Red Deer Personal Trainer Talks: Motivation

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motivation Red Deer Personal Trainer Talks: MotivationMotivation and inspiration are tough ones for us all. I am sure there is not a single person that doesn’t wish they could call forth the feeling of being super motivated or inspired on command. Yet when we think of great leaders, both present and historical, or even top performers it seems they are perpetually motivated to succeed. I’m sure you and I, we’ve both wondered just how these unique individuals always seem to be at the top of their game.

During a recent speaking engagement for a local group I was attempting to get to know my audience by asking a few questions about what would make this presentation valuable for them. How to get or stay motivated was the common theme. It would seem like this was a fitting topic for an experienced personal trainer who has had thousands of successful clients. Truthfully though, that night I really struggled to deliver an answer that I thought really hit the mark of motivating my audience and leaving them with a direct understanding of what motivation or inspiration is. That is without simply telling them, “you need a personal trainer.”

As personal trainers or coaches we are indeed motivators. Through coaching techniques, a healthy dose of sincerity and a pinch of compassion, we absolutely motivate hundreds of people every week to survive the next workout and perform in ways they didn’t know they were capable. Yet somehow, internally it’s difficult to motivate ourselves.

It wasn’t until the drive home after my presentation that I really had a good answer to what motivation is. Quite simply, it’s a choice. Often it may not be an easy one, but it is in fact still a choice. The physical and emotional feeling of being motivated and inspired is a physiological response to a hormonal cascade. Hormonal cascades can occur a variety of different ways, but a reliable way to produce a hormonal cascade of all the feel good hormones is activity. (Or sex but that is an entirely different column.)

So in short the answer to a lack of motivation is unfortunately not as exciting as one would hope. To stay motivated you are back to setting a defined and specific goal and reverse engineering that goal with backwards planning. What do you need to do each month, each week, to the little things that must be completed each day. When tiredness and lack of interest hit’s, the will of choice must kick in to get you moving, once your moving your hormones will do the rest.

Why do you work out?

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trevor workout1 225x300 Why do you work out?

One-to-1 trainer Trevor Day get's his workout in between clients.

I purposely never watch or listen to the news, it’s always so negative, they should just call it the six o’clock edition of bad news. When it comes to people and health it’s always how bad people are feeling, how many more trips they make to the doctor, how this disease or that disease is increasing or causing more deaths. I bet you workout and eat healthy because you know that it drastically reduces many of the risk factors associated with these illnesses. Improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, cardiovascular health all lead to many extra and more enjoyable years with family, friends, and loved ones. I am certain that’s probably why you workout.

As high school or university ends it seems for most of us so does our forced activity. From this point physical ability begins to decline and extra weight appears in places that are unexpected and unflattering. Fears of injury from participation in various activities increases, aches pains, arthritis all begin to occur. It seems to be normal early in life to live with, or expect to live with, pain of some sort. I bet that is why you workout and eat healthy because you’ve heard a reputable personal trainer explain that it’s not normal to live with pain. You have seen firsthand that with proper, targeted exercise, many  common pains such as arthritis or otherwise can be reduced or eliminated altogether. You realize that living pain free allows you to participate in all the things you have always loved for the majority of your life and I bet that is why you workout.

You are probably aware of recent studies by our federal government that indicate thanks to technology and our fast paced dynamic culture that even our children are presented with so many new ways to communicate and entertain themselves that they are becoming far less active. This decline in activity in the youth is so bad that you may outlive your children. Because these are findings of a formal government study in recent years I am certain you workout and eat healthy to be a role model to your fellow family members and children. You realize that setting positive habits makes it easier for them to adopt those same habits long term ensuring that your family is protected from these horrible statistics. That must be why you workout.

I bet you workout because you’ve heard that the number one medication prescribed by doctors is antidepressants as our society deals with greater amounts of stress than they ever have before leaving them feeling inadequate or unsuccessful. You realize that exercise relieves stress and promotes hormone release that works to counter these effects. I am sure you workout and eat healthy because you know that statistically those that exercise on a regular basis are far less likely to be depressed and many times more likely to achieve the success they desire. I am certain you workout because the stress of an economic recession seems far less frightening when you feel good and confident about yourself.

Or maybe you simply exercise and eat healthy because you enjoy the feeling of accomplishment you get from mastering each challenge. Or perhaps it’s just the simple desire to stay in the “skinny jeans” or continue to look great for each trip to the beach this summer. For whatever reason you workout and eat healthy it’s a good one, exercise saves lives you should introduce a friend.

