Rocky Road Rehab

General aches and pains are part and parcel of life but they come and go. It would be unrealistic to expect to be able to avoid them if we are honest given the many different ways that they can come about.

From getting so busy at work that getting sufficient rest is an issue to stumbling whilst running for the bus. These tend to come and go. Work calms down, you get more rest and don’t notice the minor niggles anymore.

When they do persist what can be done about it?

Continue reading “Rocky Road Rehab”

The best cardio workouts for over 40’s

What are the best cardio workouts for the over 40’s?

A better question would be…what is the best way to structure a conditioning program for the over 40’s?

Which would then prompt the reply, what are your goals?

Your goals ultimately determine what your conditioning program needs to look like. If you play 5-a-side football regularly then your program will look different to someone who wants to run 5k fast. They, in turn, will look different to someone who takes part in BJJ.

What they all have in common is that they are based on a strong aerobic base and less volume than you did in your 20’s.

stair run

Continue reading “The best cardio workouts for over 40’s”

Avoiding injuries – Why hit it hard and go home isn’t always the best idea

It’s that time of year when flushed with the desire to get back to it after a bit of a break over the festive period can result in you getting injured. Avoiding injuries is paramount to any kind of sustainable progress, even more so as we get older.  Given that you are always likely to pick one up at some point it rather than fire back into things after the holidays it’s a far better idea to ease yourself back into things.

I did this myself November and wasted about 3 weeks of training, though thankfully no injury. I say thankfully as I was coming back from a slight quad tear. It took me 3 weeks to realise that I needed to adjust things down. The rest period I had just had was on the back of having peaked as well as the quad tear. As a result, I had the general deconditioning that occurs after a rest period plus there was the normal drop in performance from the peak itself.

injured athlete

Continue reading “Avoiding injuries – Why hit it hard and go home isn’t always the best idea”

Lies, damn lies and what your physio, chiropractor or massage therapist has told you

The treatment for soft tissue and other injuries has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. Yet for all this many, well-meaning, therapists of all persuasions still seem set on perpetuating some outright garbage. What are some of the biggest and best of them told on a daily basis to those seeking help for their injuries. Continue reading “Lies, damn lies and what your physio, chiropractor or massage therapist has told you”

Stress and injury – why they’re related

Stress and injury are related and today’s blog is about why. Stress is part of life, it is something that is impossible to avoid. How we deal with stress is the same regardless of the type. The body reacts to both physical or psychological stressors in exactly the same way. By pushing our nervous system towards a sympathetic state or, more simply, a flight or fight response. In the sympathetic state, we are ready for action, to run away from the lion if you will. The opposite of this is the parasympathetic state where we recover from the time spent in the sympathetic state.

real stress Continue reading “Stress and injury – why they’re related”

Making the time

We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information, be it 24 hour news on TV or on our phones, which are more power in computing terms than the most advanced IBM mainframe of 30 years ago,  we get a stream of texts, emails, Facebook notifications to twitter and on it goes. You can add into this doing all the tasks that other people used to do for you. Going on holiday? You went to the travel agent and they sorted it out for you. Need to do some banking? do it online etc, etc.

Continue reading “Making the time”

The best recovery tool in the world.

All the posts and emails that I write are about trying to maintain a healthy, well functioning body, why it’s important to look after your body, and what to do when you’re sick of putting up with back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, etc, etc… So you can do all the things you love…

When it comes to your health, there is one, very simple thing that you can do that will lead to the mythical instant results – and that is get more sleep. Continue reading “The best recovery tool in the world.”

Where does the use of tape and other modalities fit into treatment and injury prevention?

One of our Facebook followers asked this question last week. It is a pretty simple answer in some respects and might surprise you. They are mostly of limited value and come way down the line in terms of providing benefit in either the rehab phase or in helping injury prevention.

Broken arm

Continue reading “Where does the use of tape and other modalities fit into treatment and injury prevention?”