I managed to drag one of the nursery Dad’s to a Hyrox session this morning. For those that don’t know, Hyrox is a cross between running and some functional movements, like wall balls and a sled push.
It is a more basic version of Crossfit, so if you are into class-based exercise, I would recommend giving it a go.
The friend I took is called Thomas; he is the one I have done some triathlons with. He is very fit and was always going to make it look like his 100th time when it was his frist. You know those annoying people that can pick up a table tennis bat and immediately be great at it. Frustrating.
But going to do something whether it’s a fitness event or going on a walk, when you do it with someone else you usually default to the other persons comfort level. If you run a 5k on your own and you go out with someone that is slower than you, the chances are you want to stay together and chat, you will run slower. The opposite is true if you go with someone who is faster than you. You will run faster than you normally would, and it stretches you.
As humans sometimes this is uncomfortable, but this is the zone where the most physiological change comes, this is outside of the comfort zone. We talk about physiological change when our clients have chiropractic care. The body changes over a period and you must do things that can be uncomfortable, like stretches and exercises, they aren’t fun, and they can stress the body, but afterwards the rewards are great.
On average a patient in the UK will do at home exercises for 2 weeks before stopping doing them, this is not long enough to gain traction and cause physiological change in the body. On the contrary if someone joins a yoga or Pilates class, they are more likely to follow through with at home exercises for over 10 weeks.
I’m sure some of you have some clicking or pain in your shoulder and this can be related to the rotator cuff. From research we now know that one of the most effective forms of treatment is to do exercises. But they must be done for at least 10 weeks to see any sort of change. Try these out below.
Shoulder impingement is where one of the rotator cuff muscles is getting trapped in between the humerus (arm bone) and the scapula (shoulder blade). This is because the shoulder is protracted (forward movement) and it leaves less space for the tendons to move and can compress and pinch them.
It can be painful when you lift your arm to get something out of the cupboard, putting your jacket on or brushing your hair. Anything simple that involves moving your arm.
Go back 20 years and the solution was surgery or painkillers. We know now that there are some effective exercises to help with this that can prevent you needing surgery or taking long term painkillers.
The first movement is the easiest and 90% of the time the most effective (those are the kind of exercises I like).
You need to get a table or ledge to lean on, it needs to be sturdy so you can press down on it.
When you find your table, take your painful arm
- Push down on the table
- Slowly walk backwards so the arm becomes flatter
- Maintain the downward pressure
- Walk back until you feel the shoulder stretch
The idea behind this is that by depressing the shoulder into the table it helps lower the humerus down and pull it away from the scapula. This gives more of a gap to allow the rotator cuff to release and reduce the inflammation.
The key to remember is that you need to get the shoulder blade and shoulder back into the correct position long term. This helps the shoulder from coming forwards again and putting pressure on the shoulder.
An exercise to help with this is called push up plus.
- Start in a press up position
- Lock the arms out and don’t bend the elbow
- Let your body weight go through the shoulder blades
- Don’t bend the elbows
- Just squeeze the shoulder blades
- Repeat 12 times, 3 sets
This activates a muscle called the serratus anterior which pulls the shoulder back in to the rib cage and will retract the shoulder in to a better position releasing the stress on the rotator cuff.
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