yoga rogue - Strength Matters

Transcription

Yoga rogue
Aleisha Turner talks to Jill Miller about
Tapping into the parasympathetic
How To Reboot
Your Swing
BY Perry Nickelston P5
The Secret
To Upsetting A
Lot Of People
BY Dan John P32
Flexibility – The
Final Frontier
BY Andrew Read P4
Goldilocks’S Secret
To Fat Loss Momentum
BY Josh Hillis P22
Issue 12 September 2015
M
a
t
t
e
r
s
Issue 12 September 2015
In this issue
Shooting the breese
3
Athletic adventures
4
Stop chasing pain
5
Spotlight On…
Jill Miller
6
IN THE NEWS
10
Made for life
12
PODCAST
15
Chicago SM Summit
16
Education matters
18
Photocall 30
Coach’s corner
32
New members’ welcome
34
Events Schedule
35
Subscription details
35
24
Health matters
22
FOOD MATTERS
Knowledge matters
24
Lessons from the old time strongmen
28
26
12
CONTRIBUTORS
JAMES BREESE
Twitter @kettlebellfever
Profession Kettlebell Fever
founder feature Shooting
the Breese Likes Rugby and
coffee Dislikes Football
and tea Perfect Day
Snowboarding on a clear blue
day, after overnight snow.
Dave whitley
Twitter @irontamer
Profession StrongFirst
Master instructor and performing
strongman feature Lessons
From... Likes Bending iron
Dislikes Pop music
Perfect Day Bending,
Rocking and Eating Steak.
Perry Nickelston
Twitter @Stopchasingpain
Profession Chiropractor
feature Stop Chasing Pain
Likes Movement and coffee
Dislikes Escalators and
excuses Perfect Day
Waking up.
Lauren Brooks
Twitter @LaurenBrooks819
Profession Founder of On
The Edge Fitness and Kettlebell
Instructor/expert feature
Strength Matters Likes Singing
Dislikes Fake caddy people
Perfect Day Bombing down
a mountain with good friends.
2
STRENGTH MATTERS ISSUE TWELVE
Aleisha turner
Twitter @monty0731
Profession Strength Matters
editor feature Spotlight On...
Likes Cats Dislikes Frogs
Perfect Day Smoked salmon,
poached eggs, mussels, steak,
ice cream. That’s just breakfast.
Emily wakefield
Twitter @embers1978
Profession Physiotherapist
and personal trainer feature
Knowledge Matters Likes
The outdoors, mountains and
knitting Dislikes Tea and coffee
Perfect Day Stargazing.
Mark Reifkind
Twitter @markrif1
Profession Personal trainer
feature Education Matters
Likes Kettlebell swings and
deep squats Dislikes Physical
restrictions Perfect Day
Waking up with no pain.
Laura nepodal
Twitter @lauranepodal
Profession Kettlebell coach
feature _Po’ten.ti.a Likes
Snuggly things Dislikes Inflated
egos Perfect Day Riding my
motorcycle, creative writing, lifting
heavy stuff, rock climbing, and
cuddling a bulldog - boom!
ANDREW READ
Twitter @AndrewR_ReadPT
Profession Strength coach
feature Athletic Adventures
Likes Training and Red Bull
Dislikes Laziness Perfect
Day Train, eat, sleep, train,
eat, sleep.
Josh hillis
Twitter @joshhillis
Profession Fat loss
coach feature Health
Matters Likes Superbad
Dislikes McLovin ;-)
Perfect Day Listening
To Dan John On Repeat.
Tim Harrison
Twitter @girevikchef
Profession Chef and
kettlebell lover. Feature
Food Matters Likes Red
Pandas Dislikes Snotty egg
whites Perfect Day Sunday
brunch with family then a run
up a hill.
DAN JOHN
Twitter @fakedanjohn
Profession Strength coach,
author feature Coach’s
Corner Likes Throwing stuff
Dislikes Ignorance in all forms
Perfect Day Sleep in, train,
big breakfast, afternoon lawn
party, Practice thanksgiving.
Shooting the Breese
Happy Anniversary!
We’ve made it. 12 Months and counting. We’ve
appeared in gyms and homes from Buenos Aires
to Melbourne. San Francisco to Tokyo and its
been one hell of a journey.
I can honestly say without all your help and support it wouldn’t have
been possible. For that I will always be truly grateful.
So, twelve months and twelve editions later it’s a good time to reflect
on what’s happened and now look to the future. We’ve had some
fantastic people grace our cover; Jayne Torvill, Paul McIlroy, Steve
Maxwell to name just a few…
I can honestly say, I never realised how much work it would be running
a monthly printed publication. It’s certainly had it’s challenges I can
assure you.
The goal has, and always will be to get to 100 pages of pure content
delivered to your door every month. I had hoped for that after 6 months,
however the rapid growth and spread of the magazine led to a need for
a greater infrastructure that would support all our members and create
better systems to support you all on your fitness journey.
It’s certainly been fun yet, I feel as a result of the growth we’ve under
delivered in many areas.
But that’s about to change.
We’re pleased to announce two new full time members of staff joining
the Strength Matters team. Marie Rothwell and Seb Morgan.
Marie will be the face of our customer services department who will
support you in all your needs and Seb will be coming on board to
deliver even more podcasts, webinars and other media related content.
But the one thing I most excited about is our brand new “BAT PHONE”.
Yes, a secret bat phone for our platinum members.
A phone line you can call up at anytime and get help and support
whenever you need it. Anything you need, simply call the number and
we’ll give you the support and advice you need. You’ll hear more about
that in the coming months
It’s just our commitment to support you and your needs and deliver on
our promise of changing the lives of a billion people.
Having just come back from Chicago and an awe inspiring Summit,
we’re all set this month for our first ever SMK Kettlebell Certification
in London and just released events in both San Diego and Seattle next
year. Buzzing is the understatement of the year!
Now, this month see’s the wonderful Jill Miller grace the cover of the
magazine who’s headlining the UK Strength Matters Summit. Endorsed
by the likes of Kelly Starrett she’s certainly one of the biggest up and
coming stars in health and fitness. If you haven’t come across her work
yet, I highly recommend her book “The Roll Model”.
Get stuck in, share your pictures of the magazine and here’s to
an exciting next 12 months.
Talk soon,
James
James Breese
Strength Matters Founder
STRENGTH MATTERS ISSUE Twelve
3
Athletic adventures
By ANDREW READ
Everyone wants to be a movement
guru but nobody wants to take
the time to stretch. It is no
coincidence that the athletes
that move the best – gymnasts,
dancers and martial artists – all
spend a considerable amount
of time stretching. As Ido Portal
says, “No one is going to foam roll
their way to the splits”.
Strength legend Charles Poliquin
says that it takes an hour a day
for six weeks to see a noticeable
improvement in flexibility. When
was the last time you did a
dedicated hour of flexibility work, let
alone six of them in a given week?
The problem is that the modern
fitness world has once again tried
to pull the wool over people’s
eyes. They cite one study in
particular (you know the one)
that says stretching is bad for
power production. It may well be.
However, let me ask you this –
When was the last time you worked
hard at doing the splits, to the point
of pain, and then decided now
would be the best time to squat
or deadlift a 1RM? I’m hoping the
answer is never because that is a
poorly thought out session. A far
more reasonable training session
is to warm up with some range of
motion drills, hit your big lifts and
then do the hard stretching.
So that single study, which is often
used by people to rationalise their
lack of flexibility work, is flawed
because no one smart would ever
train like that.
In the absence of real flexibility
work, “mobility” has become the
buzzword. People elsewhere in
this magazine will no doubt tell
you to floss this, smash that and
roll this other bit. However, that
is just release work. In the range
of motion continuum you begin
with release – a catchall phrase
I use to describe a combination
of massage, rolling and actual
stretching - and continue to
activation work before hitting
4
integrated work, which involves the
big lifts of your training session.
Yet all this mobility work, all this
rolling and flossing and whatever
else you are doing, has it helped?
Most people end up in a perpetual
cycle of endless rolling as though
they are having some kind of affair
with their roller. Let me give you
a tip – if the treatment you are
receiving, whether it is third party
or you’re doing it yourself, needs
to be constantly repeated then it
is ineffectual. Would you continue
seeing a physiotherapist day after
day after day for the exact same
problem or would you expect that
it would get resolved? Yet you
persist with your daily mobility and
rolling and never seem to change
anything long-term! That’s the
definition of madness.
A typical training session for most
goes along the lines of performing
the minimum amount of mobility
work needed to hit the various
positions in a given session, lifting
as hard as possible within the
confines of your movement ability,
then walking out the door. That’s
not a long-term plan for athletic
success.
This isn’t helped by the fitness
industry’s creation of artificial
constraints on training through
its suggestion that every training
session should be sixty minutes
long. A far better solution is to
realise that you’re not going to get
everything done in sixty minutes.
A far better time frame is ninety
minutes. The beginning of those
ninety minutes consists of thirty
minutes of joint warm-up and
mobility work. If any flexibility
work is done it is of a dynamic
nature (arm and leg swings to
progressively greater degrees).
The final part of this thirty minutes
is dedicated to a specific warm-up
for the exercises coming in the
body of the workout.
The next thirty-minute block
is made up of the body of the
workout. This is the actual workout
portion of your training where you
push hard and get sweaty.
The final thirty minutes is
dedicated to stretching.
