Should We Be Exercising? Pt 2...

Our last post had to do with the overwhelming number of injuries that occur during exercise and recreational activity.  What initiated the thought were the following two articles, which suggest that the associated costs of these injuries may exceed the associated costs of obesity.  And following the next logical sequence, maybe we’re better off if we just stay fat.

I posted the two articles we mentioned below - check them out when you're done here.

Of particular note, I noticed that in one of the tables that football, soccer and combat sports had lower injury rates than regular exercise. Huh?!?

But to answer the original question of whether or not exercise is “worth it” given injury rates, obviously I think it’s worth it.  The reason I began to exercise is so I would look better and feel better both physically and mentally.  I went so far as to choose a career helping people look better, feel better and be healthier. 

However, the articles do not underestimate the severity of the issue: we as a society need to have better judgment when exercising and participating in recreational activities.  Because to me, the overwhelming majority of both chronic and acute injuries are avoidable.  And as I’ve said many times, if you’re injured, you can’t exercise.  And if you can’t exercise, you can’t be healthy and fit. 

This seems so simple, but many people just don’t get it:

We should NOT exercise until we are injured then try to fix it.

We should exercise so we DON’T get injured.

Having said that, I’ve observed some commonalities over the years among both people who are injured and people who tend to stay healthy during their exercise and recreational activities.  With that, I’ve compiled a quick list of “dos” and “don’ts” for you that, if followed, will help you stay fit, healthy and injury free:

1^st the “DO!”s…

·        

      DO: have a movement screen and/or assessment done by a fitness professional

Go to a training facility where you are either screened and/or assessed for movement limitations and asymmetries before working out.  There are particular movement patterns, limitations and asymmetries that often lead to musculoskeletal issues.  Many of these problems can be identified and either improved or worked around so you can exercise safely.  But not if someone doesn’t do a screen 1^st – randomly jumping into a program without doing so is asking for a problem.

At The Training Rim we perform a modified assessment created by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and every member receives a Functional Movement Screen (FMS).  The FMS has statistically been shown to identify areas of risk for exercisers and allows us to train each member as hard as he/she can safely handle.

·         DO: pay attention to what YOU are doing

Here’s a news flash for you: you are not a special and unique snowflake.  There are some things you can’t do.  I know this sounds obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked someone why are they doing a particular exercise only to have them tell me that they saw someone else do it.  (Huh?!?!)

Choose exercises that allow you to succeed and offer the chance to improve so you can do more advanced things at some point.  Someone else who has more exercise experience, more mobility, more time to work out, etc than you do can obviously do more.  This doesn’t make you a bad person – it just means to need to focus on what’s going to get you to improve, not what your neighbor’s sister in law told you to do because that’s what she does.

·         DO: know when to progress and regress

Be honest with yourself.  There are times you can do more.  This may mean more of the same exercises, or more advanced versions of the same exercises.  Conversely, more is not better.  “Do not do a more advanced version of an exercise unless you do the basic version perfectly” is a mantra I’m sure TR members are tired of hearing from me.  Additionally, if 10 reps of a particular exercise are making you stronger, that doesn’t mean doing 13 reps will make you 30% stronger.  It more likely means you’re doing 3 extra shitty reps that are causing stress on your joints.

OK, go ahead and start those 3 “dos”.  Next time I’ll give you the things to avoid – the “don’ts”.  And boy are they some doozies…

Here are the referenced articles:

http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/9/2/99.full

http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/9/2/117.full.pdf+html

Please Don't Hurt Yourself

“You need to find the most intense exercise that you can do without injuring yourself.”  I gave this advice to someone recently and it occurred to me that even though it was a private conversation, it really is applicable to everyone on the planet.

The number of injuries due to poor exercise choices, poor exercise technique and/or poor exercise programs is staggering.  Don’t think so?  I just read a few articles that suggested that the cost of musculoskeletal injuries due to recreational activities will soon surpass the associated costs of obesity.  And therefore, it’s a reasonable question to ask: Since we obviously can’t keep from injuring ourselves, are we better off just being fat? It’s a pretty interesting question: If what we think makes us healthy – exercise and recreational activities -  actually is unhealthy, why would we be active?  (I’ll post the articles for you to read next time.)

But as someone who has heard “I can’t do (blank) because my (blank) hurts/bothers me/ is messed up, yadda yadda yadda” about 1 billion times, I can tell you it’s not a stretch to say that we as a society, when it comes to trying to be fit and healthy, have no clue what we’re doing.

The United States department of Labor lists the job growth of orthopedists and chiropractors as “higher than average” and the job growth of physical therapists and athletic trainers as “MUCH higher than average”.  Think about it – these are careers devoted to fixing people after they’ve messed themselves up and it’s a BOOMING industry.  If you look closer at the numbers, you’ll see the growth of the physical therapy profession is staggering.  A few decades back, the job barely existed – basically if you were in a car wreck, you went to physical therapy.  Now, you’ll never go broke if your customers are people who injure themselves in the name of health attempts.

Needless to say I’ll never be as rich as an orthpopedist.  He/she would rather just fix your disc herniation after you’ve done 1 million crunches, or operate on your knee after all your tough mudder competitions and marathons as opposed to just telling you to not do those things.  (Hey…who would tell you that?!?  Cough…cough…me…cough…)

But although my income will never be as high as the “put a bucket under the leaky ceiling” industry, it is my job nonetheless to get people more fit and healthy.  It’s my job to get them looking and feeling better.  And the best way to do this is through sound exercise practices.

My advice: If you’re injured, you can’t exercise well.  So if you want to look and feel better, don’t injure yourself.

I know: I’m a genius. 

Now that I have your attention, do you want to know how to stay healthy while participating in exercise and recreational activities?  Stay tuned until next time – I’ll give you things to watch for, both good and bad, that will keep you working out.

This guy CAN'T WAIT for you to exercise again!