The CrossFit Challenge
Mathias Jepson, CrossFit Athlete
It’s fair to say that sports and fitness has been a huge part of my life and still is. Since my childhood I’ve been training and competing in football, floorball, table tennis then moving into gym and general fitness until I found the love of CrossFit. A friend of mine persuaded me to try it once… and I was hooked. I instantly knew this was the sport for me and I immediately knew I wanted to become the best at it.
From that day my goal was to compete within my regional championships – Europe, Middle East and Africa. The top 5 individuals and teams would then advance to the Games, which is the world championship.
CrossFit is a sport of constantly varied functional movements, executed at high intensity. In theory and in the ideal world there would be no risk of injury and only increased performance over time. However, if you don’t have the perfect technique and mobility, and you execute the movements under high intensity, it’s fair to say as a CrossFit athlete you will likely suffer from injuries over time, through too much physical stress and too little time for the body to regenerate.
Taking no prisoners
It’s difficult to understand the concept of CrossFit unless you dig deeper into it or you have tried it yourself, but as an athlete you basically need be good at everything! You should prepare for the unknown, show no weakness, have full mobility, demonstrate great technique and have an insanely strong mental game to push through the pain when the body screams for rest but there’s still work to be done. You need to be strong, explosive and have great endurance – all at once. It’s fair to say the job is never done. You can always improve, and this is one of the factors that can lead the CrossFit athlete into a dangerous mindset of pushing harder each day, and not ensuring a balance between work and rest.
Personally, I’ve always thought about it as a scale needing to be balanced over time to achieve optimal performance. A training session would take away from the scale and sleep would be adding to it, as would unhealthy food versus healthy food.
Taking its toll
For almost 6 years I followed a strict training program that would allow me to increase my level of performance on all areas of training necessary to achieve my goals in CrossFit competitions. At the same time, I was persistent with clean, healthy eating to decrease inflammation and increase recovery, I visited my chiropractor a few times a month, I optimized recovery through light movement and stretching. Maintaining all of these practices to ‘keep the scale in balance’ and reduce the risk of injury, still wasn’t enough. Over the years I’ve had injuries in my knees, shoulders, lower back, ribs, wrists, elbows and as much as injuries are physical, they’re equally psychological and do get into your head…
So to get back from these injuries I’ve tried most things such as avoiding training, undertaking rehabilitation programs, massage, laser treatments, shock wave therapy to name a few, all with limited success. Ultimately what had the greatest impact for me to speed up my recovery between sessions and competitions, reduce muscular discomfort and pain was NMES technology. From the day I started using it, I never stopped, and during the latter stages of my competitive career it was a total game changer for staying in the game - fit, healthy, uninjured and with the ability to push forward and increase my level of fitness.
What's the solution?
With this powerful NMES tool in my hand and by using it the right way, I could continue to aim for the CrossFit Regionals and in 2017 I eventually reached this - the final goal of my CrossFit career. This was my ultimate destination before I decided to seek other goals to pursue.
Even today, years after finishing my athletic career, I’m using NMES technology in my daily life and training, but today in a more efficient way. With diPulse technology I am able to maintain a healthy body even though I’m sitting, travelling, working and exposed to a lot of stress, as I pursue a new career and passion, where I now most want to succeed. diPulse has created a revolutionary way of using the technology in training where most competitors are limited by their product and electrode design, and this has given me the flexibility to use it in training and to target my objectives far more efficiently. Essentially I can now bring a mobile gym with me in my bag wherever I travel, to always maintain my own high standards of fitness.
diPulse has offered me a game changer for fitness as it has become my personal portable mobile gym and masseuse. There is no need to compromise on training if I travel, if I’m pushed for time with work or if I can’t get to the gym – I can stay in peak performance whatever my daily life throws at me. That’s how winning is done!
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