PHILOSOPHIES.
Fitness is a fad word more than ever today. With social media flooding your feed with 'transformations', models wearing the latest 'fitness fashion' and generally people jacked out of their minds! Health and performance on the other hand, are far less superficial. Real world capability is necessary to do anything other than sit on the couch.
Lets get real and first address the basics, then we can find out what you really want.
Injury prevention-Don't get hurt.
"Hard and fast", "Go hard or go home", "No pain no gain" These mantras seem to be synonymous with any exercise or training practice. Woven into our culture. How many people do you know who use any one of these taglines? and how many of them have been injured? The body is a precision instrument. Capable of amazing feats of power and endurance - when used correctly.
Before we begin to explore our personal capabilities, we need to prepare our body for the work ahead and allow it to make any adaptations at a controlled rate. Herein lies the foundation to any diligent practice. Build a solid foundation by increasing range of motion, creating functional stability and learning to use your instrument to perform in your chosen discipline.
performance Longevity- Do it for a long time.
The 'Now' culture prevalent today is the antithesis of human performance. Yes the body is capable of great things, but adaptation takes time. But if you are willing to allow the time to make these adaptations, you will in turn, allow yourself to continue to perform (and progress) well into the future. There is no need to reside yourself to the premise that you have a limited time in which to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. Train with patients and discipline -and do it for a long time.
Improved Aerobic base- Killing it with the kids or Kilian Jornet
It doesn't matter if your looking to become an ultra distance athlete or if you want to just not get out of breath trying to keep up with energetic toddlers. Improving your endurance is a benefit to us all. Increased aerobic capacity is not attained by a quick interval session. Again, we have been lead down the garden path in thinking that harder must be better. The secrets lie with diligence, paired with a measured approach, tailored to your performance goal and your individual ability. Producing measurable improvements, without injury and well into the future.
Lee, In Moab after climbing 52 pitches for "fun" on his birthday
REPs Registered Physical Trainer
I'm a Climber, an Alpinist and a mountain runner. I also have to keep up with Six-year-old and my wife. I need to be outside, dirty and tired. Then go home and eat doughnuts! I am a qualified Trainer and have long history of working with mountain athletes.
Growing up I was always the "over active" kid, fortunate enough to have a natural disposition for athletic pursuits, but never good enough to be the first without actually trying.
I hated team sports, and pretty much anything mainstream. From a young age I was outside, exploring, engaging and cultivating a deeper sense of what people call their "happy place". I was exposed to athleticism via my parents, and introduced to the mountains before I'd even begun high school.
Climbing was considered a fringe activity in the early 90's. But this only fueled my desire and focused my attention.
As I grew older, I fell deeply in love with the natural environment, the cornerstone of this was the freedom that comes with being capable, and wanting to go further.
Naturally, I began to hone my skills by making adaptations to my lifestyle that would inform my choices in the backcountry. this started out with a few runs here and there, some minor dietary changes and later, the introduction of mindful practice. This would eventually lead to a dedicated lifestyle that is in constant pursuit of improved mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing and a constant desire to develop a deeper understanding of human physiology.
Having spent 17 years utilizing and progressing my abilities to make a living, firstly as an Arborist for 14 years then as Mountain rescue at Aoraki/Mt Cook for 3 years, I have been forced to modulate my training to accommodate a large volume and learned to dedicate time to the neglected art of recovery. Because...
“training = work + rest” (+ recovery doughnuts)