I speak with many people who work out regularly at places like Energy Fitness, Go Performance and Fitness, and The PAC. They generally are in pretty good shape, but are frustrated with the inability to perform certain exercises well or perhaps they don’t feel that they are getting the strength gains that they feel they should. The most common exercises that seem to be a problem are squats, dead lifts, thrusters, and other Olympic style lifts that involve the full range of motion of many joints in the body. In order to improve performance in these exercises, there are at least three components that need to be addressed: strengthening the right muscle groups, stretching the right muscle groups, and gaining greater range of motion out of the joints of the spine, shoulders, and hips.
In order to determine which muscle groups you should strengthen or stretch, it would be best to consult a personal trainer, physical therapist, chiropractor, or similarly qualified individuals. However, speaking generally, it would be safe to say that most of the population (even at a gym) suffer from overly tight pectoral and trapezius muscles, hip flexors, hamstrings, and calf muscles, while suffering from relatively weak rhomboid and latissimus muscles (upper back and shoulders), gluteal muscles, abdominal muscles, and lower back muscles. The result of this combination tends to be reduced flexibility of the shoulders, rounding in the upper back, reduced hip flexibility, and imbalance with squatting maneuvers. A personal trainer can be extremely helpful in evaluating and correcting these problems.
The third component, reduced mobility of the joints of the shoulders, hips, and spine, is crucial to correct, because without full range of motion of these joints, it is often difficult to correct the problems with the muscle groups. If you watch children play, they use every fiber of their bodies, and tend to use 100% of the available movement their joints have to offer. They squat on the floor, they dance around, swing around, twist, turn, hop, skip, you name it.
If you watch teens and adults, you will rarely see someone move that much. As we stop using the full range of motion that our joints have to offer, over time the range of motion decreases. This tends to lead to tight muscles, and as muscles tighten, they tend to inhibit the strength of their antagonist muscles (think in terms of muscle groups that do the opposite of each other.)The best way to gain joint flexibility is to work on stretching the associated muscles while also working with a Chiropractor. A Chiropractor will adjust or “mobilize” the joints of the spine in order to slowly increase the overall range of motion of those joints.
By combining the proper strengthening and stretching techniques with Chiropractic adjustments, significant gains in the areas of strength and flexibility can be realized. Much like anything else, it will take both dedication and time. Use the resources that are available to you, consult a personal trainer and/or a chiropractor for more information.
Dr. Calvin Shanks is a practicing chiropractor of 10 years. For more information and for a FREE consultation and exam, please visit www.thefixchiro.com, or telephone at 270-450-0848. You can always come by the office in The Village Business Center (behind The Home Depot, next to Dallas Medical and David Spicer Jewelers) in Paducah, KY.
