When we show patients exercises to do at the gym or at home, a lot of the times they think it will take longer than the workout itself to complete the rehab/prehab exercises, however, a high-majority of the time that is far from the truth. The biggest thing to know is that we understand the importance of time. We too have many things to do and stress about and time efficiency is extremely important to us. We do NOT expect you to have to warm-up for 30 minutes just to lift or go to your group exercise class. What we do expect is small habits, consistently.
Let me help change your mindset about performing your rehab or prehab exercises. They are exercises. Understand them as part of your training. That is why we give progressions and regressions for everything. The goal is to help you create a habit and perform these are regular exercises in your workouts. They aren't just exercises you have to perform prior to working out or being active. Sure, there are some that are optimal prior to exercising, like the banded hip or should mobilizations or your end-range loading exercises, but that doesn't mean every single exercise has to be viewed that way.
Let's talk about what the goals of your exercises are and some different ways to incorporate them.
A great warm-up includes getting the heart rate and body temperature raised. The goal is to increase the elasticity and prime the nervous system for what's about to come. If you perform most of the exercises we show in a superset fashion, there is no doubt you will be getting a light sweat and your heart rate will be up.
It is important to note, depending on your goal or injury there is a combination of mobility and/or stability exercises. We always talk about WD-40 and Duct Tape. WD-40 is your mobility drill. These are the banded mobilizations, 90/90s, compression floss (voodoo floss), and end-range loading drills. Stability drills are the higher rep, control, and feel-the-burn exercises, like rotator cuff step-outs, mini-band presses, or hip hovers. Stability drills help duct tape or keep things engaged and stable.
Using myself as an example, I utilize two different ways of incorporating my daily mobility and stability drills prior to my workouts, and then have specific things I perform based on the current state of my body and goals.
For example, when I have a upper body push or pull day I will perform the following:
Banded shoulder mobilization
Internal rotation end-range loading
Rotator cuff step outs or mini band presses
Thoracic spine rotations
For a lower body-focused day or running day:
Banded hip mobilization
90/90 press up
90/90 hip hovers
TKEs
This is essentially how that looks:
Mobility drill focused on increasing joint space of the ball and socket joints (WD-40)
Joint-specific mobility drill
Global stability drill (duct tape)
Specific stability drill (duct tape)
One thing to add, in regards to the stability drills, I chose to alternate drills so that I am being diverse with my exercises and challenging my body in different ways. That can look like going from a closed-chain exercise one day to an open-chain exercise the next. The goal is to consistently increase your capacity. You would never only lift 10lbs dumbbells your entire career in the gym, so do the same for your rehab and prehab.
Now, a different approach to performing your recommended exercises is programming them into your workout for while you are resting. For example, let's say it's upper body day but you are rehabbing your knee. In-between your chest press sets, grab a band an perform your TKEs. Rather than just sitting there, you are maximizing your time and you're increasing your caloric output because your heart rate is up higher. Rather than sitting there on your phone or pacing like a locked-up tiger (I am very guilty of this one), get your stuff done.
Personally, the only thing I would be careful with utilizing this method is with very heavy lifting or power-based exercises. If you make a shoulder too loose before lifting near maximal efforts, you run the risk of compromising the joint, so just be careful of that part.
Got 5 sets of squats and 2 minutes of rest in between them? Cool, add your shoulder hovers while you're resting. Doing 4 sets of 12 on pull-downs? Get down on the ground in between and do your 90/90 drills.
Simply put, it is not hard to get everything done! It's more hard to think about how to do them than actually doing them.
Now go out and get them done and when people in the gym see you doing your exercises and being smart about your movement and longevity, don't forget to tell them you learned this from Dr. Caleb and Dr. Cam over at Strength & Spine. Or don't forget to share the content we put out so you can remember how to perform your exercises! Share the love with your friends and family.
Dr. Cameron Gholampour DC, MS, CCSP
International Certified Sports Chiropractor
