Flag Football - Opal Series

Over the months of September to December 2017 I was lucky to work at the Northern Conference Womens Opal Series Tournament in Sheffield and then the finals for BAFA.

Having never previously worked with the sport of flag football, but just tackle football, it was great to learn about the game and worked with the women involved with the day. (Big thanks to the East Kilbride Pirates who provided me with a warm drink when I was frozen!) Although I have a great love of tackle football, I thoroughly enjoyed working with/watching flag football and I'm now a big fan!

Despite flag being 'non-contact' it was very interesting to learn of the beliefs (of some) within the flag-football culture that injuries (especially concussion injuries) do not occur within the sport. Well, by the end of the series, we saw this wasn't the case. At the final especially (and understandably) I was very busy with injuries!

It is also very clear that player education around injury care is vital within the sport of flag football. Something which I have been developing on my blog site specific to American Football 'Gridiron Strong' and hope to continue with my research.

I am delighted to say that in the new year I will be working with the Womens GB Flag Team!

I'm thoroughly looking forward to working with the athletes and coaching staff, especially at our tournament vs Sweden in February. If you're in Glasgow on Feb 3rd then come along to watch!

Thank you to SamCrowPhotography for the snaps!

End of the Season

Well this season at the Newcastle Vikings has been another huge success (despite what some would perceive as difficulties). We moved up to Division 1 and ran the season with lower numbers than previously.... and with no head coach! Finishing the season we placed 3rd in the division. Things can only get better for us!

I'm super proud of the achievements of our team and love all of the guys I get to work with each week. We have such laughs! Thanks to them for being super supportive of my new venture Gridiron Strong too! 

We couldn't do it all without our general manager Mick who works tirelessly each week to make sure each game runs smoothly. Thanks Mick! 

Off season begins soon so it'll be time to put in the hard work for the next season in Div1. 

Next comes the Uniball season when I'll be working with a new North East team (exciting news to come!). 

Newcastle's Strongest 2017

On Sunday I worked at Newcastle's Strongest 2017 held at FSI gym in North Tyneside. 

The day ran from 10am-4pm with 2 categories; novice and intermediate. 

Each had 5 events each. 

These were- 

Event 1 

Log floor to overhead/Yoke overhead press 

Men Novice: 90kg/80kg

Men Inters 100kg/90kg

Event 2

Rising Car Deadlift

Men Novice: 180kg-190kg-200kg-210kg-220kg-230kg

Men Inters: 210kg-220kg-230kg-240kg-250kg-260kg

Event 3

Squat to box for reps 

Men Noice: 150kg

Men Inters: 190kg

Event 4

Sandbag Carry 20m/Seated arm over arm 20m

Men Novice: Sandbag - 100kg/240kg

Men Inters: Sandbag- 110kg/280kg

Event 5

Atlas stones 

Mens Novice: 77kg-90kg-110kg-130kg-145kg

Mens Inters: 90kg-110kg-120kg-145kg-160kg

Throughout the day I offered athletes treatment to help enhance and promote recovery between events. It was a busy one at times!

The event was well attended, raising £400 for Cancer Research, 

All athletes did extremely well. I'm particularly happy for one of my clinic clients (and previous rugby players) Owen Irving who came 3rd in the Novice Competition. He's overcome some injuries in the last few months to achieve a great result! On wards & upwards! 

Secondly, congratulations to Fin and Adam who both train at FSI who took 1st place in both categories. It appears FSI is the place to train... (and to come for sports injury advice).

Here are some photos from the event -

Interview | Strongman James Landless

Source: Power News by World Heavy Events Association

This weekend James Landless competes in the BNSF Britain's Strongest Man. I have been working with James on the run up to this competition to help manage his physical condition and enhance performance. Here I interview James on his journey so far... 

1. Tell us about yourself. 

Well I'm a stone mason through the day and a strongman at night so they go hand in hand with each other. Each one helping the other. Strength helps when I’m working, and stamina, flexibility and moving awkward objects helps the strongman training . But my hobby is definitely my sport. Outside of strongman training I enjoy socialising with friends.

2. Tell us about the highlight of your strongman career so far.

I was drawn to the sport accidentally as I had always fancied doing some sort of competition to push myself and I wasn't too keen on the dieting phase for bodybuilding. So I thought I would have a go at strongman.

The highlight of my career would have to be when I won northern England's strongest natural man for the first time. It came as a shock moving straight from novice level to a high level of competition. At that time I had only been training for 6 months as a strongman and was quite raw on all the events.

3. As Strongman training consists of a lot of lifting already, what type of supplementary training do you find necessary to do? What benefits have you seen from this training? 

