Today I want to explain to you why so many people get injured during exercise and how to prevent it.
Just like everything in life there is a logical order to things.
Break the pattern and you run the risk of bad things happening.
Human beings like to take short cuts, we are naturally lazy and often try to jump straight to the end goal without following the correct path.
As new born babies we are forced to follow developmental stages:
Infants earn their strength as their muscles and motor patterns develop.
There is an order to things!
Exercise is no different, just like infants we need to earn our strength via:
When you start a new exercise program you need to ensure you have the stability to handle the exercises.
Stability involves all those small muscles. They are the muscles that keep the joints in alignment eg. rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder. The core muscles that protect the spine.
You can think of stability like the framework of a car.
Strength uses the big prime mover muscles, the ones that create all the power like the Buttocks, Quads, Deltoids etc.
The strong prime mover muscles are like the engine of the car.
Finally for power we add speed to the strength movements.
Power is like a turbo booster in your car.
Now, think of how so many people exercise.
They jump straight into strength or power based movements e.g.. Running, Jumping and Snatches, without working on stability first.
Just like running a powerful engine in a car with a weak framework things will quickly start to break down.
The key to avoiding injury is to build a strong framework first. Work on stability first just like infants do when they roll and crawl.
Once you have a strong stabilising system you can then add strength based movements and finally throw in some power based exercises.
It is very common for me to receive emails asking if just 4 minutes of exercise is enough or if just kettlebell swings are enough to begin with.
The answer is yes.
It takes time to build up a good strong foundation.
Stabilising muscles take time to develop.
There is a reason why Turkish Get Ups should be performed well before you start pressing overhead.
They develop a strong foundation.
So start with stability and don’t jump to the more aggressive exercises before you have built your solid foundation.
Here’s what the order should look like:
Turkish Get Up => Overhead Presses
Deadlifts => Swings => Cleans => Snatch
Shoulders Taps => Push Ups
Bodyweight Squats => Lunges => Burpees
Here’s an image ofย the all important deadlift exercise below:
I wrote the 21 Day Swing Program so that your body can build a foundation correctly and avoid injury.
Sadly you can’t rush the body, just like an infant you have to earn your strength.
Take care and speak soon,
Greg
What is your experience with workout injury? Do you follow the rules above?
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