What does this guy have in common with you?
Chances are you’re both:
Jacked Up,
This is a phrase largely equivalent to screwed up. It roughly means “in a state of disarray” and is commonly used in the phrase “to jack someone/something up”. urban dictionary
People come to the gym to un-jack themselves but a lot of the stuff they do when they get here is completely Fubared.
Here’s 5 off the top of my head things I see and why doing them isn’t helping but hurting you and your progress.
Jacked Up Thing 1: Walking on a Flat Treadmill.
Walking on a flat treadmill, incline at 0%, is terrible for your knees and hips.
On a treadmill you’re not actually propelling yourself forward, unless it’s a Woodway, because of that you are actually almost hopping in place.
When the treadmill is at 0% you are forced to overextend your reach and will almost inevitably reach out in front of the body too far. Similar to walking downhill.
This results in a heel strike, a braking motion, NOT what you want.
With even a slight incline 1-2% the mechanics of running and walking on a treadmill more closely resemble outdoor walking and running where your foot strike will be flatter and more under the center of gravity.
BTW, striking under the center of gravity IS the take home point of the barefoot running thing.
Jacked Up Thing 2: Constantly Using the Elliptical.
This is bad for 2 reasons:
- Non-impact…
- Bad biomechanically
1) We should have some impact on our joints, muscles and bones.
It’s a good thing.
They lose bone and muscle mass because of the lack of gravity….gravity means impact…..
Without impact they lose bone and muscle..and you are physiologically different HOW???
That impact sends a signal to the body to repair and rebuild bone, muscle and connective tissue without it we atrophy.
Yeah, you might be at the point in life where you don’t want a lot of impact, but you NEED some.
2) Bio-mechanically the elliptical machine is a tool of the Devil…..yes, the Devil
Here’s what happens.
Your body figures out that keeping the heels down makes you more “efficient” in this motion.
That causes the Achilles tendon to lengthen.
A lengthened Achilles tendon forces the ankle to be flexed (shin forward) to stretch the Achilles so it can be at “normal” tension.
A forward shin causes the hips to be rounded under (rotated posteriorly)….think sway back.
This is why 50% of the girls at your college who went to the gym EVERYDAY and used the elliptical for an hour EVERYDAY had this crapola posture….
Plus ellipticals have been consistently shown to overestimate calories burned by 30%
Just go walk on an incline treadmill……
Jacked Up Thing 3: Deadlifting with Bad Posture.
After being the Red headed Step-child of the gym for the last 20 years or so the deadlift is making a comeback in a big way.
It seems that people aren’t believing the, “Deadlifting will Break you in Half and Make you a Cripple” crap that your high school gym teacher used to push in “weight training” class.
You know, the guy that thought he was hot sh@t cause he could bench more than a bunch of 16 year olds?
And this is a good thing……except
Most of the people deadlifting today…… shouldn’t….
Too many of these:
- Lower Back rounded
- Upper back rounded
- Shoulders far in front of the bar
- Neck extended
All around this sucks, and will hurt you.
Not enough of these:
- Chest up
- Hips Down
- Good back position
- Shoulders packed
- Neck in neutral
Deadlifts are a great exercise but if you can’t get into the right positions you MUST work on your mobility until you can.
It’s not the deadlifts that gave you a bad back…it’s what YOU DID thinking that it was a deadlift that gave you a bad back.
Focus on:
- Thoracic Mobility (chest up)
- Shoulder mobility (shoulder pack)
- Hip mobility
Jacked Up Thing 4: Roll the Shoulders Shrug
Ohh, hey rotator cuff!
I’m going to grind you down now….cool?
When you shrug the shoulders you’re already reducing all or most of the sub-acromial space (room between upper arm bone and shoulder bones) pinching the muscles and tendons that cross through that space.
When you roll the shoulders your taking those impinged tissues and grinding them between two hard surfaces.
I’m thinking that’s gonna work out well.
Besides that, it’s just plain nonsensical and illogical ( in layman’s terms…..stupid)
From exrx.net:
Shoulder Shrugs Errors (shoulder rolls)
Rolling (horizontal movement) is nonsensical
- Weight moves perpendicular to gravity
- In an upright posture, the upper traps and middle traps resist weights against gravity (downward force) as they elevate the scapula
- see correct form
- Although it is true the middle and lower trapezius can also retract the scapula on a continuum of line: It’s only necessary to raise and lower the shoulders during shrugs. The lower and middle trapezius will be exercised during other basic exercises
- they resist such a load retracting against a resistance on a transverse plane during general back exercises
- or by upward rotation on a frontal plane during shoulder exercises
- Also see ROM Criteria
Jacked Up Thing 5: Knee Collapse
Knees OUT!
I say that about a gazillion times a day.
NEVER, ever, NEVER let your knees cave in when you squat, lunge, step up, deadlift etc.
Your knees should always line up over your toes and stay that way.
This allows the bones (tibia and femur) as well as the soft tissues (MCL, LCL, PCL, ACL and meniscus) to articulate properly keeping the stress across them distributed as it should be.
Many women (because of a lack of arse strength and the Q angle and a rounded tibia) will experience this, which is one of the reasons females are 2-5x’s more likely to tear an ACL than men are.
To fix this focus on proper alignment (motor training) as well as glute, hamstring and core strength.
If your doing any of the above…
Stop it….
Raise the treadmill, get off the elliptical and clean up your technique.
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5 Pretty Common Ways to Jack Yourself Up in the Gym Part 1 | Roy Pumphrey.com