February 02, 2006
Welcome to the first edition of The eZone, a new monthly ezine that takes a radical approach to performance enhancement.As a reader of the first issue you are entitled to our once only special offer of 30% off my unique Zone Fitness Program – see below for details.
Each issue will report on events in the world of science and how it can be used to improve performance. My objective is to avoid traditional methods just because things have always been done that way. I am sure you have read enough about ‘miracle’ exercises that promise to cure all ills. We will take a more realistic approach and recognise that there is more to performance than just physical ability.
For the last ten years I have studied many popular exercise systems and asked– how will they improve my performance? I encourage you to take a look at your exercises and consider when would you use you body in this way for your sport or during you everyday life? Are you doing the same routine week after week? Why not try something different and see what happens, after all, if you keep doing the same things you will get the same results. That’s fine if you like the results but it does stop you moving forward!
In this issue
1. Sports personality of the month: Percy Cerutty - one of sports most original thinkers.
2. Training the Brain – how studies into RSI (repetitive strain injury) may prove useful for sports people.
3. This month’s fitness myth – keeping a straight back.
4. What’s on the web?
5. February’s special offer – 20% off our Zone Fitness Program to all readers!
1. Percy Cerutty
Thirty years after his death, Percy’s unique and radical methods are still considered to be ahead of their time. This maverick coach revolutionised running in Australia by tearing up the training manuals and starting again. Perhaps the most famous athlete he trained was Herb Elliot who won gold at the Rome Olympic Games in 1960 by the largest margin ever recorded in Olympic history.Herb said of Cerutty:
“He just had the ability to transfix you with words, and lift you 20 feet into the air. I mean he had a wonderful eloquence, an inspiring eloquence about him. But I don't think that was what appealed to me so much as he seemed to be more interested in using your sport to develop you into a better human being, than he did in using your sport to become a world champion.”
I think what made Cerutty such a good coach was his ability to see the shortcomings of traditional methods and where they were failing the athlete. I particularly like his approach of using the sport to better the person and not purely focus on the results.
I’ll leave the last word to Cerutty.
“Keep your mind open: keep your body and movements as free as possible. An open mind is not one that is easily filled with every bit of nonsense that is current. It is one that has not fixed on concrete ideas about anything, a mind that reflects, seeks, and basically, yearns for knowledge, improvement, success, and in the case of the last lets nothing stand in the way of achievement, leaves no stone unturned, no experiment untried.”
If you would like to find out more about Cerutty and his unique approach you might like to look at this fascinating new book about the man called, Why die?:The Extraordinary Percy Cerutty 'maker of Champions' by Graem Sims.
US and UK readers can order by visiting the page below and clicking on the amazon links at the bottom
http://www.fitness-programs-for-life.com/running.html
2. Training the brain
In California research into the causes of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) (Byl & Merzenich 1999) has made some interesting discoveries that in my opinion may explain why some athletes are prone to injury. Nancy Byl, a physical therapist, and Michael Merzenich, a neuroscientist, measured changes to the ‘body map’ areas in the sensory cortex of RSI sufferers. These maps represent your body within the brain and are used to construct the individual components of the movement into a complete action. Repetition of poor movement can ‘blur’ the body maps and lead to faulty patterns – if your map is inaccurate so if your movement. The researchers have recognised that RSI is not a problem with the limb but a problem with poor learning.Although this research was done in 1999, I believe its relevance has yet to be appreciated in the treatment of sports injuries and poor technique. If you do not re-train the brain, the patterns will not change and you are likely to repeat the errors that led to an injury. The link below has a good write up of the research without the need of subscribing to a scientific journal to get the full report.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash
3. Fitness myth - keep your back straight!
You may have heard this advice many times from your coach. Obviously you need to protect your back from injury especially when lifting heavy weights. But if we stop to think about what it actually means we will see that it can be quite misleading.First, what is meant by straight? The spine is naturally curved in a way that gives it strength AND flexibility, so straight is not the wrong word to use. If you ask someone to “keep their back straight” they are most likely to increase the lumbar curve in a misguided attempt to do it. The result is the strength of the back is compromised as inappropriate tension is applied in the lower back muscles.
Second, if your back is not ‘straight’ when it should be, then why isn’t it? This is a result of poor technique, or a misuse of your body (see previous article). If you back is not straight it is because you are doing something wrong with your muscles. Therefore you need to stop doing it before your back will assume a better shape. Tightening other muscles to straighten your back will create more stresses on your spine.
Third, if you knew how to keep a ‘straight’ back you would already be doing it! So how do you suddenly know how to do it when you attempt to correct it? I prefer to think ‘stay poised’. This means not getting set and contorting your body in a way that prevents your balance and coordination reflexes working as nature intended.
More information about posture, poise and performance can be found at
http://www.fitness-programs-for-life.com/posture.html
4. What's on the web?
If you are like me you will find the internet a superb source of information. Each month I shall highlight a website that I have found useful and may be of interest to you also.This month’s featured website is Sports Science.org a peer-reviewed site for sport research. It is an absolute treasure chest of everything happening in sports research and has an excellent search function. It keeps me occupied for hours! Find them at
http://www.sportsci.org/
5. Special Offer!
As a valued subscriber to our new eZone ezine I am offering you 30 percent off the usual price of my Zone Fitness Program. That’s a special price of $17.50 and that includes the existing offer of online support and one free video analysis of your technique.www.fitness-programs-for-life.com/Zone_Fitness_Program.html
Be sure to return to this page and use the link below to qualify for the discounted price of just $17.50
Special eZone offer
