December_Pulse12 11/14/12 4:20 PM Page 51
4.
How can the spa and fitness community help
to spread effective and safe weight training
practices?
I’m a big believer in the whole spa community. Spas should
be about relaxation and finding your balance, [and] it should
also be about making your body work better [which is why]
kinetic chain strengthening is hugely valuable. With good
education, good instructor technique and having sports
doctors, like myself, teach classes, [the spa community] can
find different ways to keep the industry involved and interface
with the medical community.
“I’m a huge believer in having
a massage twice a month
and even more often when
you are training hard. This goes
for athletes of all types. A good
massage is one more way to
help keep your muscles supple
and less prone to injury.”
5.
Do you see any new trends in physical fitness?
This whole concept of kinetic chain and boot camp classes is
really catching on. The [kinetic chain] concept has helped
change the way we see weight training. We used to think of
weight training as [a fitness activity] for guys looking like
Arnold Schwarzenegger doing weights, that’s not true
anymore. [Weight training] is now for people of all ages and
sizes, and the benefits are across the spectrum. And I’m
happy very to see that. ■
WHAT IS KINETIC CHAIN?
Kinetic chain is the interrelatedness of all the muscles in
your body. The stronger those muscles are, the less prone
you are to injury.
Common Sports-related Injuries
Injury
Prevention
Tendonitis
Make the muscles stronger.
Arthritis
Recognize what type of arthritis and
reduce the symptoms.
Stress Fractures
Figure out why bone density is low.
10 Ways to Make Your
Kinetic Chain Work Better
In his book The Athlete’s Book of Home Remedies, Dr. Jordan
Metzl offers medical and practical ways to achieve total body
fitness and prevent injury.
EXERCISE EVERY DAY. “I look at daily exercise as a healthy
addiction. We have such an obesity problem in this country,
and so many obesity-related health issues are treated after
they happen as opposed to being prevented in the first place.”
FORGET BICEPS AND ABS. “Total-body conditioning takes
into account your vanity muscles, but also all the supporting
muscles that are even more important to having proper
kinetic chain function and remaining injury-free.”
DO PLYOMETRICS AND INTERVALS. “This gives you more
athletic ability, prevents overuse injuries, and keeps your body
from becoming a one-trick pony.
FOR MORE of Dr. Metzl’s ways to strengthen the kinetic chain,
visit digital Pulse on experienceispa.com. He offers some great
advice, including the benefits of Tabata Interval Training.
December 2012
■
PULSE 51