Daniel Asks: How to Balance Your Training

Daniel is asking about balancing training, here's what he asked:

"I'm curious about how you mix in any Internal Martial Arts and stretching with the harder stuff. And how you balance exploration/ play with just getting the work done (since I'm a program hopper this is relevant to me). And self-regulation, since I tend to overcook myself. And how you structure review (i.e. if you haven't used a piece of equipment/ skill/ lift for a while, how do you maintain?).

Regards

Daniel"

First, thanks Daniel for the question, it's a good one.

There's a few elements here:

Hard vs soft

Focused training vs play & exploration

How to self regulate

Program hopping vs structure

Let's start with hard vs soft.

If you look at the Wild Geese logos, you will see the goose, obviously, but inside the wings and shaped by the curve of the neck is the yin-yang symbol.

An image that is traditionally in black and white, with a spot of the opposite colour in the thickest part of each half.

This is a representation of the fact that hard and soft are not an either/or question, but they are actually complementary and need each other.

I've never been a fan of binary thinking. Life and the human animal is far too nuanced for that.

So hard training, by which I assume we're meaning heavy lifting and higher intensity work. Will always need softer stuff to balance it.

Now specifically the question mentions stretching and internal martial arts. I don't view either of these as “soft” more like they can be practised with intensity or with ease.

Just as we can jog or we can sprint

We can lift light or we can strain under high loads.

So it's a question of finding your balance.

I strongly advocate for training to have a mobility based warm up and to finish with a couple of stretching drills, usually for the muscles we have prioritised in the workout.

I also promote lifting through the fullest available range unless circumstances dictate another approach may be better.

So training or gym time will be mostly hard.

The softer stuff I personally like to fit in through the day.

Maybe I'll sit on the floor in the evening to stretch in front of the telly.

Maybe I'll do a breathing drill while sitting quietly.

Chi Gung I like to use whenever I feel a bit tight or unfocused. I'll stand up and go through a Chi Gung drill or 2 for the length of a song, or longer as I see fit.

Soft is where recovery happens. Or maybe more accurately it's where we downregulate our arousal level, shift towards parasympathetic in order to better allow recovery to happen.

To this end we have passive and active strategies.

Things like Chi Gung, going for a walk, hot or cold therapies and so on are active.

Putting your feet up watching a movie with some good food, or catching some sleep are passive.

The majority of recovery happens with passive, but active strategies help may you stay balanced through the day.

Now what about play and how do we ensure that “program hopping” doesn't leave you with holes in your armour

In our training it is beneficial to stick to a program for a minimum of 6 weeks to ensure adaptation occurs.

So how do we do this if we're a “program hopper” and basically have training ADD

This is what Crossfit tried to answer and it's what my lunchtime sessions at WG-FIT are all about.

We can make progress with variety.

So long as we follow a few principles.

The basic gym movement patterns:

Push - Pull - Hinge - Squat - Other

And the bodies energy systems:

Aerobic, Anaerobic and that muddy, complicated space in between the two….

So keep track of what you do in the gym.

If you're doing heavy barbell deadlifts one day, then you have ticked Hinge (and to some degree “Pull”) and Anaerobic

Nice.

So maybe do some kettlebell snatch for Hinge and Aerobic, or Hinge and Alactic.

If you notice you have missed out on say horizontal pulling, then make sure to include them in the near future.

Same if all you're doing is bilateral, or holding the load in both limbs. Sometimes do single limb lifts.

So squat, but also split squat, lunge forward, backwards, sideways etc.

Some lifts suit Anaerobic loading very well, such as a split squat.

Others, like Lateral lunges, less so, so lighter with more reps or as part of a complex or circuit which will reduce load but challenges the heart and lungs.

To this end, if we’re looking at including a heavy squat pattern, I can supplement that with a circuit of various hinges or lunge variants moving in various planes and

And over a long enough timeline, say a month, you'll have hit each of the movement categories in ways that emphasise each energy system.

And then there’s play.

Play is essential, and best done with other people.

