The fitness industry generates as many new trends per year as the computer industry does – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Low-impact exercise and non-impact exercise has always appeared to be a safe or sensible alternative, while at the same time keeping up with the latest fitness trends. People will typically default to a low-impact or a non-impact activity in order to reduce the chances of getting hurt. This seems like a good approach; however, in our highly driven society the idea of being sensible, we’re not! Well, not always. Our drive for exercise seems to stem from wanting immediate results so we push too much and too hard. However, low-impact or non-impact exercise can cause injury when not used properly.
Today, I would like to talk about the proper application of non-impact and low-impact exercise and how it can become counter-productive or even cause injury when overused.
Prime example: ballet dancing, at its highest level causes more injury than playing football! Hard to believe isn’t it, but its true! The reason ballet dancers are prone to injury is because they spend so much time practicing – hour after hour which involves many ballistic movements. Ballistic movements in ballet are very dynamic movements with lots of force landing on a hard surface. It is so beautiful to watch and yet we don’t pay attention to the “ballistic” movements per se because a very skilled dancer makes it look so effortless. “In the discipline of exercise there is no such thing as a “safe exercise”- only an unsafe way of performing out an exercise.” (Dr. Mel C. Siff (Fitness/Sports Review Int’l. vol. 29. #3&4). Thanks, Dr. Siff, my point exactly!
During the 1970’s, the fitness culture movement was further sparked by the origins of high impact aerobics – a new kind of exercise – well, not exactly new, but newly revisited. Today, that craze has spread to involve a greater variety of trends that spans the gamut from Jazzercise to Zumba to Tai Bo, etc., just pick one. However, once the crowd becomes either burned out or hurt they move onto a lesser impact activity, such as Yoga. You would think it would be a safe environment. Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not putting Yoga down by any means. It definitely has its place in the fitness world, but for the purpose of this article, it is an excellent reference. However, once again I have had participants; as well as a highly qualified Yoga instructor come to me for help. After careful evaluation, I determined that the root of the common problems associated with it was excessive prolonged stretching and that using even only moderate static force can cause “Plastic Deformation” of the ligaments, muscles, fasciae or other connective tissues. Simply put; if stretching is held for too long of a period of time (beyond 45-90 seconds), it could cause the muscles and connective tissues to permanently change their shape/form (structure integrity). I also ascertained that yoga practice was not putting enough emphasis on stretching the muscles needed for the poses. That sounds weird at first because; after all, isn’t Yoga stretching – well, hang with me for a second. Some instructors get so focused on trying to perfect certain poses that other muscle groups would get neglected. The most commonly neglected muscles groups being the upper back and hip flexors. Additionally, smaller muscle groups such as the rotator cuff muscle and bicep tendons were never considered; these little muscles and tendons get tight all the time. In each of these cases the application fell short by not stretching the rest of the major muscle groups of the body.
In another instance, while participating as a consultant to the Southern Methodist University sports programs, I had a swimmer (an Olympic contender, who by the way, was using Tribustol to improve her performance (I had to throw that one in – sorry, back to the story)), but she had some discomfort in her shoulders. After careful evaluation, I determined that her bicep tendon and anterior deltoids were strained and that she was on the brink of getting seriously injured if she didn’t back off of her training. My point being, that even in swimming, which is a non-impact sport, an athlete can easily injure themself by over-training.
But let’s not give up hope yet, on our high intensity/high impact training and exercise programs. Throughout my career as a competitive bodybuilder and sports trainer; I have studied, executed and concluded and now, I can promise you this – that as long as there is a proper warm up, which by the way, allows for a true and gradual progression of the muscles (and muscle fibers) into the training program, followed along with the essential recovery practices of post-exercise stretching, an occasional massage and a good nutritional program; then injury is not likely to be an issue.
While training one of the SMU football players (he was one of my best students!); I designed a periodization weight training program in complement with Tribustol product supplementation. He would weight train four days a week using training loads of up to 90% capacity and at the same time was playing competitive football. I trained him on Mondays (after a long intensive game on Saturdays) doing heavy squats without getting hurt! We were careful in his training program to utilize up to three warm-up sets of squats before approaching the heavy set(s).
In closing, remember there is no such thing as an unsafe exercise only an unsafe way of carrying out the exercise! I realize this is strong statement position to take, but with proper learning of the appropriate skills and utilizing the right warm-up procedure one can participate in a high or low-impact activity safely and effectively.
Should any of you ever have any comments, questions please feel free to email me directly at: ramsey.rodriguez@tribustol.com or through the website: www.Tribustol.com.
Ramsey Rodriguez, NSCA, CSCS, CISSN
Kimberley Vega – Fitness Editor