A good rule of thumb is that
for every minute you work
you need the same amount of
time dedicated to recovery and
movement work. During hard
training muscles tighten and
shorten. They need some time
to regain their original length and
loosen up again. Additionally, it is
far easier to stretch warm muscles
so doing this post-training is ideal
as the body is heated.
By devoting a good chunk of time
to flexibility work, instead of just
the usual five minutes mindlessly
tacked on to the end of training,
you’ll be able to accomplish far
more. To begin with, every stretch
can now be held for longer.
Christopher Summer, the head
of Gymnastic Bodies, suggests
holding stretches for a minimum of
two minutes each. To be honest, if
you are really stiff or have an injury
that needs attention you may find
that holding stretches even longer
than two minutes is necessary.
The stiffness you feel when
stretching isn’t really stiffness.
It’s a safety mechanism the body
has to prevent you from hurting
yourself. When you reach the edge
Andrew read
Twitter @AndrewR_ReadPT
Having passed the RKC in 2009,
Andrew Read is now a Master
RKC and combines this role with
distributing for Dragon Door in
Australia. His speciality is elite
performance and he has been
involved with training three world
BJJ champions.
Andrew writes for several websites
and magazines such as Breaking
Muscle, Oxygen, Ultrafit, and Blitz.
of what the body perceives as
your recognised limit it tightens
the muscles to stop you damaging
them. You’re inflexible because
your body is trying to keep you
safe. Depending on how long
you’ve limited your range of motion
or how badly you’ve damaged
yourself previously the body may
hold on more or less. In extreme
cases I’ve seen people need to hold
stretches for ten or more minutes
to convince the body that there
is no danger. This then allows
them to move into a new extended
range.
So here’s the challenge for the next
month: Finish every single session
with thirty minutes of static
stretching. I know the first week
will be bad. Forming new habits is
never easy. But if you take the time
to really attack it for the first week
you will be amazed at how much
better you feel. By the time you get
through to the end of the second
week of extra stretching you’ll be
hooked. By this point your body
will feel better and you might even
be hitting new PRs based solely
on your ability to get into a better
lifting position.
Twenty years ago Ian King said
that flexibility work is the final
frontier of human performance.
He didn’t say it was foam rolling
for a very good reason.
Swing Reboot
Stop chasing pain
TM
By perry nickelston
Everything in the human body
is connected. There is no break
in the continuity of living matter.
Motion involves generating
force and nothing taps into that
better than the kettlebell swing.
Forty percent of muscle force
transmission is due to fascia.
Fascia is the connecting web
of the human body. Probably a
good idea to tap into that 40%
to have a positive impact on
your swing performance. Fascial
pathways are interconnected lines
of connective tissue, that run in
various trains (lines) throughout
our body. This fascial network
drives movement. Fascia has long
been neglected as just the ‘white
packing stuff’ around our muscles
and it’s only within the last decade
that we are realizing how critical
it is to functional movement. So
how do we take advantage of
these fore transmission lines to
improve your swing? That’s easy,
make sure they play nice together
and assess for ‘fascial snags’
(adhesions or sticking points) in
the system.
There are many possible
variations of fascial snags, but
we will concentrate on one of the
most common and overlooked
connections; the back of the head/
neck as it relates to the glute max
via Superficial Back Line (SBL) of
fascia. The SBL was pioneered by
anatomist Thomas Myers in his
groundbreaking book ‘Anatomy
Trains’ which I highly encourage
you purchase. Think of this line as
one big rubberband that connects
the bottom of your foot to the
top of your head. When you do a
swing you load up (stretch) the
rubberband at the bottom of the
swing and then release it at the
top of the swing. That’s force
generation. The gluteus maximus
(butt) is designed to thrust. That’s
it’s purpose in life. The KB swing
taps into that perfectly. However,
most people have inhibited glutei
and there is a disconnect in
patterning with how to thrust. Not
to mention the hip joint in today’s
flexion prone society does not
extend well. In essence, the ass
doesn’t work and the hips don’t
move. Not an ideal combination for
swinging. Now you probably already
do some hip mobility work to help
that awing and that’s awesome. But
we are going to go up higher in the
back line to the head and neck. Yep,
that’s right your head.
Poor alignment leads to overuse of
the neck extensors for generating
force. Just take a look at the
average person today and notice
where their head is positioned. It’s
far over the shoulders and they
look like a turtle. You know what I
mean, they walk into a room and
five minutes later their thoracic
spine comes in the door because
they lead with the head. Fascial
tightness, adhesions, snags at
the back of the head can break
the rubberband efficiency in the
back line. People swing with their
head and not their ass. How many
people want to extend their head
in a swing? So how can we help?
By using the RAIL Neural Reset
system I teach to help pattern the
movement. RAIL stands for Release,
Activate, Integrate, Locomotion. It’s
a system for reteaching function
movement patterning to optimize
performance. You do the following
RAIL Reset before you swing. Try
this little experiment. Do swings
without the reset. Then swing after
resets. Feel the difference. You
should feel a sense of ‘less effort’
needed. Otherwise known
as efficiency. The beauty of this
reset is that it’s short, simple,
sweet, and efficient.
Release
Release the muscle tightness
and fascial adhesions located at
the back of the head and neck,
particularly below the skull. Ever
notice how tender points are at
the base of your skull? Those are
snags. Lie on the ground (more
stable down there and your nervous
system relaxes for a better reset).
Use your hand, lacrosse ball, tennis
ball, trigger point ball, etc., to
massage the tender points on the
back of your head. Go from one ear
to the other. Massage for 1-minute
or until the tenderness decreases.
Stay on the spots that are the most
uncomfortable.
Activate
Engage the muscles of your buttock
and the front of your neck. We
want to ‘turn on’ muscles that have
not been functioning well in the
pattern. While still lying on your
back keep your legs straight and
tuck your chin to your chest like you
are trying to make a double chin.
Squeeze your glutes nice and hard
at the same time. Isometrically hold
for 4-seconds and don’t hold your
breath. Repeat two times.
Integrate
Now integrate the muscles into
a low threshold thrusting pattern
down on the ground. Bend your
knees and put your feet flat. Tuck
your chin to the chest again and
then bridge up thrusting your hips
towards the ceiling. Take 4 seconds
to go up and 4 seconds to go down.
Repeat two times. Do not hold your
breath.
Locomotion
Stand up. Feet shoulder width apart.
Raise hands out the sides like a
scarecrow. Now cross one arm and
the opposite side leg across the
back of your body trying to touch
your hand to the bottom of your
foot crossing midline. Yes you can
bend the arms and legs. Tap the
bottom of the foot and then repeat
with the other side. Alternating
back and forth for 4 receptions
each side so eight total. This uses
the poster chain and integrates the
cross patterning of your body. Now
walk forward four steps and then
backwards four steps.
RAIL Reset complete.
Now go swing!
Repeat anytime
you want.
Perry nickelston
DC, NKT, FMS, SFMA
Twitter @Stopchasingpain
Perry Nickelston is a
Chiropractic Physician with
primary focus on Performance
Enhancement, Corrective
Exercise, and Metabolic Fitness
Nutrition. He is an expert in
myofascial, orthopaedic,
medical and trigger point
soft tissue therapy.
5
Spotlight on…
Jill Miller
Aleisha Turner talks to Jill Miller
about tapping into the parasympathetic
Learning to
switch OFF
your ON and
switch ON
your OFF
6
Jill Miller is an expert in
teaching people how to live pain
free, move more and move better.
As the founder of Yoga Tune
Up® and author of The Roll
Model: A Step-by-Step Guide
to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility,
and Live Better in Your Body,
Jill has over 20 years of
experience helping people
develop conscious fitness
and to live in their bodies. In
October, Jill will be speaking at
the Strength Matters Summit in
London where she will impart
her wisdom to the UK SM
community.
Like many women drawn to
working in the fitness industry,
Jill followed a familiar journey
from an unhealthy teenager
battling eating disorders
and body image issues to a
place of sustained health and
acceptance. Jill grew up off the
grid in Santa Fe, New Mexico
and was not a healthy kid. She
describes her early relationship
with her body as an introduction
to mental illness. As an
adolescent and young adult Jill
suffered from body dysmorphic
disorder and anorexia. This
changed when she discovered
how to use movement for
soothing and to address
psychological needs. Along the
way she found master teachers
to work with including Glenn
Black who had a considerable
influence on her teaching and
programming. Jill joined me to
talk about how her own journey
to health and fitness inspired
her to help others live better
in their bodies.
7
“If you’re
chair bound
most of the
day... it will
precipitate
as your body
ages. ”
First things first, can
you give us a sneaky
peek about what you’ll
be presenting at the
Strength Matters
Summit (SMS) in London?
I’m honoured beyond belief to be
presenting two sessions at the
SMS. On the Friday, I’m going to be
teaching the Role Model Science
of Rolling one day course. This will
help anyone grasp pain physiology,
fascia geography and ball
choreography. Then, in my second
session at the Summit I will be
teaching Breath Camp: Diaphragm
Dynamics for Down Regulation and
Performance. This talk gives insights
into self-assessments on what your
relationship is to your ability to turn
off your On switch and turn on your
Off switch through massage motion
and check and recheck scenarios.
Let’s talk about your
specialty – Pain. Why
are so many people
living with pain
these days?
The World Health Organisation
says the 4th leading cause of death
worldwide is physical inactivity. If
you look at the nature of our lives
now, compared to 80 years ago, the
amount of non-movement involved
in our income earning because of
computers is staggering. We are
handicapping ourselves. So the
need for exercise programming
and comprehensive biomechanical
understanding is more urgent than
ever. While exercising programming
should be impeccable, the education
of around the clock movement
patterns is really where it’s at.
