At Perform 360 we create what we call the ‘everyday athlete’.
We define this term as having the ability to physically handle the demands of everyday life.
Why is this important? Every day is different and you never know what the day is going to throw at you. Last Friday I woke up to a flat tyre on my 4WD which I had to change. It sucked because I didn’t allow time in my morning for it and I’m not the kind of guy that will call RACQ to change a flat! The wheel nuts were stuck and it was seriously like deadlifting 120kgs with a tyre iron to loosen them. Without training I don’t know if I would have been able to undo them.
To achieve the Everyday athlete in the gym there are 4 parts we need to address.
Mobility, Strength, Structural balance, and Fitness.
- Mobility – Mobility is quality of life. It is the ability to achieve a position freely and effortlessly. Unless you’re stretching or taking your body through full range of motion (ROM) on a daily basis then there is a good chance you’re not as flexible or mobile as you need to be. Have you ever thrown your back out bending over or tying a shoelace? Are your hips so tight you can’t squat all the way down? Or shoulders so tight your neck always feels stiff? These are real situations we hear about during our initial movement assessment and this is where improving your mobility is going to enhance your training and overall wellbeing. At the start of every training session we do a 10- 15 minute dynamic warm up. This consists of moving the body through full ROM using specific drills depending on the training for the day. All designed to fire up the body to perform at an optimal level and reduce the risk of an injury.
- Strength – You need to be strong to be physically useful. There might be a time when your strength could save your life, or the life of a loved one. You might need to carry your partner or child to safety. Pull someone out of a burning car, or maybe to defend your self against an attacker. Are you confident you have the strength to be of assistance if called upon? Or would you need to rely on someone else? We build strength by progressively overloading the body and training in 4 week blocks, which build on each other. Combining compound lifts, think squat, deadlift, pushing, pulling, holding an carrying awkward and uneven objects is the foundation of the training program which keeps you strong and adds resilience to the body.
- Structural balance – Structural balance is very important. If one side of the body is tighter, stronger, or weaker, we call that an asymmetry, and research tells us that will lead to an injury if not corrected. Most people have a dominant side and unless they balance that out they could be at risk of a potential injury and reduced level of performance. We program unilateral (one sided) exercises during the structural balance component of the training session to correct or prevent an asymmetry.
- Conditioning – Every session has between 5-12min of conditioning at the end to ensure an adequate and high base level of fitness. We want our members to be fit, and able to do a 10km fun run if they want. Play a game of touch footy or netball without blowing their knee or hamstring. Walk up a set of stairs without puffing, and keeping up with their active kids.
These 4 components are programmed in to every one of our training sessions to make sure the everyday athlete is being trained and coached safely, correctly and effectively.
If you’d like to know more about what we do, please get in touch. We’d really like to hear from you.
Author – Coach Cogs