I’ve just posted a new video on youtube of the dynamic warmup that I recommend for tennis players before they step on the court. It’s a brief set of dynamic stretches that prepares the body for the movements you will ask of it in the match. The five minutes it takes to run through these dynamic stretches is also a great time to work on your mental focus through means like visualization to ensure that you are mentally prepared as well.
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A good trainer will work to not only make you stronger, more fit, and less squishy, but also to help improve your overall movement and to contribute to healthy joints and tissues. We do this by working on symmetry, and focusing on stability and mobility in the right places. But typically, the time you spend working out is just not enough to counteract the habits we all have throughout the “other 23 hours of the day”.
What habits am I talking about? The way we stand, sit, walk, sleep, watch tv, and drive all impact our bodies. We all have habits that we do every day. Many of them seem to be so minute, and yet we do them so much that in fact we do them in huge volumes. That adds up and can have a big impact on our ability to move well. Do you know what yours are?
Do you talk on the phone a lot at work? If so, where is your phone when you are at your desk? If you have to reach too far for it, and you are doing so multiple times a day, that can be a problem. For instance, if you have to reach to the right each time you grab the receiver, you may find that you get low back pain on the left side. Sound familiar?
How is your driving posture? I recently was screened with the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) golf movement screen and discovered that I have limited thoracic spine rotation on the left and that my shoulder external rotation is also limited on that side. Several hours later while driving I noticed that I always drive with my left hand on the top of the steering wheel in a position that has my left shoulder stretched forward. Then I started to wonder if that might be the cause of the limitation. Do I know for certain if it is? No. But I do suspect it is a contributor. How could it not be? I spend hours fixed in an unnatural position that now feels normal to me and “coincidentally” I have a movement limitation around that same joint. I’m now working on consciously changing this habit. It’s taking a while, but I’m managing to break the habit. How do you drive? Same as me? Shoulders forward? Hip hiked over to one side? If you spend a lot of time in your car, these small deviations from normal posture can be causing problems.
Ever sleep on your stomach? And do you get low back pain often? Sleeping on your stomach tends to leave you with excessive extension in your low back which can cause problems over time.
How about watching television? Is your television over to the left so that your neck is always turned one way whenever you watch? How many shows a day? And you say you get neck pain on the right? Maybe it is time to move the furniture around.
How about when you unload the dishwasher? Or grab something from a low cupboard. Do you bend at the hips or the back to get those dishes out? Not sure? Check it out next time. Those of you who bend at the back, how’s that low back doing? And for those of you who bend at the back, can you touch your toes? If not, I bet you think it is because you are not flexible? Guess what, it’s probably not your flexibility. It’s that you bend wrong. Crazy sounding, I know! But in about 3 minutes, I can improve your range of motion in a toe touch by several inches. The fact that that’s possible means it’s not flexibility. It’s movement patterning. Now think about how many times a day you bend to pick something up or get something from a low cupboard. How many bends is that in a year? A lot! Your poor lumbar discs don’t like bending like that.
Over the next week, take stock of how you move every day, and try to find some of those things that are a little off, but that you could easily fix. Feel free to post your habits.
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I have a feeling there may be a lot of golfers out there. And I suspect just a few of them (read: most) are interested in improving theirs swing. And another small subset (read: large) are addicted to everything to do with golf. And that these people may just be interested to get a complete assessment of their swing, of the way they move without a golf club in their hand, and of the correlation between the limitations in the way they move and the problems they are having with their swing. And hopefully they will also be keen to do the few corrective exercises that will help them to improve their movement and their swing. I would think that those who don’t play as much as they want to because their back gets sore from a round of golf would be particularly keen on this.
I recently did a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) assessment on a golfer friend of mine down in Massachusetts who gets up at 430 am every day to fit 9 holes in before work. Despite that incredible dedication to this game (addict?), he has struggled with low back pain of late, and his game has also been suffering somewhat. Take a look at what we found out from his assessment:
Read more…
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Just back from the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Golf Fitness Instructor certification course, and since I’m a geek, I just had to try the swing assessment even though I’m still travelling. As part of the course, I have the results of my rotational movement assessment using the TPI screen; why not review some video of my swing and compare? As luck would have it, the cottage that I’m at actually has a set of golf clubs in the basement. I’m sure the owner won’t mind me taking an iron out onto the lawn. (Only one divot!)
The TPI assessment includes 11 tests and takes about 10 minutes. For non-golfers, I will integrate some of these tests into my current assessment that includes the Functional Movement Screen. For golfers, I will stick with the TPI screen combined with the swing 2 dimensional video assessment. Read more…
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Check out the interview I did with Arizona-based strength coach Patrick Ward. A little chat about my influences in strength and conditioning and my thoughts on training skiers. Optimum Sports Performance Blog
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I received this email from my good friend John Pigott. I am not sure if it’s the accomplishment itself or the fact that he had the courage to consider something like this that I find more inspiring. I enjoyed reading the note so much, that I knew others would as well. So I asked him if I could post it on my blog. Without further ado, here is John’s email…
Friends
I wanted to tell you about something I just did, it may appear to be a bit boastful, but it was an accomplishment I wanted to share with those who have known and helped me over the past few years.
Ten years ago I had to clean up my act after the heart attack, coming up on the decade post that incident, I knew I needed a reason to get back in shape. Plus the cancer scare last year suggested once again, something need to change in my lifestyle.
I wasn’t the only person wanting to change, so a bunch of friends in Ottawa challenge ourselves that over the period of a year we were going make those lifestyle changes together.
One of the ways was the Mt Washington Challenge. Read more…
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Everyone needs goals. We can get by without them for a while, but if we want to really succeed, we need goals. This is as true with our workouts as it is with our careers and our lives.
This became suddenly obvious to me about a week ago. Over the last six months or so I’ve worked out less than I have in about 15 years. Part of the problem is that I’ve been working too much lately. But I’ve been through bouts of working too much before without compromising workouts because being strong and fit has always been a priority for me. Suddenly last week I figured out why working out dropped so far down the to-do list: I have no workout goals. I mean I still want to be fit and strong. But that doesn’t seem to be enough to get me to the gym often enough; or get me to stay away from those delicious Cheetos.
In the past I’ve always had specific goals that were tied to things that really mattered to me. They have been varied, but all have been very important to me: Read more…
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I call them FDC meals. That is, Full Day’s Calories (FDC) meals. I suspect there are many meals that fit the bill, but here are 3 that I’ve eaten. Often after I eat out, I come home and check the nutritional data. Call it a hobby. Strangely I was a bit surprised at some of the numbers here. I have presented them here as a single day’s “three square meals”. Imagine if you at the following in one day:
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If you’ve ever wondered whether you should do some sort of warmup before a day of skiing, I can provide a simple answer for you: Yes. What you should do is a bit more of a challenge. To help with this, I have created a video that shows a set of 9 activation exercises and dynamic stretches that will help to prepare your body for the ski day ahead.
Each exercise can be done on snow, in your boots, and the only equipment you need is your poles. The warm-up includes: Read more…
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What is Shinny Idol, you ask? And will I get sued for making up a contest name based on a trademarked name? Great questions! The first question I will answer here; the second – I’ll keep you posted!
I’ve had a couple of conversations about shinny hockey since I posted my shinny blog post last month, and I realized that for Canadians, shinny hockey is one of those great shared experiences. Don’t you love reading and sharing stories about these great shared experiences? I sure do, which is why I’m launching Shiny Hockey Idol!
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