Someone asked me once what my hobbies were. I reeled off a list of various activities, to which they responded, "you need to have a hobby that doesn’t involve physical activity otherwise it doesn’t count." I don’t particularly agree, however, it did get me thinking about the positives and negatives of engaging in a wide variety or physical activities.
From a young age I have always enjoyed participating in a variety of sports and could never really say which was my favourite, rather that I just enjoyed the variety and bits of each activity. I played for a football and basketball team, attended athletics camps in the summer, attempted tennis lessons and even took up line dancing (don’t judge me!!). In each of these activities there was something that I excelled at, many things that I found challenging and almost always a mindset or a physical action that I could transfer and apply from one environment or situation to my benefit in another.
Last Tuesday we moved one of our weights sessions to the Subiaco PCYC for the first of three in a new phase that will see us combine our usual weights session with some gymnastics (let’s be clear, I am using the word gymnastics in the loosest sense of the word)! Our Athletic Performance Coach, Liam (let’s just call him S&C dude), said that all the activities we’ll do at the gymnastics centre are to improve co-ordination, balance, proprioception and landing mechanics. The fact that we will be on the sprung floor also gives us the opportunity to get involved with some plyometrics to improve power without the increased load through our joints.
When I questioned Liam further about the sessions at the gym (yes I’m that athlete that has all the questions) he literally said to me, “As it gets toward the end of pre-season, we are looking to introduce different modalities to change up training and give you girls something different to focus on that we can still get benefits from.”
I love that idea of cross training and engaging in a wide variety of activities for your bodies benefit. How practicing something in one environment may well carry over and improve something else.
A few years ago in an attempt to find a new hobby that fulfilled my need to be active but didn’t impact on my training and energy levels I began practicing Bikram yoga. It was hobby love at first sight and I was hooked. I love the repetition of the same 26 postures each class and the challenge of a 90min full physical and mental workout in 40C. When practicing regularly (3-4 times a week) I am able to improve my back and joint health, it improves my posture and stretches and strengthens my muscles and improves my balance in ways that I don’t achieve in the gym. The meditation aspect is also great practice for me as I am a terrible over thinker. I have been a member of a studio in Perth for three weeks now and remain resolute that it is a great hobby for me!
This week with a little bit of breathing room and wanting to mix up my off-feet conditioning options I took a few classes at a different kind of gym. Apparently, the only gym of its kind in the world, I was looking forward to experiencing a 45min class that would incorporate the fitness of boxing and spinning. Given my anatomy (pretty massive quads and hammys) and short attention span I thought this could be the class for me. And with all the odds against it – a 5 o’clock alarm for a 6am class, I had a great time. The group aspect that I enjoy when training was there and the amount that you got out of the class was directly in line with how much you put in. I like the interval nature of netball and that is also how I love to train, combine that with a variety or exercises and stimulus whilst conditioning and you’ve hit the jack pot! I’m looking forward to throwing in a few more sessions into my programme to maintain that conditioning element of training that I will need in the season, without hindering my need to recover and prepare physically for the next match.
Now I am completely aware that I potentially ‘do’ more than your average person, but I’ve been sitting still the whole time I’ve been writing this and I’m not so sure I would be the athlete or person I am without it all.
Frank x
Twitter/Instagram: @StcyJyneFrancis
