[FJ: Today I have a guest post written by a guy named Rick. I met him on the ProBlogger forum and he is totally down to earth. He can also take a joke. Needless to say I got along with him right off the bat. Rick runs a computer help blog called: HelpMeRick.com which you should bookmark immediately. Why? Because if you're reading this then you're on a computer, and at some point you'll encounter a problem. That's when you give em' a shout!

Now... why is some tech help guy posting on my fitness blog? Because Rick Castellini graduated from Physical Therapy school in 1988 and worked as a therapist from 1988-2000 before starting his own computer help business. That's 30 years of experience. He's had more experience than I've been alive... so if I were you, I'd pay close attention, this topic is important! Take it away Rick...]

As a physical therapist and former powerlifter, I’m all about prevention. Why get in great shape and then screw it up with an injury? You enjoy running, weight lifting and training at whatever gets your mojo going, so I’m going to show you how to stay with it by keeping yourself injury free.

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts most often injure their musculo-skeletal system in the form of sprains, strains, and tears. Keeping your joints, spine, and muscular system strong takes a little common sense and adhering to some simple rules.

I could site many, boring scientific or medical articles and web pages in support of my approach to staying injury free, but since I’ve done all that for you over the course of almost 30 years of training, competing, and treating patients, you will just have to trust me. I’ll keep an eye on comments and answer questions as they come up, but I don’t plan on filling this article with tripe regarding this important topic…FJ doesn’t like BS, and neither do I.

Water

Joints, cartilage, nerves, muscles, lymph and circulatory system, and all other systems in our bodies function infinitely better with proper hydration. Two of the most common sports or exercise injuries include joint sprains and muscle strains. Both can be reduced by keeping your hydration up to snuff. Our ligaments and cartilage don’t get a lot of blood flow, so any that it does get needs to be properly hydrated to keep those structures supple. If not, they become more prone to injury.

Water should be your primary liquid intake throughout the day. And by water, I don’t mean crap in a plastic bottle laced with sugar and high fructose syrup. I don’t mean tea, coffee, beer, or other drinks made with water as their primary ingredient. Your body needs and craves straight, clean water. [FJ: I DO like my drinks straight... water is no exception!]

Water systems vary around the world, so I recommend using some type of filtration device that is attached to your faucet, fridge or even those Britta type filter pitchers. I honestly see a change in my immune system when drinking filtered water versus non-filtered, so I think it is worth the trouble.

Contrary to some thought, it is extremely difficult to over-hydrate a healthy body…you will pee any excess your body doesn’t need.

How much water do you need? That cannot be answered accurately or honestly because it is different for every single individual based on body weight, activity level, geographical location, gender, and time of year. If I’m not draining my bladder at least once every 2 hours, then I know that I haven’t slammed down enough water. An hour or two prior to a hard workout (particularly aerobic activity), increase your intake of the clear liquid. Despite our best efforts, we normally don’t drink enough during a workout.

Stretching

What two things do most athletes and fitness enthusiasts hate doing? I’ll answer for you: stretching and warm-up [FJ: And running... that shit sucks]. No matter what type of exercise or activity you engage in, properly warming up and stretching your muscles and joints not only helps you prevent injury, but also leads to a better workout and performance. It kills me when on the rare occasion I catch my Pittsburgh Steelers on TV and they show shots of the warm-up the players go through. A majority of the players don’t take the activity seriously and their flexibility and injury rates play this out.

One of my favorite professional athletes to watch is Ichiro Suzuki who plays for the Seattle Mariners. I enjoy watching him because of his dedication to his fitness. Well known for being a yoga practitioner and absolute fitness fanatic, Ichiro can constantly be seen stretching his spine, gastrocs, hamstrings, shoulders, wrists, neck while standing in the outfield or waiting for his turn at the plate. The results? He has played more games over the past 8 years than any other MLB player with remarkably few injuries. He moves like a puma on the prowl and he oozes confidence from every pore of his being.

Enough about my man crush on Ichiro [FJ: I was gona say, that was getting weird dude...], but he clearly illustrates and practices something we all need to do; be methodical and religious to our stretching and flexibility routines. Doing so pays more dividends than almost any other form of exercise…especially as we age.

[FJ: If you don't want to do full body stretching, at least do site specific stretching before working whatever muscle group(s) that turn you on. Here are some of the major stretches that you should be doing before AND after your workouts:

• Tuck & Rolls (For the back & spine)
• Lying Quad Stretch
• Letter T Stretch
• Butterfly Stretch
• Hamstring Stretch
• Chest Stretch]

Core Strength

[FJ: Before you ask, yes, that would be me]

FJ and I have exchanged a few emails about the benefits of full body training using body weight exercises, as there are plenty. Next to stretching and warming up, I believe fitness devotees and athletes hate exercising the abdominals. If there is one body part in a workout that often takes the back seat when time is scarce, it’s the abdominals. And again, another huge mistake. [FJ: People are gona be shocked to hear this, but I too hate working abs. However, instead of bitching about it, I plow through it anyways... if only for the ladies. And Rick]

Back injuries continue to mount world-wide due to our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Sitting in a chair or on a couch requires zero abdominal strength and low back strength (core). Even if you exercise like a mad man (or woman) 3-6 days per week, but hold down an office job or other less active job, your core strength can be questionable [FJ: Or just down right pathetic]

Enter yoga for a second time. Yoga involves some great full body moves that when performed properly require you to tighten (strengthen) the glutes, back stabilization muscles, and of course the abdominal and oblique muscles. Practicing yoga every day for just 10-20 minutes will add the kind of stability necessary to withstand sedentary jobs and aid in keeping you injury free.

