Corrective Exercise
No Corrective Exercise – by Justin Devonshire
Combat athletes, by nature, quite possibly suffer more micro-trauma to bones, joints and connective tissues than any other athletes. As a result, you are at high risk of many serious injuries every time you step onto the mat, or into the cage.
I don’t think any of you will disagree with this. Yet, when I ask a typical fighter what he is doing to prepare for, and prevent, such injuries, I get looked at as though I have two heads.
Every combat athlete should include corrective, or ‘Pre-habilitation’ exercises into their fitness program. Corrective exercise address structural imbalances and techniques for injury prevention. This usually requires dedicating as little as 10 minutes of your conditioning session to performing exercises and stretches that will go a long way in preventing you getting hurt.
What’s more, corrective exercise will also help your body get into proper alignment, where more balance, flexibility and therefore force (power) can be produced.
The most common structural problems found among combat athletes include poor hip and ankle mobility, and poor core and shoulder stability. Let me explain what this means a bit more clearly:
Mobility refers to how well a bone moves around its joint (or, the ability to produce movement).
Stability refers to how well that joint / area can hold its position when put under pressure (or, the ability to resist movement).
You should be able to see why a combat athlete would need both mobility and stability in different areas of the body. You want mobility in the hips to be able to produce good movement, such as that devastating roundhouse kick to the opponent’s head. You also want good stability in the shoulder, to stop that kimura hold you’re stuck in from ripping the bone out of the joint!
Now, the most common injuries (that are usually the consequence of the structural problems mentioned above) include wrist, ankle, knee, shoulder and neck sprains, hip and groin pulls, low back pain, and shoulder dislocations.
This is because many fighter’s joints are not mobile enough to give them the flexibility they need, and other joints are not stable enough withstand the gruelling pressures they are put under.
Therefore it would be extremely wise to learn some corrective exercises and have professional diagnose any structural issues you may (and most definitely) have.
I will now show you a good test I carry out with athletes to get a good measure of their structural imbalances and to point out which areas may need to develop more flexibility and / or strength.
Overhead Squat Test
This is a good test for measuring total body flexibility in one go. Simply raise a very light barbell (or even a broomsick) overhead and Squat as deep as you can. Here is a picture of the motion: http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/…n-oh-squat.jpg
Have a go and have a partner check your form. There are three main issues you can diagnose from this test:
1. If you cannot hold the bar above your head – If the bar is coming forward slightly at the top, and you cannot hold it totally upright (so it is directly above your heels) this means that you probably have tight pecs and internal rotators of the shoulder.
This is very common in athletes and usually stems from performing a lot of bench pressing and not nearly enough rowing. If you have tight areas here, start performing more stretches for your chest, and face pulls using a rope attachment (google these if you are not familiar). Also consider more rowing exercises and less bench pressing overall.
2. Your trunk leans forward excessively – This may be due to tight hip flexors (the front of your thighs at the pelvis) and / or a weak lower back. Tight hip flexors are also common as a result of spending too much time sitting on our asses all day when not training. Stretch these muscles by holding a deep lunge position and keeping your back upright for 30-60 seconds each leg.
To strengthen your lower back, perform more planks.
3. Your heels come off the ground when you squat low – This may be a sign that your ankles do not have enough stability to stay in place when they are put under a load. It may also mean that your calf muscles are tight. Stretch your calf muscles by standing on a box with your heels off the edge,and perform a calf raise type motion, getting a good stretch at the bottom (you can also do this in a calf raise machine, just make sure the weight isn’t too heavy as you don’t want to overstretch the calf).
See how you get on with that test. It will tell you an awful lot about areas that need more strengthening or flexibility work. When you correct these imbalances, you will very likely see your performance improve in all other areas.
“For Cutting-Edge MMA Strength & Conditioning, Visit:
www.REALCombatConditioning.com
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Justin Devonshire, MMA-CSCC”
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I’m looking forward to getting more information about this topic, don’t worry about negative opinions.