Sneaky nasty muscle imbalance

I went to see a physio last week. Her judgement after a couple of tests: You have weak abs. Your inner core is not working.

What!? But I can plank 3 minutes, what is this?

I'd had my suspicions after struggling with the special sit-ups that were part our roller derby fitness test. Then I recalled a pilates session where all the old ladies were rolling up and I just could not. There was a picture that I'd spotted on Google, weak abs going with weak glutes. Yes, the previous physio judgement had been weak glutes... and hamstrings.

My body didn't know about the muscles.

Obliques ...and what else is there?

I started roller derby some 4 and half years ago, having not been very active for years. My body started using the muscles that it knew about - quads and external obliques. Only now I know that my body wasn't firing up my glutes, hamstrings or inner core. They'd got so lazy from all the sitting down and my body had forgotten how to use them.

Through training my quads and obliques got stronger and stronger.

They started compensating for the lazy muscles which got weaker.

I mastered 3 minute plank, not knowing that in fact it was the massive obliques doing the job... I've got nice core strenght! Actually, no. It was an illusion. Stupid body!

Piece of advice to all new to derby

On hindsight, I should have told myself 4 years ago: 
You have started a sport. Get conditioning, get your body better as whole. Stretch to get more flexible and to stop your body being pulled into a twist by tight muscles. Make sure all your muscles are firing up! Strength train rather than letting your sport to train your muscles - you'll end up all wonky. Physios offer muscle strength tests, which would not be a bad idea to do at an early stage.

If I went to gym, I would not just train one action. I did not realise this when I started derby. I'd be just skating.

Crossed pelvic syndrome

It did not help that my other activities favoured the same muscles - cycling and sitting.

Only when I started getting problems with my hips this 'whole body' thing has started opening up to me.

•  poor balance because of inner core is not helping me
•  muscle cramps from overuse and resulted tightness
•  supertight hipflexors - weakness and tightness producing poor posture
•  not using what's supposed to be the biggest & strongest muscle, glutes
•  hip pain, slowly worsening 

A big thank you to all the physios I have seen, now I have a way to start patching myself up:

•  Stretching, stretching, especially hipflexors and quads
• activating lower abs, just contracting them a little, reminding my body they are there
•  telling my glutes to work when doing squats, doing bum-squeezes as activation exercise
•  fully appreciating the benefits of pilates, yoga and all those gentle balance & body control exercises 
• foamrolling, massage, sitting on tennisballs (quite nice!)

 further reading - http://www.jandaapproach.com/about/

More World Cup photos

These are from the Finland-Sweden bout. See whole album here

During the Cup I started getting really comfortable blocking whilst facing the 'wrong' way. I could see what was going on and turn around if needed and apparently somebody facing you can be quite intimidating for the jammer. 

Toronto in photos

Photos by Team Photographer Marko Niemela and myself.

Greenland on the way to Toronto

Toronto from air

On our way to Niagara Falls

The Falls

Behind the Falls

The viewing platform

Trip to Downtown - CN Tower

Fun buses

Tall buildings

Outside the World Cup venue

Cooking noodles in the coffee maker

Singing the national anthem at the Opening Ceremony

Aussie sends me flying

Blocking the Aussie jammer

Flying jammers at Germany bout

We beat Ireland

Blocking the French jammer

My home league supports me all the way

Jamming against Canada

Getting ready to fight for the 5th place

Blocking the Swedish jammer

The winners!

Afterparty in costumes

The frog and the wolf

Leaving Canada

Taking off

Leaving Toronto at night

Good morning Europe

Happy Independence Day Finland!

I hope we made you proud!

Toronto: Day 8 & 9

After the pressure lifted I got ill. This is not very surprising, lots of girls have been complaining of sore throats and many blamed the dusty venue, but I think this is some cold virus. I spent the whole of Monday at the hotel, hanging on the net trying to spy derby gossip and find new photos. I wonder if anyone filmed the opening ceremony when we sang the Finnish National Anthem. It would be great to see and hear it (it's the Finnish Indepence Day today by the way!). I found a picture of me after scoring points for Finland in the bout against Canada. That was pretty cool. Haven't seen any after party pictures yet. Maybe people want to keep them hiding... ha haa... I heard it got a bit wild! I was ill and left quite early, but managed to catch the legendary roller skater Quadzilla in a photo with me. We did the team dance at the party and it was a success, others joining in.

Monday lunchtime I went to a buffet restaurant with my room mates and ate until I could not any more. I'll post a picture of my plate later. It was rather protein rich plate... Two slices of roast beef, steamed fish fillet, stri fried tofu, roast chicken thigh and some chilli. I really needed it. In four days we had bouted six times, no rest for muscles in between, not too much protein rich food available.In the evening we walked to the nearest convenience store and bought crisps, chocolate and other unhealthyness. We drank the rest of our ciders and watched 'quality' Canadian TV.

Today is going home time and I don't want to go! Why can't it be World Cup every day!

Toronto: Day 7

It was a long day! We left the hotel quite early again to get ready for the most important match of the tournament... Finland Vs Sweden! We had bouted against them in October in a fundraising match and lost by some fifty points. We were not quite sure what to think about this re-match opportunity other than that it was going to be one emotionally charged game due to that age old rivalry between the two countries. After a strong start from Sweden we managed to get lead and kept it til the end - knowing that if we let it slip, the whole thing would turn around. We played one of our best games and showed to the World what herrings are made of!

