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Two habits I ingrained in 2018

January 13, 2019 by Jay Johnson

I was fortunate to have the time and flexibility in my life in 2018 to ingrain two daily habits. The first is a short routine of Active Isolated Flexibility, AIF, which I learned from Phil Wharton. The second is simply twenty minutes of silent meditation each morning. The AIF work takes me less than ten minutes, though it should take longer, as I rushed through the routine most days. For the meditation I use a free app called Insight Timer that has a starting and ending bell, so the time is set. Finally, I use an app called Streaks, which costs five dollars, that was no doubt helpful as I can track these two habits.

I started doing the AIF work in December of 2017. My guess is I did it twenty to twenty-five days that month, with the obvious goal being to establish a habit of doing AIF each day in 2018. What happened? I was able to do AIF 358 days out of 365 in 2018, so ninety-eight percent of the time. I missed seven days. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Recovery, Training Tagged With: Active Isolated Flexibility, AIF, box breathing, improved range of motion, insight timer, meditation, Phil Wharton, range of motion, Streaks app, Waking Up app

Podcast 030 – Phil Wharton on Marathon Recovery, Part 2

October 12, 2014 by CoachJay

Here is part 2 of my interview with Phil Wharton on marathon recovery.

It’s great to hear his story about how he recovered from the three times he ran 2:23 for the marathon.

Make sure to check out the Wharton Post-Marathon Recovery Plan that Phil and Jim Wharton have shared with us. Click here to download the PDF.

The plan utilizes Active Isolated Flexibility, which Phil and Jim have brought to the running world.

From today through next Tuesday, October 21st, you can use the code “october15″ to get 15% off Flexibility for Runners and the Strengthening for Runners videos from RunningDVDs.com (see introduction to the videos below).

Click here to download the audio. Or you can listen to the podcast via iTunes.

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Active Isolated Flexibility, marathon, Marathon recovery, Phil Wharton, Post-Marathon Recovery, running

Podcast 029 – Phil Wharton on Marathon Recovery, Part 1

October 12, 2014 by CoachJay

Want to know how to recover from a marathon?

Phil Wharton knows how to help people recover from a marathon. Listen to him describe the plan that he and his father Jim have created in this podcast.

Click here to get the Wharton Post-Marathon Recovery Plan PDF.

The plan utilizes Active Isolated Flexibility, which Phil and Jim have brought to the running world.

From today through next Tuesday, October 21st, you can use the code “october15” to get 15% off Flexibility for Runners and the Strengthening for Runners videos from RunningDVDs.com (see introduction to the videos below).

Click here to download the audio.  Or you can listen to the podcast via iTunes.

Filed Under: For Everyone Tagged With: flexibility, Flexibility for Runners, marathon, marathon running, Phil Wharton, Post-Marathon Recovery, running videos, strengthening for runners

Stop blowing off Functional Strength

April 20, 2014 by CoachJay

Simple question: Can you do a one-legged squat?  If you think of running as a series of one-legged hops, then you should be able to squat on one leg.  Why?  For the simple reason that you’re going to land on one leg after taking off in the air from the other leg, i.e. you’re basically hopping from one leg to another when you run, and if you can not handle your body weight on one leg, then you probably need to go back and do some remedial strength work before you consider running a bunch of miles.

There are a number of functional screens out there – Grey Cook’s work and Gary Gray’s work come to mind – that can help an athlete figure out where they are weak, where they are asymmetric, and where they have a higher probability of injury.  But even if you can’t find someone to do the screen, why wouldn’t you start working on functional strength right away?  The Lunge Matrix that I use (which is rooted in Gary Gray’s work) is a great warm-up because it’s getting the body to move in all three planes of motion before a run – which is primarily a sagittal plane activity, with a little bit of transverse plane (hips and shoulders oscillating throughout the gait).  The second thing you should consider is Active Isolated Flexibility (AIF) as a daily practice after your run.  I’ve seen dozens of runners do this work and stay injury free.  With AIF, you gain flexibility, but you also gain strength, and it’s a great way to improve your body’s symmetry.

The bottom line is that staying healthy requires work, but not a tremendous amount.  Functional Strength can help you stay healthy, staying healthy leads to consistency, and consistency leads to a faster runner.

Filed Under: For Everyone Tagged With: Active Isolated Flexibility, AIF, Gary Gray, Grey Cook, lunge matrix, Phil Wharton

Sunday Morning Reads 08.18.13

August 18, 2013 by CoachJay

Hope you’re having a nice Sunday.

In this article Scott Douglas talks about the future of minimalist shoes, something that is still a very hot topic.

Recovery is no doubt important for training adaptations to take place (see Hans Selye‘s GAS principle).  This article on recovery, written by Jordan Rapp, is a great read, though you may not agree with his thesis.

Finally, I’m going back and listening to some of the podcasts for the simple fact that I need to fully absorb what the interviewees shared.  Phil Wharton’s podcast is definitely worth a listen.  I’ll be assigning the Wharton Strengthening exercises with new athletes when the start in September with the idea the joint integrity is the precursor to intense strength work.

Have a great Sunday.

Filed Under: For Everyone Tagged With: Hans Selye, Joint Integrity, Jordan Rapp, Phil Wharton, Scott Douglas

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