Sep 09

Physical Activity and Motivation: Set a goal and get it done

Weeds.  Once described to me by a dear friend and mentor as “something in which its intrinsic value has not yet to be discovered.”  Seeing as both my back and front yards quickly became overwhelmed with wild weeds that sprouted and proliferated, I fully-heartedly agreed with this statement.  If I happened to be a deer that enjoyed munching on wild foliage throughout a forest in my natural habitat, then perhaps I could find some value in a fifty-square-foot area of weeds.  However, I am not a deer.  I’m a human.  And, I’m not so sure weeds taste that great or would benefit my digestive system.  So, I have no need for weeds.  This led to project “weed abatement”.

Instead of mowing my weeds down once a week or spraying them with a vile weed-killing substance, I researched alternative methods to mitigate the psychological and emotional effects the mundane task of weed management had on me.  Waking up on a weekend morning to rifle through my shed to pull out my lawn mower, getting powder debris of plant matter on my skin and in my eyes, and sweating profusely wasn’t on the top of the list after a long work week.  I’d much rather sit inside for a few hours and look at the inside of my house that I had only seen early in the morning and the last remaining hours at dinner time before I ventured into dreamland.  As a solution, I discovered that covering my weeds with wood chips would naturally suppress their urge to propagate.  Instead of waging chemical warfare on mechanically slicing their leaves to see the weeds regrow to their normal length next week, I could remove the very source that encourages them to grow: the sun.  This meant I had to remove their origin of photosynthesis by putting down used cardboard and covering the area with a copious amount of wood chips.  The best part is that the supplies were the right price, free.

After an inquiry to freechipdrop.com, I had a dump truck’s worth of wood chips in my parking lot in a few days.  A daunting and powerful spectacle, that pile of wood chips resembled a substantial amount of work on my end.  I grabbed my metal rake, wheelbarrow, and flathead shovel.  It was time to start scooping, wheeling, and spreading the chips to cover the colony of weeds that had hindered my relaxing Sundays.  After hours of filling my wheelbarrow up and traveling to the next destination of the weed patch to disperse chips, I noticed I had made a tiny dent in my pile.  I saw what an hours work could do to this pile.  I observed the pile decrease in surface area by reducing the height and radius of how much ground it covered.  This project would take a few days of hour-long labor intervals to complete.

Fortunately, I had a friend who offered their help in this project.  Thank goodness for friends.  I told him that if we simply met for one hour twice weekly, we could knock out this pile.  That meant I had two hours of labor to invest into this pile twice weekly.  Over two weeks my buddy and I produced eight hours of shoveling, wheelbarrow usage, and raking.  Before we knew it, the pile was gone, and I had a driveway to park my car in.  Most importantly, I succeeded in snuffing out those worthless weeds.

A noteworthy observation was how setting appointments with realistic and manageable time frames to get things done accelerated the completion of my project.  A small mountain’s worth of wood chips can be intimidating and challenging to motivate oneself to grab a shovel and start moving the pile.  One scoop full doesn’t seem like a lot.  However, an hour’s worth of shoveling equates to quite a lot of progress.

This experience led me to think about the progress our personal training clients can make in their fitness goals when initially making the decision to motivate and dedicate themselves to a fitness program.  Whether it be a package of ten small group fitness classes or making a more significant investment to sign up for three to six months’ worth of fitness classes with a private personal training facility, Yoga, or Pilates studio, it’s challenging to see the needle move toward making progress.  Losing weight, gaining strength, or decreasing pain doesn’t happen overnight.  Like my enormous pile of wood chips, it takes planning and time to progress and achieve fitness goals.  Fitness adaptations can only be seen if we consistently practice adhering to weekly exercise sessions.

It’s amazing how much can get done if we invest small increments of time into projects and goals.  Sometimes, things don’t happen immediately.  However, if we plan our strategy and make weekly appointments to accomplish tasks, we can see incremental progress until the job is complete.

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.

Aug 31

Calorie Counting and Portion Size

Food serves its purpose in many ways to benefit our overall functioning and productivity in our society.  The various foods we consume aid us in strengthening our bodies’ muscular and internal organ systems, fending off illness, and fueling our bodies with sufficient energy.  However, while food is significant to the functioning of our bodies, the decisions we make with food can counteract  its positive attributes.

A common topic we hear from our personal training clients is discovering the best tactic for weight loss.  As professionals in the fitness industry, it’s our job and passion to help people thrive in a happy, healthy, and strong manner throughout their everyday lives.  Consistent adherence to weekly exercise is an essential portion of developing and maintaining a body with low fat mass and an efficient amount of lean muscle mass.  Our exercise participants meet with us for training appointments anywhere from one to three times per week for a seventy-five-minute customized training sessions.  Like other individuals in our community who regularly attend small group fitness classes at gym fitness studios like Orange Theory, Yoga or Pilates classes, or membership driven gyms, routine exercise is one of the most essential foundations of maintaining a healthy weight.

