GOfit Physical Therapy

Planks aren’t my favorite. Not because they are a bad exercise, because it’s rare when they are done correctly.

Inevitably the spine gets overextended at some point with planks.

Instead try this exercise. I think you’ll find it surprisingly challenging and much easier to stay locked into a neutral to slightly posteriorly tilted pelvis.

I find that pulsing the knees up instead of holding for time is the way to go as this improves our timing and motor control far better than a static hold.

Serratus anterior strength and coordination are vital in shoulder stability.

This exercise is a beast for challenging the serratus particularly as the shoulders start to move overhead.

Add this to your pre-lift warm up routine and feel how much more prepared your shoulders are.

Is shoulder pain limiting your workout? DM us for an appointment.

The adductors are the anchor for our pelvis.

Too often we train them with the hip in a flexed position. That isn’t functional.

They need to be trained in a slightly flexed through fully extended position, which mimics their activation pattern in the stance phase of gait.

If you’re being slowed down by pain when exercising don’t wait for it to get worse.

DM us and we will help you get back on track.

Too many runners overextend their spine when running.

More than likely it’s because of two reasons:
1. Poor hip extension mobility
2. Inability to control a neutral spine through full hip extension.

These two factors co-exist together and reinforce each other

All the core work in the world won’t help if your brain never learns how to maintain a core contraction with a neutral spine as your hip extends to its full potential.

Start training your core with full hip extension and watch your running form and tolerance improve.

If you need some help running 🏃‍♂️ without pain, DM us so we can help.

Specificity is key 🔑

If your treatment is not specific you’re just throwing darts at a board.

Specificity is what sets up apart.

From our evaluation to our treatment if it’s not specific to fixing the cause of your pain we aren’t doing it.

Books today and get better faster, link in bio.

Poor core engagement can lead to so many other issues…

❌ Neck Pain
❌ Low Back Pain
❌ Prolapse
❌ Pelvic Floor Pain
❌ Hernias
❌ Diastasis Recti
❌ Headaches

To name a few!

As physical therapists, oftentimes we see people who have no clue they are improperly activating their core and THIS is the issue leading to their pain/dysfunction/issue!

This includes body women and men, old and young.

Don’t let this be you!

We created a checklist of all the DO’s and DO NOT’s for properly activating your core.

Once you get this down, it is applicable to almost any exercise.

THIS is the foundation from which to start!

⭐️Comment CORE below for your free PDF checklist of how to properly engage your core and what NOT to do! ⭐️

The only way to make long lasting changes is to retrain the way you move.

Doing the right exercises routinely is how this happens.

The exercise above is a great way to retrain hamstring and glute activation with active hip extension and ground contact.

If you’re running with all quads and calves you need this exercise.

Having pain running and want to run pain free? Schedule an appointment, link in the bio.

Gaining more hip extension will improve your stride, give you better access your glutes, and make it less likely for you to overextend your back when you run.

But you can’t gain that hip extension without improving hip internal rotation.

This simple mobility exercise does both.

Try this out before your next run and let me know how free your stride feels.

I was playing around with ideas on how to improve shoulder flexion mobility and landed on this gem 💎

The foam roller allows for a little elevation from the floor which should promote deeper shoulder flexion.

The band around the elbows keeps the shoulders locked in and prevents them from drifting out to the side.

Keep your back pinned down to the foam roller so you can focus the stretch through the shoulders.

I love this one and I hope you will too!

A great example of how manual therapy and specific exercise can improve running gait pattern in a short time.

The manual therapy is done to reduce pain and set the stage for exercise to make the long term changes.

I’m proud of my client for staying consistent and putting effort into improving her hip internal rotation, eccentric hip abductor control and overall motor control of her hip internal and external rotators.

After 3 months of her mostly working on specific exercises at home she is no longer getting friction between her knees when she runs. She is not experiencing weakness in her left leg or pain in the left hip.

I’m sure with time and continued effort we can see an even more optimized running gait.

Any movement pattern, no matter how engrained can be improved with time and concentrated effort.