Hi Everyone,
First, "Thank You" to all of the people who recommend athletes to come to our forum at http://www.julstro.com. It's great getting to know so many of you, and to get your responses as you heal yourselves of injuries.
Second, I've just finished making arrangements to be at Ironman Kona, and I'll be teaching a two-day Julstro Self-Treatment Clinic in Hilo the week before the race. If you know any athletes who are planning on going to Kona, please let them know so they can contact me for details.
I've had a few people asking me about preventing injuries as they start to increase their exercise level in preparation for the Spring.
As you are preparing for the upcoming racing season, it's vital to understand how to prevent the spasms that create the injuries that stop you. Today I posted the following message on our forum, and I wanted to share it with everyone:
While it's important to increase the strength in all of your muscles, it is equally important (and often ignored) to stretch ALL the muscles that have just been worked.
When you do the strength exercises you contract/shorten the fibers, and unless you then release the spasms and lengthen the fibers you are heading for future problems. The part that many athletes don't understand is that when a muscle is shortened it loses some of it's pulling ability, and therefore it appears to lose strength. So, they do more strengthening exercises and shorten the fibers even more.
If you treat each spasm and flush out the lactic acid (naturally occurring when you exercise), and then stretch the muscle fibers to their longest length, you will benefit from all of your strengthening exercises.
Consider this analogy. If you were trying to pull a heavy object toward you, you would put your arms straight out and then pull. If your arms couldn't extend all the way out but were bent at the elbow, you wouldn't be as strong in the movement. But it's not because you aren't strong enough, it's only because you didn't have access to the full pulling power of the muscles.
It's the same thing throughout your body, you absolutely must stretch your muscles (NOT overstretch!) so they have the strength they are capable of attaining.
As everyone starts to up their training for the Spring, remember to take care of your muscles. If you have any questions, feel free to go to our forum and just post them, I'll answer as quickly as possible.
Wishing you well,
Julie
Don't let pain cause a DNF! YOU are your own Best Therapist! Visit http://www.FlexibleAthlete.com and http://www.Julstro.com to learn logical solutions to repetitive strain injuries and how to stretch safely.
First, "Thank You" to all of the people who recommend athletes to come to our forum at http://www.julstro.com. It's great getting to know so many of you, and to get your responses as you heal yourselves of injuries.
Second, I've just finished making arrangements to be at Ironman Kona, and I'll be teaching a two-day Julstro Self-Treatment Clinic in Hilo the week before the race. If you know any athletes who are planning on going to Kona, please let them know so they can contact me for details.
I've had a few people asking me about preventing injuries as they start to increase their exercise level in preparation for the Spring.
As you are preparing for the upcoming racing season, it's vital to understand how to prevent the spasms that create the injuries that stop you. Today I posted the following message on our forum, and I wanted to share it with everyone:
While it's important to increase the strength in all of your muscles, it is equally important (and often ignored) to stretch ALL the muscles that have just been worked.
When you do the strength exercises you contract/shorten the fibers, and unless you then release the spasms and lengthen the fibers you are heading for future problems. The part that many athletes don't understand is that when a muscle is shortened it loses some of it's pulling ability, and therefore it appears to lose strength. So, they do more strengthening exercises and shorten the fibers even more.
If you treat each spasm and flush out the lactic acid (naturally occurring when you exercise), and then stretch the muscle fibers to their longest length, you will benefit from all of your strengthening exercises.
Consider this analogy. If you were trying to pull a heavy object toward you, you would put your arms straight out and then pull. If your arms couldn't extend all the way out but were bent at the elbow, you wouldn't be as strong in the movement. But it's not because you aren't strong enough, it's only because you didn't have access to the full pulling power of the muscles.
It's the same thing throughout your body, you absolutely must stretch your muscles (NOT overstretch!) so they have the strength they are capable of attaining.
As everyone starts to up their training for the Spring, remember to take care of your muscles. If you have any questions, feel free to go to our forum and just post them, I'll answer as quickly as possible.
Wishing you well,
Julie
Don't let pain cause a DNF! YOU are your own Best Therapist! Visit http://www.FlexibleAthlete.com and http://www.Julstro.com to learn logical solutions to repetitive strain injuries and how to stretch safely.