Holistic Corrective Exercise For Fitness Professionals

Upper body mobility problems can have devastating effects on your ability to get the results you want from your fitness program.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain strength or improve athletic performance there’s just no way you can optimize either without proper upper body flexibility.

Some of the most problematic areas of the upper body for most people involve limited range of motion at the neck, shoulders, throacic spine (rotation deficit) and lumbar spine.

Now, if you’ve tried all kinds of static stretches and various techniques like self-myofascial release without impressive results then here’s a simple but highly effective upper body mobility routine I’ve designed that will improve active flexibility of the upper body quickly.

I call it my Medball Mobility Circuit and it can be performed in less than 8 minutes.

All you need is a light weight medicine ball (2kg-3kg) and the circuit is ideal for anyone from the beginning trainee to more advanced. Read the rest of this entry »

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Just a quick post today to address hip mobility.

If you or your clients suffer from lower body injuries there’s typically ONE reason why this is happening…

…Most nagging injuries involving the lower body are caused by muscle imbalances at the hips.

But, it doesn’t stop there.

An important thing to keep in mind is that everything in our bodies are related which means if the hips are affected so is everything above and below to some degree.

That means a growing list of injuries to the knees, feet, ankles, low back, shoulders or neck if the imbalances at the hips are not properly addressed.

So, I shot this video to share 10 powerful hip mobility exercises you can use to get your clients moving & feeling better quickly. Read the rest of this entry »

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In this video I share the most common cause and a few simple tips to overcome pronated ankles. Read the rest of this entry »

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Got a pain in the neck?

Most rehabilitation exercises focus on passive stretches to relive neck pain but fail to account for the most important component.

Active flexibility.

If you think about it when was the last time you knew of anyone injuring themselves while kicking back watching television?

Injuries happen when we’re moving so it makes sense to included some active neck rehabilitation exercises to develop better active range of motion and stability while we are moving.

In the video below I share 3 static stretches and 3 active flexibility exercises to help reduce muscle imbalances that contribute to neck pain and stiffness: Read the rest of this entry »

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Having spent 3 years working with many physical therapists and over 10 years working along side many personal trainers it never ceased to amaze me that most ignore functional rehabilitation exercises for the shoulder in favor of less effective non-functional movements.

If you think about it there aren’t many daily movements we do like this (at least none I can think of) ==>

<== Or like the one on the left here…

Without training within functional movements that are a part of our everyday lives the carryover will be limited at best.

What’s worse is that the shoulder becomes susceptible to recurring injuries.

In a previous post I mentioned the 5 hidden dangers of  performing traditional rotator cuff rehabilitation exercises with resistance bands but today I’m going to talk about an effective shoulder rehabilitation exercise that most doctors, physical therapists and fitness professionals have permanently banned from their repertoire.

They’ll say you should NEVER do this exercise…

They’ll tell you it’ll injure your shoulders…

They’ll tell you it’s ‘taboo’…

HOGWASH!

As you’re about to see this exercise cannot be ‘bad’ for your shoulders as long as you follow the 3 simple tips I explain in the video. Read the rest of this entry »

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What is it about fitness assessments that’s got the fitness industry divided?

Some say fitness professionals should be taught to use specific assessments to help their clients overcome nagging injuries and achieve their goals.

Others say doing so is overstepping our boundaries and that we should leave these assessments to physical therapists and doctors.

Well, I won’t get too deep into why doctors and physical therapists should NOT be performing fitness testing but I will say that I get pretty ticked off whenever I hear or read this kind of nonsense.

Cardiovascular, trunk curl-ups, push-ups, sit and reach and body composition have become pretty standard in our industry for clients who fit the ‘apparently healthy’ label.

But, it’s rare to find clients that fit into this category.

The reality is that most clients may come to us with weight loss goals but are hampered by physical ailments resulting from muscle imbalances that keep them from doing a number of exercises and activities.

Sure, we can simply modify things but as you know modifications are less effective, don’t always work and disempowers trainers.

It’s important for us as fitness professionals to be more than symptom managers and tackle the causes of muscular imbalances.

Eliminate the causes and the symptoms will go away.

The first step is understanding how to identify those causes which is where most Personal Trainer certification programs fall short.

They either teach general fitness tests that aren’t specific for identifying muscle imbalances, are thrown together in the wrong sequences or based on simplistic assumptions of ‘tight’ and ‘weak’ muscles.

The truth is that a muscle may appear to be tight or weak without that actually being the case.

Stretching a muscle or muscle group that is assumed as ‘tight’ isn’t going to be harmful but it certainly isn’t going to be effective either.

And, if it ain’t effective it ain’t gonna produce results!

If we are using our expertise in human anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and biomechanics to create exercise programs to help our clients improve their lives then what’s the problem?

For example, here’s a simple kinetic chain assessment that’s commonly taught however I added in a few extra pieces of critical information you can use that will provide instant feedback about the entire kinetic chain. Read the rest of this entry »

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I recently connected with a fellow fitness professional named Jon-Erik Kawamoto.

