How to Exercise Without Getting Hurt
A big mistake people make when they first start going to the gym or they first start working out at home is to think that they need to perform every exercise perfectly the very first time they do it.
They’ll see someone squatting a big weight and think “I can never do that.”
Or they see someone quickly banging out a set of lunges and they think “I’ll never be able to do that.”
So they don’t even try.
Or they try to do the most advanced variation of a movement and they hurt themself then believe “I can never do that. Why did I even try?”
The truth is that when you first start working out you shouldn’t be able to do a lot of movements.
It’s not your job to be perfect and have perfect form when you first start.
It’s your job to start building the capacity, skills and strength so that one day, sooner rather than later, you can perform each movement perfectly.
Your body is going to be capable of amazing things as long as you give it time to learn how to do those amazing things, and build it up so it’s strong enough to do amazing things.
This is where exercise regressions come in.
An exercise regression sounds like a bad thing but it’s not. A better word would probably be an exercise accommodation- because we are changing a small factor of an exercise to accommodate your current level of mobility, flexibility, strength or an injury.
Let’s take the squat as an example.
The squat is an outstandingly effective exercise for many different reasons. It’ll make your hips, legs and lower back stronger and more orthopaedically sound when performed correctly.
But it’s something that’s hard for a lot of adults to do at first, so we have to find a joint friendly variation that will lead to success and not frustration.
There are two easy ways to do this.
The first is to introduce a box. You’ll squat onto this box, so it almost looks like you’re sitting down and standing up.
The goal isn't’ to actually sit on the box, it’s to basically gently kiss it with your butt then stand right back up by driving your feet through the ground and firing your quads, glutes and hips.
Using a box will make the task of squatting down a bit easier by giving you an “end point” with tactile feedback. It will also take a lot of balance issues out of the fold.
As you get better you can slowly progress to squatting on a lower box until the box isn’t necessary at all.
The second way you can regress your squat is to elevate your heels.
A big culprit in adult immobility is the ankles. A lot of adults simply don’t have the movement in their ankles to allow for a proper, pain free squat. By elevating the heels we’re taking that ankle mobility out of the equation and allowing the knees, hips and lower back to move unaffected by the ankles.
All you have to do is find something about ½ an in to 3 inches and place it under your heels. You can use a book or a plank of wood. You then place your heels on the elevated surface, while keeping your toes on the ground.
To squat you just want to push your butt straight to the ground.
Elevating the heels will largely increase the range of motion for most adults, simply because we’re bypassing any ankle mobility issues.
You can progress this the same way as the box squat. Lower the elevation over time, and perform some ankle mobility drills. In no time you won’t need any accommodation.
