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ultra-FIT MAGAZINE
Win His & Hers Falke Kit worth over £800! Vol.19 No.7 October 2009 £3.99
THE ULTIMATE ABS WORKOUT
THE ULTIMATE
ABS
SHAPE UP OUT OF THE GYM
WORKOUT VOLUME NINETEEN NUMBER SEVEN
TRAIL RUNNING MOUNTAIN BIKING TRIATHLON
MAKE TIME FOR EXERCISE
DUATHLON www.ultra-FITmagazine.com
TEAM SPORT TRAINING www.ultra-FITmagazine.com ISSN 0957-0624 0 7
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FITNESS + SPORTS TRAINING FOR MEN + WOMEN
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THE ultra-FIT INTERVIEW
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THE ultra-FIT INTERVIEW
Tim
Don Interview by John Shepherd
Tim Don is the 2006 world triathlon champion, 4 times British champion and an ‘unlucky’ Olympian. From the start it’s apparent that he’s a fun guy who obviously loves his sport and the life that it brings. We meet in late July just before the London triathlon where he finished 10th. should have known, but didn’t that Tim’s dad Philip was one of the top football referees in the country - he officiated at the world cup finals. I wondered why his son did not follow into the game. Tim explained that having to witness what his dad went through on and off the pitch made him think twice about getting involved in football. So why triathlon? Tim ran 3.45min for 1500m, which is a very respectable time which could perhaps have led to him on to becoming a top track runner. “I grew up in west London and I used to run with Mo Farrah (current long distance track star) …… I loved running and I really enjoyed it, but I was never as good as those guys.” Whilst in the sixth form Tim explained that he got a job at Hampton lido, in London where one of the country’s top triathlon clubs was based - the Thames Turbos. They encouraged him to take part in the sport and he did his first Tri in 1993. “I really loved the diversity of it (triathlon). Getting out of the pool really knackered, jumping on your bike and using
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different energy systems. My love for it just grew as I got older.” He realised that he had a real talent for the sport after taking part in a duathlon in Chertsey in Surrey, where the first six would be
“I love pushing myself and I think that there are areas of my sport where I don’t believe that I have reached my potential yet” selected for the European youth champs in Finland. Tim finished sixth and was therefore selected – he went on to place a very credible fourth in Finland. From then on although he still played football at school and ran track for his county, he
realised that triathlon was the sport for him. He began to run or cycle to the pool and to train seriously. As we have a feature on duathlon in this issue (p94) I pick Tim’s brain on its value for a triathlete. “I think it’s an awesome cross over. It’s like what cross country or road running is to a track athlete.” The world champion went on to talk about the specific demands of duathlon, with a 15k and a 5k run sandwiched by a 40k bike ride. “It’s tough,” he explained adding, “You’re running at 10k pace and this makes it a great way to boost tri fitness”. He even commented that his legs can be more sore after a duathlon than a tri. Tim has been competing at elite level for over a decade. How does he maintain his motivation? “I just love it. I’ve got the best job in the world. I can train wherever I want within reason. I love pushing myself and I think that there are areas of my sport where I don’t believe that I have reached my potential yet.” I ask how his training has changed over the years. “I train wiser. You know how you have got to a certain level before and I use that experience.” He attributes his longevity to his coaching in his younger days, where he worked on his speed and believes that with age it’s now more of a case of adding strength and endurance onto that speed. Consequentially he does more steady state lower intensity training. He also noted that he gets fitter more quickly because of all the years of prior training. This enables him to do, for example, more transitional work in the spring time and a lot more ‘brick’ sessions, such a running off the bike. He also added,
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WOMEN’S FITNESS
n e e r e g h t n i o t G workou doors t u o t a e r g
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be rancom : Neil F s o t o Ph
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WOMEN’S FITNESS
Why train outside?
Many of us rarely get outside. We commute by train or car, work in an artificially lit office, shop or gym and exercise inside in a gym or in an indoor pool. Small wonder that life sometimes feels a bit grey! Caroline Sandry’s workout will add some natural colour and put some spring into your autumn.
