UBC Workout of the Week

Jumprope, 2 minutes

Fwd/rear lunge, 12x ea side
Med ball pushups, 12x
Bent-over row, 12x

Jumprope, 2 minutes

Dumbbell plies, 12x
Chest flye or cable flye, 12x
Reverse flye, 12x

Jumprope, 2 minutes

Lateral raise, 12x
Biceps curl, 12x
Triceps rope pull, 12x

Ab crunches, 25x
Egg rolls, 10x
Deck squat, 10x
Hover, 30-90 seconds
Side plank w/hip dips, 10x ea side

After dynamic warm up, go down list of exercises 2-3 times. Finish with cool down/stretch.

Avoid running injuries

For many URBAN Boot Campers, running is an important component of long term success. Unforeseen injuries and pain can hinder exercise adherence and are often the result of overtraining or improper conditioning. A recent review of research has shown a number of muscular imbalances to be the cause of injury, most notably weak gluteals.

Research review from Exercise ETC:

"Many Running Injuries Attributed to Weak Hips"

Statistics indicate that between 65% and 80% of all recreational and competitive runners experience some type of overuse injury annually. Such injuries include patellofemoral knee pain, illiotibial band syndrome, shin splints, Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, and stress fractures. The vast majority of such injuries, ~80% affect the lower-leg, with nearly 40% occurring at the knee. Unfortunately, science and medicine have yet to truly understand the mechanisms behind such injuries.

Researchers recently reviewed the literature over a 28 year span from 1980 to 2008 and concluded that two mechanisms appear to underlie all lower-leg injuries. First, a small number of studies implicated "atypical foot pronation mechanics." Pronation, which occurs during the stance phase of gait as the foot flattens causing internal rotation of the tibia and femur, is essential to generating energy for the next stride. However, excessive or insufficient pronation leads to poor energy production and consequently to excessive motion about the foot and knee.

Second, and more prominent, researchers uncovered a growing number of studies that suggest "inadequate hip muscle stabilization" leads to a majority of overuse injuries. Because the hip muscles, specifically the gluteus medius, minimus and maximus stabilize the leg during gait, poor strength or conditioning of these muscles results in excessive stress at and below the knee.

Recent studies have shown that improving hip muscle strength reduces the incidence of knee pain in runners. With running season in full-swing throughout the country along with races every weekend there's not a better time to encourage runners to maintain their strength training programs.

Ferber, R., et al (2009) Suspected Mechanisms in the Cause of Overuse Running Injuries: A Clinical Review. Sports Health. May/June

Next time: Exercises to strengthen the gluteal muscles.

UBC Workout of the Day

Look for new UBC sample workouts each Thursday!

30/30*

DB squat w/shoulder press
Pushups
Lateral raise

Forward lunge w/biceps curls
Renegade pushup
Triceps dips

Deck squat
Hover
V-ups

*Thirty seconds on, thirty seconds rest.