What is powerlifting and how can it benefit you?

When the words ‘powerlifting’ or ‘powerlifters’ come to mind you might think of big burly men pushing stacks of iron and devouring mountains of food. But, as I have found from my own personal experience, this isn’t really the standout feature of powerlifting and certainly isn’t a necessity when incorporating it into your fitness regimen. In this article I will be discussing exactly what powerlifting is, how it compares to other training styles and will point out some of the positives of this style of training in particular.

What is powerlifting?

Powerlifting is a sport which focuses on getting as strong as possible in the three primary lifts, also known as ‘the big 3”. The deadlift, squat and bench press. These exercises form the foundation of powerlifting training and the first focus for anyone new to the sport is to learn how to do each movement with appropriate technique. Once the technique has been mastered, then the focus can shift to lifting as much weight as possible whilst maintaining good technique.

Since the goal of powerlifting is to lift as much as possible, powerlifting workouts involve low reps (generally 2-4 repetitions per set) with high percentage of maximal weight and long rest periods between sets (3 minutes or longer).

 

Bodybuilding, in comparison, uses higher rep ranges (often >8 reps per set) which is better suited to increasing muscle size (hypertrophy) rather than power. This is also very different to the programming found in high intensity interval style (HIIT) gyms that have become popular in recent times. So why would someone like to train this way?

As a novice to powerlifting these are the benefits I’ve enjoyed so far:

  • The simplicity: almost the whole body is trained in just three lifts! This also means I can easily remember whether I am ready for another session of either deadlifts, squats, or bench press.
  • The functional component: the big 3 lifts each require action of multiple joints and muscles and increases the strength of the entire body. Squatting is essentially getting in and out of a chair, deadlifting is picking something up off the ground and bench press helps with everyday pushing and pulling movements
  • Better connection with my body: each training session pushes me to my limits! I have to focus hard to ensure my brain talks to my muscles effectively to get maximum recruitment of all the right muscles for the lift I’m working on. I’ve found that by pushing my nervous system to its limits I am feeling stronger rapidly. This type of strength is known as neuromuscular strength and refers to the brain having improved communication with your muscles. Improved communication with muscles can contribute to Injury prevention
  • Powerlifting has a unique way of motivating you that likely stems from its simplicity. Many people will tell you – there is just something really satisfying in seeing the numbers of each lift increasing. I feel motivated to persevere to keep going and increase the weight that I’m able to lift in each exercise.As a final note, make sure that whatever exercise you choose, it is something you enjoy doing. If you are stuck in an exercise rut, then powerlifting might be the right thing to spark your enjoyment and motivation. Make sure you tell your physio if you are starting any new exercise and ensure your body is moving well to avoid injuries. At Barefoot we can develop a plan to get you back to exercise and even ready to try powerlifting if that is your personal goal.

Want to learn more about powerlifiting? Or book an appointment at Barefoot? Click the link here. Physio Alistair

How to survive the silly season!

With the silly season well and truly in full-swing, it can sometimes be challenging to stay on track with your health goals. While we recognise the importance of balance and enjoying the holidays and time spent with friends and family, we want to help everyone stay as healthy as possible.

Here are our top tricks and tips:

  • Be kind to others and yourself. Bringing joy to others is proven to improve our mood. However most important of all is to be kind to yourself! Don’t feel guilty for enjoying quality time with friends and good food. Often the worst symptom of the holidays is the guilt we feel for what we ate or drank etc. Obviously, we want to make healthy choices for our bodies, but remember that taking care of your mental health and not punishing yourself is also key.
  • Stay hydrated. It is very easy to forget to drink water when life gets busy. Keep a water bottle on hand and drink from it regularly. If you are at a party, try to have a glass of water every hour
  • Be realistic. Set small health goals for yourself that will help you stay positive and feel a sense of accomplishment. During such a busy time, it is easy to feel like our regular exercise routine is overwhelming and hence do nothing. Instead, scale it back and set out something that is achievable. For example, aiming to go to the gym once a week (rather than your usual 3 times) or getting out for a short walk every second day
  • Give yourself appropriate rest and recovery. Often it feels like there is something on every day and you never have a moment to yourself. Try to have some quieter days where you can give your mind and body time to rest and recover (and maybe even nap!). Remember you don’t have to go to everything you are invited to – its ok to put your health first
  • Take care of your musculoskeletal health – there is nothing worse than being too uncomfortable to enjoy time with family and friends. Avoid uncomfortable positions, or any one position for too long and warm-up if you’re moving an esky or playing backyard cricket for the first time in 12 months. It is also important to make sure you keep up regular self-releases and physio check-ups to keep your body moving and feeling good.

