Tip to help engineer change - weekly plan with record

This is a simple and highly effective tip for exercise programs (or any pathway designed for change): write the goal down, and the weekly plan as well. Pin it to the fridge. Tick each task when completed. Replace the planning sheet each week and move last weeks sheet to a folder. Review adherence (tasks completed) after 4weeks and, again, at 12weeks. Compare the total planned number of a given task, e.g. an exercise session, to the number completed. You will be surprised how big the variation is and, also, that you did not notice at the time the scale of variation (difference between plan and actual). Unintended variation is a powerful detractor of positive change in short term plans, but less and less significant as programs move from short to long-term adherence.

What is 'fitness' and does it matter?

The conventional meaning of the term 'fitness' is cardiovascular or aerobic capacity - the heart rate response to exercise.  In real-world exercise scenarios, e.g. sport, the heart rate response is actually a reaction to opposing variables: demand and supply.  Supply is aerobic power - the size and capacity of the gas tank.  Demand is how well you move or the energy 'cost' to complete a task.

Imagine two individuals in an exercise class.  One moves easily and displays a low level of physical discomfort or stress.  The other has much weaker motor skills, and moves with obvious discomfort.  We could say that the 2nd individual is much less fit than the first but that's actually not the problem.  The issue for any individual with weak or immature movement skills is cost.  Whatever capacity there is bleeds out quickly under physical duress.

So, the question becomes whether we can expect to get a better return by a) lowering demand or b) through raising supply?  The sensible answer is a) as all the capacity in the world is of little use to an inefficient machine - think of an beat-up old car with a modern, high powered engine and you will understand the pointlessness of the scenario.  In reality, only the highly trained and efficient may be limited by aerobic power.  

For most individuals, children and adults, the big impediment to sport or exercise performance is a weak or incomplete athletic toolbox: basic movement skill or structural deficits that impair physical performance under duress.  That is not to say that activity does not raise capacity.  It does.  The question is what's the optimal training target: stress (i.e. a high heart rate) or quality of movement.  High quality movement provides an excellent platform to safely and effectively develop capacity.

Why do so many adults experience back pain?

The answer is tight structures and weak support tissues.  The common cause is too much sitting (poor posture) and not nearly enough regular movement throughout the day.  The lumbar spine is designed to flex, extend, and rotate, and regular movement is needed to promote joint health and retain good range of motion.  Regular movement is also vital to retain and develop strength in support tissues.  Immobility sets a downward spiral of weakness, tightness, and even weaker posture management.  Inevitably, something must give; a straw breaks the camels back.
What should you do?  First, and most importantly, get up and begin moving.  Walk regularly.  The ten thousand step challenge is a perfect platform for joint and spinal health.  Ensure your work chair provides effective lumbar support.  Lumbar discomfort when sitting is a good sign your chair is a problem.  Stretch and self-massage daily (the link below includes recommended stretches and self-massage).  Finally, see a musculoskeletal specialist - physiotherapist or chiropractor - for a spinal assessment.  Therapy may be needed to mobilise joints and settle soft tissues.

SP essential stretches and self-massage

Super exercise: the TURKISH GET-UP

First a quick recap on what constitutes a 'super exercise': any exercise that comprehensively conditions the body, or one that targets a single critical function.  Today's super exercise, the turkish get-up ('get-up' from this point forward) comprehensively conditions postural health. 
The get-up is both the least appreciated and most questioned exercise in our program.  It is not obvious what the point of the exercise is, precisely because so many of the bodies muscles, joints, and segments are involved.  The get-up ticks (almost) every box: stabilisation of the shoulders, torso, lumbopelvic segment, and hips.  That's everything above the ankle.
Using the get-up involves two conditioning phases: learn the pattern (no external load), and grow the load (progressive load development).  The first conditioning phase is safe and effective for any healthy body regardless of age or physical competency as there is no external resistance; the hand only needs to point toward the ceiling at all times.  Healthy, mature bodies may apply external loading once the exercise have been correctly and completely learned.
The link below will take you to video coaching of the get-up.

Video of a turkish get-up

Mover warm-up

This warm-up is suitable for all mover sports, including hockey, rugby, netball, and football.  Warm-ups for training and competition must be comprehensive to fully prepare the mind and body.  
The link below will take you to the full warm-up

mover warm-up

Is a product really ethical if it's not good for us?

The shoe featured in the article below has been manufactured according to the principles of transparency, organic construction, and fair trade sourcing of the materials. I applaud the business ethics 👏

But, like so many casual shoes, they're fundamentally flawed with respect to what's healthy for feet and ankles. An inch of stiff rubber with a flat profile. Our feet need to feel and respond to the surface of the ground - muscles need stimulus and load. What would happen if you had to wear 1-2 cm's of thick rubber on your hands all day. What happens to your fine motor control; to the condition of the muscles of your arms and shoulders, and associated motor skills?

Shoes like these treat our feet like bench tops - flat and clean; no grime and constant fear of damage. This kind of immunisation is damaging, and fashion at the expense of health is not ethical.

Veja trainers

Turns out breathing is really important ...

