Pre-hab Rehab and Flexibility: The importance of mobility and flexibility

We all know that I'm a very much in favor of  heavy lifting for maximum muscle gains. Having been lifting for nearly 10 years, I've learned many lessons and one of the most important is that as great as it is to be strong, if you can't move it doesn't really matter. Little aches and pains can add up to make it hard to move and even cause you to neglect movements which in turn can actually lead to more pain. 
My knee had been bothering for a long time and in turn caused me to stop squatting. But in turn my knee started hurting more and only by starting squatting more regularly again had my knee in turn stopped hurting as frequently.
But the thing that made the biggest difference has been the addition of dynamic and neuromuscular warm up, as well as static stretching and foam rolling after lifting. A dynamic warmup is simply moving, getting your entire body warm so you're loose and flexible, ready to start getting into the work ahead. A neuromuscular warm up is something different entirely. It's doing a exercise similar to the movements you're planning on doing and  adapting your muscles to fire the way you want them to fire, also allowing for the recruitment of more muscles. For example if you are trying to do heavy squating, a neuromuscular warm up would be the use of plyo-box jumps. A neuromuscular warm up paired with a dynamic warmup will lubricate your joints and sufficiently warm up your muscles so you're able to get the most out of them. At the end of the workout it is important to break apart knots that will have occurred in the muscle from lifting, due to constant contractions causing them to tighten, by foam rolling and to re-elongate your muscles by stretching. This will decrease sourness and allow for greater work loads down the line in your training.
To sum up try doing the following to provide yourself with a safer workout and shorter recovery time:
1) show up15 to 20 minutes before you meet with your trainer or plan to lift weights.
2) spend 5 minutes in the elliptical, 5 minutes doing total body movements to warm up joints and muscles as to be loose flexible and ready to move then spend the remaining time doing specific movements to ready your brain and body for the work load ahead.
3) lift heavy, safely and effectively
4) after you finish lifting  5-10 minutes to foam roll and break apart knots then take another 5-10 minutes to stretch out the muscles just worked
5) finish off with 10 minutes of active recovery cardio.
6) go home to recover and refuel to be ready for your next workout.

We will be holding a Pre-hab Rehab Foam Rolling and Static Stretching Seminar at the end of September. Please see a trainer for more details. Now go be better.

Jack Lazarus