- If there were a magic formula
that could prevent or at least reduce
your chances of injuries then it would be worth millions.
Now, I'm not promising that magic formula today
but, we are going to be going to the physio
to get some top tips to save you money
from going there yourself.
And I'm going to be heading to The Pierre Practise
to speak to British triathlon physio Emma Hickson.
(upbeat jazz music)
So Emma you see and treat triathletes
day in and day out.
What are the most common problems
that you see when people are trying to combine
swimming, cycling and running?
- Mainly I see overuse injuries
so it's a case of spike in training load
or just not doing enough around swim, bike, run
in terms of strength or mobility.
Or what I call being robust enough
to take the training load.
Mostly lower limb, occasionally shoulders
obviously with swimming load.
But yeah, it tends to be mostly lower limb injuries.
- Well obviously I know we can't cover
every single injury that we as triathletes
are susceptible to.
But, how can we make our bodies more resilient
to potential injuries and stresses that come with the sport?
- I say a good starting point is to be best prepared
for the discipline that you're about to
or the training that you're about to take part in.
So, it's thinking of those crucial areas
that you're gonna be loading and making sure
that you've got adequate mobility,
good strength, pre-training.
I think a good start is to just
learn a little bit about your body.
Be able to feel or test where it might be tight
and what to then focus on in preparation
for that training session.
- Okay so Emma, we've touched on it already
that there are too many areas to focus on everything
so, if we say try and whittle it down to two points
per sport to look at and go to the beginning with swimming,
obviously I know that for swimming to get a good straight
you need to be able to get into that streamline position
and for the full range of motion.
But what could we actually look for
and what points could give us a good indicator here
if there's anything wrong?
- Yeah so, exactly as you said,
the biggest things for swimming are streamline position
and actually being able to get
kind of a good catch person in the water.
And I find the two kind of biggie areas
that you want to focus on
are going to be your lat length,
so kind of tightness down the sides.
And also your thoracic, so your upper back mobility.
And there's like a real easy test that you can do
to actually kind of test before you get in the water.
- First test, what can we do to know if--
- So, lat lift test, really really easy.
I'll show it and talk you through it.
So back flat against the wall, slight bend in your knees.
So make sure your lower back's against the wall.
- Okay. - Tuck in.
And then into streamline,
so whatever hand you're comfortable with
and then basically your aim is to keep back
flat against the wall
and then you're gonna come as far up with
your arms as you can.
Now you're gonna look super flexible.
So touching the wall, brilliant,
'cause you've got nice streamline position there
so, great. - Rock it out.
- What you might notice is if you are tight,
so if you come up again.
So if you come back against the wall,
arms together and then come up
and if you come up and you're maybe
not quite reaching the wall
it shows that you might have a little bit
of tightness through your lats or maybe even
a little bit of restriction through your upper back.
So that's when you might think--
- That's a sign. - That you might want to do
some exercises before you start.
- So say I was reaching about here,
what can I do to help me get that full range?
(upbeat music)
- So one of my favourite, 'cause it gets lats
and a bit of thoracic extension.
So if you can find yourself a little ledge to do it on.
Kneel down, elbows on, hands together
and then just trying to drop through, then open up
and have a hang there like that--
- That looks really nice.
(upbeat music)
So I feel like my lats are nice and lengthened.
What can I do to help with my thoracic mobility?
- So yep, one of my favourite exercises for people,
you probably recognise it as an exercise
but I like a little addition of the roller.
So if you come down four point kneeling
and then you're basically gonna use the roller
to just get a little bit more of a stretch through
this way and then as you come up
just reaching up and give a twist up.
(upbeat music)
- Well on to the bike and as triathletes
we obviously spend the largest amount of time
in that flex position and some of us
spends lots of time sat at a desk as well.
So, what are the key indicators here
and what do we need to watch out for?
- When we're thinking about bike
I think the most important thing is actually
your post bike routine rather than the prep for this one.
Because, as you said yourself,
you spend three/four hours in a flex position
and I find the two key areas that tend to tighten up
are again the thoracic spine and hip flexors,
so the fronts of your hips.
And then as you imagine, what you want to then do
is then go for a run or even swim
and you're in kind of that tight position.
So, there's lots of things that you could obviously do
but, I can go through two really key exercises
that are just clear to come and get off the bike,
spend a bit of time releasing that off
so that you're ready to go and do your other training.
(upbeat music)
So a really good exercise is if you
have a lay on your back using the roller.
So you can start anywhere on your upper back
and then if you pop your hands behind your head.
That's it, you're gonna get a good stretch
of your pecks as well, just open up there
and then just feeling up there and--
- And I'm rolling up and down it, am I?
- Yeah, absolutely perfect.
It's just finding your tight spots as well
you'll find where-- - Ooh.
- You might get a few little clicks.
But just finding where you're tight.
- Nice. - Perfect
and just relax into it.
(upbeat music)
My favourite exercise just to kind of reopen the hips,
I find TFR, which is a little muscle down the side,
gets a bit tight on the bike as well, so we'll aim for both.
