Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/77424
BUILD A BETTER UPPER BODY "It looked like I was shrinking when I took a good hard look at myself in the mirror," Lenihan says. "I figured out my shoulders were weak, leaning forward a bit, and rounding; my back was a little crooked; my posture was poor; and there was no natural curve to my spine." Initially, Lenihan, who is also a competitive senior athlete, attributed her condition to many years of working as a bodywork professional, a naprapath, and the labor-intensive work she did as a sports massage therapist, not to mention her years of training on the triathlon circuit. Like many endurance athletes, she incorporated little to no resistance training in her own self-care routine. A friend suggested she try some exercises before her condition worsened. Like many other bodyworkers, Lenihan chose a profession that keeps her on her feet for long stretches of time and puts lots of pressure on her upper extremities. That pressure can result in a myriad of injuries to the tendon, rotator cuff, and upper and lower back. The trouble in Lenihan's case was that she had never done any resistance or weight training. Her trips to the gym consisted of using the treadmill, swimming laps, or walking on the track. Her main method of exercise was traversing the many miles of trails in and around Chicago. "I'd never held any kind of weight in my hand, and I didn't know where to start," she says. "I had no interest in lifting free weights anyway. But I didn't want the posture of a gorilla and the strength of a 9-year- old, so I had to do something." Unfortunately, Lenihan's situation is common among bodywork professionals, who, in many cases, take care of others and leave themselves last, says Steven Devor, assistant professor of exercise science at Ohio State University and an expert on occupational fitness. There is something about the term strength training that scares people, even those in the bodywork professions. "Like many professional athletes who use their bodies for a living, bodywork professionals need to take care of their bodies like they take care of their clients' bodies," Devor says. "Repetitive motions put strain on the body, and if you don't build the muscles around the area having strain placed upon it, they will eventually break down." SHOULDERS & BACK For a bodyworker, all parts of the shoulder experience an extreme amount of stress—from setting up tables and other equipment to the bodywork session itself. "Every time you press, pull, and lift, you are engaging your shoulder and back muscles in some way," says William J. Kraemer, PhD, professor of kineseology at the University of Connecticut and former director of the Human Performance Lab at Ball State University in Indiana. "Back muscles are among the largest in the body and need to be conditioned to deal with the stress placed on them," Kraemer says. "The shoulder is comprised of some little fibers that tear and get worn down easily." STARTING A REGIMEN Doris Davidson wanted to build some strength in her back and shoulders without lifting weights. "I don't have the time or space in my apartment for a lot of exercise stuff anyway," she says. A suburban Chicago massage therapist, Davidson repeatedly strained the L4 and L5 region of her back and attributed it to her stature (6'3") and working for years with a table that wasn't tall enough. She was grocery shopping one day and reached for an item on a high shelf and it felt like it weighed a ton. She also felt an electric-like pain in her back. "That was the wake-up call for me," Davidson says. "I haven't done any exercise since college. I need to be stronger for my height, age, and profession. It's funny, because I have pretty strong arms, but not my back and shoulders, where I need a certain amount of strength." Davidson began doing modified push-ups on her knees several times a week. Then she bought a spring-loaded exercise bar that her friend recommended and placed it in a doorway and tried doing different types of pull-ups. "I did some push-ups on my knees with my legs crossed and got up to doing 10 pretty fast," she says. "And I set the [spring-loaded] bar fairly low so that I didn't have a long distance to pull up my body. As it got easier, I moved the bar a little higher. I definitely felt the difference in my back, chest, and shoulders doing these simple exercises a couple of times a week." 54 massage & bodywork january/february 2011