Now, I do play by myself, I’ll often be in the kitchen swinging Indian Clubs, shadow boxing or trying some movement skill.

I am also getting in trouble at home for winding up the dog, by chasing her around the house and wrestling.

My kids, well they’re too cool to play with their Dad, but at least I have the dog…

How else can we play?

Go to a class, join a sports club, and even play online. Yes, I know computer games aren’t physical endeavours, but there are still some social and cognitive benefits.

If you want the workout thinking done for you, the WG-FIT Workout of the Day is on TrainHeroic and available for you to follow. (link: https://marketplace.trainheroic.com/workout-plan/team/wg-fit-crew)

It's what I'm currently using and if you follow me on SocMed, you'll have seen some of the variety and how I adapt it to the place I train out of.

Program hopping isn't something I recommend

But have a “semi-structured” program with variety built in I absolutely recommend.

For general fitness.

Not if you’re training for something specific

That's a big question Daniel, I appreciate it, thank you.

As for you if you have a question or a comment, hit reply as I'd love to hear it.

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Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net

Exercise or Training

There is a constant discussion as to whether it’s better to exercise or to train

Do we need a focussed exercise plan, a training program

Or can we get progress with something more generic?

The issue, I think comes down a couple of simple ideas.

The first is a definition of terms, followed by the ability to measure and track progress.

"The beginning of wisdom is a definition of terms" Socrates.

SO lets ask the Oxford English Dictionary for a definition:

exercise

/ˈɛksəsʌɪz/

noun

1: activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness.

"exercise improves your heart and lung power"

2: an activity carried out for a specific purpose.

"an exercise in public relations"

verb

1: use or apply (a faculty, right, or process).

"control is exercised by the Board"

2: engage in physical activity to sustain or improve health and fitness.

"she still exercised every day"

Or we take the word back to it’s Latin root and it refers to Training, Practice and Keeping Busy

Using the Latin we see exercise is training, it is practice.

It is also keeping busy

And in terms of modern fitness, all these are good.

Keeping busy is simply moving.

Maybe in an playful or explorative manner, maybe it’s simply for the purpose of getting a sweat on or a personal challenge.

Whereas if we are practicing or training, there’s usually some defined goal we’re working towards and it’s this goal that has determined the nature of the exercises we practice to get there.

This idea of practice is helpful for reminding us that we are working towards a specific improvement in one of more skills and/or attributes.

Practice has to be quality driven. It must be productive.

So pushing to exhaustion becomes less important than technical ability.

Practicing good technical skills will gradually allow the intensity increase that we practice with.

As skills improve, so then does the skill or load we challenge that skill with.

This is training.

And we can apply this across any attribute or skill we wish to develop.

If the attribute is better biomechanics after a knee injury, then we train, we practice and we gradually increase the intensity.

If the attribute is being a more enduring runner, then we had better practice the skill of running, gradually increasing speed or distance as the body adapts

Practice is an almost liberating term, it means when a session is going badly, we can stop and walk away because we can’t get in the quality practice we need.

Or it means we can change tactic to something parallel.

So for our runner, maybe that old ankle injury isn’t playing ball, so we switch to the bike or the rowing machine to still get the aerobic development, while putting less strain on the old injury.

For our knee injury example, we can do a load of pull ups and dips if the knee is fatigued from the last session, and still gain from the hormone release from exercise.

So long as we have the goal, and we use that goal as a bearing by which we can determine the specific exercises we need to work on, we’re going to make forward progress.

And on the days where we just want to move around, keeping busy, then we do what Paulie has always called “pottering”

You simply potter about, do a few of this, a few of that, a few of the other.

No real structure, go by feel and desire.

Just be aware you don’t burn yourself out as Paulie and I have both done on many occasions by pottering too hard for too long.

Kind of how a big day out on the hills may not feel like a workout, but the next couple of days you have that fatigue in you.

Pottering is the perfect time to try something new. A different lift or skill than you would normally do. A time that you may play around with different ideas and maybe discover a few gaps in your training plan that you may have missed.

That may help you get to your desired goal that bit more efficiently.

