nw conditioning

More to life than bodyfat

Neil Welch — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:23:26 +0000

It’s very easy to slip into a sedentary lifestyle, often people do so without realising they’re doing it. They’re busy day to day with work or family life and maybe it feels as though they’re doing a lot of running around, they’re not putting on weight, so they must be in decent enough shape. Unfortunately for many though, the message seems to be that health and fitness is related to only to that one measure, bodyfat.

I worked with someone recently and they were unable to hold a plank for 15 seconds and couldn’t control the eccentric of a bodyweight squat past a 1/4 of the way down, it was like they’re legs just switched off. They explained that because they had put on no weight over the last 4 years there was no need to exercise…at all. As soon as we went through some work, like standing up out of a chair correctly, it began to dawn on them that they weren’t in great shape and there was more to it than how they looked.

Some education is needed for the many people who use exercise purely to regulate weight or offset a poor diet. The message needs to be one that looks more towards cardiovascular, biomechanical and bone health. Then we might see a shift away from the bike/treadmill/crosstrainer dominated commercial gyms that people believe are the best ways to burn fat, to ones that are more geared towards movement and strength development. This is something that would help to grow the S&C field in the UK and provide jobs to the many coaches searching for it.

Public S&C

Internship season

Neil Welch — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:53:12 +0000

Looking through the jobs list on the UKsport website it’s easy to tell that it’s strength and conditioning internship season. There are a glut of football league clubs advertising for full time unpaid interns for help throughout pre-season. Funds must be tight at these clubs to not even offer expenses in return for 35 hours + work a week, either that or a lack of respect for the field. That snipe aside, I think this could be the start of a shift in S&C in the UK.

It makes no sense for every football, rugby and cricket club to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds into gym equipment and space for a, what, absolute maximum of 5 weights sessions per week at the busiest time of the season. I see a shift to an outsourcing of S&C provision as a much better option. A number S&C centric gyms exist around the country with much better facilities than the majority of clubs and individuals can afford or design themselves, and this number will grow.

The opportunity for these gyms to offer and allow general public to see and train alongside professional athletes using similar methods would be a relatively easy sell I think. I wouldn’t be surprised if a gym chain with a bit of financial clout looks at this as an opportunity, perhaps a Virgin perform gym popping up. In any case, the club outsources the S&C, if they’re not happy with the service, they don’t renew the contract. No hiring or firing issues and revolving door of back room staff. No investment in equipment needed. Good quality S&C for their teams when they need it, paying for the contact and planning time and no more.

Big toes – got to get them mobile

Neil Welch — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:48:21 +0000

These things always seem to arrive in groups and this time the issue I’ve seen most of recently is mobility related. In order to run efficiently and correctly, you need to be able to get over the top of your big toe. If the joint is locked up that can’t happen and the body has to compensate.

The centre of pressure can start to make excursions in order to bypass the joint. This lateral movement then requires a late and steep forefoot pronation to get the big toe down on the ground for toe off. This is driven by the peroneals and hip adductors. Sometimes this will result in peroneal and adductor tightness and it also compounds the stiffness in the hallux joint. As flexor hallucis longus (FHL) will have to work even harder to stabilise the late lateral movement. The other compensation, rather than the lateral shift that can be made is an increase in workload for the hip flexors that have to work to pick the leg up and over the stiffened joint again resulting in a less than efficient running stride.

By spending time rolling the fascia with a focus on the FHL tendon and stretching the joint it is possible to get a much cleaner and more efficient toe off. If the joint is arthritic or structurally rigid maybe because of a bunion then an orthotic can provide the answer.

As with all these things there is an opposite end to the spectrum. If the big toe joint is hypermobile, the toes simply move out of the way as soon as any load goes near them and propulsion is reduced. In these cases, tension needs to be brought back into the foot through intrinsic work or an orthotic.

