Feb 29

Eat the Right Foods at the Right Times

“Six packs start in the kitchen,” Felix told me as I was gulping down my protein shake after a two-hour training session and I waited for my dad to pick me up from the gym at seven o’clock in the evening.  One-hundred-pound dumbbell chest press, fifty-pound dumbbell curls, and five-hundred-pound leg presses weren’t an unusual sight to observe when Felix trained at the gym.   Along with many other regular gym attendees, Felix had the physique and work ethic of an optimally performing human who reaped the benefits of utilizing the gym floor as a potent tool for forging his body into a healthy and strong person.

When I first got a membership to HealthQuest when I was eleven years old, I ventured throughout the gym floor in earnest anticipation to lift the heavy dumbbells, use the “peck deck” machine until my chest exploded, and do sets of dumbbell curls until I couldn’t lift my protein bar to my mouth I looked forward to at the end of my workouts.  I admired the chiseled, in shape, and polite gentleman who attended the gym the same times I went after I finished my homework.  I was also terrified by the women of the gym who could lift more than the overall body mass of my chicken-legged, baggy t-shirt-wearing, awkward eleven-year-old body.

Developing lean muscle mass like Jean Claude Van Dam and Sylvester Stallone, gaining a sense of confidence, and feeling a sense of security around these more advanced gym attendees was what drove me to consistently attend the gym and lift my ten-pound dumbbells next to the men and women who were lifting twenty to fifty pounds more than me.  The passion and drive to put in the rigorous work at the gym were there.  But, why didn’t I have the Greek god-like abdominal section of Bruce Lee?

I was flummoxed by Felix’s comment about creating a defined, washboard-like abdominal structure starting in the kitchen.  When I read through Muscle and Fitness magazines and watched exercise instruction videos, the models posing in those articles and videos would do a trillion different types of abdominal exercises and have mid-sections that appeared to be able to deflect baseballs hit by Barry Bonds.  It might be true that the crunches, side crunches, and reverse crunches performed by the models played a pivotal role in developing a pristine masterpiece of abdominal muscle sculpting. However, what usually isn’t mentioned is the dietary and food decisions that those models diligently executed in excruciating detail to lower the likelihood of storing fat and increase lean muscle mass.  In other words, Jean Claude Van Dam, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, and Felix were masters at making healthy food in their kitchens.

We see clients at our personal training center begin their fitness journeys to create a strong foundation meant to forge an outlook on health and fitness that may have been dormant for a long period.  This dormant physical activity contributes to a lack of lean muscle mass, the development of pain causing physical impairments, and public enemy number one:  weight gain.  As these new exercises participants gain momentum developing lean muscle mass, increasing energy, and developing a sense of accomplishment and overall happiness, the next step is usually refining dietary decision-making tactics.

As social media feeds on Instagram and TikTok feature various methods of themed dietary tactics such as Keto, intermittent fasting, and tracking calories via wearable technology such as Apple watches, one thing is always consistent, we need specific foods that line up with our physical activity levels.  Calories break up in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.  The human body utilizes carbohydrates as a fuel source when the energy demand is present.  Proteins are used to restore stressed muscles from workouts to create stronger and higher-performing muscles for demanding physical activity.  Dietary fats are used as energy when there are no more carbohydrates present in our system.

Carbohydrates can get stored as fat if we don’t use them as energy.  In other words, if we eat a sandwich from Subway or a burrito from our favorite taco truck on a day when we’re sitting at the desk all day, our body is going to take those carbohydrates present in the sandwich bread or burrito tortilla, and store them as fat because we didn’t use those carbohydrates as a fuel source.  However, if we consume an apple before we attend the gym and conduct an hour-long exercise session, our body will use those carbohydrates as energy to fuel our workouts.

If we’re looking to refine our fitness levels and take the next step when we already have a proficient adherence to exercise, perhaps we can look at what our activity looks like in the kitchen.  Focusing on eating foods at a time that lines up with our current state of physical activity is a valuable tactic to assist our body in maintaining a healthy weight and performing optimally.

 

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Feb 21

A Brief Tour of The Core Muscles

The nuts and bolts holding together the framework of houses and buildings create a strong structural integrity to stay upright for a very long time.  Looking at the oldest building in Napa, the Old Adobe building has a framework that lasted well over a hundred years.  A building that was built back in the mid-1800s must have had some ingenious thought put into it since it still stands strong to this day.  The infrastructure of the bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles residing in the center of our body have a lot in common with the strong wood beams and masterfully engineered angles of support Cayetano Juarez had in mind when constructing the Old Adobe building.