People like Katy Bowman and Kelly
Starrett have been talking about this
8
for a long time. How you do your
body most is how your body does.
If you’re chair bound most of the
day, added up over decades, it will
precipitate as your body ages.
Briefly, what is
fascia and why is it
important for our
overall health?
It’s the ties that bind you together.
When I talk about your fascia /
myofascial network, as your seam
network, I often use ‘stitching’ as
an analogy. Addressing your fascial
system is about putting yourself
back together and owning every
aspect of yourself. Accepting and
reframing your perspective and
becoming the tailor of the seams
of the body.
What was the
inspiration for
the Yoga Tune Up®
programme?
Yoga Tune Up® came about when I
started teaching yoga concurrently
when I was training with Glenn.
What I’ve observed is that if you
want to learn something, you should
teach it because it highlights the
holes in your knowledge.
When I started teaching yoga as
a profession in 2011, what I saw
were people going through the
movements of a flow yoga class
and bypassing stability and mobility.
They were just moving to get
through the repetitions or their joints
were way out of alignment in static
holds. If you’re out of alignment
going through flow movements or in
a static hold over time, you overuse
some muscles and under use others
and set yourself up for injury.
At the time I was teaching in a
studio where I had to teach in a
certain way and I knew there was
more potential in my students, so
I started creating momentary ‘pit
stops’ in the middle of class and
‘tuning’ them up. I would do shoulder
isolation and joint kinematics
to help people remap their
dysfunctional understanding of
the joints used in a pose.
I knew that if they could remap the
areas I wanted them to utilise in
context of the pose and in doing
these ‘tune ups’ they would gain
better proprioception. As they
improved, their body sense and their
poses would improve. They were
challenged by the poses because
they were using the right muscles
in the poses. This style of teaching
wasn’t inline with the ethos of the
studio I was working in, so I left
and set up my own classes in a
rented studio nearby. My students
followed me and that’s how Yoga
Tune Up® began.
When did you begin
introducing the Role
Model therapy balls
into your teaching?
The self-massage balls, or Role
Model therapy balls, came in a
couple of years later when I saw
that doing basic joint movements
were still beyond the body
comprehension of most students.
I started introducing therapy balls
in the classroom to give them
tactile feedback. When you feel
the tissues you’re bringing into
movement you also feel their
condition, which more than likely
is very poor. Tissues that are full
of adhesions and inappropriate
tension and trigger points are not
going to sense movement well.
They’re going to sense tension and
pain but aren’t going to be able
to elicit excellence in movement
pattern. The therapy balls aren’t
just there to massage - they are
used to create awareness. This
is one of the misunderstandings
of my programming: it’s not just
about rubbing balls on your body it’s about gaining improvement
in proprioception, movement and
body sense. Massage balls should
be used to improve mechanics and
not just for massage so that the
ache or pain doesn’t return. You are
the agent of change. You can go
to a physio or massage therapist
who can help a great deal, but then
you have to own it and integrate
and adapt. The main premise of
my work is to discover how can we,
as fitness professionals, create an
environment for ultimate adaptation
to occur in our clients? This is the
question I’m continuously trying
to answer.
“Yoga isn’t
necessarily
the right
strategy for
all people. ”
If you don’t know how to create
those conditions you’re just going to
be building tension patterns instead
of holistic integration. The result of
this can manifest itself in different
ways as an individual ages, they
may get injured, have disrupted
sleep patterns, hormone imbalances,
because they’ve built a bank of
deficit instead of a surplus.
Aleisha turner
Twitter @monty0731
Born in Detroit, Michigan,
Aleisha emigrated to the UK
as a student in 2000. She
lifted a kettlebell for the first
time in 2010 and has been
passionate about strength
training ever since. She
lives in Kegworth, UK with
husband Michael and cats
Indy and Elsa.
How can people
who do a lot of high
intensity training
with kettlebells
or weightlifting
apply this to their
programming?
I work with all sorts of weighted
or resistance implements myself
including kettlebells, barbells and
elastic bands. I love using weights.
The repetition of activity you’re
doing with kettlebells is dynamic in
nature. To be able to improve the
interconnectivity of any exercise
event is going to be beneficial. Using
the therapy balls, for one, improves
your body mapping, unsticks the
places you’re having trouble sticking.
For example in the Turkish Get UP,
there are very fast steps in between
the static moments. To be able to
isolate and improve those linking
movements, the use of therapy balls
and concentration techniques are
going to improve your ability to
perform the TGU.
The other thing is focusing on the
gut and ribcage with a therapy ball
called the Coregeous ball which is an
inflated ball used on the abdomen.
Your ability to brace and stabilise
your spine is predicated on your
ability to have full range of motion
in your respiratory muscles. Getting
tight and braced requires that you
un-adhere your abs, which people
over work because they want to
look thin and ripped. Everyone can
benefit from improving their axial
spines vis-à-vis deconstructing the
abomination that are most people’s
breath patterns. I don’t know anyone
who has come from the upregulated
weight/loading environment who
has done the parasympathetic
downregulation practice that equals
the amount of time they spend
upregulating themselves while
lifting. That downregulation space
is where you rest, recover and heal.
Not visiting those places will over
time catalyse injury, sleep problems,
sexual function problems. Maybe not
right away but there’s a build-up and
you have to have a balance in your
life or things will go wrong eventually.
How can those of us
who spend a lot of time
in that upregulated
space find ways of
tapping into the
parasympathetic
system? Is Yoga
practice the answer?
I teach mechanics, proprioception
and breathing and self massage and
mindset. I help people live in their
bodies better. Yoga isn’t necessarily
the right strategy for all people. I
stand in opposition to the yoga world
when I say that. When you boil down
the physiology of what’s happening
in most yoga techniques - you can
make these physiological events
of deep relaxation in your body that
aren’t related to positional stretching.
A lot of people have hang ups about
the word yoga, and so do I. There are
conditions that anybody can create
to improve relaxation to their central
nervous system. I talk about this
in Chapter 9 of my book, but briefly
the five Ps of the parasympathetic
system are:
1.Perspective – this is about
mindset and telling yourself that
you are allowed to relax
2.Place – needs to be peaceful
and quiet, no bright lights or
loud noises
3.Position – the optimal way to
induce relaxation for free is to
recline or partially invert.
4.Pace of breath – the way you
breathe can keep you stimulated
or improve relaxation response.
Focus on making your exhalation
longer than your inhalation.
5.Palpation – using some type of
tool to stimulate the sensory nerve
endings is deeply relaxing to the
nervous system, such as placing
a therapy ball on your spine
and moving it very slowly and
purposefully breathing into the
pressure of the balls.
On your website you talk about
holistic health and healing when
it comes to the parasympathetic
system. We’ve talked about
the physical benefits already,
so how does tapping into the
parasympathetic system affect
emotional wellbeing?
On the most basic level, when you’re
in pain you’re less likely to feel good
in all areas of your life. So using
therapy balls to mitigate or unglue
tight spots can make you feel better
because the pain is not the loudest
noise annoying you anymore.
Another aspect is the soothe
response. When you use the therapy
balls they create a type of friction in
your body called sheer and what that
sheer effect does is create internal
tissue traction in a particular layer of
nerve endings, in the deepest layer
of your fat tissue in the superficial
fascia. When they are massaged,
they do two things: They kick off
sympathetic outflow; they shut down
the overabundant stress messages
or sympathetic activities that are
going on in your body and allow the
parasympathetic to take over. When
you have your stress shut off, one
can then feel what you’re covering
up with all the sympathetic activities.
You start to feel what emotions you
are not necessarily engaged with.
Your nervous system is not separate
from your limbic system. There’s
so much noise hiding what we’re
feeling, including anger, grief and
fear, as well as pleasure and joy.
There are many feelings that we
are unknowingly masking. It’s an
unmasking of physical pain and
dysfunctional movement and
unmasking of what needs to
be expressed.
From your perspective
and experience with
clients, why does
Strength Matter?
From my perspective, as a person
who made herself hypermobile,
and who was lauded for her
hypermobility, the process of
strengthening and fortifying every
joint in my body has given me
confidence in the simplest of things.
From the ability to stand sit and
carry my child pain free.
You can find out more at
www.yogatuneup.com
9
In the News
Mounting
research
proves you can’t
out exercise a
bad diet
Well, not exactly. The research
does suggest, though, that
contrary to many public health
messages, increasing physical
activity doesn’t help reduce or
prevent obesity. The key to their
argument is that the activity
levels of many individuals does
not reach the intensity level
needed to ‘affect long-term
energy balance.’
“Physical activity is crucially
important for improving
overall health and fitness
levels, but there is limited
evidence to suggest that it
can blunt the surge in obesity,”
Drs. Luke and Cooper wrote
in the International Journal of
Epidemiology.
Drs. Luke and Cooper detailed
the evidence that physical
activity is not key to losing
weight. Here are a couple of
examples:
• N
umerous clinical trials have
found that exercise plus
calorie restriction achieves
virtually the same weight loss
as calorie restriction alone.
• O
bservational studies show
no association between
energy expenditure and
subsequent weight change.
“While physical activity has
many benefits, multiple
lines of evidence lead to the
conclusion that an increase in
physical activity is offset by an
increase in calorie intake, unless
conscious effort is made to limit
that compensatory response,”
they said.
10
Have you come across some
interesting research lately?
