MATTHEW’S JOURNEY OF RESTORATION
By Senior Coach Pax
Approximate Reading Time: 2-4 min
Matthew out in his element
Intro
In the early fall of 2019, Matthew decided to visit Restore Human to seek guidance for healing his wrist and knee, both previously injured multiple times while rock-climbing. Matthew had never worked with a personal trainer before but had seen his fair share of physiotherapists and other manual-therapists. He understood the value of supplementing his adventures in skiing and rock climbing with restorative exercises, and he was searching for a method that worked for him.
Matthew’s day job involves a lot of computer work, but he’s aware of the pitfalls of being desk-bound. To counter his work, his lifestyle is geared toward being outdoors as much as possible! He loves finding boulders to climb in the woods, hiking up mountains with friends and when we met him, he had aspirations of learning how to trail run.
To restore Matthew’s human we needed to first address his vulnerabilities so he could mitigate further injuries; and second, to educate him on how to balance a sedentary job with an active lifestyle. Third, we wanted to show him how to achieve his physical goals via a smart and realistic training program.
THE ASSESSMENT
Matthew was already quite strong and capable, however his range of motion was limited for some joints. We started with mobility work by moving his joints slowly and gracefully. Then we pressure-tested his ranges of motion, looking for compensation patterns in his movements. These findings related back to his day-to-day habits - lots of sitting at the computer, then heading straight into rock climbing or strength training during the week, and skiing on weekends. This was the beginning of the conversation.
The first big finding was that Matthew was holding great amounts of muscle tone all over his body. It’s the feeling that makes people say “my hips are so tight!” but for Matthew it was more along the lines of “my EVERYTHING feels so tight!”, which was not surprising given the intensity and style of sports he practices. We addressed his high muscle tone with proper stretching to improve active range of motion as well as self-massage work with our Restore Human Release Balls.
The next step was to test his strength and work capacity by gathering Matthew’s Restore Human Big 5 Metrics. The Big 5 is a series of straightforward and repeatable capacity tests that allow us to measure strength, grace and resilience.
One of the Big 5 Metrics is the Sandbag Get Up. What is a Sandbag Get Up? The movement consists of laying on the ground with a sandbag across the shoulder, then rolling up to a seated position and using one arm and both legs to efficiently come to a standing position. Then the pattern is reversed to land back down in the starting position. Repetitions continue for 2 minutes at a maximum pace. Sounds simple? It’s easier said than done.
The benefits of practising the Sandbag Get Up include reduced risk of injury across the whole body, development of core strength and hypertrophy, and it is a great test of someone’s resilience positions of “unusual strength”. Interestingly, a person’s ability to move down and up from the ground is correlated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality! Want to live longer and stronger? Learn how to do Get Ups.
Here are Matthew’s Sandbag Get Up Metrics, tracked over 16 months of training.
As you can see, when we started in 2019 he was able to lift a 45lb bag for 12 reps in 2 minutes. Over the following couple of months we fixed his knee injury and prepared him for another test. We trained accuracy and efficiency with the movement pattern and his score went up to 15 reps in 2 minutes with the same 45lb bag.
When COVID happened, our training changed to virtual and remote sessions he could do from home. We had our ups and downs (literally) with Sandbag Get Up training during that time, figuring out equipment and a “home gym” set up. You can see this change reflected above in the test result for September 21st 2020 where Matthew got 16 reps with a 40lb bag, essentially matching his record from 6 months previous.
We decided to bring the Sandbag Get Up back into focus for a few months to see how we could improve it. The results were awesome! Matthew improved up to 16 reps with a 60lb bag, then up to 8 reps with an 80lb bag.
As the weight gets heavier it becomes a lot harder to move fast for 2 minutes. 80lbs of sand on your shoulder is no joke. I’m so proud of Matt’s development over this past year.
THE RESTORATION
After 16 months of dedicated training with Matthew we’ve covered a lot of ground and made some very important changes in his life:
Taking care of joint function for sustainable long term performance
Matthew has gained a deep understanding of self-care. This has led to considerable changes in resting muscle tension and available ranges of motion. While at rest or working at the computer he finds himself much more relaxed in his body. He can now comfortably spend time in positions like the resting squat, bilateral shoulder flexion, back bending and bridge positions, among others.
Matthew has now taken up trail and road running. With all the joint health and running technique work he has done, he’s able to do so without knee pain.
Matthew recently completed the Restore Human Adventure 5 test, which is a big progression from the Big 5. It’s a test which, in Matthew’s case, included 40 minutes of step ups, 10 minutes of Sandbag Get Ups, a 5km run, and more!
The TAKEAWAY
Every body has its challenges. Some people don’t move their bodies enough, which brings on aches, stiffness, fragility, and a lack of overall cellular health. Others rush into activity as soon as they are done at the desk but risk the consequences of overreaching and injury from lack of preparation. We need balance. We need appropriate training. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, if you work at a desk or on top of a pair of skis, you should be constantly training your body to avoid the pitfalls of either context.
IN MATTHEW’S WORDS
“In 2019 I was developing a passion for climbing, I was loving it, but I was also consistently hitting roadblocks, injuries that were hampering my ability to enjoy the sport. This became frequent enough that I reached out to a friend for advice. He recommended Restore Human as a proactive next step for me. I sent an email to Restore Human where my friend was working with Coach Kesh, and was put in touch with Pax, who I soon after started working with.
It’s now been almost two years since then. Honestly, those two years have flown by. Yet in that time my life has changed dramatically for the better. I have become a more thoughtful, intentional, complete, confident, and curious mover because of the consistent work that him and I have done. My body and mind are in a better place than ever before. I’m climbing, and performing at a level that I never imagined I could reach. Pax has been instrumental in this journey. I really cannot speak highly enough of him, and the team at Restore Human. They are like family. Pax has brought so much curiosity, positivity, knowledge and emotional intelligence to all of our sessions. I simply would not be where I am without his support during this journey. Emailing Restore Human was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. I’m so excited to see where we get to in the future together.”
Matthew Hounslow
