Aug 6 • Vibes
Big Box Gym Injury Prevention/Reversal
If you are a person who has play many contact sports or trained very hard with powerlifting/olympic weight lifting/ or just heavy bodybuilding styles lifting. You may notice different aggravations such as shoulder impingement, aggravated neck, back, hips, etc…
If you experience any of these to a varying degree, it may be due to the fact that your spine is not in proper alignment.
Oftentimes when benching, the natural curvature of the spine flattens due to a lack of support underneath the cervical and lumbar spine.
I personally have played around with different support models. Balancing what looks stupid, with what looks the best, versus finding a middle ground that allows for it to be a sustainable activity.
For my body specifically (anecdotal evidence), I have noticed that support underneath cervical spine allows for an adequate bench day without adverse effects the next day.
This may seem “tedious” or excessive. However do realize that every single human being in the world over their lifetime will experience a varying degree of what doctors like to call “degenerative disk disease.”
I personally would rather put a more positive twist on it and say that it is simply due to the fact that the body is not getting all the nutrients it requires at the right times of an extended period of time. Creating a more brittle less flexible and mobile spine.
As you age, you pickup more responsibilities such as work, family, community, and far more “categories” that many people call different things. A lot of people will put their health on pause to focus on the other facets of life.
Whereas, in recent times, I have realized that this can be dramatically mitigated if you think diligently.
Say you are a mother/father and have committed yourself to driving your kids to school/music class/sports… You may think that it is not in your cards to be able to get a workout in.
Perhaps your children will be “embarrassed” if you workout around them. Therefore you feel the need to go somewhere else to get a workout in. The commute to another location is not feasible in your busy schedule though. Or so you think.
The more creative one can be with workouts, the better of an athlete they will be.
I personally like to workout at gyms due to a multitude of different reasons. (One being the fact that everyone else is also there to do the exact same thing). But another reason is because it teaches me new ways to move for my day to day life. It’s almost like a simulator of different movement patterns.
If you are a construction worker, professor, or social worker who finds themselves constantly aware of a persisting annoyance in the form of a dull ache or pain, consider what most of your day consists of. If it’s sitting, standing, walking, swaying, or whatever, haha… Ensure to diversify your movements.
This mental exercise will help your build resilience starting in the mind, then throughout the entire body.
First, think back to a time when your body felt amazing.
Perhaps you were swimming often, or rock climbing, maybe even cycling…
Could have been the fact that you had less on your plate? (I mean that in two ways).
Stress can cause one to eat more. Excess weight leads to many health complications (not for everyone, but for many).
Identifying the stressor, completely removing it from your life (non negotiable), and shifting your focus to emulate an even better version of the way you lived life at your happiest is the way to go.
Obligations are real, feeling stuck and bogged down is a real thing, not having momentum can feel super annoying and mundane.
Decide that you will do something for yourself, if your health is what needs the most attention, then tie it to a passion of yours.
Enjoy video games? Create levels for yourself.
Track progress and build your own character!
Enjoy bird watching or environmental awareness?
Find new ways to workout with a tree (slanted pushups as an example).
You have so many options.
Ripping the bandaid off and having an “unlimited” mindset is what will permit you to having the most fulfilling life that you could possibly imagine.
Peace,
Huller
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Big Box Gym Injury Prevention/Reversal