Without walls and not a strip light in sight exercising outside feels more akin to play than another chore to be crossed off on your ‘to do’ the list. Being outside with nature is incredibly uplifting and the fresh air and vitamin D from the sunlight will feed your body whilst the trees and flowers stimulate your mind. Running outside is more of a challenge than running on a treadmill and using gravity and your own bodyweight as resistance, can be as effective as any machine or barbell at the gym. Consequentially, you’ll get a great X-training workout, that’ll burn fat, tone and strengthen muscles and improve your heart and lung efficiency. Another additional bonus is that you will be saving energy by being outside – whilst you expend it - so it’s kind to the environment too!
The Workout
Warm up and CV ✱ 20 -30 minutes run to and or round your local park or green space at a steady pace
Tree Sprints
✱ ✱ ✱ ✱
Pick two trees – approximately 50m apart Sprint two length i.e. back and forth Jog two lengths Repeat 5 times
Dynamic Bench Press ✱ Stand with feet hip-width apart approx.1m behind a bench. ✱ Place your hands on the back of the bench a little wider than shoulder-width apart ✱ Hold your body straight (in a plank position) and maintain the natural curves of your spine (neutral position) ✱ Inhale, bend your elbows and lower your chest to the bench ✱ Exhale and push back through your palms to power your body off the bench and clap your hands quickly in the air (if you can) ✱ Catch yourself on the bench and bend your elbows to absorb the impact, before performing the next rep ✱ Do: 15
If unable to perform the clap, perform with out, or keep hands on bench throughout.
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MOTIVATION
Superstit i Cognitive hypnotherapist Trevor Silvester examines the influence of superstition and how it can affect performance
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MOTIVATION uperstitions are a strange thing. You may not consider yourself susceptible to traditional superstitions, but most people are influenced by them in some way or another – often without even realising it. I consider myself a sane and rational human being, but I won’t watch Chelsea play because for some reason I think I’ll make them lose! Now, I know I can’t possibly influence events like this, but many people share this belief in the irrational. For example, how many of you touch wood or avoid walking under ladders? In the field of sports, there are many examples of athletes putting a lot of faith in superstitions - footballer Paul Ince always waited until he’d run onto the pitch before he pulled his shirt on and cricketer Jack Russell wore the same cap and pads for most of his entire career. It can even infect a whole sport: Nascar drivers don’t carry $50 bills, drive green cars, nor eat monkey nuts. But, whilst these might sound trivial, superstitions can be time consuming. Tennis player Goran Ivanisevic developed a belief that if he won a match he had to repeat everything he had done the previous day, including watching the same TV programmes, eating the same food in the same place and meeting the same people. One year this meant watching Teletubbies every morning. “Sometimes, it got very boring,“ he wrote on his website. At least when he got on court he only had to avoid stepping on any of the lines and being the second person to get up from his chair during changeovers.
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Looking for cause and effect So why are we so susceptible to this way of thinking? Because it’s part of how we make sense of the world. Much of the brain’s function is to work out what’s going on around us and to do that it has to be able to detect patterns. This means that your brain has spent your life building what are called ‘causal models’ relationships between objects that give them meaning. One class of these models is ‘cause and effect’ - the notion that one thing happening will lead to something else happening. Researchers often describe children as young scientists, constructing ideas of how the world works by experimenting. Watch a child and a parent, they are in a never- ending flow of cause and effect experiments - where the child will do something and then measure the effect against the goal they have and what the parent will do. If a child is refused sweets and starts to scream, the parent needs to recognise that the child has just begun an experiment. If the parent caves in and gives them the sweets, the young scientist has a result, ‘If I make enough fuss (cause)
I will get my own way’ (effect), thinks the child. Understanding just that simple fact can transform parenting, but what’s it got to do with you improving your performance in your chosen sport? The answer is, plenty.