    Did you know that Barefoot will be open over the Christmas and New Year period, closing only for the public holidays. Don’t leave your New Years Resolutions to next year – why not start the new year with happy nerves, muscles & joints!

    To book an appointment click here.

A letter from Sal – Barefoot Wellness Summit

You may have heard that we have our first ever Barefoot Wellness Summit tomorrow ( Saturday the 2nd of December!) We can’t wait to see you all there! If you haven’t had a chance to get your tickets yet, don’t worry they are still on sale!

You may be thinking why would the Barefoot Wellness Summit be relevant or beneficial for me? Our fearless leader Sal sat down to let you know why she think it will totally change your life!

Ok superstars…

Why would you want to go to a Barefoot Wellness Summit?

Do you even have time for that?

Is it worth giving up half your Saturday for? And paying for a ticket?!

Well if you’ve ever felt confused by where you need to start with your health.

Or you’re overwhelmed by all the information out there on what to eat, what not to eat, how to move, how not to move, how to meditate (it’s hard to stick to right!) and just have that sense of ‘it’s all too much’ well we’re simplifying it for you.

We’re going to cover 3 main areas
– The mind
– The gut
– The body

And the people talking about these amazing things are experts in their respective fields:
– a performance psychologist talking about the mind
– a nutritionist (and women’s health physio) covering the gut and a
– musculoskeletal physio talking all things body.

To simplify something is a skill and only a person that truly understands a topic can simplify and teach it with vigour…. we’re having a crack! Get ready to get vigorous 🙂

We’ll be talking inspiring big concepts as well as tangible takeaways. Things you can do immediately for your mind, your gut and your body. You’re also going to feel clear about where you can turn for help if you need it.

Pretty flat strap at the moment?!

Of course you are, you’ve got a freaking rockin life!
Don’t think you have the time?
Maybe you’re right… but let’s make it happen!
We’ve thought of everything!

The day kicks off at a leisurely 9am and finishes at 2.30pm.
Morning tea and are lunch provided! And you get a goody bag!!!

So you can fill up your Friday and Saturday nights with fun and we’ll be there to give you the stories in between. Who doesn’t want to head out on a date Saturday night and be able to say “you wouldn’t believe what I did today, I went to a super cool event at the QLD Tennis Centre overlooking Pat Rafter arena!” – see you later Tinder that person will want you forever . This line will also impress your partner of 20 years!

In saying that, we have found that most people we meet are looking for some like minded souls to make friends with, and what better way than through an express learning session! Followed by drinks on the lawn at Barefoot of course! You are all welcome to kick on with us in the afternoon.

Yes we have a beer, yes it’s healthy… it’s our Summit of Wellness being on the lawn having a drink with friends
We love meeting new people and we love bringing amazing people together.

If it feels a bit out of your comfort zone I implore you to take the leap, lean in to the discomfort and if in doubt: bring a friend!

I look forward to giving you a big as hug!

Geovana Regular

To buy your tickets, or to find out more . . click here.

To all our Baristas, we thank you!

A few of us here at Barefoot Physiotherapy are big coffee connoisseurs. Whether it is a strong flat white, soy latte, piccolo or a long black with a ‘dash of cold milk’, we know exactly what we want and how we want it. We love our local barista’s who know just how to make our morning coffee, so while they are looking after our coffee cravings, it’s important to also look after your well being while standing at the coffee machine.

I saw a funny sign the other day at our local coffee shop saying; “Relationship Status: Emotionally Dependant on my Barista”. So we thought we do a little shout out to all the amazing Barista’s out there that put a bounce, a smile and a little cup of happiness in to the lives of so many of us. We thought we would send out a little love to our Baristas as we know working day-in-day-out at those coffee machines can actually be quite taxing on your body.

At a lot of the really busy coffee shops, some Baristas could be smashing out over 100 coffees per hour. This seems like a huge number, but it is most definitely a reality for the buzzing cafes around Brisbane. Being on your feet all day is tiring and can be quite a strain on your body.

Be sure you are doing your best to maintain a good posture, keeping your shoulders down and your back as relaxed as possible. Try and alternate hands where possible, especially when there is jarring movements involved such as using the grinding chamber handle, or tapping the milk jug on the table to remove excess bubbles.

