Do You Want To See My Brazilian?

When a strength and conditioning coach from New Zealand asked me if I wanted to see his Brazilian I wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t wait for a reply and just went straight ahead and showed me his Brazilian – something he was very proud of!

This all happened a couple fo weeks ago when a group of local S&C coaches got together to explore rehab techniques for athletes coming back from shoulder injuries. I love these sessions, everyone parks the ego at the door and shares training tips with each other – nothing is held back and all the coaches are keen to share ideas and develop.

It was during the ‘show and tell’ session that Mark Campbell, Lead S&C Coach for the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield offered to show us his Brazilian. Thankfully Mark had not been going mad with the hedge trimmers, what he was so keen to show us was in fact a simple and highly effective exercise that the Brazilian Volleyball team use as part of the shoulder movement prep (now I’m giving Mark the benefit of the doubt regarding the origins of this exercise because when you watch the double arm version I think this is in fact how Mark busts shapes on a Friday night in downtown Auckland back in NZ!).

It’s taken me a couple of weeks of practice to get the technique sorted (you’ll see the intense concentration on my face – especially when both arms come in the mix) and this weekend I took some time out during a training camp to grab a video camera and get some footage of my Brazilian!

The venue, in case you are a nerd like me is the newly fitted out S&C facility in Stirling at the Forthbank Stadium – home of Stirling Albion FC and GB Women’s Basketball for the next couple of weeks (17 players in a small space with fairly low ceilings has been interesting!). That said, the staff at the Peak Sports Complex in Stirling have been fantastic, makes a change to get exceptional service in the UK.

THE BRAZILIAN