But, why won't my legs work????!

As we age, joints tighten, bones become more susceptible to fracturing & breaking and your body doesn't operate like it used to.  Some may call this aging, while others, depending on your age, would call it 'overuse'.  However you term it, the bottom line is that each day, we're losing ability, stamina & functionality in our bodies and the normal range of motion in our bones, muscles and joints has been compromised.  One of the big things that we all lose as we age is collagen.  Collagen is a protein that makes your skin stretchy, your lips look fuller and gives your hair that glossy shine...only to name a few of the functions it performs.  As a persons gets older, collagen gets depleted due to over-exposure to free radicals such as too much sunlight as well as pollutants in the air.  The depletion of collagen is NOT due to aging.  There's a fine line between PRO-duction and DE-struction.  The destruction of antioxidants played a key role in why we lose collagen.  The less antioxidants we have, the more collagen is going to be destroyed.  If you are interested in replenished your stores of antioxidants, try taking a mix of Coenzyme Q10 and Vitamin E.

One day at work two weeks ago, my legs just wouldn't work right.  I was tripping over my feet, walking with a very pronounced gait....but I'm pretty used to this by now.  No matter how much training, education or just plain old personal experience I have, it always boggles my mind just how intricate the human body is.  If one little nerve is out of alignment, it screws up a big part of your body.

Structurally speaking, I'm kind of special.  To give you a small visual of this, first off, I'm short; about 5'3" to be exact.  This may not seem like a big deal, but it plays into the other discrepancies I have.  My left leg is also shorter than my right one, which sort of explains why I trip over myself often.  My hip flexors (the muscles that aid the hip in flexing, duh. lol) are tight and my hamstrings are weak.  This causes a structural deviation called Anterior Pelvic Tilt.  how this looks usually is that my butt sticks out.  Picture....Kim Kardashian if you will.  If you Google pelvic tilt, she is bound to
come up.  And lastly, I have what's called a Peripheral Neuropathy.  Often seen in Diabetic patients, this disorder causes nerve pain, usually mimicking Fibromyalgia, in my arms and legs that is, well, annoying.  Put all these together and you got me.  it sounds like a lot to manage day in and day out but it really is just a lot of little issues, creating one big cluster of problems.  I remember saying to myself last week at work, "Why won't my legs work??!"  Even though I already know the answer to that question, I wanted to know how I could make this go away forever!

Well the sad truth is, I can't.  If anything, it'll probably worsen as I age.  The good part is that most of what I have is pretty common in this country.  Most of the United States, about 98%, have a varying degree of back pain and other 5%?  LIES I TELL YOU!!  Seriously though, if you happen to fall into the 5% category, good for you, I commend your aligned body.  You know the importance of proper back care, have great bone structure or are just lucky.  As somebody who tries to be active regularly, LBP (Lower Back Pain) can be an annoyance when participating in races, activities and the like. 

 

Two good friends of mine, Amanda & Andrew, run a dance studio called Absolute Ballroom.  I had attended a few classes there about 5 months ago because I thought it would be fun to try something new and broaden my scope of fitness activities.  If you ever get the chance to participate in dance lessons of any kind, it's a very goo way to get out of the gym and try something new.  Dance, of any

kind is also a great modality for exercise.  Anyway, the dance classes that I had attended focused on mainly Ballroom and some Country Traditional dance.  If you body isn't used to correct posture, performing turns and ways to step with your feet, it's okay!  With any exercise, your body will adapt over time.  In the personal training world, this is known as the SAID principle.  It stands for Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands; in layman's terms, it just means that your body will adapt to any demand placed upon it.  A funny side note to this, last August I attended an Autism workshop for work and this principle was mentioned as well.  It tends to follow me wherever I go!  So after the classes were done on Wednesday nights, the next day my legs would be sore....a good sore, but nevertheless sore.  I used to dance in high school in musicals and various shows and such, so I'm no stranger to dance but as with most things, if you don't use it, you lose it.  But over time, my body did adapt and I was able to alleviate any soreness that I experienced before.

Now at present, I've been focusing on my balance and stability in the gym with my trainer, Nick.  He is coincidentally, Amanda's boyfriend, who I met about 2 1/2 at LA Fitness.  Nick is a very knowledgeable trainer when it comes to program design, anatomy/physiology and balance/stability exercise.  Like I said above, I'm a unique client in the ways of balance because mine is compromised by my pelvic tilt.  For what should come off as easy for most people is very frustrating for me to accomplish.  Standing on one foot for example and bending over is a chore when performing certain exercises because my center of gravity is off kilter.  The thing I enjoy about Nick is that he doesn't rush things because there are trainers out there that do get impatient and tend to speed up sessions because you're not going fast enough.  He also gives me the science behind the reasons why I'm performing like I am.  As a former student of Physical Therapy and a current one in Personal Training, this information is extremely beneficial for me because it will help me understand my clients so much better and give me and edge that most trainers don't possess.

So instead of asking yourself, "Why don't my legs work right?"  Change the outlook and viewpoint of your question to sound more like, "What can I do to improve the way that I walk or go about things everyday?"  I've learned in my Personal Training courses that people were meant to be up and active for a great number of years...so much more than people in the world are living to.  Inactivity is a horrible factor in creating a host of problems that can be prevented by just exercising or performing physical activity for 30 minutes a day.  Another good part though is that most of the diseases, if caught early on, can be reversed, if you take the correct steps and consult the right medical professionals.