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What I Have Been Thinking About...
We had a freedom of speech debate in PE this week that kind of relates to this whole Jimmy Kimmel saga. A student compared the fitness activity (shuttle run, jump rope, and pushups) to slavery. A bit dramatic and this did not go over well with their classmates. They told the individual not to say that and it turned into a conversation about free speech. In this example (and Kimmel) I believe the person said something potentially offensive or insensitive. Other people heard it and said that it was not a good idea. The person who made the statement then evaluates their choice of words and learns from it... hopefully. That to me is how free speech should work. There should not be some authoritative type of figure that dictates what can or cannot be said. Let people talk. They may expose themselves as something you didn't envision or you may actually learn from it! Am I Getting Old? I think I have tendinitis... or arthritis... or something else that ends in an 'itis. Over the years I would occasionally have some weird heel pain and/or mild ankle swelling that would come and go. I typically would just chalk it up to something I did in the previous day and leave it at that. Well, things changed a bit this week. While cleaning out one of our out buildings I threw something into our dumpster and I felt a little bubble pop at the bottom of the Achilles tendon. After the pop there was a mild burning sensation that lasted a day or two. No bueno! Fast forward a few days and I am in the gym working out and my wrists were feeling beat up. I should have taken this as a warning sign but pushed on and did one more set. These were my famous last words. As I attempt one final rep, some crunching occurs in my wrist, I drop the bar and yell out "ahhh" and start calling myself a dumbass (a few dozen times) because I thought I seriously hurt my wrist. So what do we do now? Rest and Revive ! Fitness Tip of the Week I have been collaborating with a bunch of guys on developing a training program for a new gym opening in downtown Easton. The place is called Boxology and it is set to open up in mid-October. There are a bunch of great people involved in this project and I am excited to be a part of it and get this thing started! After all the talks, with MMA coaches, Boxing coaches, fitness coaches, sales/marketing people, the talk always turns back to numbers and having measurable data. You need a Point A (starting point) if you want to get to Point B (your goal). As you embark on a program, having these measurables is vital. It is how you gauge whether you are on the right path or the wrong path. With nothing to measure, we don't know if what we are doing is right. So here is my advice: Pick one exercise or activity. Identify where you are right now (Point A), follow a program to improve yourself, and track your progress. Do this for 4 weeks. Retest and reassess. Incremental Gains... What could 5% weight loss do for you? Well, as it turns out, a lot! I was chatting with a friend about weight loss and we came to the conclusion that a little goes a long way. Don't believe me? Type in "benefits of losing 5% of your weight" into google and you will see improved cholesterol, reduced blood pressure, improved insulin sensitivity, improved mobility, better sleep, and the list goes on. So what does this look like in the real world? Lets say you weigh 300 pounds and you want to drop some weight. Losing 5% will reduce your weight down to 285, which still has you in the overweight category, but you will start seeing all those improvements listed above. This feeling then cascades into other areas of life. You start to realize that you're sleeping better so maybe you stop drinking that glass of wine to unwind at the end of the day. Maybe you notice your pants are feeling a little looser, your body doesn't ache as much, and your mood has been better. When the second servings or dessert come out, you start asking yourself "do I really need this?" More often than not, that answer will be a NO! All of these little wins build up to major wins if you stay patient, stay on the path, and keep the end in mind! Quote of the Week "Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive" -- Andy Grove I hope you all have an awesome week!Chris Fluck
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What I Have Been Thinking About...
I came across a sign a few days ago that read something like, "You are awesome the way you are!" and I thought " hmm, that is interesting". The reason I had that thought is that I was just coming in from a training session where we were running around, encouraging kids to get a little better, and to work hard at accomplishing something. I thought to myself, if you are awesome the way that you are will you ever work on improving? Is it possible to become more awesome or will you stay satisfied with just being regular awesome? This led me to my next thought... On Teaching... I had a conversation with a veteran teacher this week about labels. For example, there are a bunch of kids with an ADHD diagnosis that we work with. They have a hard time focusing and sitting still and we understand that. As a teacher, we have a choice: work with them and help them manage certain aspects of their life orlet it be? I always err on the side of helping and I think most things can be changed if work is put in. The idea is something like this: Lets say a kid can sit still for 4 seconds and we begin working on ways to manage this. Before you know it, the kid reaches 8 seconds. Then 15, then 30, and so on. They still have a tough time managing those quiet, idle moments in school but they are improving. As this goes on, we help them through it, offer ideas and solutions, watch them succeed (hopefully) and then they learn that they have the ability to change their behaviors if given proper practice and attention. This builds self-efficacy (the belief in your own ability to achieve a specific goal) and encourages the child not to view the way their mind works as a crutch or flaw. Fitness Tip of the Week I was talking with a friend who had an injured leg and we began chatting about working out while injured. In his mind, sitting idle was not an option and he wanted to train as much of his body as possible without further damaging or negatively effecting his injury. I told him this was a great idea as there is something called the cross-education effect that offers up some pretty incredible healing benefits! This effect is a neuromuscular phenomenon where resistance training on one side of the body (the uninjured side) leads to increased strength in the opposite limb (the injured side). So, if your right leg is hurt and in a cast, training your left side will result in less muscle atrophy and less strength loss. It is pretty cool! This effect is thought to be primarily a neural adaptation, with strength gains transferring from the trained to the untrained side due to changes in the motor cortex. On School... I have been subbing a few days per week and I have to say, it is a pretty sedentary profession! There is not a ton of fresh air, little to no movement, and most of the work is done while sitting. It is no bueno! This led me to ask myself, has it always been this way? A few years ago I read a book titled Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Kelly Starrett. It is a good one with plenty of eye opening statistics. The main gist of this book explains how excessive sitting leads to pain, increases the risk of heart disease, and causes other orthopedic problems. He then shares ways to combat this and offers four things that we can all implement with very little time commitment...
