About a year and a half ago I collapsed at home.
I stood up off the couch and hit the deck.
My had back exploded in a major way, and I was left crawling around on my hands and knees trying to find my phone to call Sarah so she could come home and bring me to hospital.
Turns out I was relatively lucky – my sacroilliac joint had just exploded and created the mother of all spasms in the surround musculature. I was able to move relatively normal again within a week or two, but I was left with a lingering hip pain that hurt every time I squat.
Whatever had gone wrong, I’d managed to twist my pelvis slightly. Did a lot of breathing drills, core resets and the likes and over time it got better. BUT I it still give me grief every now and again.
I’m also acutely aware that now I’m in my 30s, I should probably look after my body in addition to abusing it. You know – stretching, cardio etc.
So I started using ROMWODÂ – it’s a daily stretching and movement based program, but it’s designed for “functional performance”. Basically, it was put together to make you move better for CrossFit. And since that means hinging, squatting and overhead positions, it’s perfect for me.
Every morning for the last 8 days I’ve done one of the 20 minute ROMWODs (they’re video’d so you just follow along on your phone) and squatting on Saturday felt nicer than it’s felt in a LONG time.
…I even went for a short jog and felt like an actual athlete :/
Anyway. It’s great. I love it. For just $15/month it’s a brilliant investment in staying healthy and injury free.
The second tool I’ve started using and really like is Layne Norton’s Avatar Nutrition. One of the hardest parts for me about dieting is sticking to a plan and not looking for greener grass somewhere else.
Avatar nutrition is a perfect solution here because based off your weight, age, body fat %, activity levels and a myriad of other factors it automagically calculates your calorie and macro requirements. It’ll even readjust them based off whether you prefer a higher amount of carbs or fats.
(the initial questionnaire is an 8 step process that goes into a fairly solid level of detail)
But the best part is that each week you re-weigh, re-test bodyfat% and it recalculates your new calorie and macro requirements so you’re constantly moving forward and will avoid plateaus.
Just knowing that’s going on is SO huge from a mental standpoint, because it’s very easy to not see the scales move and dismiss it as a plateau, when really it could be your adherence isn’t where it should be.
I’ve always found training the easy part.
It’s eating right and looking after myself outside of sessions is difficult.
And for the sake of €20 each month, having those two tools to help is an amazing confidence boost.
(ROMWOD is $15/month, but you’ll get a 14 day free trial with that link. Avatar Nutrition is $10/month)
TL;DR – Join these sites ROMWODÂ &Â Avatar Nutrition