A Heath Check for your Shoulders

Hey Guys,

Earlier this week I shared a great article on my Twitter feed (@mike_unorthodox) about shoulder health. I realise that a few of you may have ,missed it so I thought that I would share it here.

Many people suffer from bad shoulders and it is often a case of prevention rather than cure that will keep you out of the doctors office and off the surgeons table. As someone who has had multiple shoulder surgeries, I really wish I had paid closer attention to mine when I was younger!

You can find the article HERE

Stay healthy,

Mike

Great Interview with Dave Tate of Elite FTS

Hey Guys,

Today I thought that I would share with you an amazing interview with one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the sport, Dave Tate.

In the video dave covers a wide range of topics from lifting, to business to dealing with injuries.

Take a look!

Stay Healthy,

Mike

Video with Roll Supreme and yours truly...

Hey Guys,

Incisor you missed it, here is a video with your truly and Jack from Roll Supreme.

This video series is to accompany the article series that we are doing together on Nutrition Plans for BJJ.

We will be covering a lot of topics in the upcoming series and will be doing videos to match so make sure you keep checking back to see what's going on and how this can help your own nutrition!

If you have any questions about your own nutrition, please take a look at the site or ask a question in the free Q&A

Stay Healthy,

Mike

Product Review - MyProtein Wrist Straps

Hey Guys,

Today I am going to be talking about MyProtein Wrist Support Straps

Wrist straps are used when lifting weights to protect the lifter from sprains, strains and other injuries. They do this by supporting the wrist, allowing it to stay in a straight line under the bar while remaining flexible.

Here is what MyProtein have to say about the product,

Product Overview

The Myprotein Wrist Wraps are designed to offer enhanced comfort and support to wrists while reducing the risk of sprains and injury during workouts.

Made from durable cotton these elasticated wraps are fully adjustable and fasten with a strong Velcro grip. They are complete with an elasticated thumb loop for added comfort and easy wrapping.

Sold in pairs, our wrist wraps are approximately 30cm long and stretch to fit all wrist sizes.

Key Benefits

• Elasticated & fully adjustable
• Supports wrists
• Thumb loop for easy fit

When I got the straps I was impressed by the look and quality of the product. However after a few uses and washes the stitching on the right hand strap started to come undone, making it impossible to use.

I E mailed MyProtein with the details of what had happened and within a few days a brand new pair of straps was on my doorstep.

I am very happy to say that the new straps stood up to numerous tests and washes with not one stitch coming loose. The wraps really supported my wrists and allowed my to push things when going for Rep PRs and trying to break actual PRs.

While many will say that your wrists get all the support they need from heavy training and devices such as these are a crutch, I use these as a precaution to protect myself from injury. As an athlete I want the majority of my focus to be in my sport and not in the weight room. Tweaking a wrist or injuring myself in a way that keeps me from practice is counter productive to lifting in the first place.

It os for this reason that I highly recommend you picking some of these up!

The Wrist Straps can be purchased from MyProtein for £7.99 (don't forget that all clients also get discount!)

Stay Healthy,

Mike

Great article on Injury and Recover

Hey Guys,

As many of you know, athletes get injured. No matter what sport you compete in, if you are pushing yourself to improve you're going to pick up the odd injury.

Now the problem comes when coming back from that injury. People either rush back and don't take the time to heal (bad idea) or become scared/lazy and do absolutely nothing (another bad idea).

Coming from a man that has had his fair share of set backs and a few surgeries under his belt, I can tell you that the best course of action is somewhere in the middle.

While all injuries must be diagnosed correctly (by a Doctor, not the internet) and treated correctly, there are ALWAYS things that you can do to improve. Just recently I have pulled a muscle in my back that makes pretty much everything painful. Have I just laid here and moaned about not being able to train? No (well I moaned a little to my misses), I trained what I could and looked to improve in other areas.