The invisible link By the time you’re an adult, your brain has millions of these cause and effect relationships that it uses to guide behaviour: if you’re hungry you eat, if a traffic light changes to red you stop, if you exercise you feel better about yourself. Linking things together in this way is so natural that it’s practically invisible. In fact, right now your brain is saying ‘What does this mean, and what will it lead to?’ This is because our brain can then work out what’s around us and predict what the next best course of action is. In evolutionary terms it is what keeps us safe – we create a range of possible choices from our interpretation of the present situation and use our past experience to choose the best option. The problem is, when you were a young scientist, you almost certainly made a few errors - and the most common is mistaking
I consider myself a sane and rational human being, but I won’t watch Chelsea play because for some reason I think I’ll make them lose! correlation for causation. That simply means that you connected two things that had no actual relationship to each other. For example, Paul Ince might have been late for a match when he was a youngster and was still pulling his shirt on when the match started. It happened that he had an exceptional match and his brain looked for the reason - in this case, putting on his shirt. So, next match he does it again and, because he’s a good player, or because his confidence is boosted by his ‘lucky’ ritual, he has another good game. Once the ritual is established, he’ll only notice it when it works. If he has a stinker he’ll look for another reason why the lucky shirt didn’t work, not conclude that the ritual is at fault. He may even add another ritual in response to this experience, to bolster his luck. Wade Boggs the baseball player, eats chicken before every game, takes exactly 150 ground balls during infield practice, enters the batting cage at 5.17pm, runs sprints at 7.17pm, writes the Hebrew word ‘Chai’ – meaning life – in the batter’s box,
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WEIGHT WATCH
understanding
weight
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By Pete Cohen & Susan Cass
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WEIGHT WATCH he UK Department of Health estimates women should consume 1940 calories per day and men 2550. However, in reality the needs of men and women vary greatly.
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Calorie Intake and Age Slow weight gain is perfectly normal as we age. The principle reason is a decline in lean muscle mass due to inactivity and aging. With less muscle our metabolic rate slows and with it the rate at which we burn calories. For example, between 30 and 70, muscle mass typically decreases by an average of about 30 per cent in most people. And a loss of 0.45kg in muscle could result in around 300 fewer calories being burnt a week –
be considered obese, due to his specific height to weight ratio. However, in actuality the player’s body fat percentage would be low and his health and fitness levels higher than average. Therefore he would display a low health risk. That player’s energy requirements would be far greater than the average 2550k/cal stated for men. Even at rest his BMR (basal metabolic rate – the number of calories needed to sustain life whilst at rest) would be far greater than the average male due to the amount of lean muscle tissue he had.
Activity levels In order to scientifically calculate the requirements of the population as a whole, our estimated average calorific requirement is divided into 3 categories to
How to calculate BMI Calculating your BMI BMI is a number generated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared. Body Mass Index (BMI) = Weight (kg) Height (m)2
Government guidelines for BMI: BMI
Category
Below 20
Underweight
20-25
Normal
25-30
Overweight
Over 30
Obese
doesn’t sound much, but that’s every day for the rest of your life or a theoretical 15600 calories a year, which could result in a 2kg plus increase in weight.
BMI, Basal Metabolic Rate, Sugar-Free, low fat… Every day we are bombarded with ‘weight loss’ information, Susan Cass explains what it all means.
Body composition (BMI – Body Mass Index) Body composition refers to ‘what our bodies are composed of’. This can be divided into ‘lean body mass’ (our total weight minus fat), and our total weight which would include our internal organs’ mass - blood, bones, fat and so on. However, it’s ‘body fat weight’ or more specifically, ‘body fat percentage’ that interests most of us. BMI takes into consideration our height to weight ratio. This provides a guideline for establishing people as high-risk overweight or seriously underweight individuals. BMI can throw up erroneous findings. Consider the build of a professional male rugby player: although he may be relatively short, he will invariably have vast amounts of muscle, needed to provide the strength and power to play the game. Consequentially judged against the government’s statistics for BMI, he would
A loss of 0.45kg in muscle could result in around 300 fewer calories being burnt a week... which could result in a 2kg plus increase in weight a year establish how many calories we need per day. These are based on activity levels. The categories are defined as a) sedentary b) moderately active and c) active. The more active an individual is the more their energy/calorie requirements are. Definitions: a) Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only light physical activity for typical day-to-day life. b) Moderately active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity, equivalent
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FIT 4 SPORT
Mountain
Biking Are you a city-bound ‘weekend warrior’ who lives for the weekends, to escape the concrete jungle, get on your mountain bike and hit the trails? ultra-FIT’s guide to mountain bike training will put you on the fittest track and enable you to make the most of those precious hours on the ‘dirt’. efore I moved to the Peak District, with almost limitless trails on my doorstep, I plied my trade as a personal trainer in the centre of London for eight years. Almost every Sunday, I’d get up at dawn, load my mountain bike on the
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car and drive to the ‘wilds’ of the Surrey Hills. I enjoyed my riding but never really felt as if I was making any real progress, from both a fitness and skills perspective. This became even more apparent when I first dabbled with racing and received a real kicking and a brutal reality check.
