We are going to start off the New Year with a super informative post about exercises that must be added into your workout routine. This applies to anyone who wants to be injury resistant, stay active, or improve performance. I do not care if you are a marathon runner, a weekend warrior, a ski bum, a CrossFit or OrangeTheory junkie… These exercises must be added into your routine.
Strength training is one of the best ways to stay injury-resistant (in general). That being said, strength training does NOT include bootcamp or high-intensity workouts that use weights. Strength training involves using specific and focused exercises that target all the major areas of the body performed in a manner that does not necessarily have you laying on the floor in a pile of sweat.
This type of routine involves movements that we do every day (ie. Squat, pick things up from the ground (deadlift or lunge), push (bench press), carry (grocery haul into the house), etc… They also MUST be performed with weights that are challenging enough to make changes in our body occur as long as we can perform the movements properly.
Now… adding a regular strength routine into your workout regimen is a topic for another post. The topic of THIS post is to provide you with insight on FOUR exercises that you SHOULD be doing regularly.
The focus is on single leg movement! Why do single leg activities?
They help retrain each side of the body somewhat separately which can help with life’s challenges such as climbing up onto high surfaces as in a tuck bed or on a hike.
They can help with certain aches and pains we have on one side of the body and not the other.
Have an old injury? There is probably some weakness over there that is not present on the other side… single-sided work can help even that out.
Are you a runner or do you run? You are never on 2 feet when you are running… training single leg work can optimize running performance and decrease injury risk!
This movement is very challenging for most people. The video above shows the version while holding onto rings (also can be done with TRX straps).
TIP: keep your weight centered in your entire foot as you squat vs your heel. If you ever want to get to the point of doing these unassisted, you MUST lean your torso forward a bit and have full weight in your foot to perform properly.
This movement is not AS challenging as the single leg squat at first, but can still be tough when performing as low as the video. If you feel you need a modification, click this assisted skater squat demo.
TIP: do not allow the back leg to be planted – just tap your shin to the targeted surface.
This is a fabulous version of the split squat that works the front AND back leg. Looking to get more flexible hip flexors? Look no further than this bad boy movement.
TIP: make sure that you have your legs far enough apart so when you perform the squat you can feel a nice stretch in the back leg while keeping your torso upright.
These are just a few but some of the best and most bang for your buck. I would suggest beginning without weight and adding resistance once you get comfortable with the movements!
The picture above is with my grandma who turned 82 this month! Happy Birthday Grandma!
There are times when clients will let me know of their woes before the session. Usually by email… It is as if they are trying to prep me so I am ready for them to lay it on me.
I am going to share a story of a client of mine who has come SO far, but is still having some issues with leg and back pain.
A line in the email received before the session was… ”Well, I think I have lost my motivation for all of this. We will have to talk tomorrow…”
At first, that makes me sad because it is my job to keep her motivated. It is my job to be the voice of reason, to help her see the light at the end of the tunnel and to be her guide. I thought that there was a possibility that I had failed her. No, I can not help everyone (even though I would like to think so)… But I know darn well that there is still hope for this one.
Going into the session, I had no idea what to think, I had no idea what she was going to come in with or where the session would end up.
Well… in walked (patient who will be named Jane for the purposes of confidentiality).
Jane: “You know Loni… I don’t know if I will ever get over this”
Loni: “Why do you say that?”
Jane: “Well, I workout 4-5 days per week. I lift heavy things, I squat, I run, I lunge and do sit ups. Why does my back and leg still hurt after a full 8 hour day of housework?”
Loni: “Tell me about how you would feel last year if you were to do 8 hours of housework?”
Jane: “Oh, there is no question that there would be NO WAY I would be able to do 8 hours of housework. My leg wouldn’t have been able to handle that.”
Loni: (Silent smile)
Jane: “I have progressed haven’t I?”
Loni: “Yes ma’am!“
This is a great example of understanding that being pain-free or symptom free is not always the best end goal. Of course, that is what we want and can keep working towards. But in reality, the best goals are the small, incremental ones and really based upon FUNCTION. Those goals should also be frequently revisited. Why? Because it allows you to see that progress! It lets you look back and reflect on where you started and where you are. It can significantly brighten your outlook.
