Ben Colgate Personal Training

5 years ago vs now 📈.

There’s a belief circulating amongst society that age is an issue when it comes to progress, particularly with flexibility and mobility 💭.

Whilst aging is most certainty a factor and cannot be avoided, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a barrier 🚧.

I like to think of age being a period of time the body has served and therefore a reflection of what it has been exposed to, rather than a defining rule of how a body should look, feel and move at particular stages across its lifespan ⚛️.

Hopefully this helps to instil some confidence in you and your endeavours ⚒️.

Trust the process and play the long game ⏳.

Staying on top of keeping my shoulders strong and healthy has been an ongoing focus of mine since coming across injuries throughout my late teens and 20s; likely an outcome of neglect and lack of preparation 🚫.

Now it’s all about playing the long game and making sure my arms keep up to speed with my level of curiosity 🐒.

Shoulders are the most mobile joints in the body - let’s keep them that way 💪🏼.

A few things from along the journey so far.

Learning something new can be daunting but breaking down the process into digestible pieces will help build confidence along the way.

What do you want to achieve?
Where are you at?
What are you stuck on?

If you’re looking to get 2022 off to the best start and would like some help with your strength, flexibility and movement goals, please send me a DM or email to discuss working together.

Wishing you all a healthy year ahead 💪🏼.

Look after your hands and they’ll look after you 👐🏼.

Putting in the practice on the long strap-high rings and trusting my ability to keep them stable 😅.

A big test on control and an element of early-onset fatigue to deal with but I much prefer having a decent amount of space underneath me; a lower bar/anchor point and shorter strap set up certainly lends itself, especially when learning something new where increased stability will work in your favour.

The first video is of the 3rd set of 4 which shows how the majority of this combination went; I managed to keep the pieces together neat and tidily. There’s a second video clip of my 1st set on my Instagram page showing how a split-second wobble can really throw things off-course .

I was a bit disappointed with how this started (hence the ‘neggy’ head shake when I slipped - again, see Instagram). I instantly took it as a “failed” attempt but I wanted to grind through to see if I could keep it together and subsequently did reasonably well.

I’m sometimes quick to criticise myself when something doesn’t go as I expect which on reflection is nothing but self-inflicted, needless frustration. In essence these frustrations cause the lens to blur and impair sight upon the bigger picture. There’s nothing wrong with tripping up; it’s an opportunity to learn something from as opposed to defining your potential. I’m working on it…

Overall, I’m happy hitting some consistent double tuck holds and pretty solid muscle ups. It’s all part and parcel of the journey and gaining experience. Nothing more, nothing less.

I’m finding this front split combo getting more and more “comfortable” along the road (video 3x speed).

At first, trying to “pull” my way into a deeper position just wasn’t happening; my hip flexors would not budge. Now I can really feel the engagement from my hip flexor and glute when alternating contractions and space is starting to appear. Hip extension on my left side (right side in video) is remaining more stubborn but still - it’s moving as little as it is willing!

Like most things that first seem impossible or maybe too difficult, not giving in and trusting the process usually fits the bill. It is very much a case of finding the right progression for you as an individual and putting in the time and hard work to move forward.

Active flexibility drills like this can really work wonders. They just need to be selected wisely and scaling up when the body has built up a reasonable amount of experience. Essentially as the term ‘active’ suggests, it’s as much about strength and control in any range as it is flexibility.

Repetition is the process of creating building blocks 🧱.

The quality of those repetitions will determine how useful those building blocks can be 🛕.

Quality over quantity is just as important as quality WITHIN the quantity 💎.

Using weights is a relatively small part of my weekly routine but I do love the challenge and principles behind lifting something efficiently.

These slow and dirty tempos make for a solid base-builder, allowing to really dig in to the details and figuring out how to maximise the micro stages of each lift.

There’s always something to work on, even within something like this that is so simple and so linear in appearance. Don’t let that deceive you - simple quite often gets mistaken for easy; two very different things!

Lots to work on here but I’m learning a lot and enjoying the process 🏋🏻‍♂️🐒🤙🏼.

Although hand balance has its fair share of ups and downs in the short term (session to session/week to week), the press HS to stalder I’ve been chipping away at really feels like it’s taken a turn ⤴️.

Feeling lighter, less failed attempts and more capacity available are all noticeable, even amongst the frustration of a few regular blips 🤸🏻‍♂️.

Next week might be different, as was the week before and the weeks and months before that, but overall it’s moving forward in its own way, at its own pace 〰️.

What are you working on at the moment?

