Ligament fun facts:
1. Their primary job in the spine, hip, and shoulder is to provide stability.
2. They do this by restricting movement.
3. Stretching ligaments is a Bad Idea because they are made of collagen, which is not an elastic substance.
Recently, I learned that the message our bodies send us is the same whether we have a muscle locked long or locked short.
Quick review: muscles have an optimal length and tension at which they are strongest. Sometimes we over contract muscles and they get stuck in a short position. The muscles that oppose those muscles then get locked in a long position. Both muscles are then less strong and less able to work at their best.
We all know that feeling of “tightness.” We assume that what we should do to alleviate the feeling is stretch. That is a great answer if we have a muscle locked short, but if we’re getting the same feeling from a locked long muscle, we might do better to take a different approach.
Instead of stretching a muscle that is already stretched more than it should be, we can increase blood flow to the muscle by working it. A good example of this might be our upper back muscles. I think we all feel tight in our back muscles, but if we have the all too common shoulders-forward posture, the muscles might actually be stuck long and we can wake them up with, say, some nice rows.
Try it and see what happens!
Sometimes we just have to talk about feelings. From time to time, I will ask clients about what they are feeling in their bodies while they are doing a particular exercise, or I might suggest a body part where sensation might be occurring.
The thing is, though, that sometimes what we’re feeling can have less of a relationship with reality than we might prefer. (Anybody who has had an unrequited crush can speak to how the other kind of feelings has the same problem.)
Some clients love big feelings. They want to feel the burn. They want there to be absolutely no doubt that they are working and working hard. There is nothing wrong with that. However, there are times when we need to do things that are important that don’t have a big “feel factor.”
One example is when we need to activate our deep back muscles. A great way to get them to wake up is to get on our hands and knees with our wrists right under our shoulders, our knees right under our hips (ok to pad them up), our spines nice and straight. From there, we hover one hand just off the floor. Then we try the other side. That’s it. It doesn’t feel like much of anything. And yet, if we try a one foot balance before and after, it makes a difference.
The takeaway: feelings aren’t everything.
Kettle bells are always fun, right? Three rounds.
db circles | 30 |
rows | 20 |
kickbacks | 10 |
| |
kb swings | 30 |
kb twists | 20 |
kb 8s | 10 |
| |
1 arm clean and press | 30 |
(lunge to) curl | 20 |
pretty princesses | 10 |
Need more reasons to work out? Here are five:
1. It makes us feel happier.
2. It makes our brains work better.
3. It increases resilience to stress.
4. We balance better.
5. It’s fun.
When we think about reasons to exercise, especially weight training, we often think of the benefits to our muscles and maybe to our bones. But there’s more!
When we get moving, we create positive impacts on waste management in all our body’s tissues. What’s not to like about taking out the trash?
Furthermore, we help manage our body’s fluid levels, which has impact on our inflammation levels. (Inflammation is kind of a buzz word nowadays, but it’s still a good idea to have less of it.)
Finally, we improve our circulation and that’s just dandy for everywhere circulation goes in the body (Hint: pretty much everywhere!).
So: move it, y’all!
Let’s talk about anxiety. OK, maybe not ALL anxiety. Just the exercise kind.
Anxiety and fear can make our fitness world seem very small, especially as we get older. We worry that we’re going to get injured or fall. We’re sure that we’re going to have to deal with more limitations and it’s just too much. We’re resigned to couch life.
But that’s not a good plan, really.
I have a better one.
Let’s keep working, keep moving, in a pain-free way. As we develop osteoarthritis (yep, all of us do eventually), maybe our knees don’t bend the way they used to, but they still bend. And if we make sure to bend them day in and day out, we’ll maintain the range of motion we have for longer.
When our workouts don’t involve pain, we’re a lot more likely to show up for them. (Please note: pain is not the same as discomfort. Workouts, if they are effective, might involve some discomfort, but life is painful enough without adding more at the gym.) When we show up regularly for our workouts, things get easier. We get stronger. We improve our balance and our flexibility. We keep or improve our range of motion.
We might even relax a little with the anxiety. We begin to have confidence that working out isn’t scary.
Go gently. But do go.