This is the last point of contact with the ground and if it doesn’t function in the correct way, we lose a lot of our stored energy. Over the course of the marathon and the training leading up to it, that adds up to a lot of wasted energy.

How good is barefoot?

Marathon training – turn the volume down

Neil Welch — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:42:55 +0000

I spoke with a physio earlier in the week about injury trends around the marathon. He said he sees a definite spike in the 3-4 weeks in the lead up to race day. In most online training plans, this is commonly where you see the big volume increases, people committed to a 17 miler on one weekend with 20-22 miles the following weekend, with a cheeky 10 miler thrown in during the week. I’ve also been seeing people coming into Profeet with small injuries and discomfort wondering if their shoe is the cause of all their ills.

In most cases it isn’t. A failure to address flexibility and strength in conjunction with run training has led to this point. It is the result of a fatigued system breaking down. In my opinion, it isn’t necessary to run those distances prior to a race, particularly for those embarking on it as a one off. Running a marathon is an achievement, it’s hard. If I was running 26 miles, I wouldn’t want to run 90% of that 2 weeks before.

I understand the psychological benefit of getting miles under your belt. But getting miles and miles of poor technical running only reinforces poor movement patterns. I think people would be better served getting some coaching and running shorter milages of good technique. Strength training would also have a massive impact as many don’t have the muscular ability to absorb the landings and maintain good alignment; the amount of people I see with a trendelenburg gait is incredible! Less miles, less chance of cumulative fatigue, better movement patterning, less chance of injury. Leave it to the crowds on race day to get you round and provide the psychological lift.

Calum Clark deserves a long ban

Neil Welch — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:10:04 +0000

I’m not sure if anyone has seen the video of the Northampton Saints player Calum Clark’s ‘challenge’ on the leicester player Rob Hawkins that broke his elbow. Hawkins is likely to spend a lot of time on the sidelines as a result and, with most of his limited club appearances being from the bench, could even be looking at an end to his time at Leicester.

Clark’s challenge was cynical in the extreme and was serving no purpose, particularly as it happened after the whistle. I think that Hawkins would be well within his rights to take legal action against Clark if it has a detrimental affect on his career and earnings, he has been stripped of his ability to play and compete for his place in the Leicester team.

I’ve played a lot of rugby, it’s a physical sport and am more than aware that fights break out and cheap shots happen. However, when these cause serious injury, the person guilty is culpable. If this happened at the amateur level to someone who, for example, was a serving police constable and was unable to fulfil his duties as a result, I would expect charges to be pressed. A friend of mine lost teeth when someone took a 20m run up and punched him during a scuffle that didn’t involve him. These incidents need to be stamped out and a long ban for Clark would send the correct message out to players at all levels. This type of behaviour isn’t welcome in the game.

What now for England?

Neil Welch — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:43:24 +0000

It was a great result for England at the weekend. I managed to catch the second half and witness the destruction of the Irish scrum which was a real high for the England team to finish the tournament on. 4 wins from 5 games including 3 away from home is no mean feat in test match rugby, especially given the amount of discussion throughout the whole tournament surrounding Stuart Lancaster’s future. He managed to shield the squad from those distractions enabling them to perform as well as they did. So, after such success, what now for England?

In the coming weeks they have big decisions to take regarding the make up of the coaching team to take the squad to the next world cup. For me it is hard to see past Stuart Lancaster taking the role, but the big issue will be whether they can secure the services of Andy Farrell whom Saracens are far from keen to see leave. Assuming that release can be negotiated, the management/coaching team have obviously created an environment the players enjoy and can perform in. You can only assume that as the squad and management gain experience that this will improve.

England have a young but very promising group of players and 3 years to get them ready for the rigours international tournament rugby. I think it would be a waste of the tournament just gone to once again change the setup and start from scratch. That said, Nick Mallett is a very experienced international coach with a great track record. It’s a tough call, but for me, Lancaster gets the job.

Why do dopers dope?