Our dietrary decisions play a critical role in balancing foods effects on our bodies.Historically, counting calories has been a popular and effective tactic in delivering successful outcomes in weight loss efforts.  A classic approach to losing extra fat mass is utilizing more calories as energy than we consume.  Additionally, if we decrease our average daily calories, we’ll likely lose weight too.  Therefore, counting calories is a potently effective method to maintain an optimal lean muscle mass to fat mass ratio.  However, what if counting calories isn’t the most desirable tactic to adhere to?

Outside of calorie counting, our society keeps track of things every day.  From digital representations of our bank accounts presented on our computers to counting minutes of activity on our mobile devices, we keep track of many variables on a daily basis.  It’s easy to saturate ourselves with continually counting and tracking things.

Two simple yet effective low-hanging fruit eating decisions are to be mindful of portion size and when food is consumed.  A commonly overlooked recommendation to aid in choosing optimal quantities of food to consume is using our hands as a measuring device.  Using the amount of the volume of food that fits into the hand is an adequate portion size that can limit overeating yet also satiate hunger.  A helpful example could be fitting a handful of carbohydrates in one hand and protein in the other.  For example, a handful amount of oatmeal and a handful of eggs could serve as a healthy breakfast.

Additionally, integrating larger quantities of food at the beginning portion of the day and making efforts to consume smaller amounts later in the day aid in utilizing calories for energy and avoiding converting excess calories to fat.  We are more likely to use more calories as a fuel source earlier than later in the day.  Therefore, larger portions could be helpful before the afternoon, and smaller portions could aid in fat storage mitigation later in the day when energy levels are lower.

Food should be an enjoyable experience throughout our lives.  Savoring the flavors, textures, and social interactions food offers us is a valuable feature we enjoy in our culture.  Making healthy eating decisions can reinforce our relationship with our fitness journey and living healthy and fulfilling 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.

Aug 24

Arthritis and Bone Mineral Density

Our bones are significant organs within our body responsible for the infrastructure and framework that keeps us upright and allows us to move in multiple planes of motion.  Similar to how rebar, cement, and two-by-fours hold buildings together, our bones supply an internal stabilizing factor to support our body.  Our skeleton offers us a magnificent design featuring bones possessing unique movement abilities based on the bones shape and location within the body.  Various types of joints, such as ball and socket, hinge, saddle, and facet joints, offer a wide array of movements in our extremities.  Needless to say, the bones residing underneath, around, and on top of muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and internal organs are extremely important.

A potential threat to our bone health is degenerative bone disease.  A common diagnosis society is afflicted with is arthritis.  This bone condition can be stemmed from various originations.  Sometimes, arthritis can be a genetic condition in which degenerative bone and joint disease are present in other family members.  However, a typical presentation of degenerative bone disease comes in the form of underuse or a sedentary lifestyle, which produces a deconditioned state for humans who perform suboptimal physical activity and lack routine exercise.  This lack of exercise and physical activity sends a message to the body that if the body stops moving, then there wouldn’t be any reason to have strong bones to support a physically inactive individual.

Bone mineral density can be defined as the strength present within the internal structure of our bones.  Osteocytes, blood vessels, and collagen cells comprise the fabric holding our bones together.  The status of the cells and compounds in our bones contribute to our bones strength.

To counteract the harmful effects of arthritis and degenerative bone disease, the body needs a stimulus to promote the strengthening and resynthesis of bone mineral density.  One of the most efficient and effective ways to encourage the reinforcement of strong bones and joints is to perform safe and effective resistance training exercises.  An increased lean muscle mass around bones mitigates force from exertive movements to apply too much stress to the bones.  Additionally, the body will react to a skillfully designed resistance training program by detecting the stress imposed on the area of the body being moved through slightly exertive movements.  The result of physical stress via skillful exercise not only increases lean muscle mass but also sends signals to the bone cells to respond to exercise-induced stress.  Adaptations of increased blood supply to the cellular structure within deep layers of the bone trigger repair and resynthesis of bone cell and collagen, making the bone tissue more durable, dense, and stable. Therefore, adhering to safe and effective resistance training routines can potentially mitigate the suboptimal effects of arthritis and degenerative bone and joint disease.

