As I described in the last post on this subject, the exercises had gone well. Again, it took around 10 minutes to run through them all and I was repeating them around three times per day. This sounds like quite a lot – and a word of advice is that mobility coaching isn’t a quick fix and solved within the sessions themselves, most the hard work comes when the athlete heads home – but I found a nice routine.
Usually, I did my first set of reps after breakfast and before heading to work; if I felt stiff or restless during the working day (and had time), I’d head to a quiet area and run through the exercises then; otherwise, I used my triathlon training as a reminder, doing exercises before and after each session.
It definitely took commitment and willpower, but I was fully on board and wanted to make sure that I got the most benefit from the time and expertise.
Lorna was impressed by the progress we’d made over three sessions – I guess that, if you coach an Ironman triathlete in any capacity, you’re going to see 100% commitment to the process.
Take a look at the diagram of the human body. On this, you can see how I progressed over the weeks. Essentially, each area with a circle on it needs addressing; much like those school tests of old, the more ink you see on there, the worse it is. And the worse the issue, the more chance I have of picking up an injury in future or the more I’m slowing myself down now through range of motion rather than fitness.
| Over the past few weeks, I’ve managed to stabilize my pelvis, gain some lateral flexion in the spine and get a lot more mobility from my shoulders. It’s not an overstatement to say that these changes are so big that you can tell from my normal, everyday posture as I sit and stand. Not only in relation to exercise and fitness. But there’s still some work to do. I leave this third – and (only for the time being) final – session with some more exercises for the weeks ahead. Just one focuses on mobility this time – the standard ‘strike a pose, hold at 20% effort for 20 seconds’ routine that I’ve become so familiar with over the past month. The others work more on strength. The idea being that, once you’ve corrected the mobility issues and any spasms that may be reducing range of motion, you’ll next work on stabilizing and strengthening the movement and opposing muscles. I’m excited to keep working on my body (Lorna gives me several iterations of the strength exercises so I have a program that will last some weeks or months), but also a little disappointed that my three sessions are over… such has been the impact they’ve made. So, the diagram has less ink on it and I both sit and stand taller, straighter and more healthily…. There’s only one test left. Will increased mobility mean increased speed out there on the triathlon course? I’ll be sure to let you know… If you’re interested in Biomechanics Coaching and based in the Netherlands, you can contact Lorna HEREor HERE. Learn more about Biomechanics HERE. |