The following article is a small excerpt from one of my books.  I hope you’ll want to learn more and let me help you to get into the best shape of your life.

If you have ever suffered from any sort of injury you know how frustrating it can be, not to be able to do things that you normally do. If you’re physically active chances are that sometime in your lifetime you will suffer from some sort of injury.

Most common injuries are strains and sprains. Strains are usually associated with overuse and involve a torn or stretched muscle. Sprains on the other hand involve stretched or torn ligaments, usually in the ankles, knees, wrists or fingers although any joint can be sprained. It is often difficult to differentiate between sprains and strains, however sprains are usually the result of some type of trauma, whether it’s a fall or a sudden twist. This is not to say that all injuries are sports related, you can be injured at work or doing household chores. Often you can pinpoint a single incident that caused your injury, but more often then not it’s an accumulation of years of misuse and improper techniques that may or may not be triggered by a single incident.

The following is a list of what I feel are ten of the most common injuries. In the book ‘Get Fit Stay Fit’ there are suggested treatments, tips and the best exercises to help strengthen these injured area.

LOW BACK DISORDERS

Back pain is a common ailment that will affect over 90 percent of the population at one time or another. It can range from a nagging pain to a pain that is so severe it can be totally incapacitating.

SHOULDER BURSITIS / TENDONITIS 

This is one of the most common injuries in sports where the arm is used in an overhead motion. When your arm is lifted overhead or twisted in a certain direction, the pain is usually felt on the tip of your shoulder or part way down the shoulder muscle. In severe cases pain may be felt at all times.

Your shoulder is a ball and socket joint, but the socket in not very big and the shoulder is relatively unstable. This puts a lot of stress on the muscles and tendons that move your arm and help to support your shoulder. The tendons and bursae are prone to becoming inflamed as they go through a very tight channel of bone. When your arm is raised the channel becomes even smaller and is even more vulnerable to becoming inflamed. Think of your bursae as fluid filled sacs that prevent friction. To best describe this, take your hands and rub them quickly together. This creates heat from the friction of your hands. Now imagine that you place a zip lock plastic bag containing a few drops of oil, between your hands and rub briskly. You will probably find that your hands move more freely and without a lot of friction or heat. This is how the bursae function.

TENNIS/GOLFER’S ELBOW

Although these injuries are common amongst racquet players and golfers it is also common in the home and workplace. The condition consists of an inflammation of the tendons in the elbow area. In tennis elbow, it effects the muscles and tendons that bend back the wrist and fingers. With repetitive use the muscle and tendons become overworked and inflamed. This pain is felt on the outside of the elbow. In golfer’s elbow it effects the muscles that flex the wrist and fingers and the pain is felt on the inside of the elbow. Initially you will feel the pain when you are performing at your sport but gradually it will effect your daily activities as simple as raising a glass.

CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Carpal tunnel syndrome or medial nerve entrapment, is a common injury that effects both athletes and workers. The problem is simply the result of excessive pressure on the median nerve, which is used by the hand and wrist. This nerve travels from the neck, down the arm, across the front of the wrist and into the hand. If this nerve receives excessive pressure or is damaged, the hand will become weak, numb and tingly.

There are several medical problems that effect the function of the median nerve, which include; diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, smoking, and circulation problems. If the nerve is not damaged by disease it can be injured by the thickening of the overlying ligaments and tendons. This often occurs with tasks that are repetitive in nature such as assembly line workers or keyboard operators. The nerve can also be damaged in sports like boxing and weightlifting, where the wrists are wrapped too tight, which hinders the function of the nerve.

CONTUSIONS OF THE THIGH 

These bruising injuries occur in contact sports like; football, hockey, soccer, rugby and basketball, where your muscles are vulnerable to bumps and blows. These injures can also happen in sports where the muscles are overused like in cycling or jumping. The main damage in this type of injury is bleeding into the muscle after a blow is incurred. The severity of this type of injury can vary from mildly uncomfortable where you experience a swollen tender muscle and pain causing you to limp when you walk, to totally incapacitating and needing crutches to walk.

PATELLOFEMORAL SYNDROME

This syndrome comprises up to 50 percent of all overuse injuries pertaining to you knee. The syndrome is caused by an irritation of the under surface of the patella (kneecap). The pain is evident with sports that require deep knee bends, climbing stairs or after sitting for long periods of time. The patella or your kneecap is a moving part that glides up and down a groove in your thigh bone (femur) as you bend and straighten your knee. The pain is caused by compression of your kneecap and thighbone, which increases as you bend your knee. This irritation of the kneecap causes inflammation, which causes the pain. This syndrome is most common in children and teens and they will gradually grow out of this problem.

