What's Holding You Back?

Whilst on holiday a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting having breakfast in Paddington Station in London. Whilst sipping my steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee (yes it was a black coffee!!) and enjoying my creamy bowl of porridge with mixed nuts and manuka honey I was watching a young girl “playing” on the escalators. She was trying to walk up the down escalator.

I remember trying the same thing as a kid and then I realised that this is what a lot of people are doing with their fitness efforts. We always try to make things as difficult as possible.

For example, think of a car that has the hand brake engaged. If you push harder on the accelerator, you'll only run out of fuel quicker, right? But if you release the brake, the car will go farther and faster, and probably use less fuel in the process.

This leads to two important conclusions: First, removing the impediments to your progress will probably help more than extending the amount of time you work out. Second, it's pointless to increase the amount of weight you lift or the amount of volume of your training while those impediments are in place.

So What's Holding You Back?

I have a client who loves to run. Recently he has been suffering from acute pain in his foot. It resulted in him having to see a chiropractor.

What was up with his foot? Nothing! The problem was tightness in his lumbar spine (low back) which resulted in his body changing the way he ran which in turn placed too much force and pressure on his foot.. His legs and feet could handle the load he was placing on his body, but his lower back couldn't.

Since my friend's goal is to get even faster than he was before the injury, what's his best strategy? Keep pushing, despite the fact his injured back has already shown it can't handle this exercise? Or design a program that releases the brakes by strengthening his weakest link?

We have switched to a heavy emphasis on core training that targets greater mobility and flexibility in and around his low back.

Core strength is often the underlying issue, whether we're talking about something major like misaligned vertebrae or something that's annoying but minor, like a lagging body part. The core muscles need to stabilize and protect the spine, particularly when the extremities are in motion. If those muscles aren't strong or stable enough, the first clue could be a lack of strength or niggling pain somewhere else.

So is your core holding you back? It’s food for thought.