Neil Welch — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:01:30 +0000

I read an article in the Economist this week entitled Can the scientists keep up? It gives an interesting potted history of doping in sport and the battle between the anti doping agencies and cheats. It charts the use of depressants, steroids, masking agents and, more recently, erythropoietin and the techniques employed by those trying to catch the users.

I had mixed feelings while reading. At first I was impressed. The commitment and work demonstrated by those seeking to pursue and prevent the drugs cheats throughout nearly 50 years was, and still is, incredible. I was impressed with the example of working with pharmaceutical companies to recognise where new medicines or treatments, in this case CERA-Mircera could be used to enhance performance and develop techniques for detection together. I guess ‘big pharma’ are not always the bad guys!

After that high though, I felt a little depressed. The thought of an ‘arms race’ between good (World Anti Doping Agency) and evil (drugs cheats and developers), is tough for me to grasp. Maybe it’s the purist in me but I don’t understand why people would deliberately engage in a practice that they know contravenes the rules of the sport, to run a bit quicker or throw an object a little bit further. For me, the enjoyment in sport is in the competition and knowing that you have won because of the dogged and consistent determination that you have shown in your preparation.

I tried to understand why someone would do it. The draw of success, wealth, celebrity, funding, endorsements and scholarships creates massive temptation to break the rules, particularly for those on the cusp of making it. Some might blame modern professional sport for creating those draws. I don’t buy that though. In any situation where big rewards are on offer, a minority will seek to break the rules. See exams cheats, benefits cheats, fraudsters, con artists and my twin brother at board games. Whether you blame society, nature, nurture is your prerogative. My conclusion, to paraphrase Team America, some people are just dicks.

Marathon; more than running

Neil Welch — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:58:31 +0000

We’re about 7-8 weeks out from the marathon and this is where it gets tricky. This is where the weeks of training, and by training I mean miles upon miles of steady state road running, bare fruit. Unfortunately though, the fruit tastes crap, and comes in the form of injury.

The lack of any attention being paid to improving technique or increasing strength and range of motion necessary to run injury free is a big mistake. So now the system has reached it’s threshold and injury has occurred. This far out from the event panic will set in. There isn’t lots of time to rehab, sponsorships have been collected and anyone who’ll listen has been told that the marathon is being done.

So then, advice. Be pragmatic. If you’re injured, see a physio and listen to what they have to say, do the rehab and tow the line. If you can, identify the likely mechanism of the injury and address it with the necessary strength and flexibility work. Look into injury management strategies for the day such as taping that might help you. You might not get round in your target time, but at least you’ll get round. Learn the lessons. If you embark on this again, get some help from someone who knows how to train and what to look at to reduce the likelihood of injuring again.

Marathon training – turn the volume down

3 day accelerated development programme

Neil Welch — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:39:23 +0000

Here’s a link to a 3 day S&C accelerated development programme being run by a great coach Brendan Chaplin. It’s very practical focused will give any S&C coach the opportunity to learn and share ideas.

I studied with Brendan and know he’s a stickler for detail and this course will be no different!!

Long term athlete and personal development

Trying something new

Neil Welch — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:17:48 +0000

I had my first double macchiato this morning. I ventured away from my usual americano to see what all the fuss was about and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised…doesn’t last as long though. Maybe that’s a good thing depending on the company I guess. However this morning it was accompanied with some good S&C chat and a challenge set to write a blog around the macchiato. So hence about trying something new.

I think this is a very tough thing to get right as a coach. The S&C community is a very active and open one which is a hugely positive thing, but it means there are a million and one training ideas floating around and it’s almost a daily occurrence stumbling upon something that you like the look of. So how do you introduce your new protocols? What are your criteria for inclusion? Do you have a probation period? I’m going to open this up to the audience so please add comments below, but some of my (fairly basic) ideas around this are;

I have to try it and like it
It has to do something as good as or better than something I already do
It has to be logistically plausible
It has to have some kind of progression of fit in with other progressions