I came across this posted on Facebook which I thought was quite interesting. The post talks about how time spent playing is perhaps more important to a child’s brain development than time in the classroom. This is not to say that children shouldn’t be spending time learning to read and write but that there are great benefits to having young children playing as part of the learning process. A benefit of this would be that the children are encouraged to exercise more in an informal way as the playing of games etc will see them running around. Encouraging the children to play more also helps with performance in the classroom as I noted in this post. Continue reading “Playground or classroom?”
Effects of myofascial release after high-intensity exercise-a randomized clinical trial
I read about thisone over at Boddicker Performance where Carson is talking about the paper regarding a trial of myofascial release vs ultra sound in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 31(3), 217-22. Whilst it was not a big sample it does give some indicators of the possible benefits to getting bodywork done after a hard training session.
One thing you don’t necessarily have to do to get the benefits the study alludes to is book an appointment afetr every training session. The results of the study do lend some credence to the anecdotal evidence of the benefits of using a foam roller after training, something I do myself, and used wisely they are a useful substitute for hands on work.
Life style factors and lumbar disc disease
I picked this post up on my friend Chris’ Conditioning Research blog. You can get the whole study here but the study found the following results that would definitely be worth further investigation.
The results of this case-control study reveal a positive association between weight and lumbar disc herniation as well as lumbar disc narrowing among men and women. A medium amount of pack-years was associated with lumbar disc herniation and narrowing in men and women. A non-significantly lowered risk of lumbar disc disease was found in men with high levels of cumulative body building and strength training.
Getting your 5-a-day
We all know the importance of getting our 5 portions of fruit and veg every day well this is my take on the idea applied to some simple mobility/flexibilty work that we would all benefit form on a daily basis. Most people now have sedentary jobs and find themselves being in front of a computer either all day or a substantial part of it. The effects of this sedentary lifestyle on the body are often create a more kyphotic posture, flattening the lumbar curve and exaggerating both the thoracic and cervical curves. The musculature of the back, as a generalisation, gets lengthened whilst that on the front gets shortened and the joints of the spine start to stiffen and lose their mobilty. Along with this the hips also stiffen and the glutes get over stretched and switch off. The hamstrings shorten and the quads lengthen and so on it goes through the body. Continue reading “Getting your 5-a-day”
Welcome to my blog
Welcome! The aim of this blog is to be a source of useful information and advice to help you improve the quality of your movement, to help you be more effective in your training and generally look after yourself. I’ll also post a variety of articles covering strength training, stretching and mobility exercises, tips on how to improve your posture, common injuries and self care advice for these. The advice given is so that you have an idea of where you might start but remember to always get checked by a professional if you have a problem as otherwise you are doing so at your own risk. If there are topics you would be interested in know more about please feel free to contact me or post a comment.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it.