9/19/10
Today was a rest day on the workout calendar, and a very much needed one. My body was so so sore in a great way! But i needed a break.
So I'm going to bore you with some reading.. oh you know you love this part! Admit it!
OK here we go.
Once upon a time, there was a person (not me, let's make it a she and call her Jenna), and Jenna was out of shape. Not necessarily over-weight, just not in shape, physically. Her BMI was at about 25, which is mild on the BMI Scale.
Jenna's problem was her postural alignment was all out of whack and she was starting for feel pain on the bottom of her feet.
Jenna worked as a secretary for a large corporation, so she had to dress the part, act the part, and look the part.
When she finally decided to get back to the gym to relieve some stress she met a personal trainer, Nick, that offered to help her fix her up and make her good as new. He also explained that this wasn't something that would happen over-night either; and that she would have to make the time for herself to make those aches and pains and poor self-esteem go away. Jenna agreed, and off to do some assessments they did!
Nick explained to Jenna that it was very important to do these assessments because it provided him with a basis for making an educated decision on what exercises to begin with, and how to modify and progress Jenna through her training program.
The first and most important is to gather subjective information, which is Jenna's General and medical history, occupation, lifestyle, medical and personal information. The second part of Jenna's assessment will come in a form of objective information which will be her performance, cardiorespiratory, physiologic, static and dynamic postural assessment, and body composition testing. It seems like a lot but it is very important if Nick is going to get Jenna started in the right direction.
Nick asks Jenna about her General history which is her lifestyle and occupation, (we know she is a secretary), how long she sits and how repetitive her movements are throughout the day, what her stress levels are like, and most importantly what type of shoes she wears. Being as she is a secretary in a large corporation she tends to wear shoes with a moderate to high heel most of the time. He then asked her what her life was like outside of work: what types of hobbies she partakes in and also any and all recreational activities.
Jenna's recreational activities are basically coming home from work, eating dinner in front of the TV and falling asleep. She's too tired after her stress-full day at the office that she doesn't want to do much of anything. On weekends she'll meet up with friends or run errands. She loves to garden and read as her hobbies, but she's either too tired or in too much pain to do any real gardening, so she shied away from it and her backyard looks like a wasteland.
Poor Jenna, she sounds like a lot of people these days. Too tired, too over-worked, too in-pain, too unmotivated. Thankfully she met Nick and not Dr. Bluepad! Sounds like depression right??! Jenna is not depressed, she's just tired of being tired.
Nick now will ask her questions about her medical history, which includes: past injuries, surgeries, any chronic conditions she might have and any and all medications she may be on. Lucky for Jenna she's had no injuries or surgeries, but she did explain to Nick about the bottom of her feet getting a stabbing pain every once in a while, so she doesn't walk her dog as much as she used to, and for that she takes an over-the-counter pain medication like.. well let's not get into advertising here.. keep it to the imagination shall we?
Now that Nick has all the pertinent answers for that part of her assessment he will now move on to getting her objective information which include: her physiologic assessment which are her heart rate, radial pulse, and blood pressure. Her body composition assessment which includes her body fat measurement which can be done 3 ways: using the skin-fold calipers, biolectrical impedence, and underwater weighing. Being as Nick doesn't have a physiology lab at his disposal he's going to use the skin-fold calipers as his means of determining her body fat. He has to be consistent with the exact areas of skin fold measured, as well as the conditions (say before her workouts as opposed to after) for future assessments. The Skin-fold calipers take measurements from the following areas: the biceps, triceps, subscapular, and Iliac crest and all are taken on Jenna's right side. Once Nick obtains all 4 measurements he will add the totals of all four sites in mm, then he will use the Durnin-Womersly BF calculation table to find her %.
We already know that she's about a 25 on the BMI chart (because i said so in the beginning), but how old is Jenna? Nick asks the question no man should ever ask a female.. HER AGE! Jenna reluctantly squeaked out "38". That would make the sum of her folds about a 40. This is were it gets interesting. In order to find out how much of that number is her fat mass and how much is lean mass. So in order to find that information Nick takes her body fat % x her scale weight = fat mass, 2. scale weight - fat mass = lean body mass. Jenna's scale weight is 138 lbs. With that in mind her fat mass = 34.5 lbs, and her lean mass = 103.5 lbs! Point to remember about BMImeteres squared) or kg/m². We already know that she is at 25 so she is at mild risk for obesity related health problems. Thankfully she decided to get to the gym now before it got any worse!