The spine is one of the most important structures in the human body.  Granted, every joint in the body should be considered an important area of the body.  However, the vertebrae comprising our spine encases a very special organ in which is an elongation of our brain and the central command center of the nerves that make our limbs move.  Say hello to the spinal cord.

Not only does our spine act as a strong supporting mechanism like the massive wood beams and iron bolts holding together the Old Adobe building, it also relays important messages to our muscles to move.  Without a strong signal being sent from the spine to the skeletal muscles, we won’t move as efficiently.  The muscles that attach the ribs and shoulder blades to the spine, and,  the spine to the hips  act as supporting attachments to keep the spine upright and prevent the likelihood of collapsing like a loose pile of blocks stacked up at the later half of competitive game of Jenga.  These muscles are commonly identified as core muscles.

Akin to the fibrous core of an apple, the spine resides in the center of the body.  Above the spine is the rib cage, and, below the spine are the hips.  The muscles attaching the ribs to the spine help to keep the upper half of our body upright.  The lower half of the spine has muscular attachments from the spine to the hips which not only helps the body to stay upright but also assists in rotational and bending movements throughout normal human activities.

The rectus abdominus can be identified as the “six-pack” muscles that reside on the surface of the front aspect of the abdomen.  It’s located between the ribs and the pelvis.  Another common muscle of note residing on the back half of our body is the quadratus lumborum which originates from the back of the hip and attaches to the upper portion of the lumbar spine.  A commonly overlooked core muscle are the glutes.  Located just below the spine, the glutes are a noteworthy core supporting muscle that keeps the hips underneath the torso.  Without the glutes, the likelihood of the torso collapsing forward and additional stress being put on the spine to support the entire weight of the upper extremities becomes a risk factor for low back injury.

Many core muscles aid the body to function optimally throughout our everyday lives.  However, focusing on strengthening just a few important supporting muscles at a time has the potential to reinforce our bodies to have a strong framework that can hold us up for years to come.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Feb 14

Reduce Stress by Completing the Hardest Part of Your Day

The stress and demands of everyday life can cause our bodies and minds to endure stress of various degrees.  Clocking in to work for an eight to ten-hour shift, putting out a fire at your job, keeping tabs on our children’s progression in a school, or navigating through the intricate labyrinth of financial logistics to support ourselves and the people we care about are intense staples commonly experienced.   Needless to say, we put ourselves through the wringer so we can be the most productive and successful versions of ourselves.

Along with the demands of everyday life, our body produces chemicals that circulate through our blood in response to mentally and physically rigorous situations.  Better known as stress hormones, these chemical messengers increase our heart rate and blood pressure, excite our nervous system, and relay the message to our mind to be more alert to function in high-paced environments.  As our bodies endure stressful situations, our heart rate increases, we get anxious, and we might start sweating slightly.  This reaction is caused by stressful stimuli we perceive so our body can react in a stressful environment.

Stress hormones such as epinephrine and adrenaline are known for their ability to increase heart rate and blood pressure to stimulate a human’s ability to move faster.   These stress hormones can have a bad reputation.    Increased heart rate and blood pressure are frowned upon when we compare those two variables to the healthy standards of having a resting heart rate of around 60 to 100 beats per minute and having a blood pressure of 120 mmHg systolic over 80 mmHg diastolic.  However, an increased heart rate and blood pressure are beneficial in the correct circumstances.

When the body is prompted to move in a way that requires a higher capacity of physical exertion than sitting, standing, or leisurely walking, a strong and efficient heart rate along with a steady flow of blood throughout our arteries and veins is optimal when physically exerting the body such as moving heavy objects, walking up and down stairs, or running around with our kids.  When the muscles of our body enter a physically exertive state, they require oxygen and energy to move.  If our heart sends out a sufficient supply of oxygenated blood to the working muscle, the muscles will continue to work efficiently.  Therefore, increased physical work equates to an increased working heart rate so blood flow can circulate to and from the functioning skeletal muscle.  In this instance, a stimulated heart rate and neuromuscular system caused by an increase in stress hormones benefits the body.

In contrast, stress hormones can be suboptimal for our health.  What happens if our body perceives stressful stimuli from an unfortunate financial situation, our children get sent home from school for cussing, or we get in a heated conversation with a colleague at our jobs?  You can bet our heart rate will increase a few beats per minute, we might get a little angry or excited, and a lot of energy is going to be spent thinking about these unfortunate situations.  In this example, stress hormones are produced from a psychological and emotional stimulus while muscles in the body work very little, or,  not at all.  The result of such a stressful situation creates a surplus amount of stress hormones that can leave us feeling physically exhausted when all we did was think about an unfortunate event that left us feeling angry, aroused, or distraught.  To endure the rest of the day in a mentally fatigued state from a stressful situation is an undesirable situation to be in.

