Victoria Wellness Professionals

The human body is a complicated machine. Combinations of muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones and other connective tissues all work together to allow us the amazing movements that we do both consciously and unconsciously on a daily basis. From minute to minute the muscles of our bodies are working together like a well rehearsed orchestra. From prehistoric times the body has developed movement patterns that utilize various muscles in a symphony of pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, rotating and pressing.

In order to perform complex movements and stay upright and balanced, the muscles of the body must work together from top to bottom and side to side. Muscular combinations called slings work together to stabilize and balance the body while allowing movement to occur. These slings work from top on one side of the body to muscles of back, hip and glutes.

In this article we are going to talk about 3 muscular slings of the body:

#1 – Longitudinal Sling
#2 – Posterior Oblique Sling
#3 – Anterior Oblique Sling

1. Longitudinal Sling

The Posterior longitudinal sling consists of the deep multifidus muscle attaching to the sacrum with the deep layer of the thoracolumbar fascia, blending with the long dorsal sacroiliac joint ligament and continuing on into the sacrotuberous ligament. In other words the erector muscles of the spine work with the biceps femoris (hamstrings) through the sacrotuberous ligament of the pelvis and then onward to the peroneus longus muscle of the lower leg.

2. Posterior Oblique Sling

The Posterior Oblique sling consists primarily of the latissimus dorsi of the back and the contralateral (opposite) gluteus maximus muscle. The gluteus maximus then blends into the fascia of the thigh (the iliotibial band).

During the pushing phase of gait, there is contraction of the glute max that occurs with the opposite latissimus dorsi muscle as the arm is extended. This contraction of opposite muscles produces tension in the thoracolumbar fascia (in the lower back) that assists in stabilizing the sacroiliac joint of the leg on the ground.

3. Anterior Oblique Sling

Anterior oblique sling consists of the external oblique, internal oblique and the transversus abdominis muscles via the rectus sheath, blending with the contralateral (opposite) adductor muscles (of the inner thigh) via the adductor-abdominal fascia. In other words, the adductors (of the inner thigh) work together with the internal oblique the same same on and the external oblique muscles on the opposite side to stabilize the body.

As the speed of the gait increases from walking to running, activation of this sling of muscles is more promient in order to provide stability during movement. These become especially important during sporting activities such as tennis, soccer, hockey at the body must change direction and adjust speed by decelerating in order to slow down to turn and change direction and then by accelerating back upto speed.

As you can see from the anatomy and descriptions of how these muscles are integrated to work together, you can understand why exercising using machines is counter productive and counter intuitive as well. Our bodies are not designed to sit or lay in machines to exercise. We are designed to move in all directions and in various speeds/tempos. That is why we will train using exercises that integrate movement and strengthen the muscles in the way they are designed to move.

For example in the single leg deadlift, the weight is held on the same side as the leg that is off the ground. This cross-body movement is a total core stabilization exercise. Standing on one leg and lefting the weight with the opposite arm places three-dimensional force through the core. Other exercises that we can do that work the cross-body slings are: single leg reaching row on the cables, asymmetrical squats, cone squats, split squats with rear leg elevated with asymmetical load.

Till next time,
Narina

Sources: http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/myofascial.html
Paul Check, MMS, HHP, NMT The Outer Unit. C.H.E.K. Institute

Uncategorized anterior oblique sling, lunges, movement patterns, muscles, muscular slings, squats

Pain by definition:

Pain is the unpleasant feeling common to such experiences as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut and bumping the “funny bone”. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”

Pain can be very subjective and a persons’ pain threshold can vary greatly from person to person. What may be perceived as painful to one person may not solicitas much of a sensation to another.

We can all attest to pain in everyday situations such as described above. But, what is sometimes difficult to undertstand is the feeling or tolerance of pain during a workout situation.

Those of you that train at VWP are accustomed to the coaching staff inquiring how you are feeling, presence of pain etc. But what is sometimes confusing is just what is pain, is some pain okay or should anything be said at all?

The phrase “No pain, No gain” has no play in our facility. There is really only one answer to the presence of pain – yes or no.

During the course of performing an exercise, you may feel a burning or even a feeling of fullness in the area being worked. For example, walking lunges down and back the turf are sure to elicit some burning in the quadriceps (or thighs); a timed set of push ups may have your chest and arms burning as well. Sometimes the feeling of fullness may be a feeling of “tightness” to some people. Normally though, once the set of lunges or push ups is completed that feeling of burning or tightiness will disappear after a few seconds. This is completely normal and tells us we have generated a response within the muscles.

What we don’t want is any feeling of pain, especially close to a joint. This is not normal. There is no such thing as just a little pain. There is either pain or there is not – there is no middle ground.