P U Z Z L E S 🧩

Ticking off mini projects brings a nice wave of satisfaction and each experience offers something unique from the last. But once complete, it’s time to detach and move on 👉🏼.

The learning never stops; forever the student 🐒.

Compression work 💥.

The stuff that gives your hip flexors nightmares 😂☠️.

This in its varying forms and combinations has been a big contributor to my press HS journey 🤸🏻‍♂️.

The grind continues ⚙️.

Our bodies are made to move 🐒.

Learning / exploring / practicing only dies if it’s left to 💀.

Let’s not sit around and get old. Move more - stay young 🕺🏻.

We are products of repeated influence ♾.

What we choose to watch, read and listen to; how we talk to ourselves; who we choose to spend time with; how we react to situations; these are all teaching grounds from which we learn our behaviours.

This exposure stacks up and influences our day-to-day thoughts and subsequent actions.

Review your inputs and take control; pluck out the positives and dispose of the negatives 😎.

Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable 💥.

Described to me as “the worst hamstring exercise ever invented” (worst meaning hardest), which actually may make it the best in terms of how much potential there is for hamstring strength development 😜.

The slowest burner of them all in my current practice but I feel time with this exercise and it’s progressions will be time well spent ⏳.

Perseverance is 🗝.

“Isn’t lift weights bad for you?”

Now that would depend on how you approach using them, just like any other form of activity you might face, prepared or unprepared.

It often isn’t the movement you’re making that is bad, more the preparation towards performing the movement in the first place.

A stronger and more flexible body takes time and dedication to develop and incorporating weighted work can be very beneficial, however care must be taken along the way.

Experience, purpose, intention and ex*****on are all important factors. A lack of synchronicity here could cause unwanted and unnecessary issues.

What is your experience up to this point? What are you trying to achieve? How do you intend to do it? How are you actually doing it?

We can’t eliminate injury entirely, no matter how well we plan. However approaching the task at hand intelligently can significantly reduce the RISK of injury and help us move towards our targets more SAFELY.

Train smart. Move better.

Regress to progress.

Whether it’s developing strength or learning a new skill, we need to assess a starting point; a place where we can perform a fairly challenging variation of the movement or pattern well enough before moving on.

Therefore taking a step or two backwards is sometimes the only way, especially when it comes to strength. Without the appropriate conditioning and understanding how to perform the movement efficiently can not only lead to continuous disappointment, but unnecessary injury.

Scale back and spend time on what’s needed to move forward. There’s no rush other than what your ego’s telling you.

Taking advantage of 🤸🏻‍♂️ in the ☀️ before the 🌧 comes.

A slow re-intro with mainly p-bar practice after a bit of time away from wrist-loaded work and pleased this was still in the bag 😎.

It felt pretty good overall today but I’m just being mindful with both session volume and frequency before ramping things back up.

Never underestimate the power of good re- and pre-hab… “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”.

E X P O S U R E

Taking the lower half for a spin 🌀.

Anatomically, our body’s have infinite amounts of movement potential, yet we rarely explore it 🗺.

Here’s some exploration predominantly towards proofing and priming the knees and ankles, plus anything else that gets caught in the waves 🌊.

Amongst an industry fuelled by intensity, inflammation and injury lies a softer side that many may not be aware of or don’t dare to visit.

Whilst we need repeated doses of intensity to exceed our current state (no one got anywhere by remaining comfortable), we also need to learn and apply balance within our practices; becoming more aware of how our bodies feel and paying attention to the signals our bodies are telling us.

Being conscious of our breathing patterns, checking-in with our mental state and assessing what we put our body’s through on a regular basis are all worth reviewing.

Lots of conversation of late around this subject amongst friends, clients and others I’ve crossed paths with so I wanted to share some thoughts that continue to resonate with me.

I’m not here trying to change an entire industry but as both a Coach and Practitioner, my curiosity is continuing to lead me down an interesting and constant-evolving pathway that I’m getting a good feeling of what lies ahead 🌀.

Remain present. Stay curious. Never settle.

Practice makes practice 🐒.

All things one way or another feed the loop ♾.

Keep it purposeful, stay present and place longevity at the forefront of your focus 💪🏼.

Move ~ Experience ~ Learn ~ Repeat

All we can do is remain present, pay attention to the details and soak it all up like a sponge 🧽.

Practice with purpose and let it fuel your experience. The rest will follow 🐒.

There’s a huge amount of priority placed on our physical appearance as opposed to how our bodies feel and their capability to move well.