Despite daily commuting and regular training rides on the road bike it was obvious that the fitness and skills required for mountain biking are very different. Putting my analytical sports science brain to use, I came up with a plan to get me mountain bike fit.
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FIT 4 SPORT Track-standing (balancing whilst stationary): Is a pretty cool trick and surprisingly useful for avoiding those embarrassing static tumbles and also for being able to take a momentary pause to check out a line. Narrow Balancing: Just lay a narrow plank of wood on the ground and practice riding along it at a variety of speeds. Once out on the trails, if you come across an elevated balance section, think of the plank and you’ll be fine. Wheelies: Not just for pre-pubescent posing, but an essential skill for lifting the front wheel over obstructions. Bunny-Hops: Not having to stop and dismount for a log across a trail or being able to hop over a deep hole makes for
From a fitness perspective, mountain biking is very different to road cycling smoother riding and big savings in time and effort. Practice hopping over something that’ll give if you don’t get it right, like a bamboo cane balanced on a couple of water bottles.
In the gym
On the bike Although high-speed descending skills put a massive grin on your face, low speed ‘trials’ skills are essential for smooth, efficient and fast all-round riding. For practice all you need is a small patch of level grass and a bit of imagination. And you could get your riding buddies together for a bit of goodnatured competition, to add a bit of fun and extra value. Slow riding: In a straight line, round a slalom course and in super tight circles is excellent for balance and transfers directly to tricky narrow sections of trail and sinuous uphill hairpins.
From a fitness perspective, mountain biking is very different to road cycling. It’s like a continuous interval session, requiring a full spectrum of effort intensities and durations. One minute you’re working close to your maximum climbing a steep loose surfaced hill, then having crested the climb, you’ll get a brief respite as you roll down the other side. Even on sections of trail that require more sustained and measured effort you need to have strength and power in reserve in case you unexpectedly hit a loose or muddy patch or need to muscle up a short rise without losing momentum. If you’re thinking about racing, you’ll also need a good sprint from the off in order to get up in the field before the course hits the single-track where overtaking can almost be impossible. Unlike road cycling, you’re continuously shifting your body around on a mountain bike to maintain balance and traction - this requires excellent core strength. Finally braking, un-weighting the front wheel, absorbing impact when descending and pulling on the bars when grunting up a steep climb, all demand a high level of upper body strength. Overleaf: Mountain Bike Workout ultra-FIT
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FITNESS EXPRESS
Gut Buster The ultimate ab workout he need for specific abdominal work is a contentious issue. It’s often argued that, as long as you’re performing compound and functional exercises, your abdominal musculature will be working to support your body in the way it is designed to - therefore it doesn’t require additional focussed training and the only ‘sit-up’ you need do is getting out of bed in the morning! Another camp will counter that by arguing that highly controlled movements centred on the body’s core are essential for all round health and fitness. The truth probably lies, as it usually does, somewhere between the two. However, what is for certain, is that doing hundreds of badly performed crunches (or other ab exercises) will do very little for you or your six-pack. Also, no matter how strong your stomach muscles are, if they’re covered in a layer of fat it’s like wearing a bespoke Saville Row suit under a cheap Puffa jacket. No amount of abdominal work will shift that fat, only a balanced exercise regime and sensible nutrition can do that. However, there’s no denying the feel-good factor of a searing abs blast and this little session will have you rolling around on the mat with a pained grin on your face.
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The Workout 10 minutes CV warm-up: Select any piece of CV kit and exercise at a moderate level to get your body ready for the workout. All the exercises are paired. Perform the first exercise and then without any rest, go straight into the second. Then rest for 30 seconds before tackling the second pair. 1a) Ball Plank ..................................X max, X75% max, X50% max 1b) Hanging leg raise with twist ............................X10, X10, X10
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(60 seconds’ rest) 2a) Roll Out ..............................................................X10, X10, X10 2b) Twisting Oblique Plank ....................X10, X10, X10 (each side) (60 seconds’ rest) 3a) Super Slow Ball Crunch....................................X10, X10, X10 3b) Pulse Double Crunch........................................X20, X20, X20 (60 seconds’ rest)
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FITNESS EXPRESS
Ball Plank 1a
Focuses on the deep stabiliser muscles (the transverse and internal obliques). if you’re only ever going to do one core exercise make it this one.
