WTF is “Load Management"?

Since the turn of the century, the San Antonio Spurs are the winningest team in the NBA. No doubt, a lot of their success can be attributed to having had a bevy of current and future Hall of Famers on their rosters. But perhaps no single person has been more influential in their success than head coach (and famous curmudgeon) Gregg Popovich.

Under Popovich, the Spurs have run off a stretch of 18 straight 50-win seasons and 22 consecutive playoff appearances. Obviously, Popovich is a brilliant basketball strategist; you don’t win that many games by accident. But his brilliance appears to extend off the court, too -- specifically, to the human body and its need for rest and recovery. (Note: he likely also has the help of a world-class sports medicine team.)

Case in point: in 2012 Popovich famously rested his four best players on the night of a nationally televised game. It was an unfortunate decision for fans around the country who were stuck watching the Spurs’ B-squad. Although the Spurs ended up losing the game, the move proved to be the right one for them in the long-run. They won the championship that season.

Do’s and Don’ts for Recovering from Injury

Have you ever wanted to be able to do one thing so badly, yet it was the only thing you couldn't do?

There I was, a little over a month ago, standing underneath my pull-up bar. Like any other morning, I was planning to hammer out a few reps before starting my schoolwork. Only this day turned out not to be like any other morning. As I started my first rep, pain seared through my back and arm muscles. Thinking I was just sore from rock climbing the day before, I tried again. The result was the same: shooting pain.

I had never felt this type of pain before. It took me a few moments to wrap my mind around the reality of the situation: I was injured.

The strange thing is that I don't remember suffering the injury. It must have happened while rock climbing, but I couldn't recall an acute episode where the injury occurred. I just woke up that morning and had intense pain when I tried the pull-up.

Assuming the injury was minor, I rested up for a few days and tried a pull-up again. Searing pain just like the previous go round. The severity of the injury was beginning to dawn on me. It was going to be a hot minute until I’d be back to doing any pull-ups or climbing.

As a calisthenics junkie, I was majorly bummed. Just a few weeks before, I'd set a new personal best time for 100 pull-ups. Now I couldn't do a single one.

Thinking back, there were some yellow flags that an injury was brewing. In the days leading up, I was more sore than normal and had a harder time loosening up when I climbed. I didn't think anything of it at the time, and I obviously should have.

My eternal optimism wouldn’t allow me to wallow for long, though. I decided to take my own advice. I reframed the situation as an opportunity for self-growth rather than a setback, and I set to work on rehab.

How to Train More Without Getting Hurt [SimpliFaster]

Training for peak performance is tricky business. Push too hard, and you get hurt. Don’t push hard enough, and you still get hurt (from being unprepared for the rigors of competition).

Luckily, there’s a new way to measure how hard you’re working. And amazingly, the research shows it actually protects against injury. That’s right: sports scientists have finally figured out How to Train More Without Getting Hurt.

I break down all the latest research -- and show how to implement it -- in my brand new article for SimpliFaster:

https://simplifaster.com/articles/train-more-without-injuries/

Planning Your Attack on Recovery [ExerciseGeeks.com]

Like most men his age, Joe (age 45) keeps very busy. He works late hours and hustles to get to the gym three evenings per week while still making time for his wife and kids. With his busy schedule, Joe's lucky if he gets a consistent 6 hours of sleep per night.

Joe tries to eat well, but he has a few downfalls (primarily ice cream, beer, and soft pretzels). He knows a home-cooked meal is a better choice than fast food, but given his time constraints, sometimes he just doesn’t have any other option. The one thing he does well is drink plenty of water (and craft beer).

Joe’s always been a man on-the-go, but lately he’s been feeling more tired than ever. He wants to shed the extra pounds he gained over the holidays, build his chest and biceps back up to what they once were, and be able to keep up better with his vivacious children on the playground.

Seemingly, he’s doing everything he can in the gym to meet those goals. Yet he finds himself spinning his wheels -- and even going backwards in some respects. Lately, he’s been struggling just to get his shoes on in the morning, his flexibility limited after tweaking an old back injury while shoveling.

Why is it that Joe just can’t seem to make any progress? It’s likely because he’s barely considering the yin to the yang of hard training: recovery.

In our new article on ExerciseGeeks.com, we break down everything Joe (and you) need to consider when you’re “Planning Your Attack on Recovery:”

>>http://exercisegeeks.com/2016/02/07/planning-your-attack-on-recovery/

Recover Like No Other

Perhaps you're after bigger numbers in the major lifts, or maybe a better physique. How about improved athletic performance and injury reduction, or even faster times in your CrossFit conditioners? No matter your fitness goal, in order to achieve that goal you must be at your best each and every training session. In other words, you have to have recovered from your previous workouts in order to maximize your performance on subsequent ones.

Just as fatigue takes many forms (muscular, neurological, and psychological), so must recovery. Below, we take a three-pronged approach to the recovery process: (1) post-workout cool-down, (2) program design, and (3) general refueling. Attending to these matters will keep us feeling our best and performing at our highest level workout after workout.

Photo courtesy: http://www.spirituallyunequalmarriage.com/my_weblog/2013/07/disapointment-recovery.html