Over the past 25 years or so, I’ve been practicing sports on a very regular basis. I’ve tried several different sports, with football and cycling being the main ones in my twenties.

Then, in my thirties, padel became my main focus, with other racket sports (beach tennis, tennis, frescobol) complementing it. Cycling was still present, although mainly as a means of transport.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in gyms too, although never on a consistent and serious basis over a number of years. Over the last 3-4 years, however, I’ve learned a lot about anatomy and proper technique while working with personal trainers during my padel preparation training.

All these activities, together with pretty good genetics, have enabled me to stay in the “above average” section of the population when it comes to fitness.

However, I recently came to the realisation that I have never been fully happy with my body, always missing that extra bit of optimisation and strength.

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I was born with hypermobile joints, especially in my knees, ankles, elbows and shoulders.

Hypermobility is a connective tissue condition (usually inherited) in which the body’s collagen is more elastic than the ‘norm’, leading to increased flexibility. For some people, notably musicians, gymnasts, dancers and sports people, this natural flexibility gives a very useful advantage, though it leaves them more prone to injuries such as sprains and dislocations. In others, it can cause clumsiness, lack of spatial awareness and joint pain.

If I’m not making any conscious effort to stand differently, my knees will hyperextend backward and my ankles will cave inwards.

It’s very easy for me to twist my ankles outwards if I’m walking on uneven terrains or during certain sports like football, where the grass provides a cushioned and slightly unstable landing pad for the feet. I’ve been aware of this condition for many years, but during the last year or so I’ve been struggling with pain around the right ankle especially. The pain intensifies after I play padel or tennis, and can linger for months unless I stop playing for a month or two.

I’ve decided to see what I can do to deal with this condition, and in this post, I’ll be documenting my journey. The start date is November 2020.

Note that if you have just injured your ankle, the best thing to do is to follow the RICE methodology and apply heat or ice as necessary, and see a specialist. You might eventually also use EMS to treat the injury.

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If you’re a desk jockey and are troubled by bad posture, here are a few things that I suggest to address this issue.

• Stay active. Any kind of sport will generally improve things and put you in a better mood and hence more likely to stand tall than slouch.
• Perform these exercises a few times per week.
• Use a foam roller and a RAD Roller.
• Do some sessions with an Alexander Technique teacher.
• Read the Overcoming Poor Posture book.

Have you tried any of the methods above? Let me know in the comments section.

Figure 1. source

For some cultures, tea is more than just a drink. For the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Russian, and English people, tea is a profoundly important part of their lives. In China, in particular, each regional group has its own philosophy of tea, and each ideological trend reinvents the implications that a cup of tea has in one’s day.

Great tea comes from remote mountains. Whether it’s white, green, or black, it conveys the essence of its natural surroundings. I’m not talking about overly processed tea that you can get at any store. I’m talking about delicate, potent, and clean tea that makes a world of a difference.

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In 2019 I had the opportunity to train at a center here in Barcelona (GlobalPerformance) that specialises in isoinertial training methodology and equipment. It was the first time I did this type of training so I took some notes.

This is a type of training originally developed for outer space use since it doesn’t rely on gravity as the traditional weight machines do.

In the video below, you can observe some exercises that can be done with the pulleys and flywheels used in this type of training.

The nice thing is that the machines could be attached with a monitor that took note of each concentric vs eccentric movement of my muscles and measured the variation between them. In just one session I was able to observe the weak points of my body and that gave me a very good indication of what I need to be working on for gaining further strength while at the same time preventing injury.

This type of training is excellent for tennis and padel training as there’s a lot of emphasis on correct posture and using the whole kinetic chain effectively for every movement, and this can transfer very well to our oncourt performance.