AFSP: Strengthen Your Body to Support Your Walk

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Fitness Advice to Help You Get Through 20 miles!!

Certified Health and Fitness Specialist Lily Martin, MS, ACSM-HFI, CSCS, is the Official Stretcher of the Out of the Darkness Overnight. Following are her insights on training for the big event.

Now, we all know that endurance is a big part of being able to walk for 20 miles. But, what you may not know is that strength training is key to giving you that sustained energy that helps keep you pain free..

If I could give you one bit of advice on how to effectively strengthen your body, it would be to strengthen the back of your body. That means your entire back – from the lats, to the glutes (butt) to the hamstrings.

Now, when your back gets cranky, you probably think all you need is a good stretch – or even a back message. However, this is not the case. Just think - almost every activity you take part (be it sitting, walking, pushing, etc) is in the forward motion. This means that gravity is continuously pushing down on your spine and back muscles. All of this forward motion causes your muscles to become long and weak. Therefore it is important to have a strong back to sustain the length of this walk and more importantly – to deal with the everyday stresses of life.

I have included some exercises that will do just that – and maybe more! Most likely, the muscles in the front of your body such as your chest and thighs are tight and short. We need to reverse this. We need to stretch the front of your body (chest and quads) and strengthen the back of your body. Remember: Strengthen the Back, Lengthen the Front.

Walking Techniques

Keep your body upright with your shoulder blades back and down.
Begin to become aware of the center of your body. Keep your entire torso -from the bottom of the sternum to the pelvis, gently stiff and braced.
You should feel the energy coming from your hips as they gently go from side to side. Practice squeezing your glutes as you walk and fire them first, not just walk forward from the thighs or hip flexors (think of yourself as walking down the catwalk).
Heel to toe with your gait. Plant heel first, middle of the foot and off from the toes, trying to imagine showing the soles of your feet to the person behind you.
BREATHE! Practice diaphragmatic breathing. That means breathing through your nose, filling your abdominal cavity with air, and exhaling through pursed lips all the while gently pulling in your abdominals.
Stop and stretch during a long walk: your thighs by bringing your heels to your glutes; torso by twisting gently side to side; lower back by bending forward from the hip keeping the back flat & torso stiff through several repetitions; reaching up and backward with the arms through a forward wide lunge; side torso stretch by brining one arm up and reaching to the sky to the side.
Ever so often try walking sideways while concentrating on your hips; backwards, concentrating on your glutes. (Just be careful walking backwards—walk with a partner!) This is to keep your lower body strength well-rounded.

So, with every chance you get walk, do some of these exercises in between walking breaks. It will help bring blood flow and energy to much needed muscles of the back. Several of them can be done standing. If you have a gym near you, try to do basic strength exercises on the days you don’t walk such as: the row, lat pull down, leg press, pull ups with assistance and squats. Think about engaging and squeezing the muscles you are trying to work at the time-don’t just blankly do the movement.

Strengthening Excercises to Build Your Back, Core, Glutes and Hamstrings

Quadriped

Opposite arm to opposite leg. (Can be done standing). On all fours, bring one arm out and the opposite leg out, keeping your body in total alignment. Energy should come from the abdominal cavity. Keep the torso braced and stiff. Keep head in alignment with the spine (not shown in picture). Exhale as you extend your limbs out. Inhale as you bring your hand in to touch the opposite knee. Do about 15 reps each side or until fatigue. You should not feel the pressure in the lower back. Keep it in the core. Squeeze the glute a bit as you bring the leg upward and press the heel back. Imagine extending your spine as you reach the arm forward.

Pelvic Lift

Starting Position: Lie on your back on a table or flat surface. Make sure your feet are flat on the surface and your knees are bent. As you keep knees apart, bring your arms extended by your side (as shown in next picture). Neck and shoulders are relaxed.

Action: Lift your hips/butt off the ground by just a few inches. Push through the heels to engage the glutes. Maintain this position for 3-5 seconds. Lower your buttocks to the floor. Keep the contraction in the glutes as you bring your hips down. You should not feel the lower back. If you do, don’t lift up as high and make sure you are bringing the energy from the glutes. Do as many until you feel fatigue in the glutes. Do not hold your breath. And remember to exhale upon exertion (meaning upon lifting). Keep the core gently pulled in. For more challenge put feet on a stability pad or ball.

One Leg Pelvic Lift

Same as above but with one knee bent while the other leg is straight parallel to the bent leg. This exercise allows us to increase hip and pelvic stability. Now, lift bent leg off the ground with the other extended straight leg parallel to the bent leg. Push through the heel of the foot on the ground to squeeze the glutes. Again, return to the starting position slowly, keeping the contraction in the glute. Repeat with the other leg after doing several reps on one side. Be sure to keep your hips neutral and aligned; do not let one tilt downward while the other is up. Keep the core set. Turn neck, shoulders and lower back off.

Cat and Camel

Starting Position: This is a good motion exercise to gain active flexibility/mobility in the back. Kneel down on the floor and assume an "all-four's" position. Can be done standing as well with your hands on your thighs keeping the back flat.

Action: Slowly allow your trunk to sag so that your back is arched and your butt sticks out. Do not pull it down, but let it relax as you lift up your face towards the ceiling Then round your back up at the waist as far as you can by keeping the abdominal wall muscleslightly braced, as you lower the top of your head toward the floor. All motion should be initiated from the entire spine. Keep the action slowly moving through a comfortable range of motion and please be sure to breathe throughout the movement. Do about 8-10 movements.

Seated Rows

CAN ALSO BE DONE WITH A THERA BAND.
If you don’t have one, then simply squeeze your shoulder blades together, hold for 5 secs, do about 20 and you will feel the burn!
Sit at a pulley / cable system or row machine.
Keep back aligned and upright, core gently in.
Grasp row handle with both hands.
Bring shoulder blades back and down before you start. Pull handles to mid-chest, keeping elbows close to body as you squeeze the shoulder blades back and down.
Concentrate on using the lats during this exercise for both the backward and forward movements.
Return to the start position and repeat several times. Make sure to have a challenging weight to do no more than 15x reps per set.

Wide Squats

Stand with feet wider than hip distance apart.
Toes should be slightly pointed outward and aligned with knees.
Hold a weight under the chin, resting on clavicles (or practice without a weight)
Back is flat and aligned.
Squat down until thighs are almost parallel with floor while moving buttocks backward, similar to beginning to sit in a chair.
Knees are BEHIND toes when lowering.
Keep chest upright and proud. DO NOT bend forward too much as you squat down.
Upon lifting up, squeeze and engage your glutes.
Return to start and repeat several times. Exhale upon lifting. Breathe in going down

Static Full Lunges

Hold a 15-lb weight under chin, or no weight at all—it’s tough enough.
Back is aligned and core is on.
Step forward, bending both knees to 90 degrees as shown.
Rear knee should almost touch the floor upon lowering.
Stay in a static moving position until fatigue. Make sure you push though the heel of the forward leg to engage the glute.
Switch legs after a short break. Be careful not to feel it in your knees!

Hip Abduction

You don’t necessarily need an ankle weight. Simply follow the motion of this picture.
Move leg outward, keeping knee straight.
Stabilize on standing leg from the glute and concentrate on moving from the side of the hip of the moving leg.
Return to start position and repeat to fatigue.
Switch sides. This is a great way to strengthen the hips