Taking Care of Your Body

After 3 years of competing I finally decided to start wising up and take care of my body, wishing I would have done so years ago. Most of us in the gym are so focused on our diets, workout outs and even our regular day to day jobs that we struggle to find the time to take care of ourselves the way we should. Which can ultimately have a huge impact on our health and how we feel. This past year I really struggled with lower back pain and for the life of me couldn’t figure out why. It was affecting my sleeping habits, my workouts, my motivation…you name it.

I finally decided to take action and go see a chiropractor. Seeing a chiropractor was never something I really thought about. What is a chiropractor exactly?“ Chiropractors use hands-on spinal manipulation as well as other alternative treatments. The theory being that proper alignment of the body's musculoskeletal structure, will enable the body to heal itself without surgery or medication.” So with that being said I couldn’t believe after seeing him only once I already had noticed a difference. After speaking with him I discovered that I suffered from a very common problem known as atp (anterior pelvic tilt). “Anterior pelvic tilt is a condition characterized by the pelvis being tilted forward so that the front part of the pelvis is lower than the back. This causes the stomach and buttocks to protrude. Anterior pelvic tilt can cause a number of symptoms and should be corrected in order to avoid chronic pain.” After discovering this and being adjusted for the first time I had already noticed a difference. I could squat deeper and without pain, I could actually get in and out of my car for the first time without wanting to cry after a workout, I could even sleep at night. I spoke with him in depth about how seeing him regularly was important especially being involved in bodybuilding. What he also suggested to me was that not just seeing him but getting a deep tissue massage in between would also be beneficial.

As bodybuilders we tend to have poor lifting technique, lifting beyond our capabilities at times or training too often without proper rest.All these things can cause small injuries which can then lead to big injuries if not taken care of properly. Those big injuries can put us out for a long time and sometimes even be career ending. Spending so much time putting all this stress on our bodies the least we could do is keep it aligned so we get that full range of motion in our workouts and get a massage to break up all that lactic acid built up. I won’t go into depth, but my advice to you is if you are having problem areas its time to seek out a chiropractor, give them a try and listen to what they have to say.