👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #92 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter.
Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (4 min read):
⚒️ The elite sleep audit
You’ve gotta sleep like a baby to perform like an athlete.
So I just built a free tool to help you sleep better, The Elite Sleep Audit.
Answer the questions. See what flags. Get specific recommendations based on your answers.
Two types of people it is NOT for:
- New Zealanders: As there’ll be less chance to count sheep
- Anyone who works on-call: You may start sleeping through
Otherwise, give it a go – HERE
And if it's useful, forward this email to a mate who'd like it too. Helps the newsletter grow ✌️
🏃 Study: Exercise changes how we use saturated fat
New research suggests consistent endurance exercise changes how the body uses saturated fat.
They found trained people send it to the muscle to use as an energy source (even in the early stages of exercise).
Whereas untrained people struggle to metabolise it, so it sits there.
"Overall, the most striking and completely new perspective we have taken from this study is that one size 'doesn't fit all' and that one's cardio-metabolic health dictates how efficiently you're able to use different fats as fuel." – Dana Dawson
So while everyone's arguing about whether saturated fat is good or bad...
The smart ones are just chipping away at their steady-state zone 2 work, discussing more important things like what went on behind the curtains at Kate Ritchie’s singles ball 👀.
And turning saturated fat (from foods like red meat, chook and full-fat dairy) into an efficient fuel for exercise.
Keep it moving.
🏊 Cut the anchor
There's a bloke down at the pool.
Absolute yarnsman.
Chats to everyone.
I've never actually seen him swim.
He got me one day getting out of the pool.
"Mate, you gotta use your hips more."
"Huh?"
“Mate it’s all technique. I used to do lots of triathlons and that when I was younger. It’s all in the hips, where all the power comes from.”
In the hips?
Turns out that to maximise swim stroke propulsion, the hips and shoulders have to rotate with every stroke.
From Ross Edgley’s Art of Resilience book:
- Rotate your hips and shoulders to generate momentum through the water
- Your head should only join the rotation when you want to breathe
- The hips should not rotate as much as the shoulders
And that’s how you knock 20 seconds off your average 500m time.
Thank you, yarnsman.
P.s. it’s invaluable getting tips like this in life from someone who knows what they’re talking about.
Just like what you’d get in my online training program.
That's it!
Have a great weekend 🤙
Matt
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The Everyday Athlete Newsletter is not a licensed health service and is not a substitute for professional health advice, treatment or assessment. The information given in this email is general in nature, written for a specific audience. If you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional.
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