The Desert Ultra - Bulletproof Yourself for the Ultimate Desert Race

                

On the 22^nd of November the Desert Ultra in Namibia will take place.

The Desert Ultra takes place across 250k of the Namib Desert testing runners as they cross dried-up river beds, huge dune fields and run through grasslands with the majestic volcanoes and mountains as a back drop to the race.

With the extreme conditions and amazing location this fantastic race awaits those willing to tackle this challenge.

As a self-sufficient race you will be responsible for carrying all of your kit and equipment for the entire race, which includes a sleeping bag, food, safety equipment and a minimum of 2.5 litres of water.

David McIntosh is an Adventure Athlete and Ex-Royal Marines Commando.

So it was obvious he sought out other Ex-Royal Marine who are now a Physios.

This week David has been preparing for the Ultimate Desert Ultra with some injury prevention from Bulletproofbodies.

David's body will endure 250 km of hot and sandy desert where the normal Ultra-Running injuries will apply.

Tight hip flexors

Lateral knee pain

Tight Calves

Achilles tendinopathy

&

Plantar Fascia pain

So what do you listen to that will help Bulletproof Your Brain when you are running this intense 5 day race?

The answer is simply, Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.

The Bulletproofbodies team met Goggins this Summer and were massively inspired by his talk.

He is the Authentic Athlete.

Goggins now stretches for hours daily after all the grueling endurance events he has endured including 3 Hell Week sin a single year!

The hip flexors stretch is the most important for runners.

Kneel down is a Lunge position.

Put a cushion under your knee to prevent discomfort.

Raise your arm on the same side upwards then over.

By adding some Lateral (side) Flexion we increase the stretch and mobilse in two different planes of movement.

Hold from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to be effective with your stretching.

From Ex-Royal Marines to another, we wish David McIntosh good luck and salute him as he attempts this mother of desert races.

Bulletproofbodies One-Day Workshop 12th October 2019 @CrossFit QYS

                      

On October the 12^th at CrossFit QYS Bulletproofbodies will be running a One-Day Workshop in perfect time for the beginning of the CrossFit Open.

The Workshop will include a unique individual assessment of your injury likelihood profile.

How the Bulletproofbodies Team worked it all out.

Which is a combination of running a Physiotherapy Clinic specialising in CrossFit-Associated Injuries.

Working at loads of CrossFit Competitions including the Invitational and Regionals.

Performing Research on CrossFit Athletes.

How to prevent the TWO most common areas of injury for CrossFit Athletes.

How to Bulletproof your Back.

How to Bulletproof your Shoulders

Dale Walker from the Bulletproofbodies Team has been busy over the Summer and recorded a number of Podcasts that may be of interest to you:

 Living 4D With Paul Chek:

https://chekinstitute.com/podcast/

The Inquisitive Beast With Adam Giles

https://open.spotify.com/show/1BTbg53bv7XX12zHLVyIjS

From Chaos To Order With Matt Wallden

http://fc2opodcast.libsyn.com/fc2o-episode-7-dale-walker

Book your place Now as we are limited to 20 participants.

Contact us on any of the Socials below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9wkQltraEI

What's the missing exercise you're not doing on leg day?

               

The Weighted Hip Thrust is something you will see many girls doing in the gym for buns of steel.

However, for guys and girls that want to increase their muscle mass and glute strength then this is the missing exercise you are not doing on leg day!

Researchers hypothesized that barbell hip thrusts would be better than squats for improving horizontal force production, thereby enhancing performance in athletic movements requiring a horizontal force vector, such as horizontal jumping and sprinting.

According to the study’s first author, Bret Contreras, squats poorly activate the hamstrings and do not maximally activate the glutes, which are critical muscle groups for powerful sprinting. In a squat, the glutes are fired up during the concentric action – when you explode out of the hole. Glute activation decreases near the top when the athlete is in a more upright position, which is characteristic of applying force into the ground while running.

