Anatomy

Learning a bit of anatomy is a great first step in understanding your body and how it’s affected by the exercise you’re doing. Anatomy is the scientific name for the study of the human body’s structure, and how its different parts inter-relate. In fitness terms, that means studying the muscles, tendons, and ligaments and how they work, as well as the respiratory system – in other words, your heart and lungs.

You might think of your body as quite a tough piece of equipment, but it can be surprisingly fragile, and the more you understand about anatomy, the better you can avoid the risk of injury. Exercise is highly beneficial to your body but also carries with it the danger of damaging your muscles or ligaments as you work to extend your body’s capacities.

Knees and shoulders are particularly susceptible to injury. Shoulders can be strained and damaged by a heavy bench press, or by incorrect technique while doing lateral pull-downs, for example. Understanding the range of movement in your shoulder, how the joint work and what holds it together, can help you to protect yourself from potential injury.

Here are some of the other areas of the body we’ll focus on:

• Hip flexion
• Improving hip rotation
• The function of the hip and patella
• The connection between the back and abdominal muscles
• Spine movements
• Knee Stabilisation
• Integration training
• Avoiding muscle tissue damage

A little bit more knowledge of how your body is put together could make all the difference between a potentially dangerous fitness routine, and a happy workout that leaves you glowing with health and vitality.