👋 Hey.
Welcome to issue #42 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter. Thanks for being here.
It’s been a hectic week. So I’ve got some old favourites from past newsletters for your Friday (2.5 min read):
🦶 Unlocking tight hammies
Anatomy trains map how our muscles and tissue connect throughout the body.
There's one anatomy train called the Superficial Black Line
. It runs from our feet, up the back of our body to our forehead (aka our posterior chain).
And because it's all connected, tightness in one area can affect the whole train.
Like our feet. We've got over 100 muscles, ligaments and tendons in each. And they get super tight from restrictive shoes and hard surfaces.
So tight feet can tighten your whole posterior chain (often most noticeable in the hammies).
But what's cool is releasing it works in the same way.
Tight hamstrings? Release them by getting into the soles of your feet.
Try this:
Bend down and do the classic hammy stretch
Roll each foot on a golf/hockey/trigger ball for a minute
Retest your hammies – feel the difference
Here's a how-to video if you're unsure.
My left hammy has been super tight the last couple of weeks. Crazy how much this relieves it.
💡 Idea: Our approaches are only preferences
Love that 👆
Great reminder that all the things we do to improve our performance aren't requirements.
They're just preferences.
🚶 100 steps for better sleep
Early research suggests a big meal within 3 hours of bed decreases sleep quality. But some things are worth sacrificing. Because, dinner.
But... if you go extra large one night, eat super late or tend to hit the sack early, keep this in mind...
A short walk after meals:
- ⬆️ Helps digestion
- ⬆️ Increases blood flow
- ⬇️ Decreases insulin sensitivity
- ⬇️ Decreases gas and bloating
Helping you sleep better.
It improves my sleep quality by 5% when I do it.
(There's a Chinese proverb that says: if you take 100 steps after each meal, you'll live to 99. So, it must be facts)
That's it!
See you with some fresh tools next week 🤙
Matt
P.s.
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