Keep Your Bod Feeling Like God

Hey party people, what's up. So, today I was thinking about how much my body was sore from previous swimming and water polo practices and decided to post something on how to keep your body feeling great! The most injury prone areas on my body are my knees, back, and shoulders. These tend to get overworked from the activities that I do, so I have to replenish them with a few exercises. The following exercises were taken and taught from various personal sources, and they work great for me! The following picture is of me procrastinating:

Photo Courtesy of: Me

Knees

To start off, we will talk about the needs for knees! I am just full of funny puns right now. If your knees tend to get kinks and pain in them like mine do, then these exercises and stretches will do you wonders! What most people don't understand is that it's not always a problem with your actual knee that is causing you pain, but more with your IT bands. You need to make sure that these are loosening them up with either a foam roller or a massage.

Stretching My IT Bands with a Foam Roller
Photo Courtesy of: Me

Anyway, the first actual knee exercise is the sitting exercise. The purpose of this is to get your glutes (butt muscles) and hip muscles stronger so less pressure can be taken off of your knees. To start off, you need to have a chair directly behind you. In this exercise, you are basically sitting down on a chair and standing back up again. Start with your knees shoulder-width apart. You are going to bend down until your bum barely touches the chair. As soon as you feel it touch, you bring it right back up. Basically, you are sitting down and standing up again. The key tip for this exercise is to make sure that your knees don't go past your feet because this can cause unwanted pressure inside the knee cap. You should do 10 reps of this exercise maybe once a day, depending on the condition of your knees.

Sit & Stand Stretch
Photo Courtesy of: Me

Back

Side View of Prayer's Stretch

The next stretch is for your back. After a few weeks, my back tends to get really tight which allows for several knots and kinks to appear. In order to release this tension, I do the prayer stretch. Many of you have probably heard of it before, since it is a popular yoga stretch. You want to make sure that you are doing it on a soft surface, so there isn't any pressure on your knees. The first thing to do is to get down on your knees and then drop your tailbone down to the ground. Next you will reach your hands out as far as you can in front of you and press down. You can try reaching your hands to the different sides as well for a good stretch on the sides of your back. I would recommend to do this stretch whenever your back is feeling tight.

Front View of Prayer's Stretch
Photo Courtesy of: Me

Shoulders


The shoulders are probably one of the most injury-prone areas on one's body. They are very complex and take a while to heal without proper care. I wouldn't recommend doing too much for your shoulders, for if they really start to hurt, you should go see a physical therapist (the link is a physical therapy place that I attend sometimes). I have plenty of experience from previous shoulder injuries from swimming, and they are not fun to deal with! A stretch that I would say helps a little is the double triangle. For me, it seems to release some of the tension, and hopefully it does for you, too! You can do this stretch either kneeling, sitting, or standing. Basically, you put the back side of each of your hands against your back and press. You should feel a stretch in the crease between your two shoulder muscles.

Double Triangle Stretch
Photo Courtesy of: Me

Well, I hope that this helped you in some way, shape, or form! Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!