The study was comprised of male teenage athletes and consisted of 2 training sessions per week for 6 weeks in a periodized fashion. One group performed only front squats, and another group performed only hip thrusts. Pre- and post-test performance measures included:

 10-meter acceleration

20-meter acceleration

vertical jump

 maximum isometric mid-thigh pull

 3-rep-max front squat

 and 3-rep-max hip thrust

Results showed that among teenage male athletes, hip thrusts are more effective than front squats at improving sprinting acceleration, max isometric mid-thigh pull force, and max hip thrust strength. However, front squats are more effective than hip thrusts at improving vertical jump max and front squat strength.

In addition, athletes who performed the hip thrust gained half as much front squat strength as those who only performed front squats, and vice versa. This is an important finding, as it demonstrates that hip extension exercises transfer to other lifts and points to the possibility that strength in one lift can be maintained during times of injury by performing assistance lifts.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChVak8_IyuqcErdf_jQUOHA

https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/improve-your-performance-squats-or-hip-thrusts

Paul Chek, Bulletproofbodies & Cross-Fit

"There is no such thing as a bad exercise or exercise system. 

There are only incorrectly prescribed exercises and exercise systems."

Paul Chek

                      

In case you don't know, Paul Chek popularised Functional Movement and challenged the Body Building Gym culture of the 90's.

The Chek Institute is concerned with Holistic health and not just Functional Training.

He uses his 4 Doctors analogy which is brilliant. 

The last 4 Doctors you will ever need:

Dr Happiness - AIR - What do you want from CrossFit?

Dr Movement - FIRE - Are you over training?

Dr Diet - EARTH - Are you eating correctly?

Dr Quiet - WATER - Are you rehydrating and resting enough?

We put all these in the Couldren of Consciousness which contains many ingredients and requires some alchemy: 

Planning

Action

Celebration

Rest

Paul is not against CrossFit but he wants to make us aware of the challenge. Or as he calls it, “Trial by fire, baby.”

What Paul is highlighting is the significant risk that high intensity training may bring if you do not have adequate muscle flexibility, joint stability and baseline fitness

Are you ready for CrossFit? 

Are you prepared for CrossFit?

Are you scaling your workouts?

Are you maintaining good form when lifting?

Are you training through injury?

CrossFit replaces a primal need, that of significance, or proving yourself in society where you no longer have to prove anything.

Check out Paul's book - "How to eat, move and be healthy." 

I love Paul Chek and CrossFit and would recommend both to you, but only if you are ready for a trial by fire (baby)!

Paul Chek, the Bulletproofbodies team Salute you.

https://chekinstitute.com/

Bulletproofbodies & Avoiding Double Under Disaster

Double Under Disaster?

Try Penguin Jumping!

So did you get frustrated with your Double Unders during 10 rounds of 17.5?

Although this is a basic CrossFit skill, when you fatigue you go to your default setting and start making mistakes you would not make if you were fresh.

Fatigue = Uncoordinated jumping

Check out this awesome video from WODPrep:

Check out the WODPrep channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNRMF4aKRFUCdzvJVBEMFdQ

Penguin Double Unders Drill

Feet together

Relax your shoulders

Hand-Jump Coordination with the double tap

Practice

The Bulletproofbodies Team wish you well!

Stop comparing kipping to pull ups

At Bulletproofbodies we get this question a lot.

Kipping Pull Ups are bad or not proper Pull Ups.

This demonstrates how the person asking the question does not really understand what they are asking. 

Or they have an agenda to say that CrossFit causes injury (which of course I disagree with!).

In my experience of treating and managing CrossFit injuries for 7 years, it is true that I treat a lot of shoulders. 

However, these athletes have a few musculo-skeletal niggles rather than what I would classify as an injury. 

These athletes respond quickly to treatment and have fantastic adherence to the rehabilitation exercises they are asked to perform. 

For us at Bulletproofbodies, CrossFitters are the perfect patients.

There is also a culture of body maintenance thanks to Mobility WOD and ROM WOD.

In studies on CrossFit injuries by Hak et al (2013) and Weisenthal et al (2014) they both point to overhead activity as the main culprit for shoulder injuries.

Muscular fatigue of the rotator cuff during kipping may be responsible for the loss of proper form and increased potential for injury.

The simple injury prevention strategy is to break up your big numbers into bite-sized chunks.  

