Geelong's Gym

If you’re injured and you avoid exercise or activities which engage that area… you may be doing yourself a disservice and putting yourself at greater risk.  Let me explain what I mean.

The other day I had a stint in hospital for hernia surgery.  When talking with the nurses they would, of course, ask me what I do for a living etc.  Naturally, it didn’t take long for me to start talking to them about health and fitness.  For those of you who know me, that won’t surprise you!  :-)

The right kind of exercise is a great way to bounce back quickly from injury

Being in that environment, hearing their stories and having those types of conversations, I had this overwhelming need to write a post about injuries.

So many people avoid exercise for fear of aggravating an injury.  In fact, if you’re 30+ and participated in sporting activities at a younger age, it’s likely that you will have some kind of injury.  If that’s you, I imagine you’re probably limiting or avoiding exercise for fear of further aggravating that injury.

This is a common reaction.  But, not exercising is putting you at greater risk.

You see by not using a body part, your body will atrophy (i.e. lose muscle tone/condition) in that particular area.  Which actually makes you far more susceptible to re-injury.

What is really needed is an exercise regime that helps to work and strengthen that specific area whilst not aggravating it during the process.  Those of you who have been through this will know what I mean when I say it’s a somewhat tricky endeavour to do this, but it’s essential to make sure you do so.

Because what happens when you have an injured group of muscles is, as a rule of thumb, the muscles will borrow from other muscles to get the job done (movement), which can then create muscle imbalances resulting in other injury and still not dealing with the initial problem.

I think it bears noting here that there’s research out proving that an aerobic athlete loses muscle tissue with ageing (atrophies) at the same rate as a couch potato.  So no matter what fitness level you’re at, some resistance and strength training is required to maintain strength in one’s body and to maintain muscular toning and conditioning.

It might seem like I’m pitching for business here, but a good personal trainer who understands rehab and strengthening whilst being cautious to not re-injure is well worth their weight in gold.

In summary, I really would encourage those of you who have injuries to look at getting involved in an exercise program which will help to strengthen that area, with proper guidance and instruction.  Otherwise, you risk re-injury at a later rate.

Obviously, we strongly advocate getting fit and active in your life, but we cannot stress enough the need for good workout shoes!

Did you know in your lifetime you’re likely to travel around 128,000 kilometres on your feet?  That adds up to three times around the world!!!

Invest in a quality pair of workout shoes.

Your feet are quite literally the foundation of your body – through a series of complex and highly synchronised movements they support your entire body weight and allow you to be mobile.  And when you run, you impact the ground with up to four times your body weight!  Is it any wonder 20% of people experience foot pain during their life?

Plus, it’s worse for women, who are nine times more likely than men to develop foot problems due to improperly fitted shoes.

So, we need to take care of our feet and that means having the right workout shoes.  Before you start exercising, make sure you’ve been properly fitted with shoes which reflect the kind of exercise you’re going to be doing most.  Not only will your feet thank you for it, but you’ll also have a much better workout because your feet won’t be bothering you.

Who would have thought that running backwards would actually be a competitive sport… and one that requires a great deal of skill?  Not only that, running backwards (or retro running) is an excellent rehabilitative tool in the management of various leg injuries.  So let’s have a look at some of the benefits of retro running…

• One of the major benefits of retro running is it counteracts the forces that produce musculoskeletal pain, largely because the leg muscles are required to move in coordination with the abdomen and lower back.
• Improved range of motion in the knee joint, which allows freer and more powerful movement in both running and jumping.
• It requires more energy than forward running so is an excellent cardio workout.
• Retro running stimulates the fast twitch fibres which are present in the quadricep, hamstring and calf muscles – which can reduce training injury rates.

Aside from all those benefits to your fitness, rehabilitation and general condition of your body, retro running has also become a sport in it’s own right.  And believe me, those who compete, can run faster backwards than most of us can run forwards.  Check out the video below:

We’ve all heard the horror stories of Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI)… But guess what? You have LESS chance of developing RSI BECAUSE you go to the gym on a regular basis. By ‘cross-training’ your other muscles, you keep changing your body’s ‘benchmark’ position and therefore reduce the chances of RSI occurring. Isn’t that comforting to know?

You’re welcome.

Want to reduce your chance of getting RSI even more?

Check with one of our certified Personal Trainers who can show you specific wrist, forearm, bicep and tricep exercises to counter-act the effects of RSI. The best cure is PREVENTING it rather than trying to get rid of it after-the-fact. Just ask anyone who has been victimised by its debilitating discomfort.

Think RSI is just computer users hacking away at their keyboard? Think again.

A report in the Journal Of Occupational Health and Safety in 2002 showed that 96.5% of a sample of Melbourne hairdressers reported a musculoskeletal disorder. Even public servants aren’t spared, 80% reported at least one symptom in a 2004 survey and even anaesthetists surveyed in 2006 complained of RSI.

With long hours and technology simplifying movements for efficiency’s sake, the incidence of RSI is increasing.

Justin Bennett, an RSI sufferer who was forced into unemployment because of it has a website to explain how he beat RSI called www.HowIBeatRSI.com. If you have any discomfort that you think might be due to RSI, give his site a look and let us know if it helped you by posting a comment here on this blog.

As a member of Geelong’s Gym, you know that consistency is the key to getting results. Dr Marc Dussault’s concept of the 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine is simple and straight-forward to understand and apply when you KNOW what to do. 1 Percent Improvement is NOT about doing something, but IMPROVING it 1 percent at a time. For example, if you are at work and you’re sitting down for 5 or 6 hours at your desk, a 1 Percent Improvement could be to…

Get up and stretch every hour – even if its’ only for 1 minute. It will revitalise your muscles and invigorate you to work better – BUT and there’s always a BUT… You actually have to do the stretching otherwise you THINK about 1 Percent Improvement, but unless you DO IT, you won’t get the result…

Not sure how to stretch? Guess what? We’ve made it easy for you to learn how to stretch safely without pulling any muscles with the Stretching Handbook.

Get your copy now and get started today by learning stretches you can do at work THIS WEEK.

I know this sounds simple because it is.

You know how hard it was to come to the the gym the first time… and the second and third time…

In fact I am sure you’ll agree it took about 3 weeks for you to really feel GOOD about it and then start to LOOK FORWARD to coming in…

That’s called creating a positive habit and even a positive addiction.

It all starts with 1 Percent…

I’d love to hear YOUR 1 PERCENT IMPROVEMENT HEALTH AND FITNESS IDEAS.

Post a comment to this blog post and I’ll share them with everyone!