5 typical causes of pain and how to train for them

Carpal tunnel syndrome (carpal tunnel syndrome)
Pain in the fingers due to a trapped nerve (a consequence of injury, arthritis, etc.) weakens the grip, preventing you from doing bench presses and pulling exercises.

Try the following:

1. Relax the hand

You don’t have to exert any pressure on the grip: you can easily and painlessly perform bench presses and biceps raises by loosening your grip slightly. Working weights will fall but it’s better than nothing.

Of course, this advice does not apply to exercises where you lift the apparatus above you (and may drop it on yourself), such as the bench press. Switch to other variations of the bench press.

2. use an open grip

Since pain most often affects the thumb, don’t use it at all in the pulls of the block trainer – fold the rest into a ‘hook’ and cling to the grip with it. Of course, you will have to decrease weight again, but you will be able to do it without any pain.

3 Squeeze with the palms of your hands

I usually find palm press exercises, such as push-ups, planks, muzzle-down dog, etc. helpful for my clients with tunnel syndrome. Every person is different and it may not work for some, but some people notice a reduction in pain after these exercises.

Chronic lower back pain
A very common condition that can be caused by a variety of reasons. Be sure to avoid exercises that make it worse for you, no matter how anyone advertises them.

1. Keep your back straight (with natural curves, i.e. neutral position)

Prefer movements in which you don’t have to lean forward or sideways, rotate your body. I prescribe my clients sit-ups, upper and lower block presses, seated biceps raises, lateral raises and similar exercises.

I forbid the following:

  • Standing bicep raises. It overloads your lower back, although you can try it by the wall with your back against it.
  • Any exercises with body turn or tilt. You can use any training apparatus, or harnesses – lower back is not good enough as it is, so do not force yourself.
  • dsStanding press. Many people unknowingly stretch upwards, squeezing the bar above their heads. Do not stretch spine under load, this can increase pain.

2. Strengthen the body stabilisers (“cor”).

This both improves posture (and health) and helps progress in other exercises. A review of studies suggests the benefits of ‘bark’ training for chronic low back pain. The key, of course, is to do it right.

My clients find the following helpful:

Farmer’s walk with weights in both hands and one arm
Pellof press and other “anti-rotation” exercises

One-arm low block pull
Arm and leg raising on all fours (Bird dog) 3.

3 Be careful with the ‘big’ exercises.

If you have been training for a long time and you know very well the lifting and squatting techniques you may continue doing them; for beginners with backache I forbid such things. Categorically.
Start with shortened range of motion, for example lifting weights from bench or box (but not straight off the floor). If your lower back recovers – drop it straight away, do not reach paralysis.

Knee pains
The causes of these pains are equally varied: they can be overloaded by too much weight, sports injuries, age-related changes, osteoarthritis etc.

This is where exercise comes in handy again – working out the muscles that surround the knee joint improves its health (here are studies 1, 2). But many people don’t understand how you can pump your legs with knee pain.

Try the following:

1. Do leg flexion on the machine (but not extension)

Some people think that leg curls are bad for healthy knees as well. Although I do not belong to such people, if you have knee pain, leg extensions are definitely not suitable. The biomechanics of the movement is such that it only worsens arthritis.

Flexion is an entirely different matter. Some clients are apprehensive about it at first, but once they have tried it, they are surprised to find that it does not cause pain.

2. Work the hips

If you only have problems with your knees and your lower back is OK, then include exercises that work your hips, not your knees.

Sometimes the cause of knee problems is weakness of the pelvic girdle muscles; certain exercises for them can even reduce pain in the knee joint. That’s why I do such clients with leg-positions (on machines, blocks or harnesses), hyperextensions, even straight legged standing and swing. Although in the latter the leg is slightly bent at the knee, in many people this movement does not cause problems. Squats and lunges are of course forbidden for the time being.

3. Swing your glutes.

Different variants of bridges (with or without load) work not only gluteals and biceps, but also quadriceps. And no patient has ever complained of knee pain while doing them.

