Home | Training | Articles | Diet | Alan | EXERCISE - Biomechanical analysis | Links Exercise in all its forms Advice and information on health is all around you in the media, but how do you know it will work for you? The answer is simple, it won’t! The advice is not tailored to individual body shapes, lifestyles, personal physiologies and requirements. Don’t feel guilty for taking the lift instead of the stairs, if you know you hate walking, find another way to generate activity – one that suits YOU best, not the feature writer, celebrity model or agony aunt. Weight loss – look, listen and learn? Trying to lose weight by following videos and website fitness advice columns can be both an ineffective and demoralising experience, as what works well for one person may be a depressing disaster for another. In many cases recommended exercises and advice can actually be damaging if your personal physiology is not suited to what is projected as a ‘good all round workout’. Quite simply, you cannot receive efficient ‘Personal training’ over the Internet, telephone or video. Weight loss is governed by the individual’s personal physiology, an element called the ‘fat set point’ i.e. the present metabolic rate or personal adaptation to exercise prescription. Certain exercises like a simple lunge movement, which is inevitably ‘sold’ as standard, is most certainly not safe for a great many people who will read and believe such direction. Exercisers, in particular women with a wide hip aperture or pronounced inversion and eversion of the feet (tilting inwards or outwards) or undetected lower spinal mis-alignments, are running a risk of long tem injury to the knees and hips if they regularly use the lunge as part of an exercise regime. ‘Middle of the road’ workouts Despite this fact, aerobics classes throughout the country have millions of women doing lunge exercises two or three times a week. Whilst aerobics instructors do not have the training, skills or time, to test and observe each class member, this does not excuse ignorance of the dangers which can be present with this and other standard exercises. Another example of readily recommended popular workout exercises, is one of the fundamental aerobic ones, which circulates under a number of titles, but it is always the same, and again, millions perform it regularly in large classes, straight in off the street! Exercisers move side to side, back and forth, whilst bending the leg at the knee on each stride, and bringing the foot up behind them towards the buttocks, flexing the rear upper thigh (hamstring group) as they do so. Again, far from ‘simple’, and for many unsuspecting people, the path of subtle ongoing hidden (sub-clinical) injury. If the front thigh muscles (quadriceps) are overly tight, they will ‘yank’ on the kneecap (patella) each time the foot is at it’s highest point near the buttock behind the person. Over time, this can de-stabilise the kneecap and affect the ‘tracking’ (the ranges of movement it makes to protect the junction of the upper and lower leg, when it is acting as an anti-friction device between the upper and lower bones involved, namely the femur and tibia) Again, this will eventually lead to pain at the knees on bending and straightening the leg (flexion and extension). There are numerous other distinct trauma possibilities too, but all can be avoided by retaining a qualified biomechanics professional, to reveal such physiological inconsistencies before any program is devised and undertaken. Standing out from the crowd With every form of exercise, the term ‘simple’ is never as straightforward as it sounds. With an advanced and highly qualified Personal Trainer the adjustments the client is asked to make to be most effective are the result of sophisticated observations and fine tuning of the exerciser’s movement patterns. For example, millions of women are advised to perform ‘side-bends’ to reduce and tone the waistline, almost always being advised that it is a simple matter of standing with feet comfortably apart, and bending from the waist as far as possible from side to side. In reality, it is a far from ‘simple’ discipline and requires the exerciser to consider some very important facts that render the exercise very effective when observed or very marginally so, when ignorance of the biomechanics involved prevail. A. The muscles at the sides of your waist (the internal and external obliques) function only through a range of lateral flexion (bending sideways) to 30 degrees on each side. Beyond this point, the ‘lion’s share’ of the work is done by a powerful muscle in the lower back called the quadratus lumborum. If the person concerned strives industriously side to side beyond the 30 degree limit, they may well feel evidence of their efforts in the lumbar region of the lower back, but feel little or no sensation of work at all in the sides of the waist. This is because the quadratus in the lower back will certainly have dominated the ranges of movement each time they ‘dipped down’ left and right, making such side bends very ineffective and the source of unnecessary back ache B. There are also real dangers involved if the person’s ‘range of movement’ capabilities are not properly established, as some individuals have good rotational capability at the waist and some do not. If the obliques, internal or external on whatever side, are slightly tight or pre-contracted for any reason, it will result in going down more on one side than the other, or cause a small forward dip of the torso (flexion) or backward tilt (hyperextension). Either of these small physical ‘adjustments’ will cause eventual spinal disc and associated lower back problems, if the exerciser is not subject to specific biomechanical assessment beforehand. It is impossible to receive this level of expertise, from anything other than a highly qualified observer, as whatever exercise objectives you have, everyone must have their unique physiological mechanics tested at the onset of any exercise program. Only senior professionals in biomechanical science are qualified enough to provide this service. Once completed, this test will form the established base of whatever exercise regime you choose to follow henceforth. The financial costs of a very well qualified Personal Trainer are more than justified by the progress and improvements achieved in a relatively short period of time. You should expect to feel better within days, see improvements within weeks and ultimately know that you are paying for a service that produces results that are both inwardly and outwardly measurable, whilst not instigating sub-clinical damage in the process. If in doubt – ask a friend! Those who know you best will be quick to point out if you are wasting your money. Qualified, competent and professional versus ready, willing and able Your results are achieved with guarantees of complete safety and freedom from injury when you follow the routine supplied by one who seeks only your best interests by way of the most expert methodologies. Whether it is weight loss, shaping and toning or fitness and general wellbeing make sure you seek a very well qualified and highly experienced professional for your needs. Also remember, you are very unlikely to find such experts in gyms and health clubs as their seniority and sheer advanced level of qualifications render them independent specialists in the health and fitness field. Once again, do not accept without question that who you see is who you hope they are. The title of ‘Fitness Instructor’ carries no weight (no pun intended) when you know it has been achieved with 48 hours of instruction. You are fully entitled to ask what qualifications the Instructor holds, the length of time the qualifications took to achieve, and how long he or she has been in the Fitness industry. Finally, and very importantly, has the Instructor been allocated to you because he or she is the professional best suited to meet your personal exercise requirements by virtue of knowledge, qualifications and specific experience – or simply just happened to be the one free at the time? You can contact Alan by telephone on  07833 110364