This maltracking of the kneecap in the femoral groove is most common in people who have wide hips, knock knees or a rotation of their lower legs. Other causes include; flat feet, weak inner thigh muscles, tight outer knee structures, muscle inflexibility or previous knee injuries.

MENISCUS INJURIES 

These injuries are often referred to as a torn cartilage. The Meniscus is a crescent shaped shock absorber which lies between the femur (thighbone) and tibia (shin bone). There are 2 cartilage, one on the inner side of the knee and one on the outer side of the knee. The inner medial meniscus or cartilage is more prone to injury then the outer cartilage.

The cartilage can tear due to overuse or more often the tear is a result of a single traumatic movement. With a torn cartilage, there generally is not a lot of inflammation, however if the torn fragment is large, it may cause the knee to catch between the bones and act like a door jam causing your knee to either lock or give way.

If left untreated, most of these injuries will not heal and will continue to cause you pain and lack of mobility. Reducing the pain, improving your mobility and strengthening your knee are the main goals in your recovery.

ANKLE SPRAIN 

Ankle sprains are usually the result of your ankle turning in and are not just injuries that happen to athletes but can happen to anyone at anytime. Often athletes participating in sports with side to side movements are more vulnerable. Running on a level surface does not cause as many ankle sprains as cross country running, trail running or hiking. Ankle injuries are often immediately painful and incapacitating. If treated quickly and properly, your ankle should heel well, but if untreated the injury can often develop into a chronic problem.

PLANTAR FASCIITIS 

This is a common foot problem that starts as a dull intermittent pain in your heel and may progress if not treated to a sharp persistent pain. It is usually most painful, first thing in the morning as you take your first steps of the day. The plantar fascia is a thick fibrous material that is attached to your heel bone and fans towards your toes at the bottom of your foot and is responsible for maintaining the arch of your foot. Fascia by the way are different then tendons in ligaments in that they form sheaths around entire muscles. They can withstand momentary high levels of stress without rupturing, however long periods of stress will cause them to become permanently elongated. The shortening of the fascia is usually due to age, cold, poor posture and muscular imbalance and can reduce your range of motion.

This injury is usually the result of repetitive stress and is most common in runners, walkers and racquet sport players. As the fascia is pulled away from the bone, the body reacts by filling in the space with new bone or what is known as heel spurs. The heel spurs are generally not the initial problem but a result of the main problem. Since it is difficult to rest your foot, a vicious cycle develops and is aggravated with every step.

OSTEOARTHRITIS 

Degenerative joint disease or wear and tear is the most common joint disease in humans. There is a progressive wear of the joint covering or cartilage and as the cartilage wears away, the bone underneath reacts by getting harder and forms rough, long spurs on the surface of the joint. This can occur on any joint but it usually effects the large weight bearing joints like your hips and knees. Osteoarthritis can occur in many ways, but is often brought on by excessive, repetitive forces that are applied to your joint, like that of a baseball pitcher.
The main symptom is pain and the joint may become stiff, causing you to have a limited range of motion. Also you may hear or feel a popping or cracking in your joint when it is moved.

When it comes to any injury, you should really use your common sense and let PAIN be you guide. If it hurts stop. Most running injuries for example are the result of going too far, too fast. If you have inflicted an injury of this nature on yourself, you also have the power to heal yourself, provided you listen to your body and do the proper things. Also fatigue can play a factor in some injuries. For example when a runner becomes fatigued their knees become stiffer, to protect against collapse and therefore don’t operate as efficiently as a shock absorber. So perhaps with a lack of focus and poor mechanics, improper foot plants may occur leading to an injury.

Performing strength, conditioning and flexibility exercises on a regular basis is an excellent way to help prevent injuries. You should also not be afraid to consult experts either in the medical field or sports industry about your injury and concerns. In today’s high tech world often the difference between playing in pain and enjoying the game you love could be in the equipment you use. Perhaps it’s a more flexible shaft on your golf clubs, less tension on your racquet, a different grip size, new supportive shoes or even a brace. Whatever it takes to get you playing again pain free is what it is all about, so get out there and get active.

I know you want to get in shape and look great.  Whatever your fitness goal…to slim down…gain muscle…tone your arms or flatten your tummy…I’m here to help you accomplish your goals and to improve your fitness level. If you have enjoyed this article and the many other free features on my site, and would like some more comprehensive information such as fitness books and CD’s to aid you in achieving your health and fitness goals, please visit my ONLINE STORE where you will find innovative natural health and beauty products to help you become the BEST YOU CAN BE !

The following article is a small excerpt from one of my books. I hope you’ll want to learn more and let me help you to get into the best shape of your life.

