Matt Barker is back from his two year working holiday in London and we are stoked to have him back. I’m sure there are plenty of people super happy to know Matty is back. We’ve asked him some questions on his fave parts of Europe. We also asked for the latest food spots from BIM’s resident foodie. Matt was working in one of the worlds most fancy Physio clinics so we wanted to know how that was also.

With summer fast approaching you see all kinds of weird and wonderful ab exercises popping up around the place, with everyone attempting to do something crazier than the next. I decided to find out which exercises are more beneficial to us, and point out those causing more harm than good.

We need to understand why doing certain exercises are so bad for us. Firstly, it usually involves over-working the upper abdominals and hip flexors whilst under working the lower abdominals and more importantly your DEEPER abdominals like your transverse abdominus and pelvic floor muscles. 

An Achilles injury is  frustrating but very common. The Achilles tendon is a really important spring that propels you forward during walking, running or jumping. It is generally injured when you over load the Achilles spring with too much spring.

Common over Achilles springing can include some of the following common examples

• Adding some sprint training or faster tempo sets when you haven’t done these for some time

• Coming out of lockdown and trying to do your fave explosive gym class at the same intensity as pre lockdown

• Going for a PB in a half marathon by sprinting the last kilometre

If you have ever had a hamstring strain you definitely don’t forget about it anytime soon . Whether you were sprinting along at full pace for the ball or doing sprints at the park. It stops you immediately in your tracks. It’s like someone just kicked you in the back of the leg, you stop immediately and do that stiff legged urgent bathroom walk. Alternatively you just lie on your back holding your thigh because the pain and cramping are so bad. It can look pretty black and bruised sometimes and you just do not want to move your leg.

The hamstring has to do a lot when you sprint. It has to move your hip and knee at the same time because it crosses both joints. The most common point you get a hamstring strain is when you are swinging your leg through at full pace just before your foot strikes the ground (terminal swing). It’s at this point that the hamstring has to really decelerate the leg before it hits the ground while the hamstring is in a very stretched position.

Oxygen has become the new wonder drug. The simple art of breathing has taken the crown of sleeping. Just like the coconut did to kale and goji berries. 

Something we do subconsciously and automatically has now been broken down into a bunch of different systems and made to be complex. It can be overwhelming on which one to pick. To be honest they are all great. I’d probably just start with something simple which we will go over later. Like running 5kms instead of a marathon the first time you try. 

Physio’s don’t just treat muscle strains! We assess and treat the entire musculoskeletal system; bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, fascia, tendons, and more. If you have an issue (pain, stiffness, weakness, instability) that is associated with movement, then it is likely that a Physio is the right person for you!

While pain and injury aren’t the same thing, most of us are at increased risk of both at the moment during this lockdown. Here’s why…Injuries occur when you push your body beyond its physical limit. But humans are very resilient, so we often don’t see injury just from pushing to a physical limit. Research into risk factors behind stress fractures found that a change in physical load didn’t correlate to increased injury risk, neither did a change in stress levels nor did a change in sleep quality. However, when two of these three factors changed, the risk of bone injury increased significantly. This is something we see carry across most injuries, and it makes a lot of sense. If you change your physical behaviours, your body has the capacity to absorb that, but if you haven’t been sleeping and recovering well, then it is more difficult for your body to deal with a change in physical demand at the same time, so injury is more likely. Similarly, if your body is under constant stress you don’t recover as well from physical tasks, and so you may need more recovery time before you exert yourself again.

If I’ve treated you over the last 2 weeks, there is little doubt that I have talked your ear off about my latest read James Nestor’s Breath. He takes you through his personal journey of research and discovery in to the power of breath. He advocates for investing a little bit of time in to this often-overlooked yet pivotal element of our lives. When harnessed correctly, breathing can not only minimise autoimmune and respiratory diseases, but can massively maximise athletic performance. He warns that when done incorrectly, breathing can open a gateway toward a multitude of chronic physiological and psychological disease states. I was blown away reading about how poor breathing patterns likely plays a role in the maintenance and perhaps cause of certain conditions like high blood pressure, ADHD, cancer, depression, diabetes, scoliosis, periodontal disease and bad breath… just to name a few.  

BIMFIT Rehab Pilates classes are unique. If you’ve been to us for physio you know we like to do things differently, and our BIMFIT Rehab classes are no different. Here’s why:

IT’S ABOUT YOU!

You aren’t doing the same exercises as the person next to you. You’re doing the stuff you need, and they’re doing what they need. I often hear people telling me they were doing Pilates for their injury but it didn’t help. If you’re in a group class where everyone is doing the same thing, the class is not tailored to you. It’s not tailored for anyone. And if it’s in a big gym it’s probably not even designed by the instructor. In our classes you will only do what you need or want to do. This means you don’t have to modify anything, you don’t walk out feeling like you couldn’t do anything, and you can see progression by doing your favourite exercise every session!!

People often ask me ‘What is the best kind of exercise for me’? 

To be honest, while some exercise forms are better for some people than others, on the whole - too much of anything is not a great thing, and my answer is usually -‘ You need to mix it up” 

Those people who only do Yoga should do some strength and Cardio

Those people who only run should do some strength, Yoga or Pilates 

Those people who only do Pilates need to do some Cardio and Strength - especially for women who need to load their bones to prevent Osteoporosis.