TOP 5 LOW RISK HIGH REWARD exercises you should be doing
Last week I saw my friend Dave for his regularly scheduled session at The Method Performance and Physical Therapy. We breezed through the usual small talk of the weather, weekend plans and the latest COVID updates before moving on to the reason Dave was here.
When we got down to brass tacks, I asked Dave about how his shoulder was doing (we had been working on some pain in the front of his shoulder during our previous session) and he replied that his shoulder was doing great. He was not having pain and the exercises I had given him during our previous session were helping.
Which is great . . .
This is the point in a session where I have learned to do 2 things:
Shut Up
Listen
Dave went on to explain how everything that we had done up until that point has helped. He had been able to use the things we worked on to alleviate his pain and overall he was doing pretty well. He began to talk about using his spin bike at home and how that was an important part of his routine as it allowed him to keep his weight down and feel good about himself; he explained that he didn’t want to jump back in just to end up where he was prior to coming in for PT. He elaborated on the multiple different online programs that he jumped into in the past and made great progress for a few weeks before a pain here or there would limit him and he would end up back at square 1.
As I listened to this story I began to think about my role as a provider in this situation and what Dave needed most. I had done my job as a Physical Therapist and Dave was no longer having pain. What he needed was a routine, something he could follow, something simple and something he would be able to see progress with - all while knowing that he would not fall back to square 1 in 3 weeks because of an achy shoulder or a sore back.
I reviewed with him that there are basic human movement patterns that our bodies move through during daily activities. Each involves maintaining a stable spinal position while moving through the mobile ball and socket joints of our hips and shoulders.
For our lower body, we have a hinge pattern in which we sit horizontally back into our hips and a squat in which we sit back into our hips and drop vertically through our knees. For the upper body, to keep it simple we are basically either pushing things away from our bodies or pulling them in towards us. I threw in a core exercise for good measure and that made 5 - 5 exercises for healthy adults that are low risk and you can expect to continue to make good progress with. One for each of the above categories; sure there are variations of each but life is too short to worry about that; do the work, make progress, get stronger, get in and get out, and then go play with your dog or learn about Crypto or something.
Anyways, if you’re still reading this, this is the moment you have been waiting for. As promised here are 5 exercises that healthy adults will be able to start making progress with today:
Split Squat - Build a strong pair of legs without stressing your back!
Single Leg Deadlift - Where mobility meets stability and grace meets strength!
Push Up - Tried and true . . . plus you can do it anywhere!
Single Arm Row - Keep it simple and pull at least as much as you push!
Side Plank - Multidirectional and anti-rotational!
The advantages of these exercises are numerous. The single leg exercises will allow Dave to continue to make progress at home with limited access to weights. They will also reduce the loading on his spine. Single leg exercises are also extremely functional as most of the movements we do in sport (run, jump, cut) and in life (walk, stairs) occur on one leg.
The point is to keep it simple and continue to make progress. Your workout should compliment all of the things that you like to do, not detract from them. People thrive off of routine and seeing consistent results can lead to a cascade of positive changes in one’s life.
A lot of times we don’t seek care for an issue until a certain threshold of pain or discomfort or burden is reached. When it comes to your body, a good strength and conditioning routine is your best injury prevention. It is like putting oil in your car, it is essential, it keeps you going and when you don’t do it, it will lead to problems.
In that way, I guess we are kind of like mechanics . . . but for your body :)
So if you have any questions about how often, how much, how long etc or maybe you just want to stop by and check in, give us a call. We’d love to help and we’d love to see how strong, capable and resistant you can become.
Anyways, that is all for this week, next week we will begin to break out the basic human movement patterns mentioned above. If this is a new concept to you, then a basic education is a great place to start. Knowledge of how your body moves and why it moves the way it moves will allow you to make smart decisions regarding your fitness and health.
