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Sports Medicine

Dr. Ken Kinakin D.C., CSCS
Dr. Ken Kinakin is a sport medicine doctor, chiropractor, certified strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer! He’s also the author of the book “Optimal Muscle Training” and has competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting for over 20 years. Dr. Kinakin lectures around the world to doctors and personal trainers on the areas of weight-training, rehabilitation and nutrition. He is also the clinic director for the AIM Health & Wellness clinic (see www.aimhealthgroup.com), with a rehabilitation and training centre in Mississauga, Ontario. Dr. Kinakin founded the Society of Weight-Training Injury Specialists (SWIS), an organization that educates and certifies doctors, therapists and personal trainers in the area of exercise muscle testing, rehabilitation and treatment of weight training injuries (see www.swis.ca).
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Taking Unscheduled Days Off

There’s a common question that always arises when you’re training: “When do I take an unscheduled day off training; is it when I feel sore or tired?” Most people just suck it up and go train regardless of how they’re feeling. That usually ends up being a less-than-optimal workout, and in fact, it may have been better for growth if you had taken a day or two off to recover. Training is much like trying to get a suntan; it’s hard to get a suntan when the skin is already hot, red, and painful from being outside for too long. In other words, you can’t tan on top of a burn. It’s better to get out of the sun to recover. So too, sometimes it is best to get out of the gym and recover when you’ve pushed it too hard.

In order to be a little more scientific and accurate, you can use a subjective training stress questionnaire to really determine how stressed you are. It will also determine if should you take a day off because you need it, or if you’re just being lazy.

Subjective Training Stress Questionnaire

The following questionnaire has been designed to determine if stress levels are high enough to adversely impact the adrenal glands, creating symptoms of exhaustion and warranting a day off training.