Yay! It looks like spring is arriving in State College, PA.  Sunday was the first nice day we have seen in a long time and I happen to know that many of you took advantage of it to get outside and begin working on your gardens.  I know this because I overheard a few of you grumbling about being sore.  I actually heard one client trying to persuade his trainer to come help him!

I thought it might be a good time to re-visit this concept of S.A.I.D (specific adaptations to imposed demands).  As a former gymnast, I understand this concept quite well.  If I wanted to master my back flip on the balance beam, I needed to practice progressions of back flips on the balance beam.  My feet needed to be set 4” wide, my arm swing needed to stay tight to my body, my hips couldn’t rotate…you get the idea.

Below is a link to an article I wrote for the American Chiropractic News.  In it you will see former trainer Mandie Buxton demonstrating two exercises (bent leg deadlift, forward reaching lunge).  I think it is important to note the range of motion.  She is using very light weight and she is getting low to the ground; much like the imposed demands of gardening. Often we select movement patterns like these to use in the movement prep part of a client’s program.  I would encourage all you gardeners to work with your trainers and challenge the depth you lower your body to as you perform these motions.

Finally, you have heard us speaking about the importance of using recovery and regeneration techniques to help avoid muscle soreness. This article provides two excellent exercises to help reset the body and minimize the musculoskeletal overuse abuse (wow, that’s a mouthful!) of gardening.