Guest Blog: 6 Tips to Recover After Rehabilitation

By: Brittany and Andrea, Founders of GymClass

Hi! We’re Brittany and Andrea, the Founders of GymClass! GymClass is our online fitness platform which we have created to combine our knowledge and training with our love of teaching, all for you. Today we’re discussing 6 tips for recovery after rehabilitation. We have designed this space as a fitness program where we take out all the guesswork and give you a progressive and intentional workout plan.

If your physiotherapist or doctor has given you the green light to start moving in recovery after rehabilitation, then we’ve got you covered. All you have to do is show up and follow along!

We were so thrilled when Jen asked us to do a guest blog post for Stride. Thanks for hangin’ with us for the next few minutes, and don’t forget to read to the bottom to discover our special deal!

What’s Next?

Do you want to know something crazy? Not everyone knows what it’s like to live pain free. If you haven’t experienced a proper functioning body, where you are moving well as a whole, you might not even know what it is like to feel that good! If you’ve never had to rehabilitate an injury, work on muscle imbalance, improve posture, or correct years of incorrect gait patterns, you’re lucky. You may not realize that movement is something we take for granted. In fact, movement is a gift to enjoy and work on every single day.

Many of you are reading this because you have a goal to create pain free movement in your daily lives. You work (or want to) with a physiotherapist to correct injuries and strengthen your body, in order to return to normal function. You’ve done all your sessions and your homework exercises, but now what?! You’ve started this beautiful journey, and we want to help you continue. Movement is self-love. Showing up for yourself is self-love. Prioritizing feeling good in your body is self-love.

Maybe you’re recovering from an injury, or starting a workout program for the first time. Maybe you are getting back to your regular exercise. Whatever you’re doing, it is important to build a strong foundation so you can continue to progress.

We have six principles that we use in GymClass that we want to share with you to help you build your strong base to move better!

(All of these principles are covered in our FoundationsClass series on our online platform).

Use Your Breath

We know this sounds simple, but it is one of the most overlooked components of exercise. Using your inhale and exhale properly helps to deepen your core work, keep your heart rate under control, and protect the internal structures of your body. Inhale to prepare, fill your diaphragm in a 3-dimensional way, and exhale on the working part of the exercise to turn on those deep core muscles.

Stabilize Your Shoulder Girdle

A stable shoulder is so important! To prevent injury and ensure you are working the goal muscles, we must first set our shoulder blades. Create width across the back at the shoulder blade (without pinching), and create openness or flatness across the front. Now your shoulder is protected and ready to move!

Engage That Core

To do this we need to hit a few very important cues. Close the rib cage down as if we were connecting it to the hipbones. From there we lift up on the pelvic floor, drawing those deep transverse abdominals up (like an elevator) and into the spine. Now add a light squeeze of the glutes, and that core is fired up and ready for movement. The core is your powerhouse. By engaging the core first and foremost before any exercise, you provide a safe base for movement.

Stabilize Your Pelvis

Your pelvis can be set in various ways:

• Neutral (hip bone over pubic bone)
• Anteriorly tilted (hip flexors lengthen, hip extensors shorten)
• Posteriorly tilted (hip flexors lengthen, hip extensors shorten)

Starting in a neutral spine will help you maintain the proper curvatures of your spine, while having the least amount of stress on your joints.

Use Those Glutes

Your glutes affect everything! We need strong glutes to prevent movement dysfunction, pain, and injury. So, squeeze that bum! Glute strength is essential to aid and build strength in your lower half and core, while working to prevent low back pain.

Hit All Components of Fitness

We need to be well rounded to be a good mover. This means you need to be training for aerobic and anaerobic cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, as well as flexibility. Each component will complement the next. The goal is to be a lifelong mover and to do that we need to take care of our body across the board.

When you create a strong base of both the understanding and principles of movement, you are setting yourself up for success in any fitness
programming. You are moving towards a stronger, healthier you. We teach and reinforce these principles in every single session at GymClass. We believe in the power of intentional movement for life!

Teaching people how to move with confidence and strength is not something we take lightly. This is an honour for us, and we invite you to join us for your movement journey. Please enjoy a MONTH FREE of GymClass on us! To redeem, all you have to do is email hello@gym-class.ca and mention Stride. We meet you where you are and push you to be stronger. Let’s do this together.

-Brittany & Andrea

Click here to check out GymClass’ website for more information.