Removing the negative

I have been training a client of mine who is an office worker. This guy is very athletic, and strong. His FMS show that is ASLR wasn't great and needed improvement.

So for the first phase of training (4 weeks), we hammered away at the correctives for the ASLR. Little improvement.

Than we got talking in the gym during a session, and I said half jokingly "all those hours sitting at your desk are helping your hamstrings". The next session my client comes in and tells me he got himself a "stand up" desk.

Over the following weeks ASLR is a solid 2. This just comfirms the point that if you want to see an improvement in anything, you need to first remove the negative!!

Stay Strong,

RB

The Marc Owens Medical Fund

Just a quick blog post today.

Please click the link below and make a donation to the Marc Owens Medical Fund.

Marc has a very aggressive stage IV cancer, and needs to raise €1m. Currently his fund has raised €200,000. So please support, donate to, and pass on Marc's story.

Thanks guys

Stay Strong

RB

Marc Owens Medical Fund

Lymphatic Drainage Technique Seminar with Paula Bergs NMT

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being exposured to techniques that can enhance the performance and health of our lymphatic system, by Paula Bergs NMT.

The lymphatic system is part of our immune system, and is basically a detox system.

The lymphatic system has multiple interrelated functions:

- It is responsible for the removal of interstitial fluid from tissues
- It absorbs and transports fatty acids and fats as chyle from the circulatory system
- It transports white blood cells to and from the lymph nodes into the bones
- The lymph transports antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cells, to The lymph nodes where an immune response is stimulated.
- Lymphatic tissue is a specialized connective tissue - reticular connective, that contains large quantities of lymphocytes.

Paula was a wonderful and very funny teacher, and it was a pleasure to learn from her.

Stay Strong,
RB

Book Review: Ultimate MMA Conditioning

This is the best book I have ever read on Energy System Development. It is also the best training related book I have read in a long time.

Joel Jamieson covers all the details about the 3 main energy systems in this book. He outlines how the aerobic, anerobic, and alactic systems work, how to assess each one, and what methods you can use to improve both the power and capacity of all 3 systems.

Joel goes on to outline how he goes about improving the following using an 8 week block training system:

General Endurance
General Strength
Explosive Speed & Power
Power Endurance
Fight Preparation

The final chapter goes on to outline how Joel goes about programming for the 8 weeks coming up to a fight, which is great information also.

This book is in no way a "cookie cutter" approach to ESD, but is a book that gives you the blue-prints to be able to design an effective ESD system no matter what the sport. So this book is about a lot more than just MMA. Believe me. In fact I am of the opinion that if Joel were to re-name this book, more coaches would read it. I feel some coaches maybe put off by the title, and think that it is "just an MMA book".

The main point that I took away from the book was that you can not separate "strength" and "conditioning", as both should actually go hand in hand within a holistic approach to improving performance.

This is a brilliant book, that is extremely informative and easy to read. I highly, highly recommend it!

Stay Strong,
RB