I found my body doing things I did not know it was capable of, spinning around, jumping on my toe stops, blocking backwards and really keeping with my team. I can't wait to see the game myself (check out DNN archives!).

What a feeling being the 5th in the world and the 2nd in Europe after England. The teams ahead us are just plain amazing, Australia, England, Canada and USA.

Toronto: Day 6

Wooo!!!! Finland is now competing for the 5th place! Can you believe this! It will be against our DEAR ENEMY SWEDEN! Scandinavian derby rocks. Who's ahead of us? USA, Canada, England, Australia. Then come Finland and Sweden.

That's all for now, a longer report to come!

Toronto: Day 4 & 5

DAY 4
We left the hotel early for our team practice which was at 10am at the Cup venue, the Bunker. The Bunker is a huge warehouse outside the centre of the city. The floor is really nice to skate on being smooth concrete. It feels really fast - we are so used to sticky sports hall floors. After the practice we came back to the hotel to rest, eat and get ready for the final seeding game against Australia. Back at the venue, having seen Australia to beat Germany 136-53, we knew it was going to be a tough game. I received some crazy star passes from our jammers and a few massive blocks from the Aussies. It was fun. The bout finished at 9pm and as it had been a long day with so much excitement, I just could not go to sleep. My legs seemed to have their own mind, kicking and tensing up as I was struggling calm down. Those star passes kept creeping back and my heart would pound as it did then... Eventually, I fell a sleep sometime after 2am, but woke up at 5am. So I started Day 5 with 3 hours of sleep and stiff legs.

DAY 5
Again we left for the venue quite early and watched some bouts before we had to start getting ready for the Germany match. Our bout against Germany was evenly matched and we felt it could have been either way, but Germany did beat us at the end 104-80. A very special Welcome Ceremony took place in the afternoon. All teams sang their national anthem front of the crowd. We opted to sing a cappella, without the backing track, and it was truly amazing, loud and very proud! The ceremony made the Cup feel like a real thing, not just a derby tournament, but a World Cup, skaters competing for the own country... oh so emotional... New Zealand performed a haka and it was WOW! After the ceremony we were told that our next opponent would be Ireland. We liked this outcome! If we'd beaten Germany, we would have bouted New Zealand on Saturday morning and we all liked the idea of playing Ireland more (just because some of our girls have special bond with Ireland - of course we like the Kiwis too!).That Ireland game was so cool. You can read about it on DNN: http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/2011/12/world_cup_10_finland_upends_7_ireland_148_134

As it was an Elimination game, this means that we now won't end lower than 8th place and are competing for the 5th. I cannot describe how we felt after the win... speechless and full of derby love for everybody!

Last minute bout

My home league Bristol Roller Derby's Harbour Harlots will be bouting against Cardiff Roller Collective's Rude Birds this Saturday and I'm playing for the Harlots of course. This will nicely get me in the bouting mode for Toronto, where we may play twice a day against really tough teams. Get your tickets here: http://madamadari.com/crocs/SUPERSLAM/buytickets.htm

Blocking with the bum

This is the 'anchor & pendulum' or 'tractor trailer' position. I'm holding my team mate from behind, helping my balance and getting that swinging motion in. It's cool, it works!

Team Finland practice on Friday 11 November:

"Lihaksia ja Luoteja" mixed bout in Tampere 12 November:

Photos by Marko Niemelä, Team Finland very Official Photographer!

Sk8 Heaven bootcamp

As part of my World Cup preparations, I spent last weekend in Northampton at Sk8 Heaven advanced roller derby bootcamp. We had over 100 skaters, famous coaches from Canada, the US and the world, and two full days of roller derby action. I joined the camp's All-Star level with other World Cup skaters from Team Scotland, Team England and even Team Brazil!

 

My classes started with one hour endurance drill coached by Pia Mess. It didn't end up in puking despite her reputation "Pain is just weakness leaving your body". I think she was going soft on us.

Bonnie D. Stroir

Bonnie D. Stroir's lectures were inspiring, giving food for thought about the mental game, setting your goals as a sportsperson and using visualisation as a part of your training regime (I'd bee already doing this!). Being in control of your emotions and the mental game is very important in the heat of a bout - roller derby is a fast and aggressive sport and being able to stay clam and perform is vital.

Pitchit

Pitchit brought us default strategy, crystallising the game into four situations and the four default actions against them. Following the presentation, the strategies were practiced on the track. 

Isabelle Ringer

Isabelle Ringer made us sweat off-skates with a combination of warming up, plyometric, core and balance exercises. This was a real feel-good session - she says it has direct derby specific benefits and people attending the session were excited about making it part of their training routines (so am I!).

And there was so much more... Blocking and hitting classes, gear workshop, more entertaining lectures, scrimmage and only one broken ankle (get well soon!).

It was a great weekend with 7am breakfast starts, doing derby till 5pm, followed by relaxation in the hotel's saunas and pool, and without forgetting the crazy after party... which my league, Bristol Roller Derby, brought with mad costumes and madder dance moves!