✱ Try and stay relaxed through your neck and shoulders. ✱ It’s called a plank – so there should be a straight line from the back of your head to your heels, no sagging or arching allowed. ✱ End the ‘rep’ when you can’t hold strict form not when you reach your pain threshold.
Hanging Leg Raise with Twist 1b A forgotten gem, this exercise also builds great grip and upper/mid back strength.
✱ Each rep has four distinct movements: lift to the front, twist to the side, bring back to front and lower. ✱ Alternate from side to side. ✱ Do not rush and do not swing.
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CLIENT & TRAINER
Rugby
League Conditioning 54
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CLIENT & TRAINER
Preparing Rugby League professionals is a challenge particularly if you’ve never played the game. Northern Fitness trainer and sports conditioning expert Mark Mullineaux faced up to the challenge and tells the story. Designing the programme and key goals
n September 2008 I sat in a small, busy office at Craven Park, home of the Barrow Raiders. Under the guidance of Dave Clark, head coach, the Raiders had just been promoted to the Cooperative Championship, the second tier of rugby league. Des Johnson, the chairman, had big plans for the club, Super League was on the horizon. I had been recommended to the Raiders by staff at the University of Cumbria where I do some part-time lecturing in sport. I’d had experience of playing rugby, but that was some years ago and that was rugby union. I was, however, accomplished as a personal trainer and a strength and conditioning coach. Foundations had been laid through my degree in Physical Education, which I followed up with a Masters and, eventually, a Doctorate. Added to this was a succession of fitness training awards: the old BAWLA (British Amateur Weightlifting Association) qualification in the 1990s, personal trainer awards with both Central YMCA Qualifications and the National Strength and Conditioning Association and training with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association. I’d tutored for Northern Fitness and had set up my own company (Personal Training and Conditioning Service) in 2003. At the Raiders my job was simple provide a detailed, year-long conditioning programme that enhanced the performance of the players. Professional sport presents interesting challenges to any strength and conditioning expert. The number of games played by the Raiders concerned me most. Rugby League is an incredibly demanding sport and matches were played from February through to September. The squad was comprised of both full-time and part-time professionals, which brought an interesting dynamic to programme design.
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Off-Season Each mesocycle accounted for the specific demands of the time in the training year and the sport. Testing is important for monitoring conditioning. University-level assessments are highly desirable since they have access to extensive assessment equipment. Cost and time constraints, however, often mean that ‘field’ tests are used. The tests were changed considerably to include a metabolic fitness index; this system allows for the assessment of every player in terms of their ability with reference to each energy system (immediate lactic
Table 1: Overview of Barrow RLFC macrocyle Season 08-09
Macrocycle
Mark Mulline aux
In terms of programme design, I began with a needs analysis covering the essential nature of the game, metabolic and strength/power demands, the season and the playing staff composition as well as available facilities. Perhaps the key element of a strength and conditioning programme design is the identification of the ultimate goal of the programme. Resistance training was key in this respect and its intensity is generally done by considering the place of the sport on a ‘force-velocity curve’. In basic terms, this tends to identify whether ‘speed-strength’ or ‘strength-speed’ is required. In League, this analysis is complicated by the variety of actions performed (scrummaging, tackling, running, jumping, passing, for example) as well as by playing position. Since a League player requires both speed-strength and strengthspeed, I decided to layer in hypertrophy
(muscle growth), then strength then strength-speed and speed-strength into the off and pre-season work, then continue to cycle these during the season. The overall training programme was divided into five main sections which, when combined, provided for a complete year of programming, see table 1.
Sub-season
Length of mesocycle
No. of microcycles
Key emphasis and number of sessions per week
Off-season
7 weeks
2
Off-season I Off-season II
RT: Develop hypertrophy and strength; up to 5 sessions MET: No metabolic training
Pre-season
10 weeks
5
Hypertrophy I Strength I Hypertrophy II Strength II Power
RT: Establish power; up to 4 sessions MET: Introduce metabolic conditioning and shock training, 3 sessions
In-season
29 weeks
7
In-season I In-season II In-season III Active rest In-season IV In-season V In-season VI
RT: Maintain strength, strengthspeed and speedstrength throughout the in-season MET: maintain metabolic conditioning
Out of season
4 weeks
1
Out of season I
Active rest
2 weeks
1
Active rest I
Macrocycle refers to the main training phase i.e. from pre-season to end of season and includes Mesocycles – training phases of medium length, months and microcycles, shorter training phases of weeks. RT refers to resistance training and Met to metabolic training i.e. cardiovascular training
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PEAK FITNESS
BOOST your recovery My girlfriend jokes that I’m the laziest person she has ever met. All she sees me do is sprawl on the couch with my feet up, stuffing my face with cakes. I convince her, in a reassuring voice, “I’m recovering, dear.” By Dr. Jason R. Karp, Ph.D.
