Built from Broken summary

When it comes to strength training for joint health, here are six pointers that will help you build a functional training program.

One: pick exercises that dynamically strengthen your joints rather than isolating muscles. For example, lateral shoulder raises and external rotations make for better shoulder prehab than bicep curls, which only target one arm muscle.

Joint pain can occur in any joint in your body – your wrists, ankles, or hip for example. But some aches are more common than others.

The biggest problem areas are the “Big Three”: back, shoulders, and knees. These complex joints take endless abuse, bearing loads during every movement while stabilizing your body. So how do you bulletproof them for lifelong strength and mobility?

When was the last time you climbed a tree or balanced along a fallen log? It’s probably been a while. Most of us spend our days sitting in chairs, hunched over our laptops, or staring down into our phones. It’s easy to see that our modern lives lack the natural movements humans evolved doing. No wonder joint pain is so widespread today!

Unfortunately, hitting the gym in the evening doesn’t offset a full day sitting at your computer. So working out at the gym shouldn’t be your be-all-end-all answer to joint pain.

Daily movement and corrective exercise are great ways to address joint pain. But, as mentioned earlier, poor joint health is influenced by several factors.

For a long time, researchers believed that high inflammation levels were the leading cause of joint pain. That’s why doctors today still like to prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – or NSAIDs – and cortisone injections.

There it is again, that familiar twinge in your shoulder – is it just a muscle spasm or the start of something more serious? Injuries can sneak up fast, derailing your fitness goals and hampering your quality of life.

But whether acute injury or overuse dysfunction, there are ways to optimize your healing and minimize your downtime.