23 Feb
Blog

A Comprehensive Guide to Unilateral Training for Injury-Free Training and Performance

Getting strong is pretty easy: move heavy weight in the classic compound lifts– deadlifts, squats, bench press and military press. If you can put large numbers in these elevators, congratulations, you are strong.

But the story doesn't end here. The story really begins with the complementary work that hopefully will enable you to continue to gain weight in the long term in a healthy and sustainable way. After all, it is difficult to get strong if you are constantly dealing with injuries after injuries. We believe that one-sided training (one arm, one leg, etc.) has an extremely positive impact on health, stability, coordination and the balance of the joints.

There should be periods in a cyclical, periodized and progressive program year where the focus is definitely on the classic compound lifts where these one-sided movements are purely complementary, and periods during the year when they can get a little into the year more in the spotlight.

For example, if you are sometimes a powerlifter (or exercise like a powerlifter) throughout the year, it can be very valuable to move away from the classic barbell lifts and introduce barbell or kettlebell variations to fix weaknesses and at the same time provide some recovery to enable heavy compound lifting.

Below are some examples of variations on single arm, single leg, and barbell exercises to promote injury-free hard training. Let the rep range determine the load,

The one-armed dumbbell bench press

Do 3 sets of 10 to 20 per arm with a 60 second pause.

The one-arm dumbbell shoulder press

Do 3 sets of 15 to 20 per arm with a 60 second pause.

One arm breakaway rows

Do 3 sets of 10-15 per arm with a 30-60 second pause.

One-arm row of dumbbells

Do 3 sets of 10 to 20 per arm with a 30 to 60 second pause.

Lift the dumbbell to the side

Perform 3 sets of 10-20 with a 30-60 second pause.

Clean and press the one-armed kettlebell

Do 3 sets of 10-15 per arm with 30 seconds rest.

One-armed overhead walking lungs

Do 3 sets of 15m with a kettlebell or barbell (each arm) for 30-60 seconds rest.

Single leg step ups

Complete 3 sets of 15-20.

Double front rack step ups

Perform 3 sets of 10-15 with two light kettlebells.

Single leg RDLs

Do 3 sets of 10-15 with a light / medium weight kettlebell.

Keep it simple

Keep things simple, The last couple of repetitions should be hard and you should leave 2-3 in the tank. You can make these supplements progressive by increasing the load (weight), the volume (number of sets), the rest period (reduction of the rest period from week to week) or by changing all three variables.

Remember to add new exercise variations every 4 to 12 weeks or when you feel that progress has stalled. This means that you cannot add more weight without affecting the technique.

21 Feb
Blog

Vision Drills for Better Performance in Physical Movement

Everything you have ever experienced will be experienced, all exercises or personal bests that you have ever performed have started and ended in your brain.

All the movements, skills, thoughts and everything that makes you special are contained in this 3 pound organ,

  • How does your brain know what to do at a certain time?
  • How does your brain collect information?
  • And how does it decide what to do with the information collected?
  • More importantly, how does your brain collect information and what does it do to your training, performance, or recovery?

You bet your ass does!

This is not a neurological lecture, but before we look at the importance of how your brain collects information and how it can be improved, we need to understand in a very basic way how the brain works.

Brain Basics

Your brain uses sensory inputs to collect information, These sensors receive input, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) send these signals to the brain, which then essentially decides on the action and then generates a motor output that is relevant to the decision.

At a very simple level, it is.

The brain has three ways to collect information or input:

  1. Exteroception: surveillance of the outside world
  2. Intercept: body awareness and feelings
  3. Proprioception: awareness of the body and limbs in the room

These inputs are then integrated together to create and update the map of the brain of everything. Of you, the world around you and how you move through it. The brain updates past experiences, senses, and prediction processes to make decisions that dictate the body's actions.

Now that we've largely understood how the brain does things, we need to find out why it does them.

The answer is simple: survival.

The goal of your brain is to keep you alive, Point. Do not keep alive in ten years, but today.

How it does it is through prediction. Our brain masters pattern recognition. Every second of every day, the 120 billion neurons in the brain process information based on past experiences to predict the results of actions. This is your brain that uses pattern recognition to decide actions.

The inputs your brain uses to move around the world have a hierarchy:

  1. Visually
  2. vestibular
  3. proprioceptive

If these sensory inputs match (i.e. there is clear information from all three systems and good integration into the brain), you can work well with your brain and perform when it matters. No matter whether CrossFit, Powerlifting or just lifting something off the floor.