If so, email a link and description
to aleisha@kettlebellfever.com
and we’ll include it in an
upcoming issue.
Research shows
desire to run is
related to
Leptin levels
A recent study on mice has
shown a correlation between
levels of leptin and motivation
to run and has led the authors
to conclude that the ‘high’
runners experience is related
to the reward sensation
resulting from an evolutionary
connection between running
and finding food.
Secreted by adipose tissue,
leptin helps control the feeling
of satiety. This hormone also
influences physical activity.
“The more fat there is, the more
leptin there is and the less we
feel like eating. Our findings
now show that this hormone
also plays a vital role in
motivation to run, which may
be related to searching for
food,” explained Stephanie
Fulton, who is also a professor
at Université de Montréal’s
Department of Nutrition.
Mice, humans and mammals
in general are thought to have
evolved to increase the return
on effective food acquisition
behaviours. Ultimately, hormones
are sending the brain a clear
message: when food is scarce, it’s
fun to run to chase some down.
Nutrition and
resistance
training slows
sarcopenia
Sarcopenia, or muscle loss, is
considered a natural part of
aging. A group of researchers
at Iowa State University are
looking at how a combination
of nutrition and resistance
training can slow this process
down. HMB, or b-hydroxyb-methylbutyrate, has been
shown, in previous studies by
the Iowa group, to be a natural
body building compound.
However, in those studies not
all participants responded
to supplementation of HMB.
Those who didn’t respond were
found to have something in
common: low levels of vitamin
D. The goal of the most recent
study is to see if vitamin D will
improve response to HMB and
resistance training, increasing
muscle mass and strength.
Rick Sharp, a professor of
kinesiology said,”There’s no
substitute for physical activity.
We have to stay physically
active through the lifespan,”
Sharp said. “We think nutrition
is a key component in helping
to ensure that older adults get a
better response from exercise.”
“As we get older our activities
of daily living really depend
on proper functioning of all
those muscle groups working
together,” Sharp explained.
“We’re really cognizant of the risk
of falls with the older individuals.
One way to reduce falls and
injury from falls is to improve
balance and coordination and
the ability to catch yourself
when you stumble. That
requires good reaction time
and the ability to generate
the amount of force to catch
yourself before you tumble.”
Research
confirms that
a sedentary
working life
leads to obesity
Over the last 30 years the daily
working lives have changed
significantly in terms of calorie
expenditure needed to earn a
living, at least in our modern,
Western economy.
It should come as no surprise
that recent research from
Royal Holloway, University of
London, such lifestyle shifts
over the last 30 years have led
to a sharp decline in what they
term ‘the strenuousness of
daily life’, which the study
authors claim may also be
the reason for the swift rise in
overweight and obesity levels.
This, coupled with increasing
reliance on eating out and
convenience meals has
created a recipe for obesity.
Lead author Dr Melanie
Luhrmann said, “Our research
shows that decisions over work
and food demand are related.
First of all, because individuals
that work substitute more
towards market-produced food,
for example, towards processed
foods and eating out. Secondly,
weight gain arises from a
caloric imbalance, meaning
if more energy is consumed
than expended. Hence, both
calories and physical activity are
important in explaining the rise
in obesity. People have adjusted
their calories downwards, but
not enough to make up for
the sizable decline in physical
activity. Part of this decline
comes from reduced activity at
work. So we should take into
account the link between work
and calories when evaluating
policy interventions aimed at
reducing obesity.”
“hormones are
sending the brain
a clear message:
when food is scarce,
it’s fun to run to
chase some down.”
11
I’ve been climbing for over 5 hours. We’ve
covered over 350m of beautiful, yellow
limestone and, accidentally kicking off
a small stone, I watch as if falls, landing
several metres away from the bottom.
I’ve been climbing for over 5
hours. We’ve covered over 350m
of beautiful, yellow limestone
and, accidentally kicking off a
small stone, I watch as if falls,
landing several metres away
from the bottom.
This is steep.
Very steep.
I’ve never climbed a route that
is so sustained, unrelenting and
persistent. I’m up on lead next for
the final hard pitch before another
200m of easier, if actually scarier
and bolder, climbing.
We are climbing The Comici-Dimai
on Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the
Dolomites, Italy. It is a classic - a
highly sought after “tick” on any
committed climber’s list and by far
the hardest route I have climbed
to date. The length, difficulties and
commitment are pushing every
limit I have, but I feel great. We’re
going to do this; it’s in the bag.
It is hard to express just how
sustained the climbing is on this
route. Gently overhanging the
whole way, no section gives itself
up easily and requires not just
technique but deep reserves of
strength and endurance.
In the lead up to this climb I
have been preparing for the
StrengthMatters Level 1 Kettlebell
Certification. I’ve upped my game
in my training, making huge
improvements in the confines of
the gym. I’m feeling strong and on
track for the gruelling weekend at
the end of September. What has
also seen unprecedented gains is
my climbing.
When I introduce people to
kettlebells here they make a
few assumptions about the
benefits: “Well, my grip strength
will improve”, or, “Yeah, I’ve heard
they are great for losing weight”.
Though both are very true I have
found the depth of the benefits to
my climbing are much greater and
nowhere has it been more apparent
than on this route.
12
Climbing is often illustrated as
constantly swinging around,
hanging from horizontal rooves
and generally impersonating a
monkey. Actually, climbing is rarely
so spectacular and cutting loose
with your feet is often swiftly
followed by a dramatic fall. The
best way to prevent this is to keep
your feet on the wall and hips as
close to the rock as possible. This
is where kettlebell comes in. To
explain further, here are the three
kettlebell movements that have
had the greatest impact on my
climbing:
The two-hand swing
The king of kettlebell moves, the
swing proves invaluable on steep
terrain. The very act of pulling your
hips into the wall and transferring
as much weight as possible onto
your feet is, in essence, a very
strenuous glute and hamstring
isometric hold. Heavy swings
coupled with some awesome
mobility work has increased my
work capacity in this area. The
result has been the ability to
spend less time flailing around
and wasting valuable grip strength
due to poor, or at least, weak lower
body movement.
Turkish getups
A common plight among climbers
is rotator cuff injury and, in fact, it
was while suffering from this that I
was first introduced to kettlebells.
Climbing forums are littered
with articles on strengthening
and rehabbing shoulders but
they all focus on trying to train
these stabiliser muscles actively.
Since taking my training more
seriously and seeing the light of
Turkish getups I have not had a
single shoulder injury let alone a
shoulder niggle. The fact that the
getup takes the shoulder through
every plane of movement, with the
rotator cuff being trained in the
way that it is actually used - as
a stabiliser – and under varying
loads, has created a robust and
well-conditioned shoulder girdle.
This then allows me to maintain
good form when I would usually tire.
The two-hand swing
Ok, fine, this is the same again but
it needs including twice. With every
pitch overhanging it didn’t take
long to start feeling that familiar
yet scary burn in the forearms.
The pump was setting in and I
knew it would only get worse, pitch
after pitch. What I hadn’t counted
on was my ability to recover so
quickly. I recently completed Dan
John’s 10,000 swings programme
and I am confident that it is as
a direct result of this beast of a
programme that I could not only
hold on for longer but that, once I
was resting, I could recover quickly
and go again. This programme has
proved so effective for me that I
am going to integrate it into my
pre-season winter ice climbing
training programmes.
Climbing my hardest
route yet
Starting at 4am and an hour hike
over broken ground to the base
of the north face of Tre Cime di
Lavaredo, the sun was only just
rising as we set off. 10 hours later,
18 pitches and 550m of climbing,
we made it to the top. I’m pretty
confident that the strength and
conditioning training I have been
working on recently, particularly
through kettlebells, was integral to
not just completing the climb but
enjoying every step of the way.
As we started on the 5 hour
descent back down to the
carpark we passed a number of
other parties. All of them were
buzzing from their day on the
mountain, talking about how epic
it had been yet how they were
now wasted and had never been
more tired. I quietly passed them
but I couldn’t help thinking, “Just
swing a kettlebell or two; you’ll
thank me”.
BY Charley Radcliffe
“...climbing is rarely so
spectacular and cutting loose
with your feet is often swiftly
followed by a dramatic fall.”
Charley Radcliffe
Twitter @MountainFoundry
London born Charley moved to
Chamonix, France in 2014. A
passionate climber and skier,
kettlebells were first introduced to
him for rehab on a shoulder injury
but their benefits quickly became
apparent in strength and conditioning
for mountain sports. Improving
performance in the mountains of not
just himself but those around him
culminated in creating The Mountain
Foundry, a training service specialising
in mountain athletics, in 2015.
13
GET
INVOLVED
Strength Matters
level 1 kettlebell certification
5th—7th February 2016, San Diego, USA
SMK Level 1
Kettlebell certification
22nd—24th July 2016, Seattle, USA
For more information
on events please visit
www.realstrengthmatters.com
Or call +44 (0)844 800 9948
The
strength
matters
podcast
with
SEB & Josh
“Thanks StrengthMatters for such a great event. To all the speakers, thank
you for sharing your knowledge and helping us become better coaches”
— Marco Garcia
Sweet home Chicago! I’m officially a Cubs fan! I’m writing this
while watching the Cubs play against the LA Dodgers, winning
2-0 with Jake Arrieta about to throw his first career no-hitter.
However, in the meantime, if you guys have any suggestions of guests
you’d like us to get on the podcast please don’t hesitate to let us know
via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Or, hell, why not email me josh@
realstrengthmatters.com . Especially if it’s fan mail (haha).