Quote of the Week "There is nothing permanent except change" — Heraclitus I hope you all have an awesome week!Chris Fluck We get a lot of questions about Sports Specific Training for kids so I wanted to address it with a detailed explanation.
Simply put, sports specific training is not necessary nor advised for youth athletes. I was recently speaking with a professional coach and athlete and we were in agreement that most sports require certain characteristics that can be applied to just about any sport in America. For example, if you get stronger, faster, or jump higher, it will probably make you better at your given sport. This is strength and power development and I feel it should account for about 80% of your training. To further prove what I am trying to say, there are certain exercises that are non-negotiables. If you search “Saquon Barkley Trap Bar Deadlift” a video of Saquon (a football player) doing a Trap Bar Deadlift will show up. If you search “Rory McIlroy Trap Bar Deadlift” A video of Rory McIlroy (a golfer) doing a Trap Bar Deadlift will show up. Two high level athletes, two totally different sports, both performing the same exercises. Now before you discredit any of this I will say that, YES there are specific demands for specific sports that are important to put an emphasis on. HOWEVER, it does not change how an athlete should get strong or powerful and in general really shouldn't change how they train too much at all. Where the real sports specific training piece comes into play is in the small accessory exercises or movements to help prepare an athlete for the demands they come into contact with on the field or court. This is the remaining 20% of the workout session. To wrap up this thought, when we are in the weight room, we build strength and power. The track is where we build conditioning. The field of play or court is where you build sport skill. Don't blend all three together into one session. When you chase everything, you end up catching nothing! Now when it comes to youth, anything sport specific should be avoided. Young athletes need to be good generalists before they become specialists. That being said, young athletes should focus on playing multiple sports and getting strong and powerful so they can perform and develop future skills. As they get older (16-18 years of age), they can narrow down the focus and train directly on whatever sport they choose and grow from there. Coach Chris What I Have Been Thinking About...
These past few years I have stumbled into working in schools and I have to say, I have been enjoying it. It all started when our daughter was in pre-school and they were in need of a Phys Ed teacher. They asked, I said yes, and from there it has expanded into something I never envisioned I would be doing. Two days each week I teach 7 different classes with kids aging from 3-13 years of age. It is a wild day filled with many ups and downs but it has been such a great experience so far. Then, on the other days of the week, I began working at the school where I coach Track and it is like a whole another world. This week I had a first: preparing for an ALICE drill. ALICE is a school safety protocol acronym that stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. It is interesting and I go back and forth on what I think of it. In one breath, I think it is important to be prepared for everything and have an evacuation plan. In another breath I think it is a bit too detailed for some age groups and I feel like you can still prepare without going into great depth on the circumstances surrounding the evacuation or lockdown. I am glad I got to learn and see what one of these drills is like and I feel better prepared to handle a situation in any place if it were to arise. Fitness Tip of the Week The Framingham Study is a 70-year longitudinal research program and what they discovered about longevity was pretty surprising. After gathering two decades worth of data for 5,200 subjects they discovered that the greatest indicator of life span wasn’t genetics, diet, or the amount of daily exercise, as many had suspected. It was lung capacity. Large lungs equaled longer lives. So how does one improve lung capacity?
I had a nice conversation with a fellow dad this week about being a parent that can be involved in their kids life. This man had children late in his life and as the opportunity to retire presented itself, he jumped at it! In his mind, it was a no brainer to be at home, present, and involved so he can enjoy the years with his kids before they are too grown and out of the house. At some point during this talk we began chatting about health and fitness and how we both felt it was important to try and improve yourself so you can be as useful as possible in as many situations as possible. For example, if your kid wants to go for a hike and you need to carry a bunch of gear, you can be useful and be loaded up like a pack mule. Or what about in those instances where a buddy of yours needs help moving something heavy? Can you be useful and offer a hand or do you have to call up some young guys to show you how it is done? To me, being useful and feeling useful is important for ones psyche. After all, who wants to be called useless? What I've Been Reading... Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle My daughter loves watching the kid show Xavier's Riddles. This show shares information about historical figures and one of the episodes featured Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the classic series Sherlock Holmes. After I learned a bit about Doyle, I dove in to his novels and really enjoy them. They are quick and simple (which I am really appreciating at this moment in my life), thought provoking, and engaging as you try to crack the case alongside Holmes and his sidekick Watson. Thumbs up for these classics! Quote of the Week "Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not to offend the imbeciles" -- Fyodor Dostoevsky I hope you all have an awesome week!Chris Fluck |
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