When last we left off I had plateaued with my body pump routine. For years I had incrementally increased my weight, and expected to do so indefinitely as time went on. The good instructors would correct my form, and I’d listen. And I think that encouraged them to come to me more often, which was great for me in the end!
The cycle of injury, recovery and re-build is neither healthy nor good for your body. People who are continually getting injured should re-think the level of intensity at which they are doing the exercises and their form while doing them. The hardest thing to be is honest about whether the exercises are being done properly and with the correct form, and if not, then to adjust. Minimizing the injury recurrences means less time out of the gym, and more importantly, less scar tissue created. Scar tissue leads to less mobility, flexibility, range of motion, and also, more pain. More and more movements are affected, meaning you will have less and less available to you in the way of exercises that don’t hurt.
For me, around the age of 42, things started getting strained and pinched a little more easily and often than before. So I learned a literally painful lesson, that I don’t have to keep going up and up and up, in order to be strong and healthy.
I recently asked my instructor to advise me on my weight selection after she told me frankly that I was lifting too much for my height and weight. Armed with this new regimen, and the advice of another instructor who said, “Using too much weight can impact upon your joints more so than your muscles,” I’m embarking on experimenting with how this new weight selection impacts upon my body and my psyche. As you saw in the last post, there’s actually not too much difference between what was suggested and what I had previously been lifting, and further, what I am trying now. However, the mental aspect for me has already shifted with this knowledge, and who knows, I may end up not hating body pump so much anymore!
Thanks Barbara and Beth. I’ll let you know in a couple months what happens!
The cycle of injury, recovery and re-build is neither healthy nor good for your body. People who are continually getting injured should re-think the level of intensity at which they are doing the exercises and their form while doing them. The hardest thing to be is honest about whether the exercises are being done properly and with the correct form, and if not, then to adjust. Minimizing the injury recurrences means less time out of the gym, and more importantly, less scar tissue created. Scar tissue leads to less mobility, flexibility, range of motion, and also, more pain. More and more movements are affected, meaning you will have less and less available to you in the way of exercises that don’t hurt.
For me, around the age of 42, things started getting strained and pinched a little more easily and often than before. So I learned a literally painful lesson, that I don’t have to keep going up and up and up, in order to be strong and healthy.
I recently asked my instructor to advise me on my weight selection after she told me frankly that I was lifting too much for my height and weight. Armed with this new regimen, and the advice of another instructor who said, “Using too much weight can impact upon your joints more so than your muscles,” I’m embarking on experimenting with how this new weight selection impacts upon my body and my psyche. As you saw in the last post, there’s actually not too much difference between what was suggested and what I had previously been lifting, and further, what I am trying now. However, the mental aspect for me has already shifted with this knowledge, and who knows, I may end up not hating body pump so much anymore!
Thanks Barbara and Beth. I’ll let you know in a couple months what happens!
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