Eliminate aches and pains
Getting older means more injuries right? WRONG!
Your body responds to the effort and attention you give it, just like any relationship.
If you stretch, work on muscle pliability and hydrate your muscles, tendons and ligaments properly your body should carry you through a lifetime of happiness.
If you are lazy, don’t give your body the attention it deserves and aren’t focused on fixing obvious problems your body will fail you.
It’s not that far fetched of a concept and it’s also not that difficult to fix.
But far too often I find my clients (average age is around 47) have neglected stretching, mobility and activity for years yet they are shocked when they pull a muscle, tweak a joint or experience nagging tendon pain like tendinitis.
Good news for you this is all preventable and also fairly easy to remedy if you’re experiencing some of these things already.
Now I’m definitely NOT A DOCTOR, but…between 15 years of playing competitive, high school and college baseball I’ve had my fair share of injuries and spent plenty of time in the the trainers office.
I then spent the next 7 years of my life as the therapist, and later the director of operations, for my family’s chiropractic clinic where I worked with patients as old as 94 and as young as a couple of months.
That led into the beginning of LiveFit and fast-forward 7 years and 2,800 clients later… I’ve seen my fair share of injuries!
This has led to me having a first hand look at the prevention, treatment and recovery from so many different injuries.
Again, am I a doctor? Hell no.
But what I do have is common sense, a great understanding of the human anatomy and the real life experience applying the tools and techniques I’m about to share with you.
I’ve broken up my program into 3 important categories: Prevention, Prehab and Preparation
Individually each one of these sections will help to benefit your flexibility and reduce exposure to common injuries. But together you’ll be giving your body every possible advantage to take care of you…pain free…for the rest of your life!
1.) PREVENTION-
This is the easiest step of them all, STRETCH!
One of the simplest ways to keep your muscles and joints mobile is to stretch.
Your body is a complex system of intertwining muscles that tug and pull against each other all day long, every day of your life. Your daily habits accentuate this effect by contorting your body in unusual directions.
Ex: neck/shoulder tightness from looking down texting, adding pressure to knees/hips by wearing heels, shifting your hips by crossing your legs the same direction
So everytime your butt hits the edge of the bed, let that trigger your mind to remind you to stretch. Morning AND Night!
Here is a perfect introductory total-body stretching routine to begin.
Hold each stretch for 20 seconds each and do each twice before moving onto the next stretch. Remember to exhale slowly during each stretch and DO NOT BOUNCE!
2.) PREHAB-
Instead of waiting until things get bad to start rehab, take care of your body by doing prehab. Basically this means doing the EXACT same things you’d be doing if you actually got hurt.
This is where tools like TENS units, foam rollers, rolling pins (the stick), inversion tables and massage come into play.
Each tool has it’s own specific benefits but the idea with each of them is to reduce scar tissue, increase blood flow (and oxygen) while increasing the muscle’s pliability.
3.) PREPARATION-
Go to any gym around the country and you might…might see somebody stretching before their workout.
While this definitely is better than nothing, save your stretching for morning, post workout and bedtime.
Before your workout you need to prepare your body for the activities, motions and directions it’s about to perform. This is where basic static stretching fails you.
If you go to any Crossfit, athletic or Olympic training gym around the country you’ll see their athletes performing squats, leg swings, leg kicks, walking lunges, core stability movements, arm circles, arm swings, back rotations and light jogging.
Why? They are PREPARING their bodies for action!
How do you get started?
Just like anything, I don’t expect you to jump into this head-first and master everything on day #1.
It takes time. It takes practice. It takes consistency.
Basically it requires you to establish new habits in your life.
Get to bed 5 minutes earlier to stretch, wake up 5 minutes earlier to stretch, improve pliability between workouts with therapy tools and arrive at your workout 5 minutes early to prepare.
Sounds intimidating?
Remember that even implementing just 1 of the “3 P’s” will result in MASSIVE changes in your flexibility and your body’s health.
JUST DO IT!! Your body will thank you today, tomorrow and the rest of your life!
Committed to your fitness success,
Derek Kuryliw, Your Fitness Yoda 🙂
Have a question for me? I’d love to hear from you. Please fill out the form below and I’ll reply back as quickly as possible!
