mobility for athletes
PART 1 of 3
This first blog is created for all these people who are used to run for long distance, who do biking with a fixed position on their seats, and swimmers that might improve on the range of motion they are not used.
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We will see the most important points for this athletes, from top to bottom:
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- Upper back and shoulder mobility
- Thoracic mobility (Flexo-extension + rotation)
- Hips Mobility
- Ankle mobility
First part it will be focused on how to improve the range of motion for the muscles, ligament and tendons. Then second part it will in stretching the fascia (web that cover the muscles from point A to point B)
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* Fascia: is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs.
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Isometric Stretches
We will realize the next couple of exercises, 3 times a week in 3 sets of 40 seconds for each movement on isometric position or slow motion movement with a 20 seconds break in between each set, to avoid overstrecth the joints, we are looking for a tight CORE, an engagement of the glutes, and a scapular retraction if is needed to focus the stretch only in the muscles that we are looking for.
Upper Back and shoulders
This dynamic movement must be perform with a pvc pipe and a bench, requires of the contraction of the muscles on the posterior chain (lats) and Core Stabilization, at the same time that we move the pvc pipe.
This internal rotation IN-OUT, is based on the shoulder stretch proximal with the insertion of the pectoral, and fascia mobility.
Thoracic mobility
We will use a fitball or a bench to assist us in the correct position of our elbows and CORE. * Really important to no hiperarch the lower back in this exercise.
ankle and hips mobility
We will focus on hip flexors and ankle mobility on this point, for that you will only need a soft surface and small bench to close the chain created on your hips with your upper body. We will try to stretch looking for the bigges ROM (range of motion), in our hips and ankle. You can perform this movement in Dynaminc or Isometric.
G de Deyne, Patrick. Physical Therapy, Volume 81, Issue 2, 1 February 2001, Pages 819–827, https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/81.2.819
HEART RATE MONITOR
Is it useful to use a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) while I am trainning?
Well, the answer will depend if you are focusing your trainning in building something more specific, lets say to improve our aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity, weight loss, calories ckeck...
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As we said before the use of the HRM will allow us to perform better day by day, or improve faster in our trainning sessions as we can know the best trainning zone for each day. Each day could be drasticaly different for our body depending of a lot of factors (sleeping hours, diet, hours of trainning the days before..) and all that will make our trainning to be adapt focused in hour daily heart rate.
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You can find different models in the market, depending of the sport or the use that you wanna give to them, some of them are more sophisticated (includes calendar, watch, internet access) other of them are more simple, the just measure your HR, calories, timmings... Some of them they dont have even screen which made them more resistants for hard workouts.
What are the benficts of using HRM?
What will you need to know before using HRM?
Which kind of HRM would I find in the market?
You can find diffetent models, starting from the ones that you can wear only on your wrist, the ones that you need the chess belt, and some of thems you even can wear it on the ankle.
The ones that allows you to control your HR during water activities (such as swimming, surf, triathlon...)
And even same of thems has GPS locators to track all your information during use.
Which information will they show me?
Usually on the HRM we wiil be able to see time, Split times, Heart Rate, Possible even to see different colors on the HR depending of the trainning zone that we perform.
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At the end of the workout we might be able to see, how many calories we burned during the workout, the average of the HR, highest HR and lowest HR
TRAINNING ZONES
Checking back about how we can measure the trainning intensity with a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM), we will start describing the 5 Trainning Zones that can be present depending of the intesity of the workout, the beneficts of each of them, as the proccess that are happening on our body during this time.
Zone 1 Very Light Intensity
50-60% HR max
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Very easy pace, average work on this intensity for 20-40 mins.
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This intensity could be used for warm up and cool down, active recovery...
Zone 2 Light Intensity
60-70% HR max
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Comfortable, easy breathing, low muscle load, light sweating, average work on this intensity for 20-40 mins.
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Improves general fitness, boosts metabolism, active recovery, improves low level aerobic fitness and endurance.
Zone 3 Moderate Intensity
70-80% HR max
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Steady, controlled, fast breathing, light muscle, average duration 10-40 mins.
Improves aerobic fitness and performance. Enhances general training pace, makes moderate intensity efforts easier and improves efficiency.
Zone 4 Hard Intensity
80-90% HR max
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Muscular fatigue and heavy breathing, average duration 2-10 mins.
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Increases performance capacity, increases anaerobic threshold and lactic acid tolerance.
Zone 5 Max Effort
90-100% HR max
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Maximal or near maximal effort for breathing and muscles, average duration less than 5 mins.
Develops maximum performance and speed. Improves anaerobic fitness, trains fast twitch muscle fibres and increases power.
CrossFit and Diet
Proteins
Proteins are fundamental
Why?
Because they help to avoid breakage and recover the tissues after the activity. You should add red meat, chicken, eggs and dairy to your diet. In fact, a person who practices Crossfit regularly should incorporate 30% protein into their diet. Fish, dairy, seafood...
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Carbohydrates fill the nervous system and the brain with energy. Improve agility and movement coordination. We know that there are exercises that require concentration and carbohydrates with a whole source of pure energy for the brain.
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Also, you can not increase muscle mass without carbohydrates. It should not be associated with carbohydrates with overweight. It is important to choose those with a low glycemic index. The problem of carbohydrates, when consumed with a high glycemic content is that the body creates more insulin and is not able to take it up so it converts it into fat. That is the fat that we do not like and that appears on the hips or in the gut. This is the bad fat, the one that we do not burn and that also costs a lot to eliminate.
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When we have a look to the fat we will focus on unsaturated fats, fats which are rich in Omega 3-6-9. And how this fats will reduce the inflamation of the body, prevent diseases and help to recover the muscles.
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Carbohydrates
Fats
So which diet should I choose?
I will show you 2 kinds of diet based on how to regulate your hormons, how to control your insulin and cortisol and help you loose weight or gain muscles, easier, faster but always from al healthy perspecitve.
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As we have said, more than a diet it is a healthier lifestyle. This paleolithic diet allows regulating blood sugar levels, together with exercise offers an improvement in performance, helps increase muscle mass, you will have less feeling of fatigue because it gives you more vitality and your skin will look cleaner. Eliminate cereals, processed sugars and precooked foods and start eating healthier.
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We have talked about food but we can not forget the drinks. Drink plenty of water and infusions but avoid juices unless they are natural. And remember the simpler its elaboration, the better. It is likely that if you make it complicated there is a risk of incorporating some type of additive. Are we going back to the past?
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Although it is called the diet of the area, it is not a diet but a nutritional concept, a lifestyle to eat healthier. The objective of this diet is that only foods with a very low glycemic index are consumed; that is, how fast or how slowly the blood sugar level is absorbed.
It is divided into 3 zones and eaten by blocks, depending on your build, your weight, height, centimeters of your waist and hip. Also the frequency with which you perform physical activity.
Normally women tend to eat about 12 blocks and men from 15.
The 3 zones into which it is divided are:
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Paleo Diet
Zone Diet
Carbohydrates
It might take the 40% of the calories of your diet
Protein
It might take the 30% of the calories of your diet
Fats
It might take the 30% of the calories of your diet
Within each zone, there is a series of foods and each food constitutes a block. Hydrates account for 40%, proteins and fats 30% each.
To perform this diet correctly it is important to make 5 meals a day and ensure that no more than 4 hours pass between each meal and drink more than 2 liters of water per day.
What to do now?
If you wanna learn a bit more of this diets and what is the best food combination that you can have you can download the free example from CrossFit.com in the link above. You can contact me if you need extra help and want to organize a meeting for a specific diet and control you hormons.
Zone Diet.Pdf
CrossFit.com