Fortunately, the body has the ability to adapt and armor itself to psychological and emotional distress when the body is in optimal physical condition.  When we enter a bout of exercise that includes routines demanding the body to move past its comfortable range of motion, manipulate more mass in the extremities than it’s accustomed to, or endure a continued pace of aerobic stress, natural adaptations to a source of physical stress from exercise occur.  As an adaptation to consistent exercise, the body has the potential to manage stress hormone production efficiently without becoming overstressed during exercise.  This adaptation carries over during the sedentary periods when we sit down to work, talk on the phone, or interact with people after exercise as well.  Therefore, if we train our bodies by routinely exercising at a moderate intensity, we can train our bodies to endure psychological and emotional stressful situations that occur through social interactions.

We recommend our personal training clients to exercise before the hustle and bustle of everyday life occurs.  In other words, it’s beneficial for the reduction of stress to set aside time to exercise before you clock in to work, pick your kids up from school, or before the grind of executive decision-making through emails, texts, and phone calls begins.  If we can accomplish a bout of exercise or recreational physical activity before the real demands of life begin, we’ll use up most of those stress hormones from our exercise routine and the likelihood of having a stressful situation alter our well-being is less.

Give yourself the gift of exercise and get the hardest part of your day out of the way by exercising in the morning or before your workday.  By doing so, you’ll have a potent tool to help you flourish in your everyday life.

 

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Feb 08

Balance to Correct Imbalances

Balance can be defined as the even distribution of weight in which an object can stay upright.  A human’s ability to possess optimal balance is essential to be productive in everyday life.  The skill to correct imbalance is a commonly overlooked theme when lack of balance is an issue to someone’s ability to move.  Losing balance can occur when standing up too fast from a seated position, regaining normal locomotion after stubbing a foot on an object on the ground, or correcting disruptions of equilibrium when quickly turning around to walk in another direction.  Maintaining a healthy weight, possessing adequate strength for our everyday lives, and fending off illness are critical to longevity and survival.  However, balance is another component that needs to be included in topics of fitness to not only assist us in our fitness journey but also avoid injury while performing normal human functions.

Risk factors of presentations of imbalance appear in our everyday lives more than we might imagine.  For example, while taking leisurely walks around the block to enjoy the sunshine and listening to birds chirp, sidewalks will inevitably crack and be jutted up by tree roots or the wear and tear of erosion, unveiling an uneven walking surface.  Such cracks in a pathway meant to guide humans safely during walking activities along street fronts could catch a few tips of peoples’ shoes and result in a catastrophic fall.

Another common event in which balance protects our livelihood is interacting with rambunctious young humans who run around like wild baby chimpanzees.  These young humans can be identified as our children or possibly our grandchildren.  We can’t forget that these brilliant young creatures are usually the height of our kneecaps.  As much as these munchkins love us, they have no idea that a collision to our knees could make us topple over faster than a tree being sawed down by an arborist.

These events occur in an instant, meaning faster than the lightning striking the ground.  In other words, we can’t necessarily predict an event in which our balance to correct a situation of emergency imbalance needs to happen.  However, our bodies are built for survival.  Immediately after an action occurs that requires us to recalibrate our balance, our bodies instinctually correct it without us thinking.  After that crack on the sidewalk clips our foot, stumbling forward two or three steps prevents a suboptimal situation of landing flat on our stomachs.  In contrast, our balance can deteriorate over time.  One of the leading causes hindering our ability to correct imbalances as we age is a lack of adherence to practicing balance.  Fortunately, balance can be improved at any point in our lives if we allocate time for routine adherence to performing balance-enhancing exercises.

A technique we perform with all of our personal training clients at the beginning of every training session is a single-leg balancing technique paired with internal and external hip rotation.  We require each exercise participant to perform ten repetitions of this movement every time they train so they never forget how to perform this dynamic balancing movement:

Single Leg Hip Internal and External Rotation Stretch:  Start by finding a stable surface to support yourself, such as a wall or post.   Lift a flexed knee toward hip level and rotate the leg to the outside of your body.  You should experience a slight stretching sensation in your inner thigh and hip insertion.  Once you have achieved the desired number of repetitions for the external rotation, reverse the motion by positioning your toe and knee facing away from the body.  Lift the stretching leg up and internally rotate it toward the midline of the body.  Repeat both of these movements for five to 10 repetitions on both legs.