Sole focus on our exteriors can be a slippery slope. There’s no doubt being in “good shape” fills us with confidence and raises our self esteem, but who are we really trying to please? Is it really just for us?

If we feed ourselves well, challenge our bodies physically with a balanced approach, rest adequately and look after our minds, our physiques will eventually reflect these efforts in a positive way.

Over-consuming, hammering our bodies with meaningless exercise, wading through days filled with stress and anxiety without taking time out for ourselves will of course cause the opposite outcome.

The above may sound obvious yet there are so many out there who can’t break the viscous cycle of going all-in day to day, week in week out.

Review how you treat your yourself. Where are you heading? What are you doing it for?

We’re on this planet for a long time so rather than rushing and putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves to essentially just look the part, maybe think a little further ahead than the next beach holiday or wedding you have in the diary.

Strive for a longer, happier, healthier life and use the body for what it was designed to do, not what we’re made to believe it’s meant to just look like on the outside.

Tuck handstand has been feeling good lately.

I’m still working at a reduced volume/frequency compared to a few months ago to keep building my wrist back up, hoping to avoid further injury (touch wood).

The tuck has always been a tough one in the past having stubborn shoulders and thoracic but where I’ve really been dialling in on the involvement of my traps, I feel a lot more stable and locked into position which has helped lighten the load directly on the shoulders themselves 🧩.

Looking at my knees as opposed to my hands feels a lot more comfortable too whereas before the slightest of head movement used to instantly throw me off 🙃.

Still work in progress but a nice place to be at the moment 🤸🏻‍♂️.

Developing fuller, more usable ranges of movement is something I encourage everybody to work on, or to at least consider.

I’ve seen 10 year olds who can barely reach past their knees, let alone 80 year olds with spines at right-angles hunched over their shopping trolleys.

I believe the body is a product of whatever you feed it. Just because you can’t remember the last time you could touch your toes doesn’t mean it was never available to you. It’s a case of having to work to reclaim what you once had.

Assess the health of your joints, explore your available ranges and prioritise your restrictions to help give you a better functioning body 🐒💪🏼.

Day-to-day living for the majority of us involves sitting in chairs for long periods of time. Even standing with minimal movement variety and repetitive actions can be just the same.

Take regular time out to explore and move the body in ways it was made to. If you can’t find an hour, try half an hour. If you don’t have 30 minutes, find 15 minutes instead.

Start small and accumulate time across the week to help offset these stagnant patterns. Invest in yourself, you only get one body.

Some handstand work from earlier this week and feeling like I’m making headway with this pattern 🤸🏻‍♂️.

My overall experience with p-bars is pretty minimal so although the adjustment to controlling balance on them has taken some getting used to, I’m now able to rack up more consistent working time. Plus they help give the wrists a bit more room which makes it a nice variation/option over hands-to-ground ✋🏼🤚🏼.

Here are sets 1-3 which I’m pretty happy with and lastly a little clip of some handstand-reality trying to get into position which happens now and again 😂.

Now it’s just getting back up from the bottom...🙃.

Puzzle solving 🧩.

Why? To learn 🧠.

Draw from them what you need and move on ✨.

Greasing the groove.

Learning something new and performing it optimally takes time. It takes stumbling, wobbling, mistiming, falling, frustration; the list goes on.

Take all of these details (plus some) as signals that you’re heading in the right direction. Nothing worth having should be a breeze.

Work hard, remain present and search for quality within the quantity.

Age only becomes a factor if you let it.

Keep the body young - we were born to move 🐒.

E X P L O R E T H E F L O O R

Investigating the space beneath our feet tends to go no further than simply walking upon it 👣.

Although my physical practice is pretty well-balanced in terms of my exposure to tension and softness, there’s a lot of thought going on in the background towards how well my body communicates with the ground; the motion upon the motionless; being soft against the solid 🧩.

The first clip is 2 minutes worth of exploring the world of 90/90 and the second clip demonstrates some general movement integration, of which both scenarios are made up from a heap of time spent ironing out the creases on a much smaller, isolated scale 🔡.

All a constant learning process where patience is a virtue and soft can always be softer ♾. Thanks as always for your guidance and support 🙏🏼.

Time again to adapt and find somewhere else to hang around for a little while.

Where there’s a will there’s a way 😎.

Looking forward to a few days off to relax, recharge and reflect on the good stuff from 2020.

Enjoy what you can do and make the most of it 💪🏼.

Happy Christmas everyone 🎅🏽🤙🏼🎄💫.