Focusing on low impact isometric or eccentric movements is a great place to start when the goal is to promote bone and muscle strengthening.  Before picking up the dumbbells, kettlebells, and barbells at the gym, perhaps a more suitable approach would be to seek counsel from a private Pilates instructor, a Yoga teacher, a physical therapist, or a skilled personal trainer.  Exercise is a crucial medication for combatting arthritis.  However, conducting exercise routines should be performed skillfully and safely to allow time to learn the purpose and techniques of each movement.

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.

Aug 21

Sciatica Struggles

“You don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone.”  It couldn’t have been said any better than when I listened to the 80’s hair band playing this song out of the Alpine speakers in my stepdads car on the way to school many moons ago.  When I have a headache, upset stomach, or a bad case of seasonal allergies causing havoc on my sinuses, I wish I was in a normal unafflicted state.  These symptoms take days or even weeks to dissipate,  I rarely find myself thinking about my present state when I don’t have headaches, a sour stomach, or my allergies are going haywire.  I suppose when my body is in a neutral point of homeostasis, I don’t have to notice anything suboptimal occurring.  It’s easy to notice when we’re in pain.  Yet, it’s challenging to acknowledge when things are going well around us.

This same feeling of noticing how things are going wrong could be said about physical pain.  A typical example we see among newer personal training clients is sciatica.  Better known as a burning, zinging, throbbing, and “nervy” pain pulsating down the buttocks, the back of the leg, along the calf, and the heel, managing sciatica is just as undesirable as dealing with the repercussions of food poisoning.  This unique symptom contributing to a lack of mobility, disruption of sleep, and a negatively affected psychological and emotional state gets its name from interference to the proper functioning of the sciatic nerve.  A person dealing with sciatica might as well say they’re sick.

The nervous system is responsible for transferring electric signals from the brain and spinal cord to organs so they can perform their duties of allowing the body to operate correctly.  The sciatic nerve is unique due to its large physical structure and length.  It originates at the base of the spine and covers the landscape of the entire back half of the leg.  Signals to innervate lower extremity muscles to contract are sent from this main message center to the lower extremities.  The sciatic nerve is a significant structure toward the optimal function of one of the most critical actions we perform in our everyday lives, walking and standing.

Waking up from sleep and having a “pins and needles” feeling in your arm after laying on it for a few hours is a classic case of what happens when a nerve gets compressed.  The good news is, after a few moments of discomfort, this “dead arm” feeling dissipates.  Similar symptoms occur with the presentation of sciatica.  The large nerve that covers the back of our lower extremities gets compressed, causing neuropathy.  However, these symptoms aren’t as simple as accidentally sleeping on an area of the body and causing temporary tingling in the area.  Sciatica is far more complicated.

The compression of the sciatic nerve can occur due to vertebrae or spinal disc pressing on a portion of the nerve or a tight muscle pushing down it.  Spinal disruptions are complicated and require dedication and adherence to a structured rehabilitation program professionally designed by a physical therapist or spinal specialist.  However, before going down the route of thinking something devastating has happened to the spine, aiming for the low-hanging fruit to alleviate sciatica can resolve this issue via muscle conditioning.  Ruling out muscular disturbance causing sciatica is an attainable method with the potential to relieve sciatica and contribute to ruling out spinal problems.

One such symptom contributing to sciatica is compression of the nerve caused by tight gluteal and hip muscles.  The piriformis muscle is the star of the deep hip muscles that gets plenty of attention when sciatica is creating havoc on the body.  Getting its name from the Latin definition of “pear-shaped form,” the piriformis makes its home directly over the top of the sciatic nerve.  Usually a friendly neighborly duo, the piriformis and sciatic nerve typically hang out and function harmoniously.  However, when the piriformis has a bad day, it tightens and presses down on the sciatic nerve.

Muscular imbalances are usually caused by an insufficient fitness level.  Sure, we can blame a tight muscle’s presence on how much we sit all day as a desk jockey or commuter.  Sitting more will equates to the hips boney structure compressing the sciatic nerve.  However, adhering to a consistent and effective fitness routine is a commonly forgotten contributor to mitigating sciatica.  Possessing adequate muscular strength, mobility, and blood flow to the musculature of the hips significantly decreases the risk of hip muscles like the piriformis from tightening up and compressing the sciatic nerve.

Living life pain-free is far more enjoyable than living in pain.  Similar to how eating the right food and getting enough sleep contributes to fending off headaches and upset stomachs, consistently adhering to a lower body fitness routine ensures sciatica and other lower back problems stay out of the picture.  Fight against the urge to notice what’s going wrong in the body and switch the line of thought to what’s going right.  Focusing on tactics that reinforce what makes the body feel good is a magnificent mindset to be in.

 

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.

