Power Up Your Workout
By Karen Karvonen

More than 15 years ago, Finnish national champion open weight lifter Sieja Hackl hurt her shoulder during a snatch.  “I kind of snatched over and didn’t let the grip go, and it pulled my shoulder out,” says Hackl.

Fortunately, Hackl’s injury did not end her career.  She went on to break two master’s world records and win American, Scandinavian and European championships.  But now, she is extra careful not to move her body out of alignment, which always puts athletes at risk of injury.

If can be harder for some women to stay aligned because their joints may be looser and less stable (ligamentous laxity) than men’s, according to Rockville, Maryland- based sports chiropractor Dr. Steven Horwitz.  Because of this, he says, they can move their joints beyond the normal range of motion into unsafe conditions and possible injury.  Dr. Horwitz, a class winner at the 2000 100% RAW World Powerlifting Championship, says proper form and techniques is essential – it not only protects the joints, but also improves performance because the forces applied to the joints are balanced.

Lat Lowdown
“One woman I worked with on her lat pulldowns was pulling the bar clear down past her breasts instead of to the top of the collarbone or pecs,” says Dr. Stephen Clark, a Los Angeles-based, board-certified orthopedic physical therapist and CEO of Athletic Physical Therapy.  “She was overtaxing her joints and ligaments by focusing more on flexibility than strengthening her muscles,” he says.  Pulling the bar behind your neck can harm the shoulder joint.  Dr. Clark suggests you pull the bar in front of you to the top of the collarbone or pecs.
           
A common error, notes Dr. Horwitz, when doing bench presses and bicep curls is to allow your head to move forward and your shoulders to round forward.  It can cause problems in the neck, middle back and shoulders, including rotator cuff syndrome.  His solution: Retract your shoulder blades before you lift (scapular retraction).  Squeeze them together back and down to make a V and maintain that posture during your exercise. 

Shoulder Sense
It’s a posture Patience Baldwin now practices faithfully in the weight room after hurting her right shoulder several months ago.  “When you round your shoulders, it doesn’t five them much room in that socket, but when you bring them together it creates more room,” says Baldwin, who was third in the Clean and Jerk and fourth overall at the 2005 National Weightlifting Championships.
           
To strengthen her rotator cuff muscles, Baldwin works with resistance stretch bands.  She warms up with plyometrics and agility work, then stretches her upper body completely before and after lifting.

Knee Know-how
Another common misalignment that can create problems for lifters is in the hips and knees.  “A women’s wider pelvis can create that knock-kneed position, that places greater force on the inside of the knees,” says Dr. Clark.  Coupled with a woman’s greater flexibility this can cause hyperextension or over flexion during knee extensions.

To relieve this greater force, Dr. Edward Laskowski, co director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, suggests adjusting the machine or our technique to avoid the last fine to 10 degrees of extension of flexion greater than 60 degrees so you legs remain slightly bent and not fully extended.  Don’t lock your knees of move your legs in -short up-and-down range-of-motion exercises.  Moving the pad up on the lower leg toward the knee will also reduce knee stress.  It’s also important to keep your knees positioned correctly when working on machines.  One of Dr. Clark’s patients developed patellofemoral syndrome by placing her feet low and wide apart while keeping her knees closed together on the leg press.  Your best bet is to keep your knees in line with your ankles at 90 degrees.

Pec Power
To get a more challenging workout with the chest press, grasp the vertical handles instead of the horizontal ones with your palms facing each other, keeping your elbows beside your body.  Your pecs will work harder because you can’t recruit as much shoulder muscle to push the weight forward.

Triceps Trick
Switching to a rope will add a greater challenge to your cable triceps push-down, as will modifying the arm pads and seat on the triceps extension machine.  Adjust the height of the arm pads and seat until you are pressing the arm pads down with your forearms rather than your hands.

Biceps Booster
You can work your forearms and biceps more effectively with a cable biceps curl by switching out the straight bar for a rope.  Grasp the ends of the rope in each hand, palms facing each other and thumbs closest to the end.  As you pull up on the rope, move your hands closer together so they end up just inside your shoulders.

Hamstring Equalizer
To strengthen your hamstring muscles equally, perform leg curls independently with each leg, making weight-reduction adjustments on the machine.

Squat Success
“Proper squat technique is like getting in and out of a chair,” says Dr. Clark.  “You drive back, reaching back with your hips and bottom toward the chair.  This keeps your knees from going too far out over your toes and in better alignment.”  Wiggling your toes can help reduce knee strain by shifting the weight to your heels.




Increased stress to the knee joint and cartilage occurs during squatting if you allow your knees to buckle in at the lowest point in the squat.  The buckling is usually the worst when powering out of the bottom of the squat.  This can be avoided by pushing the knees out and keeping them aligned over the toes, says Dr. Horwitz.  Dr. Clark’s prescription for a knock-kneed position is to train the hip abductors, those muscles that rotate the knee outward, including the hip abductors and glutes, while simultaneously strengthening the medial side of the quad to stabilize the kneecap.  Sideways leg raises, in which you lie on your side and lift and rotate your leg slightly backward a foot or so off the floor while keeping your back straight, tighten the abductor and glute muscles.

According to Dr. Clark, new weight machines that allow you to move a joint in more than one plane of motion maximizes your muscles’ ability to move the joint.  The only drawback?  “You have an increased potential for injury because you have to control your range of motion and figure out how to position your body without misaligning yourself,” says Dr. Clark.  But the upside – the machines stimulate real lifting and kicking motions – reflects Dr. Horwitz.  Excessive pronation (foot rolls in) or supination (foot rolls out) may cause problems in any joint in the body.  In some cases, changing footwear – especially avoiding high-heeled pointed shoes or using orthotics – will rebalance the feet and ankles.