Jul 10
An engaging and fun activity after a day of labor is playing a recreational sport. Golf, tennis, pickleball, running, and biking are some of the most popular sports among our personal training clients. Engaging in sports requires physical capabilities and athleticism, including the ability to endure long periods of potentially strenuous activity, consistent practice to …
Jul 03
“Imagine if your arms and legs magically disappeared from the armpits and hips. All the muscles in the region between the armpits and hips are your core.” These were the words of the fitness director who supervised me at a gym I worked at many moons ago. I was selected to teach a small-group fitness …
May 08
It’s not unusual to hear that a person invests decades of their life giving their all to support their career and family. Whether logging years in a physically demanding trade or being active in high school, collegiate, or recreational sports, a common bodily signal tends to surface in one’s forties, fifties, and beyond. The knees …
Apr 17
As members of the general population, we engage in a wide variety of physical activities. Some of us participate in a broad range of hobbies and chores that keep us active, such as walking our pets, gardening, or completing home improvement projects. For those of us who have children or grandchildren, our physical activities become …
Apr 16
What if getting stronger and preventing injuries wasn’t about doing more exercises, but about moving better? That’s the idea behind functional movement training. Functional movement training grew out of physical therapy, rehabilitation science, and strength and conditioning. Instead of isolating single muscles, it focuses on training fundamental movement patterns your body uses every day (e.g. …
Apr 16
There are two primary forms of stretching we use with our personal training clients: dynamic and static. Dynamic stretching is performed before exercise. Dynamic stretching can be defined as the act of moving through full ranges of motion to create short, repeated stretches that prepare the body for exercise. A few examples include arm circles, …
Apr 12
Along with injuries and joint complications in the lower back and knees, shoulder injuries are among the leading causes of issues affecting everyday functional ability in the general population. Upper neck and shoulder impingement, rotator cuff strains, and frozen shoulder are among a slew of conditions that can afflict people’s shoulder health, causing pain, weakness, …
Apr 03
We’re entering the fourth month of the year, and New Year’s resolutions are in full effect. Learning new skills, progressing toward new professional goals, and refining one’s overall sense of psychological and emotional well-being are among the areas people most often seek to improve in New Year’s resolutions. Let’s not forget one of the top …
Mar 13
Arthritis is a degenerative joint condition in which the smooth cartilage that normally cushions the ends of the joints gradually wears down. Healthy cartilage allows joints to glide smoothly and distribute forces during everyday movements. Previous joint injuries, the repercussions of a life of manual labor in one’s career and lifestyle, or advancing age contribute …
Mar 09
“Engage your core” is a term we often hear to avoid back injury during strenuous activity. It should go without saying that bracing one’s core is beneficial when lifting a wine box off the ground, carrying it thirty meters, rotating it to place it on a shelf, and lifting it to a shelf of varying …
