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Balans verstoringen in het lichaam - analyse blessure gevoeligheid (2 bezoekers)

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Zitten veel raakvlakken (beperkt deel) met mijn verhaal.

 
The forgotten art of squatting is a revelation for bodies ruined by sitting
So why is squatting so good for us? And why did so many of us stop doing it?

It comes down to a simple matter of “use it or lose it,” says Dr. Bahram Jam, a physical therapist and founder of the Advanced Physical Therapy Education Institute (APTEI) in Ontario, Canada.

“Every joint in our body has synovial fluid in it. This is the oil in our body that provides nutrition to the cartilage,” Jam says. “Two things are required to produce that fluid: movement and compression. So if a joint doesn’t go through its full range—if the hips and knees never go past 90 degrees—the body says ‘I’m not being used’ and starts to degenerate and stops the production of synovial fluid.”

A healthy musculoskeletal system doesn’t just make us feel lithe and juicy, it also has implications for our wider health. A 2014 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that test subjects who showed difficulty getting up off the floor without support of hands, or an elbow, or leg (what’s called the “sitting-rising test”) resulted in a three-year-shorter life expectancy than subjects who got up with ease.

In the West, the reason people stopped squatting regularly has a lot to do with our toilet design. Holes in the ground, outhouses and chamber pots all required the squat position, and studies show that greater hip flexion in this pose is correlated with less strain when relieving oneself. Seated toilets are by no means a British invention—the first simple toilets date back to Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C., while the ancient Minoans on the island of Crete are said to have first pioneered the flush—but they were first adopted in Britain by the Tudors, who enlisted “grooms of the stool” to help them relieve themselves in ornate, throne-like loos in the 16th century.

The next couple hundred years saw slow, uneven toilet innovation, but in 1775 a watchmaker named Alexander Cummings developed an S-shape pipe which sat below a raised cistern, a crucial development. It wasn’t until after the mid-to-late-1800s, when London finally built a functioning sewer system after persistent cholera outbreaks and the horrific-sounding “great stink” of 1858, that fully flushable, seated toilets started to commonly appear in people’s homes.

Today, the flushable squat-style toilets found across Asia are, of course, no less sanitary than Western counterparts. But Jam says Europe’s shift to the seated throne design robbed most Westerners of the need (and therefore the daily practice) of squatting. Indeed the realization that squatting leads to better bowel movements has fueled the cult-like popularity of the Lillipad and the Squatty Potty, raised platforms that turn a Western-style toilet into a squatting one—and allow the user to sit in a flexed position that mimics a squat.

“The reason squatting is so uncomfortable because we don’t do it,” Jam says. “But if you go to the restroom once or twice a day for a bowel movement and five times a day for bladder function, that’s five or six times a day you’ve squatted.”

While this physical discomfort may be the main reason we don’t squat more, the West’s aversion to the squat is cultural, too. While squatting or sitting cross legged in an office chair would be great for the hip joint, the modern worker’s wardrobe—not to mention formal office etiquette—generally makes this kind of posture unfeasible. The only time we might expect a Western leader or elected official to hover close to the ground is for a photo-op with cute kindergarteners. Indeed, the people we see squatting on the sidewalk in a city like New York or London tend to be the types of people we blow past in self-important rush.

“It’s considered primitive and of low social status to squat somewhere,” says Jam. “When we think of squatting we think of a peasant in India, or an African village tribesman, or an unhygienic city floor. We think we’ve evolved past that—but really we’ve devolved away from it.”

Avni Trivedi, a doula and osteopath based in London (disclosure: I have visited her in the past for my own sitting-induced aches) says the same is true of squatting as a birthing position, which is still prominent in many developing parts of the world and is increasingly advocated by holistic birthing movements in the West.

“In a squatting birthing position, the muscles relax and you’re allowing the sacrum to have free movement so the baby can push down, with gravity playing a role too,” Trivedi says. “But the perception that this position was primitive is why women went from this active position to being on the bed, where they are less embodied and have less agency in the birthing process.”

So should we replace sitting with squatting and say goodbye to our office chairs forever? Beach points out that “any posture held for too long causes problems” and there are studies to suggest that populations that spend excessive time in a deep squat (hours per day), do have a higher incidence of knee and osteoarthritis issues.