Be sure to avoid looking down for long periods of time. If at all possible, try and ensure the coffee grinder is at a level where you do not have to look down too far to avoid continual strain on your neck, and when pouring your milk, try not to crouch over the coffee cup, keen a straight back and keep your shoulders down.

The more relaxed you feel while you work hard to get coffees out to your customers, the better you will feel at the end of the shift. Be sure to do some shoulder, glute and calf releases, and maybe a roll on a foam roller to stretch your back out so you can be ready for another day of serving up delicious cups of coffee.

To all the Baristas out there, our days would not have quite the same hop, skip and a jump in them, so thank you!

If you would like to read more, or book an appointment with one of our physios, click here!

Brain Overload

What makes Barefoot unique?

What makes Barefoot different?

Ever wondered what makes Barefoot Physiotherapy is different? When your body isn’t operating as you want it to, every part of your life suffers. We get it, we’ve been there. Every Australian deserves to live life to the fullest and not have injury and pain hold them back – so let the practitioners at one of Queensland’s trusted physiotherapy clinics help you out.

Our clients travel from far and wide across Australia. People come to Barefoot Physiotherapy from Melbourne, the Gold Coast, and the Northern Territory Outback to be treated right alongside our local clients in Graceville, Indooroopilly and Yeronga. Our experienced Sports Physiotherapist learn about their health goals and help them to get their bodies back working the way they want them.

Every day we are inspired by the amazing and beautiful people that come to our clinic. We are lucky enough to make a noticeable difference in people’s lives and coming to work is a delight.

Physio Services in Indooroopilly

What does treatment look like at Barefoot Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy treatment at Barefoot follows the Barefoot Physiotherapy Plan. Our goal is to help you be able to do what you want with your body. We use a thorough whole body assessment to work out the underlying cause of the condition. We can then treat it, teach you to treat it and together take care of your body, long term.

You will experience a systematic, thorough testing process that identifies the underlying cause of your condition.

This assessment includes testing your:

  • nerves
  • muscles (including tendons)
  • joints (ligaments, discs, bones, cartilage) and
  • movements.

What’s next?

In the vast majority of sports and musculoskeletal conditions, this process leads to a rapid and full recovery. During this initial phase, you can trust that you are either going to get rapidly fixed, or a ‘Plan B’ is required.

In a small percentage of conditions, this process quickly identifies that a referral for a different management of the condition is most appropriate, i.e. ‘Plan B’ where we help you find the right path (whether that be imaging, acupuncture, medical etc.) – this is because we don’t continue treating without results.

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For the majority of cases (not a Plan B case) treatment then focusses on the underlying cause to reduce its impact on the rest of your body.

We chart your progress including how long and how many sessions will be required to achieve pain free, full function. Below is an example recovery graph.

Importantly – this involves teaching you how to look after your condition to minimise recurrence. Click here for muscle retraining.

Once you are back doing what you want with your body, looking after your condition is the mainstay of treatment. We call this the ‘maintenance phase’ where your Barefoot Physiotherapist checks in on you at increasing intervals (up to 3 months).

There are three main reasons for these sessions:

1. To test and confirm your good self-management
2. Progressing your skills for achieving better performance
3. To treat any re-accumulation of strain that occurred in between sessions as a result of life’s challenges

Barefoot Physiotherapy also runs sessions in the gym, workplace or home (where appropriate) for clients to:

  • Optimise motor control and postures
  • Improve progression from injured to non-injured state
  • Minimise avoidable strain placed on the body (and therefore decrease the frequency of maintenance sessions in the clinic).

Our clients find these sessions very valuable and highly specific to them. Want to find our more, click here to view our Barefoot Lifestyle guide. 

Five steps to living your Barefoot Lifestyle

Ever get that feeling like life is just passing by? Like you want to be out on the field playing but you’re hanging on the sideline ? Are you wondering what it would look like if you were living your “Barefoot Lifestyle”?

You know you enjoy being fully part of it, in fact maybe you used to be a key player but it now feels like you’ve forgotten the moves?

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We get it, your life can get busy and it’s very easy to let the things that are important to you slip down the list of priorities in the midst of your day to day.

