👋 Hey.
Welcome to issue #31 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter. Thanks for being here.
Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (3.5 min read):
💪 Naked Warrior
A few weeks back I shared the everyday athlete strength training handbook.
A quick reminder of 2 key things from it:
- The science says 1-5 reps is the sweet spot for strength adaptations
- Strength training should go close to failure (which means the resistance has to be heavy)
But what happens when we’re travelling? Don’t have time to get to the gym? No equipment?
It’s hard to find exercises heavy enough to go close to failure in that rep range.
The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tastouline shares variations of 2 bodyweight exercises.
How to make them easier.
How to make them harder.
So everyone (wherever you’re at) can train strength without equipment.
Here they are:
1. 💪 Push up
- Elevate hands on a wall/bench/chair (adjust height as needed)
- Push-ups on knees
- Regular push-ups
- One-arm assisted (take some weight off with your other arm)
- One-arm
2. 🦵 Squat
- Box/bench/chair squat (adjust height as needed)
- Regular squat
- Single leg box/bench/chair squat (adjust height as needed)
- Pistol squat
If you’re easily doing more than 5x one-arm push-ups and pistol squats, slow the tempo.
And if that’s still too easy, might be time to invest in a band.
Focus on full body tension. That way we work the whole bod (e.g. using our lats in a push-up).
A few ideas to keep in the back pocket (use it with the Strength Training Handbook).
Because life gets in the way sometimes.
🏄 TV Series: Make or break
They’ve found the formula for a sports doco.
Drive to Survive (F1). Break Point (tennis). Full Swing (golf).
And now, Make or Break.
Apple’s new series following the World Surf League pro circuit.
Insights into performance and pressure from some of the biggest names in surfing (like Tyler Wright, Gabriel Medina and Steph Gilmore).
But my favourite episode is ‘Rookies’. It follows the Aussie young guns on their first year of the tour.
Isabella Nichols out-surfs her childhood hero (Steph Gilmore) in a quarter-final.
Morgan Cibilic breaks his foot warming up the morning of the contest.
He goes on to beat world #1 John Florence in Round 1. Then makes it all the way to the semis.
It’s a perfect example of the idea that all the things we do for our performance are preferences not requirements.
I prefer to surf without a broken foot. But if it is broken, I’ll still do my best.
He was also wearing a hangover from the night before. So it’s clear Morgan really gets this concept 😂. It's surfing after all.
👖 Compression gear: helpful or useless?
When we train we stress our muscles.
That stress is a signal for our body to send hormones and other good stuff to the tissues we’ve just worked.
This is inflammation. And it’s a critical part of the recovery process.
The problem is when that inflammation isn’t cleared out.
When it hangs around, we get swelling.
Swelling is what we don’t want.
That’s why recovery protocols that promote blood flow are good.
They help relieve swelling.
Like active recovery (walking, getting in the ocean etc). They get the blood pumping.
Same with compression.
Compression works by putting pressure on the tissue and veins of a muscle.
This pumps the blood back to the heart. Which reduces swelling.
Shown to be significant for recovery (reduce soreness and improve your next performance). Particularly after strength and high-intensity training.
Consider investing if you’re training hard for something.
But even tight clothes like activewear will get you some of the benefits.
✌️
That's it!
Have a great weekend 🤙
Matt
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