The 1 Life team.

A common cause of shoulder pain is during the pull phase. If the hand crosses the mid line of the body then the shoulder becomes impinged. This may also indicate that you are maintaining a ‘flat’ body position. Therefore, using a swimming coach would help you overcome this poor technique and may reduce pain in your shoulder.

However the following exercises are here to help stabilize and rehab your shoulder. However, the exercises are more effective if your shoulder has a full range of motion.

Finally the strengthening exercises may be quantified by duration (e.g. 1 minute) rather than number of repetitions as this has a better rehabilitative affect.

Exercise: Shoulder External Rotation.

Goal: Strengthen external rotators.

You can perform this exercise using a cable machine or a securely anchored resistant band. Keeping good posture and with your elbow at 90 degrees, rotate your arm away from your body.

As you rotate your arm away from your body perform the movement quickly. Then slowly return back to the start position. See pictures below.

Exercise: Shoulder Flexion.

Goal: Stabilizing shoulder girdle.

To perform this exercise you do no necessarily need any resistance. The stability ball is being used to help you keep as still as possible whilst keeping good posture.

Gently lean your chest against the ball and starting with your hands next to your hips and thumb pointing forward try to lift your arms above your head. Ensure that you try to keep pushing your shoulders down not letting your shoulders elevate. See pictures below.

Exercise: Shoulder Retraction.

Goal: Strengthens Tapezius, Rhomboids and Back Extensors

This exercise does not have to be performed using weights. Ensure as you lift your arms you keep your shoulder blades stable and down your back.

Rest your abdomen on the ball and start with your arms down. Keeping your core strong extend your back and bring your arms into a ‘T’ shape. At this point squeeze your shoulder blades together and slowly return to the start. See pictures below.

Team GB did it again last night, coming top of the medal table at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup held at the Olympic Velodrome, London.

Despite their amazing performances we kept hearing the riders commenting on how they are only just going into their ‘Peak Phase’ in their training schedule. I’ve had emails from my clients this morning asking what they mean by this. Well to put it simply they are following a Periodisation Plan/Stratergy. These plans are split into different phases of training taking the riders through an initial Base Phase to work on their endurance fitness, then a Build Phase to concentrate more on their power and force production, then finally into their ‘Peak Phase’ to work more on race efforts and to sharpen up their race speeds etc. This is obviously a very basic overview of Periodisation Training just to explain the concept to you.

If you would like to know more or are interested in training using such a programme, then contact 1 Life as we offer a programme planning service that can take you right through from day 1 of training to your race and beyond.

Have a great week.

Cheers doug

We are delighted to announce that 1 Life Healthcare are now official England Athletics and British Athletes Commission Sport & Remedial practitioners.  We now work with athletes associated with these governing bodies.

1 Life Healthcare offers a discount to all EA and BAC athletes, please mention that you are with either the BAC or the EA when booking and bring along your registration card as proof to your first treatment.

1 Life healthcare, supporting local sport.

Have a great day!

Doug

Shoe-4africa.org they take shoes with at least 100miles left on them. Used for the prevention of hookworm & to promote health and fitness programmes in Africa.

Nikereuseashoe.com They recycle every part of the shoe. Outsole rubber is melted down for running tracks, uppers go into padding under basketball courts and midsole foam is used in tennis courts.

soles4souls started in South East Asia after the tsumami hit in 2004. They collect new & used shoes to help with crisis relief and the elimination of poverty.

Giveyour sole gives moderately worn shoes to local shelters in towns of full and half marathons.

What do you think? It’s gotta be better than keeping them all to do the decorating in!

Those old trainers served you well, now they can help someone else…

Have a great week

Doug

My last lunchtime run blog received so many great comments, so I thought I’d post another.

5 x 4 minutes with 2 minutes jog recovery

A great session to fit into your lunch break with time for a recovery meal and shower after. It involves holding the same pace throughout each of the runs. It is a tough session as it involves a lot of mental concentration to be able to run for 4 minutes several times. Don’t go off too hard but try and maintain the pace throughout the entire session. Make a mental note of how far you get on the first effort and run out and back on the other repetitions to see if you can keep to the same distances.

Happy Runnings!!

Doug

As you can see from this image, I had a go at MTB instead of the road bike I had planned. I must’ve fallen off at least 6 times on the 25km route, thankfully the snow was soft.

Hard work though and a great way to get a decent strength session in.

I hope you all found other ways to either train or build up those much needed ‘Brownie Points’ with your partners. Just remember Brownie Points have a ‘use by’ date so cash them in soon.

