I've spent the last 10 years working with a variety of athletes in east London. Everyone from runners from Hackney to triathletes from Tower Hamlets. Cyclists from Stratford and footballers from Walthamstow have come through our doors with the aim of recovering from sport related injuries and getting advice to help reduce the chances of them being re-injured. Results have been second to none but many's the time I've been accused me of doing strength routines which are not very creative or unchanging (or both).
There's a good reason for this. The 'boring' old exercises work and if they work why change them? To be honest I've never found weightlifting particularly exciting or adrenaline inducing, I don't get the rush I get from a competition or team sport, lifting weights, for me, is simply a means to an end. I don't do strength training for any other reason than to give my body the best possible chance of working well into old age. I want to be able to continue doing the cardio based stuff I love, fingers crossed I'll still be climbing and doing parkrun for a few more years yet.
Any exercise is good and most of it will have some level of benefit, but as a rule of thumb the more complicated an exercise is the less I like it. Complex machines with whistles and springs very rarely replicate the bodies natural way of moving and they often take pressure away from the joints and bones, this can be helpful when rehabbing from acute trauma, for example leg press is good for working the quads if you can't weight bear due to a broken ankle from a nasty fall from the mile end climbing wall or while running around hackney marshes. But if you're not injured then you should be putting pressure on the joints and the bones. The body needs this pressure to stimulate repair and minimise degenerative change.
Exercises using elastic bands for shoulders and wrists can be helpful for the early stages of rehab, but for preventative exercise nothing beats putting heavy weights through the joints in a controlled manner. Back squats and deadlifts, bench press, split squats and overhead squats cover most of the main muscle groups and weight bearing joints such as the ankles, knees, hips and sacroiliac joints. Pull-ups, push-ups and box jumps add some traction and explosive action using just your bodyweight, working through muscles such as the lats which many atheletes just don't engage enough, if you play tennis or paddle it's easy to not switch on some of these core muscles and instead overuse the rotator cuff muscles, and we all know how that ends.
These few 'classic' exercises done well and regularly will strengthen the main muscle groups and improve bone density as well as strengthening the joints and therefore making arthritis less likely to cut your sporting career short.
Strength training should be simple and enjoyable and I would far rather stick to the same few proven exercises and focus on good form and increasing the weight, reps and range of movement rather than trying to master complex new machines and moves every few weeks.
If you're an athlete based in East London and want to know know more about how strength training can help you to recover from strained ligament or tendon injuries or simply deal with the issues around chronic osteoarthritis just book a session today.