corrective exercises
Showing posts with label corrective exercises. Show all posts
Knee Stability Exercises
At soccer a few weeks ago I had a moment where my foot was planted, my knee got hit and fell in with a lot of force. I was sure I tore my MCL when I woke up in pain later. However I am so fortunate that I didn't! I do most of these exercises before I do a heavy leg day or work them in on a corrective day and I am so certain this is why my knees have survived soccer as long as they have. Having strong glutes and good hip stability is crucial in protecting your knees as well as having balance quad muscles. So work these babies into your next leg day to keep your knees strong and happy!
Clamshells
Ensure knees are at a 90 degree angle, feet are together, and knees open without rotating body. 10x per side 3 sets
Side Plank leg lift
Beginner version: Bottom knee bent, lift leg up and lower back down. Ensure chest is open and body is aligned. 10per side 3 sets
Advanced version: Straight bottom leg, ensure everything is in line and lift top leg up and lower down with control, 10per 3 sets
Glute bridges
Band above knees, ensure hands can touch heels, push up through heels and squeeze the glutes. You should feel this mostly in the glutes and not the hamstrings, it's a glute engaging exercise. 10x 3 sets
Knee Drive Outs
Resistance band just above knees, let fall in and then drive knee out with control. 10x per knee 3 sets.
Standing Side Leg Pull
Standing ensure the hips are level, attach band to outside leg, and lift outside. Bring back and forth 10x per side 3 sets, should feel this in the side of your hips.
Split Squat Knee Drive outs
The band is trying to pull the knee in, push out against it and lower down and up. Bend both knees and push through the heel of the front leg, 10x per leg 3 sets. To increase difficulty hold a weight in a goblet position (in front of chest)
Ball Squeezes (Wall Sit or Seated)
Sink into your hips at a 90 degree angle up against the wall, place volleyball between knees and squeeze into volleyball. Hold 30s on and off 3x. Can also be performed in a laying glute bridge position, also 30s on and off 3x.
Touch downs off small box
Really be aware of the position of the knee on the box, ensure it does not fall in and the hip remains neutral. Push through the leg on the box lowering down and up with control. Range of motion depends, start with a small 6 inch box and if you can control the knee position properly move up. 10 reps per leg 3 sets.
Stretches for those who sit!
For majority of the population, we spend our lives seated in front of a computer screen. This is not only bad for our our health and wellness but it's also really bad for our posture. It causes our shoulders to round, our necks to jut forward, pain in the low back, neck, and wrists. So what can we do? You can't quit your day job, but you can do this sequence of stretches throughout your day. Set an alarm so you have to get up and move around from seated every 30 minutes and try to perform these stretches 3-4x a day (do em more if you want!)
Pec Stretch: Place hand against the wall and open up chest and rotate away from the wall. Hold for 30 seconds per side
Overhead Lat Stretch: Bring hand overhead and press down behind head. Hold 30 seconds per side
Cross Body Stretch: A great stretch for the shoulder, pull the arm across the body and pull it in, hold 30 seconds per side
Chest Stretch: bring hands behind back and interlace the fingers, extend away from the body. Hold for 30 seconds
Lat Stretch Against Wall: Place arm on wall and press into wall hold for 30 seconds
Upper Trap Stretch: Bring one arm behind back and grab head with other hand, apply a bit of pressure, hold for 30 seconds per side.
Wrist Flexor and Extensor stretches: This one is great if you've been typing a lot. Hold pressure on your wrist flexing and another extending. 30 seconds per side.
Mobility Flow
This is a great mobility flow for tight hips, it's great to perform for those who sit all day or individuals like myself who do a lot of strength training. My hips have always been tight from years of playing soccer combined with training and not enough stretching. This mobility flow done as a warm up, or combined with other flows has really been helpful for me. Believe it or not this is my mobility now that it's improved, it still has a long way to go though!
Video at the bottom!
1. Hinge forward from hips
2. Walk out into high plank position
3. Slowly lower down to floor
4. Bring upper body off ground, keep feet in contact with ground
5. Downward dog
6. Kick one leg into air
7. Place it down beside hand, hip stretch
8. Bring other leg to other side, come into deep squat (or as deep as you can go)
Prep Work for Shoulders
Prep work is often times the most important and most often overlooked part of an exercise routine. Especially on a heavy lifting day it can be so tempting to just get in and get it down. But this can cause further issues down the line with injury, also, you can to ensure the right muscles are being engaged. For example during a pull up, you don't want your traps and neck doing all the work now do you?
This can be used as a great 10 minute prep for a heavy lift day or used on it's own as a recovery day.
1. Laying chest openers, 10x per side 2sets
Ensure knee is bent elevated at 90 degrees, ensure head is neutral (use a block). Opener arm as far as it will go keeping knee bent at 90.
2. Banded stretches
First one for the pec, let the rubber band pull your chest open and keep tension on the band as you push against it, push 10s relax 20s 3x per side
Second one for the lats/rotator cuff, hinge from the hips and allow band to pull arm out pull 10s relax 20s
Banded pull aparts on foam roller: Ensure back is flat on the roller, head is supported. Hold the band straight in front of you, pull the band apart squeezing the shoulder blades together on roller.
1. Banded rotator cuff exercises: Keep elbow tight to body, extend band outside body without moving your torso. Slow and controlled movement. 10x per side 2 sets
3. Hold two light plates (5 LB) in front of body, keep elbows bent, squeeze shoulders to bring arms in line with body. 10x 2 sets
Pelvic Posture
I've stressed before how important your posture is not just when exercising but all the time; bad posture creatures tightness in certain muscles and makes you unable to engage others. Your pelvic posture is incredibly important to keep you upright, avoid back pain, allow you to have a strong functional core among many other things. For women in particular it becomes important for pelvic floor engagement etc. These days having a big popping bootaaay is all the rage, but sticking your butt out can create real problems for your low back and your posture. As soon as you place yourself in this anterior pelvic tilt position it becomes really hard to engage your core. This makes activities such as weighted squats really problematic, as you risk your low back health.
Exercises to help engage core and correct poor pelvic posture
1. Pelvic Tilts: Lay flat on the ground with a round in the low spine, slowly rotate your pelvis so there is no longer any space between the floor and your back. Brace core, breath deeply for 4 counts, bring back up. 12-15 repetitions.
2. Cat Cows, you should have a certain amount of mobility through the spine, work on rounding the back in the mid/upper region, then creating an exaggerated rounding in the lower region. Go back and forth between the two movements 12-15 reps.
3. Deadbugs. Bring arms up in line with shoulder, bring knees in towards the chest, really draw in through the core, bracing from all sides and focus on breathing out as you lower one leg at a time, alternating. 12-15reps.
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