Author: cdormancom

Checkout Matt’s Race Review from his 2nd placing at the 2022 Collie Trail Fest Marathon.

https://runningmutton.wixsite.com/blog/post/collie-trail-fest-marathon

I love human movement. Fluent, efficient, coordinated movement, everyone notices it. Shane Benzie (The Lost Art of Running) sums it up, best for me when he describes ‘beautiful’ running. Alternatively, when one is moving poorly, recklessly and injuriously, people, whether trained in this area or not, also notice. It saddens me to see kids moving sub optimally, knowing that injury, a long recovery is around the corner for them, and realizing that the curriculums and systems we have in place and are not to solving this issue (on mass). Severs disease, Osgood-Schlatter disease, Patella Femoral Syndrome or tendonitis, chronic groin pain, back pain and stress fractures are all too common. There is a need to address this!

From a reductionist approach, addressing the issue of poor movement, locomotion and running, can be very complicated. Breaking it down an trying to find the barriers or restrictions to quality movement, it could be a needle in a hay stack. Is it; joint malalignment, muscle imbalances and asymmetry, tissue quality, local and global mobility, inhibited stability, protective mechanisms like guarding, low tissue capacity, erroneous muscle sequencing. Anatomical, Physiological, Biomechanical, Neurological and Homeostatic factors, all being important. Like I say, worse than a needle in a hay stack!

From a wholistic point of view, it is much simpler. Dynamic Systems Theory and Self-Organizational principles make it a much easier intervention. Having trained professional athletes in both reductionist and Dynamic Systems approaches, getting your kids running ‘beautifully’, in developmental phases, is quite easy. How do I know?  the fact that my kids are running ‘beautifully’ is the proof in the pudding. Have I coached them intensely like professionals, not in the least!

Firstly, cue them and let the body self organize, problem solving the task at hand. Then review, did it create the right solution. Randomly cueing them in the back yard at play time; ‘get off your heels’, ‘up on your toes’, ‘high knees’, whatever they respond too. The cues used, feedback and timing are important too. Secondly, if cueing didn’t create the result, changing the environment and creating variable sensory rich environments, may do it. Rock hopping/bounding, creating hill and trail running games, and challenges (you cant be me!), all create optimal movement, while strengthening different tissues and capacities. Thirdly, if changing the environment doesn’t generate a result, placing different constraints on the task that encourage natural reflexive movement may be needed. It gets more complicated if you cannot get a result, through this hierarchy, therefore this is where higher level of knowledge and skills are necessary in sorting out these problems.

An additional strategy worth mentioning, which probably comes under the changing the environment category, is the removal of shoes for play. Purchasing the least stable shoes possible for school etc. and providing Reef shoes for casual get arounds to run arounds is important for activation of natural, developmentally and fundamentally important innate mechanisms. Activation the Stretch Shortening Cycle in the elastic tissues of the foot arch, Achilles, Patella, Hamstring tendons and Iliotibial Band, on every foot strike are important. The result, apart from elegant movement, is the de-loading of the skeleton and loading of the appropriate musculature and connective tissues, resulting in reflexive, elastic and athletic movement.

Beautiful, fluent, efficient movement within kids, should be the norm. Simple interventions, hidden in plain sight, may just do the job. Once moving well, then its time for a greater focus on physical training and development.

Summary of thoughts.

*note. Bold text represents, core beliefs.

Put the organism (whole) in an environment (Epigenetics), where it can accumulate work (low-moderate intensity, aerobic and foundational work). This is necessary for the optimal gene expression and manufacture of structural and functional proteins, enzymes and cell machinery that are required to build capacities, durability and physical resilience (progressively), relative to the signal (training stimulus).

Periodically, regulate higher demands at calculated intervals, placing additional stress, on the individual (principle of individuality), where one extends his/herself level of effort (perception of effort). However, intermittent heavy and severe domain training, should only be performed on a ‘healthy system’. You can perform it on less than optimal health, for a finite time, then there will be a cost and you will pay the price in some way shape or form.

Build physical resilience and prowess, via the accumulation of work through movement variation. Hips and shoulders, work them through their full and to end range of motion, while integrating the trunk . If you don’t have the range, improve it. Don’t just perform high load movements in short and linear ranges of motion. Find ways to train the joint through its full excursion and articulation.

How you create training load, manage the stress and recover from the strain (the training process), maybe considered an artwork, but in my opinion, it is a problem solving process that needs to be agile in nature. The concept of training monitoring, maybe useful to objectify responses to training, for a while, but lacks the ability to accommodate human nature, in staleness of repetitive reporting. Watch human behaviors and actions for a better result (more on this below).

Means and methods of training should be many, varied and individualized. Expand your toolbox, as biology is not as linear and predictable as much as we think, its more undulating. Expect ups and downs/peaks and troughs in adaptation, as no one on the planet is smart enough to know the ever and fast evolving science around human molecular physiology. Due to this, there will be mistakes in the long term training process. We cannot manage the perception, interpretation and manifestation of ALL stressors in ALL facets of ones life that affect the training response and physiological adaptation. Therefore we need multiple strategies that can be adjusted acutely in order to create a higher level of function (performance) over the long term. Expect undulating responses to training, deal with them in a natural, organic flow of periodization, while systematically creating overload. Don’t force the issue when readiness is not obvious.

Coaching is creating, cultivating and facilitating the work environment. However, none of this works without rapport, relationship building and respect. Coaching is also the ability to generate good relationships and respect. Listening, empathy, sincerity, knowledge, technical knowhow and modelling (coaches are the model) are all important, as coaches are the ‘center of influence’. You don’t need to be the strongest, fastest or fittest, but as teachers, coaches and physical educators, you need to be technically superior i.e. know your shit and then be able to perform it well.