Here is a list of the things that I have trained while injured,

• Stretching
• Mobility work
• Technique drills
• Isolation movements that don't stress my back.
• Movements that allow me to get blood into my back without over loading it.

I would challenge anyone who said that they cannot train at all unless they needed major spinal surgery. There is always something that you can do it improve. Not doing anything just demonstrates how all those posts about being a 'beast' and dedicated were just talk.

Training progress is measured over the course of YEARS not weeks or months. If you can move, you can train or improve.

Here are a couple of articles that I have found helpful on the subject. The first is on injuries as a whole and the second is on shoulder injury (as this is common and something that helped me a lot).

You can find them HERE and HERE

Give them a read and let me know what you think.

Stay healthy,

Mike

A BIT MORE ON SUPPLEMENTAL LIFTS AND PROGRAMMING.

Hey Guys,

As most of you will know I have been posting vids and articles about weight training for athletes recently.

While I strongly believe that weight training is incredibly important for athletes (especially combat athletes), most people are flat out doing it wrong.

Most people are either doing to much, doing to much to often, or doing a programme that has zero carry over to their sport.

In this VIDEO Dave Tate of Elite FTS talks about how to programme the main lifts with the most carry over and then accessory and supplemental exercises to gain the best results. While this video is aimed at power lifts, it's easy to apply this to pretty much any sport with a bit of creative thinking.

I'm hoping to post some more specific stuff very shortly.

Stay Healthy,

Mike

What to eat on Competition day for BJJ

Next time you are at a BJJ competition take a look around.

You will see people eating all sorts of crazy and wonderful foods that they think will help give them the edge on the mat. People are looking to get the smallest of advantages on their opponents and walk away with some precious metal around their neck.

But are they wasting their time or even worse, hindering their performance?

The object of this blog post is to try to give you a bit of a better idea on what to eat come competition day.

Before I start going into details of food types etc I am going to have say the classic line of “Speak to your coach and Doctor before you undertake any major changes in diet”. Your coach will know your past history with making weight and your performance, and therefore will know you a lot better than me! Please use this as a rough guide and speak to your coach first.

Making weight for a competition is a highly individual topic well beyond the scope of this blog post. If you are having trouble making weight or are thinking about moving a weight class then speak to your coach or a professional.

OK, so lets talk competition day!

I’m going to assume that most of the people that are reading this post have cut a little weight but nothing to drastic (no silly water cuts etc), you probably wake up on comp day, check your weight then either panic like mad and go running or find you are right on the line and are ready to fight.

This will be about 90% of people.

Most people walk around a few kilos over their weight category and cut a little weight before the competition. They wake up right on the limit that they can be, then head to weigh in. This all goes fine but it is what happens after the weigh in that makes most people feel crap. They eat the wrong foods and either under hydrate or over hydrate to quickly.

So let’s take a look at an idea situation.

Wake up.

Check weight and make sure you are either right on the line or have a little wiggle room. Having a few KG to spare is best for most people as more and more competitions are following the IBJJF lead and having competitors weigh in really close to fight time (let’s assume for this article it’s 45 mins before the first fight).

So if you do indeed have a few KG to spare I recommend having a breakfast of some low GI carbs and a little fat. If you handle gluten well, then oats are a good bet with a spoon full of natural peanut butter.

If you are right on the line then just have a few sips of water and head to the event.

After weigh in.

Now you have 30-45 mins to hydrate and fuel up for the first fight. This is why doing massive water cuts and starving yourself is a bad idea. You’re not going to be able to fuel yourself and hydrate for optimum performance. You also run a high risk of cramp when you are in the fight.

After you have weighed in you want to do the following things,

·      Hydrate.

·      Top off glycogen stores by having some fast acting, easily digestible carbohydrates (being bloated and stuffed when about to fight is a terrible idea).

·      Start warming up.