Now, hit that reply button and tell me how you potter about or what your current training goals are.

Chat soon

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Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net

Everything Orbits Around Centre

"Methods are many, principles are few " is a core belief I adhere to.

In previous newsletters I've explored some of the 5 "laws" of Anatomy in

Motion written by my teacher/coach, Gary Ward.

We've talked about "Joints Act, Muscles React" and "muscles lengthen

before they contract"

So lets look at Rule 3: "Everything Orbits Around Centre"

What is "everything" and where is the centre?

If we think simply in terms of Anatomy and Physiology (physiology is

basically how the anatomy moves and interacts, literally Anatomy in

Motion) then we can think of the centre as out centre of mass or centre

of gravity.

Your centre of mass, or the point in the body most central, the middle,

is a few inches forward of the spine down around the L4 or L5 vertebra.

Is it a coincidence that the L4/5 vertebra is also one of the most

common pain & injury sites in the human body?

Oh, and just for fun, google Shaolin Monks balancing on Spears, and

you'll see how they place the tip of the spear right on the point I'm

referring to..

The Centre of Gravity is a little different, it is fluid and moves

around as you move.

As you change shape, your centre of gravity, the point where gravity

appears to have the greatest affect on you moves. So much so, it can

actually move outside of the body.

If you want to geek out, this video takes you through what that really

means: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnbwUa5yz7Y

In application, this means we can think of movement and mostly sporting

actions simply as mass management

We look to keep our centre of gravity inside our base of support, and if

we do so, we can remain upright and functional.

For a martial artists to affect a throw or take down, we do so by

shifting our opponents centre of gravity outside their base of support

causing them to fall.

When we are in the gym, say doing a Squat or Military press we now do

our best to keep the combined centre of gravity, that of our body and

the weight, right over the middle of our feet.

This is most easily observed by moving from a front squat to back squat

and seeing how the body changes shape to accommodate the bar.

In a more dynamic action like a kettlebell snatch, that combined centre

is balanced between the motion of the kettlebell, the hips and the head,

these three points shift in an attempt to keep that centre of gravity as

close to the centre of our base of support as possible. Failure to do so

is when we feel excess muscle strain, loss of balance or worst case, injury.

How does this information help us with pain and injury?

Lets say we have pain in our left hip for example.

When we see you walk we notice the stride is uneven, we notice the hip

stays left and doesn't get across to the right very well

The right leg swings through nice and slow, but as soon as hit hits

down, the left swings through way quicker.

And we discover an old ankle injury from a few years ago in that right

ankle.

Could it be a case that in order to let the ankle recover, we shifted

our mass over towards the left?

In doing so, we need to maintain balance and not fall, that centre of

gravity needs to be kept inside the base of support, so how do we then

stack up the rest of the body?

In stacking the body up in such a way that we remain upright and stable,

how are we now loading and stressing out tissues?

Very often (not always unfortunately) this thought process resolves many

folks chronic pain issues.

Once we figure out how to manage the mass more effectively, the stress

on the tissues is more evenly spread, so there's less acute strain on

any single part.

It always amazes me how by helping a person reflexively and

subconsciously manage their centre of gravity more efficiently changes

how they move and how much pain they are in.

how simply reintroducing them to the foot tripod and some nice pronation

mechanics they feel muscles fire up all over the body leading to a

feeling lightness and ease.

In my mind, this idea of everything revolving around centre if far more

useful than any discussion about posture, about lever lengths (length of

limbs), balance etc.

Watch for how a person manages their centre, watch how you manage your

centre, and good stuff starts to happen.

I do wonder if this is the real origin of practices like Standing Chi

Gung, the slow movements seen across many martial arts and also where

the value of crawling drills and swinging weights (kettlebells, clubs,

maces etc) really lies.

Now, <<First Name>> you have found this newsletter interesting, or it has

raised a question or comment, please hit reply and let me know.

Or hit forward, and send it on.

This is your newsletter, so I always look forward to hearing back from

you when I send these out.

Especially if you have a question that I can look at for future editions.

Till next time

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Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net