African Sport Training Academy

Ever found yourself thinking, “I wish there was a pill to lose 10kgs” or “ I wish I could get through the day without my lower back paining”?

Well, there is in fact this magical pill. It’s just a tough one to swallow…

EXERCISE🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

The benefits of exercise:

It is a powerful tool that can be used to treat and/or prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and more.

It improves physical functioning and quality of life and reduces mortality rates.🧬

It improves your mental health, as exercise releases chemicals to help you feel more relaxed and can improve your mood.🤩💫

It can reduce the risk of heart disease.❤🙌

It improves lung functioning.

It strengthens your bones and muscles.🦴💪

Improves your sleep and sexual health.🛏💤

SO HOW CAN WE USE THIS MAGICAL PILL THAT IS EXERCISE??💊

By engaging in 150 mins/week of moderate to vigorous physical activity. This 150 minutes can be made up of aerobic exercise as well as strength activities, with the latter being engaged in on 2 or more days.🏃‍♀️🏋️‍♂️⛹️‍♂️🧘‍♂️

If you think you are at risk or unsure about starting exercise, always consult your doctor and/ or biokineticist for help👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️

DM us for more information on these new deals😀💯

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Contact us for more information or any queries 💚

Cold-water immersion (CWI) and its effect on protein synthesis after resistance training:

Many athletes around the world utilise the recovery tool of CWI, but is it an effective method in promoting this recovery?

-CWI is a recovery process involving immersion of the body into cold water (11 degrees) for roughly 11-15mins immediately after exercise.

-The effectiveness of CWI is still not fully understood however we do often see decrease in subjective measures such as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE).

-According to a study conducted by Fuchs. et al (2020), it found that CWI performed after resistance training reduces the delivery and/or uptake of amino acids as well as blunting the increase of muscle protein synthesis.

-This means that if you’re looking to build muscle (hypertrophy), diving into an ice bath straight after a heavy session is not for you.

-However, if you’re a high level athlete looking for a quick recovery between practice sessions/ matches CWI can be used to speed up this process.

References:
Krueger M, Costello JT, Stenzel M, Mester J, Wahl P. The physiological effects of daily cold-water immersion on 5-day tournament performance in international standard youth field-hockey players. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2020;120(1):295‐305. doi:10.1007/s00421-019-04274-8
Fuchs, C. J. et al. (2020). The Effect of an Intense Coldwater Immersion Protocol on Protein Synthesis After Resistance Training Exercise. The Journal of Physiology

Chocolate milk for recovery???

Carbohydrates and protein consumption post exercise helps to maximise recovery and chocolate milk has the recommended carb:protein ratio which is 3:1 for optimal recovery. It's a great alternative for those not looking to splurge on expensive supplements😉

The relationship between sleep quality and injury occurrence:

Sleep is highly important to a healthy lifestyle but sometimes goes under the radar. When we sleep our bodies recover and key muscle adaptations occur. We see growth hormone, cortisol and testosterone being released while we sleep. Poor quality of sleep can negatively affect the release of these hormones and thus affect muscle recovery, growth and an increased risk of injury.

A study conducted by Silva et. al. (2020) monitored the sleep behaviour of 23 elite level soccer players. It found that the group with poor sleep quality reported 2.5 injuries average over the duration of 6 months whereas the group with good sleep quality reported 1.0 injuries average in the same time frame. This equated to a loss of 17.5 days of training/games in the poor quality sleep group versus just 5 days in the good quality sleep group.

From this we can see the importance of good quality sleep in injury prevention but should not be looked at in isolation. Factors such as good nutrition, hydration, proper training and practice all contribute to injury prevention and can have big effects on your performance.

References:
Silva A, Narciso FV, Soalheiro I, et al. Poor Sleep Quality's Association With Soccer Injuries: Preliminary Data. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2020;15(5):671‐676. Published 2020 May 1. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2019-0185

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Day 4 of our Coaching Clinic:

Pic 1: Using music to play baseball. What a concept, taking an old mic stand and using it to make a tee for the u/10. Well done .

Pic 2&3: Basic hitting concepts with Coach Ollie Moosa.

Pic 4: Playing our 1st live game with Coach Darren 'Dlion' Wedel.