Athletes have always sought remedies and treatments which accelerate their recovery from workouts. Optimal recovery allows for higher training intensities and in turn better performances during their sport of choice. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is one of the most common reasons athletes struggle to reach a desired training intensity during a subsequent workout. Successful...
In our previous blogs, we have described interventions designed to reduce the high rates of running related injuries. To date, our best Physical Therapy interventions include controlling training volume, concurrent strength training, and gait retraining. In our Boulder Physical Therapy practice we aim to reduce peak loading forces and poor biomechanics at foot strike in...
Up to 80% of recreational runners will experience an injury limiting training time or competition in a given year. Running injuries are multifactorial in nature with contributions from muscle imbalances, training errors, and running biomechanics. High magnitude and rates of lower limb loading have previously been associated with running injuries. In our Physical Therapy practice,...
Strength training is an essential part of any workout program. Participants should aim for 2 to 3 workouts per week targeting major muscle groups of the upper and lower body. Multi joint movements such as the squat or deadlift provide a more effective and efficient workout compared to single joint exercises (ex. leg extension machine)....
In a strength training exercises two main phases of the lift are experienced by the participant. The first is the concentric contraction involving a shortening of the muscle under load as the weight is moved to the end of the movement. The second or eccentric contraction involves the lengthening of the muscle under load as...
Rock climbing remains one of the most popular outdoor sports in Colorado and the United States with over 10 million participants each year. On average, climbers experience 4-5 injuries per 1000 hours of climbing participation or 1-2 unique injuries per career. Over 90% of these injuries are overuse in nature commonly involving muscles, tendons, and...
Running economy, similar to miles per gallon in a car, is the amount of oxygen and energy required to propel a runner over a given distance. In addition to fuel utilization, runners with better economy demonstrate better running form and a faster processing of metabolic wastes during exercise. This measure has been shown to have...
Strength training creates a positive stress on the nervous and musculoskeletal systems leading to well established gains in mental, emotional, and physical health. This stress must be continually progressed in a gradual fashion to ensure these gains do not plateau. It is no surprise many novice exercisers, and some patients in Physical Therapy, quit their...
If we had to pick only one strength training exercise it would be hard to beat a squat variation due to its’ ability to recruit a large percentage of the lower quarter musculature. To be fair, drawbacks of the squat would have to include the significant learning curve to learn the correct exercise movement, as...
Previously it was thought Physical Therapists should withhold strength training from endurance athletes or have athletes perform exercises with high reps (>15) and low weights (30-45% 1 rep max). These incorrect guidelines and prescriptions created insufficient training loads in endurance athletes and even worse led many endurance coaches and athletes to avoid weight training all...
