Foam Rolling

You might be someone who loves it or hates it, but we like clients to start their training session by spending a few minutes on the ground using the foam roller. There’s a nuanced discussion happening about what rolling actually does, all I know is that when I do it, I feel better.

The pressure stimulates a massage and gets your body prepped to move around. We increase blood flow and hopefully, relax some tense tissues. Foam rolling is also like running a diagnostic check on your body. What I mean is that after a while, you’ll learn what baseline feels like. After a heavy or hard training day, you’ll notice the sore muscles are much more tender while rolling.

That’s a clue to do two things. First, don’t rush, breathe and spend a little more time rolling that area. Secondly, let us know! If you’re sore, we’re always happy to show you another rolling technique to dig little deeper or add a stretch into your routine to help you restore baseline.

No matter what, don’t rush those few minutes on the roller. The longer you can do it, usually better.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Moving and Sleeping

You ever have those days where you had a full schedule, worked really hard, moved around a lot and hit the gym? What happens at night on those days? For me, I can barely stay up after dinner. I head to bed early and crash hard. Those nights are always filled with great sleep.

A new study showed that the more active you are during the day, the better you’ll sleep at night. It wasn’t tracking planned, intense exercise. In fact, some studies report that can hinder sleep. Instead, this study looked at walking throughout the day, or what I think of as non-exercise physical activity.

The participants wore a monitor and tracked daily movement and filled out a self-assessing questionnaire each morning about sleep quality. According to the researchers, the more people move, the better they sleep.

The more ground they covered, the better they slept. Especially on days that they hit a higher than average step count. If you’ve ever been on vacation when you’ve walked around a lot, you know what I’m talking about. Now remember, this isn’t saying the more you walk, the more you sleep. But there seems to be evidence that the more activity you get, the more you’ll want to sleep.

If I were someone who struggles with sleeping each night, I’d try to increase my activity level - not through working out more, but trying to walk and move more throughout the day.

If you want to read the article, check it out here

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

What Are You Training For?

In my second weekend as a homeowner there was no shortage of tasks to be done. Cutting trees, splitting logs, painting, leaf blowing and organizing. It was a lot, and I crashed hard every night.

The most difficult task was getting the logs out of the wood to be split. All I could think of while I was going back and forth with heavy loads was, “Well, this is what I train for, right?” What I mean is that I didn’t specifically decide to train to do homeowner chores, but I do train to be physically capable, independent and unafraid of physical and mental challenges.

This past weekend, and many more in the future will allow me to use my training and have a confidence in my abilities because of it. So, I’ll leave you on this Monday morning with the question: what are you really training for?

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Short and Sweet

I mentioned earlier this week I was having a hard time getting good training sessions in over the past couple weeks. I realized this was okay and that I needed to prioritize other things. My goal this week was simple, I wanted to get two good gym workouts in.

Each time, I paired a full body lift with about a minute of something to get my heart rate up like running or skiing or rowing. This time efficient workout allows me to lift something heavy, get out of breath and be deliberate about skill and technique.

Simple workouts are often the best ones. We can get bogged down with complexity, variations and trying to not get bored. A short warm up and a compound lift paired with some conditioning work is all you need to get good results.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Temptation

Last night on my way home, I stopped to get a bag of candy. I laughed at peoples’ advice to buy Trick or Treat candy you don’t like… I like it all. I put the bag in the back seat, out of reach for my drive and left it there once I got home. I stayed strong until Trick or Treat rolled around and after the two hour window we still had a lot of candy left. I started eating it.

I ate my third Almond Joy without taking a breath. I made the hard choice and I asked Hannah to hide the candy from me. I can’t be around it or I just mindlessly grab one, unwrap it and eat it. When we surround ourselves with something we don’t want or need, we’re going to have it.

Willpower is finite. If you have candy or ice cream or chips available to you, you’re going to obsess over them and eventually cave. We’ve got to keep that stuff out of the house! If you’re trying to clean up your eating there’s no better option than taking away your choices. If it’s within the house, you’re going to eat it.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Hands, Wrists and Forearms

There’s a part of your body that gets constant abuse and none of us think about it until a problem arises. It’s your hands, wrist, forearms and elbows. The joints and tissues that make up the arm are constantly on. We’re typing, gripping barbells, chopping onions, washing dishes, texting, holding our phones, driving, doing pull ups and farmer’s carries.

There’s no shortage of work for those muscles, yet, we never stretch, roll or massage them. You can start right now. Stretch each of your fingers back with the opposite hand, then, pull them all back together to stretch your wrist. After that, stretch the wrist the other way by pushing your palm towards your forearm. From there, do 10 wrist circles in each direction, be slow and deliberate.

What’s nice about stretching your hands and wrists is that you don’t need to change into gym clothes. You’re not going to get sweaty and it counteracts things we do everyday. Build in some time to move your hands and give them some love by stretching them a couple times a week.

Next time you’re in the gym, ask us how to use a ball to massage the forearm muscles. It’s an area that you don’t know needs attention until you try. After I do it, I always feel like my hand opens bigger.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

This Week

Good morning! A couple of announcements for you today.