Aug 16

Upper Body Strength and Quality of LIfe

After a long week of work, chores, and the demands of being a human in today’s society, the weekends gifts us with a few extra hours to sit back and relax.  Kicking your feet up and tuning into a ball game is just one of the many bonuses the slower-paced Saturdays and Sundays allows.  There might be a few “honey-do” chores around the house involving tightening screws on the outdoor shed, exchanging a blown-out light bulb for a new one, or pressure washing the cobwebs off the underside of your roof might be requested since the demands of weekday endeavors aren’t as prevalent.  For those of you who have young children or grandkids, it should come as no surprise the weekend is a prime time for interacting with these young, energetic, and brilliant beings.

Your weekend lunch might start with assembling your favorite sandwich, entailing a masterful foundation of two slices of yeasty and spongy bread, mouthwatering choices of deli meat, mayonnaise, and pickles.  However, opening a jar of pickles might take more effort than first perceived.  Grabbing the glass jar with a hand in one orientation and shifting the top hand fitting onto the top of the pickle jar in another position requires a certain amount of strength, coordination, and skill within the muscles of the upper extremities.  Opening a new airtight jar of pickles can be difficult for individuals with deconditioned gripping muscles.

Parents of young children in their first years of playing overhead-throwing sports such as baseball, softball, or football might need to drain some of their energy.  One could imagine a game of catch isn’t too far away these weekend days.  “Mom or dad isn’t working today. Surely, they must want to wake up and throw a ball with me,” might be what is going through the youngster’s mind.  In contrast, the words, “I get to put my feet up and watch some YouTube videos and catch up on my shows on Hulu,” might be what’s going through an adults line of thought who devoted forty to fifty hours of their week toward their careers.  The last thing we want is to neglect our brilliant protégés by lacking the ability to play a little catch.  Playing a few games of catch requires using the fingers, hands, and wrists to catch and throw a ball repeatedly.

A factory-sealed jar of pickles, a loose screw on the cabinet, or a fifteen-minute game of catch with a small human shouldn’t be factors holding us back from enjoying the weekend.  Instead of viewing the challenges of opening an airtight glass jar as a rigorous bout of labor, reinforcing hand strength prevents this detour of enjoying a pickle on our sandwiches.  Sufficient wrist and finger strength reinforce our hands’ ability to wield a screwdriver and turn it ten times to tighten hinges in our kitchen cabinets.  For the parents reading this, strong wrists, elbows, and rotator cuffs are just as important as the ability to get our kids to school on time so we can get out and play some much-needed catch with them.

Exercises such as dumbbell bicep curls, pushups, and shoulder stretches are simple yet effective tactics that significantly improve upper extremity strength.  Perhaps achieving a few reps of dumbbell bicep curls two to three days a week can improve finger, wrist, and forearm strength.  Additionally, completing a set of ten pushups from the countertop two to three times per week has the potential to improve the strength responsible for extending the arms and holding them in front of the body.  Lastly, performing a doorway stretch for thirty seconds daily on each arm can prevent rotator cuff injuries and improve throwing performance.

Setting aside time to relax and unwind is an invaluable theme that seems to be forgotten far too often.  However, let’s not forget the body needs strength and endurance to get the most out of these leisurely times.  Ensure to input exercises that support our upper body strength and avoid injuries to our wrists, elbows, and shoulders by regularly adhering to routine upper body strengthening exercises.

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.

Aug 13

Back Pain and Everyday Life

The trials and tribulations of life present themselves in various ways where we can expect to prepare for them or randomly when we least expect it.  Our society consistently manages the scales of financial status, human relations, and psychological health.  A few top contributors requiring a substantial amount of time include paying the bills, maintaining a healthy relationship with our spouse, and finding time to enjoy our everyday lives.  Along with ensuring the rent and utilities are paid, mitigating quibbling of relationships, and getting enough sleep, yet another variable seems to fit directly into life’s top five critically important topics to maintain at an optimal level.  This item that seems to appear randomly and needs immediate attention is back pain.

The back is comprised of a network of bones, muscles, and nerves granting us the freedom and ability to thrive in the physical realm of our world.  The spine acts as a keystone in the center of our body.    Our spine possesses protective properties to the spinal cord.  Also known as a portion of the central nervous system, the spinal cord is an elongation of the brain responsible for sending electronic signals to our skeletal muscles and organs.  Without an efficient signal sent to the muscles and organs, one could imagine that the human body may not operate as effectively.  Therefore, if there is an alarm sounding off in the form of back pain notifying us that something isn’t right, it would be just as essential to address the issue of back pain in the same sense of urgency we address other high-priority themes that hold together the productivity of our time on earth.

