The new home of moov personal trainers, personal training gym in Adelaide CBD.
The End of an Era
Undo Your Rounded Shoulders
What Is Animal Flow?
In this video Animal Flow creator Mike Fitch demonstrates what the "flow" in Animal Flow is all about.
Animal Flow® combines ground-based movement with elements from various bodyweight-training disciplines to create a fun, challenging workout emphasising multi-planar, fluid movement.
It is great for improving mobility and core strength. It can be applied to all levels of fitness although it does require a fair bit of load on the wrists but as long as you do not have any restrictions in wrist mobility your wrists can build up to accepting the load over time with the help of a good warm up and slowly building up the amount you do in each session.
At moov personal training we like to incorporate Animal Flow into some of our workouts, including our groups training, whether it be one movement or a few. I have found them to be extremely effective in positively effecting our fascial system.
Have a read of a review on Animal Flow by the lovely Ryan Hurst at GMB...just follow this link.
If you’d like to try some Animal Flow yourself then subscribe to our YouTube channel where we have a number of follow along videos. If Animal Flow is too advanced for you then check out our Mobility Flow videos you can follow along with.
Why We Don't Ice Injuries Anymore
The mnemonic - RICE (Rest; Ice; Compression; Elevation), was created by Dr Gabe Mirkin in 1978 and written about in his book, Sports Medicine.. Ever since then we have been slapping ice packs onto acute injuries but just over a year ago, the same Dr Mirkin stated: "Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping".
Healing requires inflammation, your body has it's own inflammatory cells (macrophages) which get sent to an area of damage to promote healing. Applying ice to the area actually slows down the circulation and therefore the rate at which the macrophages can do their job. Anything that reduces inflammation also delays healing; this means that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's) like ibuprofen also delay the healing process.
When it comes to acute injuries, as long as you have been cleared for any fractures and only have soft tissue damage, you are better off applying a cloth soaked in apple cider vinegar to the injured area, with cling film, to keep in the moisture (this can increase the rate of recovery and has been used for hundreds of years to help the body rid of inflammation without compromising blood supply to the area). Compression and movement within a range that does not increase pain and discomfort is also recommended.
And then, of course, a rehabilitation programme to get you back to full pain-free function.
For the original article click here
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The Turkish Get-Up
The Turkish Get-Up (TGU), one of my favourite movements as it requires & improves mobility; stability; strength; cross lateralisation (right brain communicating with left brain); proprioception; balance AND it feels great to do!
A client of mine who had previously been training in a group setting elsewhere had been told that she couldn’t partake in the TGU portion of the class as she was unable to do them properly. The TGU was one of her goals working with me so we started by breaking down the separate components of the TGU and teaching her brain to learn each phase of the movement using only her bodyweight. At the start she struggled with the initial phase of the TGU (going from lying on your back to propped up on your elbow). This phase requires good reflexive stability through both the Anterior Oblique Sling & Posterior Oblique Sling (Anterior - adductors; same side internal oblique; opposite external oblique & pec minor. Posterior - Lat; Thoracolumbar fascia; opposite side Glut Max).
The TGU predominantly utilises the transverse plane (rotation), taking my client back to basics by retraining rolling patterns significantly improved her initial phase of the Get-Up within the same session. We spent as long as we needed, dedicating about 5-10 minutes of each session, practising the Get-Up until I was happy she was moving smoothly enough to progress onto the next phase. All the other movements chosen for our workout session were geared at feeding the Get-Up.
Now she is able to power through the whole TGU from ground to standing with more fluidity and ease of movement. This is a great milestone for her progression! It also translates over to life, as she has been feeling a lot more flexible and stronger in her day to day life, which for us at moov pt, is more important than anything else!
Being able to assess WHY someone is struggling through a certain phase of any movement and having the ABILITY to apply movement correctives to ENABLE that person to access that phase more efficiently is what we are about at moov pt. Tapping into someone's motor control system to make positive change takes KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE along with an extensive library of corrective exercises.
If you are trying to achieve a complex movement, make sure you break it down into it's individual parts and spend as much time needed on each component to give your brain a chance to learn what you are trying to achieve.
no equipment?...NO EXCUSES!
Our Your Moov strength program includes bodyweight options for all exercises. So you can keep strength training whether you have access to a gym/equipment or not.
Check it out!
make your chocolate dark
Did you know dark chocolate can actually be healthy?
Here are some of the benefits: - keeps your heart healthy - improves cognitive function (brain health) - helps control insulin levels due to low glycemic index of dark chocolate - full of antioxidants to fight free radicals in the body - high in the minerals pottasium; copper; magnesium; iron
It is recommended to have 20g per day (roughly 2 blocks) for health benefits.
Make sure your dark chocolate is a minimum of 70% cocao solids (this ensures lower sugar content) & preferably organic. Pictured is one of my favourite brands, Vivani, another one is Green & Blacks. Both are organic and have ethical sourcing standards.
Why Vivani?
all ingredients are organically grown and certified.
cocoa varieties and other ingredients are of top quality and are used in an optimum ratio of mixture.
they deliberately exclude lecithin.
they do not use genetically engineered ingredients.
they have an amazing dark chocolate range such as dark chocolate 71%, 75%, 85%, 92%; dark chocolate chilli; fine dark orange amongst others!
Next time you reach for the milk chocolate, why not try dark ;-)
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the push up - series of regressions
The push up is not just an arm & chest exercise...in fact, hardly even. The push up, done correctly, should utilise the gluts; abs; obliques & deep core muscles for trunk stability. It should be a smooth, controlled movement. The inability to perform a good, strong pushup could be a sign of trunk instability.
There are several ways to regress the push up. Firstly, the fitball push up is a great regression of the knee push up if you lack the pelvic stability to perform knee push ups. It works on strengthening your midline in order to be able to progress.
The next progression is the knee push up and then the full push up coupled with plenty of core work to improve stability and strength.
Get more guidance through your strength progressions with our Your Moov strength program.
overhead squat form
Spot the difference: Left = good...Right = compromised joints
I often see pictures posted of people with loads of weight above their heads but in very compromised positions, both in the press & the Overhead Squat (OHS). A common trend is to hyperextend the upper back and compromise the shoulders. (This only overloads the lower back and hip flexors and stresses out the anterior shoulder muscles).
This can be for various reasons:
Lack of shoulder stability
Lack of thoracic mobility
Lack of pelvic stability
Lack of hip mobility
Lack of knee stability
Lack of ankle mobility
Any one of these things, or a combination, can change the OHS dramatically. Don't sacrifice form for numbers.
Just make sure if this is a movement you do regularly, particularly if it is loaded, that you can tick all the above mentioned criteria prior to load. Or at least be working on your weaknesses and immobilities that are apparent and improving them prior to load.
Nothing wrong with working the dowel rod guys. I don't know about you but I'd rather achieve a perfect or close to perfect dowel rod OHS whilst preventing injury than an ugly weighted one which causes dysfunction in the system.
For more guidance on how to get stronger safely & effectively, join our Your Moov strength program.