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Women’s Wellness Activator

I’ve been on somewhat of a personal and professional development path this past couple of years. If you’ve been reading these newsletters, following my social media and attending metafit, you will have noticed various shifts and changes in my message, my focus and my attention.

I’ll be the first to admit, I did fall out of love with taking metafit sessions day after day, week after week, and felt I could offer so much more than just metafit. So, I went searching …

I invested in courses, and business coaches. I entered an affiliation relationship. I experimented with a few different class offerings, I focussed on a different market segment.

I tried stuff – some worked, some didn’t.

Some things gave me great joy and satisfaction, others depleted me.

And it is as a result of all of these combined experiences – positive and negative – I have arrived where I am today … and that is exciting.

I’d like to introduce you to me – Jacqui Toohey – Women’s Wellness Activator – a funky term for a Health & Wellbeing Coach.

I help women build strong bodies, minds & lifestyle habits so that their strongest, healthiest and fittest years are ahead of them, not behind.

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Readiness to Train

“As we warm-up, do a scan of your body. How do you feel today? Stiff or sore from Monday? Work and modify the exercises for how you feel today.”

Have you heard me say and ask this before? By being able to identify with how you and your body “feel” on any particular day, and then modifying how you train is one of the best ways to honour your body and get the most out of not only that day’s training, but your training in general.

Using a daily readiness scale is a simple way for you to track how different lifestyle choices and behaviours impact on your overall wellbeing, and therefore assist you to make the necessary tweaks to help you achieve greater benefits from your fitness program.

Your daily readiness score provides valuable insight into how various physical, emotional, psychological and lifestyle stressors impact you and your body. There are no hard and fast rules or “one size fits all” approach for training intensity as it all “depends” on so many different factors – gender, age and goals to name just a few. I believe the best approach for the everyday athlete – like you & me – is to honour how you feel, and if you want to get a little more techo, track your heart rate (HR) to monitor intensity and recovery through your workout.

Why measure?  We have been conditioned to think that “more is better” and “harder & faster” or “go hard or go home” is the way to approach each and every training or fitness session. But in reality, training an already “stressed” system too hard will see results plateau or reverse, and only increase the stress on an already inflamed body. Pushing through when your body and your emotional state is already in “fight or flight” mode and unable to cope will take you further away from your goals than towards them.

So, with that in mind and to help you quantify your readiness to train, I’d like to introduce to the Daily Readiness Scale as developed by PTA Global. This scale gives you an honest and solid indication of how hard you should train on THAT day, if at all. Simply answer the questions honestly and tally up your score. Once you know your readiness score, you make a few subtle tweaks to your workout to give you the best chance of improving your outcomes.

Give yourself 1 point for each you have done well:

  • I slept well and feel rested
  • I have fuelled my body with good nutrition
  • I have hydrated with 2+ litres of water
  • I have moved well and often in the last 24 hours
  • I feel energised and strong
  • I have no pain or stiffness
  • I feel emotionally happy and clam, not stressed
  • I feel mentally ready and motivated to train

What your score means:

GREEN 6-8 out of 8 – You are good to go!

AMBER 3-5 out of 8 – Caution! Reduce the intensity or weight today

RED 1-2 out of 8 – Take it very easy today

For example, if you scored in the red zone thanks to doing too much, eating poorly and not allowing for sufficient recovery in your life – then make your training session one that focuses on restorative movement or an activity that makes you feel better than when you started. And if stress and emotions are running hot, then reduce the stress & intensity in your session (stay out of the red zone!), and focus on play, movement and recovery. If you score in the amber or caution zone as you’ve pulled up a little sore & stiff, then employ strategies that will help you move more efficiently – lower impact, full range of movement, less is more.

And finally – the best way to increase your readiness score and boost your overall wellness is to try and tick all the boxes by looking after the 4 big rocks:

  • SLEEP – Prioritising good quality sleep
  • STRESS – Understanding how stress affects you and what strategy is needed to reduce its impact on your body
  • NUTRITION – Hydrating and nourishing your body with foods that serve you well
  • MOVEMENT – Move daily, decrease time spent sitting and find purposeful “exercise” options that you ENJOY doing

A little more on the BIG ROCKS to come soon!

