lift the weights you were lifting, so what can you do today? You could do your rehab exercises, you can ensure your diet is on point, meal plan for the next week. Focus on what you can control. 

Accept help and support – talk to the people closest to you, tell them how you are feeling, they may not be able to fix your injury, but they can be a shoulder to cry on, or they can be the listening ear that you need! You never know they may have been through something similar, and you didn’t know about it! 

If you need any help or advice on how to cope with a sports injury, or need adaptions to your current workouts to enable you to recover from your injury, speak to a member of Team SF: info@spikefitness.co.uk 

Rehab or even prehab, (more on that later), often conjures thoughts of physio based exercise (nothing wrong with these) and a break from training which, let’s face it, kinda feels like someone’s pulled the exercise mat from under us. 

Whilst a lot will depend on the extent of the injury, there will still be other options that we can pursue, with the right planning, we can use this time to work on other areas, movements and strengthening the underlying architecture of our bodies. 

The prime driver may be to rehabilitate the original injury, however, we have an opportunity to look into the surround area’s, work on them and develop a more cohesive setup. 

A quick couple of examples before I get too carried away: 

Shoulder rehab – one of the most common, are we looking into how the lats, pec’s and mid back are integrating with the shoulder movements or were we just expecting the shoulder to take all the heat? 

Knee rehab – how are the quads and hamstrings supporting the movements, do we have good mobility/flexibility within hip to allow them move properly and support the knees, have we strengthened our calves to provide stability from beneath? 

One of the key assessments is to look above and below the problem area, what caused the area in question to have to take that force, now I’m not saying that it’s always the case, however, through working with individuals, I’ve found that identifying how to strengthen the surrounding (and supporting) area’s always helps to reduce the load and come back stronger. 

A few weeks ago, we were looking at training for performance, I mentioned accessory work, this can also form our own little prehab section (for those who have an accessory program from me, its already in there!). 

In the case of deadlifts, we may choose a few movements with a lighter weight where we look at a single part of the movement, for example deficit deadlifts (we stand on a plate with the bar at normal height increasing the depth required to start the movement), this assists with breaking the weight off of the ground, it also adds overload (hence the lighter weight) to the posterior chain strengthening it at an angle of attack greater than that of the required movement. 

Prehab can also be introduced in a warmup, or as a working set within a workout, for example, using resistance bands to warm shoulders up before a workout, regardless of the type of workout making it second nature and continuously topping it up. During a workout, we may use hip circle or slingshot to have a focus on correct form. 

Circling back to rehab, when considering what to include: 

• Ensure that we are following any direct medical advice we have received (i.e. Dr or Physio, not Dr Google),  
• If we are clear to start working the area again, have we included exercises that support that area. 
• Have we established how to warm the area up correctly and using this to create good form. 
• Remember to start out light, it’s easy to add weight as we progress. 
• Be symmetrical (if it’s a sided rehab) whilst we are improving, it would be silly not to take precaution on the other side. 
• Listen to our bodies, there are many things that can influence a workout, such as hydration, nutrition how sedentary we have been and many more 

We always want to be back to fighting fit asap, we want you back as quickly as possible AND stronger than before, it just might take a little bit more time than we’d like, but better a few extra weeks than having to take backwards steps. 

Need help with improving mobility and strength after an injury, or just want to double-check you’re on the right track? – give a member of Team SF a shout, info@spikefitness.co.uk 

We may have mentioned in previous posts that resistance training can help with retaining muscle as we age.…. 

The facts are there for us all and the more we research, the more concrete the evidence gets, this doesn’t mean we all need to switch to a bodybuilding program! 

The types of training for each individual will differ, the volumes and intensity also. The underlying logic however is the same for most: 

• What do we want to continue doing? 
  • What shapes does this involve 
  • What movement patterns 
  • Is there anything we are starting to struggle with 

We can pick some easy ones to start: 

Want to carry on running: 

• Basic ankle, knee and hip stability work 
• Strengthening of the lower limbs and posterior chain 
• Core work 
• Working on maintaining our cardiovascular system 

The mix of these might change as we continue to age, however, creating a solid foundation will enable us to continue running with the same level of enjoyment. 