In the fitness industry, personal trainers see back pain as a primary culprit to impeding an exercise participant’s progress.  If there is an issue that barricades the productivity of someone’s everyday life that can be alleviated if attention is brought to rectifying the primary cause of back pain, then we know where to start.  We instruct our personal training clients to follow simple yet effective best practices to fend off back pain and mitigate the long-lasting afflictions back pain causes.

  1. Exercise consistently:  Before we go into the cutting-edge exercises that can be found on the interwebs or posts by social media fitness professionals, it’s essential to understand the concept of ingraining regular exercise as a staple in our identity.  Exercising for ten to fifteen minutes two to three times a week can redefine a human’s physical architecture.  Before choosing what areas of the body we want to tone and strengthen, identify a consistent and realistic plan to adhere to an exercise schedule.  Inconsistencies in exercise routines disrupt progressions toward fortifying the human body.
  2. Start with isometric exercises: The traditional sit-up, crunch, or fancy core machines at our local gym are effective but require a substantial amount of spine organization to be performed correctly and reap the full benefits of reducing back pain.  Before venturing into advanced exercises, a safe option would be to start with isometric exercises such as the simple straight-arm plank.  Isometric exercise is defined as a body position placed under tension without any mechanical movement.  Putting the body in a situation where it must remain unmoved by the external resistance of gravity requires muscular activation by simply remaining still under tension.  The straight-arm plank requires one movement that needs to be held for a short period.  Practicing this technique two to three times per week can reinforce the spine muscles to mitigate the harmful effects of back pain.
  3. Find a fitness professional and practice your technique: Exercise can be challenging.  Similar to being trained at job sites for specific functions, exercise requires consistent adherence to refine techniques so we get the most benefit without harming ourselves.  Seeking a personal trainer to meet in a one-on-one setting, a Pilates instructor, or physical therapist offers invaluable resources toward ensuring the execution of each technique is performed for optimal outcomes.

Understanding that back pain can slow down our ability to function optimally in our everyday lives is important.  Take some time to identify what back strengthening and injury prevention exercises fit your life.  By practicing back-strengthening exercises, we can avoid being held up by back pain and get the most out of 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.

Aug 02

Procrastination and Exercise

The resident mockingbirds camping out in the neighborhood trees can be heard performing a symphony of bird songs.  Your bedroom window is slightly cracked, allowing the crisp and refreshing morning summer air to flow over your face as you slowly regain consciousness from a good night’s sleep.  As you notice the light becoming brighter shining in your room from the window, the sky starts to illuminate into more brilliant colors of azure blue and calming lavender purple undertones over the eastern mountains.  You know the sun is moments away from hovering above the horizon.  Your bed feels safe, stable, and comforting.  The intricate formation of your pillows supporting your head is something you look forward to every night after a productive day.  Perhaps you have your favorite cat-shaped stuffed animal that helps keep your arm in a stable position while you lay on your side to partake in the best slumber possible.  This seems like a flawless portrait of how you want your Saturday mornings to be after a rigorous and productive five days of living life to the fullest this past week.  However, it’s Monday morning at 7:30 AM.  And, you’re Yoga class is starting in thirty minutes.

This scenario of waking up to a beautiful morning after a restful weekend might not seem surprising.  Your bed is warm, you’ve taken it easy over the weekend, and your body is cuddled up, akin to how you felt when you were wrapped up like a burrito-blanket as an infant in your parents’ arms.  However, you have a boatload of tasks to accomplish now that the weekend has concluded.  Dropping kids off at school, getting ready to perform your best at your jobs, and handling the demands of being the head of a household throughout the week are just a few examples of the busy lives humans live in today’s society.  After the logistics of everyday life have concluded, we have a category that frequently hits the back burner; exercise.  Why would we want to get up an hour early, travel to the gym, and sweat?  After a long day of work, does it seem appealing to park in the lot in front of a local gym, change into exercise-appropriate apparel, and perform a bout of physically exhaustive movements?  Or, does it sound more enticing to head home, grab a beer, kick our feet up on the Lazy Boy recliner, and turn on the Giants game?

Sometimes the phenomenological life-enhancing benefits of exercise aren’t enough to peel us out of a warm cozy bed and devote an extra hour of exercise to our day.  Fending off cardiovascular and metabolic disease, improving bone mineral density, decreasing the likelihood of unexpected injuries, mitigating stress, or creating an overall healthier everyday life experience via an adherent exercise program is probably the last thing on our mind when all we want to do is remain cocooned in our blankets in bed.  When checking off the daily list of to-do’s, consistent adherence to exercise can quickly become an empty box left unchecked.

