Stabilisation Before Lifting - Part One

A Guide to Injury Prevention

Have you ever asked yourself whether you are moving poorly because you are in pain? Or that you are in pain because you are moving poorly? What I’m trying to address hers is something known as 'pattern overload'.

Briefly, pattern overload is a condition wherein posture compensations appear due to repetitive motion on a daily basis.

I have a few more questions before I start addressing why this happens to most of us.

Have you ever felt scared to go the gym? Felt out of place when you walked in and didn’t know what to do? Have you had a situation when an expert in the gym has suggested a movement and it has felt or seemed like it will do more harm than good.

I have a vivid memory of a trainer with a reputed certification trying to make me do a back squat. The whole time, I was scared I will fall flat on my face. The experience was extremely uncomfortable and left me demotivated and fearful of attempting the movement for a long time.

Also, what if there is a special condition, example, pregnancy or arthritis or maybe even cancer. Have any of you diagnosed with these tried to keep up or start a fitness routine? Have you got the support and encouragement to start it or keep up with it?

I distinctly remember my gynaecologist asking me to regress my strength training routine to cardio only and resort strictly to walking when I conceived my baby even though I was completely healthy and working out for four days a week for the almost a decade.

A couple of years ago I started seeking answers to these questions. I spoke to many people who worked at fitness studios or owned them, I spoke to orthopaedics and gynaecologists and yoga teachers. I don’t remember being in a place where I felt like my curiosity was satisfied. Were there no answers? Then how come there is all this content from across the globe which shows extremely talented people with and without limitations, with and without kids achieving extra-ordinary results? Was that fake? It didn’t seem like it. Was it genetic? I realised I was speculating.

Today, I have the answers and I did find my path to follow, but thats a story for another time.

In this article, I will try and address how to get to feel comfortable starting off in the strength and conditioning arena. So, what do I mean by stabilising before lifting? I am going to try and simplify this as much as I can for you guys.

Have you ever seen a building under construction? Try and remember what happens before they start laying down the bricks and cement to get the walls and ceiling up…..First they dig the foundation and ensure there is enough for stability before any loading.

In my opinion and of that of many experts whom I spoke to and agree with, the human body needs to be treated the same way. There needs to be enough stabilisation before we start loading or pushing the human body to achieve gain strength.

National Academy of Strength and Conditioning (it’s where I got my Certification for Personal Training) talks about stabilisation as stage one in their Optimum Performance Training (OTP) Model.

The hours of training that I have spent with my pupils on the floor have led me develop a six step approach to get them to place where the chances injury are minimised when they push their bodies to achiever their desired goals.

Lets discuss the three out of the six steps in part one of this article.

STEP ONE - Self Myofascial Release (SMFR)

Self myofascial release. as the name suggests its something you do yourself. Its like giving your self a massage with the help of a piece of equipment known as a foam roller.

It is a technique that focuses on the neural and fascial system in the body. By applying gentle force to an adhesion or knot the elastic muscle fibres are altered from a bundled position into a straighter alignment with the direction of the muscle or fascia.

The knots can be formed due to various reasons, some of them being vigorous exercise, posture compensations, repetitive or/and stressful activities.

To execute the movement, we place the foam roller on a particular muscles and apply pressure by aligning our bodies in the necessary position to apply pressure. It is essential to find tender spots and hold them for 30 seconds. There is a set of rollers (3 to 4 max) required to address all the muscles but we can easily start with a single one.

SMFR is suggested before stretching, because breaking up of knots (i.e. fascial adhesions) can potentially improve the tissue’s ability to lengthen through stretching technique. It can also be used for the cool down process to aid quick recovery for the next day.

I sleep much better if I spend 10/15 mins foam rolling at the end of a long day especially if it is physically exhausting one, which happens to me a lot in my line of work and is a mere side effect of having a toddler at home.

Some key areas of the body that should be focused on when performing SMFR include:

• The Gastrocnemius (calf muscle),

• Gluteus Maximus/ Minimus & Quadricep Muscles (hip and leg muscle),

• Adductor Muscle (inner thighs),

• Thoracic Spine (middle part of the spine)

• Latissimus Dorsi (back muscle).

