Crawl before you Walk

18 Jun 2015

Tags: bootcamp sydney, injury prevention, strength, technique,

Ever had an injury where you know what to do to fix it (either through experience or because you’ve been told by a health practitioner) but you just don’t do the work and decide it is better to just ‘run it out.’ You survive your first session back and pull up alright but then within a couple of weeks that darn niggle is back again?

There is a reason that infants develop slowly, they start by rolling from front to back, by dragging their legs under themselves commando style before they crawl on all fours. They practice pulling themselves to standing before they swiftly slump to their butt and then they take one baby step at a time. Before you know it they’re running away from you.

Many injuries and niggles force you to come back to your infant development in some form or another. You may have lower back or knee niggles and have been told to work on your glutes. Think about how babies get their glutes stronger- initially they lay face down and practice hip extension by lifting their legs in the air, they then practice one foot then the other to stand (like a step up). Many of our remedial exercises mimic that which we do poorly, that which many of us either never learnt properly OR our muscles have atrophied from poor use (generally most desk dwellers are a lot less mobile than children… therefore their muscles stop working= Move it OR Lose it!)

Well trained athletes often do as much remedial work- massage, physio/chiro, pilates, foam rolling and mobility- as they do their technical training. We just don’t see that side of things. If you want to train like a well oiled machine you have to listen to your body, feel the tight spots, find the weak spots and put in the extra effort for 5-10 mins a day. Particularly as the cold sets in for the coming months our joints and muscles take a little longer to limber up in the morning, so you might want to think about 5 mins on the foam roller before leaping out the house or finding time for some stretching and mobility at the end of the day.

Don’t forget that all our Kliks offer remedial sessions such as Yoga and Pilates so if you are feeling like the screws are a little loose and the pieces are about to fall apart then try exchanging one of your regular sessions for something a little different!