Injuries

Working out isn't easy. If it was, they would call it something else. 

In that spirit, let's look at why and how a lot of injuries happen in the gym. Often, people don't listen to their bodies and try to push past warning signs. Then they end up injured, frustrated, and feeling bad about themselves. Other times people use the wrong muscles/joints to perform movements and end up putting excessive strain/force on places that can't handle it - boom, there goes your hamstring. And occasionally someone will smack themselves with a heavy object or fall over. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that all of these situations (even the last one) is largely preventable by focusing on two aspects of movement: attention and a proper warmup.

Everyone pays some degree of attention while working out, of course. But there's a difference between paying attention and being attentive. If you're talking to your friend while you're lifting, you're not being attentive. If you're thinking about what you're going to make for dinner while you're doing goblet squats, you're not being attentive. Whenever you're moving, try to think specifically about what you're doing...for instance, with the goblet squat, think "Weight in the heels. Shoulder blades engaged and dropped. Push up with the glutes and bring the tailbone underneath at the top. Keep the bellybutton pulled in. Breathe." If that seems like a lot to think about, that's because it is. Moving your body in complex ways requires complex thought - if you're not checking in on all levels, you're not getting the most out of your movement, and are at risk for tweaking your knee while you're spacing out! As a trainer, it's my job to not only be that voice for my clients, but also help them develop that nuanced voice for themselves. You know, for all those times when I'm not yelling at them. :)

So what's a proper warmup? I'm sure you've heard by now that it's important to get the blood circulating before you do a ton of stretching or big movements. A few minutes on a rowing machine or jumping rope or some cardio equivalent is always a good start. After that, though, the kind of warmup you do should be determined by the content of your workout...in other words, your warmup should be as specific as possible to the work you're going to be asking your body to do. For instance, if you're going to be doing a lot of leg/core work (squats, deadlifts, lunges) I would do some kind of full body check-in, a dynamic warmup for the quads/hamstrings, and something like inchworms to integrate the upper and lower body. I'd also do some mid-back activation to get the spine warmed up and ready to support weight. What I WOULDN'T do is a lot of pushups and pullups or other upper body exercises. When in doubt about whether to do an exercise as a warmup, ask yourself, "How will this help me prepare for what I'm about to do?" If you can't answer that questions, skip it and find something else that will serve you better. Pay special attention to areas where you struggle - if your hips tend to be super tight and you know you're going to be doing Windmills in your workout, try a hip opener like this or this to get your range of motion opened up. 

If you're warmed up appropriately and you're being attentive during your workout, you should be able to move your body in the best and most pain-free ways available to you, and minimize your risks in the gym. :) 

5 Itty-Bitty Challenges to Get You Moving in the New Year

Inertia is a terrible thing. It is also a wonderful thing. A body in motion tends to remain in motion, but GETTING going can be really difficult! Here are some low-commitment, low-stress ways to break the cycle of sitting on your ass and wishing you were living more healthfully. :)

1. For a week, while at work, set an alarm to go off every hour. When it does, do 2-5 minutes of stress-relieving activity (roll your neck around, stand up and stretch, massage your hands, take some deep breaths). Spent on a regular basis, even this small amount of time will connect you more with your body and keep muscles and joints from locking up. You'll feel much more inclined to move after work if you've kept moving during the day!

2. Think about six things you want to do that are active...these can be first-time things or favorite things. Have you always wanted to canoe around Greenlake? Do you love hiking Mount Si? Write these ideas down, then figure out which of them you want to do this month, which one next month. Put them on a calendar and get excited about them. You'll find yourself behaving differently knowing that fun activities are waiting for you for the next half a year...

3. Each day for a week, take a look in your fridge/kitchen cabinets. Find something that you know isn't good for you and throw it away. Sometime that week (you don't have to do this once a day) buy something you know is better for you to replace it. One of my favorite rules of thumb for shopping in grocery stores (learned from my friend and nutritionist Aimee Gallo) is this: stick to the edges. In general, the perishable stuff is there (deli, dairy, breads, meat, produce) while the stuff with lots of preservatives (box cereals, canned vegetables, candy and chips) is up and down the aisles.

4. Get up five minutes earlier for a week. Spend those five minutes doing something nice for your body or mind. Meditate, do some Sun Salutations, roll on a foam roller, stand outside and take long slow breaths while you take in your environment. Five full minutes, at some point before you start your day. 

5. Put a piece of workout equipment in the middle of your living room. This could be a yoga mat, a couple dumbbells, a treadmill, a medicine ball. Seriously, put it smack in the middle of the space so that you almost trip over it (but don't do that). If you have to walk by it all the time, or look past it in order to watch TV, you will use it. You might even pull out some other stuff and use that too, or inspire someone else in your family to use it. If it starts to become part of the background clutter, switch it out for something else!

Try one or more of these and see if you feel the wheels being greased at all...and let me know what your experience is! :)