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Why Your Body Needs You To Disconnect

About a year ago I picked up a book called "The Off Switch" by Professor Mark Cropley which was all about learning to disconnect. Ironically the book has only just made its way to the resting place of all good, and not so good books: the bookshelf. You see it took me a year to finish the book not only because I tend to read about three books at once (the joys of being a part time Uni student), but I also was not very good at heeding the advice in the book and actually switching off. Like many...

Race Day Preparation : By Guest Blogger Lisa Tamati

Get your preparations right so you get to the start line of your race. Mentally and physically prepared and knowing you haven't forgotten anything or done anything that could be detrimental to your performan... Runners quite often ask me what's the best way to prepare for race day. Everyone has own processes they go through and for me, as an ultra runner, it can be quite a complex exercise, depending on the event I am facing, the length, the temperatures and weather etc, so I asked a friend Dr...

Marathon: Run Less, Run Faster

With winter marathons looming, runners are once again dusting off their running shoe and hitting the trails. This year I'm lucky enough to be joining them, after taking a wee hiatus over the past couple of years from running marathons. In my hiatus I've explored more functional forms of fitness which has more latterly meant Crossfit. The increased resistance training and more interval-based style of training has profoundly changed my mindset. You see, 2008 Sam got himself to the marathon st...

Will Lifting Straps Improve My Lift?

For the uninitiated, a lifting strap is a strap that allows you to loop one end around your wrists, whilst the other end is looped around whatever you're lifting (be it dumbbells or barbells) thereby tethering the weight to your wrists giving you a firm grip on the weight and preventing the weight from sliding out of your hands due to deficiencies in your grip strength, sweating, small hands, or just our good mate... fatigue. ...

Boost Recovery and Avoid Injury Through Myofacial Release with these BLACKROLL® Tips for Runners

US Studies have pointed to the fact that "the overall yearly incidence rate for running injuries varies between 37 and 56%" (Source: US National Institute of Health), which varies depending on the specificity of the runners concerned (competitive, professional, amateur etc'). The data suggests, as does anecdotal evidence that running is an amazingly beneficial physical pursuit, however not without injury....

MAKING SENSE OF HITT ALL

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is a type of training that delivers quick, intense bursts of exercise, with short (and in many cases, active) rest periods. Your heart races, and ultimately the goal is to burn more fat in less time by creating an oxygen shortage during the work phase of your workout, leaving your body craving oxygen during your recovery. This is known as EPOC or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption and lies at the centre of HIIT's success: as you'll be burning more f...

HOW BLACKROLL® IS CHANGING NEW ZEALAND CROSSFIT

A recent German study looked at the training behaviour of about 3.000 CrossFit athletes and 100 CrossFit Box owners. It found a Crossfit Box was more likely to be equipped with a roll like BLACKROLL® (96%) than a shower (73%) (source BLACKROLL.com). Crossfit as a sport clearly understand the advantages of rolling to boost mobility, optimise recovery, enhance flexibility and now more than ever we understand the advantages that BLACKROLL® specifically offers Crossfit athletes. ...

Self Myofascial Release: Enhancing Kiwi Performance and Recovery

Whatever you sport you've undoubtedly had those sore spots, tight knots, aches and pains at some stage. Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) alleviates this discomfort, and whether you're a weekend warrior or a professional athlete SMR will see you moving better, recovering faster, and performing optimally. Your Fascia "The muscular system not only functions but is basically held together, because of an important but often overlooked tissue: the fascia. Collectively, this connective tissue, whi...

The mistakes we made in 2016.

Its generally about this time of year that our TV's, radios, magazines and newspapers become cluttered with reviews of the year that was. We learn, perhaps ad nauseam about the best of's, the worst of's as well as the lowlights and the highlights of the year that was. Its a nice easy brief for journalists to fill I guess as they start to wind down into the festive season. Without wanting to emulate this kind of list, I've compiled a pretty blunt, factual list of the mistakes I made in our firs...

Them Summer Runs

As the cooler spring morning subside, giving way to the warmer summer ones, many folk pop their running shoes away to hibernate for the summer. And who can blame them? Heat sucks. And the flies. Couple this with the wind-up of the core running calendar for the year and you could be forgiven for thinking there's just cause here. But then you'd be missing something. Summer is a great time to train and more specifically run. Longer daylight hours are awesome. Lighter mornings, and longer evening...

Eat More Carbs, Love From Active Nation*

Last weekend Caroline and I had a bit of an indulgent weekend. Our indulgence is usually fairly short-lived (sadly), but doesn't revolve around sugars and fats in their truest form: but always carbs. Come Monday morning we both felt bloated, and we banished all bread, pasta and rice from our house (actually I think they're just taking a much needed vacation behind a rather domineering tin of coffee). But were we justified in our war on carbs? Probably not. I decided to have a bit of a poke ...

Grip Strength: What It Means For Your Overall Fitness

It would seem we are almost genetically predisposed somehow to working mainly our larger muscle groups when we train. Maybe we do this because at a subconscious level we know working these bigger muscle groups burns more calories, and it accelerates our metabolism. So fair enough. But what about your hand muscles? What Your Grip Strength Says About You Hand grip strength is important for a host of reasons, with doorknobs, tight jars and impressive handshakes, a wee way down that list. N...

3 Easy Steps To Changing Your Mindset For A Better Body

Spring is here, and the roads, cycle tracks, and gyms are again toppling with re-invigorated exercisers who have emerged from hibernation (and conceivably some a little worse for wear). Whilst training smart, following a clean diet, sleeping well, and staying hydrated are our top tips for a better body, we often forget the mind. I was reminded of this the other day when I read something interesting about of all things; investors in the US sharemarket (arguably not so good for your health). ...