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| Session with Joey Nicholas Kinesiology |
Mind over matter…
It’s been said that some of the
greatest obstacles in life are those that are perceived, which is why getting
your head into the right place prior to, and during your training sessions is
going to be essential for you towards achieving your training goals.
My experience with quite possibly one
of the greatest ever perceived obstacles I have faced in my competitive life as
an athlete was whether the time off I'd had from training with pregnancy would
ever allow me to return to the level of fitness required to compete, let alone
even make it to this year’s CrossFit Games!
At the time of the 2013 CrossFit
Games, I recall watching the girls online who were competing and felt unable to
escape the unmistakable feelings of self-doubt at the time as I had been
considering whether I would be returning to competition or not. I knew it was
uncharacteristic of me to feel this way, but I also knew things had definitely
changed for me both physically and mentally since becoming a mother.
Making my decision so difficult was compounded
by the fact that I could see just how strong the girls in the comp had gotten
in my year away from it, and to be completely honest I didn't even believe
at that stage that I would be anywhere near the level of fitness I felt I
needed to be at in time for the start of the Open in February this year!
I was fortunate to receive some
timely words of encouragement from Benji Schwartz a week or two after the Games had finished which honestly helped
me to overcome some of the feelings of self-doubt which I was experiencing. Ben
has had a great positive influence over my training in the past and has always
been able to give me a push, especially when I’ve needed it.
But ultimately, the decision to
commence training again would be mine to make. What I do know is that even with
a push, it’s still up to you to take that initial leap of faith in the
direction of your goals. For me, the instant I was able to make that big step and
commit myself on the road to a comeback, I think I realised almost simultaneously
that I was going to need to get straight to work if I was to have even a remote
chance of making it to the 2014 CrossFit Games!
I knew my biggest gaps were my
strength. So I talked with some other athletes who I knew had always had to
work that bit harder than most when it came to the strength component. I got in
contact with Chris
Hogan who I knew has done a lot of work over the years to
improve his strength who suggested I get in touch with Rob Downtown at RAW Strength &
Conditioning.
Mental stress Vs. Physical Stress
I looked at my baseline stats verses
my progress each day and was pretty pleased with my initial physical progress
in the first couple of months. Securing a 1st Place win at the FitChick
Challenge in Perth was a real confidence booster, but I knew I was still a long
way off where I needed to be at that point.
Possibly what I could not seem to
shake was the sense and feeling that I was still behind the 8-Ball in terms of
time to prepare by comparison with the other athletes, all of which had all
been training hard during my absence from training for competition since the
2012 Qualifiers.
Also this feeling was now being
compounded by the fact I was juggling a relentless training regime combined with
the sleep deprivation and constant priorities to attend to first and foremost as
a new mum, all whilst running a house on my own with my partner Roh working
away on an 8 weeks away, and 2 weeks at home fly-in fly-out (FIFO) work roster.
Whilst those who know me well know it’s generally not in my nature to complain,
all I want to say is that each day was a complete mental battle for me.
There was no doubt in my mind I had
definitely gotten physically stronger and backed the programming I had been
working on with Rob at that stage, but I just knew there was something holding
me back.
I remember I was starting to second
guess everything and whether or not I was possibly being too ambitious in my
plans. Negativity was creeping into my training, and it was making it harder
and harder for me to keep my focus.
However one of the many great things
training at CrossFit has taught me during my involvement over the past 5 years
is that the mind is a powerful thing and that piece of knowledge combined with
my all-or-nothing style approach, I felt that I had to make some changes and
get my head straight if I was to have any measured level of success.
With such a hectic schedule juggling
my training and the stresses of new motherhood combined with some stresses
which resulted from my partner being away etc. and then throw in some technical
mishaps during my filming of the Open WODs where the video cut out (damn
technology!) I was literally about to collapse into a tired heap.
I developed Shingles during this year’s Open Qualifier which my Doctor advised was
most likely caused due to a lowering of the immune system which was no doubt
due to a large imbalance of increased physical stress and mental stress
generated from possibly trying to juggle everything.
It was roughly week 5 in the Open
this year when whilst doing some Oly Lifting training with Lucy from theMill Gym in Perth when by chance I was introduced to Joey Nicholas, one of Lucy’s clients who just so happened to be training that
day and who was a Kinesiologist.
I had been introduced previously to
Kinesiology and had already experienced the great benefits of a Kinesiology
balancing sessions during a period in my life that was prior to being
introduced to CrossFit, where I had regularly experienced moderate to high
levels of stress and anxiety which had been generated through a work / life
imbalance.
Not to be confused with Kinesiology
Tape J, possibly
the best way to describe Kinesiology is that it is a performance enhancing tool
that gets to the core of what’s really going on in your life - whether it is stress
or anxiety generated through fear, sabotaging belief systems, lack of self-love/appreciation
or self-worth etc.
Kinesiology uses the science of
muscle testing and balancing the electromagnetic energy fields of the body to
correct these imbalances. Kinesiology can achieve for you a heightened level of
performance; and the beauty of this is that it flows through into all other
areas of your life!
Kinesiology has also been described
as a vast holistic therapy, which basically means that the techniques can vary
depending on what your own circumstances may be to determine what your body
needs in order for it to function at its best.
The techniques have been used by
Eastern Countries for thousands of years, treating the whole body- including
structural (muscles/bone/cartilage), bio chemical (organs and hormones right
down to a cellular level), emotional, energetic (the bodies light force/chi
energy & meridians & chakras), spiritual (present, past and future
lives).