Practicing balancing movements at least once per week can significantly decrease the risk of falling and other factors that result in injuries related to loss of balance.  Similar to many aspects of life, consistent adherence to exercise produces life-enhancing outcomes.  We don’t need to perform the most cutting-edge exercises to improve our balance or set the marker high to perform the most athletic feats of balance.  Simple and effective exercises performed on a regular occurrence yield the most effective results.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Feb 01

The Lifelong Journey of Managing Knee Pain

“It’s basically bone-on-bone and there’s nothing I can do.”  said Alphonse during his initial consultation.  “The doctors told me that I’m old and all my cartilage is gone.  So, I’m probably going to have to get knee replacements and give up hiking, golfing, and hunting.”

Alphonse reached out to utilize our personal training services to replace his favorite recreational activities.  At sixty-five years of age, Alphonse’s favorite hobbies included hikes with his dog, golfing two to three times a week, and regular hunting excursions four to five times a year.  Following years of participating in these activities, he felt intense pain in his knees enough to where he had to take two to three days rest before performing regular functions.  Getting out of bed, stepping up and down stairs, and getting in and out of the car became a challenge due to the debilitating knee pain.  In what was initially meant to be a feeling of joy and elation, his normal physically active hobbies became an anxiety-inducing topic that he wanted to avoid.  Alphonse entered a vicious cycle of decreased physical activity and two knee joints that suffered exponentially due to an absence of movement and exercise.

General age-related joint pain is a sore subject to touch on.  However, it’s a common theme of life we are dealt with.  Similar to how we get crows feet under our eyes, an extra wrinkle on our forehead when we’re deep in thought, or the skin on our hands seems to dry out more than usual as we age, our joints follow a similar suit.  The cushioning and dampening abilities of the cartilage surrounding the ends of bones diminish over time.  One could imagine the knee cartilage of a twenty-something-year-old young man compared to a man above fifty years of age is going to have more bounce, be thicker, and won’t have the wear-and-tear from the stresses of twenty-to-thirty years of physical stress.  In Alphonse’s case, he was feeling the repercussions of knee cartilage that had been sent through the wringer from years of rigorous physical activity.  As a result, he experiences bouts of knee pain that he wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

One of the first questions we ask our newer exercise participants is, “What does your current exercise routine consist of?”  After presenting Alphonse with this question, his answer was “zero.”  I knew that one of the contributing factors to Alphonse’s pain wasn’t just the fact that he was getting old.  His knees were in extreme pain because he didn’t have a skillfully designed fitness routine.

It’s not outlandish for people with knee pain to veer away from exercise in fear of making their situation worse.  However, along with increased pain due to years of stress, the lack of strength and conditioning to reinforce the structure of Alphonse’s knees was a significant contributing factor.  Fortunately, there are many starting points for individuals completely foreign to exercise that decrease joint pain and increase human performance to be able to participate in fun and invigorating recreational physical activity.

An optimal setting to begin knee strengthening exercises is to perform a fitness routine on the ground.  To decrease the amount of tension on the knee joint, muscle activation can be stimulated while avoiding compression on the knee joint by positioning the body in a seated, supine, side-laying, or prone position.  While on the ground, the knees are positioned in front of the body, not below the body where they are responsible for supporting the torso along with the force of gravity.  Therefore, when performing ground-based exercises, the compressive forces present are less than those of standing vertically.  Here are two examples of knee joint strengthening exercises that be completed while lying on the ground:

Seated Knee Extension:  Start by sitting down on an object ensuring stable posture and that both feet are resting flat on the ground.  While keeping the toes flexed toward the body, extend one leg until a slight muscular sensation is experienced in the quadriceps and kneecap region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions on each leg.

Supine Hip Extension + Isometric Hip Adduction with Soccer Ball:  Start by positioning yourself flat on your back on the ground with your arms extended and your knees bent.   Place a soccer ball between your knees.  Actively apply inward pressure with your knees on the ball until a muscular sensation is experienced in your inner thigh muscles.  While applying pressure on the ball, press your feet into the ground and lift the hips upward until a brief muscular sensation is experienced in the hamstrings and glutes.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions.

