Thoracic Rotation, Golf and Warming Up

Today's question:

“Well sir

I hope all is well. I’m going to stay subscribed thank you very much for asking. Had the old hip mobility handbook out recently and following every couple of days since.

Anything for thoracic spine mobility would be interesting so this desk ridden creature can still swing a club at the weekend.

Yours in golf

Colin”

Always a pleasure to hear from Colin.

Golf is one of those underappreciated undertakings.

What do I mean by that.

I mean guys go out to course, tee up and then try to smash that ball as far as possible.

Probably early in the morning

Probably no warm up

And if I’m being a bit honest, usually by people in less than optimal health and fitness.

Swinging a golf bat is an explosive rotational movement.

Not a million miles away from a tennis serve, a Hurling puck out, even throwing a punch.

But because its a “relaxing” hobby, few take into account the physical nature of hitting the ball.

Until, that is, they get hurt.

In Wild Geese Fitness, and even before Wild Geese existed, I would train many hard charging headcases for extreme sports, for martial arts, for full contact sports. And outside of impact/collision related injuries, they would remain constantly healthy and robust.

The people who would constantly be hurting, pulled muscles, sore joints etc, they would be the lads meeting up for a game of 6 a side football, the golfists and those who participated in other “fun” activities with the lads.

So.

What's the deal?

When we are looking at high performance in a sport, when we expect and accept a high risk of injury, we prepare as such.

We warm up on the day.

We fuel up and hydrate in advance of the event

We have trained, preparing mentally and physically for the event.

We hope for the best, but we prepare for the worst.

And when we're just out for a bit of craic with the mates?

We get up and go, with little thought of anything else but having a bit of fun.

We simply hope for the best.

The thing is, the golfist is still putting as much into their Swings as they can. A 100% effort from a “weekend warrior” is no less relevant than a 100% effort from a highly trained professional.

The difference is who has the chassis the tolerate that effort?

Now, to bring things round to the actual question asked.

How can our hero improve thoracic mobility?

This is line with last weeks question on shoulders, so the answer is much the same.

Our shoulders rely on the thoracic spine, as that's where our Scapula live.

If you missed last week's email, it’ll appear as a blog post on davehedges.net

And a shout out to those who replied, including the hero of the story, much appreciated, thank you.

Mobility requires 2 things, I believe.

1) Good joint interaction

2) Relaxed and pliable soft tissue

And a probable 3) experience of going into end range of a joint action.

Good joint interaction

The thoracic spine is 12 vertebra, each one attached to a rib or 2, and a shed load of muscle that runs up to the head, down to the Pelvis, round to the arms and pretty much runs the upper body.

So a common issues to Prioritise are breathing, opening the chest and keeping the neck loose.

A simple one stop catch all for all of this is the Yoga “Childs pose”

Get onto all fours, walk the hands forward a little. Now sit the hips back onto your heels.

The arms remain straight but relaxed, you will feel as you sit back, the arms stretch a bit.

Now relax here.

Observe your breathing

Try to feel your belly expand into your thighs as you inhale and relax off again as you exhale.

Try to feel the back expand as you inhale and relax as you exhale.

Done well, the arms are stretched out in an overhead position, the shoulders are “lifted off” the body and the neck musculature is unable to assist in drawing breath. We have to rely on the diaphragm, and the neck and upper can start to relax and chill out.

Here's a nice video on Childs Pose, albeit with a focus on the stretch (the stretch will be mainly through the lats).

Notice their start point means they have to walk the hands forward, I’d rather we start with the hands forward so as we sit back they actually slide backwards by virtue of the hips sitting back, this is where a nice big stretch can be found.

A couple of minutes of child’s pose with conscious breathing followed by maybe 5 minutes of mindful breathing and upper body tension will hopefully lessen, opening up potential for mobility.

What's next?

Doorway Pec Stretch: place your forearm against a doorframe (of similar upright) and step one foot through the door, almost lunge like.

Step forward and back, alternate legs, but keep the arm where its at.

Each step will offer a stretch for the anterior shoulder and open the chest up.

This video isn't exactly as described, but close enough to give you an idea:

Transition or “Cow Gazes at the Moon”

These are two movements that complement each other, they're from different philosophies but are in the same movement category.