Throw in some full body, bodyweight exercises like pushups, pullups, burpees, and squats and the old core will become even more solid. [FJ: Don't forget dips, planks and lunges]

Before I leave this topic, I have to say a quick word about posture. If you don’t practice good posture, all of the effort you put into doing the core strengthening exercises will be half wasted . Let’s talk about sitting again…if you use a normal office type chair during the day, don’t flop back into it and let it support you. Instead, sit up straight and use your muscles and skeletal structure to sit up straight.

Try it! You will be surprised at how difficult it can be to maintain that posture all day, but if you do practice it, you will be surprised at how much energy you have and more than likely how much more work you can accomplish!

Balance

Are you seeing a pattern so far in this prevention article? You can’t be injury free if you aren’t hydrated. If you aren’t hydrated, you can’t have flexible joints and muscles. And if you aren’t flexible, developing good core strength can be difficult.

All of which brings us to balance.

Undoubtedly you can regurgitate and demonstrate an exercise or activity with good form and balance, but do you practice that? Maintaining proper balance and technique with whatever activity you are engaging in works on multiple levels.

To me, balance means maintaining proper body position, range of motion, and technique throughout the exercise or activity. Whether throwing a shot, performing a tsukahra, swinging a golf club or deadlifting 322 kilos [FJ: or doing the reverse cowboy] you better be concentrating on balance. One slip up and not only does the feat not come off as planned, but you can also incur a serious injury.

This applies to any exercise or any activity no matter the level of intensity. Concentrating on technique and balance throughout each and every repetition is vital.

[FJ: It has also been said that the sooner you practice your balance, the better. Some also say that after passing your teen years, you cannot effectively improve/work your balance anymore, you have what you're stuck with. I don't know if I believe that, but I DO believe in the former statement. So if you aren't working on your balance... stop fucking around and get started. It CAN be improved just like any skill, it will just take slightly longer if you haven't worked it in a while]

Think and Concentrate

We all have off days at work or in the gym. Or maybe we didn’t get enough sleep or didn’t eat properly throughout the day. A bazillion things can contribute to distractions when working out or practicing a sport. One often overlooked aspect of avoiding injury is the mind.

If you walk into the gym or out onto a track and are scheduled to perform a maximum workout, but things just don’t feel right between the ears, have the cajones and smarts to walk away. No matter how well prepared we are physically to perform, if we can’t concentrate on the activity, the odds of failing grow astronomically.

Step back, spend longer in warm up, try and bring your mind back to the task at hand. If it isn’t going to happen, let it go…it will be there tomorrow.

Again, one my pet peeves are folks who workout with ear buds [FJ: hey, I use ear buds... keeps me from hearing the morons talk about bullshit]. Not only do those damn wires get in my way and irritate me…they distract me. I love having music in the background when I’m working out…but not in my ears. Walk around any manufacturing plant where a slip up can cost someone there lives, what sign do you see over and over?

Think!

The single word think encompasses so much. If your mind is wandering from what the dog is doing at home, to what outfit to wear on your date, to that report left undone at the office, to who is watching you at this very moment, then your workout will be less than effective and your risk of injury sky rockets.

Fitness and sports should be a form of meditation…use it that way. When performing your activities, concentrate on your balance, flexibility, core strength, and technique. Doing so gets you to your goals faster…and injury free.

I got injured anyway…now what? [FJ: You're screwed! Ok not really...]

First, let’s define injury quickly. In the not so distant past, if man were running after food (or away from being eaten) and twisted an ankle, what happened? Did he lie on the ground and writhe in self-pity waiting for someone to throw an ace wrap and some ice on it?

Hell no! He had to get back up and keep running.

Funny thing is, that when doing so, after a few strides, the ankle felt a little better and after a bit was barely noticeable. I subscribe to the notion that we humans have gotten wayyyyy to soft in the last 50 years [FJ: I know... people have become such panzies lately!]. I also believe in the adage; that which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.

Unless you tear a pectoral off the humerus, or have tibia sticking out of your skin or something similar, get up and get back on the horse. Too often, we make mountain out of mole hills regarding injuries resulting in weaker joints and muscles rather than stronger.

If you are playing a game of pick up basketball and turn an ankle, the worst thing you can do is lay down and bow out of the game. Instead, tighten up your shoe laces, and jog, yes jog, up and down the court a few times. You will find that the ankle holds you and actually feels better. The reason why is that the activity continues to pump blood through the area and actually helps the healing and strengthening process. Stopping all activity and sitting on the sidelines will result in increased swelling around the site and thus more pain and longer recovery period.

[FJ: After reading that paragraph, I can't stress applying common sense enough to you guys. Like he said, if it's SERIOUS, then you lay off... but otherwise it all makes sense if you think about it. If you've been to physio after an ankle injury, and I have; being a gymnast, what do they make you do? stretching techniques and strengthening exercises. DUH!]

Our bodies are designed to withstand injury…if we let it!

If an injury does prevent you from getting back in the game, immediately apply ice to the injured area and elevate if possible to reduce swelling. Keep applying the ice off and on for the next 48 hours, but also continue to test the injury. As soon as you are able, start working back into your routine.

So Here’s A Summary:

• Drink LOTS of water
• Stretch like a cheetah
• Be like a redwood (core strength)
• Move like a ninja (balance)
• Think like a Ghandi/Einstein hybrid
• When hurt, don’t be a whiner
• [FJ: Bow to me... wtf Rick I can't believe you forgot that one]

Written By: Rick Castellini
Ediedded (Jerkified) By: FitJerk

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The advice and information found in this article come with no other claim or warranty other than adding it to your own knowledge bank. He and FitJerk cannot be held responsible for any injury you may incur from the advice as it is intended only for informational purposes. You must consult your own heart, soul and physician regarding your exercise routine and/or injuries.