Patience should be considered a principal of training. A necessary quality in both the athlete and coach, patience should be first taught in exercise curriculums and fostered in athlete education. Otherwise, quick fixes, short cuts, erroneous strategies and risky practices are sought. There are no shortcuts in the process of elevating ones function to a higher level. Frequency, continuity, problem solving and resilience to adversity are all necessary to complete the work required.

Weather the storm. When things go bad (injury or undermining), stick to your beliefs, intuition, stay strong and wait it out. It will pass. There is admirable strength in enduring. Address your perception and reevaluate the situation while you work on strategies to recover, then bounce back strongly.

Understand the concept and term, Iatrogenic, in that what you are doing, maybe doing harm. You need to recognize this, then problem solve it. The open and growth mindset is absolutely critical, to become aware of and avoid personal biases. There are multiple and convoluted ways to improve ones function and create performance, this is the principle of Individualism. Therefore coaches must grow and evolve their knowledge, skillsets and toolbox to solve problems. Encountering the fixed mindset of an athlete, coach or management is a barrier to performance improvement and sustainability in the industry. Ravenous and insatiable learning are keys.

Try to understand peoples motivations, biases, influences and agendas before accepting what they tell you. Their behaviors and actions tell you more than words, what you do, simply proves what you what believe. Observe human behaviors and body language for true indications, as behavior is the manifestation of instinct, intuition and perception.

Work with the people that you create good relationships and that value your input, then, give them all that you have!

These are the principles and the  philosophy that I have developed over time. There have been many influences, (most can be seen on my Instagram page) and there will be many more in this ever evolving process.

Thank you.

‘Run‘

Humans were meant to run (locomote for long distances at least), need to run and should endeavor to get back to running! An evolutionary innate ability, that many of us and our societies have lost. However, improving and reclaiming your running ability can be littered with problems, which often need solving on the fly. Written and programs set for weeks in advance, cannot accommodate for the myriad of tissues that present in the runner, on a daily basis, and this is where the Run And Strength (RAS) for Runners program differs.

The RAS for Runners program is a month long coaching service with daily and sessional communication. After a need analysis and planning, each session is reviewed, analyzed, and feedback is provided on how to better structure or modify the session in the context of the overall program.  All you have to do is communicate your electronic training files, your perceptions about the training and lets have a conversation, finding the most practical and individualized training intervention.

The focus of the program, is obviously to improving running ability….but how? Some of the underlying and objectives of the program include:

1. Build a strong, robust and resilient musculoskeletal system.
2. Develop efficient energy producing machinery/components of the body.
3. Improve the internal health status of the system in order to sustain to the demands of running.

However, this is a process that needs to be worked through and problem solved in an agile manner. Meticulous planning and progressive overload are necessary in developing ones running abilities. Let me help guide you through this process and improve your performance.

‘Strength‘

From a physical preparation point of view, strength and conditioning means, methods, incorporated in the Run And Strength (RAS) for Runners program is geared toward, increasing tissue tolerance to training loads. The forces and stresses associated with running are significant, and when imparted, in volumes, on poor; mobility, stability, movement and low tissue capacities, typically injury results. Therefore we need to develop a high level of tissue tolerance to training loads in order to undertake running programs, and build physical resilience in pursuit of the regular and frequent work (running) necessary to improve endurance abilities. The R.A.S for Runners program uses a multifactorial approach to improving running performance:

• • Mobility, joint alignment, centration and mobility, to achieve better body positions, and postures that create efficient, fluent and less restricted movement (neurodevelopmental influence).

  • Stability, motor control strategies, to increase sensory input and reflexive movement to affect whole body coordination and technique (motor learning influence).
  • Tissue strength and capacities to dampen and tolerate the forces associate with running, as well as increasing force output and propulsion (mechanical force, tension and strength influence).

All of the above can be targeted in what may be broadly termed, a Strength training or Strength and Conditioning Program. However, strength is specific. Specificity of training is a principle of exercise prescription and human adaptation that must be adhered to in order for maximum transfer to the event. The organism responds specifically to the stress and signal that it is exposed to. Strength training theory and research has made this clear. Making a muscle stronger is easy, making a movement better and stronger is more complicated, making a movement stronger in the face of fatigue, pressure, and reactive environments is more complicated again.

Common in the strength training programs of endurance runners are what I term ‘sterile’ exercises, they are basic force development exercises. Performed slowly, in a pre-planned, biomechanically efficient and stable manner, and can produce high forces through moving relatively large masses. These can be very useful at certain points of the program; general preparation and development, maintenance etc. However, not wanting regurgitate this sort of information and programming, I do want to prepare runners more specifically and alert you as to what is different about the R.A.S for Runners program.

Outlining exercises or program variables, that is for individualized coaching, and solving problems as I see them. The purpose of this blog is to outline PRINCIPLES and components of training and transfer that I have used in the physical preparation of professional teams, and now in the preparation of endurance runners.

1. 1. Create and regain mobility in the system for fluent, unrestricted and efficient movement.
   2. Integrate and challenge the senses, plan small failures, and follow a hierarchy in order to correct, learn and solve the movement efficiency problem.
   3. Incorporate ‘non-sterile’ and reflexively coordinated style strength training.
   4. Create higher levels of mechanical tension and force with whole body eccentric overload techniques.
   5. Employ running form that engages innate reflexes, physiological mechanisms and the appropriate tissues, that humans have evolved with.
   6. Perform all this on a flexible and healthy metabolism, and adaptation to stressors and chronic workload will be less interrupted.

If any of this draws your interest and would like to see and feel how all of this is integrated into a running specific performance producing program, please see the shop or contact for coaching services.

If you want to work, I want to work with you!