Yeah, check me out.
So, onto the latest podcasts. Andrew Read returned to talk to us about all
things running. As always he has some great insights, not only on strength
and conditioning for running but on how rucking can be a great tool too. He
also has something to say about how to build slowly and avoid injury, while
noting the importance of having the correct equipment. Andrew has written
a book called Run Strong which will be available soon (and we’ll let you
know when it is) – In the meantime, go check out Episode 52.
Unfortunately the night we went to watch them on their home-ground they
lost (sorry Cubs fans!). Nonetheless, we still had a fantastic time, ate hot
dogs and awful nachos and fell in love with the awesome old stadium that
is Wriggly Field.
So why am I telling you all this? Well, last month was our second
international summit and this time it was in Chicago. What a blast!
Thank you so much to all the speakers who shared their incredible
knowledge. Once again my mind was bursting with incredible information.
Thanks too for all the free t-shirts! I mean who doesn’t love a freebie? Seb,
James and I will get together to model each one.
However, most of all, thanks to all the attendees for making the summit
such a fantastic event. Without the support of you guys none of this would
be possible. So spread the word - you guys are the best promoters we have!
Back in the July issue of StrengthMatters I wrote about our goal of helping
a billion people. It may take a while but I truly believe we will get there.
On top of this amazing goal we also want to educate not only the next
generation of top fitness professionals but the next generation of speakers
and mentors. With that in mind, a special mention goes out to Taylor Lewis
who made his first presentation on ‘Training the 1 Percent’ at the Summit
in Chicago – and, boy, did he knock it out of the park! We are going to try
our very best to get Taylor on the podcast as soon as we can to share his
fantastic knowledge.
In Episode 53 we talk to he-who-shall-not-be-named on expanding his
theories with the 1-2-3-4 assessment, how re-reading books years later
helps change your perspective, and so much more. As always gold dust
flows from this big guy’s brain (and I think I can safely say since spending
some quality time with Seb and I in Chicago, he has just a bit of a man
crush on both of us!)
Thank you again, guys, for your continued and unwavering support.
Come on, baby don’t you wanna go. Back to that
same old place. Sweet home Chicago
Encourage awesomeness, stay mega.
#Strengthmatters
On a little side note, did anyone find James’ granddad’s spare teeth? He
swears he left them in a glass on one of the tables. If so, please mail them
to StrengthMatters. And what the hell was James Breese wearing?! If you
weren’t at the Summit don’t worry, there is plenty of photographic evidence
and, oh my word, did I not let him hear the end of it!
You can find our podcast here:
http://www.strengthmatters.tv/strength-matters-podcast
If you’d like to get The Strength Matters Podcast delivered
easily to your device with each new episode, please
subscribe using your preferred method below:
15
Chicago
STRENGTH MATTERS SUMMIT
Next stops: UK & Australia...
Thanks
for the
awesome
summit
guys!
Neal Snyder
“It was an amazing
adventure and I
still have to pinch
myself to make sure
I wasn’t dreaming
about getting to
meet and learn from
so many brilliant
professionals in
this field!”
Megan Griffith
16
“It was a blast
meeting so many
new peeps and
reuniting with old
friends. Thanks to
everyone who made
this a memorable
weekend”
Isabelle Libmann
“Wow! Goodbye
Chicago!!!
Strength
Matters you blew my
mind. What
a fantastic
experience!!!”
Leigh Bodin
“Strength Matters is
one of those events
where everyone you
meet is amazing. It
really is an event
that brings together
intermediate to
advanced trainers
and everyone get to
up their game.
Josh Hillis
17
Education matters
by MARK Reifkind
Training is a process
of destruction. When
you lift weight, swing
kettlebells, run hills
or otherwise contract
your muscles hard with
significant resistance,
you are tearing fibres.
That is the stimulus they need
to change. That overload signals
the body to heal the torn fibres
and to not only heal them to their
previous level of strength but to
go one step further and make
them stronger and more enduring;
better than they were before.
Therefore it’s a
creative destruction
- but destruction
nonetheless
This is nature’s way of preparing
the body for future assaults of
the training kind. However, first
the muscles and the body have
to recover. People think that the
training itself, the process of
lifting the weight, is when the
muscles grow but that’s wrong.
That is just the stimulation. You
grow/repair when you rest.
18
No recovery, no
adaptation, no repair,
no progress
sitting around and relaxing is not
what this type of person can do
easily or successfully.
You can either help this process or
hinder it by what you do when you
are not training.
You’ve heard the phrase, “burning
the candle at both ends”? Well,
it doesn’t bode well for your
progress when hard and serious
training efforts are a regular part
of your life. Not knowing where
the off switch is will seriously
hamper your efforts.
Think of your body as a 10
horsepower (hp) motor. If you
put a 12 hp load on it, it actually
becomes a 12 hp body. Yet a 20
hp load will just break it. Or, if you
put a 12 hp load on it day-in and
day-out and don’t let it adapt it’s
just not going to work no matter
how many supplements you take.
So you need to balance your
workload with your recovery
efforts. There are two categories
of recovery efforts: passive and
active.
Passive is the easy kind, you just
rest more. Sleep more, nap more,
meditate more, put your feet up
and relax more.
Yet this can be harder to do for
many, especially those “Type
A” athletes who are busy as all
get-out with work, family, training,
hobbies and projects that eat up
virtually all waking hours. Just
However, just sleeping a full 8
hours and or getting in a regular
daily nap can boost your recovery
almost overnight.
“Getting out of gravity” by lying
completely flat on your back
(known as Savasana or “corpse
pose” in yoga) for 10-20 minutes
a day can decompress the
spine and the tissues and get
you wholly ready for the rest
of the day’s work. Add in some
diaphragmatic breathing to
saturate the tissues with vital O2
and you’re even that much more
ahead of the game.
Also included in passive recovery
efforts is the nutritional kind of
effort. Maximizing hydration,
vitamin/ mineral/ electrolyte
levels, as well as taking other
supplementation that you have
found to be beneficial, should
be monitored and included to
make sure it is helping you as
much as possible. The same
can be said for making sure your
macro-nutrients (protein, carbs
and fats) are of the highest quality
and taken as required to fit your
training goals and needs.
How do you know if things are
working? You have energy, look
forward to the next training
session and can see progress
towards your goals, whether it’s
body composition change and/or
strength and endurance numbers.
Feed yourself well. Remember,
you don’t put “regular” gas in a
Ferrari.
Active recovery is the second
type of recovery effort. This
can include seemingly passive
activities like massage, hot or cold
baths/showers, static stretching
or yoga, breathing disciplines and/
or visualization and meditation
techniques.
All of these have been used by
elite and Olympic level athletes for
decades to improve their recovery
and increase performance. They
can help your training too.
Low-intensity activity can also
help restore function more quickly,
decrease muscle soreness and
help get you ready for the next
tough training session.
Light unloaded walking, swimming,
bouncing on a trampoline, cycling
and light games such as table
tennis or badminton are also
helpful. The Russian weightlifters,
even to this day, can be seen
playing ping pong after an intense
training session to relax and help
start the recovery process.
Self-massage (self-myofascial
release, or SMR) is a vital tool in
speeding up and/or maximizing
recovery efforts. Foam rollers,
lacrosse and yoga balls, and other
devices that help you self-massage
and decompress the muscle and
connective tissues let you get the
care an elite athlete is getting every
day - yet at no extra cost outside
of your time and energy. Even
just 10 minutes a day can make a
significant impact on your ability to
recover, and you can only train as
hard as you can recover.
It is not doing the workouts that
are the difficult part. It is doing the
workout, recovering and gaining
from it, and using it to springboard
to the next level that proves rough.
More art than science, it is also
different for everyone and changes
as we age. You just have to be
constantly alert to what your body
is telling you. That’s what being an
athlete is all about.
Many can “gut it out” workout
after workout, but if you are truly
not recovering then you are going
backwards, not forwards, and
it will catch up to you. (You will
know this by the lack of progress
towards your goal, by becoming
increasingly sore and tired, and in
your lack of peak energy).
Getting into basic primal postures
throughout the day will also help
stretch, mobilize and rehydrate the
muscle and connective tissues. So
take some time throughout your
workday to get on the floor. Getting
into a deep squat, hunter’s squat,
seiza or even sitting cross-legged
on the floor will do wonders for
the recovery of hips, back and
knees as well as simultaneously
energizing you.
Stretch your arms over your head
regularly too, even if it’s just to
hang from the door frame.
These are active recovery
modalities. People do and take all
kinds of weird things to enhance
recovery in the hopes of another
pound of weight lifted, a pound of
body fat removed or another mile
rucked. They do these things to
help them move to the next level,
closer to the person they know
they are inside.
However, don’t neglect the most
simple and easy-to-accomplish
methods of recovery that are
immediately available, accessible
and affordable.
Recovery always precedes
intensity.
Train Hard.
Recover Strong.
MARK reifkind
Twitter @markrif1
Mark has been training, competing,
coaching and studying human
movement and performance for
the last 43 years. From his first
incarnation as a gymnast, through
ultra endurance sport, bodybuilding,
powerlifting and kettlebell training
passion for training and the
wisdom one gets from it has never
waned. He owns GiryaStrength, a
personal training company in Palo
Alto California and has written for
numerous publications.
19
20
“ Only those who have the patience
to do simple things perfectly will
acquire the skill to do difficult
things easily.”
