How to plank - update

The plank is a great exercise for the core. It is a battle of you against gravity – and since this is a daily engagement, then it is worth adding this exercise to your weekly workout.

The plank is an easily accessible exercise for most of the population. Modifications can be made to position, time and movement to allow anyone to achieve a positive result.  There is some concern about downward pressure onto the pelvic floor, but by changing body position and being careful about hold time, then these challenges can be overcome – and possibly improve pelvic floor strength as well.

The plank is a time based exercise which, with good technique, can allow the spine to be in neutral position and help to strengthen overall postural endurance.

This exercise will engage the main core muscles which are the deep transverse Abdominis, internal obliques, the diaphragm and pelvic floor as well as the stabilising effect of Multifidus against the spine.  The plank position will also have good toning effect on the shoulders and triceps.  Here is how to perform this exercise.

Lie on the floor face down and slide your elbows close to your chest with both of your hands placed under your chin.  Lift your head and sternum (bone at front of chest) until you start to feel your stomach muscles lift away from the floor. Keep your knees slightly wider than your hips and tuck your toes underneath.

Press downwards through the elbows and lift up onto knees – even if you can do a full plank, it is worthwhile going through to this stage first as it will help engage the deep abdominals and decrease the initial hard engagement of the legs.

Pull your abs away from your t-shirt, tuck your tailbone in and lift the pubic bone towards the ribs. Flatten the ribs and tighten through the shoulder blades, bringing them closer together.

Lengthen the neck and pull your chin in – keep looking down but you can sort of “peep” forwards as if you are looking over the top of your sunglasses – it helps to keep the upper back engaged.

Actively brace or hold the abdominals in and breathe slowly through your mouth.

When straightening the legs, lift the knees off the floor gently and keep pressing the heels away from you. Stay on the balls of your feet.  The thighs will be engaged but not the glutes.

 6 seconds will sometimes be enough (!) you will feel the abs engaging – they may even tremble, but it is important that you grit your teeth a little and not give in on the first bit of perceived hard work.  A standard time to hold the plank is an awesome 3minutes 40 seconds...but it will take some time to build up to this.

Remember that the plank works the deep abdominals, so you need to mentally focus on drawing or flattening the belly button towards the spine – this will encourage the muscle to lift up against gravity, thus, increasing its tensile strength – however, be aware, the “flab” is not a muscle and will gently hang towards the floor...don’t worry about it, there are other ways to deal with that issue and the plank will result in improved posture which can translate to a vision of weight loss (if that is your goal). If you do not have the flab, then you will still notice some gapping between the contracted muscle and the skin. This is all normal and won’t be noticeable when you are standing.

Aim to do repeated cycles of 3 or 5 sets. Aim to have time as the main driver – start with 30 seconds (so adapt position to kneeling rather than aiming for straight leg plank and then giving in after 10 seconds) and work up to 2-5minutes.  Time time time always.  Ideally, make the changes recommended below for maximum benefit, so 1 minute in one position and one minute in another.

Once you can master a still plank for 1 minute, it is super important to make changes to improve core strength by adding movement to the static hold – we are humans that move and we want to train our core to be strong in a variety of positions. 

The best way to start to do this is to move the knees.  In a kneeling position, gently lift one knee at a time, keeping the back and pelvic girdle still as possible. Aim to lift and lower knees in a pace that is suited to your walking, running or biking pace.  If you are on straight legs, then you drop one knee to the floor – but still aiming to keep pelvis still.

Once this is achievable, then look to lift one then the other foot off the floor in a kind of marching or stepping pace – keeping the foot in a flexed (so it mimics a standing position on the floor). The foot can lift high enough to feel the glutes engage, but if you feel a burning sensation in the holding thigh (the one on the floor) or across the top of the hip – then go back a level as you are probably trying to stabilise by using your hip flexor and not your abs. This is not a good way to train as you need the muscle to fire in the correct pattern to facilitate good core strength.

Moving on, you can then add a turn to the leg whilst it is lifted – thus making a great open chain exercise on the Piriformis (great for runners). Simply lift the leg and turn outwards, making sure the knee and foot turn.  The holding leg will often get a good closed chain exercise for the Piriformis so not too many of these as they will lead to fatigue and poor technique.

You can then add a running action by bringing the knee to the side of the chest - super hard mountain climber!

