Sports Therapy Scotland

Heading for the Hills

Sat looking over to Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin it’s great to see the evening sun highlighting a good dusting of snow on the tops of the peaks.  The mountains look beautiful but there’s no doubt its cold out there!  We all know that Scottish weather is fickle to say the least and as we enter ‘summer’ the snows a good reminder that it can still be cold!  I have been mountaineering in the Scottish mountains for over 14 years and have been snowed on in the mountains every month except for July and August!

 If you’re out on the hills at the moment wrap up warm and don’t be fooled by the light evenings into letting your guard down with your navigation ability or your kit!  Essential kit even for summer hillwalking should include good walking boots with ankle support and good soles, warm clothes including walking trousers and a good base layer, mid layer and outer layer on top.  Good waterproofs and a spare mid layer in the rucksack and definitely hat and clothes at the moment.  Also make sure you have thought about energy and hydration (food and drink) and have packed your navigational kit - and know how to use it! (see top navigation tip below). Feel free to e mail any questions about kit or anything else you might want to know to enquiries@sportstherapyscoytland.co.uk

Jon’s Working Week 

My shoulder finally feels good and strong after ripping a muscle in it over a year ago (physio does work!) and I am excited to be back out on the rock and climbing again.  Upcoming courses include Guided Mountain Scrambles based in Glen Coe and including routes such as the Aonach Eagadh and other classic scrambles, a few local rock climbing courses located in the central belt and I am excited to get my teeth into a project that’s a fairly big development of a local climbing wall.  For any more info or to join any courses e mail me.

Jon’s Walk of the Week:    Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin from Loch Earnhead (OS Landranger Sheet 57 and 52)

Week Seven 

The Scottish race calendar is bursting at the seams with races to suit everyone from 5k to Ultra Marathon events; it really is an exciting time of year.  I train all year around like most runners through the good and bad weather in preparation for the various races in the spring and summer months.  The phrase “winter miles, summer smiles” was something I always thought of when the weather was not at its best.

With the start of British summertime on Sunday runners will benefit from extended lighter evenings.  This is the time of year when running really does have that feel good factor because you have trained hard throughout the winter months.  Hopefully you will now be training in your shorts and t shirt and getting outside more often for your sessions, this is so you can get used to the feeling of running outside if you have not already done so. 

Some runners may have already planned to run a number of races in the forthcoming months and with April and May approaching some of you may even be making a debut appearance at the London and Edinburgh Marathons.  Over the forthcoming months there are also many 10ks that you could take part in to use it as practice for the most important race of the year………the MHFS 10k for Men!  

Participating in another race before the MHFS 10k for Men is an excellent thing to do; you can practice your race pace and other things such as diet, hydration when running and most importantly recovery after the event.

JJ Physical Therapies bath salts are 100% natural and blended by John Jackson

Having been involved with and competed in many sports since the age of 10 including boxing, karate, mixed martial arts, motocross, pro-kart racing, cross country and downhill mountain bike racing, John feels it's a natural transition to use his therapies and experience to help athletes stay on form. After completing his studies of aromatherapy, holistic and physical therapies John started to mix his own bath salts to help relax and recover after hard days of biking and training.

The Muscle Soak blend is designed to soothe muscle pain and fatigue after a hard training session or physical competition. The ingredients contain chamomile, marjoram, juniper and pine oils for their anti-inflammatory, muscle soothing and healing properties. 

The Tension Release blend is designed to combat everyday tension and stress experienced by everyone. The ingredients have been chosen for their relaxing, soothing and healing properties, lavender, marjoram, cajuput and pine oils.

Tub Size 300g and on average 12 applications / baths per tub.

Investment in these salts is £11.99 , Postage is FREE

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Week Four

I’ve been really busy with work so have only managed to get out every second day which has been a bit frustrating.  I hope everyone’s training has been going well, a few people recently have commented on how they like reading my blog and also one person in particular (David McAdam) has told me how he has decided to enter the MHFS 10k due to reading the blog.  Thanks to everyone who has also sent me the various comments and likes on Facebook, I am very grateful for your encouragement and support.

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to my inaugural Men’s 10k jog blog.  My name is Gerry Gallacher and I will be writing on the progress of my training for the Men’s Health Forum Scotland (MHFS) 10K in June on a weekly basis.  I find running to be a very enjoyable pastime and the health benefits you can get from it are extremely rewarding.  It can be fun and very sociable, and  I have made a lot of new friends through the sport that I would not have made otherwise.  

I have been a keen runner for nearly 18 years and have managed to enter many races of various distances in that period.  I am a frequent participant of the Glasgow Parkrun event and can also be seen pounding the streets and countryside trails of Renfrewshire on a regular basis.

I am running the MHF 10k for the charity Prostate Scotland because nearly one in two men are likely to get prostate disease at some stage of their lives, and more than two men in Scotland are dying from prostate cancer every day. More importantly I also want to raise awareness of this disease - because often through early detection and treatment lives can be saved – as was the case for my father in law.  Over the forthcoming months I hope I can meet some of you at the various races I will be attending and find out how you are getting on with your training for the MHF 10k.

I hope you will find my blog interesting and inspiring as well as ultimately providing you with the encouragement you may need for your race on the day.

If you have not already signed up for the event then please do so as the 10k is achievable for anyone if you put your mind to it.