But for those of us who have largely abandoned squatting, Beach says, “you can’t really overdo this stuff.” Beyond this kind of movement improving our joint health and flexibility, Trivedi points out that a growing interest in yoga worldwide is perhaps in part a recognition that “being on the ground helps you physically be grounded in yourself”—something that’s largely missing from our screen-dominated, hyper-intellectualized lives.

Beach agrees that this is not a trend, but an evolutionary impulse. Modern wellness movements are starting to acknowledge that “floor life” is key. He argues that the physical act of grounding ourselves has been nothing short of instrumental to our species’ becoming.

In a sense, squatting is where humans—every single one of us—came from, so it behooves us to revisit it as often as we can.
https://qz.com/quartzy/1121077/to-solve-problems-caused-by-sitting-learn-to-squat/
 
Gelijk een paar paused squats gedaan achter mijn bureau.:D
 
Weg met dat bureau!
Iedere zwerver heeft een goed posture!

:D

Maar zeker, ik probeer zo frequent mogelijk pauzes te nemen, staand werken, lopen, even de trap nemen om ergens anders koffie te halen. En vooral bellen terwijl ik sta/loop.
 
Ook bij deze mannen zijn de vernieuwde inzichten langzaam binnen aan het komen, goed om te zien. Verkeerde houding (posture) en een beperking in rotaties vermogen van verschillende structuren in het lichaam worden zomaar genoemd als boosdoeners van blessures... wat bijzonder.

 

What Is Unilateral Training and Why Is It Important?​

Muscle imbalances, be gone.

What do one-legged doggy style, Bulgarian split squats, and tossing a frisbee have in common? They all technically qualify as unilateral training—the underrated, highly beneficial style of exercise that involves working one side of your body at a time (don't @ me, the sex position counts!).
"Unilateral training is one of the most overlooked training styles there is, but it's so important," says Alena Luciani, M.S., C.S.C.S., a certified strength and conditioning coach and founder of Training2xl. "Yes, it can build a more symmetrical body, but it can also help prevent injury, give you the extra strength you need to bust through a plateau, and improve stability and mid-section strength." Not too shabby.

But, what exactly is unilateral training and why is it so damn effective? Here, Luciani and other strength experts share the 411 on unilateral training—including how to add it to your workout regime.

What Is Unilateral Training?​

If you took Latin in high school—or know what a unicycle is—you likely understand that "uni" means one, and therefore can deduce that unilateral training entails using one of something.
"It's any training that entails isolating and using the muscles on one side of the body at a time—as opposed to distributing the workout evenly between both sides as you do with traditional, bilateral training," explains Luciani.
For example, a pistol squat (also called a single-leg squat) entails keeping one leg raised in the air, then squatting all the way to the floor using the strength of the single, standing leg. That's a unilateral move. One the other hand, the basic air squat or barbell back squat are bilateral moves that work both sides at the same time.

Why Is Unilateral Training So Important?​

Raise your hand if you have a dominant side of your body. Tricked ya! Everyone has a dominant (stronger) and non-dominant (slightly less strong) side of the body—whichever arm you raised is likely your dominant side.
"We are all naturally stronger on one side of our body than the other," explains Luciani. For instance, "if you write with your right hand, your left arm is weaker and if you always take your first step upstairs with your right leg, your left leg is weaker."
These strength imbalances are typically more pronounced in athletes, says Luciani. For instance, if you're a runner, the leg that you accelerate off of is stronger than the other. While, if you're a pitcher or tennis player, the arm you use to pitch or serve is going to be more muscularly developed.
Yes, it happens naturally, but the trouble is muscular asymmetry isn't ideal. "Right to left, side to side, imbalances in the body are bound to happen, but you want the muscle tissues on each side of your body to be evenly strong and mobile," says Erwin Seguia, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., a board-certified specialist in sports physical therapy and founder of match fit performance.
And if they're not? Well, two things can occur. First, the stronger side can overcompensate for the other, further widening the strength gap between the two sides. Often, during bilateral movements like the bench press, push press, deadlift, or barbell back squat, the stronger side will do slightly more than fifty percent of the work, explains Allen Conrad, B.S., D.C., C.S.C.S. If you've ever squatted heavy and been more sore on one side compared to the other, that's because that side likely did more work. Basically, the dominant side picked up the slack. This can prevent the weaker side from catching up, strength wise.
The second possibility is that instead of the stronger side overcompensating, different muscles on the weaker side get recruited (that shouldn't get recruited) to help complete the movement. Let's use a heavy bench press for example: It primarily works the chest and triceps, with the shoulders and back acting as secondary muscles. If during the very end of the movement, one side is lagging behind—even if it's just an inch or two—your body may recruit more of your shoulders or back (and possibly even, yikes, your lower back) to complete the rep. (Related: Is it ever okay to have lower-back pain after a workout?)
Unfortunately, the potential consequences of imbalances are major. "The muscles on the stronger side can fall victim to overuse injury," says Luciani. "And the joints and muscles on the weaker side of the body become more vulnerable to injury."
There's another v important benefit of unilateral training: Improved core strength. "In order to keep you stable while you do these single-limbed movements, your trunk has to go into overdrive," says Luciani. "Any time you load one side of the body, it's going to work and strengthen the core." (A strong core has an insane amount of benefits—beyond just a ripped midsection.)

