💪 The everyday athlete newsletter #94

👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #94 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):

🌬️ Useless breath

The team huddle in sport is a mysterious thing.

What goes on in there varies for every team, or maybe it doesn’t — we simply do not know.

But 7 years ago, a probing journalist decided to take a peek...

And the headlines erupted...

"The secret behind the Warriors' deep breathing technique"

"What's behind teams breathing in huddle?"

"Advice behind Warriors huddle revealed"

The New Zealand Warriors rugby league team made headlines for huddling up to do a breathing exercise after a try.

It was something they got from — unsurprisingly — the All Blacks.

Said to calm the mind and body, refocus the group and get everyone connected.

Love it.

Now, you don’t see an NRL or Union team not doing it.

But unfortunately, it’s become more of a tick-of-the-box exercise than something of value.

Usually rushed.

And therefore ineffective.

A classic case of if they’re doing it we should too.

So...

I wouldn’t be rushing out to copy our burly rugby league friends for your own training.

See to get the physiological benefits of a calming breath, we want to extend the exhale for at least 7 seconds.

That’ll ensure we're activating our parasympathetic nervous system. Calming the mind and body.

So...

Do that instead. Take a deep breath or two. And exhale for 7 seconds on each.

Or — even better — use the downshift recovery method between bouts.

Which for teams, a simplified version might look like:

1. 4x fire breaths (1 second in, 1 second out > to repay oxygen deficit)
2. 2x extended exhale breaths (7 second exhale > calm the mind and body)

Then we’re ready to rip in again.

✅ The recovery checklist

With the latest sodium bicarbonate lotions, infrared healing mats, and vibrating wearables, it’s easy to forget what the foundations of physical recovery actually are.

• Rehydrate ✔️
• Refuel ✔️
• Sleep ✔️
• Blood flow activity ✔️

And so it’s a good rule of thumb to tick each of these boxes between intense sessions.

Otherwise we run the risk of overtraining.

Which we could also call under-recovery.

The symptoms being lack of progress, injury, sickness and burnout.

So if we’re pushing it up back-to-back days, hit each item on that recovery checklist.

The other stuff is a bonus.

P.s. Here's a downloadable checklist with a bit more detail...

💪 Building muscle (without training)

Ever heard of a supplement that can build muscle mass without training?

Neither.

Til I read this research review on creatine.

It found some sedentary folks packed on 0.7kgs of muscle in a few weeks.

This isn’t to say don’t train.

But to highlight the power of the supplement for our physical health and performance.

(Hint: very powerful)

Not concerned with muscle mass?

Well — firstly — you should be.

Particularly as you age.

It improves our quality of life, controls our blood sugar levels and helps us maintain a healthy weight.

But the cherry on top is the growing evidence for the benefits of creatine on brain function.

Here's one:

A paper published a couple months back found a single high dose of creatine was shown to preserve cognitive function during sleep deprivation.

A few scoops were taken by one group (0.35g/kg of body weight). A placebo by the other.

Then a range of memory, language, logic and numeric tests were run over 22 hours without sleep.

The group who had creatine improved scores by 16-29%.

Might be of interest for new parents on the tools.

P.s. And if today's the day, check out my online training program.

Every week you don't is another week you stay the same.

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.