Holistic Highlight #005
Movement Prep, Morning Hydration, Being Mindful
Hey everyone! Welcome back to the Holistic Highlight. This weekend I had the pleasure of traveling up to South Carolina to Sorinex HQ to learn from the expert coaches from Wolf Brigade Gym on movement diagnostics. It was great reconnecting with friends and came back ready to better serve those I coach.
The holidays are approaching and with that, so is the new year. If you have started identifying your goals for the new year or haven’t yet and getting in better shape or preparing for a big competition or event and you need training, please feel free to reach out!
Last thing, my website is currently being revamped and will be ready before the beginning of the new year! I will keep you all posted.
Lets get down to business, today I will be discussing the following.
Why movement prep is important
My morning hydration cocktail
Being mindful
Why movement prep is important
To start, you may be asking, what the hell is movement prep? Movement prep to me is a warm-up specific to the main movements you will be performing in your workout.
Movement prep to me is performing low to high repetitions on exercises that will work the muscles involved in the main exercise. Second priming your central nervous system for more efficient motor unit and muscle recruitment through heavier loads at partial range of motions or plyometric and ballistic movements like sprints, jumps, and throws.
Let’s say I am performing a conventional deadlift for my main movement. The main muscle groups involved will be along my entire posterior chain including my hamstrings, glutes, erectors, lats, upper back, and your grip. In order to get these muscle groups warmed up I will perform lower intensity exercises like hamstring curls, back extensions, lat pull-downs or rows, hip abduction/adduction or a form of squat to get everything firing and ready for the deadlift. I usually like to pick 3-4 movements and perform 2 sets of 6-12 reps each depending on the movement.
Another example would be for bench press, where I primarily will be recruiting my pecs, lats, upper back, triceps and shoulders. My favorite movements to prepare are utilizing a TRX strap and performing either reverse flys, face-pulls or Y-raises for my upperback and rear delts, followed by either TRX rows or lat pull-downs and a push-up variation or light sets of dumbbell bench press.
Now for priming your central nervous system I will typically have a power/potentiation block of exercises either paired with or before my main exercise. This will include any variations of sprints, jumps and med ball throws to improve rate of force development so that when we perform our main exercise like the deadlift at heavier loads, our nervous system can produce force at a faster rate, leading to more explosive lifts.
If you haven’t implemented a movement prep into your routine before, give it a go next workout and take note of what movements work for you and benefit your workouts the most.
My morning hydration cocktail
I’ve been asked a few times in the past couple weeks about hydration so I thought it would be good to address morning hydration. Hydrating upon waking up is very important, as it is your most dehydrated state through out the day after sleeping and not drinking any fluids for 7-8 hours (ideally).
Drinking 16-30oz of water upon waking up is great, but there are a few ways you can further enhance your morning beverage and get your brain and muscles hydrated faster and more efficiently. Here is the concoction I make every morning.
24oz of water
1 Tsp of celtic sea salt
5 grams of creatine monohydrate
1 lime squeezed
Celtic sea salt
Salt is one of the main electrolytes our body requires and helps our body retain water. Celtic sea salt specifically, is minimally processed allowing it to contain a vast amount of trace minerals like magnesium, calcium and potassium. to help further enhance your hydration and replenish sodium levels from intense exercise and sweating.
Creatine Monohydrate
We previously went over creatine monohydrate in Holistic Highlight #003, so head on over to that highlight a more in depth explanation of the benefits of creatine. Creatine monohydrate helps saturate your muscle with water and is beneficial to take prior to working out. If you are like me and like to work out early in the morning, taking something that enhances performance and hydration is key.
If you are interested in purchasing creatine, I recommend purchasing it from Thorne through the link below
1 Lime Squeezed
Drinking lime juice infused water has a number of health benefits, not to mention when combined with the salt it makes for a nice limeade in the morning. Lime juice is high in vitamin C which helps boost your immune system, helps build collagen for joints, bones and skin, enhances iron absorption, and is a powerful antioxidant that helps rid your body of free radicals.
Try out this mixture for yourself and see how you like it!
Being mindful
Being mindful, or practicing mindfulness, is focusing and fully immersing yourself in the present.
As a business owner, coach, and someone who is constantly wanting to learn and improve myself, I very often thinking, analyzing, and trying to figure things out. I am thinking of future plans and endeavors, goals I have set for myself, trips I want to take, material possessions I want to obtain. What I don’t do often enough though is settle my mind in the present and appreciate where I am now.
I sometimes think back where I was 5 years ago when I feel things aren’t going my way, or I am having a bad day. When I reflect, I realize I would have killed to be where I am today. 5 years ago I was on the tail end of my unpaid internship with UCF Football, living with my college roommates, over a year removed from graduate school, living off protein shakes I made in the nutrition room of the training center (it was basically a closet when I was there), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and usually only had a carton of eggs and some yogurt in the fridge at home. I made no money and was applying to every GA and assistant strength coach position I could find with no luck at the time. Today I own a home, have a dog, make a living doing what I love, help others live a better life and achieve their goals, and have an amazing group of people around me that support me.
It is thoughts like that, that make me realize I am where I dreamed of being 5 years ago, and being mindful and present to enjoy that fact only makes me smile.
It’s not wrong to keep an eye on the prize, or constantly keep a goal in mind that you are pursuing, those are actually great things, but every now and then it is important to be where your feet are and live in the moment and embrace where you are.
This can lead to reduced levels of stress and anxiety, improve your cognitive ability, and increase your sense of well-being.
So the next time you are overwhelmed, find your mind racing on future endeavors or ideas, or need to relax. Take a moment to slow down, let the racing thoughts go and focus on the current moment and where you are now, be thankful for what you have, where you have come from, or the drive you have to get to where you want.
See you all next week.
Cory