training wise the last few weeks have been mainly maintenance work and keeping the body fresh. at the weekend just gone we had a national squad held at heaton tennis and squash club and a test match V selected english/south african team which went really well with ireland taking the tie 4-3! next up is santiago, spain - commencing next monday. hopefully th weather’ll be a little better!!
Well after my trip to the Physio about my back the other day i have been showed a few Pilates excercises to do to help with my core stability. The Physio said that I really need to work on my abdominal muscles as they are fairly week in places due to my bowling action. If you could draw a line on my body showing where I am strongest it would go diagonallyfrom my right shoulder to my left leg (I hope that makes sense!!), this is due to my bowling action as i have naturally built up more strength in these places because of the amount they have been used. So i have excercises which will work on strengthening up these areas, especially my lower abdominals which are a major factor in my back troubles. As well as this I have been given stretches and excercises to help my posture, unfortunately i went through a phase which some of you may have encountered where as a teenager I had awfull posture and spent alot of time looking at the floor ( i had my moody moments qite a bit, im a changed man now though!), this has just exaggerated any back problems I have had. So im on the road to recovery and getting myself in better shape for when i start my cricket training again in January, hopefuly there will be no more ‘glass back’ situations for me this year!!
I was asked today exactly what “compound exercises” are when weightlifting as i talk about their importance quite alot with fellow colleagues at work.
A Compound exercise works several muscle groups at once, and includes movements around two or more joints at the same time. For example a bench press is a compound exercise because when you are performing the exercise you are primarily using your chest but it uses secondary muscles to stabilize it, such as the triceps and shoulders.
Same theory behind deadlifts. These are ”compound exercises” because you are primarily using your lower back but also pulls in muscles from your legs and forearms.
I use compound exercises a lot as i feel i get a much better workout than doing all isolation exercises. Ultimately you build muscle depending on how much testosterone is created and doing “compound exercises” creates a lot more testosterone than performing isolation moves…hence, building muscle faster.
Also, i want to strip fat from my weight training sessions as well as put on muscle and when I am doing exercises such as deadlifts the sweat just pours off me and i feel great!
If you are unsure a quick checklist of compound exercises are:
Bench press, Deadlift, Barbell Squat, Deadlift, Lunges, Row, Push-Up, Dips, Bench Press, Military Press, Hang Clean and Press.
The simple rule is that you use compound exercises as the core of your workout and isolation exercises to “fine tune”.
I found this video on how to perform a correct bench press … one of my favourite compound exercises!
Enjoy!
Well im going to the physio tonight to go for a session which is specifically focussed on core stability so hopefully ill learn some new excercises to help with this. Its something very important to quick bowlers due to the pressure and strain on your back and the twisting motions during cricket.
Since I first had a stress problem with my back when i was about 13-14 i have had a weak back which has caused me problems on and off for about 7 years now. I really want to build on my strength this winter to try and stop problems like this occuring. With new weights sets and a multi-gym station in my spare room at home now I will get plenty of chance to work on this once i have the all clear on my back.
MRI scan on my back is next week which is surprisingly quick, hopefully they can just tell me its muscle problems which are slightly easier to help as you can do excercises and stretches to aid recovery. If it is a stress fracture or the begginings of a stress fracture then all I can do is wait and rest it which is going to frustrate me, but it will push me into starting my cardio with some nice cold winter runs instead of my nice indoor workouts!!!
Well this is a novelty - the races I do are usually so obscure that nobody has ever heard of them let alone got any idea what actually goes on.
But this weekend fell running made a spectacular job of grabbing the headlines.
Unfortunately, the media did its usual job of blowing things out of proportion and many of the reports of lost / missing runners were grossly irresponsible. Anyway, if you’re interested in the negative side of the event you can read the papers and believe the news stories - if you want the truth here it is.
One thing the reporters got right was that the weather was a tad on the damp side, in fact they were (un)comfortably the worst conditions I have ever been out in for a sustained period of time. To me this only added to the sense of adventure and made a tough event even more challenging.
