When Life Meets Iron: Training as a Support System, Not Your Whole System
Your strength training should enhance your life's journey, not compete with it. This fundamental truth becomes crystal clear when life's major moments demand our full attention and energy. I learned this lesson profoundly when my father passed away recently. In those raw moments of grief, my training schedule seemed insignificant compared to the weight of loss and the immediate needs of family.
Keep Getting Up!
I set a challenge at the beginning of the month #keepgettingup.
The rules were simple. Do at least one Turkish Get Up or Get Up variation everyday in September (30 Days).
The purpose was to show how a community working together is much stronger than any one part. That community being YOU. Metaphors aside: To build a solid practice of training that focuses on integrating whole body.
Little by Little, the bird builds its nest
Summer is ending, we’re transitioning into fall. Kids are headed back to school. Ours is starting her first year of PK3! So, I figured this week is as good a time as any to talk about transitions in programming.
Stop HIITing Yourself
You’re likely familiar with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Just about every gym has some variation of a HIIT class running. Some organizations, that’s their whole shtick. It’s so prevalent that you may have been fooled into thinking that redlining your heart rate for 40 mins multiple days a week is somehow going to make you, better?
Breathe Ability Part II, The Action
Last week on Breathe Ability…
Recap –
• There are 3 elements to breathing. Biomechanical. Biochemical. Psychophysiological.
• Biomechanical are the parts that pump and process the air you breathe.
• Biochemical is the gas exchange in your lungs and cells.
Breathe - Ability Part I, The Knowledge
Breathing is a bit of a hot topic these days. It might seem new, but Yogi’s and martial artists have known about the benefits or rather necessity of proper breathing for centuries. Not just in the context of the movement itself, transferring air into and out of your lungs, but breathing as a part of everyday movement and exercise.
Train to Recover
This week, I want to get a little deeper into why I think recovery should be a priority in your training. That is if your goal is improving your fitness rather than displaying it. There’s a difference! I’ll also share some tips on what you can do to improve your recovery efforts, thereby improving your fitness. Hint: no ice baths, saunas or Tibetan unicorn milk is required.
An Instrument for recovery - Heart Rate Variability
By now I’m sure you heard of HRV (Heart Rate Variability). If you haven’t, I’ll fill you in.
HRV is a representation of the variance in time between heart beats over ‘X’ amount of time. The time from one beat to the next is called an R-R interval which is measured in milliseconds.
Again, HRV is the measure of the difference between R-R intervals over a period of time.
Your HRV is an indicator of which branch of your Autonomic Nervous System is currently running.
Deeper Roots
Why do I train mostly with kettlebells? Besides the fact that they store pretty easily, I've gotten stronger in some areas and maintained strength in others at a lower overall expense than with other training tools. By developing denser roots.