14 Oct 2022 BY Katrina Tarrant POSTED IN Exercise, Physiotherapy, Pilates, Pregnancy

Muscle strengthening in Pilates : move slow, grow strong

I adore moving slowly, especially in a mindful movement class like Pilates reformer or my mat classes. The same can be said for weights at the gym. Moving slowly feels safe and it feels really good. The after effects are huge in the days that follow, but why do slow movements work so well? There are many great reasons why slow movements are used in muscle strengthening.

💪Training slow brings your muscles to exhaustion by keeping them loaded throughout the movement. This is called 'time under tension' (TUT).

💪Using a slow weighted movement to fatigue produces greater increases in rates of muscle protein synthesis than the same movement performed rapidly.

💪Lifting with a slower tempo, when controlled for the same relative load, increases the total energy required and improves your metabolic function.

💪Slow movements reduce your injury risk, requiring better awareness of technique and movement patterns. Making any needed changes here are more possible than when moving explosively or quickly.

💪Slow movements in each direction ask much more of your smaller supporting and postural muscles. These important stabilisers to all of our movements can really benefit with gains in strength and endurance with slower movements.

💪 Slower, controlled movements are often used to stimulate muscle hypertrophy or growth, while faster, uncontrolled movements are typically employed to develop strength and muscle power.

So, learn to move a little slower within parts of your gym, Pilates or boot camp classes and routines.

#strength #musclestrength #strengthtraining #thefixprogram #thefixprogramsydney #thefixprogramonline

07 Oct 2022 BY Katrina Tarrant POSTED IN Exercise, Physiotherapy

Oestrogen, menopause and muscles

Oestrogen, the female hormone, plays a huge role in the body of every woman. It's levels are always changing throughout the life cycle of a woman, with the monthly menstrual cycle, decreases during peri-menopause and beyond, and it's manipulation through a woman's life with the oral contraceptive pill and HRT. We also know that it is clearly beneficial for muscle mass and strength in the training athlete and everyday exerciser.

Here are some cool facts to ponder from the research, especially if you are trying to build muscle strength and are in the menopausal period of life.

💋 Muscle mass, and therefore strength, is largely dependent on the balance between the synthesis and degradation of muscle protein when stimulated through exercise or load.

💋 Higher rates of muscle protein synthesis and breakdown have been observed in these women when compared to age matched men and pre-menopausal women (Smith et al., 2014). There appears to be an imbalance between the protein build-up and breakdown, leading to a shift to the latter and a rapid decrease in muscle mass and strength.

💋 When oestrogen levels were raised to that of pre-menopausal women using estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), the response to the muscle protein synthesis and overall muscle mass was normalized (Hansen et al., 2012).

💋 ERT or HRT is therefore beneficial for peri- and postmenopausal muscle mass and function. Combined with exercise, improvements in muscle mass and function have been shown to be more beneficial than HRT ( or exercise) alone.(Beydoun et al., 2012)

Training smarter and chatting with your GP about the right oestrogen replacement for you, will get you feeling stronger, less vulnerable to injury or frailty, and achieving those goals!

#muscle #musclestrength #musclemass #perimenopause #menopause #menopausemuscles #oetrogen #ERT #HRT #thefixprogram #thefixprogramonline #thefixprogramsydney #physio #pilates

29 Sep 2022 BY Katrina Tarrant POSTED IN Back Pain, Exercise, Physiotherapy, Pilates

Simple postural awareness : The shoulder blades and upper back

When it comes to good shoulder function, upper back posture and a content neck, it all comes down to the work across your upper back and shoulder blade support muscles. We call this 'scapular stability.' When your shoulder blades (or scapulae) are supported with the right muscles and in the correct alignment, everything up there in the top of your body just works well and in balance.This can alleviate pain and injury, with everything from neck pain and tension, headaches, rib and upper back complaints, shoulder impingement, rotator cuff and biceps tendon issues and upper limb nerve pain.

Let's keep the shoulder blade and 'scapular stability' awareness super simple.

✅ Imagine your shoulder blades sitting on your upper back. You want to feel that they are gently widened and sitting flat upon your back (not winging or sticking sharply off your back). You could imagine them sitting into their little 'pockets' like you would picture your bum pockets on your jeans.

✅ Like the image in this post, the pockets on your jeans sit slightly splayed away from each other, just as your shoulder blades should also sit.

✅ You will feel a little work across the upper back - this is excellent and exactly what is required to endure your scapular stability throughout your day.

✅ Also notice that your chest at the front is gently widened.

❎ We do NOT want to squeeze the shoulder blades 'back and down.' This creates a dropped shoulder posture, inefficient and non-ideal shoulder movement, pulling on the neck and an over worked or over active "back gripping" posture strategy. Not good end results at all.

#posturalawareness #scapularstability #mindfulposture #shoulderposture #happyshoulders #shoulderalignment #upperback #exercise #pilates #clinicalpilates #thefixprogram #thefixprogramonline #physiotherapy #physio #pictureworthathousandwords

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The Fix Program Blog

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Physiotherapy, Pilates exercise and Pregnancy Physio

Muscle strengthening in Pilates : move slow, grow strong

Oestrogen, menopause and muscles

Simple postural awareness : The shoulder blades and upper back

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