Functional Fitness for all
I saw my first Christmas tree this year and worked out it must be about 50 days to the actual festive start date.
So I guess this is the time of year when most people's fitness regime goes on hold until that bright dawn of the New Year and the ensuing resolutions.
Why be so negative? OK so you're going to socialise a bit more? That's fine but why not make sure you keep doing exercise when you can during the festive season. ...continue reading Its That Time Of Year Again!
Often people after completing their training blocks (usually these are about 28 days) are advised to take a weeks complete rest. I think this is a good idea, especially for the mature trainer, to give joints and muscles a complete ready for a slightly more intense new 28 day training block. ...continue reading Rest Periods Between Training Blocks
Further to my article “Movement Patterns for Life” I decided that I need to maintain my strength levels without generating more muscle and bodyweight. I need to drop a few pounds to give the old joints a breather during my advancing years. The time I would normally spend on hypertrophy would be better spent (I emphasise I) improving mobility and flexibility coupled with some injury prevention training.
Looking around the fitness industry it seems to me that there is an impatience to progress quicker and quicker. I think we need to assess where we are at now. I would not be arrogant enough to believe there are many international class athletes reading this article so I will assume most people that are have more modest fitness ambitions.
I saw an advertisement on television the other day which got the old grey matter thinking. It involved a young man jumping over his front gate. The advertisement showed this man getting older but still jumping over the gate every day until he was very old.
Now what might seem a hohum sort of exercise for a young man becomes an impressive athletic feat for an elderly individual.
I am 57 years old and have been training now for some considerable time. I recently have had an anthroscopy on my right knee which has caused me to reflect a little on my training regime.
I used to train with relatively heavy weights for six days a week. I guess I now feel that I was not resting my muscles enough. Even though I was training different movements I think the general strain on my Central Nervous System was inhibiting performance.
As the retail industry has ordained that Christmas has now started, I thought it might be a good idea if we could get a few guidelines in place to help us enjoy the season without losing too many of our good lifestyle habits.
The idea of these guidelines is that we don’t have to join the masses who rush to their local gym in early January trying to put right their excesses. Unfortunately these people are the ones who don’t seem to last too long with their newfound gym memberships. Wouldn’t it be better to keep up a sensible training programme (cut back intensity if you have to) then the New Year is a chance to recharge rather than restart.
...continue reading Festive Season Strength and Conditioning Guidelines