The person in this story came to me barely able to do 2 sets of 5 bodyweight squats without having significant pain.
Her Monday’s now look like 5 sets of 5 back squats using 75 pounds.
I could not be more proud of her and I feel very privileged to be part of her journey.
Next time you are feeling down about where you are in the present, take a peak at where you started.
During this movement the feet remain in the same position (static)
This movement is great for those of us who are not so good with balance when moving and is the least challenging of all the lunges. Static lunges help build balance and strength from a stationary position.
Muscles worked are your thighs and glutes
Start in a split stance- hip width apart with one leg in front of the other
Lift onto the toes of your back foot and lower that knee down to the ground allowing the front knee to bend also to a 90 degree angle parallel to the ground
Press through the heel of your front foot and straighten the legs back up.
Keep your torso upright. Most of your weight should be felt through the front leg
Similar to the reverse lunge but with an element of power and plyometric transition with a jump from one lunge position to the other by switching feet in the air
This exercise challnges the same muscles as the regular reverse lunge but also adds a cardiovascular effect by increasing the heart rate and helps burn more calories.
tips to help your jumping lunge
master the basic lunges first-reverse lunges and walking lunge
aim for soft landings, avoid landing hard on your knee
chest and torso stays upright
be light on your feet and try to spring through the ball of your feet to gain some air time
you can increase the difficulty by increasing reps, jumping higher and spending less time on the ground
The definition of adversity via Webster’s Dictionary:
“Difficulties, misfortune, ill luck, back luck, trouble, difficulty, hardship, distress, disaster, misadvantage, suffering, affliction, sorrow, misery, heartbreak, heartache, wretchedness, tribulation, woe, pain, trauma, torment, torture.” The list goes on.
Adversity can be defined as any of the above. Everyone goes through some sort of adversity. It’s not about what type you deal with, but about how you respond to it.
Do you ever feel alone when you’re dealing with something like this? I am sure of it, we all do. But guess what, you aren’t alone. The feeling of being alone EASILY gets more believable in a world where social media is constantly in our faces. Old friends, co-workers, gym buddies, cousins, acquaintances, celebrities… they all look SO happy on the screen of your phone. But guess what, they probably have shit going on. Don’t forget that.
So… How do you overcome adversity? You can’t just make it go away, you can’t just run and hide and let someone else deal with it, you can’t just forget about it because it absolutely will resurface at some point.
Adversity can be overcome by the way you react to it.
This can be applied to matters BIG and SMALL.
Small example…
Someone is going 40 MPH in the passing lane and you are LATE for work?
Option A: Tailgate them like a MASShole, honk and give them the finger?
OR
Option B: Remain calm and let them realize they are being slow where they will eventually speed up or switch lanes.
Big example…
Someone does something extremely unjust, unreasonable and unfair?
Option A: scream and yell, accuse and verbally abuse?
OR
Option B: Remain calm with them. Do you best to not let your emotions drive your words. Take your feelings to a conversation with a friend where you can say what you want and get some advice.
Take home… We all deal with shit on any given day. The sun still rises in the morning no matter what was dealt the day before. Get up, shake the dust off and keep moving. Use adversity to learn, grow and become stronger. Get your reps in, practice makes perfect so keep working on overcoming those small hardships because when the big ones roll around, you will be ready.
We know that many people do. It is actually one of the leading causes of disability world-wide. Did you know that at any given time, about 540 million people are experiencing low back pain? This is one of the most COMMON areas of pain! It also has dramatically increased healthcare costs and how many people use their healthcare dollars to treat it. Back pain is costing YOU more money than it needs to.
I want you to understand the fears that surround low back pain and help you understand it. It is important to talk about this stuff! Helping you understand these fears is vital to creating a positive outcome for both short term and long term pain.
I have put together the most common fears that surround this topic. It is important to understand that these fears are real, many people have similar beliefs, and the way that these fears are handled is very important. If you have some of these thoughts or beliefs, please be open to the explanations, ask questions, and make your own assumptions based on what you read.