Test Your Muscular Imbalances​

To reiterate, almost everyone has some degree of muscular imbalance albeit because of sport or just life. (#Sorrynotsorry. We're just the messengers!). If you're really concerned about being uneven, you can always consult a trainer or physical therapist for an evaluation. Otherwise, here's a rudimentary way to determine how imbalanced you are and learn how much you'd benefit from unilateral training.
Let's say you can bench press 100 lbs. You might think you should theoretically be able to press half of that weight with your right and left arm individually, but it doesn't usually work that way, says Grayson Wickham, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., physical therapist and founder of Movement Vault, a mobility and movement company. "It requires a lot from your stabilizing muscles to move weight on just one side and it takes more coordination with one arm at a time, as opposed to two," says Wickham. "Most people can lift closer to 30 percent when doing the one-limbed version of an exercise vs. the two-limbed version."
So, how do you test your muscle imbalances? Test each side separately. Try the single-limbed version of the movement, building up in weight very, very slowly to see which side is stronger, says Wickham.
Try this test with the single-leg deadlift, as an example:
  • Start with a bare barbell or relatively light dumbbell and do three reps in a row, per side.
  • If all reps on both sides were performed in good form, go up in weight, says Wickham.
  • Then, repeat. Continue adding weight until one side can't go any heavier with sound form.
More than likely, you'll be able to use a heavier weight on one side than the other. "If you still have gas left in the tank on one side and think you can lift heavier... don't," says Wickham. Instead, as soon as your form starts to deteriorate, stop and note how many pounds you were able to do lift and which side felt strongest. Don't be surprised if this weight is lower than you expected. "Single-leg deadlifts are way more challenging than deadlifts where both of your feet are on the ground because of the balance required," he says. The same can be said for many unilateral exercises like pistol squats, lunges, and step-ups, among others.
The goal here isn't necessarily to PR, but to see if the strength on each side of your body is equal. If you don't lift regularly, you can also test each side of your body with bodyweight moves too, keeping tabs on how many reps you can do on each side. (That will more specifically test your muscular endurance vs. muscular strength.) Remember: the goal of this test is to how you might be able to benefit from doing unilateral movements—you don't want to get injured in the process.

How to Incorporate Unilateral Training Into Your Workout Regime​

Good news: It's not rocket science. Any movement that entails moving just one side of your body at a time is a unilateral exercise and, when done in good form, can help fix these imbalances.
Upper-Body Unilateral Exercises: Seguia recommends the single-arm overhead press, single arm chest press, single-arm row, bottom-up kettlebell press, and single-arm overhead walk.
Lower-Body Unilateral Exercises: In addition to single-leg squats and deadlifts, he says, "Any lunge is a great option." Try experimenting with walking lunges, reverse lunges, front rack lunges, rear elevated lunges (also called split squats), and curtsy lunges. Luciani adds that single-leg step-ups, single-leg weighted step-ups, and single-leg glute bridges are effective.
Full-Body Unilateral Exercises: Try Turkish get-ups, windmills, and walking single-arm front rack carries. "I can't recommend them enough, because they tax and strengthen the whole body, one side at a time," says Seguia. (See more: 7 Dumbbell Strength Training Moves That Fix Your Muscles Imbalances).
When you're first getting started with unilateral training, stay within the 5-12 rep range and let your weaker side determine the weight you use, she says. "The goal here is to help the weaker side catch up to the stronger side, not necessarily to make the stronger side even stronger." Noted.
Two more tips: Start with your non-dominant side. "Load your less-strong side first so that you're tackling the weak side when your body is fresh," says Luciani. And keep the number of reps the same on each side, she says. (See above paragraph for a reminder as to why).
As for how to implement these moves into your routine? It doesn't reallyyy matter, according to Luciani. "Truthfully, unilateral training could replace all your bilateral training because it's only going to make you even better at those bilateral movements," she says. So, "there isn't really a right or wrong way to incorporate unilateral training into your practice, especially if you're currently not doing it at all," she says. Good point.
If you need some guidance, consider turning three of the above movements into a circuit two days a week.

