Running Technique Coaching / Run faster, further, with less effort and fewer injuries
There is more to fitness than calorie counting and “chasing” weight loss. Many people get disappointing by the fact that weight goes up and down over several months, and just give up. What is the point right?
So how can you get and stay fit, healthy and slim without even thinking about it. Without making weight loss a life long pursuit? I explain everything in this video:
Here’s a method which will help you get out of monotony, make exercising more fun and different and reduce bias in the choice you make when you choose your exercise.
We unconsciously do more of the things we are good at and which we love. This means progress slows down to the point where we make very little progress. When you have a Personal Trainer or a Coach, they will give you exercises you are not good at, but when you have to choose alone we tend to be biased without realizing.
So here’s a way to solve this problem and to also make things more interesting. This is not a method of training to get results though. If your training needs set repetitions and sets, a certain structure, then this is not going to work. But it will make things different.
Advice: Eat if you need to eat, if you are hungry. If you want to eat out with friends, don’t eat home.
Advice: Give yourself work and projects, read a book, make a puzzle, write, listen to audio books, watch a movie, find a hobby. There is so much to do out there, it comes down to you and your choices.
Advice: Eat fats, carbs and protein. No more fat free foods. Eating regular yoghurt and drinking normal fat milk will actually lead to eating less. Stop whishing the food and have, on a place, a piece of meat or other protein, and 2-3 sides (one of them carbohydrate such as potatoes or rice, the other two vegetables).
Advice: Try eating without doing anything else in the same time.
Advice: Eat until you are 80% full. As a rule you must stand up from the table while you are still hungry. Have dessert 30 min later, you might find that you don’t need it anymore.
Advice: When you crave something sweet know you are actually hungry. Eat food, even a meal, even if it’s the 3rd meal of the day and it’s before 3 pm.
Advice: Regardless of where you go or what you celebrate you can control the amount of food you eat. Regardless of the tradition of your culture you can always say “it was delicious but I am full” even if you are not completely full. Respect others and appreciate the food they cooked for you, but control the amount of food you eat.
Advice: If there is food on the table that doesn’t mean we have to eat it all. Take time, do The Stop, and reflect on whether you need to eat more or at all, or not. Respond rather than react to the environment around you.
Advice: Many of us eat when we feel in certain ways. That is how you have educated your brain and body. What if you re-educate yourself to go for a walk when you feel down, or take a nap. When I am stressed I like to take a nap. Also take a moment and think about what you are about to do. Do you really, really need to eat that much?
Advice: Holiday doesn’t mean we should eat everything we see or are offered. We shouldn’t refuse either. But what we can do is control the quantity of food we actually eat. Try all the foods, but try them. That means a little of each. That’s what I have always done and it works.
Advice: You get energy from food and you recharge through sleeping as well. Lack of sleep will only lead to overeating, particularly high energy foods, that’s sugary foods in general. Take afternoon naps, on the train etc. Sleep during the night, quality sleep not necessarily quantity.
Do you overeat? What are the reasons you overeat? What have I missed?
Are you struggling to create and/or change your habits? I can assist you, contact me here.
Everything you do is body weight distribution, and body weight transfer, as well as balancing (walking is balancing for example). Understand and practice these 3 concepts (and posture) and any exercise or movement you will ever do will be correct. But only if you practice these concepts.
Incorrect body weight distribution simply leads to:
When we squat or lunge we are told “knees behind the toes!” Why??? Give the reason why. I’ll tell you why. When the knees go too far over the toes, your body weight distribution is lost. There is more weight going on the front of your feet, while you take the weight off the heels (even if heels are still on the ground). This causes the knees and ankles to take more and more pressure.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you bring the weight back on the heels and lift the toes of the ground. That’s not good either. The solution is The TRIPOD.
How to distribute your weight correctly
Every moment you stand, whatever you do, you will form a tripod with your feet.
THE TRIPOD = BIG TOE + LITTLE TOE + HEEL
When you stand, walk, run, squat, lunge, balance on one leg etc, keep The Tripod firmly rooted into the ground. That’s it. FOCUS.
If you need advice or would like to know more about coaching programs contact me.
Since I started learning and exploring movement through natural movement, I was also coached, as well as reading and studying, I have noticed many changes in the way I use my body today. In a good way that is.
I have also realized what contributes to knee pain and knee injuries. While not everyone is the same, and not every injury is the same, everyone can benefit from The Tripod.
This repeated pressure on knees and ankles, whether you walk or run or just stand, is what, in time may lead to pain and injuries. Among other reasons.
That pressure, in many cases, comes from an incorrect body weight distribution. And unless you had an accident, injury or other such problems, this is what probably causes your knee pain. Although you should check with your doctor to get diagnosed.
In another article I wrote about Knee Pain And Body Weight Distribution. In this one I will talk about shoes and how they affect body weight distribution.
