Strong Man

STRETCHING; Why Should I?

2008-06-29T15:51:00.002+07:00

This short article looks at some of the tips, tricks and helpful hints you can use to help prevent sports injury and do-away with stiff, aching muscles & joints. It's been put together to answer some of the more common questions we get regarding stretching and sports injury, and details a number of useful sports injury prevention techniques. I hope it proves useful to you.

Overcoming & Preventing Sports Injury

If you're involved in the health & fitness industry, whether it be participating in your favourite sport, coaching, training or just keeping fit, you'll know how annoying and debilitating a sports injury can be. In reality, when you have a sports injury you're actually losing on two fronts. Firstly, you're losing simply because your body has been hurt and now needs time and care to repair itself. And on top of this, you're also losing the time you could have been putting into training and improving your sporting ability.

A sports injury is a bit like losing money. Not only do you lose whatever you were going to buy with that money, but you also have to work hard to make up the money you've lost. Take it from me; a sports injury is one of the most frustrating and debilitating occurrences that can happen to anyone who's serious about their health, fitness, sport or exercise.

The Cold, Hard Facts

I recently read an article titled "Managing Sports Injuries" where the author estimated that over 27,000 American's sprain their ankle every day. (And no, that's not a typo, EVERY DAY!) On top of this, Sports Medicine Australia estimates that 1 in every 17 participants of sport and exercise are injured playing their favourite sport. This figure is even higher for contact sports like Football and Gridiron. However, the truly disturbing fact is that up to 50 percent of these injuries may have been prevented.

The Professionals Secret Weapon

While there are a number of basic preventative measures that will assist in the prevention of sports injury, there is one technique that has slowly been gaining in popularity. It's still not used as often as it should be by the average sports participant, but with the professionals using it more and more, it's only a matter of time before it starts to catch on. Before we dive into this little used technique for minimizing your likelihood of sports injury, let's take a quick look at some other techniques to help you prevent sports injury.

So, Where Do You Start?

Most people are coming to understand both the importance and the benefits of a good warm-up. A correct warm-up will help to raise body temperature, increase blood flow and promote oxygen supply to the muscles. It will also help to prepare the mind, body, muscles and joints for the physical activity to come.

While warming-up is important, a good cool-down also plays a vital role in helping to prevent sports injury. How? A good cool-down will prevent blood from pooling in your limbs. It will also prevent waste products, such as lactic acid, building up in your muscles. Not only that, a good cool-down will help your muscles and tendons to relax and loosen, stopping them from becoming stiff and tight.

While preventative measures such as warming-up and cooling-down play a vital role in minimizing the likelihood of sports injury, other techniques such as obeying the rules, using protective equipment and plain common sense are all useful.

The One Technique to Cut Your Chance of Injury by More Than Half

So what is this magic technique? Why is it such a secret? And how come you haven't heard of it before? Well chances are you have, and also, it's not that secret and it's definitely not magic. You've probably used this technique yourself at some point or at least seen others using it. But the real question is, how dedicated have you been to making this technique a consistent part of your athletic preparation?

What is it? STRETCHING. Yes, stretching. The simple technique of stretching can play an imperative role in helping you to prevent the occurrence of sports injury. Unfortunately stretching is one area of athletic preparation often neglected. Do not underestimate its benefits. Don't make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching won't be effective. Stretching is a vital part of any exercise program and should be looked upon as being as important as any other part of your health and fitness.

In recent time the professionals have been getting more and more serious about stretching and ultimately, their flexibility. The coaches and trainers are just starting to realize how important flexible muscles are to helping prevent sports injury. Flexibility has often been neglected in the overall conditioning of modern athletes. It's only now that its benefits are proving invaluable to all those serious about staying injury free.

How Does Stretching Prevent Injury?

One of the greatest benefits of stretching is that you're able to increase the length of both your muscles and tendons. This leads to an increased range of movement, which means your limbs and joints can move further before an injury occurs. Let's take a look at a few examples.

If the muscles in your neck are tight and stiff this limits your ability to look behind or turn your head around. If for some reason your head is turned backwards, past its' normal range of movement, in a football scrum or tackle for example, this could result in a muscle tear or strain. You can help to prevent this from happening by increasing the flexibility, and the range of movement, of the muscles and tendons in your neck.

And what about the muscles in the back of your legs? The Hamstring muscles. These muscles are put under a huge strain when doing any sort of sport which involves running and especially for sports which require kicking. Short, tight hamstring muscles can spell disaster for many sports people. By ensuring these muscles are loose and flexible, you'll cut your chance of a hamstring injury dramatically.

How else can stretching help? While injuries can occur at any time, they are more likely to occur if the muscles are fatigued, tight and depleted of energy. Fatigued, tight muscles are also less capable of performing the skills required for your particular sport or activity. Stretching can help to prevent an injury by promoting recovery and decreasing soreness. Stretching ensures that your muscles and tendons are in good working order. The more conditioned your muscles and tendons are, the better they can handle the rigors of sport and exercise, and the less likely that they'll become injured.

