I’ve mentioned in the blog before the idea of different foot strikes when you are running be they forefoot, midfoot or rear foot. A rear foot or heel strike tends to get a bad press, especially when the idea of running barefoot was at it’s peak yet there is nothing wrong with running with a heel strike vs mid or forefoot and most of us will tend towards a heal strike until we are running at a sufficiently high pace. You will also tend to see even faster runners or those who tend towards a mid/forefoot strike moving towards a heel strike as they tire, most noticeable during longer races such as marathons or the running portion of an IronMan. Continue reading “Changing your running technique”
Edinburgh Marathon offer
It’s around 12 weeks to the Edinburgh Marathon and 6 weeks to the Edinburgh Great Run so many of you may be in full training mode preparing for them. To help with your preparation we are running a special offer through March where we are reducing the price of our block booking offers to £215 for 6 appointments and £110 for 3 appointments, full price for 6 appointments is £270 and £135 respectively.
Movement and the lumbar spine
We looked at the idea of the need for movement freedom and less “control” previously in this post. In this paper looks at the need for movement, the extract is here, in the lumbar spine when we are looking at postural recovery in response to unexpected movement. Again we are talking about getting comfortable with moving and not locking ourselves down with the fear that unexpected movement will hurt us.
Building a champions mind
This is a really interesting podcast from The Well Rounded Athlete. It is a discussion with Dr Jim Afremow and whilst it is looking at things from the point of view of athletic performance you could apply the principles to all walks of life. Dr. Afremow is a leading mental performance consultant, and the author of The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive Continue reading “Building a champions mind”
Pain science workbook by Greg Lehman
These free workbook by Greg Lehman is well worth downloading whether you are a therapist or somebody in pain. Used as part of one of Greg’s workshops it is full of very useful information from deconstructing some of the myths surrounding pain to how to choose and set realistic goals.
Endurance training sweet spot
Strength training for distance runners
This is an interesting podcast on strength training for distance runners from Magness and Marcus over at the Science of Running.
Running to much is dangerous. Really?
There have been a few stories out this week with titles such as “Fast running is as deadly as sitting on a couch, scientists find” , “Stop binge jogging” , “Too much jogging ‘as bad as none at all'” after an article was published in the Journal of the American College Cardiology about the Copenhagen City Heart Study. The study found that light to moderate running was associated with living longer in comparison to being sedentary but running more often/strenuously did not. There were some serious limitations in the study as pointed out in this article about the reactionary press response on the NHS website and that Alex at Sweat Science , who is always worth a read, point out. Continue reading “Running to much is dangerous. Really?”
Earning range of movement
The Gait Guys make some good points in this post re: short term improvements in ROM. Bottom line is that you can easily create short term improvement but there can be a price for it if you haven’t added in the ability to safely use the movement. Which is to say we have the ability to go to end range without the risk of hurting ourselves which you may not have with the ROM that you gain through some of the quick fixes you can use. If you have range of movement issues it is likely to be a more complex issue and simply “flossing” to gain the movement is not the solution. This is not to say the bands are useless more that you need to think more about the why so that how you get there is more effective and long lasting.
David Epstein: The sports gene and the myth of the 10,000 hour rule
This is a really interesting podcast from Justin Goodhart at the Wellrounded Athlete In the podcast he is chatting to David Epstein about the role of genetics in sports performance and the idea of needing to accumulate 10000 hours of practice in order to become really good at something.