In that article we also mentioned that you have two tripods. Each is formed on your big toe, little toe and heel. That forms the base of support for your whole body.
And like your camera’s tripod, if one of the legs is not properly planted into the ground, the tripod is uneven and pressure is not evenly distributed. That tripod is unstable and weak.
Many times, knee pain comes after we consistently practice the habit of distributing our body weight more on the front of our feet.
But it is not your fault. Look at your shoes. They naturally lift your heel and automatically sends more weight on the front of the foot. Even if it’s just a little, that little adds up over the year.
It may not seem much but over 20, 30, 40 years it can change a lot. It can change your posture and the way you move your body.
The solution?
Firstly, although I believe we should walk barefoot sometimes, that we should allow our feet to develop and strengthen the muscles, this does NOT mean you need to go barefoot all the time, everywhere. However, when the weather is nice you can go barefoot in the garden, in a forest, in the house, anywhere where you feel you can.
Going barefoot, besides strengthening your foot muscles, will also help you become more aware of and correct body weight distribution. Feeling your toes and heel on the ground enables you to make changes.
“Allow your feet to take their natural shape and your skin to breathe.”
Second, barefoot or not, be aware of how you distribute your weight (from left to right and from back to front) every time you step, go up the stairs, when you stand, and run. At some point while you walk or run, you will go through a position where your foot is on the ground and you can feel The Tripod. Consider that a “check-point” and ensure your big toe, little toe and heel are on the ground, rooted into the ground for just a second or fraction of a second before coming off the ground again.
For example when you run with a forefoot strike, after the ball of the foot touches the ground the heel comes down as well, and that’s The Tripod right there.
Try it now. If you don’t try it now, you will never try it and forget about it.
Please note I am not a doctor or a therapist. It is important to consult your doctor if you have an injury or experience any pain.
I will be using the same video I used in the first post on press-ups: Press-Ups – Why It’s Difficult To Do A Full Press-up, to list some of the most common mistakes we do when learning and practicing press-ups.
There are 3 main reasons why we make press-up mistakes:
Practicing and repeating press-ups with incorrect technique can lead to:
When you lose technique, further repetitions are useless and you are wasting time and energy.
Common press-up mistakes (you will also see them and explained in the video below):
Correct these press-up mistakes and you will train and strengthen your whole upper body. The more correct you do them, even just a few at a time, the more effective they are.
And here is the video I promised, jump at minute 2:48 for press-ups mistakes:
Doing a full press-up is very, very achievable but not as easy some think. You just try it a few times and expect to go from not being able to bend your elbows to a correct full press-up
There are many muscles involved in doing a correct full press-up. Because there are so many muscles involved, for a beginner, until those muscles strengthen, it takes a while. That is why it is important to have patience and practice, if you want to do a full press-up in the end.
These are roughly the main muscles press ups work. There are also the oblique muscles (side of the abdomen), lower and upper back muscles. The whole mid section of your body need to work to keep you in the right position.
So you see, it cannot happen over night. Work and consistency needs to be put into it. So I have put together a video with how I managed my full press-ups and how I helped my clients who really wanted to do this. Hope it’s good enough to help you as well.
To make any progress you must know where you are, where you want to be, how you are going to get there and how you will measure or track the progress.
Some things will work for you, while others will not. How will you find out what works? And how will you find out if you are heading in the right direction? Through some form of measurements. And the more you know the better.
Try to see these numbers as guidelines towards your end goal. Try not to attach emotions to them, no matter what they show, they are there to help you.
These are a few examples on how to measure your weight loss progress, body fat percentage, maybe you want progress in term of circumference, muscle mass, etc. I will give you methods you can use home by yourself, and they are not expensive. So let’s get to it:
Measuring tape
When you want to reduce waist circumference. Done in the morning and no clothes to ensure reliability of measurements – measurements must be taken under similar conditions to be able to compare them.
Scales
If you simply want to see different numbers. Scales can misleading though. If you drink a liter of water you will be heavier, yet there is not more fat there.If you replace fat with muscle the number on the scale will not change and can even go up.
It is a nonetheless a way to monitor your weight loss progress and for maintenance, and must be used in the morning naked to ensure consistent measurement conditions.
Some scales show the fat % as well as bone density and water %. Depending on which scale it is, it can do more or less.
Skinfold calipers
One of the best ways, and most accurate ways to measure body fat percentage, without . It is done skinfold and it looks like this:
If you ever buy one you should find all the instructions of how to use it and where on the body.
Heart rate monitor
Some use heart rate to monitor the intensity of their training. I personally have never used this type of monitoring but it’s nonetheless a good way to set your goals.
Hand held body fat analyzer
You enter your details such as height, weight, age etc, you hold it front of you with your arms straight and wait until it measures. If you google the name you will find them.
