When most people begin their journey towards getting in shape the biggest mistake I see is everyone jumping straight into heavy weight training or explosive workouts. The problem with this mental approach is it simply leads to one thing, “injuries!” What many people forget is when you haven’t worked out or trained for a long time your tendons become very fragile, your muscles get tighter especially if you have a sedentary lifestyle and most of your entire entire core which is located right behind the abdominal wall becomes very weak. So when you jump right into heavy weight training or workouts that involve explosive movements, you don’t realize that you are lifting heavy weights on fragile tendons, tight muscles and a weak core. Now what this leads to in a short period of time is unfortunately a torn tendon or a strained tendon, a lower back injury due to having a weak core because if your core is weak your lower back ends up doing most of the work, (a common problem many are very unfamiliar with) and in most cases muscle strains because you are simply placing more stress on muscles that are already tight. All this leads to sending you back home for a couple months and what you have gained is absolutely nothing but an injury. So let’s go over some VERY important steps to take when you are beginning your journey to a better body.
Before I start, I want you to picture the foundation of a building when it is first being constructed. The proper planning is first laid out, after wards concrete needs to be laid down along with pipe and wire work and then the frame begins to be put up once a, “SOLID FOUNDATION” has been built. You will never see a master architect jumping straight into building just walls and windows, it takes proper planning and execution, if not you will have a building with many flaws until one day something gives out and it all comes tumbling down. Now when a building is perfectly constructed, its stands tall and strong in the face of time! Just like your body, you must first begin with the, “FOUNDATION” first, meaning you must develop everything from the inside out such as your tendons, flexibility and core strength. Once these key components are up to par you can then begin to increase the intensity of your workouts.
When training to strengthen tendons instead of full range movements you must focus on shorter range movements that put more of an emphasis on the ligaments and tendons rather than the muscle bellies. A great article that goes more in dept on ligament and tendon training can be found on www.bodybuilding.com By David Robinson titled, “Learn how to build great tendon and ligament strength and enhance power and overall.” He also gives a great program to incorporate into your workouts that can really increase tendon strength and decrease the chances of risking a tendon injury. Flexibility is another very important component to building a powerful foundation simply because it alleviates postural deviations! Which means your body mechanics and posture is poor due to the tightening of muscles. The tighter your muscles become the more they begin to shape and direct our bodies in unnatural ways. When our bodies begin to tighten up in areas such as the hips from sitting down all day we then begin to feel pain in our lower backs. Now imagine going straight into a gym and starting a heavy leg work out on tight hip and leg muscles, it’s only a matter of time until an injury occurs. So proper stretching and flexibility should be one of the first goals you should execute when first beginning to workout. Lastly is core training, I can’t say it with more confidence as to how important core training is to anyone’s goal and to ANY athlete! Your core is located right behind the abdominal wall and it is one of the first places where all movement begins and is the center of your body. To put simply, it is the rock and foundation of your body. An easy way to work your core is simply by absorbing your stomach in and holding it while controlling your breathing. By doing this simple exercise you are already strengthening your core! It can be done while watching TV, sitting down at work and even driving. It should become a habit to keep your core nice and tight and to absorb your abdominal muscles in when beginning any exercise. Several other core exercises can be found basically anywhere online or in most health & fitness magazines and you should familiarize yourself with various core exercises. Once your core is strengthened you should then move into abdominal exercises. Having a powerful core can also take tension off your lower back and can either alleviate or solve many lower back problems.
By strengthening your tendons/ligaments along with stretching and building a powerful core, you will not only create a great foundation but more importantly these simple exercises will lead to an injury free future that will have you on the right track to building a stronger body in the safest and most effective way possible.
Abbas Khan
Los Angeles
Personal Trainer
www.bodybykhan.com
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