A few tactics we recommend to our personal training clients is to set realistic goals.  If you’re starting an exercise program, the last thing you want to do is go from zero to committing to five days of exercise right off the bat.  A five-hundred percent increase in adhering to an exercise program is a lofty expectation.  Instead, meeting your weekly exercise expectancy one to two days per week is more attainable.  Consistently completing an average of two days a week of organized exercise sessions have the ability to offer significantly positive results.  Additionally, exercise sessions don’t need to be hours long.  Performing safe and effective exercise routines for fifteen to twenty minutes in your home can produce optimal outcomes and create healthier versions of ourselves.

Additionally, it’s important to make exercise fun.  If running up dusty hills first thing in the morning seems like the portrayal of limbo in the afterlife, you probably shouldn’t do it.  Perhaps meeting your friend for a Yoga class and following it up with a quick coffee to chat for a few moments sounds more enticing.  Want to flip some tires at 6 AM?  Go right ahead.  If not, don’t sign up for a small group fitness class where picking up and flipping used and dirty tractor tires is part of the agenda.  Perhaps connecting with a friend who likes throwing a frisbee or hitting a few pickleballs at a local park might be more down your alley.  Having a buddy join you or looking forward to a fun activity makes achieving those exercise sessions more attainable and enticing.

Exercise procrastination is a simple action to accomplish. Gravitating toward the path of least resistance takes little-to-no effort.  That’s why it’s easy to stay in bed or drive past a few local gyms on our way home to grab a beer and kick our feet up for a few hours while staring at a fifty-five-inch screen projecting monotonous images.  Let’s not forget that setting aside time for something fun is easy too.  It might take less time and effort to achieve a small bout of exercise than it does to watch a docuseries on Netflix.  Let’s appreciate the fun and enjoyment physical activity brings us.  Adding a stimulating and healthy form of exercise throughout our day gives us the gift of enhancing our physical well-being to live happy, healthy, and strong 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.

Jul 19

Hot Summers and Hydration

As I drive north bound up Highway 29, I always take a deep breath and notice how nice I have it.  Vineyards lace the countryside with a gradient of vibrant green and umber rows of grape vines.  The eastern hills offer majestic rocky formations below the tip of the Stag’s Leap hiking trail.  To the west, the redwood tree groves bask in the glory of the untamable power they represent, covering the hillside with an iconic green color.  The Napa Valley truly is a beautiful place.  As one of the inhabitants who call this fantastic pearl of the Earth home, I know the summertime can get scorching hot.  A diligent habit of daily hydration is necessary to help Napa’s inhabitants in this one-of-a-kind paradise be productive and enjoy their overall quality of life while enduring warmer climates during the summer months.

It should come as no surprise adequate hydration optimizes human function.  Sufficient hydration levels maintain proficient blood viscosity, which promotes efficient blood distribution throughout the vascular system encouraging the delivery of oxygenated blood to our muscles, vital organs, and brain.  The amount of water in our blood also aids in the conductivity of our nerve cells when our brain sends electronic signal through our nerves to our muscles, assisting in coordination and balance.  The digestive system functions efficiently when proficient levels of hydration are present in the gastrointestinal tract, helping foods travel through the intestines and encouraging nutrient absorption in the different areas of the digestive system.

It’s easy to forget about the positive impacts optimal hydration offers our bodies, especially when a random heatwave presents itself to our area with short notice.  Our everyday habits of hydration at the moderate temperatures we are accustomed to become insufficient when the temperature increases rapidly.  Therefore, the threat of hydration becomes present even though our regular water consumption habits might seem proficient before an immediate heat spike.  Little do we know, the additional sweating we produce on hotter days equates to an immediate reduction in overall water composition in our bodies.  The compounding effects of increased perspiration throughout two to three days of high heat could influence the loss of three percent or more body weight in water each day.  With this rapid loss in water weight, the features our body thrives on during moderate temperatures deviate from their normal status, triggering a decrease in neuromuscular coordination, increased fatigue, headaches, muscle cramping, and possible gastrointestinal distress.

To mitigate a few of the side effects of an immediate heatwave, we suggest a few hydration tactics to our personal training clients who benefit not only from hydration habits during the hot summers in Napa, but also in their experiences traveling to other hot areas of the country and the world on vacations or business trips.  Here are a few simple and effective tactics to encourage optimal hydration during a noticeable increase in temperature:

  1. Drink two glasses of water first thing in the morning:  One of the best times to rehydrate and set the tempo for fulfilling adequate water consumption is immediately after waking.  We encourage a mad dash to your water bottle or sink to slam two glasses of water before any other activities in the morning directly after getting out of bed.
  2. Drink a full glass of water after every meal: Distractions and everyday life demands deviate us from our priorities.  During the blazing hot days when hydration is at risk, a dehydrated body and mind is the last thing we need.  As a reminder to consume more water, follow up your meals with a full glass of water before leaving the table and resuming your everyday daily life.  An extra glass of water here and there will increase the amount of water consumed when additional hydration is required.
  3. Eat raw veggies: That’s right, we get a lot of water from the foods we consume.  Along with the disease-fighting properties and countless benefits our body receives from including veggies in our diet, we absorb a high amount of liquid when eating raw carrots, cucumber, and lettuce.  Eat some salads and enjoy some cold, fresh, and crispy raw veggies as a snack during these hot summer days.