If our goal is to live a fulfilling and active life, we need to listen to that pain and do something about it.  Exercise is meant to enhance the ability to engage in our favorite hobbies and physical activities.  One of the best ways to decrease joint pain is practicing regular adherence to exercises that allow our bodies to feel better for years to come.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Jan 24

Piriformis Syndrome, What a Pain in the Rear End

The multitude of chores involved in our everyday lives can be challenging to muster up the gumption to complete.  The walnut tree in the backyard may have sprinkled its leaves on the ground throughout the winter rains and need to be raked up and stored in the compost bin.  A few chipped-off pieces of paint on the side of the house might require the use of climbing up on a ladder and dabbing a few strokes of touch-up paint to fix the imperfections of chipped paint that the wet, cold months of November and December granted us.  Perhaps the floors lying in front of our doors require us to get down on our hands and knees and scrub for ten minutes because of the mud and excess water brought in by our companions entering our dwellings.  Needless to say, the requirement to accomplish chores can be a real pain in the butt.  To competently accomplish these seemingly difficult tasks, we need a body that bends down, climbs, and pivots effectively and efficiently.

If we have pain in our lower extremities, conducting everyday life functions can be challenging.  One common symptom that causes pain and inhibits our ability to perform our normal life activities requiring stepping up, getting up and down from sitting, and rotating and pivoting from the hip joint is piriformis syndrome.  Also identified as a symptom of sciatica, piriformis syndrome is literally and figuratively a “pain in the butt”.  If any of the readers have had to deal with “butt cheek pain,” pain, numbness, and irritable pain produced by this condition can be appreciated.

To better understand piriformis syndrome, it’s helpful to note what the piriformis muscle is, where it’s located, and what its actions are responsible for when optimizing human function.  The piriformis muscle is a short, flat muscle residing in the deeper areas of the pelvis and hip region.  It originates at the front portion of the sacrum and pelvis and is attached to the upper portion of the femur.  It’s responsible for the external rotation of the hip throughout the various movements involved in standing up, walking, getting up from chairs, and rotating the thighs to the outside of the body.  Additionally, the piriformis acts as an isometric stabilizing muscle when we rotate our torso while standing, sitting, or reaching for something to the outside of our body.  One could imagine what life would be like if one of these normal functions were taken away due to gluteal pain.

Underneath the piriformis resides one of the most important motor nerves responsible for innervating the lower extremities, the sciatic nerve.  This massive nerve originates from the base of our spine, travels through the buttock region, and traces down the back of the leg down to the heel.  When there is pressure on the sciatic nerve, the nerve is disrupted and sends out signals of stress throughout the muscles innervated by the nerve.  These symptoms include searing, “zinging,” dullness, or weakness through the various muscles attached to this nerve.  So, what would cause such a disruption to this important nerve located under our buttocks?  If you read the title of this article, you guessed right.  A tight piriformis muscle presses down on the sciatic nerve to create piriformis syndrome.

For such a small muscle, the piriformis can pack a punch and derail our normal human function.  If our goal is to live in less pain, perform our everyday tasks efficiently, and be the strongest and most capable version of ourselves, ensuring we have strong, durable, and healthy hip muscles is a critically important requirement.  Here are a few simple and effective exercises we conduct with our personal training clients who have symptoms akin to piriformis syndrome:

Supine Isometric Hip Extension:  Start by positioning yourself flat on your back on the ground with your arms extended and your knees bent.   Press your feet into the ground and lift the hips upward until a brief muscular sensation is experienced in the hamstrings and glutes.  Once your hips are extended upward, hold this position utilizing your glutes and hamstrings to stabilize the hips in an extended position for 10 to 30 seconds.

Knee Tilt Stretch:  Start by positioning yourself flat on your back on the ground with your arms extended and your knees bent.   Tilt your knees to one side of the body as far as you can while keeping your knees and ankles touching.  After a brief stretching sensation is experienced in the lower back and outer hip, alternate this motion to the other side.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions on both sides of the body.

Similar to many aspects of maintaining a strong and fit body, a combination of strengthening, mobility, and flexibility exercises need to be evenly allocated throughout an exercise to ensure muscles maintain structural integrity and functional strength.  Therefore, stretching and strength training toward the muscles surrounding the gluteal region are critically important to recover from and fend off piriformis syndrome.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Jan 17

Starting a Fitness Journey, Take Small Bites

Our fitness center had the privilege to expand another fourteen hundred square feet this past year.  The addition of a hallway, another bathroom, two office suites, and about eight hundred additional square feet to utilize for one-on-one personal training activities gave our coaching team the potential to invite more people into our business and offer our services to help people live happier, healthier, and stronger lives.  It was quite the year for us, and, we have been able to successfully fit our new space with more people from the Napa community to assist people looking to improve their overall quality of life via exercise adherence.

