Pop a squat

You may have heard this phrase but how often do you do it? Seriously when was the last time you popped a squat. Here comes another question at you, can you pop a squat? The other day whilst lifting with my brother who is a bit of a newbie back to the lifting world, we were speaking about squat depth and he was telling me about his numbers and he was proud and good on him. We began to squat and I noticed that he would just get to parallel.  I come from the Olympic weightlifting school of arse to grass. Science is now backing that depth is not some knee destroying bogey man so we should do it for many reasons. As we got further into the session we were talking about depth and he tells me at the gym he trains at no body he has seen and he`s been there a few months now, nobody goes beyond parallel and trainers at the gym teach people and tell people parallel is the depth they should squat to. I said,”Well we do big boy squats”. We can, we are both fairly mobile (not perfect) and we can get below parallel so we should. This meant he had to take some weight of the bar and he did and we squatted and I cued him as he did to improve some things. He remarked several times the difference between the two depths.

 It really does require more muscle activation to go deeper and get out and it requires better mobility and it requires better technique. You could make the argument against depth and for people that are restricted, injured or need to improve the technique/strength I get it and we have  many tools to deal with that. Now this could become another article about what to do to fix your squat but there`re so many articles and videos on this subject. My argument though is more than lifting weight or working out. The statement “pop a squat”, is just that, get into the bottom position of the squat and sit there. Kelly Starret of Crossfit fame (mobility wod) talks about the 10mins in the pain cave. Popping a squat and sitting there for 10 mins working the odds and ends of position and mobility and listening to your body. That is great I think and we need to make it more a part of our lives. In Asia many people squat into old age, they use it and don`t lose it. They squat from children into old age. The benefits are many, less loss of ROM (range of motion), improved strength which in old age is linked to falls and many more that can be found here http://www.naturesplatform.com/health_benefits.html

 

I pose this to you why don`t you from time to time squat and sit in the bottom position and just hang out? Not just because it`s to improve the squat but to improve your health and life. I do it regularly in fact some people know me because I do it. I have been at work and just pop a squat and sit down. It turns out my grandfather who`s in his 70`s the one I wrote about here http://therandomandthefit.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/do-you-want-to-get-fitripped-and-in.html he regularly pops a squat and just sits. Before you say “oh that’s you” and make excuses, try it after all if you begin to use it you can often get it back.

It`s official

So if you have read this blog before you may know that I have been completing a Master’s degree in exercise physiology (rehabilitation). I decided I wanted to offer some more background on myself. My education started when I undertook an undergraduate degree in sport and exercise science. I then undertook a post graduate diploma in education and I am a qualified P.E teacher. I decided during that diploma that I wanted to work for myself and have other people work with me. I also wanted to use the knowledge and experience I gained from my undergrad and exercise/training background. Teaching is great and I enjoy it but it ultimately I want to flex my mental muscles. For me training and coaching people is what I enjoy. It requires me to really educate my clients otherwise I am doing them a real disservice.  Basically for me when I come home from teaching children I don`t read journal articles about child development. I read articles about exercise, health, disease, rehab and performance improvement because that is my passion.

So I spoke with my partner about enrolling for the Masters course and she supported me. The Masters required me to complete it via distance education whilst performing over 500 hours of volunteer work experience in different clinical fields. Due to the university being in another state I was required to organise all of my placements myself. All whilst trying to fit in work, training and living in general. I was required to log all of those hours and to date I completed nearly 700. I flew to the university twice interstate. One time I was very sick with Glandular fever. I had a swollen spleen and liver and to be honest was not in a healthy condition. 

 

This post isn`t so much about what I had to do, but who was there for me. It is important I feel to thank those around me. I am commonly said to have the emotional back account of 2 cents, but I need to express my gratitude. First my partner who always helped me and supported me. Never has someone been so thoroughly assessed and tested before. Even when it got hard and trust me it really did. Those that point out that university is easy either didn`t put in, are a genius or haven’t yet done it. She made dinner when I spent 14 hours writing assignments or studying, she was my test subject and often my rock. I rarely waiver in many of my pursuits but this made me question what I was doing. She pushed me frequently citing the phrase “Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering”, Theodore Roosevelt.  She is like the ocean lapping at the shore she never seems to hit hard like a tidal wave but consistency keeps going. I took my lead from her and just kept going. I would also like to thank my family and friends. Particularly my mother and step father who were also test subjects and would test me for hours on end. Also my inlaws who were also a big support during those days. I thank my friends who have put up with and continue to put up with my “I was reading” or “the other day”.  I would also like to thank those that jeered me and yes there are always detractors. At first you made me angry but ultimately how can I practice patients and humility without you. After all challenge is how we grow like it or not. I thankyou as well. I won`t forget my Nan and Pop always behind me.

Google scholar has a phase “stand on the shoulders of giants”. In my case I do, even though those giants don`t know it. These are the people that are my giants and though I could stand alone I could never stand as tall without them. Thank you.

My next step is the board acceptance application process and to open my own practice. I am looking forward to for the next step knowing the last few years were worth it.

Flip the switch.

                   Motivation is a very interesting and a unique emotion, in fact I would say that it is almost a phenomenon. Some people seem to be born with it while others only seem to have it for select moments in time. It’s something that’s hard to find and easy to loose and for some it can only be found in groups. It is something that can be tied to emotions, confidence and above all else aspiration and strength.

