I do go hard, I am relentless in my pursuit of self improvement via self destruction, I don't take days off and my sofa is still gathering dust whilst I try to figure out a way to press it. But, I actively WANT to live like that, and that's not what discipline is. Discipline is knuckling down and consistently doing the things you don't necessarily enjoy, to get the results you want.
For me, it's restorative measures. Now I don't think the average gym goer really needs to be concerned with foam rolling everyday, bathing in an ice bath every night and sleeping in a hypobaric chamber attached intravenously to a cod liver oil drip. A lot of stuff out there is marketing nonsense. However, I don't stop all day at work, I hit the gym with a reckless disregard for life not seen since Drago flopped Apollo Creed and scarcely manage 5 hours sleep a night.
Something's got to give. I'm reasonably okay at knowing when to take a day off and spend a relaxed day of long, ice cream fuelled walks through London Town with my girlfriend and grab an early night. This does the trick for me (while I still have a relative amount of youth on my side at least).
All of that being said, I don't actually consider the daily beatdown I deliver myself to be the most detrimental thing my lifestyle does to my body, I'm actually more concerned with something most people don't give a second thought, it's a dirty Keyser Soze that I can't avoid or mitigate.
Hit The Road Jack
I drive, ALOT. I'm up and down this country's motorway system like I'm out here trying to be a human catseye, one week last summer I quite literally drove 10'000 miles (on top of working all damn day), my diesel bill is bigger than Kanye West's sense of self importance (ha, joke).
No matter how hard you try to maintain some semblance of good posture, being overexposed to this position on a regular basis is no good for anyone even slightly conscious of staying limber and maintaining a high degree of mobility.
I know a lot of you will be in a similar situation from working in a seated position, or maybe you just suffer after long car journeys and are looking for relief. Either way, I want to share with you the quick stretch cycle I go through to loosen up when required. Coming back around to the beginning of this post, as I said, I'm not at all disciplined when it comes to restorative measures and recovery, plus I'm usually more hard up for time than MC Hammer is for expendable income, so it's quick and ruthlessly efficient.
It's Not Yoga, I Promise
The first thing I do is a walk out.
-stand tall with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
-bending at the waist run your hands down your legs until they're flat on the floor
-keep your knees straight, depending on your flexibility your hands will either be close to your feet or further out, it doesn't matter just keep the knees straight. Keep this up and progression in flexibility will follow.
-'walk' your hands out one at a time until you hit the same position you'd be in at the top of a press-up (with wider footing)
-turn your hands outwards as far as is comfortable, ideally facing away from each other perpendicular to your body.
-drop your hips until your pelvis touches the floor, letting your back fully relax
-hold this position for 10-20 secs
-reverse the movement to end up standing
Repeat the cycle 3-4 times, or for however long you can spare, I find this really helps to 'deload' my spine as it essentially reverses the position driving puts your upper body into.
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| Cobra Commander |
The Third World Squat
The next thing I do is spend a good amount of time getting loose in the bottom of the squat position. A lot of people lack the mobility to do this, but it's an incredibly natural position and getting comfortable down there will aid your lower body workouts massively.
-Keeping your feet flat on the floor, squat all the way down
-Get your arms and torso between your legs and use your elbows to actively push your legs apart
-Spend a minute or so shifting your weight from one foot to the other until you're totally loose and comfortable in this position
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| Froggy style |
That's it, basic stuff. Head to a yoga class if you want something more substantial, otherwise try and work these moves in daily to keep yourself loose, jazzy fresh and hopefully injury free.
Hope it helps, let me know!
AT
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