There are other great core exercises out there, but this is a gold standard option that you need to consider for your fitness programme. 

You can do the plank every day, and even more than once a day. It does feel hard, but it will get easier 

If you have any concerns about the downward pressure onto the pelvic floor, then stay in the knee position and pike or lift the hips a little (not too high) just enough to be able to “cup” the abdominal contents into the pelvic bone girdle. 

Good Luck

Eating for Endurance - update

Eating for Endurance – for all those marathon runners, tri-athletes, Iron men and women - and others J

For the past 100 years (and probably longer in a less scientific way) research has looked at the positive impact of eating correctly before and during exercise. Although researchers continue to question the validity of “carbo loading” there is much support for eating carbs to allow you to train or exercise for longer. The picture shows the muscles cells before and after carbo loading. The first picture shows the cells in a light colour with “gaps” and then the second shows the muscle cells darker in colour and packed closely together - all ready for the long run or cycle ride!

For most people a healthy intake of carbs would form about 40-50% of your diet. But for endurance athletes, you will probably have to increase this to 60-70% in addition to the huge increase in calories that are needed in general in order to sustain high quality and regular training. To work this out you need to times your weight in kg by 7-10g for a daily intake for the athletes or ~4g for a normal diet. What happens then is that our bodies are able to convert the “chemical energy” of food into “mechanical energy” of stored carbs (as well as using it to keep warm) – and we mainly store this in our muscles (see pic) with a smaller supply for emergencies in our liver.

Carbo Loading – How to do it.  Commonly, the habit of restricting carbs in the week leading up to an event before consuming loads the day before has been used by many people.  This idea is based on the huge uptake of carbs that we see when we eat breakfast following the “fast” overnight – so long fast = greater uptake?  However, there are many problems with this such as lack of energy and feeling lethargic and lightheaded in the week of training before the event, as well as having a bloated and heavy stomach on the day of the event.  Luckily, there has been much research into the way of maximising stores, so below I detail some of the newer ways of thinking and you can be rest assured that these have been tried and tested by the scientists J

In addition to following your usual training and nutrition plan, try to increase your normal carb intake by 10g per kg of body weight 2 days (48hrs) before an event   - However, this is just a general guideline, and the most current research seems to indicate that a combination of protein and carbohydrates are a better way to be able to recover from exercise and prepare for further training. In particular to time your eating fairly close to after training, and look at combining not only protein into this food stop, but having a combination of glucose and fructose (sugars) for the greatest potential - interestingly, this can be done quite easily with some chocolate milk or flavoured yogurt - happy days :)

The day before your race, you then rest your body and eat as close as you can to your normal diet, but make 100% sure that you are fully hydrated.  However, you could then try another piece of cute research which showed huge improvements in energy stores by increasing (above normal) your carbs by 12.5g per Kg two days before your event.  What I found most fascinating though was the body will take on more carbohydrates into the muscle if you do 3 mins of super intensity exercise (after a warm up) before your meal - so a super-turbo-charged loading mechanism!  Just be warned though – if you already have a great diet and your are “fully loaded” then eating more carbs does not give you more energy – despite what it might say on the bottle...

So for day to day stuff, think about eating 150 – 330g of carbs around 3-4hours before exercise to maximise your energy stores which means you can work out harder.  But beware, that eating 30-60 mins before exercise can cause a different effect where you get the peak of carbs going in too soon and then exercising just as insulin is starting to take effect which can cause you to have low blood sugar.  Not good to feel weak and lightheaded before a race or class! And don't forget to use your low GI foods.   

The added bonus of eating 3-4 hour before exercise is that the body is primed to release more fat into the bloodstream - so maximising your fat burning potential tooJ. Please think about when you eat and try not to be governed by standard meal times. For example, if you want to do a lunch time class, then eat something at around 10am in the morning – a second breakfast if you like. Then eat again at about 3pm before your evening session.  A small tip is that if you have not had time to eat then it is better to eat whist you are exercising rather than the 30 mins beforehand. You could have fruit or energy drink, shake or yogurt (esp. ones with side fruit serving as they have loads of sugar) etc – something to Inc stores without sitting heavy on your stomach

Finally, don’t forget that even if you have eaten well you can still run out of “energy” in a high intensity workout as the ability of the muscle to contract efficiently can be hampered by lactic acid.  So if part of your race involves you running up a hill or overtaking someone then you will need to drop your level of exertion for a few minutes whilst you body catches up with its energy production. It is also then worthwhile knowing how hard you can go in your sprint finish so that you don’t fade at the final few meters. Hydration is key to acting as a buffer to lactic acid, so keep up the fluid intake.

