Quick Office Tip - "I'm always stretching my neck but the aching doesn't stop"

I have no doubt that you are reading this whilst sat at your desk, on the sofa or just generally in some sort of sitting down position. Let's face it, all of us sit down at some point during a day.
What you will read now will be a short article on how you can make your day to day life at the desk a little less achy and get you to a point you are looking after your body.
Those of you that have jobs whereby you are more active and on your feet, pay attention as to how to active your postural muscles. These tips will be of use to you as well.

The clients I see in my line of work both as a personal trainer and sports massage therapist, depending on there job generally come to me with the same/similar issues when it comes to there upper backs, lower spines, hips and their flexors.

The classic upper back symptom I hear "I'm always stretching my neck but the aching doesn't stop"

Take a moment to study the position and movement on your shoulders and ask these questions,
1. Do they appear pushed forward/rounded from your chest?
2. When I stretch my arms out wide can I feel a strong stretch in my chest?
3. When I lift my arms above my head can I feel a tightness in my shoulders (a), armpits (b) and if I look in a mirror doing this do my arms reach up really straight with my biceps touching my ears??

If you have answered any of those questions like this,
1. Yes
2. Yes (stronger at the point my chest and shoulder join)
3. (a) As I take my arm up I can feel a pulling half way along my bicep/discomfort deep in the shoulder/weakness at a certain point
    (b) I can feel a pulling on the lower part of my armpit and this stops me reaching up as high as possible/tightness in my arm when I lift up

Your answers to these questions could indicate a deficiency in the mechanics of the shoulder joint and it's surrounding structures that are/could cause impingement issues. If these are prolonged you will be more susceptible to inflammation to the structures responsible for protection and movement of the shoulder.

How can you improve the position of your shoulders I hear your say to yourself!?

Firstly - stop stretching your neck from side to side and dropping your chin to your chest and also stop stretching the muscles of the upper back.
Reason being that if you have this rounded shoulder position, the muscles on the upper back and neck are already over stretched due to the forward position of your shoulders. What happens over time if not corrected is the musculature on the upper back become adaptively long due to the pulling force of the chest, anterior deltoids(Front of your shoulder), Lats, biceps and to a point the abdominal wall.
This then means that your ability to shorten the upper back muscles through retraction isn't able to occur leaving those muscles to stay too tight and giving you the symptoms of aching.

Stop stretching the upper back and neck if you have the posture I have just outlined - YOU ARE MAKING IT WORSE.

INSTEAD! - stretch the chest, front portion of your shoulders, biceps, abdominals and also the front portions of your neck muscles.
The result of this will lengthen the adaptively shortened muscles on the front of your body and then force the over tight and long muscles on the back to shorten and get into a more relaxed position.

To have successful long term results for your posture you have to be able to initiate and control both the retraction (pull) and protraction (push) of your shoulder girdle (think of the the area of your body from your nipples up to the top of your neck - front and back)

Can you squeeze your shoulder blades together? Can you sustain this all day?
When dealing with posture in my line of work it is vitally important that you get the individual moving correctly. Your body is designed to move in a certain way and your brain is able to activate the muscles to initiate correct movement patterns. Without this you won't be able to perform correctly and it can lead your to injury.
A quick movement pattern I get the ladies to remember is the following....
BOOBS UP! ...simple yet effective! (lads you can still do this movement!)
When you do this movement just make a gentle squeeze of the muscles in between your shoulder blades. You will notice when you do this that your shoulders will be pulled back into a better position, your stomach is longer and flatter and also the pressure through the muscles of the upper back decreases.To help up the BOOBS up position you are needing to activate the lower pelvic floor muscles.
Again I have a nice simple way of explaining this...are you ready!?
When you are having a wee, the muscles you tighten to stop yourself mid flow are those lower pelvic floor muscles!.....so! as your have just lifted your chest up, squeeze and tighten these muscles. This will have the knock on effect of holding your abdominals in place and making it easier to maintain this correct position.
Lifting in this way will also extend the individuals thoracic spine, which decreases the load that can be built up by incorrect posture.

