How does strong help us?

The other morning, I was remembering back to high school and early college.  I was struggling with my knees, specifically my left.  It was one of the mornings that I thought, "If I only knew then what I know now, how different things would be."

The bottom line was my knees hurt when I ran.  I am an athlete, so it was intense pain for me to be concerned.  (And I hated going to the doctor's office!)  I remember tests and exams and in college being told by a chiropractor that I shouldn't be running. I remember fighting to run, because I loved it so much.  

I am glad I did fight to continue to participate.  I would have missed out on some of the greatest challenges of my life.  I might not be here now sharing with you.

What I know now, is that my knee pain was  a result of muscular strength imbalances.  I grew two  and one half inches between freshmen and senior years of high school.  (I later grew another two inches later in college to finish at 72 inches).  Because my body was changing, I needed to be training the muscles to be able to work with the body.  

It would have taken simple BW or external resistance training exercises to keep me functioning during this time period.  But I grew up in an era when it was frowned upon for girls to be in a weight room; we could play the sport, but we couldn't prepare for the sport.  

Since then, I have been doing all the things that doctors told me would hurt me or my knees... squatting, lunges (still working on those), steps, and variations of all of those, and my knees feel great. 

I have discovered kettlebells and sandbags.  It is fun to be in a gym and more fun to play well on the field or the track.

Perhaps, the potential injury can be corrected through strengthening exercises.