Category: Training and Fitness

Testing, Practicing, and Training Your Balance

Humans function in dynamic environments and rely on the body’s automated responses to adjust to imbalances.  The body’s internal wiring is equipped with a vast network of neuromuscular connections,  granting the ability to immediately adapt to even the slightest indication of imbalance.  The human body’s infrastructure functions as a central processing unit, with hard-wired connections …

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Staying Active During the Less Sunny Months

As the Napa Valley enters October, we see a few leaves on the trees beginning to transition to shades of amber, brown, and yellow, and fall to the ground.  Sounds of leaf blowers and rakes start to fill the air.  The hills begin to morph into a darker green and brownish hue as the trees …

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Shoulder Health and the SITS Muscles

The body’s connective tissue has structurally significant properties, enabling humans to function effectively throughout their everyday lives.  Ligaments hold bones together.  Tendons attach muscles to bones.  Muscles act as motor units to move bones closer or further away from each other.  Bones act as the internal framework that allows our body to move through various …

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Avoiding Pickleball Specific Injuries

“The Foundations of Playing Pickleball,” mentioned Goliath as he pulled out a book from our book collection in our Napa Tenacious Fitness library.  Included in this book collection is a shelf featuring titles that cover musculoskeletal anatomy, coaching and cueing techniques, healthy eating cookbooks, and a few other sport-specific books that coaches can reference to …

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Building Healthy Back Strengthening Routines Using Isometric Exercise Practice

Our spines are comprised of five unique sections of bones called vertebrae.  Starting from the top of the head and travelling down to the base of our hips, the sections of the vertebrae are the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and coccyx.  These collections of uniquely shaped bones offer specific features allowing for movement in particular …

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Progressions in Balance for Everyday Life Activities

Balance can be defined as the ability to stand on one leg, regain one’s center of gravity after losing it, or walk in a straight line.  Depending on specific circumstances, balance can significantly impact a person’s quality of life.  Sometimes, people in deconditioned states of fitness find the seemingly simple act of getting up from …

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Healthy Shoulders Make us Successful Humans

Reaching back to slide your arm into a zip-up hoodie, fixing a bun or ponytail in your hair, or simply lying on your side while sleeping in your bed shouldn’t be too challenging.  However, for those of us who have endured an injury to one or both of the shoulders, a seemingly simple everyday life …

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Using Exercise to Adapt to Changes in an Aging Body

After a three-hour competitive pickleball session with a few of my pickleball peers, we sat on the bleachers outside Vineyard Park in Yountville. Covered in a fine coat of sweat and sunscreen, we admired the picturesque landscape to the east.  Miles of trellised grape vines paved a vibrant green blanket of grape leaves and native …

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Weight Loss Goals and Focusing on What is in Reach

Reduction of subcutaneous fat mass, decreasing cholesterol, looking sleek and trim to fit into your best friends brides maid outfit she intends for you to wear in three months at her wedding, getting ready for a cruise through Greece in the Mediterranean basin, or simply losing some pounds to feel better physically, emotionally, and mentally …

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Progressing toward challenging exercises safely and appropriately

“So, when do I get to use the dumbbells?” said Blaze, as she passed by me in between her sets of completing a round of step-up exercises.  Caught off guard slightly by this question as I was attempting to avoid electrocution during some maintenance work in the gym as I was doing my best impression …

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