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PEAK FITNESS
ecovery may be the most overlooked aspect of exercise. Everyone seems to focus on how many minutes to bike or at what heart rate to run. Improvements in fitness however, occur during the recovery period between workouts, not during the workouts themselves. Positive physiological adaptations to exercise take place with the correctly timed alternation between stress and recovery. When you finish a cardio or weight training session you are weaker, not stronger. How much so depends on the intensity and duration of your workout. If the workout stress is too great and/or you don’t recover before your next workout, your ability to adapt to subsequent ones and therefore improve your fitness declines. What you do when you’re not exercising is just as important as what you do when you are exercising. The faster and more complete your recovery, the more you will get out of your exercise programme. Here’s what you can do to boost your recovery.
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Refuel Possibly the single most important aspect of optimal recovery from hard workouts is refueling nutrient-depleted muscles. And the most important nutrient to replenish is
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CARDIO COACH
l i a r T nning rseut yourself free r y Barbe By And
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CARDIO COACH
Trail Technique On the flat
Running in the gym is one of the most simple and effective ways of getting fit. But by heading outdoors, and in particular off road, you’ll discover new inspiration and face new challenges.
n a treadmill your running is very controlled and although you won’t get wet or stumble over a pothole, there are downsides. The fact that the ‘belt’ runs beneath you reduces the effort needed to run at a given speed (hence the general recommendation when running on a treadmill to use a 2% incline to get a similar effect to running outdoors). The gym can be warm, with no air-flow making you heat up uncomfortably. And due to the ‘controllability’ of the session (and environment) you may feel a little like a ‘lab rat’. However, once you head outdoors all this can disappear. In short the terrain will create challenges and give you a great sense of freedom.
2. Control your pace On a treadmill the machine will set the pace for you, however the great outdoors leaves the job to you. On easy runs you should be able to speak fairly easily, on steady runs, a couple of sentences at a time and on faster sessions, it will be a case of one sentence at a time. As you gain familiarity with the trails you will learn to measure your effort fairly accurately. It is important that if your run is meant to be at a consistent effort that this is what it is. Don’t try to maintain pace when the ground gets hilly or uneven. Keep it controlled. Keep your effort or breathing patterns the same. If you regularly use a route record your times at the same effort levels and use this to monitor your progress as you get fitter.
When you first head outdoors and for the trails there are ways to get the most from your run.
3. Use the terrain Running up hills provides a great way of boosting your effort – don’t be afraid to use them to work that bit harder. Gauge your effort based on the length and gradient of the hill, whilst down-hills also give you an opportunity to develop your running speed and strength. As your fitness improves you can vary the pace and use what is known as ‘fartlek’ in your training. Fartlek means ‘speed play’. So use landmarks such as trees or benches to mark out the starts and finishes of faster sections of running. As well as steady running you can include slow running and even walking to allow you to recover between the harder efforts. This training can be tough but invigorating. It allows you to work as hard as you want or back off when you want.
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1. Plan Ahead Plan an approximate route, bearing in mind how far you want to run and how demanding you want the terrain to be. Wear appropriate clothing, in particular ensure your shoes are up to being offroad (see shoe test page 82). On light trails road running shoes will be fine but as the terrain gets more demanding the need for trail specific shoes will increase. On longer runs it becomes all the more important to dress appropriately – you don’t want to overheat or get cold. Layering gives more options and zippers on your top will allow for temperature control.
Run with a slight forward lean. You arms should be swinging backwards and forwards to counter-balance your legs hands coming up near to your eye level in front of your body and elbows to a near parallel to the ground position behind, when running at faster paces. Your feet should strike the ground below your centre of gravity. This should mean that you land more on your fore-feet on ‘foot-strike’. Keep your head up and your neck and shoulders relaxed. As the pace builds up, increase your knee lift, run more on your forefeet and drive your arms more vigorously. But don’t strain! Keep your jaw and fingers relaxed and you’ll maintain a fluid style.