Now because this is happening in a short time window I recommend having a liquid carb drink that has a low osmolity (clears the stomach quickly and digests easily). Carb sources such as waxy maize, vitargo and highly branched cyclic dextrin are great here. You want to have between 60-100g of carbs depending on your size in about 1500ml of water.

This will allow you to sip this while warming up and be ready to fight in 45 mins. I personally like to have 50g in 600ml water as soon as I have weighed in and another 50g while I am warming up in 1000ml of water (remember I have a few KG to spare and I am not very dehydrated).

Some people like to eat after weighing in. This is fine but you should choose a carb source that is easily digestible and doesn’t give you any issues. This is completely personal and you should know what works best for you due to what you normally eat. White rice or bananas is a safe bet for most people.

What you DON’T want to do is to be eating this like pasta, sandwiches and cheap protein bars. These are often high in sugars and gluten which can effect your already nervous digestive system.

Between Fights

Now at this point you’re not going to have much time between each match.

You want to keep your energy topped up and available for the next fight but not feel full and sluggish.

Most of my clients sip on a carb drink of about 50g of carbs between fights in 2 litres of water. For most people it’s a bad idea for them to try and eat anything as it just makes them feel heavy and bloated.

Obviously if you are fighting in the absolute division or are doing NoGi on the same day then you will want to have something between the two categories. Since there is often a few hours between them this is a good opportunity to have some solid food.

Again you want to stick with easily digestible foods and preferably foods that you are used to. Chicken and white rice with a little bit of olive oil is a very good option for most. This will give you energy but won’t hamper digestion.

Make sure that you are sipping water all the way through the day. Most people pee a lot more on competition days due to nerves and the fight or flight response we all get to people wanting to choke us and pull our limbs off. Ideally you want your wee to be clear every time you go to the toilet.

Having a well though out and organised plan for competition day is a must for every athlete intent on taking home a medal. It gives you one less thing to worry about so that you know that you are fuelled up and ready to fight.

Plan your nutrition just as serious as your training and I guarantee that you will see a difference.

Stay Healthy,

Mike

After yesterdays Post

Hey Guys,

Yesterday I posted an article on the benefits of having a game plan and using specific practice to get better.

GripHouse and Dinky Ninjas Coach Paul McVeigh did a better job than I ever could of this.

Take a look HERE

Stay Healthy,

mike

Great article on weight cutting.

Hey Guys,

Here is a great article on weight Cutting for combat sports from client Rosi Sexton.

Well worth a read, especially if you are a woman in combat sports!

You can find it HERE

Stay healthy,

Mike

Great article on Weight Cutting.

Hey Guys,

Following the trend of sharing good information from other sources, here is a great article on cutting weight from YourMMA.

Weight cutting is a very hot topic at all times in combat sports (see what I did there...). I only ever weight cut a few clients and it is always on a day before weight in. Either way, this article will give you some tips and ideas on your next cut (please speak to a Doctor and your coach before trying anything).

You can find the article HERE

Stay Healthy,

Mike

BJJ and soreness.

BJJ makes you sore.

There is no way about it.

I still remember the first time I rolled properly. For the next few days I felt like I had been run over. 

Some days I still do.

However I would say that mostly BJJ doesn't make me sore anymore (disregarding injuries). This made me think about soreness and recovery for BJJ. In other sports soreness is often an indicator for growth or that you have had a good training session. People wear it as a badge of honour, a sign that they have done a good job.

Do some people think this way about BJJ? Do you feel as though you haven't had a good session if you're not sore the next day?

One of the issues I have been thinking about is training frequency. Many state that the more that you can train BJJ, the better that you will get (pursuing their 10,000 hours etc).I would say that most people train BJJ 2-3 times a week with the more dedicated training 5-6. Are these people trying too be sore after every workout?

Now I am of opinion that you want to able to train AND recover as much as possible. Because of this I want to take steps to minimise soreness. This may include but not be limited to,

• Foam Rolling and mobility work
• Workout Nutrition
• Foods high in anti oxidants
• Foods that reduce inflammation
• Very hot and cold baths and showers
• Making an conscious effort to regulate my workout intensity.
• Taking naps.