Then, progressively build up your rotator cuffs exercise tolerance to keep the humeral head in the optimal position.

The mind-set of task completion must also be addressed, if you feel any pain whilst performing kipping simply stop and rest.

It is important to differentiate the achy feeling of delayed onset muscle soreness which should be relieved in a couple of days and the sharper, “this does not feel right” pain that you need to seek the opinion of a Physiotherapist for.

Check out Luke’s Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCueCBBvCWzVb7n6FxKjDUog

References

1.     Hak PT, Hodzovic E, Hickey B. The nature and prevalence of injury during CrossFit training. J Strength Cond Res. In Press, doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000318.

2.     Weisenthal, B. M., Beck, C. A., Maloney, M. D., DeHaven, K. E., & Giordano, B. D. (2014). Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2(4), 2325967114531177.

Do you need to Bulletproof your Snatch?

So, 17.3 was all about the Squat Snatch.

Did your Squat Snatch let you down?

I’m not surprised.

That’s what happened to me!

The Squat Snatch is a high level skill movement that got heavier as you fatigued.

So you now know that the Snatch is your goat.

But what can we do to injury proof this movement?

It is not uncommon for injuries like shoulder dislocations and knee pain from the speed and power of this Olympic Weight Lifting Movement.

Check out this video from Barbell Brigade:

https://www.youtube.com/user/bartkwan

There are significant risks to the Snatch.

The first being have you got the range of movement to perform an Overhead Squat?

Most athletes are lacking that end of range movement in this challenging exercise.

The Overhead squat tests flexibility in the thoracic spine, hips, knees and ankles.

If you are missing range in any of these joints then catching weight at the bottom of the Snatch becomes difficult.

I you are lacking range of movement at the ankle joint then Weight Lifting shoes will really help.

If you are still struggling try putting some plates under your heels. Then gradually decrease the plates over time.

The key is getting the bar overhead working on thoracic extension and shoulder joint elevation.

Try lying back on a foam roller with the roller in your mid-back, hands behind your head and extend back.

Practice overhead squats at least once a week. It will take longer than you think!

Don't worry about the depth initially, focus on the correct position overhead.

If you can't overhead squat, you probably should not be Snatching yet.

Progressing to quickly without allowing the time for the tissues to adapt may lead to injury.

Bulletproofbodies - Toes to Bar Workout with Camille Leblanc-Bazinet

If 17.2 has taught us anything, it’s that we all need to work on Toes to bar when fatigued.

Check out this quick and easy Video from the amazing Camille Leblanc-Bazinet curtesy of Via Prive:

 www.youtube.com/user/ViaPrive

Camille, the Bulletproofbodies Team Salute you!

Bulletproofbodies & Reebok CrossFit 17.2 Taping & Injury Prevention

It’s the Reebok CrossFit Open 2017 and 17.2 surprised us with yet more Dumbbells.

Your job is to push your body hard and stay injury free over the next 4 weeks.

There are plenty of videos showing you how to optimise your performance for this workout.

However, we at Bulletproofbodies are about injury prevention, which includes taping:

The WOD for 17.2 is:

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:

2 rounds of:

•   50-ft. weighted walking lunge
•   16 toes-to-bars
•   8 power cleans

Then, 2 rounds of:

•   50-ft. weighted walking lunge
•   16 bar muscle-ups
•   8 power cleans

Alternating between toes-to-bars and bar muscle-ups every 2 rounds.

Bullet Points

Preparation

·        Tape the shoulders, low back & knees

·        Wear Knee Sleeves to protect the knees when lunging

Mobilise

·        Overhead Shoulder Mobility in preparation for kipping

·        Hip flexor & Quads Stretches

·        Hamstrings Stretches for T2B

Pre-Activation

·        Light Lunges and Bike for the Warm Up

·        Practice Bar Muscle Ups

WOD

·        Place the Dumbbells on top of your shoulders during the lunges

·        Pace yourself to get to the Bar Muscle Ups

Recovery

·        Cool Down on the bike

·        Compression Socks

·        Hydration

·        Nutrition

·        Mobilise all joints