our coaches top training Tips:This is the place to come to discover our coaches top tips for getting the most our of your CrossFit training. Here the coaches will post their top tips for training, nutrition, sports therapy and techniques.
Recent Articles: Posted Jan 2015
Why do we need a strong core?
Simply put, If you don't align your spine optimally, you can't stabilise your body or transmit any force to your limbs. Result: huge reduction in stability, force and power as well as increased risk of injury. Moving incorrectly whilst training not only increases chance of injury, it develops and reinforces bad body mechanics that have a knock on effect on more challenging movements. Patterns repeated in practice are revealed during training A rounded back lifting at home or work will undoubtedly transfer into you lifting a keg or tyre the same way. All this comes back to understanding the way your body should move, the ability to move it this way comes back to mobility. Ultimately core strength is not simply how strong your muscles are which support your back, but how long they can maintain correct position. If they are in a weak position due to tightness or faulty posture. How do you expect to ‘engage your core’ correctly and sustainably? When you try to correct a bad position once already in it, you're only addressing half the problem. You need to work on restoring proper function to your muscles & other tissues which have become adaptively short due to various factors. YOU HAVE TO STRETCH! Yes, you do. But mobility is far more than just stretching. Stretching only targets muscles…there is far more to consider when we are looking to improve range at a JOINT or series of joints (your back). Mobility is a full body approach which takes into account ALL elements involved in movement and of course performance! Cue our mobility checklist:
Golden nugget:- Skin pinch test A simple test to prove how your body compensates to shortened tissues. Standing up, hinge from your hips, grab a bunch of skin around your hip flexors and stand tall. What happens? You have to arch your back and keep your knees bent to lift your body upright. This is EXACTLY what happens to your hip flexors after you have sat for long periods of time. Nasty right? MOBILITY RULE: you should mobilise for 4 minutes of every 30 you are sat down for Often you will hear me and the other coaches saying ‘butt down, chest up’ or ‘hinge from the hips, keep your back straight!’ Many of you still struggle to do this, because you are limited by your range in certain joints. REMEMBER MOBILITY IS PROACTIVE NOT REACTIVE! Cheers Hat |
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