I find that I benefit mostly by training body parts like a bodybuilder would. For example I would train back by itself and hit deadlift as a compound movement and pick 2-3 movements that would assist in building the back and strengthening the deadlift. For example I would warm up on pulldowns, and deadlifts reps and sets would vary week to week . Then I'd hit heavy barbell rows, pull ups and then maybe if I was feeling like I wanted a bit more, I would do some hyper-extensions.

4. What is your top tip for recovery?

My best advice for recovery would be eat, sleep, stretch and relax . My training has been full on for 18 months now and I've realised that you need to switch off from it and still make time for family and friends. Don't worry about being a bit rough the next day and not being able to eat a big breakfast. Building strength is a long process so balance is the key to consistent training for progression in the sport.

5. Can you summarise your own personal approach to training and nutrition?

My personal approach to training and nutrition is to look at my upcoming competition, try and separate all the events into training days to suit body parts. Then I’ll programme a session on a weekend where I do a couple of movement events - something like stones or another loading event. 
As far as nutrition goes I take it day by day aiming to hit around 50g protein per meal and some healthy carbs and maybe a bit of fat.

6. You used to compete in American Football. What have you learnt by playing the game and is there anything you feel you have reapplied when competing as a Strongman?

From playing American football I learned to be able to switch on and switch off quickly which is great for strongman. Strongman competitions are quite long and usually only consist of 5-6 events so you need to be able to switch on, smash it, then switch of after to conserve energy and focus your mind on the next event.

7. Your next competition is this weekend! Can you tell us a little about how you have been preparing for this competition? 

I'm preparing for my next competition by just slowly increasing weight so I peak at the comp weights in competition. I take a laid-back approach and am very careful in what I do. As soon as I get the events through for a competition I will not do any unnecessary exercises or activities to avoid injury.

 8. Do you have any future plans or goals within the sport of Strongman? 

My main goal is to win Britain’s Strongest Natural Man just once then I will retire from that organisation, take a year off while dropping around 3 stone (just to make normal life/work easier). Then I will focus on more of a power-lifting style training week e.g. deadlifts, squats and pressing (this will be the main focus) and maybe once a month or so do a light run through of strongman events to keep my hand in it.

Good luck to James this weekend competing! I am sure he will absolutely smash it!

If you fancy going to watch this competition then click here to find the details.

Watch James lift on his Instagram account here.  

I've Moved!

I’ve moved!

Last week I have moved my clinic to FSI gym in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, a weightlifting gym which offers the top training facilitates in the North East. 

I love the new environment and the great team to work alongside. Its like one big playground!

I’m looking forward to working at the events which the gym holds, such as Newcastle’s Strongest 2017 on 6^th August.

Whilst in this new location I am looking forward to developing Gridiron Strong and offering more services at Performance Sports Therapy.

Here are some photos of the new set up. Check it out!

I’ve already been super busy since I’ve moved in so make sure you book an appointment in early!

Gridiron Strong

For more American Football posts, please take a look at my website Gridiron Strong.

http://gridironstrong.co.uk/

Ultimate Strongman World Championship

This past weekend I worked at the Ultimate Strongman World Championship held at the Metro Arena, Newcastle. At the event I acted as therapist to the athletes along with a team of massage therapists. The day for me started at 4pm and 8 hours later we finished at 12 o'clock to then head back to the hotel for food.

Throughout the day I met some incredible people including the 12 strongest athletes of the world, their support teams and the rest of the 'Strength Team', including friends I have previously worked with. It was pretty cool floating around backstage, watching the athletes warm up, talking to them and helping to ease any niggles. All involved with the event were such amicable and interesting people! I really enjoyed meeting athletes from all over the world and making new friends within the sport.

The buzz of the event was incredible. What a show was put on! I'm looking forward to seeing what Glenn Ross has next in store for Ultimate Strongman!

Well done to all the competitors involved, especially Laurence Shahlaie who took the title of World Champion!


Here are some behind-the-scenes snaps from the event -

With 2016 World Champion Strongman Laurence Shahlaei.

Eddie Hall warming up back-stage.

With the competitors back-stage.

Warming up pre event.

Back-stage with Eddie Hall.

The 450kg Yokes which were carried 20 metres.

Atlas Stones ranging from 115kg to 175kg.

Mikkel Leicht in the deadlift event.

The award ceremony.

With Strongmen Mikkel Leicht and Konstantine Janashia.

With Strongmen 'Big Z' and Mikhail Shivlaykov. (How small do I look? haha)

With Iron Biby!

All action of the show was filmed ready for broadcast on the TV channel Dave. Check it out at 5pm on the 30th December. I'll be sat ready with a box of popcorn!