For permanent change you are best off combining massage release therapies and strength work to train the upper postural muscles to stay in the correct positions, resulting in long term pain free posture of the upper body.

That's all for now.

Nick Collins
www.noregretsfitness.co.uk
nick-collins@hotmail.com

p.s contact me to find out more on strength training, rehabilitation and massage treatments.



Next tip to come will discuss the ideal position of the hips.
Here's a little visual preview.

Fast Food - Should there be an age restriction? (Blog in progress, will be updated as & when facts and figures all collated )

#Please note that this blog will be written in stages. As I've been thinking about this I am now wanting to explore this topic further by getting in touch with my local government officials, schools, parents, nutritionists, colleagues and the fast food chains. If this were a can of worms....it's open and I'm hungry!

Points I will write about
- Child obesity - links to welfare lifestyle?
- health stats (local and government)
- Education of parents - how they choose/barriers to health/
- The role supermarkets play
- choice of the individual (age to choose for themselves)
- Government agenda/marketing/outreach/education
- Schools - their role in choice/health/education of nutrition
- Anything else that pops into my head


This subject/idea has been stuck in my mind for quite some time.

Firstly lets put it out there that fast food chains and processed meals aren't going to go away. They generate massive amounts of money.
If you look at MacDonald's as a business it is simply epic. It's a monster corporation that generates huge turnover and as a business model it is excellent. Problem is, the products they sell to people are very sub standard and bad for your health. If only they produced products that were healthy for you but that begs the question.... Would it of had the same success?

In an ideal world I'd love to see steak, veggies and nuts on the breakfast menu rather than a sausage and egg mcmuffin. (I'm using MacDonald's as an example as it's the most well known)

Where I work is located within a town centre and as such is surrounded by your typical high street food stores.
As I take a walk to my local bank branch I pass the local MacDonald's. Every time I get a surge in anger. You may feel that this is an excessive reaction to just walking past a fast food chain but it's what I see inside that infuriates me.

The cause is seeing very young children being taken in their by their mum or dad and being fed the foods that are on offer. I am talking young kids as well - one lad was around 18 months old, sitting in a high chair,being fed fries and a burger bun........
When I see this it upsets me, saddens me and challenges my mindset to understand the thought processes of the parents.
I am not going to start questioning if they are good parents as it's not my place and I'm sure 99.9% of them are great. Kids rely on their parents for everything and we have a responsibility to make sure they grow into healthy people.
My issue is with these children not knowing or having a choice about what food they are being given to eat. Here's what I want to go into....when does a child have the ability to make an informed choice to eat foods that have a negative effect on their bodies????

As we grow up we have age restrictions and progressions in differing aspects of our lives. Have a think when you read this list on why these ages and who decided. What are the thought processes of those who decide what's the right age?? (based on the U.K)

 - MMR jab =
 - Pre School/nursery =
 - Starting infant school = 3
 - Starting Secondary School = 11
 - GCSE exams = 16
 - Allowed to have Sex = 16
 - Driving = 16
 - Drinking alcohol =18
 - Starting University (generally speaking) = 18
 - Allowed to work = 16 (late into 15 as long as a national insurance card is issued)
 - Age of retirement =

Everyone likes to discuss sex so I will use that to delve a little deeper...no pun intended ;-)

Let's also assume that the example I give is that of someone that hasn't had sex. (I am not going to discuss puberty and the body being ready to reproduce at younger ages than 16 - focusing on the mindset and choices that occur)
Said person gets to 16 years old and suddenly is experienced in life in today's society to engage in sexual encounters and deal with both the positives and the negative aspects as a result??
Yet they can't drink alcohol but can drive a vehicle.
The way I view these age limits is the government saying that at those ages without any outside help from your parents or friends you will be able to cope with any and all outcomes. I am being very generalised here as each topic can be greatly expanded upon.


.....MORE TO COME

14th May 2013 - Today's leg session

Today's leg workout consisted of....

I have the same sets and reps for each exercise. Picking the correct loads to maximise each set.

