THE HEALTH AUDIT
Being well-prepared primes you to accomplish your fitness goals. However, preparation for your workouts start before you get to the gym. Even more, your readiness for training varies day-to-day.
Regularly auditing your fitness can help you craft a better workout, assuring your bodies readiness for the task at hand and allowing you to adjust where necessary.
Habits like alcohol, your bedtime rituals and recovery routines dictate your resilience in a taxing fitness program. Fitness tracking products like WHOOP attempt to maximize these variables to deliver ‘readiness’ scores.
But the best way to address readiness on your own is using a blended approach: a series of questions and exercises that can help you determine how hard to push yourself in any given session.
The Readiness Questionnaire
Answer each question ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Score each ‘yes’ as one point. The lower the score, the less intensely you should train (0 to 5 would suggest a recovery session, 4 to 7 would be a moderately intense session, 7 to 10 would be higher intensity work).
Did you wake up feeling refreshed?
Did you sleep 7+ hours last night?
Did you have fruit at two meals yesterday?
Did you have vegetables at all meals yesterday?
Did you eat whole grains at two meals yesterday?
Did you eat breakfast this morning?
Have you had/will you have 11-15 cups of water today?
Do you feel ready to train hard in the workout today?
Do you feel rested at this moment?
Are you recovered (i.e. not sore) from prior training?
FOR A MORE IN DEPTH PHYICAL ACTIVITY READINESS QUESTIONAIRE (PAR-Q) CLICK HERE.
WHEN TO MOVEMENT PREP?
Once you have initiated the recovery audit portion, it’s time to apply a physical aspect. An adequate warm up is truly a game changer in being more aware for your bodies shortfalls. A solid movement prep prepares the body for more dynamic work while allowing you the ability to feel any areas of restriction in the body in low-threshold environment.
Example: If you are a proficient squatter, yet feel a bit restricted in depth during your overhead squat prep, you may want to focus more on hip openers, worlds greatest stretch, or even cossack squats before diving into a heavy squat session. If even then you still feel restricted, DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF INTO A LIFT, instead maybe focus on creating a mini circuit out of those warm-up drills and focus on mobility that day rather than hoisting a barbell on your back.
5 MOVES TO MEASURE MOVEMENT READINESS
DIAGPHRAGMATIC BREATHING
Lie with feet flat against a wall in a tabletop position. Place one hand on chest and other on stomach. Take a deep breath in through nose and exhale out through mouth three times.What to look for: Chest and shoulders elevating or the inability to breathe into the abdomen How to adjust: Take more time to establish a good breathing pattern and try a different approach. Place a yoga strap or band around the abdomen, lie on your back and attempt to breathe into the strap.
BTRETZEL
Lie on left side and support head with a towel. Pull the top leg up to a 90-degree angle and grab knee with arm closest to ground. Bend the bottom leg behind you and grab the ankle with your free arm. If it’s too difficult to grab ankle, use a towel or strap. Once in position, rotate the top shoulder toward the floor, opening your chest to the ceiling. Take two to three breaths and switch sides.
What to look for: Asymmetries in rotation between right and left sides or areas of accumulated tension in ankles, hips, or thoracic spine How to adjust: Add in movements like clam shells or half kneeing hip flexor stretch with rotation.
DEEP OVERHEAD SQUATTING
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width and arms overhead (regress by holding arms out in front of you). Squat as deep as you can while keeping your arms overhead. Do 5 reps. What to look for: Decreased range of motion in squat depth, stiffness around the ankles, hips, or thoracic spine How to adjust: Foam roll the muscles of the lower legs and glutes, perform lower-threshold movements like the tactical frog stretch (kneel with your knees wider than hip-width apart, hands on the ground under your shoulders. Shift your weight forwards and backwards, feeling a stretch in your inner thighs) or 90/90 hip rolling stretch.
TOE TOUCH TO STANDING EXTENSION
Hinge forward at waist, reaching hands toward toes, taking a deep breath at the bottom. Slowly return to a standing position and reach arms overhead as high as you can before returning to start. What to look for: Limited range of motion or stiffness on the back side of the body (from lower leg to top of the head) How to adjust: Foam roll areas of accumulated tension and mix in toe touch regressions first with your heels on a half foam roller and second with your toes on a half foam roller (do 2 sets of 8 each).
HIGH KNEES
Bend elbows at 90 degrees and begin to pull one knee at a time up toward chest, landing lightly on the balls of your feet. What to look for: Lack of or asymmetries in explosiveness, areas of stiffness or tension How to adjust: Try a vibrating foam roller and mix in more fast-paced movements to excite the nervous system. If you still feel like you aren't functioning at your best consider lowering the intensity of your workout.
Reference//
Shortsleeve, C. (2018, July 10). How to gauge readiness. Furthermore from Equinox. Retrieved February 16, 2022.