If there is a mismatch, we run into problems, If there is bad information that informs the brain maps and pattern recognition skills, I fear that they will try to limit the likelihood of death – usually by creating pain to attract attention or inhibit movement.

In this article, I will focus on exercises to improve your visual system, as 70-90% of all sensory inputs are visual.

The role of seeing

There are two classifications of human vision::

  1. Looking stabilization: A fundamental element of all other eye movements and enables us to see objects and interpret the visual scene to create perception.
  2. Shift view: This allows us to focus on a moving target. Think the ball is racing towards your face on the field.

There can be any number of things that affect these two patterns and interfere with your visual system, which in turn can dramatically affect your performance without you even knowing it.

The key to training your visual system for performance is training your eye muscles to function properly. Finally, poor muscle function leads to problems with gaze shifting and gaze stabilization.

We'll cover one drill for stabilization and one for shifting. In my video you will find a demonstration of the individual exercises.

I recommend that you record the practice and watch it again to see how you do it, This way you can adjust accordingly.

Drill 1: eye stabilization

  1. Put yourself in a neutral position.
  2. Hold a target (pen) at arm's length directly in front of you. Stare at the target for 30 seconds.
  3. You need to focus on the goal because an inability to stabilize your eyes usually means very small, quick movements of your eyes away from the goal and then back to the goal.
  4. When looking back, try to notice excessive facial tension, eyelid flutter, excessive blinking, or tears in the eyes while trying to focus on the target.
  5. Once you've done this assessment in a neutral position, do the same test in each of the other four positions. Above, right, left and below.
  6. Pay special attention, as it is very likely that you will find one or more positions in which to struggle with your eye stabilization.
  7. It is important that the goal remains in focus at all times. If it becomes blurred, reduce the distance to the neutral conductor, keep it pressed.
  8. Do this exercise three times through each position.

Exercise 2: shifting eyes

Stand in a neutral position and hold a pen in front of you in a neutral position.

Try to smoothly follow the pen as you move it from the neutral position to one of the following eight positions and then back to the neutral position:

  1. Above
  2. Low
  3. Right
  4. Left
  5. High and right
  6. Above and left
  7. Down and to the right
  8. Below and left

You should repeat this test three times at each of the eight positions, You will look for two things when you look at the drillback:

  • Excessive swaying of the body.
  • Poorly coordinated eye movement. This is usually seen as some kind of ratcheting or jumping movement that prevents them from following the target smoothly.

Each of these can indicate poor visual motor control.

Make your vision clear

The goal of these exercises is to make your eyes work properly so that the information your brain receives is as clear as possible, This way, your brain is not afraid of being able to move fully in all available ranges of motion.

Remember, if the brain can predict, you can perform.

references::

1. Gaymard, B. & Pierrot-Deseilligny, C. (1999). Saccade neurology and smooth tracking. Current opinion in neurology.

2. Hughes, A.E. (2018). Dissociation between perception and smooth tracking of eye movements when assessing the speed of moving Gabor targets. Journal of Vision.

3. Ingster-Moati, I., Vaivre-Douret, L., Bui Quoc, E., Albuisson, E., Dufier, J.L. & Golse, B. (2009). Vertical and horizontal eye movements in children: a neurological development study. European Journal of Pediatric Neurology.

4. Krauzlis, R.J., Goffart, L. & Hafed, Z.M. (2017). Neural control of fixation and fixative eye movements. Royal Society B Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences.

16 Feb
Blog

Vision Drills for Better Performance in Physical Movement

Everything you have ever experienced will be experienced, all exercises or personal bests that you have ever performed have started and ended in your brain.

All the movements, skills, thoughts and everything that makes you special are contained in this 3 pound organ,

  • How does your brain know what to do at a certain time?
  • How does your brain collect information?
  • And how does it decide what to do with the information collected?
  • More importantly, does the way your brain collects information and what it does with it affect your training, performance, or recovery?

You bet your ass does!

This is not a neurological lecture, but before we look at the importance of how your brain collects information and how it can be improved, we need to understand in a very basic way how the brain works.

Brain Basics

Your brain uses sensory inputs to collect information, These sensors receive input, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) send these signals to the brain, which then essentially decides on the action and then generates a motor output that is relevant to the decision.

At a very simple level, it is.