Have a good week!

Doug

I’ve overheard several triathletes and cyclists discussing how bad the conditions need to be before they decide to abandon their long rides. Trust me it’s not worth the risk. If you come off your bike your injuries could put your training back by weeks, not just one day.

Best thing you can do is stay in, turbo and build up the brownie points with your respective partners to cash in when you want to buy your new season’s kit.

Stay Strong and Stay Safe

Doug

1 Time will tell

Time is precious and you need a lot of it when you’re training for an Ironman. Work out how much time you can dedicate to training and plan your time accordingly.

The swim leg accounts for roughly 10% of your race, around 60% of your time is spent on the bike and the remaining 30% on the run. If you want to compete, rather than simply finish, you’ll need to train for at least 6 – 10 months.

2 Focus on your weakest discipline

Look at the breakdown of your previous race times looking for areas you can improve. Unlike with shorter distances this doesn’t really include transition times. A successful Ironman performance is heavily dependent on how well you complete the bike. If you bike too hard, you won’t have enough energy to complete the run – no matter how strong a runner you are.

3 Join a triathlon club

Training for an Ironman can be lonely, so training with others makes your long rides a whole lot easier. Moreover, you’ll be with like-minded souls who will actually enjoy talking about triathlon toys/gadgets/must haves.

You can search for clubs close to you using the British Triathlon Federation (BTF) website (britishtriathlon.org). Club membership fees range from £20 a year to £75 a month, depending on equipment and access to pools and gyms.

4 Get a trainer or coach and follow a training plan

Planning your training with the correct balance and structure can be to complicated, especially if you’re new to Ironman. So perhaps your best investment, before looking at what kit can shave seconds off your time is investing in a trainer/ coach who can write a programme tailored to meet your goals and give you direction.

Many trainers and coaches will offer an online or email service, with a bespoke training programme and consultation by telephone or meeting once a week. These can range from £50 to £150 a month; the price depends on how much contact you choose to have.

5 Invest in your equipment

You don’t want to be one of those triathletes who has ‘all the gear and no idea’, although decent kit could make the Ironman experience that bit more comfortable. My advice is to buy the best you can afford:

• a wetsuit that fits properly
• goggles that don’t leak and a spare pair, just incase.
• a road or TT bike – make sure you get a fitting before handing over your money
• a decent tri-suit is essential for long-distance events so make sure you buy one that is designed for long distance. If the race is in a hot country, choose a light colour to reflect the sun as this will help keep you cooler
• appropriate trainers, have a gait analysis done when buying.
• a visor or baseball hat to shield your face from the sun
• sunglasses to protect your eyes from UV rays
• a watch to monitor your heart rate (some also have a GPS to record your distance)

All the above can be purchased from www.triathlon-zone.com except trainers and gait analysis. Go to a reputable running shop for this.

6 Have a nutrition plan

The fourth discipline and one you neglect at your peril is a well prepared and practised nutrition plan. You’ll be training for up to 18 hours a week, so you’ll be burning a lot of calories which need to be replaced. On race day, your height and weight, and the weather, will have a bearing on the amount of food and fluids you’ll need – especially for the bike. Checkout which nutrition product the race organisers are handing out at the feed stations and try using it first in training. That way if you are comfortable with it you won’t have to weigh your bike/self down with gels/bars/etc on race day.

7 Have a support structure in place

Your support structure needs to be part of your planning process. Support might come from your doctor, sports massage therapist, osteopath, bike service mechanic, triathlon trainer/coach, family etc…..

…..Training for 18 hours a week is going to have an impact on your home life. You must make sure your family is 100% behind you.

8 Rest and recover

Without rest and recovery, you’ll burn out and be open to injury and overtraining. There are lots of things you can do to prepare yourself for the next day’s training. These include recovery shakes, nutritional supplements, compression tights, elevation, cold baths and sports massage – these all aid recovery. And remember, if you’re a slightly older triathlete, recovery takes a bit longer. Believe me, I know.

 9 Plan your race

Ironman races require meticulous planning. Ensure you know what equipment you need, what time registration is, where the transition entry and exit points are and how many laps there are etc. Familiarise yourself with the rules. All the information will be on the race website and in your race pack. You don’t want a penalty or worse a DQ (disqualification).

10 Enjoy!

If you’ve followed your plan correctly, you’ve done the hard bit. So make sure you smile for the cameras while you’re climbing that massive hill on the bike course. And more importantly, make sure you smile when you cross the finishing line; there’ll be cameras, lots of cameras.

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