All joking aside, breathing, like our stomachs, is more of a mystery than we realised.  Exciting to think what we may learn!

memory-fear-breathing

Poor breathing is the most common musculoskeletal deficit, and it affects all ages

We have two different breathing patterns: nose-diaphragm (ND) when we are relaxed, and mouth-chest (MC) when a high heart rate dictates that we need to move air quickly.  The ND pattern draws air deep into the lungs where gas exchange occurs, and a low (10-15 bpm) breathing rate can be expected for most healthy people at rest.  The MC pattern moves air quickly but gas exchange is far less efficient which means a much higher breathing rate is needed. 
A functionally healthy individual would be expected to display diaphragmatic breathing at rest but a surprisingly high number actually mouth-chest breath instead.  A high percentage of these also over breathe (a higher than ideal breathing rate) as a compensation.  Not surprising is the fact that this problem affects individuals of all ages; young children up.  The spread of ages provides the biggest clue as to why the ameliorated pattern arises: too much sitting.  Sitting compresses the abdomen making diaphragmatic breathing difficult (though not impossible!).
The diaphragm is a muscle and, like any other muscle, 'fitness' depends on use.  A muscle that is used weakly becomes weak.  A weak diaphragm would be expected to result in the adoption of a mouth-chest breathing strategy to compensate.
A weak diaphragm is often also associated with weak patterns of anterior core stabilisation.
The good news is that this is not a difficult problem to solve: breathe through your nose down into your stomach.  It's not necessary or advisable to do so all the time; check your breathing every now and again.  The brain will eventually catch up with what you're trying to achieve and restore the correct resting ND pattern. 

Wholesale change or just a little bit at a time?

We all flirt with change.  We know that change is important either to ensure progress or because our lifestyles or choices are not balanced enough.  We don't, however, cope well with big change.  It can be frightening and, besides this, our minds and bodies actively work to maintain things largely as they are.  Is this a problem?  Not necessarily.  To begin with, we may have sufficient resources already to reach the goal without massively extending or destabilising ourselves.  There may be no way to know whether this is true without jumping in and discovering hidden resilience and resourcefulness.  Don't assume the worst.  How often do our worst fears ever actually come to pass?  Not often.  Almost always, we find a way and a new day dawns.  If the deep end is too much then there is a plan B: small steps.
Big change doesn't necessarily require one big step.  Most of the time, the big goal can be achieved with lots of small incremental changes.  There are two things to keep in mind with this plan.  Firstly, we lose contact with initial motivations and feelings quickly.  The front page of our mental newspaper likes to move the story forward.  Write your goal down as well as why it's important.  Emotions associated with goals are powerful motivators so don't forget them.
The second challenge for large time scale plans is how disconnected the steps can become.  The pathway veers off on a tangent when another interesting experience excites us in the moment.  There is nothing wrong with this.  Goals don't have to be mutually exclusive pathways or processes.  One of the wonderful characteristics of humanity is the multiplicity or scope of who we are.  What might help, however, is to prioritise.  If something really is 'the most important thing' or 'essential' then the balance of our actions have to make sense for it. We can step off from time to time but our big goal only functions to the extent that it 'fits' each week. 
So, what helps?  Honesty, patience, and persistence. 

If I own something does it hold more value?

Simple question with a simple answer: yes.  I met with a coach on Friday night and we chatted, as we tend to do, about what we believe matters in sport for children.  The answer we decided was that children feel, when the end arrives, that the journey was a good one.  I call this 'glass half full'.  Too many kids exit sport 'glass half empty'; unfulfilled and disappointed.  That's the ultimate shame for me.
This question is a simple litmus test for any sport or athletic program.  Instead of asking yourself (the coach) whether your program has value, ask the participants if the glass is half full or half empty.
In the course of our conversation last Friday, I has a moment of clarity and it's this: there is no ownership if engagement is not voluntary.
Our program involves the kids driving their own sessions.  We compose the sessions and then move around the kids as they are exercising, to make technical adjustments or to talk about why we're doing the task.  The kids are responsible for reading and executing the plan.
The most obvious outcome is comprehension.  The kids learn the language and the detail, in addition to the physical concepts (training targets and a variety of solutions).  This system also requires voluntarily engagement.  We get weak engagement from time to time but we don't micro-manage behaviour or 'drill' kids.  If someone is wasting time, they are asked to pull finger.  Only one specific circumstance has ever involved children being asked to leave the gym.
For a number of years, we provided gym services for a sports club and the arrangement involved compulsory enrolment in the gym program.  I had many low moments under this arrangement including grumpy, ungrateful/ disengaged parents and (unsurprisingly) disengaged and hard to manage children.  The problem was that enrolment was forced on parents and children.  It wasn't voluntary so they didn't own the decision.  The effect was a massive drop down from the very high engagement levels in all other gym programs.
I am certain that voluntary ownership improves outcomes for our participants.  I would go further to suggest that it's essential to helping children mature, and the raft of higher outcomes that extend from this.  The lessons I have learned also tell me that ownership and engagement are not outcomes of a program, but a function of expectation moment to moment and day to day.

