Today’s newsletter will save you thousands of dollars and countless hours of frustration, so feel free to thank me later. It deals with the exciting topic of injury prevention.
Attention, shameless plug coming up: it is also a chapter out of my new book.
It is a fact: most people are physically not ready to train. In fact, most people are injuries waiting to happen. Therefore, in my ingenious ways, I designed a series of tests will make sure that there are no time bombs hidden in your body which then could derail the gainz train. One could also argue that injured clients would not do much for personal training business in NYC.
Simply run the following five tests at your next workout and see where you are.
1. The Rotator Cuff Test:
Sit one a bench, with one foot elevated. Then grab a small dumbbell, prop the elbow against the knee and rotate the weight upward for 10-12 reps. If you can not use 8-10 % of your incline bench weight, you are on the fast track for a blown out shoulder.
The cure
3×10/10 barbell pullovers and pushes on the floor. Lay on the floor, grab a small barbell, perform 10 pull overs and 10 overhead presses, where you simply roll the barbell away from your head. The goal is to keep the shoulder blades and elbows close to the floor.
3×10 inward rotations at the cable
3×10 outward rotations at cable
3×10 reverse shrugs. This exercise is set up as follows: sit at the lat pull down, medium wide overhand grip. Pull the shoulder blades down for about 2-3 inches without bending the elbows. The goal is to work the lower part of the traps, without involving the latissimus or the biceps too much.
2. The Wall Slides Test:
Stand leaning against a wall, while raising the hands above the head. If your shoulders come off or can’t stay close to the wall, your shoulder flexibility is impaired and an injury is on its way.
The cure:
3×10/10 barbell pull overs and overhead presses on floor ( basically rolling a small barbell up and down)
3×10 reverse shrugs
3×10 face pulls
3×10 j-pulls
30 towel /band rotations
3. The Push/Pull Ratio Test:
If your bent over row does not match your incline bench, add 10-20 pull ups every workout in order to avoid a shoulder impingement.
4.The Box Squat Test:
You should be able to squat 70% of your regular squat for about 5-6 reps. If your strength is substantially lower, your knees and lower back are at risk.
The cure:
2×10 overhead squats
2×30 seconds wall sits, watch out if the knees are buckling inward
3×5 box squats, push knees out, heels planted
3×8 single leg press
3×6 stiff legged deads
5. Overhead Squat Test:
Perform ten overhead squats, ideally have someone tape you on the cell phone from all angles . Watch for the following issues:
a. Knees buckling inwards
b. lower back collapses
If either one occurs, you have weak glutes and a tight (and most likely) weak lower back
The cure
3×30 supermen lower back raise
3×8 pull throughs supersetted with light overhead squats
You can perform the warm ups before each workout for about four to five weeks. Those 8-15 minutes will save you month of rehab time!
You are welcome!
Maik