So if you pop down into a usual hip flexor stretch.
- Okay. - That's it.
So, what I want is, you want this hip
just straight in the line over the knee.
So don't feel like you have to--
- So I'm not pushing here.
- Nope, don't feel like you have to lean into it.
You end up really just getting the range from your back.
Try and just tilt your pelvis back
by squeezing this glute here.
- So I'm kind of moving it this way.
- Perfect, yep and you should feel a
nice stretch down the front. - Oh yeah.
- Feel that one? - Yeah, are you kidding.
- And then with this arm
just come over the top
and lean, so you're gonna get a good stretch
through the front of the hip there, like that.
Perfect.
- And finally obviously we have the run
and I know it's the area where I get the most injured in
'cause obviously it's weight baring
and we've already touched on the fact
that if you build up thing too quickly.
But is there any real key indicators
or anything that I can look out for
that we can test to make sure
that we're not predisposed to too many injuries?
- So running out of all the three,
most important prep for running
because you're putting a lot of load through your body
and it is probably the one that causes
the most injuries that I see.
Probably the biggest areas to focus on
one is ankle mobility, so we call it dorsiflexion
but essentially, flexion of your foot.
Really good for, kind of actually, your
stride length and actual running mechanic.
But also we know that it's a big kind of injury
risk if you lack that mobility at your ankle.
So we'll go through a little test
that you do pre-run to kind of see
you're a little bit tight there.
But also hip extensions, so if you might imagine
when you run in order to be abele just to get
a good stride, you want to be able to open up
through your hips so again, there's a little
kind of exercises that you can do
to make sure you're opening up
but also activating the right muscles
that are gonna kind of help you power through.
Really handy little test to just test
that ankle mobility that I was talking about.
So really simple, find a bit of a wall.
You can use a ruler to actually test how far away
but in reality probably just a test
from left to right for you.
So aim is to get your heel
as far away from the wall as you can
and trying to reach your knee to the wall.
- [Interviewer] So I need to try and
come back a little bit. - So you come back
a little bit and it's keeping heel down.
So I think we're about there. - That's about my limit
isn't it?
- Yep. - Yep and then I want to see
if I can get to the same on the other side.
- [Emma] Yeah, exactly so you can compare.
- [Interviewer] I'm pretty even.
Maybe that's slightly easier on that side.
- [Emma] Right, I was gonna say it looks a bit easier.
- [Interviewer] Yeah it did, didn't it.
- And one thing to watch out for
is not cheating by doing a bit of a twist
from your hips, so you have to keep
that knee coming straight. - Facing the wall.
- Yeah so, headlights on hips into the wall.
(upbeat music)
- So actually I found
one side was slightly tighter then the other
but, what do I do generally with that information
when I've done my test?
- So, what I find with the knee to wall,
you might find that there's a little bit of
asymmetry on either side.
Like you said, and you might want to focus
a little bit of more stretching
on one calf or ankle more than the other.
But, one exercise that I find, whether you're tight or not,
pre-running really good dynamic kind of calf mobility
ankle mobility exercise.
So, enter like a downward dog position
and then I'll talk you through it.
Try and get your knees as straight as possible to start with
and then you're just gonna pump from one ankle to the other.
So bend you knee in, that's it
and the aim is to get that heel
flat down on the floor.
(upbeat music)
- Okay so finally, you mentioned wanting to sort of
get the hips ready for running.
What have you got in mind here?
- Yep so again, one of my favourite little things to do
pre-run would be a little exercise
that combines a hip opener, so giving a kind of
dynamic stretch but also with a little bit of activation
of the right muscles.
So preferably kind of glute muscles to get the fired up.
So, if I show you first. - Okay.
- So I like to start with a little bit of a
nice strong kind of A-frame, come down into your lunge,
make sure that you're not just doing that tilt
through your back and then a nice little one to open up
through your thoracic as well at the same time
and then coming up, nice and strong.
Would you like to have a go?
- So starting with the A-Frame,
walk into lunge. - Nice little lunge that's it,
arms out in front and then you're gonna turn--
- And I'm taking my arm toward my bent side then.
- Aim is to be able to look
over your shoulder behind you, lovely.
- Now it takes some control, doesn't it?
And again, how many on this?
Is it just to feel or--
- Yeah, I usually like to kind of set out
like a little five/10 metre stretch
and you can just do kind of one after the other.
It's a nice little one to get your
running former mechanic started as well.
Just spend a few minutes on it
you wouldn't want to kind of do it for too long.
- Cool.
Well after all of those I know that I feel 100%
ready to go and train.
So I must say thank you to Emma
for that professional insight
and I would strongly suggest that you
advocate some of these tips into your everyday routine
just to help you from having to visit the physio yourself.
If you've enjoyed this hit the thumb up like button
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And if you do want a bit of an idea for a mobility routine
we've actually made a vide on that just here.
And if you're interested to see
where you're body's at in the beginning of the season
we've got some pre-season tests for you
and you can find that here.