When we talk about pain during the performance of an exercise, we are referring to sharp pain felt at any point during the course of performing that repetition.

The feeling of pain at any time is not normal and the exercise should be halted immediately. Sometimes it is as easy as re checking form or technique in order to continue pain free.

It is essential that all pain, no matter how minor it seems, be reported to your training staff.

At Victoria Wellness our motto is “Want Gain, Then No Pain” If you want to improve your health, train harder, run faster, enjoy all aspects of fun in life then learn to recognize pain, report presence of pain and train pain free.

Till next time,
Narina
“Monitoring, Mentoring, Motivation”

Uncategorized exercise, goals, lunges, pain, push ups, strength training, Victoria Wellness Professionals, weightlifting, workouts

Today’s blog post is from guest contributor, Kinesiologist Rick Kaselj. For more information on Rick and his articles please see the Contributor page.

There is a lot that you can do if you have knee pain or knee stress when exercising. Here are four way to get rid of knee pain and knee stress when exercising.

#1 – Lunge Backwards

Most often we step forward when we do a lunge. When we do this, it puts a lot of strain on the knee. If we step back and perform a lunge, we decrease the stress on the knee but still work the legs and glutes.

#2 – Squat Halfway

It is common to do squats to 90 degrees but when you pass 45 degrees you increase the stress on your knees. If you only squat from standing to 45 degrees, you still work your legs but decrease the stress on your knees.

#3 – Stretch Out Those Hamstrings

I know you are thinking, how can the back of my thigh have an effect on knee pain but it does. When the hamstrings are tight, they pull the lower part of the leg against the upper part of the leg. This leads to greater stress and pain on the knee. Make sure you spend some time at the end of you workout to stretch out your hamstrings and this will help with knee pain.

#4 – Knee Behind the Toes

When you are performing a leg exercise and you let your knees pass your toes, this leads to greater stress on the knee. The knees passing the toes is a common mistake people make when performing lunges, squats and leg press exercises. Keeping the knees back and not letting the toes pass your toes; decrease the stress on your knees.

Sum Up the 4 Ways

During your next workout remember to step back, squat halfway, stretch those hamstrings and don’t let the knees pass the toes. I am sure if you do these four tips on getting rid of knee pain when exercising, your knees will be happier.

Rick Kaselj
To learn more about Rick Kaselj you can check out his exercise and injury blog at http://www.ExercisesForInjuries.com

Uncategorized exercise, gym workouts, hamstrings, lunges, muscles, squats, strength training, stretches, weight training

I came in early to the gym as usual wanting to get some emails and computer work done before my morning workout. But, the computer gods were conspiring against me this morning. My wireless mouse has decided not to cooperate, so I am spending more time chasing it around the screen and attempting to get it to work. Batteries are the answser, but do I have any in my drawer? Of course not, so I will have to make do until later today. But at least it seems to be cooperating at the moment, which is good because I wanted to share my morning workout.

Today, I just wanted to mix it up a bit, so I made it up as I went. Well at least I made it up as I walked from my office to the gym floor. Here’s what I came up with. After a warm up I went through this little circuit 4 times (didn’t have a lot of time left after chasing computer mouse around). Here goes:

Walking Lunges down turf and back – 26 lunges in all
Flat DB Press – 45 lbs – 8 reps
Renegade Rows – 30 lbs – 6 reps
Single Leg Deadlift – 16K kettlebell – 8 reps

Got the job done and on with the day. What is your workout going to be today? Comment and let me know.

Narina

Uncategorized deadlifts, exercise, lunges, strength training, weight loss, workout

I was a little tired this morning. Late evening at the gym last night and up early this morning. I wanted a quick and kick butt workout this morning. A workout that moved fast from exercise to exercise so I didn’t have time to think about being tired. So, this little dumbbell circuit filled the bill. We use this often at our gym. After a good warm up, clients will usually go through this workout three times before we move on to core work and some sled to finish off. Give it a try. Make sure you are well warmed up. At our gym, we use a series of mobility drills followed by some walking lunges and push ups. All exercises are for 8 repetitions. Go through entire circuit; rest 45 seconds and repeat 2-3x. Okay, here goes:

DB squats
Bench DB Press
DB Lunges
Bench One Arm DB Row
Step Ups with DB
Push Ups
DB Reverse Lunges
DB Single Leg Deadlift or DB Romanian Deadlift

Give it a try. Let me know how you did. For more information on our mobility drills and dynamic warm ups, send me a comment to this blog and I will be happy to forward our warm up regime to you.

Also, sign up for our newsletter. Our latest newsletter deals specifically with mobility vs flexibility – what’s the difference.

Have fun,
Narina

Uncategorized exercise, flexibility, lunges, mobility, rowing, squats, workout