👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #50 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):
👋 Fast and loose drills
You see a lot of gym-goers parked up on their phone between sets.
Which means they’re not maximising their recovery time (physically or mentally).
See when we do a strength exercise, we contract our muscles to move the weight. We create muscular tension.
And even after we finish the exercise, some tension is still hanging around.
So set after set, we get this build-up of tension.
And it causes fatigue. We have fewer available motor units and muscle fibres to use for the next set. Decreased performance.
Fortunately we can release that tension between sets pretty easily. Then we’re fresher to attack the next one. And can get more out of it.
Active recovery like walking around is one way.
Fast and loose drills are another.
Popularised by Pavel Tastouline, these drills encourage the muscles to relax.
Simply shake your muscles like you’re trynna flick water off them. Wobble your limbs around a bit. Do 10-20 seconds.
You’ll get more out of each rep, set and session. More effective and efficient training.
Good how-to here.
💨 XPT Performance Director, PJ Nestler on the breath:
“Every breath you take is a step towards optimisation or dysfunction. You are going to breathe anyway, so why not start there as the foundation for long-term lifestyle optimisation?”
Don't know where to start? Here's a bit of gear I've written about before:
- An overlooked recovery tool
- The power of nose breathing
- The haka: ultimate physical preparation
- Start with your second wind
- A simple cue for better breathing in seconds
🛠 Tools for harnessing hormones
A few weeks back I wrote about how females can harness their hormones through the menstrual cycle.
Since, I’ve come across some tools that might be helpful if you need a bit more direction.
Online training apps Pvolve and Nike’s Training Club have introduced cycle syncing programs.
And Natural Cycles for tracking.
This stuff is the future of female health and performance.
Great to see.
That's it!
Have a great weekend 🤙
Matt
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