CrossFit as a sport is becoming a lot more difficult to compete in, especially for tall athletes like Brent Fikowski.
Previously a Volleyball Player, which benefited from his height, he will always struggle with simple movements like Squats due simply to having longer limbs.
He was also working full time as an Accountant as well as being a competitive athlete.
So if Brent scored
badly he had to engage in the #openhumiliation as part of the #trashtalkthursdays.
For this he had a eat a
table spoon of Wasabi!
What happens to you if you have a bad workout in the open?
Everyone knows who came first last year in the Men's CrossFit Games.
But who came second?
Brent Fikowski. Let's learn a little bit about this amazing Canadian CrossFit Athlete. Who is also an Accountant by Day. Because nobody else seems to know who he is! Brent came second place to Matt Fraser at the CrossFit Games 2017
Brent Fikowski won the
first event of the CrossFit Games 2017,
the Run Swim Run.
Brent came 4th in the CrossFit Games 2016. He also won event 3 at
the 2016 CrossFit Games.
Event 3: Ranch Mini Chipper:
50 wall ball shots
25 medicine ball GHD
sit-ups
Hill sprint with
medicine ball Brent is supported by his Wife Claire.
Two weekends ago I experienced the so called, "Runners High."
The Bulletproofbodies SF Fit Team were working at the AEE Special Forces Event in the Brecon Beacons and we got a chance to do the night march/run/Tab.
About an hour into the run I felt more alive and in tune with my body than I have for years.
It felt primal, man against mountain. We were running in a group, competing only against ourselves and the terrain. The Sunset start, the warm summer air the beautiful scenery all contributed to this feeling of euphoria.
The runner's high has
two components to it.
The physical and the
mental.
The physical results
from the release of endorphins (or does it? - see above video) and this usually occurs thirty to forty minutes
after continuous running, the mental aspect is the more elusive one aspect of
this state.
The mental phenomenon
is usually described as, "a state of euphoria and absence of the self or ego."
And yet you need to pay
attention to your breathe, the scenery, your muscles and open your mind to all
sensations as you run. If you do this the ego is eliminated at least for a while
and the runners high is then experienced.
If you want a FREE copy
of our injury prevention E book please e-mail:
The Rainhill Trials are
a CrossFit competition run by the team at TRAIN.
I have the pleasure of performing
Physiotherapy on these athletes which also includes injury prevention.
By the time they get to
the end of the day there is normally a WOD with either Pull Ups, Muscle Ups or
Toes to Bar.
All of which can rip
your hands to shreds.
So at the Rocktape tent
we like to “tape it before you break it.”
RockTape turns down the
volume on pain.
More specifically, it
runs interference on pain.
Ever whack your shin and rub it, and suddenly
realize you feel better?
RockTape on the skin can interfere with painful
signals which are directed to the brain.
When the signals
arriving to the brain are altered, it does not produce the sensation of pain.
When kinesiology tape is properly applied, many of our customers call it
“magic” or think that it fixed their injury instantly. In fact, it helps to
change how your body interprets pain, turning down the pain “volume” that your
body hears.
Decompresses an area of
swelling and inflammation
When RockTape is
applied to the skin, it has a microscopic lifting effect underneath the skin
and between the many layers. This allows the by-products created by
inflammation to be removed more quickly.
It delays fatigue
Research has shown that
RockTape on skin can attenuate muscle fatigue. In rehab, this is very
important, not only for the parts of your body that are currently hurting, but
also for the surrounding areas as they help to pick up the slack for muscles
that are currently not working well.
It normalizes muscle
tone
When someone is
injured, fatigued, sick, or inflamed, the symphony of muscle action that
normally takes place with great accuracy often falls out of tune. This can
happen all over the body. For instance, research has shown that people who
sprain their ankle tend to have altered activity of their hip muscle as a
result. RockTape helps bring dormant muscle back to life and help calm down the
overactive muscles. It helps your body coordinate movement as if it weren’t
hurt, hence allowing it to heal properly.
It distributes physical
stress
Unlike conventional
taping, which prevents movement – RockTape allows full movement of a taped
area. Through elastic properties and quick recoil, RockTape can help distribute
forces to other nearby areas through the fascia, ligaments, and even bones.
If you want to get money off Rocktape products
or find out where we are next visit the website below:
This challenge comes in
varying levels of difficulty:
The Fan Dance Test: The original 24km
SAS Test march
The Fan Dance Double Tap Challenge: two
Fan Dance attempts over as many days
Fan Dance Exercise High Moon: A Fan
Dance staged at night over an enhanced route
Fan Dance Black Edition: The Fan Dance
followed by Fan Dance Exercise High Moon or vice versa. There is a rest period
of several hours between the two
Fan Dance Trident: Our most demanding
Fan Dance challenge. The Fan Dance followed by Fan Dance High Moon and then
another Fan Dance.
The Fan Dance Woodhouse Edition: The
original post WWII Fan Dance with three ascents of Pen y Fan via two new
approaches and an enhanced route. Standard Fan Dance veterans only.
But what does it mean to experience the Fan Dance?
In our artificial world
of mortgages, smart phones and the incessant chatter of the voice in the head,
there is an urgent need to return to the simple raw intensity of man against
nature: the human will pit against an unapologetic and silent adversary of rock
and earth.
Sweat prickling the
forehead and soaking the back, straps digging into the shoulders and the
primitive urge to suck in the next breath and keep going smother out everyday
concerns.
The glorious feeling of
the body working to its maximum capacity washes over you, jockeying for
position with dozens of other competitors makes your heart feel as though it is
attacking the inside of the rib cage.
Fully dilated pupils
drink in the richness of the surroundings as you pound up the mountain,
scalding heat bursts through the leg muscles and the hypnotic rhythm of gravel
underfoot and urgent breathing echoes around you.
This is what it means
to be alive: the vital and overwhelming awareness of the present moment thrust
onto you by straining lungs and aching limbs.
This is what it means to do The
Fan Dance.
It's not over until you have had your first Official Fan Dance Ale!
This weekend I was on
the Scientific Core Conditioning class at the European CHEK institute.
I have not done anything to do with the CHEK institute for 15 years, so it was nice to return to the sytem that inspired me to become a Physiotherapist.
Our instructor was
Leigh from BodyCHEK, in London.
The course was full of Fitness Professionals revising the core muscles and learning new exercises.
The exercises involve a cable machine, a Swiss ball, A wooden Dowel, some string a pressure biofeedback cuff and of course the Tornado ball!
There has been lots of criticism of Core Stability over the last 20 years.
The Myth of Core stability article by Leaderman is a classic example of this. Where Core stability is described as a "reductionist fantasy."
What was great about about this weekend was the integration into functional movement.
We were not just lying on our backs playing with the pressure bio-feedback cuffs.
There was a very quick integration into four point kneeling, kneeling, standing then standing on a single leg.
We rely on 10 sets of 10 second holds for us to say a patient has successfully grasped the concepts of core stability.
But is this enough?
Of course not, but it is that transition from Pilates style exercise on the floor into Deadlifting and Resisted Rotational Movement with the core engaged.
Core stability provides the support for all dynamic movement, but how much stability training do we actually do?