There are also many other medical and fitness professionals out there who have different viewpoints. Please understand that this is my viewpoint backed by the most recent understanding of what science knows about low back pain. I learn the up-to-date stuff because I just want to be a bit less wrong, versus being right. The hope is that I can help you learn HOW to view low back pain and not WHAT to view about it.
Additionally, this is NOT supposed to be a guide to help your exact situation. Please seek the help of a trusted professional to deal with your individual case of low back pain. It can be used as a guide to help you understand back pain a bit more versus directing your treatment.
Definition… What is low back pain? We can define low back pain as a symptom and not a condition. A symptom is well known to come and go, a condition feels like it is there to stay.
Vulnerability… You may view your lower back as being vulnerable and needing protection. When back pain is experienced, you may view it as though your back has lost that protection. Many people experience lower back pain after trivial events and view the pain as damage, now needing protection. The feeling of vulnerability is real! You feel this way because first off, the back pain happened after something so simple as bending over to move a dog bowl. Second, you now think there is damage. Your back is not vulnerable and you do not need to worry that it will fail on you, even if you feel that has happened in the past. If you have been diagnosed with degeneration or arthritis, you do not have to feel fragile and that vulnerability will slowly fade as you become more and more confident. Your back is built to last, treat it with what it was born to take.
Protection… You may feel that you have to protect your back if you have had a painful experience, leaving you feeling fragile. Back pain has been thought to be a result of lost protection. Now we know, however, that protection is not the key. Whether it means avoiding certain things because you do not want to have back pain, or keeping yourself out of certain activities because you fear your back pain will worsen. Both scenarios could actually be prolonging the issue. You get the permission to move! We want to add movement into your normal routine, little by little. It is like building up a retirement account, adding money in little by little builds to a solid chunk of change. Adding confidence to your low back over time creates long-lasting resiliency.
Uniqueness… You may view back pain as being very special in nature, very different or unique from other forms of pain experiences in regards to how it impacts you.Back pain seems incredibly complex because it’s severe and you don’t know much about your back or its structures. Low back pain is viewed differently than other types of pain, but it shouldn’t be. It is commonly seen as special and its own entity, however it needs to be viewed under a different light. Back pain is just like pain in any other area of the body and it is not a warning sign for the spine. It does not mean you must stop doing the activity and it sure as hell does not mean that you are damaging anything.
Damage… Pain means damage, damage needs healing, best to rest? Pain is commonly viewed as damage in the lower back, or anywhere in general. We now know that there can be a ton of pain and no damage, or a ton of damage and no pain. The correlation is just not there. Pain and damage do not go hand in hand and we do not need to be worried that increasing pain means further damage.
MRI scans… MRI to the rescue? Many people seek to get MRI scans done to help direct treatment, identify worsening conditions, or rule out anything serious. We must rethink our views on medical testing (MRI’s, X-ray’s). Many of the findings are normal and just a part of the aging process and can be considered the grey hair of the spine. Most conditions such as arthritis, degeneration, or disc herniations do not cause pain. If MRI’s were the only ways to identify gray hair, would you want and MRI? So why would you want one? The most important reason to get an MRI would be to rule out the very serious conditions such as fractures, infections, cancer or tumors. Those conditions are extremely rare and found in about 3% of cases of low back pain. There are also very specific questions that could lead us to believe that one of those cases could be an issue. If those answers don’t fit, then the likelihood of you having any those conditions is extremely low. Not many doctors follow this protocol because they aren’t trusting in the new direction of medicine and reimbursement is pretty high for MRI’s and X-rays.
You and your back need to be friends… You need a positive relationship with your lower back. It can feel like your back pain rules your life, and you have become a different person as it consumes you. Before you know it, you begin to notice that your back pain has made you a real bear. Your spouse, kids, and co-workers know when you are in a fight with your spine. Well, the reality is that it does not have to be like that and you have to trust that your back won’t fight back if you begin to make it do its job.
Back pain, personified… A mind of its own. Your back pain does not have to rule you or your life. Personification of low back pain is common and understandable, but it does not truly have a mind of its own. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around it or tread lightly. Poke the bear with activities that slightly make it angry. Over time, you will notice that the amount of activity you can handle will sky rocket and you will once again be in control.