Now I don't do all off these, all the time. However I will always keep an eye on my recovery and how I am feeling. Training all the time and feeling like crap is not a goal of mine.

What about you? Do you chase soreness? Let me know below!

Stay Healthy,

Mike

Unorthodox Superfoods for BJJ

Hey Guys,

Here is an article that I wrote for the last issue of JiuJitsu Style Magazine. Make sure to have a nip over and look at my online articles for them (plus loads of great BJJ content). Also check out the latest issue, its got a great article on protein in there...

Here is the article,

Unknown Superfoods for BJJ

Food is good.

Whether you want to call it nutrition, a diet, fuel or some munch, we all love to eat a bit of food. And why wouldn’t we? We all train hard, taking care of business on and off the mat, we deserve a bit of nice, tasty nourishment right?

However it doesn’t stop there, many of us look at our food to give us better results. Whether it be a leaner body, more muscle or recovering quicker from the beatings that are handed out in tough sparring, BJJ athletes are starting to realise that their food is important to their success on the mat.

Unlike many other sports, health is often one of the top priorities of the BJJ athlete. Because of this, the term ‘superfoods’ often comes up. So what is a ‘superfood’? Well a superfood is a certain type (or types) of food that can dramatically increase our health, recovery or aid in our physique goals.

Many people know of the standard superfoods, but if you don’t here is a brief list of commonly known ones,

·      Broccoli

·      Grass fed beef

·      Wild caught Alaskan Salmon

·      Avocado

·      Extra Virgin Olive Oil

·      Natural Raw Honey

·      Blueberries

·      Turkey

·      Quinoa

There are many more (a quick Google will give you hundreds of lists), but often there are many great and slightly unusual ones that are left out from the list. With that in mind, here is a quick list of some of the lesser known, but amazing superfoods that you can add to your diet to help you stay healthy and recover quicker!

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is German for ‘sour cabbage’.

Sauerkraut is finely cut cabbage that has been fermented in lactic acid bacteria including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. While the fancy names aren’t that important, it is the fact that it has been fermented in them that is.

As it has been fermented in these bacteria it has an amazing ability to improve your digestion and gut health because of the enzymes that it contains. This simply means that you can absorb more of the nutrients that you take in rather than it simply passing through your system.

It’s  low in calories, fat and carbs making it great for cutting weight.

Its is also incredibly high in vitamins C, B and K. It is also a good source of dietary fibre, folate, iron, potassium, copper and manganese. To top it all off, because of the fermentation process, it is also even more bioavailable (you digest it better and absorb more nutrients) than actual cabbage!

Kimchi

Kimchi is another fermented food.

It is made in Korea and is often a mix of vegetables that can contain tomatoes, chilli and garlic. Kimchi is often made in jars and left to ferment underground.

Just like Sauerkraut, it is very high in live bacteria (specifically lactobacillus kimchii) that to can aid digestion immensely. Just one serving of the superfood provides a person with over 50% of the daily requirement of vitamin C and carotene.

It is also highly rich in vitamin A, thiamine (vitamin B1 to me and you), riboflavin (vitamin B2), Calcium and iron!

Green Coffee Beans

I love coffee, you love coffee, everyone loves coffee. However this isn’t that type of coffee. The coffee that you are thinking of is a dark bean where these are green.

Green Coffee beans have been directly linked to help aid in fat burning (less fat helps you fit into your true weight class for competition).

Even though the beans are high in anti oxidants, it is the chlorogenic acid content that has been linked to their ability to help aid fat loss. The thing to note here are that the beans must be green.

When they are roasted the chlorogenic acid is broken down and therefore not present in normal coffee.

There have been a few concerns lately of whether it’s ok to take Green Coffee extract rather than using the bean. In a study done by the University of Scranton, they found that there was no detriment to using an extract instead of the actual bean.