Along with our new space came visions of grandeur involving what we could invest in to enhance our client’s exercise experience with our shiny new toy which involved a new space, a massage suite, and an office for our coaches.  “Let’s get another squat stand,” “How about another front desk?” or “How about we retile the bathrooms?”.  These were just a small glimpse of the requests and proposed projects that were recommended by the team and yours truly to install in our new space.  The ideas were impressive.  However, we forgot about one important variable that made these visions conceivable:  time.

Before we got the keys to the other side of our fancy new space, we already had a maximum capacity of exercise participants in our previous space.  Even though we just acquired a new frontier of expanding a successfully operating fitness business, we still needed to tend to our current clientele.  Who was going to juggle both our beloved clients and the installation of our dream fitness center at the same time?  You guessed right.  The coaches who specialized in one-on-one personal training and exercise program design quickly became professional painters, and floor installation specialists, and quite comically, learned how to use power tools.  Have you ever seen a baby giraffe walk for the first time after birth?  Imagine a fitness coach learning how to use a Sawzall for the first time.  The result was overwhelmingly hilarious.

Needless to say, delving into new projects takes effort, perseverance, and patience.  These components involved in rendering success out of investing oneself into a new project that someone cares about takes a tremendous amount of time.  This most commonly occurs with fitness goals.  Achieving long-term benefits from a fitness program takes willingness, effort, and patience.

Common fitness goals include the desire to lose weight, look good in sleeveless shirts or bathing suits for a summer vacation, or overcome a substantial injury to reduce pain, increase movement, and optimize everyday life functionality.  It’s important to note these desired outcomes don’t happen overnight.   We understand the physiology of the human body.  Losing ten pounds in a week isn’t realistic.  Recovering strength from a surgical procedure takes three months of physical therapy and excruciating detail to rehabilitation tactics to chip the surface of restructuring connective tissue and re-educating the neuromuscular system to return to everyday life activities.  Similar to our ventures to our build-out project for our new fitness center, fitness goals take time.

If weight loss, gaining strength, or decreasing pain is a fitness goal, time is a critically important factor toward the success of such a fitness journey.  Once one, two, or three days a week of meticulously designed exercise routines are adhered to over ninety days, the journey toward a successful outcome of the efforts we invest toward a few days at the local gym, Yoga and Pilates classes, or regular visits with your personal trainer start to take effect to support goals for the long run.

Take a few deep breaths and understand that the success of a fitness journey takes time.  Additionally, it’s farfetched to expect to accomplish fitness goals right away.  Take small bites out of your journey and enjoy the ride.  Noticing the fun of feeling better and stronger while investing time and energy in your fitness journey produces a fun and exciting experience.  Before you know it, you’ll get to that finish line with a smile and a happy, healthy, and strong body.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Jan 11

A New Year of Strength… Where do we Begin?

The first week of the 2024 calendar year has been successfully recorded.  For a local commercial gym employee, this could be one of the most stimulating weeks of the season.  A young front desk representative is likely to observe the flood of excited humans eager to achieve their New Year’s resolution fitness goals come flooding into the sliding glass front doors like a school of salmon traveling inland from the ocean.  Rightfully so, signing up for a gym membership when the membership rate is fifty percent off is all the rage.  New Year’s discounts and specials are offered this time of year to promote health and vigor in the community while giving people a driving force to invest time at a local gym to improve their overall fitness and quality of life.  The parking lots in front of the gym are full, the gym floor is packed to the brim like a kettle full of popcorn ready to serve, and the boisterous energy can be quite a spectacle.

As the gym floors are saturated with humans looking to advance their fitness and health as their New Year’s resolution, there are a fair amount of novice exercise participants present during these first few weeks of the new year.  The good news for novice gymgoers is that they have broken past the most challenging part of developing an effective exercise program:  They walked through the front door.  In an environment that can appear intimidating, overwhelming, and just not someone’s cup of tea, stepping foot into the fitness arena when the foundation of fitness for a person isn’t at the forefront of things to do in their everyday life can be quite a challenge.  So, good job to those of you who have rendered the courage to take that step and sign up for a gym membership to start 2024.

One of the biggest issues for fitness rookies when entering a gym is understanding where to begin.  The gym floor is strewn with contraptions of various colors, shapes, and sizes.  In one corner, you might have large-weight metal objects, benches, cables, and boxes.  As a newbie viewing this section of the gym, they might be confused if they mistakenly ventured into a steel fabrication shop.  In the other section of the gym, there are multiple electronically powered devices that people sit on in a stationary position to run, step, glide, or bike on.  Better known as treadmills, ellipticals, stair steppers, and stationary exercise bikes, these pieces of equipment can bewilder new exercise participants.  Needless to say, finding a place to begin when entering an exercise facility can create an obstacle for new gym goers.  Sometimes, the deciding factor of where to start can deter a person from continuing their fitness journey and accomplishing the fitness goals they initially wanted to achieve in the first place.