Because Nick is a results oriented trainer and wants to make sure all of his clients succeed and stay motivated; he also does circumference measurements on his clients. This allows his clients to see girth changes in their bodies. Nick takes Jenna's neck, chest, waist, hips, thighs, calves, and bicep measurements. He'll also take her waist-to-hip ratio; anything over .80 for Jenna will put her at risk for a number of diseases.
Just when you think that her assessment is over, Jenna has a lot more to go.
It used to be that simple years ago to get someone started on their routine, but not anymore. We have found that dynamic postural and movement assessments are crucial in constructing the correct routine for today's client, like Jenna.
Jenna received an urgent phone call from her boss while doing her assessments so she has to leave Nick and come back at a later time for her postural assessments.
Lesson: leave the phone off when you are trying to de-stress at the gym.
Well resume when Jenna Returns.
The next day Jenna returns to see Nick, her trainer. This time she leaves the cell phone off.
Nick’s goal today is to observe Jenna’s posture; this is often the quickest way for him to get an over-all impression of Jenna’s functional status. Nick will have Jenna do basic functions such as squatting, pushing, pulling, and balancing. His checkpoints will be Jenna’s feet, knees, LPHC, shoulders, and head.
During the overhead squat assessment he observes Jenna’s feet turn out and she has excessive forward lean. Jenna’s calf region is overactive (tight), that’s the result of her high heels. Her excessive forward lean indicates her calves, hips, and ab complexes are also tight (overactive), which could be a result of her sitting all day.
During the Pushing/pulling assessment he notices Jenna’s shoulders are elevated and her head moves forward as well as her lower back arching. Wow Jenna, no wonder you are a hurting unit! Jenna’s Upper Traps and levator scapulae are overactive (stress much Jenna?)
Nick has seen enough and is ready to get Jenna started on fixing herself up, because working on her postural alignment and getting that straightened out first is the only way her routine to get in shape will be correctly affective.
One aspect Jenna will have to work on is foam rolling or static stretching the areas that are tight. For her tight calf area, Jenna will foam roll her calf & gastrocnemius areas, if she’s not comfortable with that she can do a static stretch, which will have her face the wall, hands on wall and one leg extending back holding for 20-30 seconds.
For the excessive forward lean, low back arches, protruding head, and elevated shoulders, Jenna can foam roll or static stretch her hip flexors, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius and scalenes.
Once Nick gets Jenna stretched properly he can then start strengthening those areas. For her knees tube walking is most affective. Ball squats will help with the excessive forward lean and low back arch, and ball cobra will help with those elevated shoulders. The only thing Jenna can really do for the protruding head is keep her head in a neutral position and be conscious of it.
She will also have to work on her core stabilization which would include marching (lying down), 2-leg floor bridge, floor prone cobra, and plank.
Another item for Jenna to consider is her cardio respiratory training. Because she has been couch-bound outside of work because she is so tired, Nick has to get her up to speed literally. Because of her low back arch (anterior rotated pelvis) the use of the bicycle and steppers are not really recommended because the hips are placed in a constant state of flexion (which is her problem). However, if she does us them she needs to emphasize her hip flexor stretches before and after use!
Because she is in Zone 1 of the Heart rate zones her activity should be walking or jogging, her goal is to start slow and work up to 30-60 minutes in this zone. A target of 65-75% of her max HR should allow that she will be in the aerobic energy system and her energy source will come from muscle glycogen and fatty acids.
The best tool for her would be a treadmill. The speed should be kept at a controlled pace to avoid over-striding, but again hip flexor stretches should be done before and after this exercise. (Which everyone should do regardless of their current condition-stretch before and after!)
Jenna needs to make sure she works this program 3-5 days per week if she wants to see results and stop the pain! Once she can get everything stretched and obtain the next level for core exercises Nick can get her started with working the muscles that are under-active to help balance her out even more. Then the real fun begins! Good Luck Jenna!
(Formerly My Wedding Workout)
