“Strong is the new sexy” – women want to be like Michelle Lewin and Ewa Chodakowska, possibly Anna Lewandowska, and men like Steve Cook. It is best without leaving home – so we avoid the gym and exercise in the privacy of our own apartments under the supervision of a trainer who commands us from a TV or computer screen. And it will not correct our posture, nor will it assess the correctness of the exercises performed. Rehabilitators and orthopedists more and more often receive victims of virtual fitness gurus in their offices.
- Every fourth Pole is obese, more than half is overweight, and our children gain weight the fastest in Europe
- Physiotherapist Emilia Kupczak: While exercising with the “queen of fitness”, many of us unknowingly make mistakes. Effect? Neck, knee, hip and spine pain, injuries
- What activities can beginners choose? Walking, swimming or cycling, exercises on stationary cardio machines of medium or low intensity. If you decide to take part in fitness classes, choose the ones dedicated to beginners: stretching, fit ball or healthy spine
Statistics know no mercy: every fourth Pole is obese, more than half is overweight, and our children gain weight the fastest in all of Europe … In other words, when the statistical Kowalski looks in the mirror, he loses his good mood. The more so because, as the trainers repeat: we only have 11 seconds to make a first impression and, as psychologists assure, we attribute positive character traits to attractive people. A beer belly, protruding sides and a double chin in the race for our dream position push us to the side track. Not to mention the chance to find a partner …
Movement is advisable … But who has time for it? Certainly not us – the hardworking workers of Europe who spend 90 percent of their lives indoors. In theory, a day has as many as 24 hours, in practice “only” 24 hours, and finding a place for sports in the schedule is almost a miracle.
And such a “miracle” is the intense training advertised as a fat killer. All you need is a treadmill, paddles or a stationary bike and 20 minutes … Lack of motivation? Select group activities. And if you have a million complexes and you will not cross the threshold of the fitness room for nothing in the world, then buy a DVD. A shapely instructor will cure you of gluteal amnesia. Thruster, burpess, push-ups, rompers and crunches. In three series of 10 repetitions. You take the challenge, sweat your sweat out, and go back to the couch. But what then?
– While exercising with the Polish or foreign “fitness queen” many of us make mistakes unknowingly. Our body automatically looks for the most comfortable position, not necessarily the correct one. Effect? Neck, knee, hip and spine pain, injuries. Many of us try at all costs to do the entire workout from the plate and skip the necessary elements – warming up and stretching. We assume that it is not worth bothering before exercising, and even less so, it is not worth getting tired after. And yet we do not jump into the icy water in the lake right away, but we dip into it gradually. Warming up not only prepares the body for strenuous exercise, but also reduces the risk of injury. It speeds up heart rate and blood circulation, raises body temperature. In turn, stretching affects faster regeneration, prevents muscle contraction and increases the mobility of joints – says physiotherapist Emilia Kupczak.
Fat killers
The fashion for being fit has reached Poland for good. Women dream about Michelle Lewin’s buttocks, and men about Steve Cook’s shoulders. In most cases, these are wishful thinking that we must later be treated by physical therapists. Thousands of Poles visit their tables every day. Mainly 30-40-year-olds who return to physical activity after years of a sedentary lifestyle. The condition is increasing, the efficiency goes up, but here it leaks, it hurts there …
There are many reasons for this – from bad technique, to focusing on only one type of activity, to posture defects. Unfortunately, the vast majority of patients report to specialists with “past” injuries …
– Tissues that are slightly diseased are restored to their full efficiency much faster. If someone ignores the problem for two years, it turns out that their treatment may take another year, not three weeks as in the case of a recent injury. Muscle ailments heal the fastest, ligamentous ailments are treated the fastest, and tendons are the most serious problems – adds the physiotherapist.
Until recently, experts scared us that “tapping asphalt” is a simple way to disability. Now it turns out that there are many more routes to disability. And not only running: children’s trampolines, intensive group classes, DVDs or the popular HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).
Intensive interval training is already taking a sad toll. Sourdough is just a primrose of what awaits you … The real pain is rhabdomyolysis, which is a set of disease symptoms caused by damage to the striated muscle tissue. So far, it has been diagnosed mainly in marathon runners, cyclists, rugby players and weight lifters, but as the Daily Telegraph reports, it has recently been found more and more often in people who begin intensive training without proper preparation. For example, corporate employees for whom the lunch break is an opportunity for an “express impression”. Why pour out the seventh sweat for hours when you can burn three times more body fat in half the time with much less energy effort? Sounds logical, but let’s go down to Earth …
– HIIT is based on a mixture of anaerobic and aerobic work, and is intended for people who are at least intermediate in exercise. Untrained or older people should start out with low intensity workouts and spend a few weeks getting fit before attempting high intensity intervals. The enormous level of acidification, which the untrained body cannot cope with, a very long regeneration time and a decrease in immunity and lack of strength (problems with joints, infections and general weakness of the body) are contraindications for interval training for beginners, which must not be underestimated. First of all, however, an untrained person will not meet the basic requirements of HIIT training, because he will not withstand it at all – explains personal trainer Przemek Wąsak.
