Completing a test before starting a new sport can help you understand your basic ability to control your body and avoid dangerous and inefficient movements.
If you can pass the activity and stability test of the previous period, ordinary daily activities will not be a problem for you. However, before you try a larger, more intense exercise, you also need to get a more complete picture of your abilities through the following three tests:
Lift your knees on one leg
The basis of most sports
Most sports have moments when one foot lands on the ground and the other is in the air, such as running, dancing, or playing ball. This requires the body to have a comprehensive ability to align and maintain stability with one foot support.
If this test fails, continue to land on a single leg with high impact (such as jumping or stepping) or repeating a number of exercises (such as running), resulting in an increased risk of injury such as knee pain or low back pain due to deformed movements.
When testing, the heel is half a foot away from the door frame behind the body, and the rod is carried in the middle behind the body, one palm presses the rod forward and behind the neck, and the other palm presses backwards behind the waist, so that the rod is pressed close to the head, back and hips. When standing well, the pole should be basically vertical to the ground.
Next, the right leg supports the body, slowly lift the left thigh to the parallel ground and then fall back smoothly, changing to the other side for testing.
■ Pass the test criteria: the entire take-off and landing process is smooth, the torso and lower limbs are not significantly shaken, the rod is still close to the head, back and hips, and basically vertical to the ground.
If the left thigh cannot be lifted to parallel ground, it is mainly due to insufficient flexion of the left hip joint; the movement of raising the leg requires extra care to deform, such as raising the leg in place.
■ When the leg is raised, the rod leaves the head, hips, or touches the waist, which may be a lack of core stability or control. Doing other strides is likely to bend over, such as running and jumping, easy to hurt the waist and difficult to exert force, which is a problem that needs to be corrected as soon as possible.
■ The rod is still close to the head, back and hips, but the entire upper half leans forward, and the pole touches the door frame behind you. Suggests flexing the hip joint when lifting the leg, which is more laborious and more prone to low back pain.
■ The body is obviously shaking, and the right foot lands on the ground before doing the action, indicating that the overall balance and stability are insufficient. During high-intensity exercise, movements are likely to deform, thereby increasing the risk of injury.
Then put the rod across the shoulder and observe the action from the front.
■ When lifting the left foot, the body can be moved a little laterally to the right, but the rod should be basically parallel to the ground, and the hip, knee, and ankle joints are on the plane of the vertical door frame.
■ The rod is pronounced high on one side and low on the other, usually due to pelvic tilt, suggesting insufficient stability of the lumbar or hip joint.
The bending and forward leaning of the body seen from the side before were instability in the front and back directions (sagittal surface), and now the tilt seen from the front is in the left and right directions (crown surface), which is also a problem unique to single-leg movements.
When lifting one foot, the body is re-aligned to the other foot to maintain balance, which requires the waist, abdomen, hip, knees, and ankles to work together, and if the left and right directions cannot be maintained, these areas may have problems.
■ The hip, knee, and ankle planes are not vertical or aligned, and similar deformations may occur when doing other actions, making the movement dangerous and inefficient.
Raise your hand over your head
Shoulder joints are risky
As long as the hand is lifted above the head, the shoulder is easy to be uncomfortable, such as lifting the dumbbell over the head, waving the racket overhead, and swimming freestyle at a long distance.
If there is a problem with the shoulder joint, one is that some movements cannot be done or is laborious; the second is that the power around the shoulder joint is unbalanced, which may cause damage to weak parts and lead to shoulder pain; third, other parts may be too active to compensate for shoulder stiffness, making people shoulder and neck pain or low back pain. If you fail the following two tests, even if the pain is not obvious for the time being, you need to improve it in time.
Stand up straight before testing the shoulder joint and position the head and torso, otherwise the forward extension and hunchback of the head will affect the movement of the shoulder.
Two fists close together
The first movement tests shoulder range of motion, including the ability to rotate front and back, left and right, and if the fists are far apart, it indicates insufficient range of motion.
Hold your thumb in the remaining four fingers, extend the palm of your right fist forward from the back of your neck as far down as possible, while the palm of your left fist extends backwards from the back of your waist upwards, and the two fists are gently close to each other, determining the closest distance and changing to the other side.
■ Pass the test criteria: the distance between both sides is within the length of one hand (from the fingertip to the wrist stripe), and the difference between the two sides is not large.
■ The result of putting your hand on your back and moving it hard does not count, and should be placed in place at one time.
Regarding the difference between the two sides, the right hand usually has lower right shoulder mobility than the left shoulder (individual sports will make the dominant side more active, such as throwing). However, if the two sides are very different, there will be an imbalance in doing a double-sided push-and-pull action, such as raising both hands above the head.
