All of us that train are always looking for the next new thing or "craze" to give us an edge in our training and in our bodies. However, following a trend or taking a "supplement" (legal or not) should not be the most immediate answer. In fact, we all have the easiest answer in our own bodies. It has to do with our posture. Just by living, our bodies are put through repetitive (and sometimes forceful) moment every day. Furthermore, we are one-side dominant creatures which means that we will do more work on one side of the body rather than the other side. Imbalance is inevitable but worry not, I have the answers on how to get stronger faster without looking far.
The first thing that I do when I meet a prospective client or any new client is to assess their movement patterns. There are many things that can be determined by doing this but I do it for one main reason, I want to know what I need to fix. In fact, anyone that trains for All-Out Fitness is required to do the exact same thing. Everyone needs some sort of corrective exercise and it is imperative that we determined what needs to be included into their program before moving forward.
There are a lot of people that are Personal Trainers or that just train on their own, that either are unfamiliar with corrective exercise, and/or have no concern for it. It is my goal to not only show that everyone needs corrective exercise but, also to explain how we all will get stronger from it. As personal trainers this should be the first thing that we do because it is the most important thing that we do. Just because you can "kick someone's ass" doesn't make you a great trainer. Exercise is purposeful and if you have not made any strides to correct someone's posture you have in my eyes failed to choose the correct exercises. Without correction all exercise will do is make those patterns worse.
I can guarantee that your client has neuro-muscular inhibitions because they have to. We all do. Athletes, as fine tuned as they are, will probably have the most due to the beatings that their bodies take. We spend either too much time sitting, too much time standing, and use one side of our body more than the other side. There is a very good chance that most people cannot correctly perform a squat correctly because of this. Most people will warm-up, get some weights, then pound out reps/sets of squats. The problem is that even if it feels right the chances are that its not. Once our body learns bad movement it adjusts to them and feels arguable comfortable in most situations.Once this happens it must be corrected in order to re-establish muscle synergy and efficiency.
You may be saying to yourself, "This all sounds fascinating but what does stretching have to do with all of this?" Well, any muscle that fires repeatedly begins to shorten. This is how muscles become tight. In fact, the tighter a muscle is, then the weaker it gets. Moreover, a shortened muscle will just pull on another and cause the body to misfire elsewhere. Each muscle has a line of pull. These are muscles that connect at bone joints and can effect the length/tension of each other.
The hips have many lines of pull in our body and are likely to be the most stressed because they many attachment point (lower back, hamstrings etc.). Our hip flexors are typically the tightest muscles in the body due to their constant usage from sitting and the many other things that influence their activation (running, weak abdominals). The chest (pec minor) and anterior deltoid (front shoulder) are the other likely suspects because we slouch in chairs, do everything in a forward motion, and our chest falls forward due to the forward tilt of our hips. You can almost guarantee that the weaker side will be even tighter because it tends to recruit pec minor in order to make it as strong as the dominant side. Hip imbalances also exist from doing one side dominant activities (eg. driving, running). Tight hips can dramatically reduce range of motion in our lower backs and in our stride. Uncorrected hips can lead to injuries such as herniated discs to even knee damage.
Stretching isn't just about reach for your toes to stretch your back or put your toe against the wall to stretch your calf. Stretching is about lengthening and is most effective when it is done by someone else. Most people also stretch in a direction that is consistent with the longer part of a muscle because its more comfortable. That wont correct anything. If we want to correct the body we need to activate sleeping muscle, stretch everywhere from the feet up, and we need to get the hips back into neutral alignment. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. So, now that we all are better educated on how to identify this postural distortion how do we fix it?
There are many methods that will stretch muscle and relax muscle tissue. The most appropriate should be selected for any given situation. I'm going to tell you how we can correct postural distortion within the scope of a personal trainer's practice. Most trainers have their clients use foam rollers for self myo-fascial release (SMR) but there are other tools that can replace foam rollers. A tennis ball, a lacrosse ball, or even a massage ball can be used to jostle up muscle fibers so that they loosen up before stretching. The key is to work on big areas of dense tissue (knots) and near the joint, always moving towards the joint. Once we do this, then the tight muscles and tendons will release more and increase their length at the joint angle. Sometimes a little bit of active release is needed to assist in stretching and is very easy to do. Again locate the tight area and apply pressure on it while putting the corresponding joint through its fullest range of motion. This should break up and tissue that is tight or jumbled up from overuse.
Lastly, we have our hips and shoulders. The hips will not move on their own unless we manipulate it. There are a couple of easy ways to do this but the one that works the best is to use a Trigger Point Performance Roller or Grid to loosen up all of the connection points of the hip. Then a stretch of the lower back will get some length where people usually need it the most. After that have them lay on their stomach and pull on one leg at a time until the hip drops down, usually starting with the dominant leg. You should see their glute fire and even their shirt move. Those are the signals that length has been re-established. Go to the other side and do the same thing. You may have to jostle the hips with a massage ball if they don't open up easy before retrying. Give each side a second pull just to see if opening the other gave the first side more room for movement. The pecs have a similar procedure. Use a ball to massage the entire pec (again always moving toward the joint) then assist with stretching the pecs open by pulling back the arms. Sometimes a little bit of active release helps too. Have them lift their arms over their head while you press on points of tight fibers. This should also help establish length in the pec and make them more malleable for lengthening.
Now that your client is much straighter all of your muscles will be firing at or close to their optimal levels. You will see the immediate improvements in strength and range of motion. Now, the client should be given exercises that reinforce the new movement patterns in the body (eg. squat, push/pull, hip stability). Once these are re-established then adding resistance, difficulty, and frequency are 100% acceptable. You basically have the closest clean slate of a musculoskelatal system as you can get. Results will vary depending on each client. In the event of pain or other difficulties the client should be referred out to the correct Corrective Specialist (ex. Massage therapist).
CAUTION: Assisted stretching should be done carefully. People should have the right training before conducting these procedures. When performing assisted stretching it is always important be cautious in order to prevent serious injury. This blog is a summary of Neil's method and is not intended to teach or certify anyone of any qualification. This is a general overview and is not intended to direct anyone.
For more information or to learn from Neil Denaut please email him at alloutfitness1@gmail.com
