MASTER CLASS: Ouchies don’t have to derail training

The Hamstring Hip Raise lets Ian Hadden work his hamstrings and gluteals without bending his knees, which can be a problem in the case of minor knee injuries.
The Hamstring Hip Raise lets Ian Hadden work his hamstrings and gluteals without bending his knees, which can be a problem in the case of minor knee injuries.

— Injuries are a normal part of living an active lifestyle. If you stay active long enough, you will encounter some type of strain, sprain or other minor sideliner.

The real danger of injuries is not necessarily physiological damage, because that will heal. The real danger is the mental side effects.

This week, I’ll discuss a few strategies for maintaining resilience - a sturdy “exercise program outlook” - even in the face of injury. In addition, I’ll present an exercise designed to work around common lower body boo-boos.

For those whose constitutions are not made of concrete, injuries are among the most difficult mental hurdles to clear. If you’re not really dedicated to your program, any type of impairment (even a little cold) becomes so overwhelming you stop working out altogether.

One important rule for exercise program outlook is to hope for the best but plan for the worst. Simply expect minor injuries or illnesses to occur from time to time.

Maintaining such a realistic view is a great jumping off point. But how do you handle injuries when they do occur?

The first step is to treat the injury as directed. Certainly, any outright pain accompanied by swelling deserves a trip to the doctor’s office. In less obvious injuries, if discomfort or weakness last longer than two weeks, have the problem checked out by your doctor rather than trying to work through it. Otherwise, you run the risk of turning a minor problem into a major one.

Assuming you follow your doctor’s advice on the amount of rest required, you should feel permitted to stay positive about your exercise program. Do whatever parts of it you can without breaking any of the physician’s recommendations.

Exercising with injuries can be tricky, but a little common sense goes a long way. Elbow tendinitis, for example, should limit many of the upper body strength exercises you can perform, but cardiovascular endurance training is still an option. There’s no reason you couldn’t do your elliptical training workout, ride a stationary bicycle or go for a walk or run.

Performing exercises and activities that don’t put your injured parts at risk will keep your program’s momentum going from a physiological and psychological perspective.

This week’s exercise is designed to help you work the hamstrings’ muscle group even if you have a minor knee injury.

Most traditional hamstring exercises require knee flexion, but this one doesn’t. This one keeps the knee completely extended and involves only minimal movement at the hip joint.

Best of all, the Hamstring Hip Raise can be done by people of all fitness levels and made hard enough to challenge even the toughest exerciser.

1. Lie on your back on an exercise mat.

2. Place your feet on a Swiss ball with your legs fully extended.

3. Place your palms on the floor at your sides close to your hips.

4. Lift your hips off the floor by squeezing your gluteals and hamstrings.

5. When your hips, knees and ankles align, pause. Hold this position for 10 seconds.

6. Slowly lower your hips to the floor.

7. Do two or three sets of 12 repetitions.

The isometric nature of this exercise makes it fairly challenging, but you can easily adjust the difficulty by shortening the hold. Instead of a 10-second hold you could hold for one or two seconds. To make the work harder, hold longer or do more repetitions.

This movement offers a nice alternative for those looking to work the hamstrings without flexing the knee joint.

Matt Parrott has a doctorate in education (sport studies), a master’s in kinesiology and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.

[email protected]

ActiveStyle, Pages 29 on 03/14/2011

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