Fwd: In the gym and injury free?

If you do not wish to receive any further messages please click here to unsubscribe. If you are having trouble viewing this email, please click here. ISSUE 58 17 OCT In the gym and injury free I was in my yard a few weeks ago running through the routine spring clean of collecting deadwood and leaves to be burnt off in a rather impressive bonfire. There was a substantial 2m log that I had to move which I have done on previous occasions with no ill effects. I ensured I had a straight (neutral) spine, activated the pelvic floor and inner abdominals and then lifted the log on its end in a manner similar to how one would perform a deadlift. And to my dismay I felt a slight twinge in my back which I reasoned to be a slight twinge of a lumbar spine disc. In the end I was not overly surprised as I have noticed in the past if I spend an lengthy period of time away from the gym I tend to be more 'injury prone' especially when it comes to my 40 year old lumbar spine. And in the 5 weeks prior to this incident I had done next to nothing in terms of gym loading. So this brings me to my point of this article. Is lifting in the conventional gym sense of the word actually protecting us from injury? In my case it is a resounding yes. "In my case, 5 weeks away from deadlifts had weakened my lumbar spine discs and made them more susceptible to a 'twinge.' Applying load to the body in the gym, in the form of conventional squats, deadlifts, bench presses etc.. does create an adaptive process in the body. Muscles change their morphological structure to not only become stronger but also they are able to generate more stiffness that protects our joints from unwanted stress. Bones become more dense and thus stronger – hence the reason why doctors advocate resistance training for osteoporotic women. Nerves become more efficient at firing the muscles and also recruiting muscles in the right sequence. And finally joint structures become stronger by hardening the articular cartilage that covers the end of bones. But these adaptive effects can also be lost when one stops applying the load – the detraining principle. In my case, 5 weeks away from deadlifts had weakened my lumbar spine discs and made them more susceptible to a 'twinge'. The lack of load on the muscle had created a detraining effect where I could not generate the necessary stiffness to support the spine, and the lack of formal lifting had deconditioned the nerves so I probably was not actually using the right muscles to lift. So therefore what are the correct exercises to be doing in the gym to avoid unwanted injuries? Below are listed a few points that one should consider when training themselves or planning a training regime for someone else. In must be pointed out that gyms and training have come a long way since the bodybuilding fuelled days on the 70's and 80's. Gyms now house unconventional pieces of equipment such as multidirectional cables, Kettle bells, Viper's, TrX etc.. which did not exist 20 years ago. So the gyms are now a much better place to be in terms of developing an injury free and resilient body. Everyone should learn how to deadlift. Both the conventional kind that we see powerlifters do as well as Romanian Deadlifts (if you know not what these are then google them). Slight rule on the deadlifts – do them from just below the knees on a rack. Most of us don't have the flexibility in our hips to maintain a neutral spine when lifting from the floor. Another rule, if you like to lift heavy, do so only once every 2 weeks. Lifting heavy on deadlifts every week seems to drain the nervous system and make you feel flat (unless of course you are chemically enhanced). For every push exercise, perform 2 pull exercises. Neck and shoulder injuries are much more common in push based exercises and also much more common in trainers who emphasise too many push exercises (bench press, dips, shoulder press etc..). The pull based exercises (rows, pulldowns, reverse flyes etc..) tend to use the scapular and shoulder stabilisers better, and thus give us some protection from shoulder injuries. Develop a squat and maintain it. Getting very strong at squats is not only unnecessary but also potentially injury producing. The knees and lower back are more susceptible to injury in heavy squatting. So unless you are a footballer, powerlifter or weightlifter, heavy squats serve no real purpose. Squat for the movement and the benefits that you reap from the moderate loads but avoid the heavy stuff. Incorporate a 'functional' session each week. If the bodybuilders who died in the 80's could step into a gym now and look at the new age gyms, they would wonder in amazement at what these things do and the benefit they have. Equipment such as the multidirectional cables, TrX, Vipers and Kettle bells challenge the body in ways that conventional lifting cannot. The key point of difference is