ADVICE: Injuries, niggles & scaling, we’re here for you!

Ring muscle up

Remnants of your past sporting or desk-bound endeavours can be brought to light in the CrossFit® gym.

This is nothing but a positive thing. Backed by our world class medical staff, the Shapesmiths team have lots of opportunities to improve and fix the injuries and niggles you have been meaning to get looked at for a while. T.L.C on tap, if you will (feel free to hashtag that). 

Here’s a couple of ways you can optimize your training, and just as important, your cooldown, if carrying a niggle/injury.

  1. Talk to your coach about your niggles/injuries.

Quite commonly every coach will see issues that focus around the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder and wrist. The Shapesmiths coaches genuinely love to help you guys and girls find appropriate modifications/scalings. So please know that if you are carrying a niggle/injury that we are here to help, we are here for you.

If you are already aware of an injury/niggle the best time to highlight it and seek a suitable scaling is before a class or at the TV screen briefing.

You can also drop us a whatsapp message and flag any medical issues really early. We can pick up the thread and advise what the best course of action is quite easily.

  1. Talk to your Livewell Clinic team about your niggles/injuries.

If you have something going on, please do touch base with The Livewell Clinic!

They offer you an amazing 15min free consultation that could give you insight into whether or not you should keep training, train with modifications/scalings or, if it’s serious (think broken bones etc), to stop all together. 

Livewell practitioners can help you by using soft-tissue techniques, articulation of joints and manipulation in differing degrees to break down scar tissue and improve range and quality of motion in the body. Perfect for CrossFit®.

Contact info here: http://thelivewellclinic.co.uk/contact-us/

Keep healthy, keep happy, keep CrossFitting

 

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Home truths about working from home…

working from home

Shapesmiths coach, Karima Adi takes us through some home truths, when it comes to working from home! She lays out how to look after your posture whilst at your desk during lockdown…

Lockdown 3.0 sees many of us working from home and therefore from the (dis)comfort of our kitchen tables, counters, desks, sofas and everything in between.

Not having the gym to access for our fitness for the time being also means that our work at home area has also become our workout area, meaning that our current level of activity & movement is further reduced. This means that we are spending a lot more time sitting, and most of that for extended periods of time. 

So if we are going to spend more time sitting/working, then it’s imperative that we look at adopting postures that ensure that we’re not upsetting the delicate balance of our bodies even further.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO to look after your posture whilst at your desk during lockdown and ensure that your work station is set up as well as it can possibly be to aid us in working as discomfort free as possible?

STEP 1 – DO NOT SIT for more than 15 minutes at a time

What happens when we sit for too long?

  • The psoas along with various other muscle tissues begins to shorten in an effort to keep our torso stable, due to your glutes essentially being switched off when you’re in a seated position. When this occurs over long periods of time, you may notice that it feels more difficult or uncomfortable to stand up fully/extend.

As Crossfitters & Weightlifters we are extension driven – compromising that by sitting for too long can therefore compromise the integrity of our athletic performance.

  • Can you take a meeting/work call on a walk? We know right now it’s often grey, dark and rainy, but the movement will be well worth it! Just have a warm shower, a hot cup of coffee and your comfies ready for when you get back!

STEP 2 – Let’s take a look at your workstation: 

  • Are you sitting or standing to work?
  • If you’re sitting, what is your set up?
  • What is the angle of your forearms/elbows to the floor?

Ideal working set up: standing vs sitting

Sitting:- what is the BEST set up if you’re going to be sitting down whilst working from home?

  • Feet flat on the floor
  • Roll your shoulders back 
  • Move every 15 mins – SET AN ALARM
  • If moving every 15mins is not possible, figure an interval that works for you and set THAT up as an alarm!

Standing:- though this is a lot better for you, standing for long periods of time is not the most comfortable thing to do.

How do we make this more comfortable and more efficient?

  • Have something (stack of books etc) to put one foot on to take the extension load out of the spine and support it accordingly by adding a little bit of neutral flexion.
  • Adding a bar stool/high chair to the mix means that even though you are sitting down, not doing so fully and you are STILL weight bearing meaning you haven’t switched the entire musculature system off completely, hanging on your connective tissue.

STEP 3 – Breathing

  • Can you take a deep breath in your work set up position? If you’re in a “bad” position, the answer is most likely NO.
  • Add some breathing exercises: 
  1. Box breathing (In for 5/ hold for 5/ out for 5/ hold for 5 [seconds]) 
  2. In for 6, hold for 6, out for 10 [seconds]

KEY THINGS TO DO FREQUENTLY OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR WORKDAY:

Roll your shoulders encouraging an externally rotated (as opposed to internally rotated) position. Opens up the ches, allows for better breathing.

Get up every 15-20 mins – perform a few air squats perhaps.

Spend some of your working day standing – BUT do so with the correct set up – it needn’t be expensive to set up, stacks of books are the perfect tools!

Roll/rotate your wrists so they don’t stiffen up only ever perched in a typing-ready position – imagine a front rack position with super tight wrists – NOT FUN

So there you have it. Some sage advice, but now it’s time to put it into practice and make it a habit. To accompany this article, I’ll be delivering a short webinar via the Shapesmiths Members Page. Stay tuned for the date announcement!

Mobility – What it is and isn’t? 

If we were to ask 100 Shapesmates ”What is Mobility?” we would get a huge range of answers. It may conjure images of people sitting in passive stretches for prolonged periods, performing banded stretches, being really bendy or essentially performing things stretches that are used as a means to an end to be able to do the fun stuff. 

True mobility training should be a workout in itself, it involves training the muscles, joints and brain to allow you into better positions with more confidence.

The aim of the daily mobility classes is to teach you how to effectively train to no longer need the 40 minutes of foam rolling or banded movements so, simply, you are able to get into an overhead position.

Are the results instantaneous, in some ways yes, in some ways no. You will see the effect of what can be achieved in the session, absolutely no doubt, but as with everything consistency is key to making sure that you see the results you want. There will come a time where you will go to the gym one day, or try and get into that normally irritating position, and something just clicks. But you do have to work on that. 

Without adequate Mobility for lifting, gymnastics or whatever you would like to do in the gym or outside of the gym you are operating at a less than optimal level and in some cases with the brakes on. We all know how quickly things would burn out if you tried to go fast with the brakes on. This means without adequate mobility it’s not a case of if you get injured, it’s simply when. Be smart. Look after your body and book into Mobility class. 

Article by Mike Lee.

Mobility classes are bookable with Shapesmiths Coach Mike Lee, Monday to Wednesday at 1815 hrs and Saturday at 1215 hrs! We also send out recordings of class afterwards for those who can’t make the times.