 

What Is Unilateral Training and Why Is It Important?​

Muscle imbalances, be gone.

What do one-legged doggy style, Bulgarian split squats, and tossing a frisbee have in common? They all technically qualify as unilateral training—the underrated, highly beneficial style of exercise that involves working one side of your body at a time (don't @ me, the sex position counts!).
"Unilateral training is one of the most overlooked training styles there is, but it's so important," says Alena Luciani, M.S., C.S.C.S., a certified strength and conditioning coach and founder of Training2xl. "Yes, it can build a more symmetrical body, but it can also help prevent injury, give you the extra strength you need to bust through a plateau, and improve stability and mid-section strength." Not too shabby.

But, what exactly is unilateral training and why is it so damn effective? Here, Luciani and other strength experts share the 411 on unilateral training—including how to add it to your workout regime.

What Is Unilateral Training?​

If you took Latin in high school—or know what a unicycle is—you likely understand that "uni" means one, and therefore can deduce that unilateral training entails using one of something.
"It's any training that entails isolating and using the muscles on one side of the body at a time—as opposed to distributing the workout evenly between both sides as you do with traditional, bilateral training," explains Luciani.
For example, a pistol squat (also called a single-leg squat) entails keeping one leg raised in the air, then squatting all the way to the floor using the strength of the single, standing leg. That's a unilateral move. One the other hand, the basic air squat or barbell back squat are bilateral moves that work both sides at the same time.

Why Is Unilateral Training So Important?​

Raise your hand if you have a dominant side of your body. Tricked ya! Everyone has a dominant (stronger) and non-dominant (slightly less strong) side of the body—whichever arm you raised is likely your dominant side.
"We are all naturally stronger on one side of our body than the other," explains Luciani. For instance, "if you write with your right hand, your left arm is weaker and if you always take your first step upstairs with your right leg, your left leg is weaker."
These strength imbalances are typically more pronounced in athletes, says Luciani. For instance, if you're a runner, the leg that you accelerate off of is stronger than the other. While, if you're a pitcher or tennis player, the arm you use to pitch or serve is going to be more muscularly developed.
Yes, it happens naturally, but the trouble is muscular asymmetry isn't ideal. "Right to left, side to side, imbalances in the body are bound to happen, but you want the muscle tissues on each side of your body to be evenly strong and mobile," says Erwin Seguia, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., a board-certified specialist in sports physical therapy and founder of match fit performance.
And if they're not? Well, two things can occur. First, the stronger side can overcompensate for the other, further widening the strength gap between the two sides. Often, during bilateral movements like the bench press, push press, deadlift, or barbell back squat, the stronger side will do slightly more than fifty percent of the work, explains Allen Conrad, B.S., D.C., C.S.C.S. If you've ever squatted heavy and been more sore on one side compared to the other, that's because that side likely did more work. Basically, the dominant side picked up the slack. This can prevent the weaker side from catching up, strength wise.
The second possibility is that instead of the stronger side overcompensating, different muscles on the weaker side get recruited (that shouldn't get recruited) to help complete the movement. Let's use a heavy bench press for example: It primarily works the chest and triceps, with the shoulders and back acting as secondary muscles. If during the very end of the movement, one side is lagging behind—even if it's just an inch or two—your body may recruit more of your shoulders or back (and possibly even, yikes, your lower back) to complete the rep. (Related: Is it ever okay to have lower-back pain after a workout?)
Unfortunately, the potential consequences of imbalances are major. "The muscles on the stronger side can fall victim to overuse injury," says Luciani. "And the joints and muscles on the weaker side of the body become more vulnerable to injury."
There's another v important benefit of unilateral training: Improved core strength. "In order to keep you stable while you do these single-limbed movements, your trunk has to go into overdrive," says Luciani. "Any time you load one side of the body, it's going to work and strengthen the core." (A strong core has an insane amount of benefits—beyond just a ripped midsection.)

