Lately we have received a good amount of questions regarding solutions for muscle tightness, hip tightness, and other feelings of moderate pain that can prevent an athlete from wanting to do certain movements. We've linked the similarities in these situations to observations we make almost daily and have come up with the solution to your pain! There are TWO mistakes almost every athlete with tight hips, leg pain, back pain, shoulder pain, etc. are making.
1. You're Not Warming Up Enough. We are training every day, using our entire body to do real work at intense levels. A warm up is SO important to wake our muscles and joints up and prepare them to go to work. Do not ignore your warm up and then be surprised when your body feels mad at you later on in the week. This is why we give a "burpee penalty" to late-comers in class, not for a punishment but for a wake up call to your muscles. As you get more serious about your fitness, you will need to take care of your training and be responsible in your warm ups. Get slightly out of breath whether it be with rowing, running, or the bike and give yourself a good 5-10 minutes of dynamic stretching exercises (meaning actively moving, rather than holding a cold stretch). Some examples: PVC pass throughs for your shoulders, lunges, inch worms, air squats, light bodyweight movements. To come in and do one or two static stretches is not enough. Your blood needs to pump, your lungs need to stretch. If you need to spice up your warm up routine, arrive 15 minutes early to class and ask a coach for some new moves.
2. You're Not Cooling Down. The soreness and the tightness we feel come from old scar tissue that was created during the muscle being tore down in a workout. The warm up gets the muscle ready to be worked and tore down, but the cool down is just as important in preparing it to recover itself without the blockage of damaged tissue. A row or walk after your workout is a great way to do this, as well as some foam rolling or lacrosse ball exercises. Please feel free to ask a coach for help with your cool down and recovery methods.
The body is a machine that needs to be taken care of or it will break down on you. Rushing to and from class will leave you feeling tight and sore, if not with an injury. Arrive 15 minutes early for a proper warm up that gets the blood flowing and stay for 10 or so minutes after doing some light body movements. Trust us, you will feel better!