These are probably more precise than scales but not more precise than skinfold calipers. Measures fat percentage, muscle mass, heart rate (at rest or after exercise), BMI (body mass index). Depending on the model it can do more or less.
For flexibility you can use a ruler or measuring tape to see where you stop (i.e. where you stop when you reach your toes, do the box split or any other stretches that can be measured).
In terms of weight loss I’d use the skinfold calipers. This is a brief explanation of how these tools work, but enough to give you an idea of how to measure your own progress. Of course you can always contact me to discuss in more detail, and what it best for you specific goals.
Today I was a guest on Ridge-Radio Tandridge (once the recording is up I will post it around for you to listen). Among the many topics we talked about was how to bring movement, exercise in your lifestyle.
This is especially effective for busy mums who wear multiple hats: mother, spouse, entrepreneur or busy corporate and many other roles. But no only, it’s for busy fathers as well.
We are meant to move and when we don’t use our muscles they de-condition. At the beginning it’s not visible, everything happens “under the hood”, but de-conditioning happens very fast.
We have evolved to use our bodies, like all other creatures on earth, and when we don’t use it enough it hurts, it’s stiff and weak.
Thus without further ado, here are some ideas:
1. Brushing your teeth
Small squats, small lunges or standing on one leg to work those stability muscles (make sure if you lose your balance you don’t fall on something and injure yourself.
2. Are you in a hurry?
Don’t take the car, walk faster, speed walk.
3. Cooking
Stretch out, squats, lunges or, why not, a few crunches.
4. Kids
Play with your kids, even if you feel tired. You will feel better after you move around a little, even if only for 5 minutes.
5. Your drink
Don’t ask your kids to bring you a glass of water or your spouse to make you a coffee. Get up and prepare it yourself.
6. Lifting
You don’t have you lift heavy stuff, but even light ones pick them up yourself. If you have any injuries make sure this will not make it worse.
Also, every time you need to pick up something do so by squatting, split squatting or lunging.
7. Ironing
Now this is a tricky one. Squatting, high to begin with, while ironing.
8. Bus or train stop
You can walk from one side of the platform to the other, you can stand up and sit on the bench (it will look weird but that’s ok), balance exercises, stretching, lunges. (I do all these!)
9. Groceries
Besides walking to and from the grocery shop, use the bags with groceries as weights. Like this:
10. Sitting
Do 5 squats before you sit or lie down, every time.
11. Chair
You can sometimes stand at your desk, or use a stability ball which will activate some of the core muscles.
12. Uphill
Choose the more difficult path. When you walk uphill keep your body straight and aligned, don’t lean or bent forwards.
See what you can do from these suggestions.
Come up with some ideas and leave a comment and I will write a part 2 to this article quoting your idea. If I haven’t replied within a couple of days I might not have seen it, so contact me to let me know please (through social media or message me on the website).
I’m not sure why I thought about writing this article. People look up at athletes, they admire them for their talent, abilities, and their fitness and physique. This perfection we see seems very far and difficult to reach as us. Yet….the truth is….they are no different than you.
They have 2 legs and 2 arms just like you. A brain, skeleton and muscles just like you. Yet, what makes them so talented that they can achieve what other can only dream of? And what can you learn from them to achieve your own aspirations?
Talent counts for very little, maybe 20%. The rest is sweat, tears and sometimes blood.
Do you think athletes “feel like training” all the time? Top athletes train for hours every day. They have dietary restrictions, have to sleep a certain amount of hours every night. They have specific goals and training plans and more. Above all this:
1. They are committed
They commit to master one thing and one thing only. They may train in other sports but THE ONE is the one they master throughout their career.
Jumping from one sport to another within a few years will not get you anywhere.
You might think 12 months of consistent training is enough. Nope, that’s just the beginning of your journey.
2. They are consistent
For year and years, not 5 or 6, but 10 or 20. They seldom miss a training session. There are athletes who have families and jobs, but they don’t come with excuses not to do their training.
3. They keep going no matter what
When they fall they get up. When they fail they try again. If one thing doesn’t work they try another, and another until they find the one that does work.
How many times did you give up because you haven’t seen results in 3 months, or massive results within 12 months? Many athletes train for years and years before they enter some competitions.
They also train for years to compete a few minutes and…..they lose. Someone has to be on the first place and it’s not always you. Still, they keep training.
4. They have coaches
When the tough get tough who has their back? Their coach. Don’t think coaches are reserved only for athletes. If they, who know so much about their sports, have a coach, so should you.
5. They sacrifice
Sounds tough but that is the truth. There are a lot of sacrifices, but the rewards are worth the sacrifice.
Next time you see someone on a podium, don’t forget they started from zero and worked their way up. Also remember talent can only get someone so far, hard work over long periods of time will get you where you want to be.
Questions? As always you can contact me any time.