Our Barefoot Lifestyle Guide is a reflection tool to help you think… think through the things in your life that are important to you… remind yourself of the things that you enjoy…  so you can include more of these in your days and get your life back on track.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the mundane and forget about the bigger picture. You know, that bigger picture where you know how you make this world a better place, where you have passions and drive and talk about them. Why is it important to focus on that bigger picture and live it rather than dream it? I think we would all agree this leads to a more fulfilled life for yourself and the people around you.

In no way is the Barefoot Lifestyle Guide telling you how to live your life… it’s a way to get you thinking about how you want to live on your terms and helping you to go out and do it!

We all have the resources within us that we need to make our lives even more enjoyable. It’s amazing how much you can discover about yourself when you just ask the right questions.

The Barefoot Lifestyle looks at areas that we believe are important to living a fulfilled happy life
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  1. Staying active
  2. Taking care of your body and mind
  3. Friends and family
  4. Your vocation
  5. Doing your bit to change the world

What you will create by completing the Guide are immediately actionable steps as part of our ‘Barefoot Choose-to’ list. Here you can come up with a list of things you choose to do (or do more of) that really satisfies the inner you.

It’s a great feeling completing the guide knowing you’ve delved a little deeper. And reminded yourself of those enjoyable crazy things you love to do!

So, if you can spare 30min today, download the lifestyle guide and complete the action steps on your ‘Choose-to’ list. Even just one step a day, is enough to transform your life, and get your SOUL (as well as you body) feeling like it is on holiday everyday!

To download the lifestyle guide, click here.

The Barefoot Physiotherapy Plan

Discuss your Problems:

Our holistic therapy approach is based on a partnership between you and us. This starts by us truly knowing and understanding your story and why you have come to Barefoot for help.

We then use specific nerve and orthopaedic tests to determine our initial hands on treatment that starts you on the road to recovery, be it back pain physiotherapy or posture training.

As you progress we utilise our full body assessment and testing to determine the root cause of your problem. We then treat it, teach you how to treat it and teach you how to take care of it for now and the future.

Throughout this process we will incorporate postural retraining, strength work and individualised education to ensure you understand what is best for your body.

What You Need and Require:

Treatment doesn’t begin and end within the four walls of our clinic.

If you need us to assess your posture at your workplace, we’ll be there.   If you’d like us to collaborate with your personal trainer on which specific exercises to focus on (and avoid), we’re happy to help.

Working in with your broader “support team” is one of the best ways in which we can support you back to optimum health.

And if for any reason you’re not getting results, we’ll work with you to find alternatives. We’ll closely monitor your progress, with the goal of getting you out of pain and back doing what you love. Our success is measured by your results, nothing else.

We’ll Create a Treatment Plan for Current Pain and Underlying Cause

From the thorough assessment we compile a list of significant findings in your body. These findings relate to your joints, muscles and movements which can be linked to your nerves, thoughts and worries.

From the list, you and your therapist will prioritise which key findings to test first. These findings are tested by performing TDTs (Treatment-Direction-Tests) to the limited movements in your body. Most of the time, we find that that the underlying cause is not exactly where you are feeling your symptoms. We discuss this with you during your session or you can have a read about it on our website in more detail.

We’ll Teach You to Take Care of Your Body to Avoid Reoccurrence of the Pain

Once we confirm the underlying cause we will treat it to reduce its impact on the rest of your body. We continually reassess your movements, muscles and joints to measure the improvements from your treatment. This confirms we are on the right track, and on the way to help you reach your goals.

Our focus is to prevent build-up of strain to the primary cause of your condition. We do this by:

  1. A) Teaching you to treat the structure yourself or how someone else can help you treat it (e.g. partner, family member, friend)
  2. B) Teaching you how to use your body in a way to prevent build-up of strain on that area. This can be by changing your posture at work or strengthening a specific muscle group.

We understand this is different for everyone, so we tailor it to you! If you have particular posture or performance questions, feel free to ask the physio during your session and we will address this when appropriate.

We’ll Craft a Plan for Health Maintenance to Ensure Your Body Stays Happy

To ensure your body stays in optimal shape and you prevent future injury, it is important that you check in with us at increasing intervals for “tune up” sessions. In these sessions we focus on prevention, to help you to continue living your Barefoot lifestyle.

As well as continuing treatment to the primary cause of your condition, we may also need to treat some secondary areas in your body. These secondary areas are findings that make some improvements to one or two things in your body (not as significant as the primary cause), but play an important role in keeping your body functioning at it’s highest level.

Our goal is to empower you to confidently live the life you choose!

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