Be Efficient and Injury Free in the Gym: Technique, Fitness Advice and Free Online Exercise Videos

Specialist Sports Physiotherapist reveals how to make your time in the gym effective and efficient including fitness, strength, power and sports performance training.

Free Physio Exercise Videos

Get your technique right to prevent pain and ensure optimal performance with our eighty-seven free exercise videos including static and dynamic stretching, foam rolling, squats, single knee bends, split squats, core muscle training, planking and press ups. Simply insert the numbers into the search tool above or go to the videos section for the complete selection. 

Use Intervals for Efficiency

Swap time consuming cardio exercise with shorter interval sessions. Dropping your heart rate right down and then raising it again puts most strain on your heart and lungs and is therefore the most efficient way of training.

Make your Training Goal Specific

See a Specialist Physiotherapist to target your training goals. For example, strengthening leg muscles is more important six months before a marathon than building up millage and squats off a half ball are far more effective than wall squats for skiing. 

Avoid Plateaus in Strength

Leave two days rest between strengthening a muscle group to fatigue to enable time for regeneration. If you train more frequently than this you will lose strength and increase injury risk. You can do cardio or other training on the other days.

Recovery

The harder you train the more you need to rest and sleep. Eating healthily, avoiding alcohol and not smoking will enable optimal recovery. If you don’t do these things you will hit a plateau in your training and your immune system will suffer.

Use Core Muscles Correctly

The pelvic floor muscles, deep abdominals and diaphragm provide are key to the stability of the lower back and pelvis and are therefore important to train for injury prevention and performance. Videos 07-11 and 01-04.

Exercises and Stretches

For the videos insert the numbers into the search tool above or go to the videos section for the complete selection. 

Squatting: Protect Your Knees

Make sure the knees are pointing in the same direction as the feet. If you drop an imaginary plumb line from the centre of the knee cap it should land between the second or third toe. Plus, if you have knee pain, narrow your stance width and don’t squat so low. Videos 20 and 22.

Lifting: Protect Your Back

Maintain a concave curve in the lower back throughout all lifting techniques to protect the spinal discs. Keep the mid and upper back mobile to reduce strain through the lower back and learn how to bend from the hips properly. Videos 6 and 19.

Pushing and Pulling: Protect Your Shoulders and Neck

Keep your shoulders back, your chin tucked in and your neck elongated. Often people try to pull their shoulders down too much when a slight upward movement is often needed to comfortably hold them back. Videos 12, 13 and 66.

I hope you have found this useful, please get in touch if you have any comments or queries. For loads more advice, videos, exercises and more on our services please check out the rest of this website. To book now email info@octopusclinic.com or call 02075838288.

… and don’t forget to share with anyone you know who goes to the gym.

Thanks! Lucy

Lucy Macdonald

Chartered Physiotherapist

lucy@octopusclinic.com