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Boomeritis: Victims of Our Own Provocative Obsessions Dave Turpin
In fact my online bio
states that I got into personal training as a result of my own foolish
fitness related injuries. My
perspective was simple: I know I’m
going to continue exercising so I might as well learn to do it
correctly. At that point I had already
decided to stop pursuing marathon training as a result of a persistent calf
muscle problem. I also made two
payments to my orthopedic surgeon’s BMW fund as a result of bursitis in the
left shoulder and later in the right shoulder. In retrospect all of my
injuries were self imposed and directly related to my desire to follow the US
Army tagline: Be all you can be. Unfortunately I failed to recognize the
difference between intelligent fitness and dumb luck. Eventually, for those taking the dumb luck
approach, your luck will run out.
Guaranteed. Coincidently, the
timing of our physical meltdown also happens to be in synch with the advent
of middle age. Most exercising boomers
learn how to exercise the same way.
They watch other people that look like they know what they’re doing
and imitate them. Unfortunately, even
the folks that have built great bodies, either as a result of hard work or
good genetics, seldom really know what they’re doing. It’s how I “learned”… ·
I did bench presses with a cambered bar so my hands could drop below
my chest to get me max range of motion (and an overstretched shoulder
capsule). ·
I did leg extensions with max weight (and nearly tore my patella
tendon as a result of the shear forces sent through my knee as I extended the
leg way past 45 degrees) ·
I did lateral dumbbell raises ad nausea to create the cannonball
medial deltoids (as well as impingement of the shoulders as the humerus no
longer dropped below the acromium process when the arms were raised above the
head). ·
I did wide grip pull ups with weight plates tied around my waste (also
aggravating my blown out shoulders from my lateral raise programs) ·
I did abdominal leg throw-downs to increase the strength of my lower
abdominal fibers (when in fact all I was doing was recruiting my already
tight psoas and rectus femoris hip flexors contributing to other aches and
pains in the low back) ·
I did straight legged deadlifts in the pursuit of a tight butt. Unfortunately no one ever told me that I
needed to bend my knees in order to tighten the illio-tibial (IT) band in
order to activate the glute max. At
the time I had never even heard of the IT band. ·
Strengthen the primary lumbar stabilizer multifidus muscle? Never heard of it so why bother? ·
Need I keep going? Fortunately for me,
thanks to the CHEK Institute, I feel I did learn the correct way to
exercise. It took time. It took effort. It required real work. And it wasn’t cheap. But it was worth it. It was worth it because
when a fellow boomer comes walking through my door with a shoulder pathology I
can not only relate to their injury first hand, I know what not to do as much
as what to do. Now I am uniquely
qualified to help the golfer with low back pain to strengthen the stabilizers
in their posterior hip. It’s low back
training 101 that all athletes need to do, regardless of their age or lack of
pain. I’m confident in my
ability to help the client with known back pathologies to help them learn how
to exercise so they can continue to do what they need to do to get through
the day… like get out of bed, raise up from a seated position, and put on
their socks in the morning. At the same time, the
more I’ve learned about human kinesiology and the effects of exercise on the
body, I’ve also learned how little I actually know. It’s the “more you learn the less you know”
model… Not knowing is one of the
facets that makes this business really interesting… The clients that come through the door
daily that force me to learn more is another. Most boomers will not be
willing to invest their time and dollars to attend the CHEK Institute to
learn the nuances of exercise science.
Nor will they be willing to give up their efforts to hang onto their
youth. Finding someone who knows the difference
between training and draining can make the difference between pre-habilitation
(injury avoidance) and rehabilitation.
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Desk Jockey
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is a wellness facilitation center, teaching our clients how to feel good—both in
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Desk Jockey Fitness
10700 Kettering Drive
Charlotte, North Carolina 28226
704-541-0041
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