Professional nutrition industries and researchers suggest drinking water equal to the body’s weight in ounces throughout the day to accommodate proper hydration.  Society has taken a firm understanding of similar hydration suggestions, leading us to become a healthier culture.  Let’s not forget that an immediate heat wave can disrupt our usual habits of optimal hydration.  When the heat makes its way to our lives, ensure to tack another few glasses of water throughout your day to counteract the suboptimal effects on our hydration status during these beautiful Napa summers.

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.

Jul 06

Pain Reduction and Exercise Adherence

Shedding a few pounds to prepare for a desired aesthetic appearance before a beach trip to the Amalfi coast in a few months, increasing lean muscle mass, or decreasing circulating cholesterol or insulin levels because the doctor said so, making a trip to the gym covers a lot of ground to enhance a human’s overall quality of life.  One of the most prevalent goals we hear from our personal training clients just signing up for a fitness program at our gym is to live with less pain.  Sharp spasms along the spine and hips when bending down to pick up objects from the ground, gingerly walking through the hallway after getting out of bed for those first few slow and tenders steps in the morning due to plantar fasciitis or heal pain, or simply struggling to open a jar of mayonnaise due to wrist and finger weakness can seem like quite the struggle. Pain presents itself in our lives more than we think.

A visit to the doctor or physical therapist regarding pain symptoms, we can expect to be asked, “How many minutes per week do you exercise?”  Some of us can answer that question with a simple knee-jerk reaction, “three to four days per week.”  However, an impressive amount of our society struggles to achieve one hundred and fifty, ninety, or even thirty minutes of organized weekly exercise.  If we connect the dots of why specific individuals suffer from pain, more often than not, it’s due to a lack of adherence to exercise.

It goes without question that safe and effective exercise assists us in a myriad of improvements to our overall quality of life.  Increased energy, increased strength, and decreased stress are just the tip of the iceberg.  People who exercise regularly usually comment about how sore they are after a long bike ride through a scenic country road, hiking one of the beautiful bay area trails, or playing three hours of pickleball with their buddies.  These active individuals might not comment about the pain they’re experiencing in their joints.  If people don’t mention the discomfort of pain, this usually indicates that people aren’t dealing with debilitating symptoms of joint and bodily pain from lack of physical activity.  A regularly active weekend warrior or recreational athlete doesn’t have time to be in pain.  These active humans probably have an exercise routine forged throughout years of practice they adhere so they stay out of the doctors office and involved in the physical activities they love.

Extrapolating further on what a doctor or physical therapist usually prescribes to a patient reporting bodily pain, the dose of medicine prescribed might be some anti-inflammatories.  However, any medical professional will recommend that compliance toward a routine exercise program will offer the monumental life-enhancing properties medication can’t provide.  Whether it is heading to a local gym and exercising a particular body part three to four days a week, attending Yoga and Pilates classes every week, cycling at a spin class, or meeting with a personal trainer for weekly appointments, the effort toward adhering to a consistent exercise routine has significant potential to reduce pain-like symptoms throughout the body.  Not only will conducting safe and effective exercise strengthen joints and muscles where arthritis, inflammation, and remnants of past injuries or surgeries presents themselves, but the adaptation from regular fitness training sessions increases aerobic capacity for muscles to endure longer periods of strenuous physical activity.  A muscle with a high capacity toward fatiguing means areas of the body can perform their functions optimally.  This means larger muscles responsible for significant compound movements throughout our everyday life operate at a higher capacity, and the likelihood of strain or injury decreases.

These adaptations from exercise don’t happen overnight.  Research supports that significant advances in muscular performance take at least ninety days.  We can use the most cutting-edge exercise equipment or follow the most innovative exercise routine in the world designed by Mark Walberg’s personal trainer.  However, if such state-of-the-art resources aren’t utilized consistently, or an individual falls off from their exercise routine, you can expect to see little to no progress in the outcome of their fitness journey.    Therefore, it’s important to note that compliance toward an exercise program sits at the top of the totem pole of a fitness improvement routine when it comes to the goal of pain reduction.