Pain in hip joints

As in the case of the knee joint, the condition of the suffering hip joint can be improved by exercising the muscles of the pelvic girdle.

Try the following:

1. Relax your hand

There’s no need to squeeze the grip as you can easily and painlessly perform block and biceps raises by loosening your grip slightly. Working weights will fall but it’s better than nothing.

Of course, this advice does not apply to exercises where you lift the apparatus above you (and may drop it on yourself), such as the bench press. Switch to other variations of the bench press.

2. use an open grip

Since pain most often affects the thumb, don’t use it at all in the pulls of the block trainer – fold the rest into a ‘hook’ and cling to the grip with it. Of course, you will have to decrease weight again, but you will be able to pull without suffering.

3 Squeeze with the palms of your hands

I usually find palm press exercises, such as push-ups, planks, muzzle-down dog, etc. helpful for my clients with tunnel syndrome. Every person is different and it may not work for some, but some people notice a reduction in pain after these exercises.

Chronic lower back pain
A very common condition that can be caused by a variety of reasons. Be sure to avoid exercises that make it worse for you, no matter how anyone advertises them.

1. Keep your back straight (with natural curves, i.e. neutral position)

Prefer movements in which you don’t have to lean forward or sideways, rotate your body. I prescribe my clients sit-ups, upper and lower block presses, seated biceps raises, lateral raises and similar exercises.

I forbid the following:

  • Standing bicep raises. It overloads your lower back, although you can try it by the wall with your back against it.
  • Any exercises with body turn or tilt. You can use any training apparatus, or harnesses – lower back is not good enough as it is, so do not force yourself.
  • Standing press. Many people unknowingly stretch upwards, squeezing the bar above their heads. Do not stretch the spine under load, this can increase the pain.

2. Strengthen the body stabilisers (“cor”)

This both improves posture (and health) and helps progress in other exercises. A review of studies suggests the benefits of ‘bark’ training for chronic lower back pain. The key, of course, is to do it right.

My clients find the following helpful:

Farmer’s walk with weights in both hands and one arm
Pellof press and other “anti-rotation” exercises

One-arm low block pull
Arm and leg raising on all fours (Bird dog) 3.

3 Be careful with the ‘big’ exercises.

If you have been training for a long time and you know very well the lifting and squatting techniques you may continue doing them; for beginners with backache I forbid such things. Categorically.
Start with shortened range of motion, for example lifting weights from bench or box (but not straight off the floor). If your lower back recovers – drop it straight away, do not reach paralysis.

Knee pains
The causes of these pains are equally varied: they can be overloaded by too much weight, sports injuries, age-related changes, osteoarthritis etc.

This is where exercise comes in handy again – working out the muscles that surround the knee joint improves its health (here are studies 1, 2). But many people don’t understand how you can pump your legs with knee pain.

Try the following:

1. Do leg flexion on an exerciser (but not extension)

Some people think that leg curls are bad for healthy knees as well. Although I do not belong to such people, if you have knee pain, leg extensions are definitely not suitable. The biomechanics of the movement is such that it only worsens arthritis.

Flexion is an entirely different matter. Some clients are apprehensive about it at first, but once they have tried it, they are surprised to find that it does not cause pain.

2. Work the hips

If you only have problems with your knees and your lower back is OK, then include exercises that work your hips, not your knees.

Sometimes the cause of knee problems is weakness of the pelvic girdle muscles; certain exercises for them can even reduce pain in the knee joint. That’s why I do such clients with leg-positions (on machines, blocks or harnesses), hyperextensions, even straight legged standing and swing. Although in the latter the leg is slightly bent at the knee, in many people this movement does not cause problems. Squats and lunges are of course forbidden for the time being.

3. Swing your glutes.

Different variants of bridges (with or without load) work not only gluteals and biceps, but also quadriceps. None of the patients have ever complained of knee pain while doing them.

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