Know Your Muscle Building Exercises - The Chest

2008-06-29T15:44:00.003+07:00

Every bodybuilder and weight trainer will have his or her favorite exercises for each body part. That's how it should be - as you progress through the various stages of learning you'll understand what works best for you. It is useful, however, to take stock of your progress every so often and carry out an analysis of where you are and what changes, if any, are needed to move onwards and upwards.

Part of this analysis should include an assessment of the core exercises that make up your bodybuilding training program. In this article we'll look at the chest exercises that have proven their worth to serious bodybuilders for many years. Where appropriate a series of exercises suitable for achieving pre-exhaustion will be presented. All exercises should be performed to failure with one set of six to eight reps.

1. Dumbbell flyes - this exercise provides a useful means of isolating the pectorals and preserving the triceps for the subsequent exercise. The exercise should be performed as follows:

Hold dumbbells directly overhead.
Lower them to sides with elbows slightly bent, pulled back and to the side. Lower no further than level with the torso.
Use the pectorals to pull the weights back up to the starting position.

2. Incline bench press - you can move straight on to this exercise if you have reached an appropriate level of experience. If you perform this exercise as the second part of a pre-exhaust routine you may have to use lighter weights than normally.

Take a shoulder width grip.
Lower the bar to the chest with the elbows pointed to the side.
Return to the starting position.

Know Your Muscles - The Lower Body

2008-06-29T15:40:00.003+07:00

This is where you'll find the big, strong muscles that allow us to get around. The main muscles found below the waist are as follows:

1. Quadriceps femoris - this is a group of four muscles found at the front of the thigh. These are the vastus lateralis on the outside, the vastus medialis on the inside, the vastus intermedius between them, and the rectus femoris above them. The role of these muscles is to extend the leg from a bent position.

2. Hamstrings - these are found to the rear of the leg and consist of the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus. The hamstrings are used to flex the knee in the act of pulling the heel towards the buttocks.

3. Gluteals - these make up the buttocks and consist of the gluteus maximus covering the hip joint and the gluteus medius and minimus on the outside of the hip. The gluteus maximus facilitates hip extension while the other two lift the leg to the side in an action called hip abduction.

4. Hip flexors - these are found opposite the glutes on the front of the pelvis. Consisting of the psoas major and iliacus they raise the leg to the front.

5. Calves - these consist of the gastrocnemius and the soleus. Their role is to extend the foot at the ankle.

Know Your Muscles - The Shoulders And Arms

2008-06-29T15:36:00.003+07:00

Shoulders and arms work together but they require significantly different exercises to make them bigger and stronger. The main muscles found in these areas are as follows:

1. Deltoid - this is comprised of three separate segments that cover the shoulder and run a few inches down the arm. The anterior deltoid raises the arm to the front. The middle deltoid raises the arm to the side. The posterior deltoid draws the arm backwards.

2. Rotators - these are small muscles of the rotator cuff that control small movements of the upper arm. Consisting of an internal rotator, external rotator and supraspinatus they are used in lifting and throwing actions.

3. Biceps brachii - the biceps covers the front part of the upper arm and consists of a long head and a short head. The long head crosses the shoulder joint and works with the front deltoid to raise the arm to the front.

4. Triceps brachii - the triceps covers the the back of the upper arm and consists of three sections - the long, lateral and medial heads. The role of the triceps is to straighten the arm at the elbow.

5. Brachialis - this muscle lies between the upper arm bone and biceps. It helps the biceps to bend the elbow when the palm is facing sideways.

6. Forearm muscles - the forearms consist of many little muscles called flexors and extensors. The largest forearm muscle is the brachioradialis that lies close to the elbow.

Know Your Muscles - The Chest And Upper Back

2008-06-29T15:27:00.002+07:00

Becoming familiar with the muscles that make up your body has more benefits than simply allowing you to talk shop with your training partners. The more familiar you are with the muscles you're working, the better you'll be able to judge what's needed to make improvements. In this article we'll get to know the muscles that make up the chest and upper back.

Although they are two distinct areas, the chest and the upper back will be considered together because achieving a muscular balance between them is crucial, particularly in relation to maintaining good posture. Creating an imbalance between the two is likely to result in injury.

The main muscles found in the chest and uper back are as follows:

1. Pectoralis major - these are the large chest muscles found to either side of the breastbone. Its main job is to bring the upper arm inwards across the body, a movement that is known as horizontal adduction.

2. Latissimus dorsi - this is the largest back muscle that runs from the lower back to the upper arm bone. It pulls the upper arm towards the body and acts as an internal rotator of the upper arm.

3. Trapezius - this muscle runs from the mid spine to the shoulder and then to the neck. Its main role is to faciltiate movement of the shoulder blades.