MAKING EXERCISE SIMPLE AGAIN (By Nathan Reynolds:Chiropractor at Victoria Point Chiropractic)
Exercise is becoming popular and mainstream. Fantastic! However, great outcomes are only achieved when exercise programs suit individual needs.
The truth is most types of exercise and movement can be beneficial and help decrease pain and increase quality of life if done correctly. The opposite is also true, most types of movement or exercise can be damaging if performed incorrectly. A big problem today is the involvement in popular but too advanced exercises, such as boot camp style exercise, where deconditioned people are expected and encouraged to do complex dangerous lifting exercise and do it to fatigue. Even a highly conditioned person should not do complex compound exercise to fatigue, unless of course they choose to risk injury to some controlled degree to train for specific demands of a sport or recreation. This is what high level athletes do, but they also minimise this risk by being in very controlled environments and addressing things like diet, sleep and other factors.
Most people’s first stop when getting back into exercise is the gym where they often get into whatever exercise is the current craze and for now it’s trying to copy high level athlete training protocols. So, someone who has not exercised in years is straight into doing squats, weighted lunges, ‘burpees’ and other compound exercise and on top of this done to fatigue.
Exercise should be tailored to the individual who is undertaking it. A person’s goals, history and experience need to be evaluated and then an exercise program should be developed.
A person who has not exercised in a long time most likely needs to regain the coordination and ability to stand and sit correctly and learn how to coordinate between these positions before attempting a squat or even thinking of doing any kind of weighted squat. Even if you have been exercising for years you may need to redevelop your coordination and the way you move if you are still feeling sore and getting injured.
Speak to your chiropractor if you feel you need an assessment of your movement coordination and exercise program.
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