Jon is a strength and conditioning specialist who specializes in working with middle to long distance runners and was kind enough to offer some of his best rehab tips for helping your running clients overcome lateral knee pain.

Without further ado, I’ll let Jon take it from here.

Enjoy…

What runner doesn’t hate getting injured? Common injury sites include the arch, ankle, lower leg, knee and hip.

Usually though, the site of pain is not the source of the injury.

Think of a door rubbing in a door frame on the handle side.

One way to fix this problem is shave the door so it doesn’t rub anymore. Compare this to lateral knee pain. The site of the problem is the knee, just like where the door rubs against the door frame. Shaving the door is the same as trying to fix only the knee.

A better option to fix the door is to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

By looking at the hinge side, you’ll notice the door isn’t held in the door frame properly, therefore causing the door to rub.

Compare this to stepping back and looking at the body as a whole.

With proper assessment, there is a good chance that the lateral hip muscular is not stabilizing the pelvis properly, thus, contributing to valgus (inward) stress at the knee joint.

Keep in mind, there are other potential causes for lateral knee pain in runners including overtraining, running on uneven surfaces and/or over pronation.

I can’t take credit for this great analogy (I wish I could) – but I have to thank Coach Michael Boyle.

Basically, the lateral hip musculature stabilizes the pelvis during single leg stance.

If this musculature isn’t strong enough, the pelvis can translate to the side (laterally in the frontal plane).

This is known as Trendelenburg’s Sign (see image on the right) and is a good indication of weakness in the hip stabilizers. This increases the tension to the lateral thigh muscles and IT Band.

Because the IT Band crosses the knee joint, the repetitive nature of the running stride combined with this increased tension results in friction as the band goes back and forth over the lateral knee (lateral femoral condyle).

This results in increased friction, inflammation and lateral knee pain.

Because running is very repetitive in nature, certain muscles are used more than others.

Muscle imbalances can result – in the case of IT Band Syndrome, weakness is typically seen in the Gluteus Medius.

This muscle doesn’t get stronger with running – it typically becomes weaker over time. This is a great time to point out to runners that running by itself is not enough to build leg strength – lower body strength or resistance training is NECESSARY to stay healthy and injury free.

I’ve come across numerous runners that think that lower body training isn’t necessary because of all the miles they run – they couldn’t be further from the truth.

Rehab tips:

1. Seek A Professional To Increase length and tissue quality of the IT Band

- Go and see a registered massage therapist (RMT) or clinician certified in Active Release Techniques (ART) and/or Graston Techniques.

2. Alternative Ways To Increase length and tissue quality of the IT Band

-Use a foam roller or Trigger Point Grid to perform Self Myofascial Release - For those not shy of needles, Accupunture and/or Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) also work wonders for IT Band issues (it worked for me when massage didn’t way back when I used to compete)

3. Increase the strength of the lateral hip muscles

- Give the X-Band Walk a try. Hold a circular band and stand on one end. Cross the band in front of you to take up slack.

With your feet starting hip width apart, step to the side without hip hiking or leaning – stay strong through your trunk and remain tall.

Follow with the trail leg but don’t let it drag on the ground or snap in. Repeat until you have completed 12 steps.

Return to the start by side stepping the other direction – remember not to turn around or else you’ll be performing it on the same side again!

Perform 3 sets daily during your rehab. I’ll get my runners to perform this exercise every other day during the week as a maintenance prehabiliation exercise.

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*This exercise is featured in my next Canadian Running magazine article being released in May 2011. Check it out when it reaches store shelves for more glute and core exercises.

Jon-Erik Kawamoto is a Strength and Conditioning Coach in New Westminster, BC and owner of www.JKConditioning.com.

He ran competitively for 9 years and has written articles for Running Times magazine (summer 2011), Canadian Running and Triathlon Magazine Canada (spring 2011).

Download your FREE ebook “The Best Mobility Drills for Runners” and “10 MIN to a STRONGER core” DVD at www.StrongerRunner.com.

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Just a quick video today on my top 3 tips to eliminate bench press shoulder pain.

If you need exercises or tips on how to overcome your injuries post them below and I’ll answer in a future video.

After you watch the video be sure to check out my top tips to eliminate shoulder injury pain with overhead presses.

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Today I want to share with you 5 common deadlift exercise mistakes that often lead to lower back and knee injuries.

These aren’t your typical lot and they often go unnoticed.

And, since I thought you’d probably want to know what to do about these deadlift training mistakes I’ve also included some simple, highly-effective quick-fix solutions: Read the rest of this entry »

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How many times have you listened to your clients with knee injuries or lower back pain  tell you all about why they can’t do a simple functional movement like squatting because of their ‘bum knees’ or ‘bad back’?

I’ve seen this type of scenario also play out in physical therapy visits.

And, the typical response of most Personal Trainers and Physical Therapists is to modify the movement to avoid aggravating the injured area or eliminating the movement altogether.

The problem with this approach is that it just doesn’t benefit the client/patient in the long-run because Read the rest of this entry »

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