Rather than writing a million paragraphs, here two video links, one for each drill:

Transition:

Cow Gazes at the Moon:

I would also strongly suggest strength training at least one per week, ideally 3 times.

This would include:

A robust warm up based on joint mobility and waking up the body.

Something strength related

Something more Endurance related.

A “perfect” choice would be the daily workouts that we run in WG-FIT, available for home use via the Train Heroic app (click here for info).

Why these?

They vary in nature and over a long timeline, even just one session per week will offer stimulation across most movement patterns. The workouts run 4 days per week, but that doesn't mean you must do 4, you do what you can, when you can, with what you can. The daily workouts are merely suggestions to follow.

I hope that all helps.

Do get in touch to let me know and also to ask your questions.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

www.wg-fit.com

Professional Boundaries & Good Shoulders

I've two points to talk about today.

One is a question about shoulders, the other is a comment regarding professional boundaries.

Both points have been brought up by clients and members, so I'd like to remind you to send in your questions and comments so they can fuel newsletter content that is relevant to you!

First, Shoulders.

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Here's the question:

"As a content suggestion I'd love some shoulder maintenance pointers as an aging long time supporter! I'm pretty sure you've already got that content somewhere perhaps?

I've really had to pay more attention to the old shoulders and want to keep the overhead press going as long as I can! I'm not struggling with the press, but do think about the day when maybe it won't be possible....Still living with the Yanks and surrounded by more corporate types than I'd planned for as we scale things here.

All the best.... "

So, what is the shoulder?

In short you have the humerus or arm bone. You have the Clavicle, or collar bone and you have the scapula, or shoulder blade.

The clavicle goes from the top of your sternum out to meet the humerus and scapula at the shoulder.

The Scap, well he sits on the back of the rib cage and has the big job.

The Scapula glides over the rib cage. It has the most amount of muscle (around 19 attachments) and a load of movement available to to it.

The shoulder joint, usually referring to where the arm meets the body or "glenohumeral joint" is the most mobile joint in the body, it is also one of the most frequently injured through both contact and non contact.

Contact, such as a hit or fall, often separates the bones, sometimes simply "jams up the system"

Non contact can be a gym based lifting pain, it can be repetitive actions or it could be lack of use or a mistiming of the joints.

My top two areas to look at when dealing with the shoulder are the motion of the scapula and the surface it glides over.

We can think of the scap as the car and the rib age the road. We want a smooth road surface to drive over.

How do we affect the road surface?

Usually breathing drills and thoracic mobility drills.

Why breathing?

Simply put, we have several muscles involved in expanding the rib cage so the lungs can expand. The main muscle is the diaphragm. This is where most breath should happen.

But when we need more room to inhale, we need to open the upper chest and even the shoulders. This involves many of the neck muscles.

And what do many of these neck muscles attach to?

You guessed it, the scapula. And the clavicle. And yes, the upper ribs.

Hopefully you are aware of the many posts I've put up on Instagram regarding breathing. I also have an online course in development titled "Breath Gym" that will be available soon. Online courses can be found here: https://www.davehedges.net/onlinecourses there's two at the moment, with more to come.

Breathing is also covered in the Force of Nature program.

But what about the scapula itself.

Our hero mentions over head pressing.

And I have to say, that features highly in my library of shoulder rehab and injury management.

A good, clean overhead press is fantastic for building resilient shoulders.

As is straight arm work.

Straight Arm work is common in the gymnastic training circles, but less so in standard strength & conditioning / fitness training.

In the kettlebell training world, we should be familiar with the Windmill and the Turkish Get Up

These are great movements that fit into the straight arm category. Both movements have umpteen variations and regressions making them applicable to almost anyone.

A bottoms up Turkish Get up, or half get up, is something special. And will teach you a lot about your shoulders and how they interact with the rib cage and even the pelvis.

Hanging is the next option.

Simply hanging at different angles. Vertically from a pull up bar, horizontally from and inverted row station and everything in between.

These hangs with a straight arm, encourage the scapula to move as the muscles stretch. Hanging also makes it very difficult to utilise the neck and shoulder muscles for breathing, meaning you will have to find your diaphragm or you will feel very uncomfortable very quickly.

