Week 3: Injury Prevention
Since in order to break plateaus, you REALLY need to put in the effort, it is important to know injury prevention and proper technique. Months ago when I did my own bootleg training, I put way too much load on my patellar tendon way too fast so I ended up getting jumper’s knee. Luckily for me there are some prehab/rehab exercises that can help build up the tendon capacity to limit the chance for injury.
Two Exercises I have focused on is the Spanish Squat and Leg Extension Isometric. Both of these exercises have helped me accumulate tendon strength as well as maintain it. Including these movements into the program ensures that as I (hopefully) get stronger and more explosive, that my tendons are able to keep up with the heavier/harder load.
Ironically, with this weeks theme being “Injury Prevention”, I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I heavily strained my neck during work which believe it or not, impeded the workouts. When the injury was at its worst, I could only turn my head about 20 degrees horizontally and 0 degrees vertically without an immense amount of pain occuring. Although the majority of movements are leg movements… activities like jumping (where moving your head is surprisingly important), as well as squats and deadlifts (where stability in all areas of the body are incredibly important), were incredibly hard to do without a lot of pain. One important part of injury prevention/management is to not over exert an already injured body part. I took some time off to take care of the injury and I was luckily able to come back at full force.
This did however somewhat hinder my progress. My running vertical has decreased to the same height as my standing vertical which is peculiar and may have to do with the kind of testing I am doing. Nevertheless, we have improved since the start so obviously we are doing something right.
Standing Vertical: 26 inches (+2in from start. Current Max)
Running Vertical: 26 inches (-2in from start. -2.5in from max)
Sources:
The Movement System (Spanish Squats)
The Movement System (Leg Extension Isometric)
No video this week since this weeks topic is a short one.
Hey Mason!
I am a huge fan of using exercises as a way to prevent or manage an existing injury so I love the route you’re taking this week. I wanted to share with you my favourite account for functional exercises and how they can relate to everyday movements https://www.youtube.com/c/jasonandlauren. Jason and Lauren have so many excellent exercises for a wide range of daily activities. It looks like you are having lots of great ideas for how to improve your vertical.
Hi Mason!
I was reading your learning project journey, and this post caught my attention. I think knee injuries are very common, so learning exercises like leg extensions and Spanish squats can definitely help to prevent them! Thanks for sharing! And a neck injury doesn’t sound like fun…hope you are feeling better now!
Hey Mariia!
I am most definitely feeling better now. I feel like the injury prevention exercises have absolutely helped in making sure my tendons are able to keep up!