When Jamie and I struggled up to CP9 of the A class after battling for about 2 hours into a rain laden 40 mph headwind and were told the event had been cancelled I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What I can say is that we were still going strong and I’m confident we would have finished the event.
Up to that point our nav had been pretty much bang on and our pace was reasonable over the very tough ground.
My kit performed perfectly - Walsh PB trainers - Thorlo Socks - speedos (only time I wear em - honest!!) - Nike Leggings - Hummel Base layer - Karimor base layer - North Face windproof gilet - Lowe Alpine waterproof shell - buff - hat - and for my hands, some of my kids’ gloves that cost 50p from Primark!!! Honest that’s what I used and they were fab…..
Once we were told the event was over, we made our way back through Buttermere to the barn that you probably saw on telly - it was an amazing site and the atmosphere was great - around 400 runners all brewing up, cooking and bedding down in a massive brand new cattle shed. One team even bagged the bucket of a dumper truck that was parked in there and kipped in it all night.
This morning around 7am, news came through that the roads were now clear and there was access back to and away from the start area. We (me, Jamie and my other Bingley Harriers pals Robin and Steve) made a wise decision to skip breakfast, get packed and jog the 5 miles back over Honister pass to the start so we could get the car out of the wet field and away before the other 2000 runners tried to do the same. It was a master stroke and although we need 5 pushing as I steered the car along a very swampy field we made it out of the field before the real tractor pulling fun started.
It was only when we got going back and started to listen to the news and pick up mobile signals that we realised there’d been such a media ’storm’.
Don’t let the images put you off the hills - take comfort in the fact that over 2000 people ventured into the mountains yesterday and everyone of them got back to safety with just one suffering an injury and a few other treated for hypothermia.
There’s a big debate raging about whether the event should have been cancelled before the start (mostly it has to be said fuelled by folk who weren’t there) - for what it’s worth I think the organisers were right to let it go ahead (and cancel it when they did) - everyone in the race knew the risks they were taking, had read the weather forecasts and were prepared for 36 tough hours in the mountains. Of course I have sympathy for the rescue services that were called out (but that’s why they’re there) and for the worried relatives at home but in all honesty, this was a fantastically organised and superbly controlled event that has left us all with great memories and more tales to tell of exciting hours in our amazing countryside - bring on next year I say!!
See http://www.theomm.com/pages/OMM_resultsandreporting.html for loads more….
Well seen as I’m not doing much as far as training goes due to a possible stress fracture in my lower back I thought I would talk about Australias defeat to India in the recent test match.
Now as an avid England fan I love to see the Aussies lose and it is looking like they aren’t the Cricket super-power the have been for the past 15-20 years. They’ve lost Shane Warne (pretty much the greatest spin bowler ever), Adam Gilchrist (one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen ever), Glen McGrath (arguably the best and most accurate fast bowler ever) and also several other highly rated players (Langer, Gillespie, Kasprowicz, Martyn, Tait) were not playing for various reasons. There are 5 players missing from the Ashes team who whitewashed England last winter. This will have caused quite a bit of disruption for them, with so many new faces in a team which has barely changed in about about 5 years. The departures of so many world class players has left them floundering a bit. They have struggled to replace Warne with a genuinely class spinner, they have a couple of new faces but they are no where near Warnes class, yet. Brett Lee is now their strike bowler but does not have the deadly accuracy of Glen McGrath at the other end, which helped form a deadly partnership which could rip through any batting line up in no time.
Their batting does not now have as much depth as it used to when they had Gilchrist coming in at number 7 or 8, a luxury any team would love. They still have world class batters like Ponting and Hayden but the line up does not make bowelrs hearts drop quite as much as it used to. I’m not saying that they are now a poor side or that they are going to be easy t o beat in the next Ashes but they look as though they have a few more cracks in their armour and they have more weaknesses we can expose, as long as we are on good form.
