Why You Should Listen To Your Body with Reid HALL
Expert GamePlan Session: Former Canadian national team beach volleyball player, personal trainer, degree in Kinesiology and Health Sciences, and business owner.
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March 15, 2016
BACKGROUND
On today’s show, we will be discussing mobility and flexibility as an athlete. We will touch on areas we might be doing wrong, topics and techniques we may not have thought of, and things that we can be doing without any professional guidance. Reid provides numerous hands-on take-aways that we can put into action NOW to help our training and preparation to become the best athlete we can be. Finally, we will delve into the mind and how focus and mindfulness play a large role in ensuring an effective and productive fitness routine.
BIOGRAPHY
Former Canadian National Beach Volleyball Team (6’/183cm), Captain for University Volleyball Team
Canada Games Gold Medalist & 4th Place Finish at U18 World Championships
Honours Degree in Kinesiology and Health Sciences, CPT, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach
Owns and operates his personal training business
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FAVORITE QUOTE
“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”
KEY DISCUSSION POINTS
What are the most common types of athletes you work with?
What are some ways to understand balancing training and practice with recovery?
What are some examples of warming up and pre-training preparation routines?
How do I organize my post-season and pre-season training?
How do I create and apply goals and visions to my sport?
What is mobility and flexibility?
How can I apply mindfulness and focus to improve myself as an athlete?
How can I jump higher?
KEY LESSONS
Currently, the biggest mistake seen in athletes is a bad balance between training and recovery. Some athletes are going as hard as possible all the time and not allowing for adequate recovery. Others do not necessarily know what they are doing and not pushing themselves enough. There must be a mixture of low and high intensity trainings so the low intensity ones can have a more technical focus to hone in on skill improvement.
Periodizing training off-season is crucial. Beginning from the last match of the season to the first training of the next, you need a plan of attack and programs that build upon each other so once the season starts up again, you are stronger, faster, and better than before. Do not get too crazy at the beginning without a plan!
After you have a plan set, track your results. Seeing how you have improved can be done by writing down and tracking repetitions, weights, and other notes like how the lift made you feel and if you completed all of the repetitions. Track your body weight too!
Visions are powerful, but they need to be supported with smaller goals that feed into the big picture. Write things down, record results, and always have the vision on your mind. Visualize your goals and visions during trainings.
Mobility is how your joints articulate and function. Flexibility is the length, tightness, and elasticity of your muscles. If your mobility is restricted in a certain area, it may not be the source of the tightness. Work up or down the chain of the muscles in addition to your whole body instead of just the muscle experiencing tightness.
Ankle tightness can be the sources of knee and hip tightness. Make sure you are flexible in these areas. Some good ankle work to do is peddling. Push the opposite heel towards the ground getting a nice calf stretch.
Mindfulness should be used not only in trainings, but also in warm-ups. Focus on your breath, inhaling and exhaling to get to a meditative state. This helps focus on what your muscles are feeling and listening to what your body needs.
TIPS FROM REID
Balancing practice and recovery
Listen to your body. If you are constantly tired and drowsy, maybe you need to slow it down. If you have a lot of energy, now is the time to push.
Do the little things. Mobility work, stability strength, foam rolling, and stretching are very important in the big picture.
Off-season training structure
Establish a foundation. After season you may be imbalanced and going hard and heavy during your trainings may hurt more than help.
Strength relative to your body. Start with exercises that simple and geared towards recovering your imbalances. This increases your ability to improve in future training.
Now go hard. After the foundation is laid and the imbalances are corrected, now you can focus on muscle growth and pushing hard during trainings.
Volleyball position-specific training
Attackers: characterized by lots of jumping and swinging. Rehab and stability strength is key
Liberos and Setters: more of a focus on speed, agility, and kinetic movement work with the legs.
Tips to warming up
Most athletes have tight IT bands. Lie on your side and roll it out for 45 seconds to 1 minute. No foam roller? Use a tennis ball or lacrosse ball.
Volleyball and baseball players for example do a lot of hip rotation in their sport. Make sure your hips are adequately stretched before trainings.
Elastic bands are your best friend, especially for warming up the shoulders. External rotation and pull aparts are just a couple exercises that help achieve more fluidity and activate those key muscles.
Active/dynamic warm ups are crucial. After rolling out tight areas and surrounding areas using a lacrosse or tennis ball, do active exercises like bodyweight squats, side lunges, high knees, and other active movements to get muscle articulation.
Jumping higher
Strength relative to body weight. Do exercises like back squats, dead lifts, or other olympic variations
Technique. Understand all of the muscles that go into actually jumping. Fire the glutes and arms and extend through the legs. Activate the whole body
What subject matter experts do you follow?
Eric Cressey - USA Baseball trainer specializes in shoulder health
Kelly Starrett - specializes in improving muscle tightness and mobility
For diet and nutrition: PrecisionNutrition.com
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Email address: reidscwp@gmail.com | Phone number: +1-416-407-6451
REID'S DEFINITION BEING MORE THAN JUST AN ATHLETE?
“(Become more than just an athlete by) visualizing constantly, daydream, set lofty goals, and go after them with an uncanny focus”
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