Achillies Heel and Opinions

A few weeks ago I mentioned "He who should not be named" in a newsletter (read it here if you missed it: https://www.davehedges.net/post/flip-flopping-movement-and-he-who-should-not-be-named )

And in the aftermath of NBA professional basketball player Tyrese Haliburton rupturing his Achillies during a recent game, the internet has been awash with opinions.

So lets talk Achillies, opinions and toxic internet personalities....

"He who should not be named" is the guy behind Functional Patterns, a fitness brand that has some following.

However, this following has largely taken on the toxic persona of it's founder, one Mr Naudi Aguillar

Naudi rose to fame by calling out anyone who disagreed with him very loudly calling them "BETA MALES" yes, he was Andrew Tateing before Andrew Tate!

The thing is, Naudi has some skin in the game and some good info.

It's a real shame he went down the path he did. He genuinley has some great info, and a lot of questionable info.

The main point though is that the Functional Patterns brand, and a few others to be fair, are out in force showing Haliburtons injury and some clips of him training and saying the training is why he got hurt.

And that is bollocks.

(I was going to also include Seedman in this, but he's just put out am apology post, so I guess he had enough blowback)

Haliburton trains under a guy called Ben Bruno, and Ben, unlike Naudi and his sycophants, never has a bad word to say about anyone as well being a damn fine coach. I've followed bens work for years, he's the real deal.

Ben Bruno. Owner of the coolest barbell plates ever!

Achillies strains, tears and ruptures are a very real problem.

I have a client on the books at the moment coming back from a rupture and have helped others in the past.

We see them in arenas where there is a rapid lenghtening under load of back of the ankle, geek term: Dorsiflexion

Several years ago, it would be baskeball players, sprinters and maybe the odd rugby player. Then repetitive box jumps were brought to us by Crossfit and there was an explosion of Achillies explosions!

My theory, and it is just that, a theory, is that we can lower the risk of achillies injuries, but as with all injuries, we can never remove it.

Unlike the Functional Patterns crowd, I don't believe the drills Bruno was doing with Haliburton are to blame, Deadlifts and Floating Heel Split Aquats are exercises I would also use.

Potentially, the elephant in the room is foot mechanics.

This is the arena of Anatomy in Motion, the brain child of my teacher, Gary Ward.

Foot mechanics are still largely misunderstood. And chatting to a fella a while ago who has a Masters in Physiotherapy, he agrees that it's misunderstood and really not talked about.

And when the bones & joints in the foot aren't moving as they ought to, the tissues around them are potentially under more strain than any amount of strength work can prepare them for.

Especially if you're a 17 foot tall pro basketball player coming down from jumping 32 feet into the air!!!

I'm only slightly exaggerating.....

The actions in the foot are Pronation and Supination. Pronation is where the foot flattens, Supination where it arches.

Pronation is the foot going "Pancake"

Supination is "Banana"

And in my experience, and many other professionals I know, their experience too, most of the world tends towards Pancakes and don't banana very well.

And as the Achillies Tendon attaches to the heel bone (Calcaneus), which runs into the plantar fascia along the bottom ofthe foot, we can see how that may be problematic.

A big part of Achillies rehab is getting the Calcaneus back dancing.

For Plantar Fasciitis it's about achieving a better Pancake and teaching the PF to spring back towars the Banana.

Long story short, Banana Pancakes are essentail!

Yum!

So, If I have ever had you do exercises where I'm insisting on you finding and utilising the foot tripod, we're probably trying to train your foot to pronate (pancake), which lenghtens all themuscles that briong us back to supination (banana)

All those lateral type lunges where we'rekeeping the straight leg straight and that foot flat, well that's encouraging a banana shape.

Look at the ever popular Dragon to Lateral Lunge that is many of the warm ups I give out and you'll see the non stepping leg is being encourged to "Banana Pancake"

But even all this will only go so far towards helping the body tolerate forces.

We still need the Plyometrics, the Floating Heel exercises (Hindu Squats, Split Squats, Toe Walking etc), we still need Cleans and Deadlifts

No one person has all the answers, not me, not Naudi and his sycophants, not Ben Bruno

But we are doing our best with the tools and the knowledge we have.

Remember that before calling people out as "Beta" of saying that your methods are better than everyone elses!

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

How to go from Powerlifting to Kettlebell Lifting

I've two points to open with before todays question..

