Welcome to Autumn! In the next few weeks a freshness will creep into the morning air, reminding you how great it is to start your day with outdoor exercise. Congratulations to those who sweated it out on Thursday morning in particular - I hear it was pretty tough.
Unfortunately, the mulching situation hasn't been resolved as quickly as we hoped, and sessions will need to remain at the skate park and adjacent arches for the time being. The change of scenery seems to have kept things interesting and certainly provided some variety for the photos.Â
Hopefully everyone is feeling good as the warmer months slip by, but it's worth taking note of any tightness, lack of joint mobility, weakness or imbalance that comes up. It can be easy to dismiss these things as an unavoidable byproduct of getting older or working harder, but the reality is that without addressing these, many will eventually find it impacts their exercise. Some will need time to recover, others will fall short of their performance potential.
A better approach is to work some prehabilitation (prehab)Â into your routine. Prehab is a proactive approach to injury prevention and performance optimisation. While rehabilitation focuses on restoring function after injury, prehab aims to identify and address potential weaknesses and imbalances before they lead to injury. Once potential problems are identified, targeted exercises can improve joint stability, muscular strength, flexibility and mobility, which also leads to more efficient movement, more power and better overall performance.Â
Shoulders, lower back, hips, knees and ankles are typical target areas. If you have more serious concerns it is worth having an assessment done by a physio, who will put together a personalised rehab program for you. If you are looking to make smaller proactive adjustments, I've included links below to a few videos from The Prehab Guys. Their youtube page has loads of content if you're keen to look into other areas of concern.
In addition to targeted exercises, remember to focus on good form and engaging the appropriate muscles with good alignment throughout each session. Recovery strategies such as foam rolling, stretching and mobility work will also help alleviate muscle tension, improve tissue quality and reduce the risk of overuse injuries and keep you in the park at Daybreak.
Here's some photos from the week. Andy will be taking the session this Saturday, and looks forward to seeing you in Balmain! Have a fabulous weekend.Â