that most of these require that the body either has to move or stabilise in a rotational direction. This brings into play a new area of body function that transfers to everyday life much better. The final point is that the sessions to need to be regular to generate the stress to create and adaptive process. Going once every 2 weeks will not do this. Furthermore, avoid lengthy periods of time away from the gym. Even on holidays, some load can be applied to the body in the form of bodyweight exercises that will at least maintain these adaptive processes. Chris Mallac has been head of sports med at Bath Rugby and head physio at Queensland Reds Super 14. He presents the Rehab Trainer course in London, Dubai and Singapore which is happening in December this year. http://www.rehabtrainer.com.au Community When's the best time to take protein? Some good advice from BodyBullet to a question about losing body fat, "Another key element to losing fat is ensuring your body is adequately hydrated. The common theme I get with most of my clients is not consuming enough water. The more hydrated the human body is kept the more efficiently it operates all processes including that of fat metabolism." Add your experience and any tips here. Sharing the workout pain "For upper body work I'm doing bench press, chinups, pullups, handstand pushups, muscle ups on the gymnastic rings. I'll be using a weight belt instead of just body weight for chinups and pullups from now on. Muscle ups and handstand pushups are hard work, don't need to add any extra weight there yet!" Read more of Pat's training diary here. And feel free to share your own training tips on our Talk Performance forums. The very best training advice ElectronBlue writes, "Inspired by 'white', who commented on this topic that he uses household flip top bins for post training ice baths... " What is the most unusual piece of advice - that works - that you have been given, regarding training, nutrition or whatever? We'll send out a copy of Core Stability: Injury Free Performance for the best contribution to this topic, as picked by our editor. Register now for Rehab Trainer! A new breed of Exercise Professionals are finding a way to overcome the frustrations of client pain and injury, thanks to Rehab Trainer. Our professional development courses will equip you to make this professional leap too, giving you credibility and confidence to soar, and paying dividends in client retention and achievement. Using interactive technology, practical gym tools, and cutting edge techniques, we teach you how to recognise and understand your client's pain, and know exactly what to do about it. In fact, Rehab Trainer is so sure that your Personal Trainer or Fitness business will benefit from doing our courses that we make the following promise: If you do not experience a significant boost to your confidence in dealing with client injuries, we will refund your investment. Click here to register for a Rehab Trainer course or to find out more. Articles and Downloads Lower back injury prevention and lower back pain rehabilitation exercises http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/lower-back-injury.html In recent years, one of the main developments in treating lower back pain has been the understanding that the abdominal muscle group plays an important role in supporting the spine, and that strengthening this region is valuable in all prevention and treatment programmes for lower back pain. This lower back injury prevention programme makes sure that when dealing with lower back pain you don't over-emphasise the abdominals - remember that other muscles are equally important. Shoulder Injury : How to restore high-level shoulder strength http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/shoulder-injury.htm When we describe exercise selection for the upper quadrant, it is more appropriate to think about movement direction rather than muscle groups. So instead of breaking down the weights plan according to, say, deltoid, pectorals, latissimus dorsi and rotator cuff, we gain a better appreciation of balanced programming if we think about movement directions. The strength coach Ian King (1) describes shoulder strength training based on the four dynamic movements along the push and pull axis. Want More? Click here to register for our other weekly ezine, the Sports Performance Bulletin, for the best advice on how to improve your training and competition performance. http://www.pponline.co.uk/user/register Sports Injury Doctor is published by P2P Publishing. Our UK office is located at 33-41 Dallington Street, London, EC1V 0BB, United Kingdom. Tel: 0845 450 6402 between 09:00 and 17:30 GMT, Monday to Friday. Our American office is located in 16850-112 Collins Ave 344, Sunny Isles Beach, FL, 33160, United States of America. Tel: 305-956-3992 between 09:00 and 17:00 EST, Monday to Friday (answer phone all other times).