Point 1: Joint Mobility Fundamentals has been live now for a week, and I

have the first bit of feedback:

"Brilliant course explaining why and how in good detail.

I do it every morning and am able to move better as a result.

It also allows me to explore tight areas and spend more time there if

needed"

This was from RB, a non WG-Fit client, which is great.

The WG-Fit crew have had this info rammed down their throats by me for

years, so to have feedback from outside my little gym in Dublin is great.

The course, like all my Online Courses is included in any and all online

training packages, or can be joined for a small fee.

The fee is so small both my wife and business advisor friend are losing

their mind at me, but I'm also making a larger joint mobility course,

which will be less of a Fundamental follow along and more of an

educational library, that I'll price "properly"

Click the link and have a look: https://www.davehedges.net/onlinecourses

Point 2: Social Media

I have a bone to pick with you about my SocMed posts.

I know you look at them.

How do I know?

I bump into people on the street who mention something about something I

posted, online clients mention stuff I post in their comms with me and

every now and then when one of the newsletter people (that's you

<<First Name>> by the way) replies with a question, often its regarding

something I have posted.

But, you're not pressing like, or share and in many cases, not even

following my account.

To be honest, I'm just happy people are seeing my content and find it

helpful in some way, but to help more people it would be helpful to me

if you lot would hit the like buttons, even share it the odd time.

I don't fully understand SocMed and reach and all these things, it bores

me (visualise my business advisor buddy here shaking her head and crying

into her coffee every time she tells me to do SocMed stuff....)

So give us a like, follow etc.

Now, todays question...

Hard to pick as there are some great q's coming in.

"Hi Dave,

Question re the ‘older’ lifter. Lately I’ve switched my training from

barbell to kettlebell/mace for a number of reasons.

Those being:

Time taken for a workout

Variation

Less taxing on the body

Injury

And boredom. There’s probably more but can’t think of them.

I trained for competitions for many years and the training was nothing

short of brutal. I remember having a 185kg squat and 250kg deadlift. Now

training was one thing but recovery was equally as important.

I suppose what I’m asking is why I find myself as ‘tired’ from the bell

work as I did from the powerlifting training!!!

Is it a mindset that I think it’s not as tough? Being a 50yr+ lifter is

my body taking its toll?

We often talk about training this or that but what about the older

lifter? Pitfalls? Is less more? Or should we just ‘drive on’ at our peril?

Kind regards

Paul"

Paul is an old buddy from the Waterford area who has some impressive

results in powerlifting.

And powerlifting is anerobic dominant when it comes to thinking about

the body's energy systems.

Anaerobic translates to "without oxygen", so it's good for short, sharp,

powerful efforts lasting just a few seconds.

And for a powerlifter, it is their super power.

You also have neural fatigue. Very high intensity efforts (as in at or

very close to your 1 rep max) place a huge load on the nervous system,

as it has to work very hard to contract every muscle as hard as possible

to move that load.

Kettlebells on the other hand are relatively light.

Yes, moving them fast, as in the Snatch and Jerk type movements can be

taxing, but they don't live in that anaerobic space most of the time.

Because kettlebells are lifted for reps, we're usually in that

Glycolytic - Lactate energy system. Which is the energy system that

gives us the term "Ball-Bagging"

Ball Bagging is a very northern english term for becoming very tired due

to very hard work.

And a lot of kettlebell work, and Bulgarian Bag work falls into that

category.

So our hero has gone from specialising in anaerobic excellence into now

needing an aerobic system to support his newer training exploration.

You simply cannot recover from Glycolytic type work if the aerobic

system isn't running well.

Building aerobic fitness isn't particularly difficult, but it can be

time consuming.

Of the three energy systems it's potentially the least intense, many

bodybuilders do "cardio" and say it helps them recover and feel less sore.

So here's what to do:

Walk/Cycle for 30+ minutes 2-5 times per week, ideally breathing

exclusively through the nose.

If you track your heart rate, aim to be in low Zone 2, this will feel

easy, but that is the point.

With the kettlebell, plan a circuit.

Be logical with the exercise layout, refer to the WMD ebook (available

from both davehedges.net and wg-fit.com) for circuit ideas, but there

are a few simple formats you can use:

Push - Pull - Legs - Core

Push - Hinge - Pull - Squat - Core

Upper - Lower - Core

If you use unilateral drills, decide weather the left and right sides

are 2 stations or you alternate them in a single station.

