prevent injury in the gym

PREVIOUS INJURY IS A BIG PLAYER IN THE MOVEMENT GAME!

quads vmo personal trainer adelaide gold coast.jpg

One of my clients, who is a keen diver, tells me whenever he swims or dives he usually always gets pretty bad cramping in his right hamstring towards the end of the swim/dive and wandered if there was anything he could do for it.

After a couple of minutes of assessment I had discovered he had a hamstring to quad dysfunction & his hamstrings were compensating for his medial quadricep (Vastus Medialis) predominantly. His VMO muscle (Oblique fibres of the Vastus Medialis that form the teardrop muscle at the knee) was particularly weak and had some noticeable wasting. His quadriceps in general on the Right side were slightly wasted in comparison to the Left.

He then precedes to tell me when he was 15 years old (+-50 years ago) he tore his medial quad & never got treatment on it, there was a noticeable dip in the muscle bulk as well which had been there ever since (a give away for a full tear or a possible partial tear). EUREKA!  

So our findings related back to an ancient injury from decades ago that has manifested as dysfunction in his right side and causing him problems at this time.  He admitted never having issues after the injury healed and kept playing footy for years.

Moral of the story, even though his injury was decades old and he'd adapted to it in a way that enabled him to get away without too much trouble for many years, it eventually comes back to bite you in the ass!  Some cases being worse than others but don't ride on dysfunction for too long as it will always win!  Post injury compensations stay with you for life, unless of course, you seek help to change them!

PREVENT PAIN OR INJURY BY KNOWING HOW TO MOVE WELL

Don't be this guy...Don't repeat poor movement habits in the gym. Get assessed and trained in good movement habits to avoid injury and stiffness occurring.

Pregnancy Workout Options - lunge/step

Here are some of the exercises I like to use with my pre / present / post pregnancy clients. Each week I will put up a new short clip of different movements. This is not a prescription of course, each individual is their own case.

Some things to consider when exercising during pregnancy are:
- your exercise & fitness levels pre-pregnancy
- your current state of well-being during the pregnancy
- what stage of the pregnancy you are at
- whether or not you have any pre-existing or pregnancy related health issues
- how you feel on the day of exercise
All of the above factors affect the type of exercise you would do on that day.

The 3rd movement is the LUNGE/STEP. Building lower body strength is important for many reasons:

- improving fitness climbing stairs

- enabling you to pick things up off the floor and to get yourself up off the floor if needed

- improving your walking fitness

Above is a short clip of different versions of LUNGING/STEPPING. Aim to lower your back knee down towards the ground when lunging, keeping your torso upright and achieving 90 degree angles at the hips and knees.