Hang for time, a minute is good basic target to aim for. 2 minutes is better. Anything more is great but there does seem to be diminishing returns.

Try finishing your upper body workouts with one to 3 sets of hanging. You'll not regret it.

Professional Boundaries

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Just this morning I had a client in my Dungannon clinic talking to me about a session he had with another therapist.

He'd done a couple of sessions with me and wanted to try the Acupuncture fella that is in the same building but also didn't want to offend me.

Here's the thing.

If that offended me, that would have been my problem, not his.

It would also show that my ego was fragile and out of control.

And while I admit to an over inflated ego, I've never been the guy to stop a client going elsewhere.

You see, my skills are not universal. No one's are.

This particular client needed something more passive than I offer. And the Chinese fella across the hall offering Acupuncture turned out to be exactly what he needed. When the client explained what the Acupuncturist did, I could see his thought process was similar to mine, but the methodology was different and in this case, more congruent with the clients needs.

As a coach and therapist, my job is to help clients achieve the results they desire. In the clinic that's often reduction in pain and regaining movement. If I can't supply that, it is only right that we refer out. It is about the client and about their needs.

Not my ego.

If you ever go to a coach, instructor, therapist who claims to be all that, who doesn't allow you go out and work with someone else, you must run away. And run away fast.

Chat soon,

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

www.WG-Fit.com

Competition Performance and Stress

Competition Performance and Stress

Last week I sent out an email asking if you would like this newsletter should come back to life, and a great many of you reached out to say yes.

Let me just say how much I appreciate you all for getting back in touch.

I also asked for questions, as the best content always comes from the best questions asked by clients, members and subscribers.

And we got a cracker of a question in, which I will reprint but anonymise.

"I have a question for you about how to get your head back in the combat game. I signed up for a local tournament last November. In hind-sight - maybe not the best timing. A lot of changes had happened... I got married, we moved in together, my [section deleted for privacy reasons] just before the tournament.

I went in with good spirits. I had signed up for [BJJ tournament] gi and no-gi. I had ONE opponent. And honestly, I was surprised when we started - she was fucking stronger than me and that has never happened before! It didn't go well and I lost in 2 matches in gi. Still felt like I was ok - in decent spirits - have always prided myself on being a good sport and you lose some...

Then had to go with this same woman again for no-gi... and honestly something in my head just switched. It was the strangest thing - I gave up, tapped to nothing because I was DONE. I was so done. I shook her hand, shook her coaches hand and then had a sort of panic attack and just HAD to get out of the building. I rushed by my cheerful gym mates asking how I did and saw their shocked faces as I ran past... I got outside and sat next to a dumpster gulping air and I just started crying. Not normal at all. I don't cry.

And I was beat UP. My face/nose hurt for at least a week after. After that I was embarrassed to show up at my gym - not cuz I lost but because of my behavior. I apologized, of course my team was gracious. But the idea of competition again ... hoo boy. I've been going to class with a focus on having FUN. And it's slowly coming back... I was paired with a 14yr old girl last night and it was great fun to help instruct and work with her and do some positional training with her.

How in the HECK do you get your game back on?? I'm literally the oldest woman in the gym. And combat sport is SO different than any other type of sport - the truly getting your ass kicked.

Curious if you've had moments like that in life and how you overcame. I'm guessing everyone is different and of course our minds and what resonates is all very different... curious if you've had to coach someone back into "fight mode" after some mental "oh fuck no". "

The parts in bold are the parts we can dig into.

In short, after a lot of personal upheaval, some good, some bad, followed by a severe loss in a tournament, our hero seemed to have a panic attack and loss of motivation, drive, we could say identity.

And now wants to get that identity back.

First thing to say is this is all normal and it happens to a lot of people.

The good part of this is the surprise at finding an opponent who is stronger.

As I'm an S&C coach, my job is getting people strong, mobile and enduring, however it is important to never forget that these attributes are the support act.

The skill is what the competition is really about. And good skill should reduce any attribute disparities such as strength.

Case in point is when I was practicing Judo with Sensei Donal Tannam. Donal is a man who is old, lighter and not nearly as strong as I am. I can literally clean and press his bodyweight for reps!

