Entering any challenges this summer, such as a 5k, 10k half marathon, marathon, Tough Mudder, Spartan race, Rat race and, cycling challenges? Or are you in training for another event or sport?
Modern man or woman is typically inactive for 22 or 23 hours a day, then will bolt off on heart throbbing run for 45mins. In comparison our ancestors would have been exposed to a wider range of activities, so their tendons and ligaments would be hardened by constant movement. These days when modern man/woman are subjected to bouts of repetitive motion, like running, stress and wear are accelerated and they end up at the physios. Some studies show that 50% of runners, for example, get injured enough so that can’t run.
Image – Shoulder External Rotation Exercise” from Phase 1 of the 24Fit DVDs
Most of us spend more time taking care of our teeth than the rest of our body. If neglected your joints will deteriorate like your teeth. Joint stability is a critical part of any health and fitness program. It will help you avoid injury, speed recovery, eliminate stress and knots and improve postural alignment creating a healthy body that is resilient and primed for ease of motion in daily activities and great sport performances.
Over 35?
By your mid-30s, most people still look young, but are already experiencing the BIG Three of aging: deteriorating lean muscle mass, worsening posture, and crumbling joints” said Robert Forster. His practice in Santa Monica is the unofficial meeting hall for broken – down triathletes, adventure racers and gym rats!
Age related decline hits sooner than you think :
“Too often however, the urgency to get fit quick leads to poor results and injury as we try to play catch up with overzealous workouts and ill-advised dieting. The most common mistake is to turn to the unscientific, but none the less popular, “all out” workouts like P90X to make up for lost time. These programs often lead to injury, burnout and rebound weight gain.” Forster
“Kevlar training” Robert Forster in an interview post Olympics 2012, in London referred to “Kevlar Training” – infrastructure building for the human body, toughening the joints, creating stability at every joint, which makes his athletes “bullet proof”…
Phase 1 of the 24Fit DVDs – “Stability” It’s about establishing stability throughout every part of your body. That’s Spine and Pelvic Stabilization, Shoulder Stabilization and Total Body Integration. This involves the use of light weights and other exercises, which can be done at home to strengthen all the little “helper muscles” around the joints, which, along with a lot of stretching insures that each joint is functioning properly and keeps joints in their correct, natural positions. This phase prepares the body for the more strenuous work to come later in the training cycle.
Shoulder Stabilisation Exercises
Taken an example, the shoulder has the greatest range of movement of any joint in the body, which explains why injuries to the shoulder are the most common in sports. It’s an elegant piece of machinery where hundreds of little muscles and tendons come together and attach and interact with each other.
The bottom line for those injuries is the best way to prevent them is by creating the correct posture for the shoulder joint, which means strengthening and stretching the muscles around your shoulder to prevent injury to the joint. Simple stretching and light weightlifting you can avoid rotator cuff problems. “Strengthening the four rotator cuff muscles that stabilise it is critical. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy says physical therapist Robert Forster ” the cuff gets little blood flow and is invisible to the naked eye, so its ignored, under strengthened compared to the glamorous muscles and subject to tears!”
Periodisation Training V Militarization of Fitness
“Every day we see more extreme “fitness programs” advertised with high-intensity workouts and volumes of work that even my elite athletes would never hold up to. And every day, we see the injuries in the clinic that define these workouts as ill-designed, dangerous, and unsustainable. What most recreational athletes and fitness buffs don’t realize is that elite athletes spend more than half of their time in the gym on injury prevention, and the rest of the time on performance enhancement. Safe and effective stretching and injury prevention workouts might not be spectacular to watch, but they allow athletes to work harder at their sport and in the gym on performance enhancement.”Robert Forster
Robert Forster
He developed the Herbalife 24 FIT program for Herbalife. He is one of the leading physical therapists and PTs for athletes, both recreational and elite. Over the course of his 30-year career, he has successfully trained 42 Olympic medallists, U.S. Open and Wimbledon champions, NBA superstars and triathlon world-record holders. He’s a member of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness. Tired of encountering ill-advised training programs that only cause more injury, Robert created a new approach to fitness training, which is divided into phases that follow the body’s natural healing and growth patterns.
Thirty years’ experience in a set of 13 DVDs… a smarter approach to working out. Contact us