Johann Schiller
German poet 1759-1805
21
By josh hillis
Goldilocks’S
Secret to
Fat Loss
Momentum
You’ve
heard
the
story
before
You know the story
of Goldilocks, right?
Goldilocks is 38 years
old, a director at a finance
company and her two kids
are in elementary school
and play sports. She has
been working out for a
few years but plateaued
approximately 10 pounds
from her goal weight.
So Goldilocks goes to the gym
of the three coaches.
Each of the three coaches has
left a “food habit plan” for one of
their clients next to the kettlebells
and suspension trainers.
Goldilocks picks up the first habit
plan, written by Poppa Coach.
22
This one would have her cooking
healthy, whole food meals with
protein for every single meal breakfast, lunch and dinner - over
the following week, including the
weekend. However, Goldilocks’
team has to work overtime as
it’s the end of the quarter, and
her kids have sporting events all
weekend, so there is no way she
could cook every meal!
“This habit looks too hard”,
says Goldilocks.
Next she picks up the second
habit plan, by Momma Coach.
Momma Coach’s client was
only going to cook two meals in
the upcoming week. However,
Goldilocks already cooks a
couple of healthy meals each
week so this doesn’t take her any
place new or stretch her at all.
“This habit looks too easy”,
sighs Goldilocks.
Finally, she picks up the third
habit plan, written by Baby Coach.
The direction for this client is
to cook eight healthy meals
the following week, specifically
lunches and dinners. This is
totally doable for Goldilocks. With
overtime and her kids’ schedule
it would still be a little bit of a
stretch, but it’s something that
could take her to the next level
and she feels 90% confident that
she can achieve it.
“This habit looks juuuuuuust
right!” Goldilocks squeals
with glee.
Rigging the game
so they can win
In the February issue of
StrengthMatters, we talked
about “Rigging the Game so They
Can Win”, which is the first step
in any food habit plan and the
foundation of “Goldilocksing”.
Quick review — the basic idea
is that when you give a client a
food habit to work with - let’s use
“eating slowly” as an example you need to set them up to win.
So if a client tells you that they
“inhale their food in seconds”, you
don’t want to tell them that next
week they’ll be taking at least 20
minutes to eat every breakfast,
lunch and dinner. That would be
setting them up to fail. It’s just
too big of a jump.
So let’s dig a little
deeper. There are
two ways to set
someone up to win:
1. Frequency
2.Scale
Frequency is the most
obvious: They can use their new
habit during more or less meals
per week.
If a habit is super new to them
it will take extra preparation
and extra willpower to put it into
action. So it might be a stretch
for them to implement a really
hard habit more than once or
twice in a week if it is the first
time they’ve ever worked on it.
Conversely, if they feel pretty
confident with it they might
implement the habit in all of their
dinners, or, say, their lunches and
dinners. Negotiating with them
the number of meals they feel
confident they can succeed at
with this new habit is a simple
and easy way to adjust how
much they are taking on.
Scale is a matter of how much
they action the habit at each
meal or the complexity of doing
so. For a habit like eating slowly,
scale is obvious — they could
eat a 5-minute meal, a 10-minute
meal, a 15-minute meal or a
20-minute meal.
Eventually we might want to
get the client to a point where it
takes 20 minutes for them to eat
a meal, but 10 minutes can seem
like an eternity for someone
who normally eats really fast.
All we care about is that we’re
making some progress, so
better is better. Taking someone
from 5 minutes to 10 minutes
is awesome progress for one
person. Going from 15 minutes
to 20 minutes is awesome
progress for someone else.
So we have these two tools,
which we can use to adjust
habits and, as usual, we discuss
both with the client to accurately
measure the amount they can
win at. Once we’ve set up the
scale and frequency properly,
we’ve rigged the game so they
can win.
This doesn’t mean
Poppa Coach was
wrong
In the habit coaching world we
talk about dialing back scale and
frequency to enable clients to
win all the time.
However, I also have clients that
need to be pushed in the other
direction. If they’re rocking a
habit, we’ll kick it up a notch.
I’ve started working with habits
for two weeks instead of just
one, so we often scale a habit
or up its frequency during the
second week.
It’s all about finding that balance.
Often when coaches first start
with habit-based coaching they
come back and tell me that their
clients complain they aren’t
getting challenged at all.
We want people to feel like they
are making progress. To do
this we must find the balance
between where they feel
confident they can succeed and
what they see as a legitimate
step forward.
“Goldilocks” not just the client, but
the client’s week
In Dan John’s book, Intervention,
my mind was blown when he
applied The FMS red, yellow and
green lights to people’s stress
levels in life, and how that effects
their training.
It’s kind of like that when looking
at a client’s upcoming week. If
you see a red or a yellow light
in the way they describe their
schedule you should discuss
with them how that will affect the
habit they are taking on that week.
Even if they are a super rockstar
at food, if they have a crazy
schedule next week we might
scale back their habits so they
can “stay in the game”.
We do this by looking
at the client’s
upcoming week in
terms of:
1. Work schedule
2.Stress level
3.Family commitments
4.Social events
For new clients these are often
things they’ve never thought to
take into consideration before.
They assume that they should
move onwards and upwards
regardless of what is put in their
way. That leads to the kind of
early failures that see people
losing faith in their ability to
lose fat.
Long term clients who have
mostly got their habits dialed
in know that the first thing we
are going to talk about in every
session is their upcoming week
– especially the social events
that they are concerned about
navigating. Basically, we look
for any pitfalls that may throw a
wrench in their normal planning/
preparing habits and we either
get strategic about it or we
“Goldilocks” it.
How did Goldilocks’
story end?
First, big ups to Steven Ledbetter
for the name. When he saw how I
scaled habits (particularly scaling
it up on the second week when
people are rocking it), he coined
the term “Goldilocksing Habits”.
So he named it ‘Goldilocksing’
while watching me coach habits
on his habit-coaching app
Habitry. It’s silly and circular
and great.
OK, back to the story: Goldilocks
did lose the last 10 pounds. In
fact, she lost the 10 pounds
in about 12 weeks without too
much struggle and without
making it super hard. Her friends
think she spent hours in the
gym and slaved over some
phenomenal diet plan, but really
she just worked on six habits.
We worked on one habit at a
time, adjusting the frequency
and scale of each one based on
her confidence in the skill of that
habit for that particular week.
We scaled it up or increased
frequency when she was totally
on top of things, and if she had a
crazy week coming up we scaled
it down or reduced frequency.
At no point did we ever get
Goldilocks to what would
be considered a flawless
diet. Neither did we get her to
consistently follow flawless
habits. We just “goldilocksed” her
habits each week and kept her in
the game, winning the game and
upping her game.
That’s how Goldilocks
got the lean, fit, bangin’
body that’s made The
Three Bears story
so popular.
Josh hillis
Twitter @joshhillis
Josh Hillis is a fat loss
coach. He does group
personal training, personal
training, food journal
coaching, and blogging
about how to lose the last
5-15 pounds of fat. He’s the
author of Fat Loss Happens
on Monday, with Dan John.
23
Food matters
Tim harrison
Twitter @girevikchef
By tim harrison
Tim is a former obese, dyslexic,
fit food writer who loves a
challenge… clearly! At age 30, fat
and unfit, Tim decided to address
his shortcomings by cleaning
up his cooking by making
delicious yet healthy food, and
took up kettlebell training when
he discovered Pavel’s ‘Enter the
Kettlebell’. Having lost 6 stone in
weight… who better to tell you
why food matters?
Strong people
should eat quiche
Strong people, healthy people, should
eat vegetables, high quality proteins and
wholegrains, which is exactly what goes
into my broccoli, cauliflower and blue
cheese quiche.
This recipe was inspired by the article on Chris
Duffin that graced these very pages a couple
of months ago, and, of course, my continuing
efforts to help people “eat like a grown-up”.
Although I have gone for a lovely classic flavour
combination you can replace the blue cheese
with a cheddar and swap the vegetables for
whatever you fancy, including some bacon. In
fact, suggesting that reminds me that this
is one of those prime examples of the best
vegetarian food just being food that doesn’t
happen to contain meat.
Although this happens to be the filling for the following quiche recipe, I thought that as cooking it
is such an important technique it warranted a little spotlight of its own. You see, to quote myself,
“If you can learn to enjoy, rather than just tolerate, vegetables then you’re on the right track”.
I’m sure my thoughts are echoed by many others, but how do we do it?
The truth is that most vegetables are cooked incorrectly. Boiling is a great way to throw away a
load of flavour, colour and nutrients from most vegetables. I’ll go into this in more detail over the
coming months but for now try this recipe and you’ll be amazed at how good it tastes. The little
brown bits are the best and, if you want to mix it up, add a sprinkle of chilli flakes and serve with
fish. Mmmm!
METHOD
Shopping List
1. Put a large sauté or frying pan over a high heat.
• Half a head of broccoli
2.Remove the florets from both the broccoli and cauliflower and cut down to the size of the
smaller pieces.
• Half a cauliflower
• Tsp ground nut oil or lard
3.Put the oil or lard into the pan then add the vegetables and toss around. Cover and leave the
pan completely alone for two minutes.
• Knob of butter
• Seasoning
24
Sauté cauliflower and broccoli
SERVES
Prep
Cook
2
3
3
Mins
Mins
4.After the two minutes remove the lid, add the butter and toss it around again. Replace the lid
and leave for another minute.
5.Then take the pan off the heat and season with salt and pepper and, if you like, the chilli
flakes. Don’t forget this stage!