To summarise:

• For long distance endurance runners you will need to increase your carb intake to about 60-70%  carbs. Base your daily calorie intake on 50 cals per Kg of body weight.
• Eat 3-4 hours before exercise for maximum energy stores
•   Don’t eat 30-60 mins before exercise – eat just before you start or during if you have low energy
• Always eat breakfast
• Before an event, eat increased carbs 2 days before the event and then have a normal eating on your rest day the day before the event.
• Always eat following training – this does not have to be immediately if you can face it, but there is some evidence that eating a combination of carbs and protein, within 30 mins increases your energy uptake to the muscle - it may help prevent DOMS but more importantly will allow you to recover quicker and perform better at your next training session 
• Inc in protein is also a must as it forms an important part of the energy cycle for using carbs. Inc protein after exercise helps alleviate DOMS and helps protect female athletes from becoming anaemic.
• For every unit of glucose you pull into the body you also need to take on board 3 units of water – so being well hydrated is essential 
• Sports drinks are often a practical way to replace energy during heavy training sessions and are better than water alone on long or intense training bouts, but they are expensive to use and prior planning can help you deal with replacing glucose
• When training, it makes little difference if the glucose consumed is low or high GI - so go with something you like eating rather than something you feel you should be eating or drinking.

Top Ten Tips to beat the post -Christmas bloat

1.  Drink more water - water will help to hydrate you, flush out the excess and stop you being so bleary eyed ☺️
2. Get outside - fresh air and a 20 minute walk will do you the world of good.
3. Do some ab work - chose sit-ups or plank. Working the muscles will compress the gut. Stimulate your bowel to move and help get rid of gas 🙈
4. Have an alcohol free day - give your liver chance to recover 💕
5. Do some stretching - lengthen your body to release tension, make you feel good and help to realign your body 🙂
6. Skip the protein - protein takes longer to process so a meat free , cheese free day will help your gut recover 🍎
7. Go for a long walk or jog - get your boots on, take a flask, some apples and a bit of Christmas cake and head for the hills. Moderate uphill walking where you get breathless will improve your insulin response and be a fab calorie burn 🌈
8. Dance - well any kind of jumping around will help so get on some tunes and twist shake and groove to banish that lethargy 🕺🏼💃🏼
9. Up your fibre - all that heavy stodgy food needs to be gone! Tuck into the dates and figs. Get some porridge for breakfast. Eat some fruit. Drink some prune juice 😇
10. Set up a circuit - 4 exercises and do each one 30 seconds and go around 3 times. Chose upper then lower body. E.g. Sit-ups squats. Shoulder press. Lunge. Or high knee running , side sit-ups, jumping jacks and press ups

Goal Setting – Fear and Persuasion

If you have ever had a Personal Trainer, then no doubt they have talked to you about “goal setting”  - and quite right too. Science backs up the natural human instinct to have something to go for....and goal setting can be the kick up the backside that you need when there are too many other things clamouring for your time.

It’s no good having a boring goal that you can move around to suit you.  Something like “I want to get fitter” can be pretty soul destroying, as you can keep that going for years without ever reaching it. Be specific. This is something that I have learnt recently as I start my goal to raise money for Cancer Research. Yes, I know I have been an instructor for years and yes, I know the science. But as someone whose job it is to do exercise, then the routine of doing stuff inevitably means you naturally are fit but you very rarely get the fear factor to get something done, nor the juggling needed to adjust your life to fit in even more exercise.... 

However, this all changed when I recently completed OutRun May for Macmillan Cancer.  At the beginning of the month you pledge to run a certain distance – the choice was yours. I thought 50 miles sounded pretty achievable (which is always a good thing when you set yourself a goal) – and also somewhat challenging (another good piece of advice).  It all started pretty well and each day I had a plan of how many miles I wanted to run – I knew I needed to do roughly 12.5 miles in a week to get to the 50 within the month – and it really did help to write this down and know what I had to do.

