Q. How is Record different from my TRX class?
Q. Can I perform Redcord with my injury?
A. Redcord is a flexible, pain-free training tool that uses your own bodyweight to build strength, improve coordination and athletic performance, prevent injury, and treat musculoskeletal disorders.
One thing Redcord does best is enable rehabilitative exercise to relieve pain. Working with a licensed Redcord practitioner, you are led in performing stabilizing, strengthening, and stretching exercises on strong ropes, using your own bodyweight as resistance. The unstable ropes force the entire body to stabilize, as you can’t recruit other muscles and body parts to help, while not aggravating your existing injury.
Q. Can I perform Pilates with my injury?
A. Pilates is a whole-body exercise system designed to balance one’s muscles and create a flexible, strong body. The exercises focus on the core muscles which support good posture, and bring ease and power to walking, lifting, dancing, and sports activities. It can improve breathing and circulation to the internal organs, and is especially helpful in relieving back pain and poor posture.
Pilates is an excellent way to rehabilitate after an injury. Physical therapists and medical professionals recommend it for retraining abnormal movement patterns and correcting biomechanical problems. Pilates can be practiced throughout pregnancy and postpartum, and is appropriate for people of all ages and abilities.
Q. Why does Redcord involve the trainer manually shaking the ropes while you exercise?
A. People in our studio have observed me with my clients, manually shaking the Redcord ropes and slings during an exercise. And if you come in for a session, it's a technique you may experience. Shaking the ropes increases muscular activation across a wide spectrum of movements, and is a physical therapy technique that has been demonstrated in peer-reviewed, physical therapy papers. The use of vibration is especially suited for use in a Redcord session. It’s just one example of how, with this modality, you can work out smarter, not harder, yet achieve great results in less time.
Q. Why is it that push-ups using Redcord are more effective for low back pain?
A. Two physical therapy studies (sourced below) suggest that push-ups in slings are superior to those performed as ground-based exercise, and also improve function of the lumbar muscles. The study compared muscle activity during push-ups under both sling or ground conditions and found that sling-based push-up exercise can provide greater activation in upper limb and anterior trunk muscles than the ground-based exercise.
Sources:
Muscular activities during sling- and ground-based push-up exercise