It’s not just the obvious muscles!
I’ve seen a couple of clients recently and I thought it may be worth just highlighting the need to look after the small intrinsic muscles that support the joints and initiate movement. We all see and recognise the obvious muscles of the body but these are just a small part of the picture.
Underlying these are the small supporting muscles – the muscles that start and control movement. An example is the shoulder: many people exercise and do activities that involve large, expansive movements. However they do not always benefit the smaller muscles and this can occasionally lead to deep shoulder pain as those muscles become fatigued and the tendons attaching the muscle to the bone become strained. This can easily be prevented with specific conditioning exercises that improve the strength of those deep muscles.
This applies just as much to your back and many of those aches and pains we all feel. The deep muscles of the spine that stabilise the joints become fatigued due to a lack of conditioning; abdominal workouts without specific exercises to strengthen the muscles of the back are only half the solution.
I do not intend to try and describe an endless list of exercises here in this blog, my suggestion would be that whatever your lifestyle choices you will enjoy them much more if you don’t have these annoying little aches and pains deep in your joints. You can avoid these with properly directed exercises.
Speak to a conditioning coach http://www.uksca.org.uk/uksca/Common/practitionerSearch.asp, try Pilate’s http://www.pilatesfoundation.com/newsite/index.php or get the personal trainer at the gym to show you specific exercises. Finally if none of that appeals look up a local sports injury therapist, physiotherapist or other equally qualified injury rehabilitation advisor on the web and they will give you very good advice.
Just don’t ignore it because many little aches and pains can be avoided if you look after the bodies basic infrastructure.