Gerry 

Key was ‘CAN produce’…

Yip, we lost an entire generation of footballers in Scotland, maybe even more than a generation. Pretty much the same story in all other sports too. Andy Murray is probably the only world class sportsman we have produced since Monty. (Respect to Hoy and Obree etc, but that’s a rather narrow competitive field).

But I see a lot of youth football, and a lot of very talented youth footballers. The standard is increasing again, and I am hopeful that we are starting to see that come through now. Dundee Utd and Aberdeen have some cracking 16-18 year olds for instance. They need 1 from each year group to backfill and they’re getting there.

You want 5? I’ll say Fletcher, McGeady and McCarthy are all terrific players, Fletcher the best of his generation. McGregor is a talented keeper, so too Craig Gordon. Ooops that’s 6.

Now World Class is a little different. World Class is statistically one in a million (or thereabouts). Look at France. England. Spain and so on. You need a lot of kids born each year to find a real diamond. We have 25,000 boys born each year. France 250,000.

If France produces a World Class player every 2 years, (they don’t) we’ll get one every 20 using the same approaches.

Perhaps that’s what explains the 20 year gap between Monty and Murray. Numbers.

But for good, successful professionals, Scotland is starting to produce again. I’d say a ‘success’ professionally is an EPL or similar standard league contract, and there are an increasing number of Scots boys playing there.

The pity is, they’re not playing here beyond the age of 21.

Scotland's biggest ever MMA & Fitness Exhibition coming to Kelvin Hall Glasgow 28th April 2012!

Scot-Fit Expo, said to be the biggest MMA & Fitness exhibition ever to be staged in Scotland is taking place in Kelvinhall Sports Arena Glasgow on April the 28th 2012.

From 9am-4pm the Scot-Fit Expo (prior to Vision Fighting Championship 3 that evening) will host several exhibition stands, space for demos, grappling competition, grappling super fights, kettlebell workshops and spin bike challenge all of which you can spectate or take part in.

The Scot-Fit Expo is expecting in the region of 2000 spectators, with a targeted demographic towards sport and fitness, as well as Boxing and Martial Arts.

--- On The Day ---

✸ Individual floor space for exhibitions

✸ Scot Fit challeneges

✸ Kettlebells demonstrations

✸ The worlds best strength & conditioning athletes demonstrations

✸ Spin bike challenge

✸ Nutrition Supplements advice and testing by pro atheletes

✸ 100 rep challenege

✸ Sports Therapy by Sports Therapy Scotland

✸ Freebies & give-aways

To join in the fun you can guarantee your ticket for just £10 by texting 07837912289 or visiting any of our suppliers:

✸ Dropping into any EZ Sports outlets

✸ Visiting http://www.findyourpersonaltrainer.co.uk/scot-fit-expo/prod_234.html

✸ Buy your ticket on the door at the event (limited available)

Let's all get Scot Fit together!

Whilst financial fair play is still a hot topic……….

Taken from Dutch website de Pers.

Spanish clubs dominate European football, they buy the best players in the world and the national team won the European Championships and the World Cup. And it’s all thanks to you.

The President of Barcelona made a phone call to the bank. Could he get another loan? A 155 million or so to pay salaries? No problem. Once the loan was there, Lionel Messi got yet another salary increase and Cesc Fabregas was bought for a mere 40 million euros from Arsenal.

364 million euros (it was a few years ago over 500 million), the fault of Barcelona, ​​but money is hardly lacking: the bank always comes to the rescue. That’s how it works in Spain. Banks finance the deficits and transfers, especially with the big clubs. There is no bank who dares to say no to the giants of football, and there is certainly not one who dares to call in the outstanding loans at a club deep in the red. No Spanish bank would dare to be responsible for the failure of clubs like Barca, Real Madrid and Valencia, it would result in hundreds of thousands if not millions of lost customers.

Sports Therapy Scotland is opening a new Sports Injury and Physiotherapy clinic in Glasgow.

We will offer the full range of Sports Therapy and Physiotherapy treatments conditions including

• Back Pain
• Frozen Shoulder
• Sciatica
  
• Sprains and strains

In addition to treatments within the clinic we will be delivering various certificated workshops including

• HSE Approved Sports First Aid
  
• REPS approved Kettlebell Courses
  
• Strength and Conditioning Workshops
  
• Trigger Point Performance Therapy Workshops
• KT Tape / Kinesio Tape application workshops.

These will be delivered at various venues within Glasgow area.

Podium and Pole Position for Tom Sykes, Sports Therapy Scotland Sponsored Athlete at Opening Round World Superbikes in Australia. 

Kawasaki Racing Team rider Tom Sykes put all of his strong off-season testing form to good use at the opening round of the 2012 FIM Superbike World Championship by taking pole position and then a podium finish in race two, to add to a fourth place he had scored in the opening sprint.

He was quick off the line in each leg and thanks to lots of positive development work in recent months, and despite a long testing ban having been enacted this year, Sykes was able to overcome a few barriers that have affected his previous results.

Tom has never been a fan of the Phillip Island circuit and his machine has not always been able to keep pace all the way to the end of races, particularly in hot conditions. But today Sykes had pace for all 22-laps, particularly in the warmer race two, despite a strong wind blowing down the finish straight that seemed to affect his bike more than most others.