Understand the uncertainty… It is hard to tell what someone’s outcome will be, but we know that it will get better. The outcome of low back pain is commonly unknown. The healing process is hard to see, especially because you aren’t really sure what is damaged or what needs to heal. The truth is that in most cases, nothing needs to heal and we always fall back on the fact that pain does not mean there is damage. Trying to search for the root cause will be a never ending battle and it is always multifactorial in nature. There is a ton of misinformation out there and you have to remember that. In general, you must understand that most cases of low back pain get better. If you are someone who has had back pain for years, there is TONS of hope. There are likely some underlying factors that have yet to be revealed.
Thank you for reading. This topic weighs heavily in my passion to pave the road of pain relief for many suffering from both short-term and long-term pain. I am determined to help you understand more about what is going on inside your body and empower you, versus scare you. You must remember that all cases of low back pain are different and treatment and education is extremely individualized. If you are suffering from low back pain and have yet to seek medical attention, please DO NOT use this editorial as a treatment guide. Please ask for help or find a trusted professional to guide you in the best direction.
Low back pain is an extremely common condition that many people are faced with on a daily basis and the incidence is climbing. From 1996 to 2006, the number of people who experienced low back pain increased from 3.9% to 10.2%. Recent research has also shown that up to 33% of individuals who have experienced low back pain experience it again within one year.
How can this be?
There have been significant advancements in medical technology including improved surgical procedures, imaging techniques, and medications. With these advancements, however, the incidence of low back pain continues to increase.
What are we doing wrong?!
One main underlying issue is the misconceptions surrounding the topic of low back pain. These misconceptions can lead to poor treatment outcomes, fear of movement, incorrect diagnoses, and worsening symptoms. The discussion today will help debunk some of these misconceptions and will better educate YOU on this low back pain epidemic.
Misconception #1: My back hurts, I should rest.
I don’t recommend anyone take complete rest from their activity. In every case of low back pain, there are specific activity modification recommendations that can be made. I will never tell someone to completely rest!
These modifications are specific to each person – it is recommended that you seek medical advice to find out what the right path is when you are dealing with pain.
Misconception #2: I should not lift weights because it is bad for my back.
One of the most effective ways to treat low back pain is strength training. Strength training creates full body resiliency. The most beneficial weight training exercises involved in low back pain rehabilitation programming include squatting, deadlifting, carrying, pressing, and pulling. All of these exercises help strengthen the muscles throughout the entire body including the lower back, which help to decrease pain and improve activity tolerance. Just like the previous recommendation, if you have low back pain do not think that jumping into these exercises without supervision is a good idea. Seek advice from a trusted professional!
Misconception #3: My back pain is from the chair I sit in at work.
Most of the time, back pain and the type of chair you sit in do not correlate. In some cases, the amount of time sitting and the lack of time spent up and moving are bigger contributors to symptoms. As stated before, movement is medicine, especially in the case of low back pain – when in doubt, just get up and move as frequently as you can.
Misconception #4: My back is stiff, I probably should be stretching more.
A stiff back does not always mean that it has to be stretched. A lot to times, stiffness is a perception of being tight and it is your body’s way of telling you that it needs some attention. Low back stiffness can be helped with frequent, active movement, versus stationary, passive stretching. This type of stretching does serve a purpose, but is not the most effective way of helping your stiff back. Here is a quick video to a great routine that you can perform on your own to “loosen” your lower back!
Misconception #5: I know where my pain is coming from, I have a disc herniation.
Disc herniations are not proven to be the cause of back pain. In most cases, disc herniations are not causing the symptoms. Especially when the pain has been going on for a while. This condition can be considered part of the normal aging process! The percentage of people with disc herniations increases with age and most of the people with herniations do not have pain! Please quit blaming your pain on a condition that can be considered the gray hair of the spine.
If you would like more information on back pain, or any pain for that matter, please visit www.infinitepotentialptw.com. On this website there is a plethora of free information and content, as well as a forum to ask questions.
References
Delitto et al. “Clinical Practice Guidelines linked to the international classification of functioning, disability, and health from the orthopedic section of the American Physical Therapy Association”. J Orthop Phys Ther. 2012;42(4):A1-A57