Reserve some time to map out weekly exercise plans.  Decrease distractions, turn the phone off, and put yourself in an environment where you can perform safe and effective exercises.  Complying with a regular exercise routine and dedicating time to ourselves on a consistent weekly basis is critical to decreasing pain symptoms and improving our overall health.

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.

Jul 02

Exercising and Hangovers

“Why is it called a hangover,” said Ares, the god of war.  Hercules retorted, “Because when you drink too much booze, you’re going to hang your head over that rail and…”  I’ll allow the readers to use their imagination to envision the subsequent chain of events that occurred.

This interaction between these two mythical characters came from a scene in a 1990’s television series my mom and I watched weekly, Hercules:  The Legendary Journeys.  In an episode centered around how Ares was transformed from a god unmarred by injuries, illness, or any other affliction mortals endured, Hercules accompanied him to a night of debauchery.

They sang songs, flirted with ladies, and shared mischievous ventures while smiling ear to ear in raucous laughter.  Whiles Ares was in his human state, he still thought he was an invincible god.  Grabbing flagons of mead and bottles of wine, he consumed copious amounts of alcohol without thinking twice.  “Being human is amazing!  I never felt this way when I was a god!”  Exclaimed Ares.  After their night of partying like it was the first day of Marti Gras in New Orleans, they entered into a brief post-alcohol-induced coma.

The next day, Ares didn’t feel like a god capable of entering into battle and coming out the other end without a scratch.  Instead, he was tired, his eyes hurt when the sun shined upon him, and he was seen rolling around the ground, writhing in pain, followed by multiple prolonged trips to the restroom.  Being human was entertaining when Ares first started his escapade of drunken buffoonery. However, he learned the repercussions of indulging too much with a recreational substance and how too much of a good thing wasn’t that great the day after.

This episode came to mind during a personal training session I was conducting with our client.  Ferhago is a relatively fit CEO of a successful business in his mid-forties who enjoys training at our local Napa gym three times a week.  The energy, enthusiasm, and dedication he devotes to his training sessions are immaculate.  He’s so consistent, that a missed training session from Ferhago gives our coaching team the impression that the earth shifted.  However, a few hours before a training session last week, Ferhago sent me a text message, “I’m not sure I can come in today, I celebrated my wife’s birthday last night and ate too much ice cream and sweets.  I think I have a sugar hangover and feel like I got hit by a train.”

Impressed by Ferhago’s honesty, I could understand why he didn’t want to come in for training.  Ferhago abstains from consuming alcohol entirely for health purposes.  Even though he doesn’t consume alcohol, his “drug of choice” is tantalizing sweets like ice cream, cookies, and pies.  His regular rigorous exercise routine would be challenging if he felt anything like Ares did after his hangover.  However, my knee-jerk reaction was to go against Ferhago’s aversion toward training due to his sugar hangover.  I knew the best thing for Ferhago was to show up and train.

Overconsumption of sugar or alcohol gives the body adverse reactions.  Without going into too much scientific detail, the body essentially becomes poisoned after a certain amount of sugar or alcohol is consumed.  After we wake up from a bout of late-night drinking or treating ourselves to excess amounts of dessert, the next morning’s side effects are akin to how a starving octopus feels that has been out of the water for eight hours.  This toxic response puts our bodies in a state of stress.  As our bodies enter this damaged and stressed state, toxic chemicals course through our blood, and stress hormones run rampant.  Pain, irritability, lethargy, and gastrointestinal distress are the usual culprits following any hangover.

So, why did I encourage Ferhago to attend his regularly scheduled personal training sessions after he expressed he felt awful?  Other than our loyalty and tenacity we have invested toward Ferhago’s path to health, I knew that exercise has the potential to alleviate the suboptimal byproducts of hangovers.  Exercising puts our bodies through a state of physical, mental, emotional induced stress.  Our heart rate increases, our nervous system becomes stimulated, we begin to sweat, we grunt, we breathe a little heavier, and we use up calories.  After these bodily functions ensue from a rigorous exercise session, our heart rate subsides, we breathe at a normal state, and we start to relax a little bit.  Therefore turbulence our body endures throughout exercise evens out the physical, psychological, and emotional distress present from the byproducts of hangovers and we reacclimate to a relatively normal state of homeostasis.

I encouraged Ferhago to come in despite not feeling the best.  After seventy-five minutes of training, he not only performed at peak levels, but he felt energized, refreshed, and relieved he showed up for his personal training session.

Adherence to exercise is one of the most critically essential concepts that offer a successful outcome when exercising for health purposes.  Whether you are a mythical god who partakes in recreational drinking or an average forty-something-year-old human who eats a few too many late-night treats, we shouldn’t let the byproduct of these occurrences slow down our consistent journey to remain healthy.

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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