High Vs Low Days

Think high versus low. High days consists of grinding through reps, going to failure and peeling yourself off the floor.

By contrast, low days are about restoring the stuff we tend to lose with more intense efforts such as variability of movement and aerobic endurance.

Training these two qualities effectively serve as the "yin" to the "yang" of high performance and are absolutely essential for quality recovery to occur.

The key here is not to run yourself in to the ground. But rather keep heart rate aerobic or around 120-150 beats per minute. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to breath thru your nose only during each exercise.

So what do you currently do in your off days?

Here is a circuit I recommend for promoting better movement and getting a conditioning effect.

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

1️⃣Set a click for 30 minutes and perform each exercise for 30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest.

2️⃣Set a click for 30 minutes and Perform each exercise back to back without stopping

𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀

1. Power skip

2. High crawl

3. Lateral heiden w/bounce

4. Crab crawl

5. No hands get up

Side Plank Circuit

Side Planks are a fantastic exercise to encourage alternating expansion and compression on opposite sides of the body. Because we must shift to our stance side during walking, encouraging this same lateral shift in our standing exercise is an exaggeration of what we do every time we take a step or move across stage.

Here is the circuit:

𝟭. 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝟭 + 𝟮- 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰 - Push thru the down slow and laterally flexing downward the ceiling and reaching overhead - Inhale to stretch and fill the top side before exhaling and returning to the beginning

𝟮. 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝟯- 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 - Tuck pelvis and push knees forward to drop in to a quarter squat - Reach R arm overhead while dropping left shoulder and flexing to the left - Inhale and exhale on this side before repeating on the opposite side.

Can you do this? If not, no wonder your hip and back hurt.

Lifting of the big toe is one of the key actions that are necessary to pull the hip thru each step and supinate or roll the foot out.

Think of it as a rudder which directs foot pressure. If it cannot lift, the foot and leg stay rolled in and never initiates the sequence up the chain necessary to fully push off. As a result certain muscles stay on inappropriately and create tension and potential pain.

What we want is to break down the ability to transition between pronation (foot rolled in) and supination (foot rolling out) in smaller movements that then transfer to bigger patterns.

Try this three exercise sequence to do just that as part of your warm up or home exercise program.