On the uphill On an uphill you will need to increase your arm action and lift your knees more. Do not try to maintain your stride length – the gradient will counteract this and if you tried to stride out this would not be a very efficient way to run. The faster you get the greater the need for knee lift and arm drive.
On the downhill Relaxation is very important. Try not to ‘brake’ by putting your feet out to hit the ground ahead of your centre of gravity. Rather maintain relaxation and use your arms for balance. If you find yourself developing too much forward momentum run with a more vertical upper body or even slightly lean backwards.
On uneven or slippery terrain On uneven and slippery ground it’s not going to be possible to drive off (push) as hard, so don’t waste effort trying to do so. It’s more important that you keep your foot-strike under your centre of gravity. And using a more upright technique will make it easier to maintain balance. Learning to deal with difficult conditions will help you move more effectively when the underfoot conditions are more conducive to faster running.
See overleaf for Trail Running Training Sessions ultra-FIT
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SHOE TEST
Adventure, trail & outdoor multi-sport running shoes Adventure racing, mountain biking, trail running, hiking and fast packing turn the natural environment into a fantastic fitness challenge. What you wear on your feet to face this is crucial...
By Andy Barber
f you plan on running or walking on the trails you need a shoe with an outsole that will give you the right grip for the terrain. Trail shoes can offer great adaptability with different tread patterns with hard or sticky rubbers used – this can make them suited to conditions as diverse as rocky ground to muddy hillsides. The more uneven the ground the more secure the shoe’s upper must be. This requires that they have a more snug fit than conventional road shoes. However if you are on light trail this is not essential. The midsole should also be stable. Some shoes keep it simple and use a low profile midsole for equally low to the ground, stable performance. A deep midsole will be unstable when the ground is not level and you may feel like you are wearing platform shoes! Although walking boots can be great in some instances, if your ankle is locked in position on top of a midsole that is starting to roll sideways, you have a
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problem! Hence the increasing popularity of low or mid-cut walking shoes and multi-sport shoes among walkers. Cushioning needs will not be so important on soft surfaces. As indicated a softer more cushioned midsole can prevent you getting a proper ‘feel’ for the ground and can impair stability. On hard ground more ‘road shoe’ like cushioning is needed. Good flexibility at the forefoot will help when walking or running, but a slightly more rigid shoe can be useful if cycling. The idea of a waterproof trail shoe can sound very appealing, but remember if water comes over the top of the shoe, no matter how high-tech the shoe drainage system is, keeping your feet dry while you run won’t be easy! For this reason, experienced adventure racers often go for very breathable shoes that let water in and out very quickly, but wear waterproof socks.
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SHOE TEST
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running shoe the range trail This is a top of offer great cushioning and ey from ASICS. Th to uneven able to adapt e ar d an t or supp the way the to rt in large pa terrain, thanks d - this allows le is segmente outsole/midso e adapting. th do edom to your foot the fre t look like its got much esn’ The outsole do tter than you tually grips be ac it tread, but t ground. The on mud and we might expect (until water ll we s per work waterproof up e top!). comes over th
r £75 Scarpa Rapto ed’ with the not be as ‘load of some of This shoe may ur chnical feat es te g in ok lo r ie funk Raptor does a shoes, but the the other trail want a shoe u especially if yo sensible job king. The hi d an ng me biki nge of that is up to so ra a good grip on enough to outsole offers ed gg ru is r the uppe n. surfaces and ai rr te e demanding cope with mor
5 ensor 2 WP £9 ASICS Trail S
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TRIATHLON
coping with
injuries Injuries are part and parcel of sports training and it’s no different for triathletes. It can be frustrating, annoying and downright depressing, but with the right approach and attitude, you’ll soon be firing on all cylinders again. Emma-Kate Lidbury shows you how... ultra-FIT
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TRIATHLON fter months of solid training you finally feel fitter than you’ve ever been – you’re in peak condition and swimming, cycling and running at your best. It’s a cruel blow then when suddenly you find yourself laid up nursing an injury you just didn’t see coming. Many elite athletes will tell you there’s a dangerously fine line between being in the shape of your life and being injured. It only takes one session too many and a little bit too much enthusiasm to tip the balance and take you over the edge. But don’t panic, the very last thing you should do is give up hope and surrender all that hard work. The beauty of triathlon is having those three sports to train for and depending on your injury the chances are you’ll still be able to do at least one of the three disciplines, which is a lot more than an injured runner can do.