Have you ever gotten into your car to go somewhere specific and not known how to get there, and if you didn’t know where you were going, you would usually ask directions or check out a map to see what the best way there would be.  Well think of training your body in a similar way.  We have over the years of training, and having coaches train us forgotten why we are doing what we are doing.  We do certain exercises for a number of reps and sets and don’t really know why, just that we have to do it because that’s the way they’ve done it for years.

When you begin to understand why you’re doing what you are doing, then its easier for you to accomplish your goal and become the best you can be.

In the gym I often ask people what they are doing and I often get the same response…3 sets of 10. I ask why?  There answer is because!  I suggest why don’t they just do one set of 30 and go home, and they look at me like I’m from mars. Do you know what energy system you are training, ATP, Lactate, Glycogen or fat?  Are you training for strength, power, quickness, endurance or a combination?  And if you don’t know what you are doing and why, then why are you training at all?  To get maximum performance you must start thinking of training your body smart and begin to train from the inside out.

The first energy system is the ATP system.  ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the chemical compound which provides the energy to power muscle cell contraction. A single ATP molecule contains an amino acid base (adenosine), a sugar (ribose) and three phosphate groups. The energy of the ATP molecule is stored in the phosphate groups, and when these high energy phosphate bonds are broken during the processes of cellular metabolism, the energy is then available for muscle contraction and other vital cellular functions..  However the cellular storage capacity for ATP is limited, and at maximum work levels ATP stored in the muscle is depleted within 10 seconds.

What this means is that it is physiologically impossible to ask an athlete to perform at 100%…Full out for more than 10 seconds. They simply run out of ATP.

Now let’s think about this for a moment.  We’ve all had coaches who have asked us to perform wind sprints.  We start at one end of a playing field and sprint to the other end and back.  They then ask us to do it again…and think we can do it faster then the first…and the third time should be faster then the first two. These coaches don’t understand the energy systems and how to best train them, because if they did, they would realize that after 10 seconds of sprinting you start to slow down and no matter how hard you try you can not run faster….no ATP.

Now if you are training to play football, the average play lasts less then 10 seconds so what you’d like to do is develop the athletes ability to perform at maximum level for 10 seconds at a time.  So wouldn’t it be better instead of wind sprints to run full out for 10 seconds and see how far you can run…then stop….walk jog…catch your breath and when you are fully recovered run full out again.  This recovery time initially may take upwards of two minutes, but eventually you should be able to cut the recovery time to less then 30 seconds…the time it takes to regroup and start the play all over.

Now after running full out for 10 seconds you begin to slow down and the Lactate System begins.  During this intense exercise period, the cardiovascular system of heart and lungs is unable to supply sufficient oxygen to individual muscle cells. Under these circumstances, energy can continue to be produced for a short period period of time and does not require oxygen. This is  referred to as anaerobic. During the lactate system there is an accumulation of the metabolic by-product lactic acid, and thus, the “burn” felt in overworked muscles. This system is not meant for long-term exercise, as the accumulation of lactic acid and rapid depletion of cellular glucose stores quickly contributes to muscular fatigue. However this Lactate system allows you to perform at this level of intensity for between 10 seconds and 3 minutes and since this system does not need Oxygen, you are burning mostly carbohydrates.  Now while you are in this system your body is resynthesizing ATP and putting it back in case you need to go full out for 10 seconds again.

After approximately 3 minutes, your body begins to slow down some more, and thus switches energy systems, this time to the glycogen energy system, which needs oxygen and is therefore aerobic.  And this system lasts from about the 3 minute mark to about 2 hours.  And finally after 2 hours your body will start to burn fat as its primary source of energy.

So molecules of readily-available glucose are stored  in the  body, as glycogen. The storage of glycogen in your body requires both water and space, so therefore relatively little is stored in your body.  Fats, on the other hand, are far more efficiently stored and therefore can be accumulated almost without limit.  The advantage of utilizing glucose as an energy source is that it is more quickly available than fats, and while it is most efficiently metabolized in the presence of oxygen, it does not require oxygen to produce energy.

Fats are the fuel of greatest importance to the endurance athlete. While their utilization absolutely requires the presence of oxygen, and is not as quickly available as glucose and   its supply within the body is almost unlimited.

The disadvantages of fats as a fuel source is that they absolutely require the ongoing presence of oxygen within the cells to produce energy, and they are the slowest of the three sources to become available after the onset of exercise. A third feature, which may at times become a distinct disadvantage, is that while glycogen may be utilized by itself,  fats require a small but critical amount of glycogen to produce energy.