So a forward lunge will be a squat and either 1 or 2 stations. A reverse

lunge probably more hinge. Lateral Lunge, also more hinge.

Now with these circuits, if your goal is aerobic development, we want

the heart rate to average in the Zone 2 area. There are Training Zone

calculators online, but if you lose the ability to have a conversation

and start snatching at sentences, you're probably working too hard!

With aerobic circuits, have the rest periods shorter than the work

periods, 45:15 is a classic.

Now, the age question...

It is true we recover slower with age.

But, recovery is the role of the aerobic system, that "refuels" the

other systems.

Not forgetting calories and counting sheep of course.

So while "muscle is the organ of longevity" (Dr Gabrielle Lyon) it still

requires aerobic fitness.

And the image that goes around as proof of this concept is a side by

side comparison showing cross sectional image of the thigh, showing age

matched males, one who never trained and shows low muscle mass with fat

clearly present, and a triathlete, who's leg looks the same as a 20 yr olds.

Now, is triathlon more anaerobic or aerobic?

It's a bit of an unfair question, and loaded towards my personal biases

as a coach, but you get my point...

Keep the questions coming in

Have a look at the online courses

And interact with my SocMed posts that I know you've been looking at!!!

Chat soon

--

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net

Are the splits necessary for kicking high?

Hi <<First Name>> 

Before we get into todays question topic, I have some news for you.

I have finally got the Joint Mobility Fundamentals course done and up on davehedges.net 

This is the joint mobility set that I started every class with for years in WG-Fit, taught it at workshops and seminars and have a few follow along videos available on the socials.

But I had never put out a tutorial online.

Until now.

I’ve priced it at £4.99, which is dirt cheap, but if you are on any of the training packages it, and all the online courses, is included in that membership.

Head over now and take a look: https://www.davehedges.net/onlinecourses

I will have follow up mobility courses up soon, I’m just figuring out the most sensible way to present them. I think, as the “Fundamentals” course is so clean and easy to follow, once you have it, you have the baseline for pretty much everything else.

So the next course can explore variations on each drill, an “encyclopedia” rather than a follow along.

What do you think?

Is there something in particular you’d like a course on?

Something I’ve mentioned or taught in the past that you would like a course to learn more about?

Anyhow, today's question:

“Are the splits necessary for kicking high?” - Sarah

Short answer - No.

Longer answer - still no, but developing the splits can be useful for better kicks.

So let’s define a couple of terms, Mobility and Flexibility.

Flexibility is the total range of motion a joint, or series of joints can go through

Mobility is control of that range, or strength within that range.

So you can be flexible, but if you don’t have the strength to control that range, you may not be mobile.

And you may be mobile, but relatively inflexible.

I like to think of it as a picture in a colouring book, flexibility is the lines of a drawing, and mobility is the bit you’ve coloured in.

The better you colour it in, right up to the lines, the better an athlete you may be, and you may reduce your injury risk.

Splits, as most people develop them, is pretty passive.

It is a lot of flexibility, but little strength.

When we look at gymnasts and the acrobat community, we see how they develop flexibility using a mix of strength work and more passive stretching.

The strength work may be something like a Romanian Deadlift or Jefferson Curl, with hanging leg raises to work the opposite side, while the passive may be a seated toe touch.

For splits, it’s common to see the Horse Stance being used, which can be loaded into Sumo style squats and deadlifts.

And also things like end range lift offs, which is placing the body into the shape you wish to make with support, say a kick position with the foot on a bar or held by a partner, then using muscle strength, lift the leg a bit higher and lower it back down.

You can do this with pretty much any stretch within reason. Get into the stretch position, close to but not at the limit, then contract the shortening muscle to take you into the end using strength.

You can see how a hanging leg raise is the precise opposite loading pattern of a jefferson curl, the leg lift strengthens the muscles going short, the jefferson strengthens the muscles going long.

And that thought process is why training splits can be useful to martial artist, even if they never achieve the splits.

You should end up with an increase in flexibility with the lines well and truly coloured in.

You have strength throughout the range of motion you have built, the very definition of mobility.

All you have to make sure you do is make sure that mobility knows what is expected of it and you smash the pads with kicks that are now stronger, faster, higher and more devastating!

If you enjoy reading these newsletters, then please do hit reply to both let me know and also to send in your question.

All questions sent in go onto a list for future editions.

Chat soon

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net