Sports psychology

Most clients who come to us looking for weight loss will tell us one or all of the following: They don’t have (translates to make) time for breakfast They will grab a tiny salad for lunch They will have a glass or two of wine with a full and often rich dinner in the evening In this model the fuel your body needs is mainly coming from your evening meal. You will be better placed to spread your fuelling throughout the day, and use it more efficiently if you vary the quantities to mirror times when your body needs it the most and least. From the minute you wake until about 3pm your body is working hard to perform all the functions you demand of it, then it slows significantly until bed time. Giving the body what it needs and when means that you are likely to increase your metabolic rate (the rate at which it performs all of its functions) as it will no longer be in a state of need. This will lead to it using more fuel…..the majority of which is FAT!! bish bash bosh….weight loss!

We don’t think much about running economy when we buy a pair of new running shoes. First we want protection from harmful objects. And then we expect cushioning and/or motion control–the stuff of injury prevention. But this is where things get strange, because scientific studies have had a hard time proving that shoes represent a big step forward from the naked foot. The results of several experiments have shown little change in shock absorption or motion-control in shod versus unclad feet. This apparent difference seems hard to believe. All that foam padding and all those posts, bridges, and dual-density midsoles have to be doing something, right? Of course they are; they’re deceiving the body. When you run barefoot, your body precisely engages your vision, your brain, the soles of your feet, and all the muscles, bones, tendons, and supporting structures of your feet and legs. They leap to red alert, and give you a high degree of protection from the varied pressures and forces of running. On the other hand, when you run in socks, shoes, inserts, midsoles and outsoles, your body loses a lot of input. This has been called ‘the perceptual illusion’ of running shoes. With shoes, your body switches off to a degree, and your reaction time decreases.” This can lead to common running injuries such as shin splints and “runners knee” and so the search for a more natural running form. To readdress the balance, it is important to note that many so called barefoot runners are picking up injuries from running on hard surfaces like tarmac which can over strain the achilles and plantar fascia as well as which modern man spends most of his time in shoes, and this weakens many of the foot and leg structures, thus making barefoot running without any strengthening or gradually building program equally stressful on the body.