3 ways to Live Longer According to a Personal Trainer

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These are the three things that everyone should do: eat more often, exercise regularly, resistance training. It’s that simple if you do these three things your body will have no choice but to improve in physical condition. This isn’t a new concept I know you’ve heard it all before. Still everyday at One to 1 we continue to explain these things. Eating more often tends to be the most difficult one for people to accept.

If you are exercising regularly or eating healthy, or clean as we term it, but you are not eating at least five times a day you and the hamster running on the wheel have a few things in common. Each time we eat we kick the digestive machine into high gear, that machine is power hungry it demands energy to do its job and let me tell you digestion is not like an economy car. Digestion requires an incredible amount of energy to do its job; it is the single most effective calorie burning tool in your arsenal for getting in shape. If you want to be fit, eat all the time. I’m serious about this the more often you can eat or if you can teach yourself to continually graze the hungrier you will become, the warmer you will become and depending on what you eat the fitter you will become. Now just because I told you to eat non-stop please don’t be that person that makes the drive-thru line up extend onto the street, there’s too much of that already. Choose clean whole foods, carry vegetables with you everywhere. Throw a can of tuna or a few egg whites in an afternoon salad. Trim the fat from your red meat in the evening or try consuming fish or buffalo instead. Just make sure you eat that minimum of five times a day to really experience the easiest calorie burning workout known to man.

Regular cardio is an insurance policy for weight loss, the weather has been take advantage of it. Running, biking, walking, if you haven’t been out there doing those things, today is a great day to start. Combined with extra meals your metabolism is going to love you for adding regular cardio exercise. 20 minutes of sustained activity at an elevated heart rate increase metabolism for hours, more calories burning just by sitting around after. You just can’t go wrong it’s like being a savvy market investor learning to compound your rate of return with the least amount of effort. With cardio just remember you want to try to keep your heart rate elevated to at least 60% of your max for 20 minutes or more, I highly encourage workouts at higher than 60% if you are up to the task for the multitude of heart health benefits. (Max heartrate = 220-age, please consult your physician first before implementing a high heart rate workout.)

Start resistance training, it can be fun, it doesn’t have to be the boring square repetitive training that most people do, and there is plenty that can even be done in your own home with very little equipment. The bottom line is take the steps to work the muscles and get stronger. Deteriorating bone density is a problem that is on the rise, as a trainer I’m hearing it from my clients more and more. Resistance training has an anti-aging effect by keeping tissues and structures healthy. As you gain strength, experience and confidence hard resistance training is also another key in your metabolic arsenal. Anaerobic training promotes muscle fiber development. Stronger muscle fibers mean more mitochondria the cellular energy producing units. More mitochondria mean additional energy production and calorie burning, ultimately this means a fitter leaner individual.

It’s not rocket science, it’s a smart investment, an investment in your own health. It’s habits that should be a part of all our lives. Start by adjusting one component at a time it won’t take long for you to see the changes that occur.

Avoid Running Related Injuries

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running 300x199 Avoid Running Related InjuriesRunning is a common activity of choice for nice summer days. Nothing but a pair of shoes, maybe some sunglasses and you are ready to go enjoy the fresh air and hopefully melt off some of that unwanted accumulation.

If this sounds like you today’s column will contain some valuable information that can make your running experience more comfortable, and more than short lived. Already I’ve had numerous encounters with motivated individuals who are on rest and recovery from running related injuries. Shin splints or anterior leg pain are a common occurrence in new runners. This discomfort can take the form of various injuries from mild to serious.

Most commonly muscle imbalance and poor running stride can produce pain leading to stress fractures of the Tibia. With proper training and conditioning this condition may be resolved in the early stages with immediate rest, and relieved with progressive conditioning. At the point of fracture a painful recovery of extended rest will be required.

More serious are varying degrees of compartment syndrome. Mild to serious compartment syndrome can sometimes be identified by a numbness of the foot that occurs shortly after starting activity and does not lessen as the muscles and connective tissue warm and receive increased blood flow. It’s hard to discern as misaligned hips may produce a similar condition that is easily correctable. However compartment syndrome should not be taken lightly. The result of compartment syndrome is greatly reduced or restricted blood flow which leads to damaged and dying tissue. The solution to this problem will be immediate rest and will require specific stretching and a change in running style to prevent reoccurrence. If compartment syndrome is not treated in the early stages it may lead to surgical intervention which will also require a long and painful recovery.