Yet when we gripped up for Randori (Judo sparring) that strength was nearly useless. Other than simply going "Hulk Smash" on him, I couldn't get a single take down.

Skills are the way we level the attribute playing field, and Donal's skills in Judo are miles ahead of mine. Miles!

However, back to our hero.

Meeting an opponent who is better than you is a good thing. This helps you identify and evaluate where you stand to make the most progress in your own performance.

Be that attributes or skills.

But what about the panic attack and subsequent identity loss?

Have you hear about the analogy of the "Stress Bucket"

We have a bucket that represents how much stress we can tolerate. As long as the bucket doesn't overflow, we are golden.

The inputs to that bucket, the taps filling it are many. Work, family, finances and so on. Often these are outside of your control.

The drains in that bucket, allowing it to empty are usually more under your control. These include sleep, nutrition, relationships, exercise and so on.

Let's not forget though exercise is stress, deliberate stress. Most of the time it is "eustress" or good for us, but occasionally it can be "distress" or no longer good.

It's always a good idea to keep some space in that bucket.

If it's always filled close to the brim, there's not a lot of space for emergencies.

But if it's empty, the bucket does tend to shrink in capacity, meaning when stress comes along we've less capacity to cope.

In real life, every now again one of those taps gets turned on full blast.

If we're unlucky, several taps get turned up.

And we are struggling.

And then we enter a competition, something we enjoy, but that is also a stressor, albeit a relatively small one. And the bucket overflows.

Our ability to compete is reduced as we're psychologically compromised. Our self identity as a competitor, and strong person is called into question.

And the weight of all the stress in that bucket becomes crushing.

So what are the answers?

That's too big and personal a question for a simple newsletter, but we'll keep it conceptual.

First, we know realise the bucket is more full than we we maybe realised.

Next we have to look at what's filling it and whats draining it.

Do we need to turn off the taps under our control?

Yes, the competitive experience became distress, but the fun based training is excellent eustress. Distress fills the bucket, eustress empties it.

Then what taps can we not control?

If we can't control the tap, can we control how we feel about that tap? Can we control how that Tap affects us?

Much of the time we can't control a situation, but we can affect how we respond to it.

We can evaluate how much responsibility, if any we need to take for that particular tap.

And when we do this, we reduce the flow into our bucket.

If we must take responsibility and we can't reduce the flow in, we need to look at what we do with that input.

What "drains" can we open to let it out, to deal with it.

Exercise works, until it doesn't

Sleep works until it doesn't

Nutrition works, until it doesn't

Meditation works, until it doesn't

"Everything works some of the time, nothing works all of the time." - Dan John

But if the they work now, that's all that matters, as long as we remember that we will have to change tactics at some point.

We still need to deal with the tap, the input, not just focus on the output.

And that, dear reader is the hard part.

Dealing with the inputs.

How we do that, or why we're failing to do that is so often found in our story. Our background, our upbringing.

In the subconscious mannerisms we have developed over a lifetime of experiences.

In my Force of Nature Program we spend a lot of time looking at Mind and Spirit as well as the Body.

As we journey through the Mind, this is where we identify our limiters that crop up and hold us back.

Once identified, we can use the Spirit to rewire them, the navigate around them, to recognise when they pop up.

In short, we learn how to better control the taps, the inputs that are filling our stress buckets, and in some cases we actually manage to grow our buckets to a larger capacity.

None of this easy.

But just as we compete to find out how better to train.

Just as we test ourselves in the gym to figure out what we are capable of doing, we must also test out our Mind and out Spirit.

All three parts need tested to find out what we need to to do to build more strength, mobility and endurance in each.

The Force of Nature program is my new signature program, running entirely online.

It's a 12 week course.

We meet via Zoom 2x / week, once for a guided learning experience looking at Mind & Spirit, and once for a review/Q&A to discuss anything that has come up through the week, either from the Monday call or from the training plan.

And of course, you get a training plan based on a movement assessment and your goals.

We review the movement assessment 3 times over the 12 weeks.

If you'd like more details of this, reach out and we'll chat.

Chat soon,

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

www.WG-Fit.com