How ready are you to train today?

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One step back…two steps forward

Do you feel a constant urge to make progress? In life, relationships, fitness, business? Have you noticed that progress isn’t always one way traffic?

Progress is by definition “forward or onward movement towards an objective or to a goal”, or my preferred definition “gradual betterment”.

The path towards the goal may plateau and undulate, and even loop back on itself, but ultimately we move forward, we get better, we progress.

Back in the day I very rarely (ie. never!) took a backward step in training until I was forced to. For the stubborn among us, sometimes we are forced into or need to regress a movement, skill or training load – such as when faced with injury or illness – before we can progress.

But there are also times, (and there are also sensible people who work with a good coach) when we can embrace regression or chose to take a backwards step, in order to take two steps forward.

If we embrace regression – rather than wait for imbalance or injury to strike – we give ourselves a better opportunity to succeed in the long run.

So, is it time to give yourself permission to REGRESS?

Maybe you’ve had an extended break from training. Maybe you are returning to exercise after having a baby. Maybe you’ve been stuck on a performance plateau for a few months. Maybe you have an underlying injury or imbalance that’s causing a chain reaction in other parts of your body.

Addressing an injury, imbalance, weakness or a plateau doesn’t have to be a negative experience

Tackle your weakest link, the one you’ve possibly been ignoring or avoiding for a while.

Regressing doesn’t always mean choosing “easier” exercise options.

Try slowing down – less is more.

Train smarter – not harder.

Try increasing your range of movement – focus on quality over quantity.

Allow for adequate recovery – within and between sessions.

You may find that by taking a step back, you come out stronger on the other side, and take two giant steps forward.

I’m embracing regression this term and working with a new coach. My focus is to slow down, less is more, quality over quantity – in order to become more efficient, move better, and progress.

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Focus on landing

Soft landings = safe landings

Metafit uses plyometric exercises (eg. jumps) to build strength and power. When performing plyometric exercises, landing technique is often overlooked, but it is AS if not more important than the concentric (upward) motion of jumping.

The untrained way to land is in a very rigid, stiff legged manner. As a result, all of the impact is absorbed between the hip, knee and ankle joints. It is much more advantageous to land softly and transfer the force to the glutes (butt), hamstrings, quads and calf.

One of the recent points of discussion in strength and conditioning communities focussed on people who are quad dominant v glute dominant. Quad dominant athletes tend to use their quads to shift their weight forward with squatting and jumping movements. This not only transfers a lot of pressure to the front of the knee, but puts a large load on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

By learning how to land softly without noise and controlling deceleration, you will significantly lower the impact forces, decrease the risk of injury and extend the life of your joints.

The key points in landing technique are:

  1. Land as softly as possible, making no noise when the feet come into contact with the surface. How many times have you heard me say “Absorb the impact through your butt and thighs, not your joints”!
  2. Land flat footed or slightly heel first, keeping weight evenly distributed over the entire foot.
  3. Shift your glutes or butt back and keep your knees behind your toes. “Butt out”

Jumping and landing training are highly demanding on the nervous system, so it is essential that the body is warm enough to perform the exercises efficiently. Please practice these key points when performing jumps in a metafit session – your joints will thank-you.

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A dynamic warm-up will have you Metafit ready

Prep your body for METAFIT with a full body dynamic warm-up

Metafit sessions are tough – you work to your maximum for around 20 minutes – pushing, jumping, lunging, planking – moving your body through its full range of motion, using all of your joints and muscle groups. To get the most out of your body and your metafit session, a thorough DYNAMIC warm-up is essential.

Around 10 years ago, dynamic warm-ups started gaining popularity in the sports world as an effective method for professional athletes to prepare before an event.  Today, dynamic warm-ups are a standard routine for athletes ranging from amateurs to professionals…..even metafitters!

In this article, you’ll learn why a dynamic warm-up is so effective—whether you’re about to do a metafit session or play a sport.

What Is a Dynamic Warm-Up?

A dynamic warm-up uses stretches that are “dynamic,” meaning you are moving as you stretch. For decades, static stretching, which requires holding a stretch for 10 or more seconds while motionless, was the most popular type of warm-up for athletes and mere mortals alike.

