Category: Biomechanics

Go Faster

8/3/2022

Often my focus on biomechanics is centered around performing activity with maximum stress on the muscles and I would contend that this is exactly where focus should first be placed, especially with any structured exercise. Putting the stress on the muscles is not only how you ensure you are getting the benefits of the exercise, which is the reason you are doing the exercise, as well as how you decrease the potential for injury or progressive wear-and-tear to the body from the exercise.

However, biomechanics is also how you can focus your exercise for aesthetic gains like developing a peak to your biceps or raising the height of your glutes. And biomechanics is also how you can modify performance like changing the speed you run.

Running speed is a simple equation:
Length of stride x Frequency of stride = speed

Both of these factors are pretty simple and it seems fairly straightforward. The amount of distance you cover with each stride and the faster each leg covers that distance, the greater your speed. But, as your foot extends in front of your body the ground strike force pushes against your foot and against the momentum of forward movement and the further in front of your body the more directly this force pushes against the direction you are moving.

One way to counter this slowing force is to reduce the amount your leg is extended, but this obviously reduces your stride length. Some of this loss, but only some, can be regained by focusing on pushing the rear leg behind you more. Another way to change this equal-and-opposite force that is hindering your forward movement is by changing the position that your leg is in when you strike the ground. Having your knee more bent when your foot strikes the ground directs the force of impact in a more vertical direction and less against the forward movement. The extreme of this gait is the position that is used by sprinters and is the way to generate maximum speed for short periods of time.

So, those are three different gait patterns that each have their own stress forces to the body, positive aspects and limitations: extension in front, extend behind and with greater knee bend. If you are running for distance, I recommend that you use all of them and change your gait as you are running. This will change the way your muscles are working and disrupt repetitive forces to your body.

And while walking has its own gait patterns, and usually less force, there are some similarities not the least of which is that your body is actively trying to find an easier way and using consciously different gaits will decrease your body’s ability to leverage on joints and increase your benefits.

As always, let me know how I can help.
Adam

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But What About the Finish LIne?

7/2/2022

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Recently my wife joined me on a nature walk and we saw a woman who was running, working hard and clearly challenging herself. While my wife’s reaction was one of how great this woman was out there pushing herself, my thoughts were more along the lines of "at what cost?"

As fitness clients of EQUIVITA know, once you start to learn about biomechanics you start to see movement dysfunctions everywhere. The drive of the body to find the easiest way doesn’t go away during exercise; in fact, exercise can often bring out this efficiency-focus of the body even more.

If you set a goal to bench press your bodyweight, the shortest path to that goal is to shift your position so that the bar is more in line with your shoulders and not across your chest. This shift places greater stress on the shoulders and doesn’t rely on as much muscle to move the weight. Of course, joints don’t tell you they are wearing out until they have and they don’t heal as well as muscle, not to mention the fact that you aren’t developing the muscle to move the weight. So, not as much benefit with the addition of wear and tear to the body.

Similar “cheats” happen with every exercise. Running is about alignment to keep the stress on the muscle, which is so hard to do especially if you are focused on maintaining a desired min/mile pace or achieving a goal distance. Prioritizing goals of achievement, or what you did, over how you did it, is easy to do and often encouraged. I can even agree that there are certain times when the performance is a higher priority, but consistently choosing what over how, is not aligned with longevity.

To maintain an active lifestyle requires conscious focus on how you are using your body, because your body is designed to consistently find easier ways. Some of our bodies are more gifted than others in this pursuit, but it is the nature of the body. So to ensure your body continues to be able to support the lifestyle that you want, keep the "how" high on the priorities.

And, as always, let me know how I can help.
Adam

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Rest Mindfully

6/8/2022

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EQUIVITA’s 5 Keys of Fitness don’t exist in a vacuum separate from each other. The keys are interconnected and when used together can create a fitness program that’s super beneficial. Last month we discussed the cardio key and some amazing topics were hit on, and this month as we explore the rest key let us take a look at how these two keys can work together to maximize your fitness goals.

As we get into the full swing of the warmer time of year, running becomes a go-to for a lot of individuals to get their cardio in. Just as we’ve discussed in the past where the method of warming up the body is important, the method of rest and cool-down periods are important as well. Rest isn’t just the time between your workouts, it’s the time during your workouts in between the act of “doing” the exercise. For example, interval running can help increase stamina and provide the body with a way to “work up to” running goals, and those seconds when not running are rest, and that rest time can be used to its fullest capacity when done with intention.

Sticking with this example, when we stop running and walk for our rest period during interval running, the muscles are warm and primed for “re-programming.” Our habitual posture tends to kick in when we are tired, and when in the walking phase of interval running, it's easy to let the body collapse back into old habits. However, if we take advantage of our body’s warmed up state and focus on proper alignment in our posture while walking/standing, we can help re-teach the contraction and release relationship of our muscles. If you tend towards collapsing in the chest with the shoulders rounding like I do, focusing on getting those shoulder blades back and down on the back and lifting the chest in those rest periods. This can put the muscles in proper alignment as they cool down, helping to keep those muscles from contracting back into the tightness that causes the pulling and collapse, and strengthen the weaker muscles to help hold the body in that proper posture.

This concept can be applied during resistance training as well, or any time there is rest in your exercise. Rest is where the change happens, and those little periods of rest create change that can be used to your advantage when done mindfully. Old habits are hard to break, and re-training the body requires attention during those important periods of change. View rest as an opportunity, not just as a passive phase.

Best,
Katherine

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Personal Power

11/1/2014

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One of those often overlooked aspects related to aging is how much personal power we give up when we give up our strength. This loss of strength is easier to see when it is related to activities like opening a jar or standing from a seated position, and it can be harder to see when it is masked by pain and injury.

Physical ailments, injuries and pain can be categorized into 4 different categories: abuse, misuse, disuse and trauma. Trauma is probably the easiest of the categories to conceptualize because we can imagine the cause-and-effect connection. The others can be a little harder because it requires an understanding of how the body progressively works to find easier ways. And these easier ways are patterns that develop over time and require a retraining of how the body moves to correct.

Our fitness training clients come to us for 2 main reasons; those who are looking for an intervention aid to transition from where they are to where they want to be and those who are interested in the assurance of doing what they can to maintain their quality of life. The reason that we start every fitness training program with the initial assessment is to determine if there are these biomechanical “cheats” so that we can design the exercises to correct.
These “cheats” are patterns where your body places greater stress onto the joints, connective tissue and/or muscles that it is already used to using. Assessing how you use your body can identify these patterns even before they develop into damage and pain.

However, once they have developed into causing damage you must first reduce the irritation. In this acute stage you are best served to use a therapeutic intervention like Physical or Massage Therapy. As the acute phase or irritation eases you can start to teach your body a new way to move. Dependent on many variables this might involve simple exercise to strengthen weaker muscles and bring balance back to opposing muscle groups or more involved focus on trying to learn how to consciously contract specific muscles ( due to the “use it or lose it” progressive loss of conscious awareness and control of skeletal muscles).

Physical ailments that are long-lasting, chronic or recurrent are often due to the biomechanics of how your body is moving. Identifying those patterns is the first step toward making a real difference.
Fitness training at EquiVita is different not only because we developed a method for assessment of the body but that we have also designed systems to support the person.

From goals of appearance to function, we believe that your body should support the lifestyle that you want to have and it all begins with finding what is right for you.

As always, let me know how I can help.

Adam

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Go Faster

But What About the Finish LIne?

Rest Mindfully

Personal Power

EQUIVITA

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