6.Serve as is or use in the next recipe.
Broccoli,
cauliflower and
blue cheese quiche
Method
1. Make the pastry by putting the flour into
a bowl and grating the butter on top. Rub
the butter into the flour using just your
fingertips until it resembles bread crumbs.
Add a tablespoon of water to bring it
together and form a ball. Wrap the dough in
cling film and put it in the fridge for at least
half an hour.
2.Heat the oven up to 200 C. Liberally flour
the work surface and roll out the pastry to a
round, about 4cm bigger than your quiche
tin. Butter the tin and line with the pastry.
3.Put it back into the fridge for another 10
minutes. Remove the pastry case from the
fridge, then line with greaseproof paper
and fill the paper with baking beans or rice.
(This is called “baking blind” and enables
you to cook the pastry base first without
it turning soggy once the filling is added.)
Place the tin in the oven for 15 minutes.
4.Meanwhile sauté your vegetables.
5.Make the filling. Crack the eggs into a bowl
along with the milk and cream and a pinch
of salt, then mix thoroughly with a fork.
6.After the 15 minutes remove the tin from
the oven and dispose of the greaseproof
paper and rice. Return the tin to the oven
for 5 more minutes to dry the base out.
7.Turn the oven down to 160 C. Take the
pastry case out of the oven and spoon in
the vegetables. Crumble the blue cheese
over the top. Pour the egg mixture into the
case through a sieve. This removes any air
bubbles to prevent the quiche being rubbery.
Now return to the oven for 40 minutes.
Wholemeal
drop scones
4.Put a large pan over a medium-to-high heat.
5.Add just a few drops of oil and spread with a bit
of kitchen paper. Using a tablespoon, dollop 4
or 5 single spoons of batter into the pan to form
biscuit sized pancakes.
• Above quantity of sautéed
cauliflower and broccoli
To be honest, this recipe is here by default. I
prepared these scones originally as a breakfast
for my daughter when she asked for pancakes.
I only had wholemeal flour available - left over
from the quiche – and, frankly, wholemeal
crepe-style pancakes are just bloody awful. So,
it was one of those situations where you either
make the proper order or don’t bother doing
it at all! So, I decided to do something a little
different and I made these drop scones instead.
As usual I took a quick ego trip Instagram
picture of my perfect life (hmmm). Anyway, it
got a good response all over social media so I
would be failing you if I didn’t show you how I
made them. The quick, crude lifestyle picture
also includes my wife’s lemon curd, but I’m not
allowed the recipe for that. Sorry.
• 4 eggs
Method
• 2 eggs
• 100ml cream
1. Put all of the dry ingredients, flour, salt, sugar
and baking powder, into a large bowl. Mix and
make a well in the centre.
• 275 ml milk
Boom! Done!
Shopping List
For the pastry:
• 300g Wholemeal flour
• 150g Unsalted butter, frozen…
yes frozen
For the filling:
• 100ml milk
• 100g blue cheese
SERVES
6
Prep
30
Mins
Cook
1
HR
2.Break the eggs into the well and add the melted
butter and half of the milk.
3.Stir it all together thoroughly to form a thick
paste. Add just enough milk to turn the batter
into a creamy consistency. You may not need
all of the milk.
6.When they set and bubbles have formed over
the surface, flip them and cook the other side
for 30 seconds.
7. O
nce done, remove onto a plate and repeat
with the rest of the batter. You may have to
adjust the temperature; pancakes are just a
pain like that.
8.Serve alone or with lemon curd, jam or
whatever takes your fancy, really.
Shopping List
• 250g wholemeal flour
• 1/2tsp baking powder
• 50g melted butter
• A pinch of salt
SERVES
Prep
4
Mins
5
Cook
1
Mins
25
Knowledge
MATTERS
By Emily Wakefield
26
Breathing is so natural to us
that most of the time we are
unconscious of its happening.
But have you ever considered
how you breathe, or if the way
in which you breathe could be
improved? More importantly,
have you ever considered
that poor breathing could be
causing you pain?
Before you read the rest of this article
take a look at your breathing. What
happens to your chest and abdomen
with each breath? Do you breathe into
your belly or do you lift your chest?
Perhaps you can see the muscles
in your abdomen or neck working;
Perhaps not? Make a note of what you
find and then read on.
Breathing
Breathing is one of the most important
mechanisms of the human body. It is
the first thing we do when we are born
and we continue to do it an average
of 15,000 times per day. Quite simply,
it is the act of drawing air into and
expelling it from the lungs. Oxygen
from air is vital to survive so without
breath there would be no life.
The diaphragm
With this in mind it is understandable
then that the diaphragm is one of
the most important muscles in the
human body. As 80% of the work of
breathing coming from this muscle it
is considered the principle breathing
muscle. Other muscles include the
external intercostals on inspiration and
the internal intercostals, intercostalis
and subcostals on expiration.
Modern lifestyles, poor movement
patterns and postural changes can
cause the diaphragm to become
inefficient and we forget how to
breathe properly. This in turn can
create a number of secondary
changes, which can lead to pain in
other areas of the body such as the
neck, shoulders, low back and hips.
Poor breathing has also been linked to
chronic fatigue as well as anxiety and
depression.
Basic anatomy
The diaphragm is a thin wide sheet
of muscle that separates the rib cage
from the abdomen. It is found in the
lower portion of the ribcage attached
to ribs 7-12, the xiphoid process
off the sternum, and the first three
lumbar vertebrae, L1, 2 and 3. It also
has a connection to muscles that are
important in lumbar and pelvic stability
including the psoas (hip flexor) and
quadratus lumborum (rib and pelvic
stabiliser) via the medial and lateral
arcuate ligaments.
Normal breathing
of breath and tiredness.
In normal breathing the diaphragm
contracts and pushes the abdomen
and viscera down and out. This
draws air into the lungs during which
the lower abdomen and rib cage
will expand. This expansion of the
abdomen explains why diaphragmatic
breathing is often referred to as
abdominal breathing.
Back pain is also common with
poor breathing mechanics. As
already discussed the diaphragm
is linked to the low back and hips
via its connection to the psoas and
quadratus lumborum. It also attaches
to the lumbar spine.
Abnormal breathing
Sadly, many people no longer breathe
like this and can be seen either
breathing into their chest with no
movement in the abdomen or even
breathing in reverse by sucking their
belly in when they inhale and pushing
the belly out as they exhale. This type
of breathing isn’t helped in today’s
society as people are encouraged to
pull their bellies in to look better. It’s
also quite common to hear the phrase
“breathe in”, meaning suck your belly
in, when putting on tight clothes or
squeezing into tight spaces.
Consequences and
symptoms of abnormal
breathing
Although inefficient breathing is
doable, it will, in the long-term, have
its consequences. For example, it
really can’t be good for you to suck
your belly in while your diaphragm
is trying to descend, can it? Where
does the diaphragm go when you do
this? Eventually as a result of poor
breathing mechanics the diaphragm
will itself become inefficient and the
body will have to look elsewhere for
help in order to continue to breathe
and maintain life.
Breathing with the chest will
eventually cause neck and shoulder
pain as, in order to lift the rib cage
to open the chest for breath, the
sternocleidomastoird and scalenes,
and occasionally the pectoralis minor,
have to be recruited. The amount of
work they do depends of the degree
of effort needed. However these
muscles are not designed to be used
for constant breathing and as such will
start to shorten and fatigue, bringing
pain into the head, neck and shoulders.
Other muscles that have also been
linked to accessory breathing and
pain in the head, neck and shoulders
include the pectoralis major, trapezius
and lattissimus dorsi.
Poor posture also affects breathing.
Stiff ribs and a depressed rib cage has
the same effect as chest breathing. As
the rib cage and abdomen struggle to
expand with the change in posture, the
body looks to the accessory muscles
to help by lifting the chest up, resulting
in pain in the long-term.
Other symptoms that can also be
experienced include pins and needles
in the arms and face as well as anxiety,
dizziness, chest tightness, shortness
If the diaphragm is not being used
correctly as described above then
it will shorten, largely as a result of
not being fully expanded. This can
put tension on the lumber spine and
arcuate ligaments. This not only
alters the mechanics of the spine and
hips, causing muscle imbalances as
associated musculature shortens, but
it can also cause these areas to be
dysfunctional. Back pain can result,
especially as the core is affected by all
the changes.
Breathing exercises
With this in mind all neck shoulder
and back pain patients should have a
breathing assessment and be taught
to breath correctly as part of their
treatment if the diaphragm is found to
be dysfunctional.
There are many sites on the Internet
detailing exercises for diaphragmatic
breathing, all of them good. My
favorite to start with is “Crocodile
Breathing”.
Start by lying prone on your stomach
with arms folded at about a 45
degree angle above your shoulders
and your head resting on the back of
your hands. Your feet can turn in or
you can turn them out, whatever is
comfortable for you depending upon
flexibility. If your shoulders or arms are
uncomfortable, try propping them on
a cushion. Your abdomen should be
resting on the floor.
•Feel and be aware of where the
movement is happening.
•Where are your ribs? Do they expand
as you breathe in and return inward
as you breathe out?
•What is happening in your lower
back? Does it rise as you inhale and
lower as you exhale?
“Crocodile breathing” can be
completed as often as you like
throughout the day, but be sure to
return to a normal breathing pattern as
you stand up and be aware that as you
crocodile breathe you are likely to be
taking more oxygen into your system
and may feel light-headed as a result.
So stand up carefully.
