ARE GYMS IN DUBLIN HELPING OR HARMING YOU?
The emergence of fitness gyms in Dublin over the past few years is both a blessing and a curse.
It gives people who want to engage in a healthier lifestyle more options to begin their fitness journey.
Unfortunately, if exercise is the drug of choice, the instructors, coaches and personal trainers who are administering the prescriptions to gym goers are poorly educated and inexperienced.
Exercise is the drug of choice, but you get the wrong drug, you get the wrong side effect.
The result is that the type of medication each gym goer is receiving, the dosage and the frequency are leading to the wrong side-effects.
They medication is not specific to the individuals.
The one sized fits all prescriptions in group exercise in gyms in Dublin, and poorly designed exercised programmes are leading to long-term joint damage resulting in orthopaedic surgeries. (see article below)
The previous posts I have made over the years highlighted my fears that as Australian strength coach Ian King would say,
“Time magnifies errors in training.”
Is your current training regime a blessing or a curse?
The article which was published in the daily telegraph quoted Gorav Datta, an orthopaedic surgeon in the UK’s Southampton General Hospital, as saying that “the adoption of high-intensity workout regimes had contributed to a four-fold increase in bone and joint damage among patients under 30.
The rise of cult fitness regimes and personal trainers has prompted a surge in knee, hip and back problems among young people.
He said the increasing popularity of “explosive” exercise programmes, particularly among career-focused young people short on time, is causing the type of damage usually seen in patients in their late 50s.
Some of the most popular training regimes, which can be performed at gyms or at home, comprise a range of repetitive aerobic exercises, body weight exercises, weightlifting and gymnastics which are performed in 30-minute to hour-long workouts.
“Over the past few years there has been a real expansion in the fitness market designed to meet the needs of young people with many conflicting priorities,” said Mr Datta.
“Cult fitness regimes and the use of over-zealous personal trainers, all of which emphasise high-intensity, high-impact work, appeal to those who want to cram exercise into their hectic daily lives.
“The problem, however, is that these short and intense bursts and repetitions can wreak havoc with joints and, longer-term, lead to the need for surgery.”
The surgeon says he now sees around 200 hundred patients a year who are under 30 and suffering from hip and knee injuries, as well as back problems, compared to roughly 50 three years ago.
“The message for young people to avoid this predicament is to be careful not to over-train and to avoid some of the exercises and training regimes that can trash the joints.”
Telegraph.co.uk