👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #52 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter.
Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (3.5 min read):
🔥 The case for inflammation
Exercise causes tiny damage to muscle fibres.
After, the body sends immune cells to fix ‘em up.
Which causes inflammation – a natural part of the recovery process. A good thing. A signal that the body is repairing and growing.
Same thing when you’re sick or injured. Inflammation is a natural (and critical) part of the healing process.
The drama is when we don’t look after ourselves (or get the recovery matching balance wrong) and our inflammation response is constantly running around putting out fires. That’s when it can start damaging healthy tissues and organs.
But if we’re eating, training and recovering well, bitta inflammation is good.
One of the biggest misconceptions around recovery is getting in the ice bath after an intense session.
Because ice actually slows down the inflammation process.
It can block hormone signals and prevent adaptation. Great in competition. But not when we’re training to improve.
So avoid the ice after intense training for at least 4 hours if you're trying to progress.
Instead welcome inflammation. And use tools like compression gear, foam rolling and movement to help clear it out.
⚡️ Article: The nervous system operating manual
Our nervous system is our control centre. It decides our internal state. Are we up? Are we flat?
And we have more influence over it than we think.
We can use top-down approaches (from the brain) like mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapy and gratefulness.
Great tools. Maybe hard in the moment though.
We can also use bottom-up approaches (from the body) like moving and breathing.
Which are 4x more effective at changing our blood chemistry than top-down.
See, 80% of neurons flow from the body to brain.
20% from brain to body.
So when you want to change your state, the most bang-for-your-buck tools are probably moving or breathwork.
This article offers a couple good breathing tools – the espresso breath for getting up, and the breath of calm to chill us out.
In short, fast exhales will help get us up. Slow exhales will chill us out.
You can check it out here.
🏋 Lifting through full range of motion ticks flexibility box
I feel 10x better when I stretch.
Less pain. Fewer niggles. Shorter warm-ups.
Few mins in the morn. Few mins after training.
But if you’re like the 99% who’d simply rather not, some good news…
A recent meta-analysis in Sports Medicine found if you lift weights through a full range of motion you don’t need to stretch to increase flexibility.
Here are my go-to loaded range of motion exercises:
- Hammies – Jefferson Curl
- Hip flexors – Knees over toes split squat
- QL + lower back + adductors – Windmills
- Chest – Dips, neutral dumbbell press
- Calves – Weighted calf raises off step
Hook in.
That's it!
Have a great weekend 🤙
Matt
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