A kinesiology balance will give you
clarity, high levels of confidence, self-worth, motivation, and energy, a sense
of self peace, freedom, and love.
Joey and I got talking about training
and I mentioned how I was feeling about my training and life in general as a
result, to which fortunately for me Joey agreed to immediately start doing some
work with me through Kinesiology.
Assisting athletic performance and injury prevention
After dealing with my initial stress
levels and bringing balance back into my body, interestingly what Joey was
quickly able to find out was that during the Open this year, I had actually
been sub-consciously mentally preparing for a top 10 finish (at best) for the
Regionals.
Granted, for many this in itself is a
truly notable and respectable goal to have; the only problem was the goal I had
written down was to qualify in 1st Place at the CrossFit Games Australian
Regionals.
I was fortunate enough to work
closely with Joey Nicholas over the next 5 months to help improve my
mental/emotional and physical state.
Through the
balancing techniques applied through Kinesiology I was able to align my mind
and my body to assist me towards achieving my goals.
I could not have
been happier with my result at this years CrossFit Regionals as it represented
a huge milestone acomplishement for me as an athlete, and one which I know was
a result of the combined input of people in my network which is why I continue
to place such a large emphasis on the importance of building a good support
team, regardless of the level of training you are committed to.
Many may argue that
athletic performance is nothing more the result of hard work and training,
however what I found through my experience this year is that the sub-concious
level of our mind has a significant influence over the outcome. As was the case
for me, regardless of what training I was doing my sub-conscious was going to
potentially negatively impact my result prior to the competition would start.
People often and regularly ask me how
you train your mind to be strong during training and competition. You may have
heard of the clique “train the mind so the mind can train the body”. This goes
beyond just staying motivated and determined to achieve your goals, especially
when your sub-conscious mind is so powerful. Potentially this is why so many
people fail to complete their goals. Whilst this is likely to be the topic of a
future blog J it does lead into a big function of the human brain which
influences the success of your goals and that is namely, emotions.
Whilst I don’t claim to be an expert
on this subject by any means, emotions simply put are basically the feelings which we experience and that are
generated from the responses to events which take place in our lives.
Interestingly what I found with my
experience with Kinesiology this year was that emotions are not limited to our
minds. Emotions, as it turns out are also stored in our muscles, which in turn
can largely affect their ability to function to the way in which our mind wants
them to.
Crazy huh!? But what I actually found
with my experience with Kinesiology with my training is that it can aid in releasing
this emotion attached to the muscle which can in turn allow for freedom of
movement, and therefore has the potential to aid in injury prevention.
This combined with working closely
with Coach Dan
Williams this year I was able to correct the imbalances within my
body by recruiting the correct muscles required for a specific movement
pattern. Dan, who has a strong background in exercise physiology and injury
prevention worked tirelessly to come up with a program which would assist in
injury prevention, which combined with the Kinesiology treatment and regular Physiotherapy
I had a very strong injury management plan in place which worked extremely well
for me in terms of my comeback this year.
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| Photo courtesy of Colin Sanders Photography |
Summary
Possibly the best way I can describe
my experience with Kinesiology is that by achieving a higher level of
self-awareness through my balancing sessions I felt connected to a higher power.
There is a spiritual power which can be experienced through Kinesiology which for
most people who have closed their minds to this way of thinking, possibly all I
can say is they perhaps need to rethink what determined them to arrive at this
conclusion in the first place.
For me personally, the journey which
competing at CrossFit has taken me on has enabled me to push my body and my
mind beyond what my previous perceived limits were.
Along the way events have taken place
which has given me the opportunity to give up and quit on numerous occasions.
But at each and every one of these opportunities I have been given to quit, I
have been blessed with an opportunity to further improve myself.
Whilst I am the first to admit that
some things have worked for me and some things haven’t, everyone’s experience
will be uniquely different. I have made it my future goal, as I look to a life
beyond the realm of competing following the 2015 CrossFit Games season, to
provide sound knowledge based on my experiences.
I’ve been a firm believer for some
time that just because you read it in a text book, doesn’t mean you should ever stop challenging the convention
because the instant you do that you prevent the opportunity of surprising
yourself to what you otherwise thought was not possible. You also limit
yourself to a perceived limit and restrict yourself to something you will never
experience as a result of that way of thinking.
Therefore based on my experiences,
all I can say is that whether you are male or female, competitive athlete or
weekend warrior, I seriously recommend that next time you get bogged down with
the pressures of work/life and training or what you consider to be possible
given your own set of circumstances, that you at least consider a kinesiology
balance session to look at assisting with your own training, and potentially
tap into a higher power you most likely have never known to have existed.
P.S.
Whilst I am limited to my own
experiences with Kinesiology certainly if you are interested in further
information on the detailed benefits of Kinesiology, I recommend that you contact Joey Nicholas
Kinesiology, connect with him on Facebook, or contact Joey
directly via email joeykinesiology@gmail.com
This is the first instalment of what
I hope will be a regular blog series. I welcome your comments and constructive
feedback to this blog and to topics for discussion.
My next instalment will be the
benefits of Physio to aid recovery and improve athletic performance.
Keep smiling, train hard and don’t
take life too seriously… nobody gets out alive anyway!
De :-)
Denae Brown
Webpage : A current reference to my journey with CrossFit and future
source of shared information and trending topics in CrossFit and health &
fitness in our community.
Twitter: #faithrulesfear – when you feel empowered by something you have
achieved through your own training, life or unique journey and experiences