SMFR is something that takes getting used to. On tight muscles it can be an exhausting process to begin with. The first time I resorted to SMFR as a part of my training regime was a couple of years back. My quadriceps (front of the thigh) is what I started with. The initial sign of my discomfort, as I tried to move up and down on the foam roller was my face - which had turned tomato red followed by beads of sweat that broke out behind my neck and on my forehead. It was the kind of sweat which was comparable to sweating after a 100 meter sprint for me.

Not everyone believes in SMFR and its benefits. I have had long drawn discussions and heated arguments about this particular topic. If, I were to take you through my whats app chats of receiving evidence on why SMFR is crap, it will use up quite a bit of data on your phone. However, there is enough proven data to support the benefits of SMFR.

And in my opinion and experience, in the field of corrective exercise, SMFR used as a precursor to flexibility and joint mobilisation is a powerful tool to recovery, healing and injury prevention.

STEP TWO - Flexibility

Many factors including genetics, age, sex and pattern overload on a body amongst others can influence the flexibility of a human body. The starting point is different for each individual.

What is flexibility? Simply described, it is the ability to move a joint through its complete range of motion.

Components of flexibility are generally included in the warm-up section of the workout. In today’s society, flexibility training is increasingly recognise as an important way to help aid in preventing and treating various neuromuscular injuries.

People without adequate levels of flexibility and joint motion may be at an increased risk of injury and may not be able to achieve their personal fitness goals unless these deficits are corrected, at least not in a safe manner.

Flexibility training is used as key component for almost all training programs due to a variety of reasons including, correcting muscle imbalances, relieving joint stress, increasing joint range of motion and improving neuromuscular efficiency.

Stretching techniques can be viewed together as a continuum. The flexibility continuum constitutes specific forms of stretching. Let me try and break it down for you:

Corrective flexibility - uses SMFR and static stretching

Active flexibility - uses SMFR and active-isolated stretching

Functional flexibility - uses SMFR & dynamic stretching

In my daily work, I have to constantly access and review whether the flexibility protocol I have chosen for a client is effective and I keep fine tuning it. It can change extremely rapidly depending on the frequency of the movement.

The ATG squat for me is courtesy the flexibility work I have included in my training. So is the ability to put my palms on the floor while standing with my knees fully extended. Nowadays, I am working on my full split, which I have never been able to do before (even as a child). I will keep you posted on how that is going.

I plan to explore the depths of the flexibility technique in a separate document. In the meantime, time to roll and stretch.

STEP THREE - Mobility

We all take our mobility for granted. Remember all that you were able to do when you were a kid? The burpees to the jump up, and the cartwheels!

Simply put, mobility is the ability to display a full range of motion (ROM) around a joint, WITH CONTROL.

Mobilisation of joints, not confused with active-isolated flexibility, is the cherry on top of a cake for a training program.

It is my favourite short little warm-up on days when I struggling on time between work and home and I have to slip my work-out in.

The NEIKI approach is to focusing on the specific joints - Ankle, Thoracic Spine, Hip and Shoulders. We regress and progress the given movement depending on the person we are working with.

Limited ROM of joint can make movements extremely uncomfortable while you perform them and hamper achievement of goals in the long run. I recommend it. I swear by it. I don’t design a program without this component.

After all, at a point in time, it was my limited ROM at the shoulder joint which prevented me from doing a back squat. The fact that I did not have enough shoulder mobility to hold the bar stacked on my spine was resolved in 4 weeks by adding a mobility routine to my program.

The steps that succeed SMFR, Flexibility and Mobility are activation, core conditioning and balance training.

On an average, it takes me 4 to 6 sessions to an individual through all 6 steps. Having said that, I have worked with many people who are able to cope with the progression in the second session itself. Everyone is different and so is very program. You need to choose what works best for you.

What lies ahead matters. The journey is on-going.

Stay Tuned!

If you would like to stay connected with me, please follow my work on Instagram and Facebook:

Instagram Program page : @neiki.in

Instagram Personal Page : @parinamidha

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/byparina

Pictures Descriptions

1. In the midst of a squat set

2. 37 weeks pregnant me with my friends Divya and Shradha

3. SMFR (Foam Rolling) with my favourite 'Triggerpoint' Foam Roller

4. Figure of Four hip stretch

5. Squating at home during lockdown (don't miss the broken tiles)

6. Frog Pose for hip mobilisation