Test Your Muscular Imbalances​

To reiterate, almost everyone has some degree of muscular imbalance albeit because of sport or just life. (#Sorrynotsorry. We're just the messengers!). If you're really concerned about being uneven, you can always consult a trainer or physical therapist for an evaluation. Otherwise, here's a rudimentary way to determine how imbalanced you are and learn how much you'd benefit from unilateral training.
Let's say you can bench press 100 lbs. You might think you should theoretically be able to press half of that weight with your right and left arm individually, but it doesn't usually work that way, says Grayson Wickham, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., physical therapist and founder of Movement Vault, a mobility and movement company. "It requires a lot from your stabilizing muscles to move weight on just one side and it takes more coordination with one arm at a time, as opposed to two," says Wickham. "Most people can lift closer to 30 percent when doing the one-limbed version of an exercise vs. the two-limbed version."
So, how do you test your muscle imbalances? Test each side separately. Try the single-limbed version of the movement, building up in weight very, very slowly to see which side is stronger, says Wickham.
Try this test with the single-leg deadlift, as an example:
  • Start with a bare barbell or relatively light dumbbell and do three reps in a row, per side.
  • If all reps on both sides were performed in good form, go up in weight, says Wickham.
  • Then, repeat. Continue adding weight until one side can't go any heavier with sound form.
More than likely, you'll be able to use a heavier weight on one side than the other. "If you still have gas left in the tank on one side and think you can lift heavier... don't," says Wickham. Instead, as soon as your form starts to deteriorate, stop and note how many pounds you were able to do lift and which side felt strongest. Don't be surprised if this weight is lower than you expected. "Single-leg deadlifts are way more challenging than deadlifts where both of your feet are on the ground because of the balance required," he says. The same can be said for many unilateral exercises like pistol squats, lunges, and step-ups, among others.
The goal here isn't necessarily to PR, but to see if the strength on each side of your body is equal. If you don't lift regularly, you can also test each side of your body with bodyweight moves too, keeping tabs on how many reps you can do on each side. (That will more specifically test your muscular endurance vs. muscular strength.) Remember: the goal of this test is to how you might be able to benefit from doing unilateral movements—you don't want to get injured in the process.

How to Incorporate Unilateral Training Into Your Workout Regime​

Good news: It's not rocket science. Any movement that entails moving just one side of your body at a time is a unilateral exercise and, when done in good form, can help fix these imbalances.
Upper-Body Unilateral Exercises: Seguia recommends the single-arm overhead press, single arm chest press, single-arm row, bottom-up kettlebell press, and single-arm overhead walk.
Lower-Body Unilateral Exercises: In addition to single-leg squats and deadlifts, he says, "Any lunge is a great option." Try experimenting with walking lunges, reverse lunges, front rack lunges, rear elevated lunges (also called split squats), and curtsy lunges. Luciani adds that single-leg step-ups, single-leg weighted step-ups, and single-leg glute bridges are effective.
Full-Body Unilateral Exercises: Try Turkish get-ups, windmills, and walking single-arm front rack carries. "I can't recommend them enough, because they tax and strengthen the whole body, one side at a time," says Seguia. (See more: 7 Dumbbell Strength Training Moves That Fix Your Muscles Imbalances).
When you're first getting started with unilateral training, stay within the 5-12 rep range and let your weaker side determine the weight you use, she says. "The goal here is to help the weaker side catch up to the stronger side, not necessarily to make the stronger side even stronger." Noted.
Two more tips: Start with your non-dominant side. "Load your less-strong side first so that you're tackling the weak side when your body is fresh," says Luciani. And keep the number of reps the same on each side, she says. (See above paragraph for a reminder as to why).
As for how to implement these moves into your routine? It doesn't reallyyy matter, according to Luciani. "Truthfully, unilateral training could replace all your bilateral training because it's only going to make you even better at those bilateral movements," she says. So, "there isn't really a right or wrong way to incorporate unilateral training into your practice, especially if you're currently not doing it at all," she says. Good point.
If you need some guidance, consider turning three of the above movements into a circuit two days a week.

Dit ga ik later nog eens lezen, dank!
 
We interessant stuk over dat unilateraal trainen. Ga ik eens naar kijken als ik dit zat ben.
 
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