Avoiding injury when Training and Stretching - Part 2
There is not a single person on earth who never got injured. And there isn’t a single person who did not suffer a set back in his/her training due to an injury.
For this reason, I feel that knowing how to avoid injury is a universally helpful topic.
Last time we talked about injuries and bilateral flexibility. Today we will talk about the fallacy of scheduled progress.
This applies to anything, not just stretching. As a matter of fact, it’s easier to explain this with a simple bench press.
What Is Progress Scheduling
Imagine a 15 year old Gary and his friend Jack. Two teenagers just witnessed high school senior bench press 250 lbs. Everyone cheered as he lifted the weight off his chest and extended his arms.
Garry and his bud want to be “cool” too, and maybe strong. So they try their bench press. (Probably without warm up) and find out that they can only do 110 and 120 lbs respectively. They want to be cool before the school year is up. That’s 10 weeks. They decide that if they add 10lbs every week, in 10 weeks, they will press 100 more lbs. 210 and 220 respectively. You can guess the results.
The Mistake
I see people do this all the time. They schedule their progress. Don’t confuse goal setting with progress scheduling. One is healthy and flexible, the other is dangerous and rigid.
In terms of flexibility, common site of progress scheduling is a use of a stretching machine. This is the one where a person sits down and uses a crank to force the legs appart. A user of this device decides how fast they want the progress. (5 degrees a week for example).
Then they literally force themselves to increase the angle by 5 degrees, every week. Pain or no pain, injury or no injury. Once the mind is set onto that unyielding pattern, they go for it.
Progress scheduling is more common than people think. Something clicks in the head and a person forms a mental destination with wishful, inflexible increments of progress. This usually happen when people feel like they don’t train hard enough.
The Solution
Don’t plan, out of thin air. Do a few weeks and see how fast you progress. Regardless of what you are working on.
- If there is no progress, then you need to change the method of training.
- If you see progress, use it to calculate how fast you will achieve your goal.
- Make sure you use the best method possible, and your progress is as fast as it can be.
- However, do not force yourself to advance, by setting goals which your body can’t safely fulfill .
If you are interested to know how fast your flexibility is progressing. Check out this free app, that helps you track your progress and calculates the date when your target goal will be reached.
When Are You Going to Reach Your Goal?
The great part of this was the fact that I could now answer a simple question, that I could not answer before. A question that no teacher could answer before. “When am I going to reach my goal?”
Today this question can be answered. The easiest way to approximate the date when you will reach your target goal is with free app called Stretch180.
For Android devices click here.
Learn how to train following all important training principles. Click on the picture below:
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