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The road to recovery Acceptance: don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend you aren’t injured. Ignoring the pain will only make it worse. Act sooner rather than later to ensure you’re back on track in next to no time. Seek treatment, follow professional advice and guidelines and get stuck into any rehabilitation programme you are set. Channel your energy: find out all you can about your injury. Use your time to do some research. You’ll be amazed at the amount of information available on the web. Do your homework so you know how to come back stronger and avoid injury in the future. Don’t become a couch potato: although you might not be able to join your usual swim, run or ride groups, don’t isolate yourself from your training buddies. Stay active, organise some other form of activity which you could all do and pick your training partners’ brains for advice or information on your injury. The chances are one of them will have suffered it in the past and will be only too happy to help you through the recovery process. Stay positive: remain focused on the things you can control and don’t waste valuable mental energy worrying about the ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys...’. Look ahead to being fully fit again and take the positives from the negatives so that you can return to training knowing more about your body.
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It’s all about acceptance The first step towards making a full and speedy recovery is accepting what has happened to your body. Don’t fight it and try to continue training through the pain - this will only make things worse. Instead, channel all the energy you would have used in training into taking positive steps to kickstart the recovery process. Seek professional advice and get a good diagnosis. Visit more than one doctor or sports therapist if you want peace of mind and a second opinion. Ask training partners or team-mates for recommendations on who to see. At initial consultations, make sure you give your doctor or sports therapist a full history on the training and racing you’ve been doing. Tell them about every ache, pain and niggle as it could all be significant in helping the diagnosis and prognosis.
Look back to move forward If you’ve been keeping a training log or diary, now is most certainly a good time to look back through it to see when and why the problems started. Did you increase
your training volume too much too soon? Did you up the intensity of your running sessions without allowing adequate recovery time? Did you skip some rest days or have you covered too many miles in your run shoes? These are all questions to consider. The chances are that when you take the time to look back at what you’ve been doing, the cause of your injury will be clear to see. At the time, you were just too focused on training to take a step back and see that you might be doing yourself more harm than good.
Stay positive It’s very easy to become disillusioned with training and racing once you realise you’re injured. The important thing is to stay focused on the positives and maintain an active lifestyle. Look for ways of exercising the rest of your body so that you don’t lose too much fitness. If you’ve seen a physiotherapist and they’ve set you rehabilitation exercises make sure you follow them. Dedicate the time you would have spent training to ‘rehabbing’ and
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FITBIZ
are you credible? By Yvette Nevrkla
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FITBIZ
You’ve just qualified as a personal trainer and are feeling excited about starting your career, but you’re new and you’ve not got any clients yet. Nobody knows who you are or what you do. You have no reputation, no track record. You’ve got to start selling yourself and you have to find ways of building your credibility. So how do you do this?
t’s tempting to increase your credentials rather than your credibility. Many PTs focus on acquiring more and more qualifications in the belief that this will increase their credibility and make them more successful. The qualifications are used as evidence of ability - of their worthiness as a professional. And as credentials they are then used to sell personal training. Just take a look at PT websites and leaflets, nine times out of ten the most prominent feature will be a long list of qualifications that each trainer has acquired. These will then translate into a list of services offered. Although credibility is important there’s more to it in today’s market place than simply acquiring qualifications. The acquisition of further qualifications and securing your place on the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) is certainly encouraged by the fitness industry (see panel). Developing your credentials in this way serves a number of purposes as 1) it’s essential for getting a job, because employers need to know that you’re
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Photography Grant Pritchard www.grantpritchard.co.uk Models: Carolina and Andrew (www.wathletic.com) Carolina wears: No Balls Vivacious Tie Crop Top: £37.00 No Balls Vivacious Gathered Short: £32.00 ASICS Gel Resolution: £80.00 Andrew wears: Long Shorts ASICS Gel-1140: £70.00
19-7 p115 Next Issue:Aus 79 Page 96 Next Issue 28/08/2009 17:00 Page 115
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Spice up your exercise Midgie Thompson ensures that your workouts are always hot
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