If you’re participating in the Fall Nutrition Program, the third meeting is tonight at 7pm.

Since tomorrow is the final Wednesday of the month, that means it would be Beer Night. Since Beer Night is conflicting with Trick or Treat, we’re going to skip Beer Night this month.

That’s all for now, have a great day!

Justin Miner

@portmouthcoach

Life

The past two weeks have been a bit hectic. Packing, closing, going to a wedding, moving, unpacking and diving straight into homeowner projects. My training has been suffering. I haven’t lifted in a while and have barely done any running.

One side of me is rational and knows that this break will help me in the long run, let me fully recover and will leave me reinvigorated once I get back to some regular training. The other side feels lazy and unproductive. I feel like I “should” be doing more, even thought there really isn’t any time or motivation for me to hit the gym or the trails.

There’s no big revelation moment here. Just sharing that this happens to all of us. Life gets crazy, new things happen. The key is to get back to it once you can. Too many people hit this wall, and never get back to training regularly. I’m hoping to ease back in this week with some easy internal training and 30 minute gym workouts.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Routines and Habits

What happens to your normal routine when you throw in a variable like being in a new place?

Last night, we stayed at the new house for the first time. When I woke up today, everything was the same. Shower, let Clementine outside, feed her, and then make coffee and do dishes. I fell right back into my normal routine even though I was in a new place.

I almost forgot to write and post a blog though. Being in the new spot made me forget my newest addition to my morning routine, writing a blog. The other habits have been around longer than the writing, which is probably why they felt more natural to do.

You probably have some new habits you’re working on too. Make sure you stick with it until they feel as natural as all the other habits you’ve developed over the years.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Slack

Last night’s Fall Nutrition Program’s meeting was all about cutting ourselves slack.

During this challenge, participants score their day of eating. If they ate what they’re supposed to, 5 points. If they deviate from the list, each time they lose a point. We talked about how it isn’t that big of a deal to miss a couple points here or there. The key is to then make sure you get back to hitting 5 points. Consistency not perfection.

It’s a reasonable challenge that fights off our perfectionist urges, which, all of us have. My hope, that by deciding a beer is worth losing a point, people will start to improve their relationship with food and ditch the locked in or off the rails attitude that’s all too common.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Brain Change

Adults still have the ability to change and improve our brains by learning new things, developing focus and changing our perspectives. Until recently, it was thought that all development of the brain stopped around 25 years. Scientists have since realized that we are able to change and develop into our adult years.

Andrew Huberman, a researcher from Stanford calls these the 3 Non-Negotiable Rules for Changing Your Brain as an Adult:

1. Focus: Children can learn passively, as adults, we must spend time focusing.

2. Urgency: New synapses in your brain respond to how important the new task is, the more important you place it, the more urgent and therefore faster the brain acquires the skill or knowledge.

3. Short Practice Bouts: Once focus and sense of urgency drop off, no need to push through, according to Huberman, you’re wasting your time.

Try learning something new, it’s good for you brain!

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Dead Bugs

This week, in the warm up, we’re doing an alternating dead bug. These are some of the most tricky core exercises around - and for good reason, they’re extremely difficult when done correctly.

The purpose of a dead bug is to control your spine while your hips and arms are moving. Laying on the floor supports your back and makes it easier to “find” what a good brace feels like. The moving opposite arm and leg at the same time is what gets confusing.

Here are some coaching cues for you to think about while doing them this week:

1. Press your back flat into the floor. If you can’t, crunch up and let your head lift off the floor.

2. Go slow! Most of the issues we see with these are because people can’t slow down. Be deliberate, don’t rush.

3. If alternating sides is tricking your brain, don’t alternate until you have the motion down one side at a time or simply just use your legs for now.

4. BREATHE! Inhale before you move, exhale when you’re extended.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Modified version - “banded overhead” dead bug - simplifies the movement because your arms help stabilize using the band.

Why Deadlift First

You’ve probably noticed that Monday’s usually start with deadlifts or squats first thing in your program. Regardless of goals, training history and injuries, a variation of one of these exercises is a perfect lift to begin most workouts. These are called compound movements, they require the use of multiple joints at once.

Not only do we use more muscles, but we can also get a higher recruitment of the central nervous system. It gets you thinking about bracing your core and (hopefully) how you’re breathing.

The opposite of a compound movement is an isolated movement. These use only one joint at a time. We want bang for our buck, so compound movements are typically they way to go. If we add in a more isolated movement, it’ll be at the end of a workout, after you have got the body working together with compound lifts.

Remember, our body is one unit, it is broken up and comprised of many individual pieces, but these pieces work together to get us moving and controlling our body.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

A Tale of Two Days

On Monday, I had a big day of fitness. Alex asked me to jump in with his Open Workout, which is a online qualifier for fitness competitions. This 15 minute workout was a scorcher. It was really hard and left me on the floor.

After lunch, and a nap, I was feeling pretty good. I did deadlifts and push ups for the second workout of the day. Then, Monday night, I hoped in with someone’s finisher and did a bunch of double unders with the jump rope.

It was a big day of fitness.