Think of glycogen as a small pile of fast-burning kindling, and fats as heavy, thick logs. While the logs will supply far more total heat, they cannot burn well without kindling. On the other hand, kindling will burn rapidly and well, its relatively small supply will soon run out, leaving you without the energy to burn the logs. Therefore, the key element in energy management is to rely on fats as the primary fuel source, and to conserve the limited supply of glycogen for “kindling” and for carefully planned spurts of anaerobic activity.

The body is well adapted to utilizing the fuel most suited to the exercise at hand. At rest and during moderate exercise, with plenty of oxygen available, the body will utilize primarily fats, the fuel in greatest supply, with just enough glycogen being used as kindling to produce energy at its highest efficiency. As the intensity of exercise increases, as during a tough hill climb or a prolonged sprint, oxygen supplies may become insufficient and energy utilization shifts from the oxygen, to those which do not require oxygen.
Fats are utilized less and less, while glycogen becomes more and more important—so that at maximum intensity, the reliance on glycogen is approaching 100%. At this intensity of exercise, glycogen stores are rapidly depleted, and the accumulation of lactic acid greatly increased.

Once you know what system you need, and sometimes you end up using combinations of several, you can then perform at the top of your game without getting tired, and this will result in you having less injuries and being able to give it your all for an entire game.  So you owe it to yourself to understand what system you are training….The ATP system, which lasts for up to 10 seconds (anaerobic), the Lactate System (anaerobic) which lasts from 10 seconds to about 3 minutes.  The Glycogen system (aerobic) which lasts from 3 minutes to 2 hours or the Fat System (aerobic) which takes you past the 2 hour mark for long distance or endurance athletes.

Now that you know what energy system you are training, what are you training for?  Are you training for, strength, power, endurance or some combination.  In order to know what you’re doing let’s try to understand the terms.

Strength is defined as the maximum force you can exert in one voluntary contraction.  In other words what is the maximum amount of weight you can bench press, one time by yourself.  Power is work divided by time.  The athlete who can do more work in the same amount of time has more power.

Almost all sports involve power to some degree, so if you can lift a certain amount of weight 3 times while someone else can only lift it once…you have more power and therefore an advantage.

Muscular endurance is also involved in a lot of different sports, and just because you can leg press 900 pounds, doesn’t mean you can bike or ski all day long without getting tired.  You will eventually run out of strength because you have trained the wrong muscles to do the wrong things.

Training is very specific.  So during the off season you may train for strength and power and now about 8 weeks from the start of your season you begin to train for muscular endurance.  This involves performing the same exercises, but doing 30 to 50 reps with lighter weights and less rest in between sets. Training like this should allow you to perform all day long without getting tired.

So when you are designing your exercise program, you should know why you are doing what you are doing and not just 3 sets of 10 or 15…just because everyone else is.  You should choose a weight that you can lift for 15 reps only…and can’t do the 16th rep.  Then rest and drink water and do the second set.  This time you will probably only be able to do 10 to 12 reps. Rest and Drink again. (the reason you should keep drinking is that 78% of your muscles are water and if you don’t fuel them, they can’t perform) Now for the third set you will probably only be able to do between 6 and 8 reps. Now you will stay at this weight until you can do 3 sets of 15 reps.  Once you can accomplish this it means your muscles have adjusted so now it’s time to either add more weight, increase the reps, or change the angle in which you are working and start all over again.  You must train from a wide grip to a narrow grip, from a dumbbell to a barbell, from standing to sitting, from lying to standing up. This is how weight training is done.

Now during exercise and playing sports, you’re going to end up with something that is called oxidative stress (read Total health) Basically you have a bunch of good cells trying to do good things being constantly attacked by free radicals who try to steal the good things out of your good cells. This makes you weaker, and every time you get a weaker cell you get less performance. So in order to combat these free radical you have to have good nutrition…you must be willing to eat good food.  And the best defense against free radicals are anti oxidants which are found in Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. (In 1997 the American Institute for Cancer Research released it’s recommendations for a plant based diet, centered around Fruits, vegetable, whole grains and beans.  This diet with 6 to 12 servings a day provides the antioxidants, vitamins and protective phytochemicals that can prevent and or repair cell damage.)

Nutrition equals Performance, and if you don’t fuel the cells properly, you can’t perform.  During Competition the most important nutrient you can get is water…not a sports drink!!!  This will also help to prevent cramps due to lack of water. After Competition you should also start immediately to refuel you body, so you can begin to repair the tissue damage that has occurred in your body, so that you can be prepared to perform at the next practice or game.

Training smart will help you to perform at the top of you game.

I know you want to get in shape and look great. Whatever your fitness goal…to slim down…gain muscle…tone your arms or flatten your tummy…I’m here to help you accomplish your goals and to improve your fitness level. In my book ‘Get Fit Stay Fit’ You will learn how to select and combine your diet with exercise, so that you can be the best you can be.