The Second installment. I promise this one will not be as long!

3 weeks have passed and I have had some more interesting Physio…….It turns out my back may have more to do with the problem than was initially thought.  As most of you will know your back is connected to EVERYTHING so a problem left untreated here will undoubtedly have some knock on effects.

I was diagnosed as having an iliotibial band syndrome/maltracking patello-femoral joint.  Ultimately this was probably brought on by the fall I had which affected the alignment in my pelvis and spine (3 vertibraes were twisted!).   My Physio EMMA STEENSON at ah said “Treatment was aimed at restoring mobility and flexibility to the iliotibial band, improving function in your vastus medialis oblique muscle (which is the major stability muscle for the patello-femoral joint) and restoring alignment to your pelvis and spine”.

And after 4  45min sessions and lots of stretching in between I can tell you I feel a whole lot better. Walking down stairs or steep hills was my ‘control’ to test if things were improving. Having come back from London and walking down the long elcalators on the tube I felt great. This means I can now step things up in the gym and add some weight to squats, dead lifts and other Olympic lifts that I do.

I do put a lot of my recovery down to using the foam/hard plastic roller regularly.  Remember I said it was probably like giving birth well that pain soon went away after 7-8 days of using it for 10-15 mins each day on my upper and lower legs.  I can’t say I have yet got to the point of ‘enjoying’ it but I can just about stop the skreaking while I roll!!  I have also been using the tennis ball up against the wall while I squat against it on my back.  I do this in the mornings when I feel by back is most stiff.  This really helps and only takes 2 mins of rolling/squatting against the wall.

For the last few weeks I have been in the gym 2-3 times a week.  I always start with a 500 -1000m row trying to keep to about 2mins per 500 m (1.40 secs per 500m is really good!) then I use a foamroller for about 5 mins on my calfs, shins, quads, hamstrings and my IT band.

I then do some squats with a 5kg weighted bar and some abdominal twists to loosen myself up and get ready for adding some weight.  I normally always keep my heels lifted on a pair of weights while I squat (most Olympic weight lifters where high sole heels when they lift) I find it slightly more comfortable and easier to keep form .

Before I squat with weight I do some ‘box jumps’ using a bench. I place one foot on the floor and the other on the bench that I spring from to jump over the bench/box and place my other foot on top of it.  The higher the bench the harder this is. The aim is to put your legs through a full range of movement using a burst of energy. Its a basic plyometric exercise that works each leg independently and will really warm you up for some squats, dead lifting and lunging.  Really spring off your toes as hard as you can. Aim to leave the gound swapping feet about 30 times. Then maybe 25 for your second set, the faster the better…..I love it!

Squatting:  I have only got back into this a week or so ago using a light load and concentrating on my form and breathing.  I am currently free lifting 30Kg using the clean and jerk and placing the bar behind my head to begin (as opposed to using a rack to pick the bar up from underneath….You will need to do this once we’re up to speed lifting your body weight and more!!!)

3 sets of 12 finishing each one with an overhead press to get the bar back in front of you (this became increasingly and surprisingly difficult at the end of the sets!!) The top of my back hurt for a few days where the bar had been resting. Be careful to find a comfortable position but not at the sacrifice of how your hold your overall posture. If you cant find one then use a towel or a bar with foam cushioning.

I intend to do this for 4 sessions before increasing the weight by 10kg every 4th session until I get to about 60kg when I will reduce the reps to 7-8 and increase the sets to 4.  The objective once I feel ready is to turn the squat from an endurance building mobility exercise into a power and strength building exercise and to do this you should be working to failure with around 5 sets of 5 repetitions. I would like to be doing this with around 1.5 times my body weight of 80kg…..GULP…..120kg!! Que Fernando with “you’re a girl if you cant squat TWICE your body weight“!!

The same applies to the dead lift although there is no harm is starting off a little heavier with this if you are sure of your technique.  Like wise the clean and jerk with some pressing is also on the cards now but I am happy to keep the weight down on these exercises for a while. They are great for overall mobility and to help tone things up a little. Of course if you pile the weight you can change these into real power and strength builders

I am working on all of these but with a real focus on getting into the squatting!!  See the video below for some great advice and tips on lifting.