The brain has three ways to collect information or input:

  1. Exteroception: surveillance of the outside world
  2. Intercept: body awareness and feelings
  3. Proprioception: awareness of the body and limbs in the room

These inputs are then integrated together to create and update the map of the brain of everything. Of you, the world around you and how you move through it. The brain updates past experiences, senses, and prediction processes to make decisions that dictate the body's actions.

Now that we've largely understood how the brain does things, we need to find out why it does them.

The answer is simple: survival.

The goal of your brain is to keep you alive, Point. Do not keep alive in ten years, but today.

How it does it is through prediction. Our brain masters pattern recognition. Every second of every day, the 120 billion neurons in the brain process information based on past experiences to predict the results of actions. This is your brain that uses pattern recognition to decide actions.

The inputs your brain uses to move around the world have a hierarchy:

  1. Visually
  2. vestibular
  3. proprioceptive

If these sensory inputs match (i.e. there is clear information from all three systems and good integration into the brain), you can work well with your brain and perform when it matters. No matter whether CrossFit, Powerlifting or just lifting something off the floor.

If there is a mismatch, we run into problems, If there is bad information that informs the brain maps and pattern recognition skills, I fear that they will try to limit the likelihood of death – usually by creating pain to attract attention or inhibit movement.

In this article, I will focus on exercises to improve your visual system since 70-90% of all sensory inputs are visual.

The role of seeing

There are two classifications of human vision::

  1. Looking stabilization: A basic element of all other eye movements and allows us to see objects and interpret the visual scene to create perception.
  2. Shift view: This allows us to focus on a moving target. Think the ball is racing towards your face on the field.

There can be any number of things that affect these two patterns and interfere with your visual system, which in turn can dramatically affect your performance without you even knowing it.

The key to training your visual system for performance is training your eye muscles to function properly. Finally, poor muscle function leads to problems with gaze shifting and gaze stabilization.

We'll cover one drill for stabilization and one for shifting. In my video you will find a demonstration of the individual exercises.

I recommend that you record the practice and watch it again to see how you do it, This way you can adjust accordingly.

Drill 1: eye stabilization

  1. Put yourself in a neutral position.
  2. Hold a target (pen) at arm's length directly in front of you. Stare at the target for 30 seconds.
  3. You need to focus on the target, as an inability to stabilize your eyes usually means very small, rapid movements of the eyes away from the target and then back to the target.
  4. When looking back, try to notice excessive facial tension, eyelid flutter, excessive blinking, or tears in the eyes while trying to focus on the target.
  5. Once you've done this assessment in a neutral position, do the same test in each of the other four positions. Above, right, left and below.
  6. Pay special attention, as it is very likely that you will find one or more positions in which to struggle with your eye stabilization.
  7. It is important that the goal remains in focus at all times. If it becomes blurred, reduce the distance to the neutral conductor, keep it pressed.
  8. Do this exercise three times through each position.

Exercise 2: shifting eyes

Stand in a neutral position and hold a pen in front of you in a neutral position.

Try to smoothly follow the pen as you move it from the neutral position to one of the following eight positions and then back to the neutral position:

  1. Above
  2. Low
  3. Right
  4. Left
  5. High and right
  6. Above and left
  7. Down and to the right
  8. Below and left

You should repeat this test three times at each of the eight positions, You will look for two things when you look at the drillback:

  • Excessive swaying of the body.
  • Poorly coordinated eye movement. This is usually seen as some kind of ratcheting or jumping movement that prevents them from following the target smoothly.

Each of these can indicate poor visual motor control.

Make your vision clear

The goal of these exercises is to make your eyes work properly so that the information your brain receives is as clear as possible, This way, your brain is not afraid of being able to move fully in all available ranges of motion.

Remember, if the brain can predict, you can perform.

references::

1. Gaymard, B. & Pierrot-Deseilligny, C. (1999). Saccade neurology and smooth tracking. Current opinion in neurology.

2. Hughes, A.E. (2018). Dissociation between perception and smooth tracking of eye movements when assessing the speed of moving Gabor targets. Journal of Vision.

3. Ingster-Moati, I., Vaivre-Douret, L., Bui Quoc, E., Albuisson, E., Dufier, J.L. & Golse, B. (2009). Vertical and horizontal eye movements in children: a neurological development study. European Journal of Pediatric Neurology.

4. Krauzlis, R.J., Goffart, L. & Hafed, Z.M. (2017). Neural control of fixation and fixative eye movements. Royal Society B Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences.

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