Take Five – How to Prep for Exercise

 Meghan MacPherson, Staff Physiotherapist, BSc.Kin, MScPT, CSCS, Certified STOTT Pilates Instructor  

 

At the core of every exercise is your core! What may seem like an “arm” workout or “leg” workout, should be equally challenging to your core. Using these stabilizing muscles to support your skeleton will only serve to make every other exercise you do more effective, efficient and targeted.
 
Before starting any exercise whatsoever, take the time to ask yourself the following five questions to ensure you are properly stabilizing and supporting your body.
 
1. Am I breathing?
 
Breathing properly during an exercise will help relax tense muscles, contribute to enhanced contraction of working muscles and encourage engagement of the deep stabilizers of the torso.  As a general rule, exhale on the more difficult phase of the exercise and inhale on the easier phase. 
 
2. Are my ribs recruited?
 
Since the abdominal (core) muscles attach to the lower ribs, it is important to recruit them to maintain the rib cage and thoracic spine in good alignment. With many exercises (specifically upper body) it is common to have the rib cage “popping” or lifting forward with excessive movement through the thoracic spine, rather than USING the muscles intended for the exercise. If you think of your pelvis as a bowl, think of your ribs sitting directly over top of that bowl. If they are too far forward, or too far back, you are not adequately recruiting your core and stabilizing yourself


 3. Is my neck in check?


The neck should hold its natural curve during exercise. That being said, most people naturally sit with their head much too far forward. In most cases, the neck should continue the line created by the thoracic spine. When having to lift the head up (as in doing a crunch) avoid jamming the chin into the chest, or by poking the chin up too much. There should be enough room to fit a small fist between the chin and chest.   


4. Are my shoulders set?


Stabilizing the shoulder blades on the rib cage is important, as they serve as an anchor for the arms as well as to support the neck. When this is not done, there is a tendency to overwork the muscles around the neck and shoulders.  Scapular stabilization should be a part of the initiation of all exercises. Think of bringing the shoulder blades toward one another and down.  When doing any exercise, think to yourself “take my shoulders out of my ears

 

5. Is my pelvis in place?

It is important to stabilize the pelvis and lumbar spine appropriately to avoid excessive force being transmitted through the vertebrae and overloading of the muscles beside the spine. In general, you want to maintain the natural concave curve of the lumbar spine or even flatten this curve slightly. More common than not, the lumber spine is extended back too far and this creates a great potential for injury.

 

 

 

 

Table Of Contents

Referrals!

Our Locations!

The Edge

My family and I have been going to Toronto SEMI since 1999. We are an active family, involved in numerous sports such as skiing, running, wakeboarding, biking, football, you name it. As such everyone in my family has paid a visit to Toronto SEMI for consultation with the Sports Medicine Doctor, Physiotherapist, Massage therapist or Podiatrist. We have always found the staff to be very knowledgeable, supportive, considerate and available. Sports injuries are no fun but we know we have found a place that we can go to that we trust when we have a problem. I highly recommend Toronto SEMI to anyone.

Anne DeGrasse..