Super exercise: JUMP ROPE (skipping)

There is a handful of exercises I rate above all others either because they comprehensively raise function (e.g. the deadlift), or because they target a single critical function.  Jump rope (skipping) falls into the later category.  The ankle stretching shortening cycle (SSC) is a critical biomechanical function.  All jumping skills, and that includes running, depend on it.  The SSC is a reflex that stores gravitational energy in elastic elements of the calf-Achilles muscle tendon unit and releases it immediately to provide spring.  Ankle function is primary in human locomotion because the feet and ankles 'feel' ground reaction forces first.  Our entire locomotive response depends on how well the feet and ankles cope with loading on foot strike.
Skipping is a simple and very effective tool for enhancing the ankle stretch shortening cycle.  Begin with 50-100 singles (one circuit of the rope for every hop) two-three times/week.  Rest throughout as needed.  A weak hopping action will result in the body flicking the feet behind the body to allow transit of the rope.  As the ankle SSC strengthens, the body will hop higher and flick behind less.  The mechanical goal of skipping is to develop a high hop with tall/ vertical posture:

• bouncing off the balls/ toes - no slapping or crashing of the feet on the ground
• no flicking back of the legs 
• minimal dropping into the knees and hips - the better the energy production from the ankles, the less the hips and knees will be needed

Once it is obvious that the process is strengthening (goals above), progression can be made by increasing reps, extending rope skills, and with doubles (two circuits of the rope for every hop).  The body strengthens as a response to stimulation but skills are subject to habit.  It helps to assist the process by trying to exert the outcomes you're after.  It helps to watch someone with good skills to know what you're trying to achieve.

Emotional overload in sport

Stay with me on this one. There is an excellent point for coaches and parents buried here. Sport is stressful. Some sports - tennis - brutally so. Coaches and parents get this so surely we make an active effort to deescalate and help kids to maintain emotional stability and reserve currency for the important moments??  Nope, parents are at least as unstable and reactive as their children and sometimes more so.  Our kids learn to feel hard done by and powerless from us.  Our kids learn to feel hard done by and powerless from us.

I wanted to link to the original Mark Manson article (referenced by Peter FitzSimons) but I doubt it would get by the FB moderators. Mark's thesis is simple: you have a limited amount of emotional energy to spend, so think carefully about where and when you spend it. Most of what irritates us is not worth the bother. Get your head around this and then teach it to your children. A shameful number of children fail to get even close to their athletic potential because they learn, from us, how to collapse under pressure. It's not about when you should care but when (and why) you shouldn't.

Apologies in advance for the language in one of these links:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/kyrgios-tomic-hayne-thurston-the-ways-sportspeople-do-and-do-not-give-a-f-20170920-gyl8y2.html

https://markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck

How does sport compare to schooling in the maturation of young people?

This is a very big topic (lots to consider) and I will start by admitting that I don't possess a complete point of view or special expertise.  I observe children and their parents over many months and years, and I have developed some strong ideas based on my observations.
I will begin with a statement: intelligence and independence are strongly correlated.  Children have to learn to take responsibility for themselves and they require intelligence (and suitable opportunities to exercise it) to do so.  
Children begin almost entirely dependent on others.  Hopefully, by the time they exit high school they possess some capacity for independent living.  Schooling understands the importance of independent thinking and action, and education builds this into the learning structures and the schooling environments, generally.  Does sport do the same?  The answer is a categorical, no.  
Young sports people have very little operational responsibility in their programs and even less accountability for progress.  They are told what to do and when.  Homework?  Not likely.  Competition (the educational equivalent of exams) measures progress but post-analysis and feedback in sport is poor.  All learning structures depend on feedback to ensure progress.  Schooling involves a mixture of immediate, intermediate, and long-term feedback.  A comprehensive system of checks and balances, in turn, permits the transition of responsibility and accountability for learning to the student.  The weaker the feedback system, the harder it is to ensure progress and develop accountability.
If we compare sport with schooling, we can say without question that children don't mature at the same rate or as completely.  The big problem, however, is drop out.  Sports struggle to provide pathways after high school but the real enemy is immaturity.  Children who cannot stand on their own two feet when required to, stop.
Our role as parents and coaches is to provide opportunities and to reduce as far as possible obstacles to participation.  Our hearts are in the right place but, if we accept that our kids are not growing up within sport as they should, surely we have to transfer more of the responsibility to them?

Super exercise: the PRESS-UP

The press-up or push-up is a bona fide super exercise.  To qualify as a ‘super’ exercise, there must be a big return on effort and the press-up meets this requirement and then some.  The press-up is a strength and power exercise for the shoulders and arms and, because it involves a dynamic bridging motion, it is an important core exercise.

The link below will take you to the full article.

 
Super exercise - the press-up

'Why' is an essential part of the coaching equation

Coaching tip: teaching children ‘why’ is an essential part of the equation: 

• Engage minds 

• Build IP: strategic and tactical comprehension – on-field decision making!

• Underpins technical development

Children are very curious and respond well to meaning.  Experience tells me that there is a 'sweet spot' between talk and activity, but the time spent building understanding is generally underdone.  Children, just like adults, don't love to be lectured so formulate information in the form of questions.