When I got home Monday night I checked my watch to see how many steps I accumulated throughout the day. Less than 6000. On a typical day, I get between 12-15k.

I felt that it was quite ironic that on the day I worked out the most and trained hard, I barely moved for the rest of the day. Fast forward to Wednesday. I didn’t work out, but I helped set up a wedding venue. I moved tables, chairs and tools, I swept, walked far to get things and at the end of the day, 17,000 steps.

I’m not saying that one day was more productive than the other. I’m saying its interesting that we think the gym is the secret to our health, but we need to make sure we’re moving outside of the gym as well. Only hitting the gym isn’t enough. You need to move more throughout the day!

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Nutrition Program First Meeting

Thursday night at 7pm we’re having our first meeting about the nutrition program. It will last 30 minutes.

If you’re curious what it’s all about and haven’t started yet, you’re welcome to join and hop in on the program, we’re only a few days into it!

We’ll meet on a different day next week TBD.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Walking Speed

Over the weekend, I saw an article about a new study just published about walking speed. It turns out that slower walking speeds are signs of faster aging. The researchers concluded that slow walking speeds can predict problems decades before old age.

Slow walkers showed other signs of aging as well. Their lungs, teeth and immune system were in worse condition than the faster walkers. Even brain scans showed that slow walkers had older-looking brains.

This study has some great findings and takeaways. Similar to the Sit and Rise study, this predictive study can get people to make changes before it’s too late.

Want to improve your walking speed? Walk more. That’s the most boring answer, but most people don’t want to do it for some strange reason! It’s easy, free and you can actually do it anywhere.

Besides walking more to speed up your gait, hit the gym, build strength, stability and balance. The combination of cardiovascular health from walking and the benefits you get for your muscles/tendons/ligaments/bones from strength training is sure to build confidence and improve you walking speed.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Warm Up Breathing

Here’s the snarky line we’ve heard 1000 times, “Why do I need to breath? I’ve been doing it all day!”

That response is exactly why we do the breathing in the warm up. Although we breath all day and all night, very rarely do we breath with intent or focus on what we’re doing. In the warm up, we want you to focus on mechanically sounds breaths, notice where you’re feeling it and use it as a chance to kick start the warm up process by revving up your lungs.

It’s a chance to focus on what you’re about to do and get your mindset right. If you walked into the gym and didn’t feel like working out, give those 5 breaths your all, I mean your absolute best for 30 seconds and it could change your outlook or get you more excited to train. Don’t skip it just because you can’t slow down for 1 minute, that’s the exact reason you need it.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Slow it Down and Stay Clam

The other day, I went for a big weight and I found myself getting hyped up. I was angry that the weight was sitting on the floor and I needed to pick it up. Worst rep of the day. I rushed, forgot smooth technique, squeezed too hard and pushed too fast. It felt bad and I knew I rushed, I knew I didn’t stay cool.

The next set, I walked up to the bar slowly, did my normal right hand grabs first, then the left hand, shimmy my feet to the proper width, big breath and go!

What I like most about weightlifting is that you have to be calm and focused to perform the lift with the most efficient form, which is also the safest form, which also means you’ll be able to handle the most load. Let me be clear, by weightlifting, I mean the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch, Olympic-style weightlifting movements. If you try to attack the bar, and outmuscle the weight, it won’t work. If you rush your set up, it won’t work. You need to be like a professional baseball player, grabbing the bar the same way rep after rep after rep.

You might not be cleaning any barbell off the floor, but the same mindset works. Be calm, focus on what you’re doing, don’t rush to get it over with and start each and every rep the same way. Exercising like its practice will get you more involved with your body, understand movements better and leave you feeling more accomplished than a mindless sweat-fest. Slow down and notice what’s going on.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

One Leg SLDL Tip

The one leg SLDL, or stiff leg deadlift, is a nemesis to many gym goers. It's a challenging hamstrings exercise that requires a rock solid hinge, balance, control and stability. Today, I have one easy tip for you to remember next time they come up in your workout.

Bend your knee!

The name is slightly misleading, stiff leg deadlift, however, even with a knee bend, our leg should be more straight than when we pick a barbell off the floor with two feet planted. Most of the time when someone is having a hard time keeping their balance on this movement, their leg is too straight, not allowing the knee to bend at all.

What constitutes as a slight bend? About 10-20 degrees is all you need. This ensures you’ll load the hamstrings, creating more tension which will allow you to stand up quickly and maintain balance. Give it a shot!

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach

Brace Like You're Meditating

After the first month of training, clients will have this realization that they haven’t been using their core, or bracing, as much as they should be. They know how to, but it takes a lot of practice and awareness to keep doing it rep after rep after rep.

I compared it to meditation the other day, focus on your breath, when you lose it, realize you lost it and come back to it. Get organized, brace, move, readjust. Play around with how much tension and pressure feels right for the exercise you’re doing.

Training the awareness of movement and how it feels is equally as important as the physical benefits you get from training. When you’re doing an exercise, really focus on it, where do you feel it, how does it feel, have your created enough pressure or tension? When you forget what you’re supposed to be focused on, notice it and get back.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach