To stay in shape

getting it right

Our body is a temple and we must take every effort to maintain it properly and
efficiently. By incorporating exercise into our daily routine we can improve our fitness and if we do it right, exercise can work wonders for our bodies, internally and externally.

However, I have heard many people who exercise complain of their joints
being strained or injured while doing a particular exercise or even say that they have reduced flexibility due to weight training. These are some of the common problems I hear, but very few ever try to understand as to what the reason for the problem might be.

Exercises are supposed to enhance your body and health in a positive
manner and not affect you in a negative way. If you are getting some kind of
adverse effect while doing the exercises, that means you are doing something wrong.

Basic stuff

When you do a particular movement it is essential to follow correct body
mechanics. With this in mind, I have devised a biomechanical way of exercise termed as BMXStrength or Biomechanics strength technique.

Posture, movement and breathing patterns are three important factors that can help you improve your exercise, and prevent any strains or injuries on your body. By maintaining them properly, you can see significant improvement in your exercise and this is how it will help you:

 Posture: This refers to the alignment and position of your body against gravity. Gravity applies a force on your joints, ligaments and connective tissues irrespective of your posture (standing, sitting, lying). Thus, keeping a good posture would entail sharing the force across the body structure and not put stress on a particular joint or connective tissue.

 Movement: The human body is designed to move in a biomechanical way. As a result, your joints should be properly aligned and in a relaxed state while doing any movement such as running, lifting weights and squats. Incorrect biomechanics can put pressure on your joints and connective tissues and can result in chronic pain and injuries.

Apart from this, it is important to have a full range of motion while doing any movement. Limited range of motion reduces the joints’ flexibility and are the prime reason of stiffness.

 Breathing patterns: It is important to focus on your breathing pattern during a movement. Many exercisers engage in incorrect breathing patterns such as holding one’s breath during a movement, shallow breathing and incorrect inhaling and exhaling pattern. When you exercise, your heart rate increases and your body requires more oxygen. This excess need for oxygen has to be fulfilled in a right manner otherwise this deficiency can cause adverse effects such as fatigue, dizziness and lower back strain.

Body engineeringBy focusing and understanding the movements, you will be able to gain
maximum results in minimum possible time without harming your body. Here are some tips that can help you achieve this:

 Ensure that all the exercises are joint-friendly movements. The focus should be on hitting the main muscle of a particular movement rather than supporting muscles or stabilisers.

Your body should be centrally balanced, ensuring that you maintain a good posture so that the force of the gravity gets distributed equally in the body. n Relax your muscle completely at the end of every movement repetition. This is because when the muscle is completely relaxed, it can be contracted up to 120 -140 per cent, whereas in a contracted state, it can only be contracted up to 80 per cent.

 Do not squeeze any part of your body part during a movement. Squeezing a particular body part, such as the neck, results in limited blood circulation and oxygen supply in that area.

 When you are pushing weights away from your body line, you should exhale. In free-hand exercises, exhale when you are pushing your bodyweight away from gravity.

 The perfect posture for pushups is an arched back with the rib cage up. This will help you to hit all your chest muscles.  Remember to soften the knees so that you do not use the power of your legs and most importantly, palms should be in the chest line and slightly diagonal. This way you would be using the power of your chest muscles and not shoulders. Keeping your palms in a diagonal direction is

important as it does not put strain on your wrist joint. While doing the pushups, ensure that you do not squeeze or use the power of shoulder muscle. Instead, try to lift your body up with the power of chest muscles. Ensure that your wrist joint, shoulder joint and elbow joint are in the same line. Exhale when pushing the bodyweight against the gravity

By ensuring that you have followed the aforementioned recommendations, you can be the perfect body engineer. It is important to ensure that you are following the correct biomechanics if you wish to achieve your dream body.

Analyse every movement before performing it as this will help you in understanding and reaching your goal faster without any injury or strain in joints. While doing weight training, many think that lifting heavier weights will work in their favour.  Make sure that you do not compromise on your technique and also look at what you consider to be heavy weight – as it differs from person to person.

Here’s an overview of what constitutes light, moderate and heavy weight:

A light weight is such with which you cannot do more than 15-16 reps.
A moderate weight is such with which you cannot do more than 10-12 reps.
A heavy weight is such with which you cannot do more than five to six reps.

(The author is fitness expert, nutritionist and director, GFFI Fitness Academy, New Delhi)