As per usual I started off the week by teaching our 6am WinterFit class at our studio and then I met up with a client for a workout at her home gym. During the two workouts I instructed and my commute around the city I got to thinking about a few things and I would like to share them with you.
· My group class this morning did a warmup of standing on one foot and throwing a ball back and forth. As they woke up and got warm I began to introduce some new challenges, catching with one hand, catching and passing left handed, and finally adding more balls. The group of 4 was able to progress to left handed throwing on one foot with 2 balls with few drops so I decided to introduce a 3rd ball and see how they did… and the balls began to bounce all over the place. At first there was laughter but as the balls started to drop more frequently frustration set into place and it was at that time that I had to regress the drill. So we finished with standing on two feet one handed passing and catching with 3 balls, and SUCCESS!! There are times when it is great to introduce a new challenge to the body and mind, however as an instructor you have to be prepared to modify the exercise/drill in order to give your participants a developmentally appropriate challenge. We have all been asked to do something that was either physically or mentally beyond our abilities and those tasks can cause even those with the strongest will to be discouraged but if we break down a task to simple pieces we can eventually achieve what seemed to be impossible. Oh yeah the laughter came back when the 3 balls started whipping around the circle!
· A second thought arose when throwing balls around this morning, and it came from the statement “why am I not better at this?” I replied to this with “when was the last time you threw a ball around like this, I bet it was the last time we did this exercise,” I saw 4 heads nod “yes.” Quite simply put the only way to get better at something is by doing it! Want to throw and catch a ball better? Spend more time throwing and catching a ball. Want to be a better lacrosse player? Practice playing lacrosse more. Want to be a better runner? Run more. Want to be better at Deadlifting? Perform more Deadlifts. Those are the simple answers, however to be better at something you need to do more than just doing it, you need to do it PERFECT! Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfection. If you were to practice Deadlifting with improper technique you are going to get really good at doing Deadlifts with improper technique, same thing with running, throwing, catching and playing sports. That is the amazing thing about your nervous system it is incredible at remembering patterns (good and bad ones). This is precisely why it is so important when exercising that you focus on proper technique and nothing else, once technique is in place you can begin to play with other variables!
· Breathing during exercise is a very important skill, and I call it a skill because it needs to be practiced along with technique in order to exercise perfect. As I have seen many times with my clients is that they forget to breathe when performing exercises, especially when they are focusing on engaging their “core.” I like to teach my clients who do this that it is very much possible to contract a muscle and breathe at the same time; I do this by having them put their hand out and resist the pressure I put on it while they tell me a story. At the end of the story I ask if their arm is tired and if they felt like they had to work hard during story time and the answer is always “yes.” We then work on learning how to consciously engage the “core” while breathing (usually counting aloud from 5 to 1). This is a great way to prepare the body for other “core” bracing techniques that are necessary for lifting.
· Finally as I was driving around the city this morning I saw two signs that read: Thank You for Supporting the Games, Please Keep Walking. Sadly I saw these signs while I was driving in my car. I had spoken with many people in the past week about how the Olympics games proved how easy it is to walk around the city and that I hoped people would continue to do it. I walked around the city before the Olympics came, I walked around the city a ton during the games, and I have increased my amount of walking in the past week (walked to and from the movie theatres, and for a few errands I would normally drive, etc.) and plan to keep walking more. It is great to see that the city of Vancouver is taking the initiative to promote active green forms of transportation (Dunsmuir viaduct is now a bike lane like Burrard St bridge), and it is now up the citizens of the city to participate.
Throw balls, breathe when you exercise, walk/bike around the city, and make sure you do it perfect!
Josh Neumann, BHK, PTS, TSCC-1
Monday and Thursday #FitTip at www.twitter.com/stayfitanywhere
A daily ritual of mine is to peruse new articles and find ones with interesting headings. This one from the Vancouver Sun today caught my attention, Physically active boys tend to be smarter: Study. It was a study on how activity levels can increase congnitive function and development. Although, they were clear to say, they weren’t sure if the smarter boys were just more active or if the fitness activites made them smarter. But it was concluded that cardiovascular exercises do improve cognitive function and development. We’ve even proven it to ourselves, when we manage to tear ourselves away from our work for even 5mins, walk around the office, take deep breaths, it helps refocus and energize us for the next task. Plus, with some of us being in Vancouver, it’s simple for us to take a step outdoors and look at the mountains and ocean which we sometimes take for granted. You don’t need to be personal training, but take a few minutes out of your hectic work day and enjoy what’s around you. If it helps younger kids with clear thinking, don’t you think it’s worth a try?