It’s often surprising how ‘little’ gym work is needed when programmed correctly, after all, if we enjoy a certain exercise, we should program around that rather than try to overengineer the resistance side. 

Overall weight lifting can (kind of) take a back seat, I say kind of, as whilst we may not be chasing a 1 rep max, often we find the volume of weight is higher than expected, it’s just over a number of sets and reps. 

Leg press could be a good example of this: 

3 sets of 5 at 150kg = 2250kg 

3 sets of 15 at 75kg = 3375kg 

We could argue over the difficulty of both, however, in the second set, we are in the endurance range, and it would still have a positive effect on our muscles. 

We also reduce the risk profile of the exercise whilst still providing stimulus to the muscles, ensuring they are still working and keeping them ready for the work! 

Progress would be slower, however, if we are in it for the long game, how fast should progress be? 

With such a wide scope of reasons, everyone would be at very different places, spaces and needs. As such, let’s look at some common shapes: 

Sitting > standing 

Standing > stepping 

Sit to stand (or stand to sit) is our basic squat movement, we hinge on average 100 times a day which is a lot, we should probably make this movement bulletproof right? 

Do we want to be able to get in and out of a chair without holding on? 

Whilst talking about hinging, standing and stepping is next inline, how many times do we step upstairs, curbs, ledges, steps etc? – no figure for this one, so let’s just say a lot! 

Do we want to be able to climb stairs without holding the banister? (Banisters are an important safety feature, arguably completing the overall look of a stair case) 

As a bonus one, getting in and out of the car, combo of both.  

All of the above movements or shapes require: 

• Strength 
• Balance 
• Tension 
• Flexibility 

Movements we take for granted, whilst everything is in good shape, they can start to become more and more difficult, training to keep them easy should be a given 

If you would like more information on how to incorporate longevity into your current workouts, or if you have some areas you would like to improve, see how we can help you – info@spikefitness.co.uk 

Training for strength could, and often is, interlinked with performance, as naturally the feats people wish to achieve are by definition an increase in performance. 

Strength is a vast topic, and one that deserves a spot on its own. 

Climbing stairs without holding onto the rail, standing up without assistance all fall under this banner, without the underlying strength they do not happen. 

Lifting a heavy weight off of the floor, through the air or above your head also require underlying strength, the process, movements and programming may differ, however, the outcome is still one of increased strength. 

Strength also means many things: 

• Lifting a heavy object for a single rep – probably the most well known strength feat. 
• Completing a series (or set) of lifts for an amount of reps or time equally requires strength, for example 10 pull-ups in a row. 

Much like performance, we need to look at the overall goal, the difference is, in performance we would use strength to support the goal, here strength is the goal. 

A quick example, for a swimmer, squats provide a mechanism to improve the leg and core strength, which is used to improve the force produced when pushing off a block or the wall. We are interested in increasing the force production, not the amount that the individual can move for a single rep. 

When programming for a single heavy squat, we would work on all the supporting mechanics to condition the body for that single heavy movement. 

The program needs to work on all the subsystems the body needs to support that single movement. This may include variations of the movement, overloading of particular sets of muscles, and building tolerances to holding/supporting heavier weights. 

We often talk about knowing how much something weighs. 

100kg is 100kg, right? 

It feels different when it’s on your back vs being pulled from the floor, and very different to pressing it when you are led down on a bench! 

Conditioning our bodies to this requires programming in a fashion that keeps high tolerances whilst also giving the body appropriate rest time, or de-loads as we call them. 

We can’t continue to just get stronger and stronger, unfortunately! 

As such, we need to consider each part of the movement, using deadlift as an example, consider how can we improve: 

• Breaking of the weight from the ground, including bracing and creating tension within the body. 
• Transition past the knees, keeping that tension, ensuring the movement of our knees and hips is in sync. 
• Locking out (and looking like a boss) at the top 

Without a strong starting position, we would not get to pulling past the knees and thus an efficient lockout would not enter the equation – it’s the culmination of all parts that make the whole. 