Half way through the month I did pledged to do a 5K as part of the Race for Life Challenge for Breast Cancer – as the time got nearer, I knew I could do 5K, and thus the challenge was less, so I was brave enough to increase the fear factor and up the pressure by converting to the 10K.. and having only run a maximum of 4 miles beforehand and yet to complete that without some bits of walking I was amazed that I managed to run the distance in one hour seven minutes – without a single walking step.

This got me thinking and believing. Owning the challenge in your heart is super important. I was so made up, I thought I could smash the 50 mile barrier and was so motivated. Then came week three. Week three had a series of family events that took out 4 days of running. It buggered my schedule even if the events were totally amazing.

Then came the last week of running and the pressure to hit the 50 miles develop into a real thing.  Boy, there were times when I was tired, aching and not wanting to go out, but because I had made the commitment, not only told people, but also inspired some of my friends to do it too, then it had to be done.  Don’t underestimate this. Fear of failure and the persuasion that reaching your goal will feel good are super pals to help you to reach that “I want to get fitter” goal.

So, here are the things I have learned:-

1. Set yourself a clear goal
2. Tell people what you are doing
3. Sign up for an event or race to set yourself a target
4. Get a diary to record your mileage and how you are feeling
5. Set a longer goal (I have set myself a goal of a half marathon in 4 months time – otherwise I might be very tempted to hang up my running boots!!)
6. Enjoy the feeling when you tick off that goal

It is slightly amusing that all of my personal experiences seem to reflect what science says works....

Good Luck everyone xx

PS I managed to run 55 miles in May
Rachel's 12 Months for Ovarian Cancer

5K – 10K – a leap of faith

After 4 weeks of steady plodding and jogging, something amazing happened.  All of a sudden I could “run”.  It might not be a fast run, an elegant run, but it was a run that kept going without stopping for miles.

The human body is amazing. From weeks of wondering about the sanity of doing something that seemed to be so tough, so painful that I never thought I would get to grips with it, it suddenly clicked. 

When I was training, in my mind my goal was to get “running in my legs” which basically means to get your body used to the action of running. It takes time for the nerve impulses to be used to firing in a certain way, to build more capillaries in the areas that you need them the most, to get your joints used to the pounding and movement and to be able to control your breathing. 

This meant two things.  Patience and Persistence.  These are my personal tips to help you (they really helped me xx)

1. Run on a regular basis.  Look at your calendar and note down the days you can fit in 30 – 60 mins of running.  Don’t worry if you can only run a mile or two on some days – it is the regularity of the running that helps more than the distances in the beginning.
2. Start a running diary.  Note down the date and time you ran for, how it felt – sometimes runs of the same distance a great, sometimes you have a rubbish run – don’t lose heart
3. Wear clothes that make you feel comfortable.  Nothing worse than an annoying bra strap that falls down or wearing tight clothing that makes you feel self-conscious.  Get the best pair of trainers for you.  Try wearing additional insoles for comfort. Wear a buff to keep your hair off your face and the ear phones in your ears.
4. Run at YOUR pace. Don’t get hung-up on what other people are doing. If you like running fast and then having a walk – do that. If you like to run just slightly faster than a walk – do that.  Start to enjoy the rhythm of your steps. It becomes hypnotic.
5. Keep relaxed – try not to get tense when it starts feeling tough. Slow out breaths.  Chill. My go-to idea is to imaging that I still have miles to run and that there is no worry – if I think I am close to the end of my run, I start to tense up  - no idea why Lol!  Let your arms and shoulders be relaxed and hold no tension. Control your out breath. Big sighs.
6. Keep going.  Try to shorten the walking bits and each time, try to run a little longer, a little further.  Keep going.  Try not to stop when the urge comes, try to push yourself mentally to put one foot in front of another – the feeling does go – and it may come back, but really the key to this running lark is in the word itself – run. Not walk.

Be Patience

Be Positive

Be Persistence

If any of you would like to help towards raising some money for Ovarian Cancer - here is the link to my Justgiving page.

Rachel's 12 Months for Ovarian Cancer

Endurance – it’s a mind thing

Noun: -   the fact or power of enduring or bearing pain, hardships, etc.  The ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina:

Learning to run has been an interesting experience.  I know that the science dictates the length of time and distance, you can choose from one of a hundred programmes to follow.  But they don’t tell you much about the bloody mindedness you need to overcome the mental state that you go through.