Sets per exercise = 7
Reps per exercise;
set 1 - 8
set 2 - 8
set 3 - 6
set 4 - 6
set 5 - 4
set 6 - 4
set 7 - 10-12

Total sets = 28 (high volume)

Rest times are different between and after each super set depending on the rep range.

8 Reps = 60 seconds
6 Reps = 90 seconds
4 Reps = 90-120 seconds

The Session.

1a Barbell Front Squat
1b Deadlifts - overhand grip

2a Step Ups - Barbell on back
2b dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts - fixed 25 degree knee bend

The training goal for this phase is myofibril hypertrophy. Leading more towards strength gains of the muscle fibres as opposed to increasing their size.

Targeted muscle groups.

1a - quads and glutes
1b - hamstrings, back and glutes
2a - quads
2b - hamstrings and lower back

Post Transalpine Run.

Putting myself on the chopping block here!

Pic on the left is from the start of Feb 2013.
As you can see, after my Transalpine Run in September 2012 I had turned into a 'skinny fat' physique.
The event took a lot out of my to the point I lost around 8kg of muscle tissue. I'd say it took me a good three months to feel normal after that event and that was after having a period of rest and then getting back into strength training. I was suffering with my joints as the muscles in my legs were very weak from the run.

Pic on the right is from May 8th 2013. I have taken my time since the event to recondition my body. I have been doing this by achieving marginal gains each workout, planning my training cycles and having a solid nutritional base.

I am not in any rush - I am setting my goals and working my way towards them.

I want to remain feeling good, staying injury free, regaining my athletic performance, developing my business and learning.

Now things are getting themselves together I will add more content on this blog relating o my training, thoughts and other such things.

Neglected

Howdy!

So I have somewhat neglected my blog as of late.


I am busy expanding the reach of No Regrets Fitness and haven't given the blog any attention.

Will get back to finishing my transalpine story soon enough!!


Nick

A look at one of my training programs.

My Training partner and I are currently going through a new phase of training.

Our weekly schedule sees us doing x 3 weight training sessions and a minimum of x 1 H.I.I.T session (High Intensity Interval Training).

The sessions are based on 8 exercises per session, grouped into pairs (super sets). The first exercise being lower body followed by an upper body exercise. At this stage we are working with lighter loads (65-70% of estimated 1 Rep max) doing 3 sets, 12-15 reps.
Rest Periods for the first 2 weeks are 30 seconds between the super set and 60 seconds after.

After week 2 the rest after each super set will drop to 45 seconds to not get into a position of stagnation and to force the body into adapting to a new stimulus. (There are many variables to manipulate during training)

We are working to specific tempos on each exercise. Tempo of a given exercise is very specific in determining your training effect.

My Blog post going explaining program structure and tempos can be read here.

http://nick-collins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/my-program-writing-explained.html

For those familiar with Strength training I follow the Structure & principles of Charles Poliquin.

Right! One of the sessions that we're doing.

A1 - Deadlifts
3 x 15, Tempo (T) 3010
A2 - 45 degree incline bench dumbbell press
3 x 15 T - 2110

B1 - Barbell on back, front foot elevated split squats
3 x 12 each side (e/s) T - 2110
B2 - Seated, Bent over dumbbell rear delt raise
3 x 15 T - 2110

C1 - Forward box step up holding dumbbells
3 x 12 e/s T - 1110
C2 - Lying dumbbell tricep extensions
3 x 15 T - 2110

D1 - Barbell on back calf raises - toes raised
3 x 25 (calfs need higher reps) T - 2011
D2 - Standing dumbbell bicep hammer curls
3 x 15 T - 2110


Please remember that this session is only a fraction of my overall plan so you have an idea of what I am working on.
All training plans are specific to the individual and as such variations, tempos, exercise selection are not mutually exclusive.

The other sessions take into account the movements and muscles targeted in this session to make sure I have a balanced training plan whilst also targeting any structural issues I have.

Please feel free to message me privately or comment if you have any questions on this post or any on your own training.

Stay positive and be awesome.

Nick

Via FaceBook
http://www.facebook.com/NoRegretsFitnessUK