Remembering our friend Catherine
From Wednesday 17th to Wednesday 24th we came together as a club, while staying apart, to remember our dear friend Catherine Hogan on her 1st anniversary.
Club members did a virtual run/ walk while more got involved with planting a tree/shrub/flower in Catherines memory while we made a small donation to circle of friends a charity which Catherine held dear to her heart. See online at idonate.ie and search circle of friends cancer support centre if you would like to donate. Finally club members within their households lit a candle at 7pm on Wednesday 24th. RIP Catherine xx.
TOM TALKS POSTURE
I hope last week’s advice was easy to understand. I want to finish with a few more comments on breathing
this week and then move on and talk about posture.
Sometimes at training when I want to check who has been doing their nose breathing properly, I ask everyone to take a mouth full of water and do a lap of the field. Whether you walk, run or cycle, hold this water in your mouth for let’s say five minutes while you exercise. The people who come back with a mouth full of water are getting the breathing technique right, as they don’t need to open their mouths to gasp in air. These people are regulating how fast they do this exercise, and are able to keep themselves from going into serious oxygen debt. This in turn means they don’t need to start panting to “catch their breath”.
Now, the science of the process is like this, the air around us has only about 20% oxygen in it. When we breathe in we remove 4% of that. That seems a very small amount. Most people believe that the more air we put through the lungs the more work the body can do. This is only partly true. The more oxygen you extract from the air the more exercise or work you can do. But the body can only extract oxygen at a certain rate. When we start to pant or gasp, the lungs are not able to extract the oxygen fast enough. This can be seen if a person starts to hyperventilate. If they keep doing this for too long they will faint (pass out) due to a lack of oxygen in the blood. When you faint it is the brain’s way of rebooting the system and breathing comes back to normal. Our bodies have the ability to sort these things out sometimes but not all the time. We can improve how much oxygen we take out of the air and how well we use it, but I will go into it at a later date.
Now let’s talk about posture. To get your body into good posture takes some work. We all go into bad posture at times. Yoga is probably the best exercise you can do for your posture, as far as I know. I find that a very simple system works for me. As I run I will try to stand tall, keep
my head high and my eyes on the horizon with my back straight. I will re-adjust my posture as I change my pace and stride length. It’s like steering a car, small adjustments. For the body to move freely you need to feel comfortable and be relaxed. This is a very basic skill but is fundamental for a strong foundation. This method works for me, but I do stretches and some other exercises to maintain a good range of movement. I also do a certain amount of physical work and believe in the “move it or lose it” idea.
So, if you haven’t been doing much physical movement you may need to retrain the body and strengthen it. This may be extra work at the start but a strong foundation is worth it. Your local gym should have someone who will help make you aware of your body position and posture and give you advice on how to improve. The same applies if walking or cycling even though the position, especially for cycling is completely different, the rules stay the same. Contrary to some peoples’ beliefs, the world isn’t flat so as you walk up or down a hill you have to be mindful of your body position. This can be very technical. The most common mistake people make as they go up hill is to bend over, and the most common mistake we make coming down hill is we don’t put our feet flat on the ground and bend our knees. There is a lot of information on techniques for going up and down hills that I will cover in a specific article later in the series.
Proper posture is very good for us both mentally and physically. No matter what exercise or activity you do you should always be trying to get in the best position so the body is strong and safe from injury at the same time. When you do any movement you should be conscious of this.
So in conclusion, think about what you are doing and maybe do some yoga and join a walking group, cycling club or running club or maybe go to your local gym and get some quality help.
CLUB REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Our door is open to all from the amateur to the experienced Unfortunately Covid-19 still seems to be the buzz word of 2021. Nevertheless with modern science that ray of hope of the return to some normality is becoming nearer and nearer.
Club registration for 2021 is now open. Our previously registered juveniles and adult club members will be aware of our usual nights’ activities
but for new juveniles/adults to the circuit what a night usually begins with is a warm up and plyometrics, followed by races/relay races then onto games and finally finishing up with a cool down with all relevant guidelines being practised.
For adults the format is warm up, stretching, plyometrics, session, cool down, finally finishing with stretching. Coach advice is always available.
Adult and juvenile training with qualified coaches will resume as soon
as regulations allow. For insurance purposes juveniles have to be registered with the club, they can register in the year of their 7th birthday. €20 per juvenile, €30 per adult with family rates available. Registration forms/ online links are available by messaging us on messenger or by email to mooreabbeymilersac@gmail.com. We look forward to welcoming both old and new back to the field when the time is right.