A few tips we give to our personal training clients just starting on a new fitness journey is to start with simple exercises that target large areas of muscles.  Additionally, start with choosing just a few exercises to accomplish throughout your first few gym visits.  Completing four to five exercises in a single gym visit is plenty.  A simple and effective tactic to target muscles of the entire body is to conduct simple resistance training techniques that require just a few repetitions to complete.  When deciding what exercises are best for you, aim to perform no more than five to eight repetitions.  Whether it be a resistance training machine, a cable resistance training setup, or utilizing a dumbbell, lower repetition at an intensity of about twenty to thirty percent of your maximal perceived exertion is a safe and effective way to put an efficient amount of exercise-induced stress on the body.

Additionally, choose exercises that cover three simple themes: lower body movements, upper body pushing movements, and upper body pulling movements.  Lower body movements can be accomplished with the leg press machine or by performing a few simple repetitions of body-weight squats on a bench.  Upper-body pushing and pulling techniques can be performed on resistance training machines that are set up with benches, back support, and handles that are safe and effective such as chest press or rowing resistance training machines.   Choosing exercises that have a relatively low learning curve creates an attainable exercise setting to accomplish a worthwhile exercise session.

More importantly, if exercising in a gym is new, don’t be afraid to reach out to one of the onsite personal trainers.  Ask them to share some information about a few entry-level lower-body and upper-body resistance training movements.  They work at these gyms and expect new people to meander around like a fish out of water.  Their job is to help out the newbies and keep them coming back in through those doors so the new members can lose some weight, get stronger, and feel better after they finish a session at the gym.  It takes effort and mental fortitude to acclimate to a new gym setting.  We can all do it with patience and willingness to learn.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Jan 04

New Years Fitness Routines for Beginners

The holiday season features a multitude of cultural festivities centered around spending time with loved ones, taking time off to be thankful for what the world has granted us, and enjoying holiday-themed treats is coming to an end.  The new year 2024 is just around the corner and symbolizes a fresh start to many important aspects of our lives.  Along with a new calendar year featuring a fresh start to financial logistics, new semesters at school, and new seasons of our favorite television shows, we also partake in the invigorating New Year’s resolutions.  One of the most common New Year resolutions resides around self-care and improvement to our health.

New Year’s resolutions featuring a health and fitness goal could include losing a few pounds, decreasing stress via exercise, or establishing another routine throughout the week that focuses on ourselves and sets distractions aside for a brief moment.  Whether these New Year fitness goals involve the veteran gym goer, an individual recovering from a significant injury, or a person who has never stepped foot in a gym, entering a fitness-based regimen can be a daunting process.  Establishing an exciting new tactic to practice featuring health and fitness sounds like an amazing idea.  However, one might sign up for the New Year’s special offered by our local gyms and take one step on the gym floor and wonder, “Where do I begin?”

There are a few key themes that should be focused on when just starting a fitness program.  First off, ensure that the efforts being made to enhance the desired fitness variable are safe.  The last thing anyone wants is to get physically hurt from a bout of exercise.  Additionally, research should be conducted on how to perform certain exercises and what contraindications might be present that could pose a potential injury.  Furthermore, find a time in which distractions are at a minimum throughout your exercise sessions.  Social interactions, looking at your phone, or being rushed for time takes much-needed attention away from exercise sessions.  We want to get the best bang for our buck when focusing on our exercise sessions. Therefore, ensure to have laser-sharp, brain-surgeon-like focus when entering a foreign local gym, exercise class, or home fitness setting.

Safety is of the utmost importance when a newbie enters a group fitness class or local membership-driven gym setting.  A jaw-dropping amount of state-of-the-art exercise equipment lays the groundwork for modern fitness facilities.  For veteran gym rats like me who’ve been in the fitness industry for over twenty-five years, I have a pretty good idea of how these contraptions function.  However, for the rookie exercise participant, a leg press machine might look like the newest rocket ship designed by Elon Musk.  If entering a gym floor setting looks like you just emerged from the wardrobe and set foot into Narnia, perhaps seeking guidance from an experienced and trained fitness professional could support a novice fitness enthusiast to engage in a safe, efficient, effective, and fun exercise journey.