Follow Ultimate Strongman here -

Instagram @Official_Ultimate_Strongman

Twitter @UltimateStrong

Facebook @UltimateStrongman

North of England Deadlift championships

On Saturday 5^th November I supported the North East Deadlift Championship as Sports Therapist, an event organised by North East Strongman Promotions, held at The Fitness Rooms in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

I always enjoy working on game days or at events such as this, as you get an awesome buzz from the atmosphere. The event was filled with laughs and some serious shifting of weight! I got to catch up with the amazing Anarchy Strength team who were sponsoring the event and met some cool new people too while enjoying good coffee! Not a bad Saturday at work!

I also had my new banner on show! Can you spot it in the photos?

Well done to all competitors involved, there were some very impressive performances!

Here are a few photos from the event - 

I also got to catch up with one of my sponsored athletes James Landless, who is soon to compete In Northampton.  

I’m looking forward to working at more Strongman events over the coming months and in the New Year! Thanks for the invitation North East Strong Man Promotions.

Follow Anarchy Strength here – https://www.facebook.com/Anarchystrength/

Follow North East Strong Man Promotions here – https://www.facebook.com/North-east-strongman-promotions-1597419600484241/

Follow Performance Sports Therapy here – https://www.facebook.com/PSTherapy/?fref=ts

Follow the Fitness Rooms here - https://www.facebook.com/thefitnessrooms/?fref=ts 

Anarchy Strength

After a series of meetings over the past few weeks I am excited to announce that I shall be working very closely alongside Anarchy Strength to promote injury care and education within the Strongman and StrongWomen community. In addition to writing on their upcoming blog, I shall be travelling with Anarchy Strength to Strongman events to provide my services as a Graduate Sports Therapist and First Aider. If you see us at these events please come say hello!

Keep an eye out on the Anarchy page and my own to see what we're up to! 💪🏼 #StartStrongFinishStronger

https://anarchystrength.co.uk/ 

6 things I love about working as a Sports Therapist

1.       Educating and aiming to protect players from further damage

I love treating people, but it gives greater satisfaction when I can educate my clients to enable them to take steps to improve their health on their own.

2.       The people you meet

I have met some wonderful people throughout my time working and look forward to meeting many more interesting people. I absolutely love listening to old stories told by client’s and learning different things from each of them.

3.       Helping others

I like to help people. I always have and I always will. Seeing a client improve or having one tell you they are now pain free makes my day!

4.       The places you travel

Despite waking up at 4.30am for some away games and the eventful University American Football journeys I have been on, I love visiting new places. It's just another mini adventure for me! I even love those freezing cold snowy days on the side-lines when I can't feel my toes or fingers. Being outside and able to watch sport is an ideal weekend activity for me, so combined with doing the job I love, it is a winning combination!

5.       Family and friends

At all the clubs/teams I have been involved in, I have been welcomed and made to feel as part of one big family. With my first team (Teesside University Cougars), it felt like I had 30 big brothers who would look after me. I have made some lifelong friends (young and old) while being part of these teams and am forever grateful for their support promoting me and my work. 

6.       Continuous learning

In this job, you never truly leave education. To hold onto my professional insurance and membership, it is a requirement to continue my professional development. However, as you might be aware within this job, you will constantly be returning to books and journal publications to seek new ways of treatments or to investigate further into an injury. I absolutely love this, as since leaving university I miss the deadlines, which I guess it is part of the reason I write this blog. Yey to learning!

-          E

Tankie's Battle

On Friday evening I had the honour of working at a benefit match held at the Newcastle Falcons ground Kingston Park. This match, named ‘Tankie’s Battle’, was in honour of Paul Van-Zandvliet (also known as Tank), an ex-Falcons player who has recently been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Tank organised this match consisting of former team-mates and select North-East team players, including his son Leon. This was in aid of raising funds towards a trust fund for his young daughter Hope Elle and other charities.

It was a wonderful evening with a superb turn up and I felt extremely lucky to be working alongside some very experienced professionals, with a perfect view of the action. The whole atmosphere at the game was better than any matches I have attended at the ground. Everyone was in high spirits, with the Falcons Legends scoring 10 tries to 4.

As I was working pre-game I met some wonderful people including John Pearson, or ‘Tommy Tight pants’ as he introduced himself, an international ref who after the game praised my work with him pre-game. The stories I heard were incredible and confirmed my love of working as a sports therapist as you often hear some fascinating stories.

After the game we saw, and practically chased Johnny Wilkinson across the pitch for a selfie but with no luck. It must have taken him about half an hour to make it down the stands due to the number of people trying to take a snap (his cheeks must have been aching by the end). So it turned out we were unlucky to catch him before he headed off. However, I wasn’t too bothered as I think I will remember the chase more than a photo with him haha!

It was a really great evening and I hope the event raised lots of money for a great cause!