64 / 88
www.theconnectionsnj.com
PAGE 64
Health and Wellness
Hours: M-F: 8am to 8pm S-S: 8am to 5pm Living the busy lives we lead today, it is hard for people to get a consistent level of exercise that is prescribed by the AMA, NSCA, ASCM and countless other medical and fitness institu- tions. Becoming a weekend Warrior is a common fix for this problem for most of us. A Weekend Warrior is someone who completes intense exercises session on the weekend or only 2 days of the week to make up for the lack of time during the rest of the week. It is a great way to make good on the inten- tion for meeting the minimum requirement of exercise or to break up the monotony of the week, but it is also a quick way to injure yourself. Weekend war- riors may use cycling, crossfit, triathlon training, spend a cou- ple of hours in the local gym on a treadmill or elliptical, or go for a long run to get their exercise. This level of intense exercise needs to be supplemented with some basic core movements or mobility exercises during the week to do 2 things: 1) reduce the risk of injury when complet- ing this exercise after a few days of inactivity and 2) make the exercises more efficient and make gains or running times or strength gains. Having a struc- tured regimen during the week would include some minor dynamic warm-up and mobility exercise to make sure that your musculoskeletal system is primed to complete a much higher level of exercise on the weekend. Think of this analogy: you have an older car that you worked hard to restore but don’t drive frequently, in fact, it sits in the garage for a long time in between uses. You wouldn’t just take the car out and drive it at 70 MPH for a few hours without warming it up first, otherwise you would risk catastrophic damage to the engine, right? People who perform mainte- nance on cars know that the car has to be driven or even just igniting the engine and running it every so often to maintain the integrity of the engine. This applies to weekend warriors. People who work long hours in the same position, such as sit- ting at a desk, cannot just up and go for a long intense work- out without risk of injury to their bodies. This is why it is impor- tant to implement a small rou- tine that take 5-10 minutes to do everyday to keep the tendons and muscles ready for the increase in activity that is to come on the weekend. Finding the right individual to help you create a plan for upkeep is paramount. An injury specialist is the best route to go since they can help address any deficiencies that you may have and help to optimize the main- tenance plan and best utilize the small amount of time you have dedicated to this. Call us at ProActive Care to set up a con- sultation to start your mainte- nance plan at (908) 903-1199 or visit Proactivecarenj.com. ARE YOU A WEEKEND WARRIOR? By: Russell Altman, PT, DPT