Most gyms offer complimentary training sessions led by a personal trainer.  Don’t be afraid to sign up for those free sessions.  Simply venturing around a new setting with someone who knows how to navigate around the gym is a powerful tool to acclimatize a human to a setting of optimal and avoidable locations on the gym floor.  Additionally, most small group fitness classes such as Yoga, Pilates, and cycling classes offer the first session on the house.  Attending a class with the mindset of testing the waters to see if the experience is a good fit or not is a great opportunity to see which setting resonates with your fitness goals.  Our personal training studio always offers the first two sessions free of charge to ensure our product connects with the exercise participants’ desired outcomes.

New Year’s goals pave the path for an exciting vision of the future.  To fortify our profound goals to enhance our quality of life, make sure to lay out a few plans to get the most benefit out of the efforts invested in these goals.  Making safe, effective, and fun decisions toward your health and fitness aspirations has the power to make this next year the best year of our lives.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Dec 27

Fortifying Knee Stability and Strength

“We’re pretty much diagnosed with arthritis after we turn thirty,” was a phrase one of my mentors consistently said to me, his peers, and patients throughout my internship experience.  As a decorated physical therapist with an esteemed reputation in the medical community, this man who had over forty years of practicing as a physical therapist didn’t beat around the bush.  One personality trait I gathered from the mentoring of this gentleman was his rigorous relationship with the truth he expressed toward his patients.

Telling patients point blank that they’re diagnosed with degenerative bone and joint disease after they reach the milestone of being on this earth for thirty years can cause quite a shock.  However, after he would throw down this icebreaker to a patient afflicted with knee pain, he immediately gave them resources on how to build strength around the knee, function productively throughout their everyday life, and prevent accelerated deterioration of the bones, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons and muscles surrounding the affected area.  I took away a lesson that educating people afflicted with painful conditions develops a foundation on where to begin and continue on a path to recovery.

Some of the readers of this article may have been avid athletes, recreational weekend warriors, or participated in a career involving physically demanding tasks.  Looking back at our high school career playing popular sports such as volleyball, baseball, track, or football might have introduced a few injuries.  Traveling up and down ladders as a painter, kneeling to install outlets as an electrician, or hauling two-by-fours up and down stairs throughout a person’s career can impose a tremendous amount of stress on the joints of the body.  Looking at an athletic career at any age and level of competition paired with a life of demanding physical labor contributes to the likelihood of arthritis.  Among the wide array of joints afflicted with arthritis is the knee joint.

Comprised of the femur, patella, tibia, and fibula, the knee is a hinge joint that controls critically important movements throughout our every lives.  Without a healthy knee, our lives change dramatically.  Bone on bone contact is a common explanation of why people experience symptoms of arthritis.  The knee joint is on the bottom half of the body, below the hip, and right about the feet.  Knees are responsible for not only holding humans upright and moving us from place to place but also holding the weight of the upper extremities and the forces of gravity.  One could imagine without the cushioning properties the cartilage covering the end of the bones would cause the painful effects of bones pressing on each other.  Therefore, appreciating the importance of the knee is worthwhile if living a long and quality life is in our best interest.  Below are a few methods to strengthen the knee joint by focusing on the inner thigh, outer hip, and anterior thigh muscles:

Side laying hip adduction:  Start by positioning yourself lying on your side with your feet stacked on top of each other.   Cross your top leg over to the front of your body where your top foot should rest flat on the ground.  Keeping the bottom foot flexed toward the body and the knee extended, lift the bottom leg until a brief muscular sensation is experienced in the inner thigh region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions.

Side laying hip abduction:  Start by positioning yourself lying on your side with your feet stacked on top of each other.   Stack your legs on top of each other.  Keeping the top foot flexed toward the body and the knee extended, lift the top leg until a brief muscular sensation is experienced in the out hip and thigh region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions.

Seated on Ground Knee Extension:  start by sitting down flat on the ground with optimal posture with one knee extended flat on the ground and the other knee flexed to where the foot is flat on the ground.  While keeping the toes flexed toward the body, extend one leg as if you are trying to touch the back of the knee to gently touch the ground until a slight muscular sensation is experienced in the quadriceps and kneecap region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions on each leg.

By executing a few of these movements consistently throughout the week or in addition to an exercise routine, the muscles targeted in these exercises can significantly improve the structural integrity of the knees.  These aren’t the most cutting-edge exercises known to man.  However, these exercises are usually practiced in a physical therapy setting because they are easy to learn, can be done with little to no pain, and have a substantial effect on improving lower extremity strength while decreasing knee pain.

Being diagnosed with arthritis after thirty may not be the most exciting news.  At the same time, it’s not the end of the world.  We can still live happy, healthy, and strong lives by adhering to simple yet effective exercises to put the detrimental effects of arthritis at bay.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

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