Lunges as misdemeanors
Emilia Kupczak, a physiotherapist, started her “renewed” adventure with sport from a quick walk on a straight terrain. Time for a jog came later. Experience had taught her patience – rehabilitation was the result of the training with the DVD. – Very often exercises on plates are performed incorrectly by the instructors themselves. Why? I don’t know, maybe it’s a lack of basic knowledge that every fitness instructor should have. We – laymen in this area trust such people and, unfortunately, sometimes we pay for it with our health. Very often the pains occurring after exercise (I am not talking about the so-called soreness) are not associated with the training performed. And by exercising further, we only worsen our own condition. When the pain becomes unbearable, we seek the help of doctors, and we learn from the Internet that we are no exception, adds the physiotherapist.
We have been hearing about incorrectly performed squats, planks or too high a raised leg while swinging, performed by the Polish queen of fitness. The result – silence sowed like poppy seeds, possibly an attack by the “dear little sisters”.
In 2013, there was even an ANTY-fanpage by Ewa Chodakowska, liked by 9477 people. From the description, we will learn that the purpose of the website is to make public the objective assessment of the coach of all Poles, which does not allow any criticism. “Every bad word addressed to Ewa is met with the” bloody “retaliation of her psychophilic women, the author of the statement is automatically blocked and his comments removed. Almost every day I hear comments from other people who have been training with Ewa for a long time, and after some time have suffered many serious injuries. » – we read …
Without mastering the correct technique, we will have a poor end … As emphasized by personal trainer Przemek Wąsak, 99 percent of beginners cannot perform the squat properly, which negatively affects our posture, improper rotational stress around the hip joint and knee flexion, thus not bringing us the desired effect. Not to mention more difficult and traumatic exercises, such as deadlifts or pressing the bar while standing over the head.
“Correctly performed squat is applicable to many types of training, from exercises aimed at basic strengthening of the back and buttocks to bodybuilding training. Squats are an exercise for the legs (quadriceps muscles of the thighs, muscles of the hamstring group, gluteal muscles), at the same time contributing to the stabilization of posture (deep abdominal and back muscles).
Other beginners’ mistakes are trying to exercise at too advanced levels, i.e. doing it too long, too hard and too often, without a plan or copying other people’s plan, plus monotony that reduces the effects of training, and too long and too frequent training often leads to overtraining. If you torture 6 Weider’s belly five days a week, congratulations on your determination, but that’s not the way …
At a snail’s pace
Does this mean that we should give up physical activity completely? Absolutely. Walking, swimming or cycling are highly recommended, as are exercises on stationary cardio machines of medium or low intensity. If you decide to take part in fitness classes, choose the ones dedicated to beginners: stretching, fit ball or healthy spine. – Crossfit, Tabata, High Heels Fitness or jumping frog on instructional videos seem simple and fun. Unfortunately, they are not recommended for people who sit at a desk all day, and their movement is limited to walking around the supermarket. It is also not a good solution for people who are overweight and have heart disease. Why? Our body, not warmed up and unprepared for physical exertion, is much more vulnerable to injuries than physically active people. Instructors conducting classes in groups of 20-30 are not able to show each individual how to properly perform the exercises or reduce their intensity when someone cannot do it. Without fitness and knowledge of the basic patterns of movement, we should not take a hoe to the sun. It is similar with learning to walk, which takes us about a year. Before we start taking our first steps, we crawl and crawl – explains the physiotherapist.
“Crawling” in the gym is definitely not a barbell, kettle or dumbbell, but functional, calisthenic training (with the weight of your own body) plus any machines in the gym that force the correct movement path. Przemek Wąsak admits that any form of exercise can be dangerous if we immediately jump into deep water or return to activity after a long break. For most sandwiches, a 30-minute walk on the treadmill is already a challenge. – In the initial stage, it is not worth rushing – our attention should be focused on the right technique. Which does not mean that we will not make progress during this time. On the contrary – we will not only strengthen bones, joints and ligaments that are sensitive to overload, but also build the foundations for intensive training at a later stage. Let’s spend the first three months learning how to exercise, getting to know your own strength abilities, and observing the body’s reaction to training loads. Let us be humble. Let’s also focus on introducing healthy eating habits – comments Przemek Wąsak.
A harmonious duo
The proverb “time is money” came out sideways. The conversion of walking on our feet to sitting behind the wheel of four wheels, food prepared in our own kitchen for fast food, and the stairs to an elevator – so far has only been used by our employers who grounded us in the chair. We do not count that a 30-minute impression will compensate for eight hours behind the desk, and even more so will turn us into copies of Michelle Lewin or Steve Cook. Their appearance is a 24-hour job. daily under the supervision of trainers, physiotherapists and nutritionists, not turbo-burning, scalpel or killer.
Recent research by scientists from the University of Sydney, published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, shows that even recreational yoga increases the risk of musculoskeletal pain in the upper limbs tenfold and exacerbates the existing one by more than 20 percent. As a result, 1/3 of the respondents were excluded from physical activity for three months. Application? If you don’t want to risk your own health, put yourself in the hands of experts.
– Inexperienced people who start their adventure with sport should use the help of professionals and do nothing on their own. We will pay more for classes with a trainer than for a DVD or a group pass, but we will minimize the risk of injuries and injuries. A personal trainer will select a training adapted to our physical fitness, gradually increase the frequency and level of difficulty of exercises, and a physiotherapist will help us fight acquired posture defects. It will help to harden our body, and massage will strengthen the muscles – sums up the physiotherapist Emilia Kupczak.
The photo is from Steve Cook’s Instagram