Start of the run – ooh, that feels a bit achy and sore, ooh why I am so out of breath, running was easier yesterday now I feel heavy and lumpy. Need to walk and catch my breath...

Middle part of the run – ok feel good.  Hey I can run a bit!  I can run a little faster maybe – ok, not that fast, need to walk again.  How many miles have I covered?

End of run – hey, I am sweating, but I feel ok. I can probably run at least another 20 minutes. I am a runner.

One hour after run – argh my legs, I can’t walk. Everything hurts.  Must go running again tomorrow...

During the walking bits, when going through the doubting phases and hurting parts, the thing that springs to my mind all the time is “endurance” and not the fitness kind of endurance “The ability of the muscles to sustain rhythmic motion over a prolonged period”  but the fact that you need to “endure” the training, the pain in the legs, the feeling of being out of breath and unfit, the ability to get up out of bed when you would rather surf the net, the deep breathing and rhythm of running that needs to keep going, without stopping for longer and longer.

I have found that the word “endure” is often in my mind – “Can I endure this?” “How long can I endure this?” – and it made perfect sense that endurance training, is all about your own mental ability to be able to endure the training for as long as possible – and that way not only do you get physically fitter, but you also get a small measure of mental toughness by knowing and understanding that you can do it.  You can endure.  You can keep going.

I find that I need to compare the level of uncomfortablness with something that I know really hurt in the past.  This is a relatively easy one for me since I have not long come out of hospital and suddenly the pain in my legs goes from an 8/10 in terms of pain, down to 3/10 when I think back on things. But you could use times when you also learnt to “endure” - maybe a broken heart, childbirth, broken leg, loss of job. Basically, anything that hurt you.  Find things in your life that you have got through. That you came through and although it hurt at the time, you made it.  These thoughts and images are a great measure that helps with running.

Now, I am sure that normal runners and athletes will scoff at this – because they have the fitness to cope. But if you are new to running like me, and have goals set that you want to reach, then you need as much mental resilience as you can.

I wish you luck on your endeavours. I have managed 16 miles in my first week towards 50 miles for May (OutRun MacMillan). As I run, that word runs through my head...endure...

5K – such a small word, such a hard mountain to climb....

Following a year of misery and pain through ovarian cysts, operations, cancer diagnosis and more operations, my posts over the next year will follow my journey to return to fitness and raising awareness (and maybe some money) for Ovarian Cancer.  I know many of you have enjoyed reading my fitness blogs, but I am now hijacking the page for my own personal story – hope you don’t mind too much...

5K - 3.1 miles...

Always sounds pretty doable.

Seems to be the entry number for most “beginners” races – then why does it feel so freaking hard to do?? I have years of fitness and knowledge and this little thing like running has made me wake up and realise what it feels like to be stupidly unfit.

I see my running friends posting about the 8 miles they have done or doing 4 marathons in one month. They make it look easy... and with this in mind, I pledged to run 50 miles throughout May 2016. That’s 2 marathons over 4 weeks.  It sounded a big enough challenge but still achievable.  In a fit of positivity and that cute little 5K number, I also signed up for the Race for Life event in 2 weeks. And I currently can’t even run a mile without stopping a few times and cursing under my breath that something so intrinsic to the human body can be so fiendishly difficult to achieve.

Yes, I know about taking it easy, building the miles, having rest days, mixing walking, jogging and running. I know about stretching and nutrition. What I have underestimated is the crushing psychological trauma that, hey baby, you can’t do it. You are going to look like a red faced sweating tomato with aches and pains in places you didn’t know, be conscious of your wobbling backside as you pound the pavements and far far from the image of casually running over the line with a smile.  Let alone you thought it would be a “good idea” to complete the race in 30 minutes.

Luckily the internet is blessed with a hundred running plans and programmes to help you on your way. All I need now is the doggedness not to give in – and I have.  I feel that I have been given this opportunity to push through these stupid self-esteem crushing and humble-making barriers.  I could be in hospital now or worse, but the cancer is gone and at 6.30am I am about to put my trainers on and go for a loosely termed “run” to get those miles in my legs..................wish me luck x

https://www.justgiving.com/Rachel-Hubbard2?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=Rachel-Hubbard2&utm_campaign=pfp-share