Fitness Enhancement Personal Trainer Neil Geddes, who is based in Aspley Brisbane has come up with some great tips about injuries and prehab. Neil is a highly experienced Trainer, dad of three kids and our Fitness Enhancement Aspley Franchisee. He also covers other suburbs in Brisbane such as Albany Creek and Bridgeman Downs.
2 x crushed discs, 1 x snapped ankle, 1 x shoulder reconstruction, 1 x shoulder osteo-arthritis and impingement… That’s my current list of training related injuries. The worst part? Training smarter instead of could, have prevented most, if not all of these, harder.
Prehab (pre-habilitation) refers to the prevention of injuries as opposed to the rehabilitation of injuries. It is achieved through a combination of stabilization/mobilization of joints, activation of muscles tendons and ligaments prior to use as well is general improvement of balance, mobility and functionality in order to decrease the risk of injury. Anyone who has suffered a major set back to there training after a long lay off due to injury would know the anguish of seeing all that hard work drift away day by day. The depression of starting again… from scratch in some cases. The awkwardness of severe muscular imbalances as you train one limb at capacity, while the other pushes about 90% less.
The sad fact is that this extended period of injury rehabilitation could easily have been avoided through just 10 minutes of Prehab at the start of each workout. Trust me when I tell you, 10 minutes of Prehab is better than 10 months of Rehab…
So how do we Prehab? At its core, Prehab is essentially a thorough and comprehensive warm up that prepares you for the forthcoming workout. For example, if you were about to do a heavy upper body weights session, you wouldn’t just go for a 400m run, shake it out, then start pressing 100kg on your first set (which I have seen done many times). A good Prehab routine should take no more than 10 minutes and should achieve the following:
- Raise the bodies core temperature slightly to prepare you body for the forthcoming workout (i.e. ‘warm up’)
- Mobilize joints to be used during training
- Activate muscles, tendons and ligaments to be used during training and,
- If heavy weights are to be used, warm up sets of increasing resistance
Tools of the trade for a good Prehab routine will include
- A foam roller (I use a three-in-one that includes a hard roller, a soft roller and a hand roller for those really sensitive spots)
- Accu-pressure balls or a lacrosse ball
- Golf balls (for the balls of the feet)
- Resistance bands and,
- Your own bodyweight!
Check in next week for a full-length video to my guide on a Prehab workout and a whole pile of foam rolling/accu pressure ball techniques you can do in your own home!