Another Session with Personal Trainer Graham Fairley
Watch the Videos to See What I Learned this Time!
I visit my friend and personal trainer Graham Fairley every few months, as I’ve written about before, just to check in with him, let him see how I’m doing, and show me anything new that’s crossed his path that might be relevant to me. He has several older clients who swear by him for helping them stay fully functional and strong, including me. And he is the person I rely on most to show me the latest in full-body, 3-dimensional movements for training rather than isomorphic exercises (working on a singular plane or singular muscle that you see in a mirror), which are the typical movements that most people do in the gym. Graham is also a certified instructor in the Wim Hof breathing method, so he shows me anything new in breathwork. (To become a Wim Hof instructor, he succeeded in this unusual requirement: he hiked up a mountain in Poland in only his shorts and sneakers in a snowstorm!)
On this recent visit with Graham, he showed me a few things I could do to help with a tight iliotibial band, especially in my right leg, which has been giving me problems. One included lying down and rolling on the area with a hard lacrosse ball underneath me, getting at the sorest point with as much pressure as I could stand. It hurt, a lot, but it did slightly release the area, so I will keep working on this on my own.
Then we did some new full-body strength movements, which can involve using either a rope pulley, as well as a kettlebell, to supplement the ones he showed me last time. Most of his routines look strange in a gym, until I do them and realize the full effect they have on different parts of my body and the full range of motion they address. (Note: I filmed Graham doing these movements, given that I was new to them and didn’t master them right away. I have practiced them since then and have found them to be very effective.)
The first movement is a backward upward pull, starting in a lunge position, which includes lifting one leg and balancing on the other in the pulled position. For extra credit hold the balanced position while bending the leg on the ground.
The second is another pulley routine, starting with a hop, then a full-body twist while raising one leg off the ground (kind of like a baseball pitcher), with both hands pulling the weighted pulley around the body. You can see from the video just how much of your body is involved when doing this movement—virtually every muscle. It is truly how we were naturally meant to move, using our entire body to accomplish strength tasks.
The third is a variation on my simple kettlebell stand-up from a squat that I showed in the recent “Strength” article. This new movement is a one-handed kettlebell swing (the outside of the wrist is forward, inside of the wrist facing toward the body). This movement morphs into a kettlebell catch with one step, and then a kettle extension with another step. We used an 8kg. kettlebell, a good place to start.
The important thing about these movements, with or without weights, is the all-over use of your entire body to make them happen. As I wrote in the “5 Aspects of Training” article and the related deeper dive articles, our bodies function seamlessly in all 5 areas, using energy, strength, and balance all at once. And once you get the hang of these types of movements you can make up your own routines. Just involve as many of your body parts as possible in full, natural movements like throwing, pulling, climbing, twisting, bending, stepping, lifting, and jumping. Most of all, once you work on them and realize the positive effects they can have on your body and brain, they become a fun and rewarding way to spend time, especially knowing that you are becoming stronger, more confident, and more capable.
(Graham Fairley, PreVail Studios, www.prevailpt.co.uk)