The left shoulder has lower range of motion than the right, and the rod is skewed when lifted upwards
Shoulder pain is not painful
If you experience shoulder pain in the test below, it may be that you have developed subacromial impact syndrome, a very common cause of shoulder pain.
At this time, it is best to pause the action of lifting the heavy object over the head or lifting it, so as not to aggravate the damage to the tendons of the shoulder and even lead to tears. Then, in time to determine the cause of pain, under the guidance of professionals to add targeted training to improve pain and shoulder function.
Place the palm of your right hand on your left shoulder during the test, raise your right elbow as close to your face as possible, and keep your right hand in contact with your left shoulder, then switch to the other side.
■ Pass the test standard: no pain during the take-off and landing process.
Squats versus one-legged squats
The hardest basic moves
The first four tests are required for daily life and various sports, and squats and single-legged squats are mainly used for exercises with similar movements.
Over-top squats
Although few people in life need to squat, similar movements have a high status and frequency in training. Weight-bearing squats are the basic actions to improve the strength of the lower limbs, and squatting with empty hands is also a common action in various exercises.
If you practice squats from time to time, you must first ensure that the movements are correct, otherwise the greater the weight of the squat, the more times it is repeated, the greater the risk of injury, and the stronger the wrong movement. People who don't practice squats can also find some potential problems through this test.
Stand one foot behind the door frame, feet shoulder-width apart, tiptoeing forward. First place the rod on the top of your head, adjust the distance between your hands so that the size of the arm is 90°, then straighten your elbow and lift the pole to the top of your head, keep your heels on the ground, and crouch to the lowest possible position before standing up.
■ Criteria for passing the test: when squatting to the lowest, the rod does not touch the front door frame, it is best to keep it above the head; the torso is basically parallel to the calf, the thigh is below the horizontal plane, and the foot is not off the ground.
■During take-off and landing, the knees and toes are always facing forward
■The knee is facing the inside of the toe (knee buckle), which may hurt the knee
■ The rod touches the door frame, and the problem may be in the chest and shoulders or waist and abdomen. If the shoulder test also fails, it indicates insufficient range of motion in the shoulder or thoracic spine, causing the arm to fall forward.
If the hand change on the chest can be perfectly squatted, the squat action can continue to be done, and the chest and shoulders can be improved at the same time.
You can continue practicing squats without raising your hands above your head.
■ Bending over or leaning forward excessively on the upper body suggests that the core is stable or the movement control ability is insufficient.
At this time, it is not suitable to continue practicing squats, one is that it is easy to be injured when squatting, and the other is that it is easy to develop bad habits and bring them to other sports.
■ Lifting the heel off the ground, sliding outward, or turning may indicate poor movement control or may indicate insufficient ankle range of motion.
If you usually stand at a wider distance or your toes are slightly pointing outward, and you can squat well in this standing posture, you can continue to practice squatting. However, if you still raise your heels after adjusting your standing posture, it is easy to be injured if you continue to squat like this.
Squat on one leg
If the previous one-leg knee lift can be done well, those one-legged movements with less impact are safer, such as walking or ellipses. However, sports with high impact are more demanding, such as running or jumping and landing on one leg, and it is safer to have a certain amount of strength.
Stand facing the mirror, put your hands on your waist, lift one foot, and then crouch as low as possible before standing up.
■ Passed the test standard: during the whole process, the shoulders and the hips are connected to the ground basically parallel, and the knees are facing forward without significant shaking.
As for the depth of the squat, under the premise of ensuring the correct action, the deeper the squat means the stronger the ability, if you can finally squat to the side of the foot to gently touch the knee and then stand up smoothly, it is very good.
■ If there is a twist and deformation of the shoulder, waist, pelvis, and knee areas, it is difficult for the body to maintain a correct posture when the pressure is high. Continuing to run for long distances, frequent jumping and landing, and making emergencies and stopping may cause similar movement deformations and cause injuries.
The test is all over here, what did you not pass?
These problems were found not to stop exercise, but to suggest that your abilities need to be replenished, and some movements need to be adjusted so that future exercise can be longer, more effective, and more enjoyable.
Finally, there is a summary of some common exercises or basic abilities required for movements, and comparing our own exercises, we begin to improve these problems in the next period.
Note: The pictures in this article are provided by the author
Basic motor ability is the basis of all sports, and supplementation can improve the safety and performance of individuals doing related sports; but the performance gap between people does not originate entirely from this, but also related to technology, cardiopulmonary function, etc
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Author: Dai Tian Doctor
EDIT: odette
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