If both England and Australias form keeps going the same way it is now then we have a serious chance of regaining the Ashes. We are a team full of confidence and we are on a great streak of wins. India this winter will be a stern challenge and is the real acid test for Pietersons captaincy, he will have to get the most out of his players against a team who are on great form and in some of the hardest cricketing conditions around. The Australian team should never be written off as they always have match winners in the team but it will be interesting to see how their relatively new-look team gels over the winter and whether the new boys can cement places or they will have to keep looking for replacements for some of the greatest players ever to wear an Australian cap. Fingers crossed they don’t find the next Shane Warne before next summer!!
Been resting up this week in prep for this weekend’s epic and enjoying as much real food and sleep as possible as I certainly won’t be getting much of either on Saturday / Sunday.
We’re going up Friday night ready for our 8.35am start Saturday morning. In the OMM you only find out where you’re going on the start line when they give you your map - then it’s a race around 6 - 8 checkpoints across 40 ish kilometers of real off piste mountain terrain to the overnight camp. We then camp and eat using the equiment / food on our backs before being given another map and heading off again Sunday morning for another 30ish k via another 6 - 8 checkpoints back to the start / finish area - all against the clock.
It’s a really interesting and tough challenge and unlike an ordinary fell race you also have to plan your equipment, food and route choices VERY carefully.
The weather forecast for the weekend around Borrowdale is for high winds and lots of rain - just what you need for camping in the lakes!! I’m not too bothered about bad weather as I’ll gear up accordingly but the only time I don’t want rain is when we’re packing up Sunday morning - there’s nothing worse then getting you and all your gear wet and cold before you even get going.
My partner Jamie is coming round tomorrow to finalise the kit / food strategy - we’ll be aiming for pack weights of around 5-6kg each on day one including tent, sleeping bags, food, cooking equipment and clothing.
The real key to success in a Mountain Marathon is good navigation skills - we made a howling mistake in 2006 which we don’t want to do again this year so we’ll be taking a little more time over the map reading to save a lot of time on the hills.
If you’re interested, full details of the event can be found here : http://www.theomm.com/event/aboutTheEvent
Full report to follow on Monday……
lost early doors - 1st round! at the world open in manchester. not the result i was looking for. it was a great event and well run - manchester should be proud! the venue was amazing and it being me first world open i was a little overwhelmed at the expierence which told at times. didnt play to badly but was just a little ambitious at crucial points when i just needed to keep it steady.. anyways, next stop - santiago, spain!
In last weeks Yorkshire Post Nell McAndrew was interviewed …
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/My-Yorkshire-Nell-McAndrew.4605337.jp
She said that her favourite sports shop was none other than Sportsshoes Unlimited. This is our store in Bradford. So many thanks to her for her continued custom and a huge good luck for her future charity work.
Sportsshoes Team.
My final position for the Langdale race last Saturday was 33rd in 2 hours 35 mins - I’m pretty pleased with my run and my position and it’s boosted my confidence for the OMM next week which will be accross very similar terrain.
Since Langdale I’ve done an hour on the road bike Sunday, a ride to work and back Monday a speed session on Tuesday (8 x 1min 50 sec laps), 50 mins on the road Wednesday, rest Thursday and ride to work and back today. I put a short loop in on the way home tonight up some big hills on the singlespeed - wow it’s tough. I’m going to stick with it through the winter to see if I can develop some biking leg strength.
Just come back from The National Media Museum where we were invited to the opening of the 50th Anniversary Blue Peter exhibition. My eldest son is a Blue Peter badge winner (how cool’s that!!) so he got us an invite - I met Biddy Baxter (editor of Blue Peter for 28 years). Max was interviewed and he’s just been on Look North and News at 10!!!!
Just 1 week to the OMM (Original Mountain Marathon) - can’t wait. Got the food this week - pot noodles, super noodles, cup-a-soups and snickers bars hmm nice!!
Finally I must say a big hello to my good buddy Ade in the Isle of Man - an avid reader of the blog - hope it’s inspiring you to get out and explore that fantastic island of yours.
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