Body Weight Modifications

Hey Everyone, 

So I wanted to talk today about the importance of modifications and how they can help you reach your goal.  I hear a lot of members come in saying they have a back, knee, or shoulder injury that prevents them from strength training or doing body weight exercises.  It is important to remember that strength training can help build those muscles around your joint and prevent re-injuring yourself.  It can also help with functional strength or your day to day activities.  I am going to go over three standard exercises and give modifications/reiterate form for each.

Squat:

A squat is an extremely effective exercise because it involves multiple muscle groups.  Here is what I would suggest as a good starting point.

First is to use a step/box/chair and practice sitting down and then standing up.  The advantage of using a chair is that it ensures you sit all the way back, keeping your knee in line with your ankle.  It also allows you to control your speed and give breaks.

My other suggestion would be to utilize the TRX.  Doing a squat while holding the TRX handles is great because it once again ensures you sit back.  You can start with a small squat and work your way into a deeper squat once you become accustomed to it.   Holding the handles also allows you to use your upper body to pull yourself up if you want less resistance on your legs.

Lunges:

Lunges are a fear or many people but this is another good strengthening exercise for your knee joint.  Form is key in preventing injury.  Make sure both feet are facing forward.  This prevents torque on your back knee.  Keep your chest up and drop down by bending the back leg versus moving forward.
To get you started, I suggest the TRX again.  Holding those handles keeps you balanced and allows additional help from your arms and upper body as you come back to a standing position.  Again, you can start with a small lunge and work your way lower.

Push-ups:

If you have had a shoulder injury, I can understand why push-ups can be something you avoid.  Push-ups are a good exercise because it strengthens your arms, shoulders, chest, and core.  There are a variety of modifications for a push-up.

I will start with the very basic.  Instead of being on the ground, find a wall and do standing push-ups.  You can easily adjust the resistance and it's less stress on your shoulders.  Moving to the floor, position yourself in a table top and begin your push-ups.  By keeping your hips in this position, it puts less stress on the shoulder joint.  The final modification is to have knees on the ground and press your hips forward to engage your core.

I know this post was a bit lengthy but hopefully you learned some modifications to increase your strength and improve your range of motion!