Turmeric

Turmeric comes from the root of the Curcuma longa plant and has a tough brown skin and a deep orange flesh. Turmeric has long been used as a powerful anti-inflammatory in both the Chinese and Indian systems of medicine. Turmeric was traditionally called "Indian saffron" because of its deep yellow-orange color and has been used throughout history as a condiment and healing remedy.

While turmeric is a fairly well known spice found in most curries and mustard, many people still don’t seem to be using it in their dishes.

Not only will the spice make your food taste great (who doesn’t love a good curry) but it will also aid in helping reduce inflammation in the body. You know all those acting joints you get when you have a hard spar or someone viciously strips your grips? That’s inflammation. Less of this is good right?

The reason that it does this is down to the yellow, orangey colour of the spice. It contains curcumin.  Curcumin has also been linked to helping suffers of cancer, bowel disease and fibrosis suffers.

Horse

Right don’t all jump down my throats and start sending me hate E Mails because you loved My Little Pony as a kid and how dare I recommend you eat such a majestic beast etc, etc.

If we put aside the fact that most of us have great memories of riding ponies at the beach as children, and the recent scandal of horsemeat in supermarkets (which was about honesty, not what we were eating) and take a second to look at the nutritional profile of horse verses beef for a second.

Per 100g

Calories

Horse – 175g

Beef – 273g

Overall fat content

Horse – 2g

Beef - 18g

Protein

Horse – 28g

Beef – 25g.

As you can see, horsemeat is lower in calories and fat but higher in protein! This is probably due the animals diet. While most cows are fed grain to help plump them up for slaughter and sale, horses are free to roam and eat grass pretty much exclusively. Horse also contains double the amount of iron of beef and vitamins B6 and B12.

Now I’m not saying that you should run out and bump off black beauty, but if you can find horsemeat in a reputable butchers that has been slaughtered humanely and is prepared correctly (not processed) then you may want to take a look.

This is just a small list of slightly unknown superfoods that can help you recover better from training, improve your health, and add some new tastes to your food.

As with all nutrition, making sure you have a correctly balanced diet that contains everything you need is of the upmost importance. Take a few mins to see what you’re actually putting in your mouth, you may realise you can get more out of cheaper, less known food!

Stay healthy,

Mike

I've healed!

Well that may not be technically correct.

My neck (and the nerves there in) are still giving me a little niggle now and again. However they are healing very fast!

Yesterday I was able to do a few rounds of rolling at the end of technique. While I did feel slow and out of whack (always feel half a second slower after time away from sparring), my neck didn't give me any problems at all.

With this in mind I have decided to try doing another few rounds of light rolling today to see how it feels.

As regular readers of the blog will know, healing injuries is something that really interests me (handy as I seem to be made of paper in my old age!). Now I must say that trying to rush back from any injury is always a bad idea. I know how hard it is to stay off the mat but I will guarantee you that at least your art will suffer, and at most you will make the injury worse (leading to more time off the mat).

What I will say is the following that will help make the most of your inured time and help you get back ASAP!

• Do what you can. There are ways to work around injuries such as not training that area directly, using different movements, working on technique and not sparring etc. This will allow you to keep progressing, even if it is slightly slower. progress is progress.
• Talk to people who are smarter than you AND LISTEN TO THEM. Ok, I may not always do the last bit but I ALWAYS do the first. Find out what the problem is and how to fix it.
• Focus on your recovery and diet. How well your body recovers and what fuel you give it will make the biggest difference to how quick you return. Even if this means that you have to sit there and literally do nothing till you're healed. get it done!
• Use the time off to educate yourself. Whether this is on your art, how to recover better or even injury prevention. Make yourself a better animal with your time.

This is by no way a conclusive list (look how short it is!). 

If you are injured, please speak to a professional and your coach before you do anything really dumb!

Got a good tip on injuries? Let me know about it!

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Stay healthy,

Mike