July marks the start to the second half of the year. Yes, we are already halfway done with 2021. It does seem hard to believe time is moving this fast but fortunately the world hasn’t exploded yet, so we will just keep trucking along.
Now is when we check back in with those new year’s resolutions and make realistic adjustments to keep progression on track. Six months is really when lifestyle changes begin to happen. To put in perspective, you would have to stick with your new year’s goal until today to a have deep impactful change take place.
For JGR Fitness Consulting & Training this Independence Day was spent laid up with a pulled groin muscle in the Adductor Hiatus and the Sartorius. Even your coaches can push the limits and incur injuries. Luckily, the pull was from time under load and volume of the day rather than one aggressive action. Last Tuesday after a long morning of downhill mountain bike training, I joined the crew for a long night of bike/hiking up to the powerline pass and further onto Homicide Peak. This was one of the most active days I’ve had but felt great during and immediately after. However, the lack of sleep, recovery, and nutrition the following day proved hard on my body and the adductor muscles in my right leg let me know it. If asked, “would you do it again?” it would not be hard to answer. With the activity I do it’s hard to imaging going through life without any injuries. We do not learn from reaching the top, but from the falls along the way.
Onto the movement of the month. Yes, I changed it from the exercise of the week so I can let a more natural thought process occur and speak about the movements in depth without feeling rushed. As I mentioned last email, we will be talking about the Squat and its different variations.
To start off, we will go over the joints that move and the joints that don’t move during the Body Weight Squat. The body contracts muscles around the ankle, knee, and hip joints to pull the trunk downwards towards the ground. The Spine (which is a joint) consist of three section each allowing for independent movement (cervical, thoracic, lumbar). When we squat the spine will remind static not allowing for movement in any of the three sections. It is important to understand the spine can tilt forward without bending, the difference would look like this \ compared to this ). Now that we understand what joints are moving and what joints are bracing, we can find our base range of motion. Begin by engaging the moving joints all at the same time. You may find some joints are stiffer than others, and that will improve over time. We want to avoid continuing movement past the stopping point of the stiffer joints. For example, if my knees and ankles are stiff and have a short range of motion, I want to avoid bending further at the hips to compensated. This beginner technique teaches to evenly load the lower chain comfortable while maintaining a natural spine position.
To cue clients simply tell them to bend ankles, knees, and hips all at the same time while maintaining a natural spine position. For those who have ever instructed movement you know the secret is to keep it simple. So, when applying this to clients I work to use the fewest words or ques possible. Sometimes we can confuse participants by telling them exactly how to do every little thing. Contrary, we should see what form the client naturally has and build from there. Having the answer does not always mean the question was asked, use correction when needed and where they will have the most impact. Sometimes people already have the answers you just have to give them permission to show it.
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To see the long adventure that pulled my groin head over to my YouTube (Make sure to give the page a follow while your there)
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