by Dr. Emil Tompkins, a Marana Chiropractor with a passion for family health and wellness.
We have been going over the SMART system for pain relief over the last few weeks. The S stands for structure. You can positively impact the structure of your body by maintaining good posture and with Chiropractic care.
M stands for movement. There are specific kinds of exercise activity that will help to relieve the pain you’re experiencing. There are 3 types of activity that you’ll need to do to ensure you completely relieve your back pain.
General Conditioning: if you’re going to relieve pain, you’l need to have a decent overall level of fitness. Some people with back pain need to seriously consider losing weight to take soem pressure of the affected nerves and muscles causing your pain. So we’re going to go over the first thing to do to improve your fitness and that is High Intensity Intervals:
You’re going to learn about an training technique called high intensity interval training. It’s a way to exercise that if done correctly, you will lose more weight, build more lean muscle, and release more brain building neurochemicals than 45 minutes of steady state activity. Oh, and it only takes half the time.
How does it work?
You’ll begin this 22 minute workout with a 3 minute warm-up. Then you’ll perform 8, 2 minute intervals. During this interval you’ll have 1minute 30 seconds performing low intensity activity. Then, for 30 seconds you will give it everything you have. Work at as high an intensity as you can then, when those 30 seconds are over, you’ll return to the low intensity activity. Repeat this cycle 8 times. You’ll end with a 3 minute cool down. In 22 minutes, your health will be changing.
What kind of exercise?
You can incorporate intervals into any type of exercise method. Running, walking, biking, treadmill, elliptical trainer, swimming, basketball. Whatever you’re interested in, you can turn into a high intensity interval workout.
High Intensity Interval Review
3 minute warm – up
Interval 1 through 8
1:30 – low intensity
:30 – maximum intensity
3 minute cool – down
Helpful tools:
Smartphone interval timer app: I use INTERVALTIMER
