How to Strength Train Pain-Free!
We humans can be tough on our bodies throughout our lives. Playing sports, exercising, making mistakes, and generally being physical (or sedentary for that matter) can lead to some wear and tear.
If you are working out with a goal of general health and fitness in mind, your efforts in the gym shouldn’t be compounding those issues! There are ways to challenge your body while also improving mobility and decreasing existing pain points.
At Elevate, we are all about strength training as a foundation of your exercise routine. We use resistance training in all of our group fitness programs and personal training settings. It’s that important.
With that said, building strength can look different from person to person. You have to go through some self-assessment (and likely some professional assessment). Ask yourself:
- What are my existing pain points? We all have them. Did you wear down your knees from years of distance running? Do you throw your back out a couple times a year?
- What’s my current ability level? I’m interested in what you are capable of doing now. Not so much 10 years ago or what you deadlifted back in high school. Let’s meet you where you are and build from there.
- Is what you are currently doing for exercise serving you? This can be tough to come to terms with, but it’s important that you are honest. Are you digging yourself into a bigger whole when it comes to wear and tear? Or does your physical activity leave you feeling better as a result of doing it?
Our coaches at Elevate want to get back to or keep doing what you enjoy. If that’s running on the weekends, lifting heavy things, or playing in your softball league…let’s keep up with it. Getting stronger should contribute to those things!
What many of our newer members don’t realize before coming in to Elevate is that there is a spectrum of progressions and regressions for ANYthing we do. This isn’t a scale of “better” or “worse” but rather finding what serves you best.
In short, we follow a simple protocol to help you using strength training as the vehicle!
- Assess, Don’t Guess. It’s easy to blame a body part for being “bad” or “tight.” The truth is, that doesn’t help us really figure out the underlying problem. Doing a detailed assessment can help isolate the root cause of pain or discomfort.
- Prescribe. No, I don’t mean pharmaceuticals. We aren’t doctors and we don’t treat or diagnose. However, we’ve worked with hundreds of people, which has developed quite a set of tools. This is where we can make a plan of specific mobility exercises to do and also working those into your strength movements. Can’t do back squats comfortably? No, problem. There are many ways to strengthen your legs 🙂
- Make Progress. We’ve set your starting point and now we work the progressions as long as needed. If you are performing the right exercises for your body, you can continue to make progress for years to come.
If you are looking to revitalize your body or need a team or professionals to keep you strong and healthy, reach out to Elevate so you can get started!