Today it is recognised that dynamic stretching is ideal as the core of a warm-up routine for several reasons:

  • It activates muscles you will use during your workout. For example, a lunge with a twist is a dynamic stretching exercise that engages your hips, legs, and core muscles.  Whether you are doing alternate lunge jumps in metafit, or lunging for a soccer ball, the muscles involved have already been engaged during your warm-up.
  • Dynamic stretching improves range of motion. In metafit we aim to move our joints and muscles through their full range of motion therefore it is important to ensure we have moved through this range prior to adding intensity and impact so the joints and muscles are primed for action.
  • Dynamic stretches improve body awareness. If you don’t warm-up and hop straight into a metafit session, it may take a while for your body to perform optimally.  Moving as you stretch challenges your balance and coordination, skills that could help your performance and contribute to getting the most out of your session.
  • Warming up in motion enhances muscular performance and power. Studies reveal dynamic stretching before a workout can help you lift more weight and increase overall athletic performance compared to no stretching or static stretching. If you are trying to get stronger, build more muscle, or simply perform better, a dynamic warm-up routine is likely your best bet.

I hope it’s now clear why we spend a good 5-minutes at the beginning of each metafit session completing a full-body dynamic warm-up. I want you to get the most out of your session and your body. Add this type of warm-up to any pre-exercise routine and your body will thank-you.

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How to Foam Roll Like a Pro

DIY Massage with a Foam Roller

Have you seen people rolling around on a foam roller and wondered what on earth are they doing? Why are they doing it? How do I do it? Let me put your mind at ease!

The foam roller is a brilliant tool to have around the house – it can be used before training, after training, before a stretch session, even just to give yourself a massage at the end of a busy day. The benefits of using a foam roller include:

  • muscle tension relief (post metafit soreness!)
  • correct muscle imbalances
  • injury prevention
  • increase range of motion & flexibility

In addition to its therapeutic benefits, a foam roller can be used as a training tool – think of it as a way of decreasing stability therefore increasing the degree of difficulty of core exercises that you would normally perform on a solid surface e.g. plank hold with hands on the roller, or lying with your spine down the length of the roller and performing an alternate arm/leg lift whilst maintaining balance.

Foam rollers are sold at most sporting equipment stores and cost anywhere from $15-$60+. Look for one that is solid enough to withstand regular use and retain its shape. There are also rollers with raised patterns and dimples on them that provide additional deep tissue massage – just be careful with how “deep” the massage is!

The diagram below by Greatist.com shows you “How to Foam Roll Like a Pro”. When rolling, the pressure or intensity you feel should be no more than a 7/10 where 10/10 is excruciating. If you feel too much pressure, back off and take it a little more gently.

So, buy yourself a foam roller, keep it in the family room and when you next sit down to watch the TV grab the roller and massage away!

Foam Rolling Infographic

Get health and fitness tips at Greatist.com.

 

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Metafit is Functional Fitness

Metafit is Functional Fitness

Functional fitness exercises train your muscles to help you do everyday activities safely and efficiently.

Do you live to exercise? Unless you’re an elite athlete, or have an endorphin addiction (like me!), you probably answered no to that question. Most people, in fact, would say they exercise to improve their quality of life. And that’s the focus of functional fitness.

Functional fitness exercises are designed to train and develop your muscles to make it easier and safer to perform everyday activities, such as carrying groceries, playing a game of basketball with the kids, or working in the garden. Functional fitness exercises train your muscles to work together and prepare them for daily tasks by simulating common movements you might do at home, at work, or in sports.

Common movement patterns include – push, pull, bend to extend, squat, single leg and twist actions. While using various muscles in the upper and lower body at the same time, functional fitness exercises also emphasise core stability. For example, a squat is a functional exercise because it trains the muscles used when you rise up and down from a seated position, or pick up low objects. By training your muscles to work the way they do in everyday tasks, you prepare your body to perform well in a variety of common situations.

METAFIT™ is functional exercise at high intensity. Our qualified coaches are taught how to perfect technique and adapt exercise in order to provide a controlled and safe training environment. The more METAFIT™ you do, the stronger, fitter and more functional you’ll become. Adapted from Metafit Australia post.

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