Whilst this is simplified as everything from breath control, grip, foot position, alignment and many more factors become critical to success, the heavier the weight the more each of these areas require individual attention to ultimately create the singular feat. 

Training for strength rewards us for improving lots of different areas of a single action over a longer period of time.  

If you are interested in how we can improve your strength in a particular movement, or set of movements, pop us an email with what you want to improve – info@spikefitness.co.uk

We’ve ventured down this alley before, whilst this does include those who are training for competitive sport, it also very much covers those training for a specific purpose, be that an event or a certain goal. 

The goal could be anything, the key to remember here is that whilst the social world will have us believe that we should be able to deadlift 500kg, whilst doing a handstand push-up with weighted vest on, the reality is, any goal we set requires us to improve our performance in that given area. 

Ran a 5k and want to do a 10k – need to improve running performance 

Want to be able to do a single leg squat – improve leg strength and balance  

There are many many others that would make my word count look impressive, however we shall press on! 

The key to training for performance is to understand the desired outcome, from there all associated areas can be analysed and a plan produced (first draft, no plan survives first contact!)

In previous posts, we have talked about performance improvement, how to mix in supporting activities and the need to ensure we look after our bodies by stretching them out. If you would like to read them (or refresh yourself), they are on the site, under the blog. Today we’ll just cover them briefly. 

Whenever training someone for performance, I like to have some wiggle room, this is to make sure that we have space for days when we maybe don’t feel golden, days when something goes a little off-piste and finally to make sure that when the time comes to put on the show we are truly ready. 

So why does that matter? 

It really comes down to making sure we widen all required aspects of our abilities in relation to our goal. 

Movement, do our bodies support us in the correct way? 

Strength, can our muscles, ligaments, tendons etc perform the required movements, safely and continuously for the duration? 

Skill, can we continuously repeat the most efficient delivery of the activity for the duration? 

When written, this makes perfect sense, we can have all the skill over a shorter distance, but lack the strength to deliver over an increased one, likewise having the strength means that our body must have the overall movement profile to support specific continuous efforts or a long period. 

I will in here offer kudos to those athletes on social who choose to post their stretching and recovery pictures/videos, it has and continues to help more and more people understand how much of a part it plays in the overall delivery of performance.

Time to pick on running again (you are going to think I have a vendetta against it, I really don’t!) 

To run longer, we must have good movement profiles as we will tighten the further we go 

The longer we go, the more the support parts of our body require as we start to tire.

The further into the event, the more we must have our body tuned to the performance goal. 

So basically, be as stretchy as possible, strengthen the smaller areas (ankles, knees etc) monitor and train at the correct pace to ensure we are used to delivering it without thought, so we can concentrate on looking good when we complete said goal.

Nice and easy!

Hopefully this has given you some food for thought, we like to take the wizardry out of programming by explaining how to reverse engineer goals, work with you based on those goals and then watch you achieve them. If you’d like help with a goal you have, or one you maybe want to go drop us an email info@spikefitness.co.uk 

Want to get some exercise in to help with existing conditions?

Our fit and healthy class gives you a structured workout, that allows you to push yourself whilst ensuring we keep everything in check.

The class gives you an opportunity to increase your energy levels, strength and range of motion.

All levels are welcome and exercises are adaptable to individuals to build up your confidence and endurance.

What if I cannot do some exercises?

All exercises have alternatives, we adapt to everyone to allow you to work a level suitable to you.

I tire quickly, what if I can’t last the whole class?

We understand that levels of fitness vary, our Fit and Healthy class have rest breaks built in, and these can be scaled to suit everyone.

Will everyone be looking at me?

The Fit and Healthy class is set at a quiet time in the gym, we also pride ourselves in having a small community with a maximum member limit.

We find this allows people to build their confidence, both within the class and using the equipment.

To find out more contact us info@spikefitness.co.uk