Also note that even if you recognize
a breathing pattern or diaphragm
dysfunction, if there is also a mobility
restriction such as a depressed rib
cage then you need to gain mobility
first. If you don’t, the original patterns
will override and in the words of Grey
Cook, “You’re missing the whole point
of why the breathing was bad in the
first place.”
Summary
Poor breathing mechanics and an
inefficient diaphragm can cause pain.
Breathing exercises will help but
it’s important to deal with mobility
restrictions first.
As always, if in doubt refer
to a professional who can
assess breathing and the
diaphragm in more detail.
As you rest in this pose, try to relax
your breathing and begin to observe
the movements of your body. There
are several points to think about in this
position:
• S
tart to feel your breath. Let it flow
in and out. Be aware of the rhythm
of the breath and how quickly you
are breathing.
Emily wakefield
Twitter @embers1978
A physiotherapist and
personal trainer who
has a passion for working
with older adults and
those with movement
disorders. A love for the
outdoors she can often
be found scaling the welsh
mountains or curled up on
the sofa with her knitting.
27
lessons from the
old time strongmen
by Iron Tamer Dave Whitley
Starks and Lannisters aside, as I write
there has already been a slight drop in
temperature here in Tennessee, USA, and,
by the time you read this, it will probably
be quite chilly wherever you are.
One thing I love about winter is that I get to train cold exposure.
What this means is that each day I will spend time outside in the
freezing weather in only a pair of shorts. In addition to that I also
have a large horse trough that I will fill with water and sit in. I often
have to chop through the layer of ice with a hatchet to be able to
get into the water. In the past I have submerged in the lake with air
temperature below freezing and water temperature only slightly
above. If you want to see any of this, do a YouTube search for “Iron
Tamer Cold Training”. Subscribe to my channel while you are there.
Why, you may ask, would anyone deliberately expose themselves
to very cold temperatures? There are actually many good reasons.
I find that my recovery from workouts is enhanced and that
the practice, when done in combination with specific breathing
exercises, is very much a meditation for me. However, here are a few
more incentives:
28
Health benefits and immune system
In the biography of Joseph Greenstein, The Mighty Atom (my favorite
old time strongman), there is an account of young Joe practicing
breathing exercises in the cold, pre-dawn air while rubbing handfuls
of snow on his face and chest. This is a variation on the theme of the
European health practice of cold water dousing.
Wim Hof is a Dutch world record holder who earned his nickname
“The Iceman” by performing such feats as climbing Kilimanjaro
wearing only shorts and standing fully immersed in ice for one hour
and 52 minutes to claim the all-time ice endurance record. Wim
has also been the subject of scientific investigation because he can
voluntarily control parts of his autonomic nervous system including
his immune response.
You might think Wim is some sort of genetic freak but he recently
replicated his results on a group of 12 students in a lab setting. In
my own experience, this kind of training comes in very handy during
flu season.
To find out more about Wim and his training methods, visit his site www.icemanwimhof.com.
Dave whitley
Twitter @irontamer
Committed to spreading a
message of strength and
redefining impossible, Iron
Tamer Dave Whitley is a
StrongFirst Master instructor
and performing strongman
based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dave teaches and performs
all over the world and was
featured in the German
documentary Kraftakt.
Metabolic boost
A few years ago Tim Ferris wrote about Michael Phelps and the
correlation between his epic 12,000 calorie per day food intake and
the fact that he was spending several hours a day in the water, which
acts as a heat conductor. Think about it: If you are in shorts standing
in 7oC you might be a little uncomfortable. However, you probably
wouldn’t find it unbearable. Dunk yourself in 7oC water, though, and
it is an entirely different response. You will generate more heat to
keep body functions going.
Training cold exposure sounds painful (and honestly can be) but it
is something for which you can train, just like lifting weights. The
benefits are tremendous and once you get accustomed to it, it is
extremely pleasant. The good news is that it is not necessary to take
full-on ice baths in order to reap many of the benefits of this practice.
In fact, I recommend you start with small doses in your own shower.
It feels safer and you have more control over your surroundings. In
doing this you will build your confidence and your ability to withstand
the biting temperatures of a trough of ice water or a frozen lake.
and stay under it for one minute. You can go longer if you like but
one minute is a great starting point.
— Week two
Begin your shower with one minute on the cold setting. Switch it to
whatever is comfortable and have your normal shower. Finish up
with one minute under the cold setting.
— Week three
Begin with the cold setting for one minute. Switch to normal for one
minute. Continue to alternate hot and cold in one minute intervals
until you are done. Finish with one minute under the cold setting.
— Week four
Continue with the same schedule as week three but include one day
with a full 10-minute cold shower.
— Week one
Bonus Round: If the cold shower is comfortable and you want to go
a little further, here’s what to do. Get two to three 10kg bags of ice.
Fill your bathtub approximately halfway with cold water, then get in
and put the ice on your chest. Get a small aquarium thermometer to
track the temperature in your training log. You can easily work up to
15-20 minutes two or three times per week in just a few weeks.
Begin with taking your normal shower. After you have finished
washing and rinsing switch the water to the coldest setting possible
Stay cool!
Here is a step-by-step four week
introduction to cold exposure:
29
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30
31
Coach’s corner
By Dan john
The
Secret To
Upsetting
A Lot Of
People
32
Dan john
Twitter @fakedanjohn
Dan spends much of his time
travelling the world both coaching
coaches and educating athletes.
Former Strength Coach and Head
Track and Field Coach at Juan Diego
Catholic High School in Draper, Utah.
He remains a full-time online religious
studies instructor for Colombia
College of Missouri and contributing
writer to Man’s Health magazine.
Dan has written a number of books
about training such as ‘Never Let Go’
and ‘Intervention’.
If you know my 1-2-3-4
Assessment from Can You Go?
Then you know that I ask just one
question to determine whether or
not I have a mobility client.
“How many pillows
does it take for you
to sleep comfortably
at night?”
If the answer is, “more than one,”
then you are a mobility client. This,
of course, upsets lots of people.
“Actually, I don’t really NEED that
extra pillow between my knees
and the extra one on my head.”
Right - and I really didn’t need all
that extra whiskey when I was
trying to self-medicate a necrotic
hip. In truth, if you struggle to sleep
without a pillow here and a pillow
there something is going on through
your system.
Janda was right. As we age (or get
ill or injured) the pecs, biceps, hip
flexors and hamstrings tighten up.
Look at people filling out forms or
surfing on their smartphones to see
this in real time. If you spend all day
in the fetal position you are going
to be locked up. I offer the following
“formula” for mobility:
Do hypertrophy work for the key
phasic muscles and mobility/
flexibility work for the key tonic
muscles. Phasic and tonic are
Janda’s terms. Phasics weaken with
age and tonics tighten. And, sadly,
you ARE ageing!
PhasicTonics
GlutesHip Flexors
DeltoidsHamstrings
TricepsBiceps
Ab wallPectorals
I maintain an important
foundational statement - “The body
is one piece.” Realize, then, that
training with reasonable reps, sets
and loads for hypertrophy, mixed
with progressive, intelligent mobility/
flexibility work is going to lead to a
one-piece body.
Yes, mobility is all about movement
around a joint, but what makes the
movement? Muscles.
For the glutes hill running, kettlebell
swings, goblet squats and hip
thrusts seem to be the best bet. At
the same time, the hip flexors and
hamstrings will move better. If you
can get the glutes to work and work
hard, miracles happen with the rest
of your posture. Very simply, you are
sitting on a gold mine of muscle and
postural restoration.
I prefer one-arm work for the
upper body. So mixing one-arm
overhead presses and one-arm
rows (fabulous on the TRX) can
“push me/pull you” back into better
mobility, strength and ascetics.
(That was a Doctor Doolittle
reference for those who missed
it.) Toss in some one-arm bench
presses and some additional pulling
work for a total upper body workout.
For rest periods, this is the time
to stretch, foam roll and do other
work that puts the system back in
line. I also find that meditation, hot
tubbing and massage do a lot for
mobility, but your mileage and wallet
may vary.
After a week or two of just basic
training as outlined, reassess. The
pillow question is still appropriate,
but let’s look deeper.
From there we can then do a
follow up FMS or other mobility
screen to find the key issues. One
thing that is often ignored when
checking mobility is girth or body
composition. I have been working
on a simple test that may or may
not have viability but I offer it for
further discussion and insight.
The goblet squat would be the
clearance test: If you can push both
knees out with your elbows, you
have enough mobility to begin this
next test.
Take your right elbow and bring it as
close as you can to your right foot.
Get a basic feel for where it lands right knee, right sock or right foot?
Oh, originally, I said bring your right
foot to your right shoe, but wise
guys would pull off their shoes and
win the test.
Follow this test with the left elbow
to the left foot. Then try right elbow
to left foot and left elbow to right
foot. The whole test should take, at
most, thirty seconds. Feel free to try
it standing, sitting or in any position
on the floor.
One client could put his right elbow
on his left foot while standing.
Mobility and balance are obviously
not his issues.
Now, try this same test in a hot
tub, pool or large bathtub. For
“body composition” clients this
simple test is much easier in the
water. This is something I am
thinking a lot about… a chicken
or the egg question. Does girth
impact mobility… and therefore
sleep? Yes, obviously. So, in
addressing mobility with a body
comp client, do we need to
assess them differently than,
say, an elite athlete?
That is the question I would
love to discuss in more depth.
Until then, “move”
yourself away from
extra pillows.
33
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yoga rogue - Strength Matters

Transcription

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