                  Motivation reminds me of money in some ways. You see motivation can be a real source of pleasure or pain. It can help us achieve great things or sometimes it can make us feel worse than when we started. It is important to be motivated, but the biggest problems occur when it comes to the inspiration of the motivation. If the wrong thing inspires you, it can lead you down the wrong path. For example say you are motivated to get active and the thing that inspires you to do it is to lose weight. That is all well in good for some, but for most people this will lead them down the wrong path.

                  I am sure most of us out there have fallen into this trap of eating well and exercising for a few months while weighing ourselves each week. It starts out great with slight loses in weight but eventually that stops and the very thing that originally inspired us to be motivated starts to bring us down. Off course most people will tell you that there are many changes that happen in your body when you are getting healthier and weight loss is never the biggest or most important change.

                Factors such as muscle gain can affect your weight. You may have still lost weight that week but because muscle weighs more than fat when you get on the scales or you see is negatives. When anyone is in that frame of mind other changes such as toning and loss of inch’s all seem to fall to the wayside. Now that is just one example of bad motivation I am sure there are many others out there.

               Now I should add that having a positive motivation doesn’t necessary guarantee you will succeed. It will set you up with a stable base but there are still many other obstacles that will come between you and your goal. Motivation is like flipping a switch, it works both ways. So weather you have flipped it to get healthier or improve at you particular sport they both generally require complete lifestyle shifts that can be hard to maintain.

               I know I may be repeating myself but I am very serious about this. The important thing to remember is that it’s not uncommon to not always feel like training, or eating clean. At times like this we all need to start saying “I’ve flipped the switch now I have to keep the light on”. I find the reason why people don’t do this is because they don’t hold themselves accountable. The excuse is always something got in the way or someone led me astray. Long story short nine times out of ten you can find a way past this. That`s when we come back to keeping the switch flipped.

              There are very simple ways to combat this kind of thinking. The first thing I would recommend when you flip on your switch is to write down your goals using the S.M.A.R.T acronym (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely). Specific relates to what is it you want to achieve and the more detail you use the more likely you will be to achieve the goal. Most people say to me,”I want to lose weight”, followed by my reply “can you be more specific?” really what they want is to reduce fat. I have a specific goal of lifting more than an 80kg snatch and 110 clean and jerk to go to nationals. You will want the goal to be measurable otherwise how will you know if you achieved it? I am measuring mine by kg`s. You might measure yours by cm/inches. Is it achievable this and realistic tie together well. I can realistically hit my goal this year within the time frame I set. If you’re an 80kg female setting a goal of losing 60kg this isn`t realistic or achievable without losing a limb or two. Timely is a favourite of mine because it can be hard on your own to set a time for something you aren’t 100% sure of. My goal is to be achieved by the 7th of October. Remember that you can have smaller goals tied into your overall goal in business sometime KPI`s is the buzz acronym, key performance indicators. I set smaller goals based on the above principles. So should you.

                Record things or situations that can get in the way of reaching those goals it is just as important as setting yourself a realistic goal. Writing these things down can provide perspective and you can brainstorm ways to overcome them. This goes a long to keeping the light switched on. It is so important to set yourself up for success. If you have even a small amount of motivation embrace it and focus on it and it will grow. Once you have the switch flipped keep the light on by using the two methods above. If you have any questions email us at therandomandthefit@hotmail.com

Life`s a garden dig it.

               On this blog I often talk about aspects of fitness and health. Eating is included in these broad categories. Do you know where your food comes from? I mean really have any idea? I have been worried when I hear children answer the question of “where does milk come from?” with “a carton”. People don`t know remotely where their food is coming from. Now to be fair I wouldn`t expect most people to know with absolute detail where all of their food comes from. But one sure fire way to at least build an appreciation for farming, food and get a little bit of exercise is to grow your own fruits, vegetables, herbs. Now I know that not everyone lives on some form of land with soil and space easily accessible. That though is no excuse, many options are available from pots/window gardens, community gardens or just using the ground that you live on.

                Gardening has a variety of benefits and yes the possibility of saving money is one of them. For my partner and I we like to get to grass roots in many different ways and gardening is one of them. We try to grow a variety of our own vegetables. For some reason growing your own food just seems to taste better and no I don`t mean the organic vs non organic debate. The reason the produce tastes better is the X factor flavour, I think that flavour should be called satisfaction. It is more satisfying to put in the work and have even a moderate payoff. Gardening also seems to be good for mental wellbeing and I think it relates to satisfaction of seeing something you have put the work into giving you something back.

                Gardening though isn`t all sunshine and butterfly`s it takes a bit of work. Working in the garden especially if you choose to use limited machines and chemicals can be a bit of hard work. I think though it is important to note many of the cultures of the planet that live the longest farm with some methods from the past. They still get out there and pull up their sleeves. As you will see below the picture is of our garden, not huge but it`s ours. You can see the before we have left it to over grow a little bit.

                The during shot is after I have taken a shovel and turned the soil to aerate it a little bit after pulling out all the old plants. I have also raked up the weeds and spread the soil a bit more even.

The final shot is after I have seeded the garden with peas and alfalfa. I have done this because both return nitrogen and other nutrients back to the soil. I will turn them into the soil again after the peas and alfalfa has grown. I then added horse manure and raked that evenly and then added sugarcane mulch to help protect the soil/seeds and slow weeds growing. This took me about 90 minutes in the rain. The important thing to remember is the preparation pays off with better harvests. Quality soils lead to quality produce. So get to it start a garden you will appreciate farmers and where your food comes from much more.