If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already been told that strength training is good for your hypermobility, along with stability training, focusing on good form, not over stretching, and not going too heavy too quickly… In fact, quite frankly, this advice could apply to anyone and especially those who are new to strength training entirely. Maybe you have followed this advice down to a T and it’s helped, or maybe you’re like many people who have given it all a good go but you either got bored or demotivated with feeling somewhat restricted (or even just fed up with feeling pain) in your workouts due to your hypermobility. One of the problems with hypermobility is the feeling of a lack of recoil in the joints, particularly the tendons, especially when performing a push movement. For example, you may find it difficult to do a push up (despite having done plenty of strength based training) as it feels like your elbow joints have no energy or recoil when you try and push away from the ground. To understand why this happens with hypermobile joints, it’s best to think of tendons and ligaments as springs (like in a car’s suspension). A normal set of springs are very stiff and create a lot of force by being compressed with a load and then released once that load has been taken away which is called recoil. In hypermobility, your springs are quite slack and don’t have as much stiffness (which can vary in people with hypermobility from person to person). Therefore you don’t have as much recoil and can find yourself stuck at the bottom of exercises like squats and push ups, or you can even find your joints feeling a bit stuck in locked out positions (i.e. when using a leg press machine). It is very common to feel a lack of power in pushing movements as there is less recoil coming from the tendons and ligaments.

So what should you do?

So if you are born with hypermobility (and we know there isn’t a cure for it so avoid anyone claiming they can cure hypermobility!) and therefore have slack springs (your tendons and ligaments), how can we realistically improve those springs? By restoring some of the stiffness…but how do you do that? The answer is to use weight lifting wraps. Now I would bet you haven’t looked into lifting wraps, and maybe you haven’t tried them before or even considered them. So what are they and why should you go on amazon and buy a pair for your knees and elbows? Quite simply, lifting wraps are a strong piece of elasticated material which wraps around your joints in a certain way, to help provide more support to your tendons and ligaments. They provide more support and enhance your joints by taking on more stored energy when loaded (i.e. during a squat or a push up), which in turn gives you more recoil when you unload (i.e. when you push from the floor in a squat or push up). Lifting wraps essentially create a stiffer and larger spring. There is a reason why they’re used by people who perform professionally in strength based competitions like Worlds Strongest Man or the Olympics, and that’s because they need stiffer, more stable, and more recoil from their joints when lifting heavy weights that would otherwise be too hard on their joints to lift regularly without the additional support. In hypermobility, that stiffness is drastically reduced so we recommend using lifting wraps to improve it. Lifting wraps will give you a feeling of a natural recoil in your joints, and you may even find you can do a push up for the first time or your knees stop locking out awkwardly, or your joints stop overextending. Whilst lifting wraps are a great solution for your hypermobility, their downside is they can feel a little uncomfortable. They can be cumbersome (and do take practice) to put on, and they can restrict blood flow due to the wraps needing to fit tightly so you won’t be able to keep them on for long at all (you’ll probably be putting them on and taking them off before and after each set). That said, I believe these inconveniences are far outweighed by the fact lifting wraps will enable you to enjoy and improve your squats, push ups, bench presses, and many other (mostly pushing based) exercises than you would without them. Their tightness and position can also be adjusted according to your comfort and how tight you need them for your lifts.

Ok great, what else can help me?

If you decide lifting wraps are not for you and your hypermobility, then an alternative to consider would be using compression sleeves. These are less cumbersome and simply slide over your joints. However, with lifting wraps you will be able to adjust the tightness accordingly, but with compression sleeves you’ll need to buy the right size sleeve as you can’t adjust their tightness at all. Compression sleeves could be a good choice if you prefer doing lighter smaller movements for your resistance training, and they will also keep your joints warm, and warm means joints stay lubricated which means a better performing joint.

A few more tips…

Lastly, if you don’t like the idea of using lifting wraps or compression sleeves at all, then here is a short list of some of the best practices for exercising with hypermobility. In fact, even if you do give lifting wraps a try, I want to be clear about something – lifting wraps cannot replace good education about strength training, and good exercise form. This is always going to be the most important part for getting the most out of your strength training and therefore enjoying it even more so. Here is our list and summary of best ways to train with hypermobility:

• Focus on good form – slow even tempo on both eccentric and concentric is best (can go a bit faster on concentric if preferred)
• Do more stability exercises
• You can go heavy, but start with light weights and take more time to progressively improve your strength
• Don’t have a bias towards lifting with barbells/dumbbells over machines – machines are your best friend!
• Don’t perform all exercises with a full stretch or a full lock out)
• Train your proprioception
• You don’t always have to “feel it” – some stretches you just won’t feel (most people for example don’t feel their bicep muscle stretch when they straighten their arm). Your joints are hyperflexible, so when stretching, your muscles will already be stretched and that’s enough! Don’t try to go further otherwise you’re more likely to damage the tendon/ligaments. Same goes for strength training, you won’t always feel a particularly strong muscle contract and although it is a good thing to do so, it doesn’t mean it’s not working if you don’t feel a muscle when moving – remember if you are moving then the muscle is contracting
• To reiterate the above point, hypermobile joints are less stable and can over extend, which can also give the impression you’re more flexible and this leads to a lot of overstretching muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and therefore doing further damage.
• If you want to go heavy on the weights, or perform movements where you’re more likely to lockout, then use liftings wraps. – even the pro’s would do this with or without hypermobility!

Ok this is great! But I don’t know where to start…

If you’ve been struggling to improve your strength for a while now and you feel your hypermobility has held you back, then we’ll not only show you the best way to get stronger and build muscle, but we’ll also show you how to achieve these goals within months (not years!) Contact us using the contact form below. We’ll invite you for an hours free trial where we’ll give you as much information about building strength with hypermobility as we can, and if you decide you like us then we’ll get you into a training schedule with one of our PT’s asap (and if you decide we’re not the right PT’s for you then no worries at all!)