 Here are a few tips to help you avoid shin splints and related injuries:

1)      Replace your shoes – Even if they appear to be in good condition, maybe they are only a month or two old, I would recommend you buy a new pair of shoes for the purpose of running and don’t use them for anything else. A shoe’s job is to provide cushion and dissipate the impact forces of our running stride. With less than perfect running posture or a few extra pounds this cushioning will break down faster. Today’s shoes are better than ever at dissipating the force, but as such the materials break down relatively quickly. I would recommend you replace your shoes as often as every couple of months.

2)      Start out slow, and I mean that in every sense of the word. You shouldn’t head off the front step at the speed or pace you expect to maintain for the duration, nor should you expect to run what might seem like a half-marathon on your first day. Our body needs time to elevate circulation and oxygen supply to achieve what we refer to as “steady-state”. Steady-state is the point at which the body has engaged the necessary resources and systems to supply the maximum amount of blood flow, oxygen and nutrients for an extended duration. If you start out too quickly the body is forced to use its short term energy reserves severely hampering overall performance and increasing the likelihood of injury.

3)      Stop to stretch and promote muscle balance – Once you are warm it is a good idea to stop for a few minutes to stretch. Stretching calves is essential but providing contraction to anterior tibialis is critical. Most people won’t even know what that is, but where we have a large visible muscle belly on the back of our leg we forget there is an opposing muscle that works in conjunction on the front of our shin. Women more prone than men to anterior pain as regular days in high heels go a long ways to promote calf vs anterior tib imbalances. Stretch your calves then put on your favourite song and tap your foot to the music for a minute. Contracting the anterior tibialis is that simple, we only need to raise our toes and forefoot slightly off the ground while keeping our calf planted. Stretch for 20 seconds then perform 20 reps on each foot. Do this daily and you will greatly lessen your chances for shin splints and related injuries.

4)      Consume plenty of water – Water promotes recovery and greater performance in numerous ways. It’s essential to replace lost fluids. Even better add a pinch of sea salt to your water and you will find your performance will not very nearly as much at times when the temperature fluctuates over the course of your run, this will help to maintain your electrolyte balance.

A Crash Course on Avoiding Plateaus

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fitness pro 300x296 A Crash Course on Avoiding PlateausIf I asked a group of people what they did for exercise I am sure I would receive a variety of answers. Amongst those answers there would likely be four distinct patterns or methodologies behind all those workouts. And amongst all the people surveyed nearly every workout they perform would likely follow the same pattern they originally described. Our personal patterns are a big reason why so many people reach and are stuck at a “plateau” in their progress for a long time. Plateaus often lead to frustration and abandoning your goals; let’s make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

Four common workout styles:

1)      Low intensity, long duration, repetitive exercise. In this category we have all sorts of cardio exercise machines, running outside, cycling or similar activities.

2)      Straight set resistance training. The usual X# sets and Y# of repetitions. Sure the exercises may vary from workout to workout but overall the total workload, the typical intensity, and the point of failure all remain relatively the same.

3)      Interval training. This can be any form of exercise where you perform at a near maximal effort for a short period and then recover at a comfortable level of exertion before the next effort. This can be extremely effective in the short term but, in addition to losing effectiveness when used too frequently, can also create a danger of injury in the long term.

4)      The fourth pattern is some sort of circuit training. Different varieties exist in many exercise classes or group training sessions. In this case you are typically performing a series of activities in rapid succession with little rest. This seems like a great concept but quite often you will begin to notice from one workout to the next that it is the same level of pace or intensity throughout, the exercises are similar in nature, the amount of workload is the same, etc.

In a nutshell I am sure you see where I am going, we are creatures of habit. If you wish to avoid plateaus then respect the body’s ability to adapt and acknowledge that our typical idea of variation is more one of applying a band aid. We change or vary exercise or activity but the underlying factors of duration; workload, intensity, and primary energy system usage generally remain the same.

Change it up to avoid a plateau, by change it up I mean consider the 4 patterns above and mix and match. If you usually workout with interval training then next week perform some of your workouts focused around any of the three other patterns. You can also mix and match the patterns within a single workout. An example would be performing 10 minutes of comfortable duration cardio immediately followed by an intense set of a resistance exercise then moving on to an interval activity, back to the slow cardio and then finishing with a stationary or active stretching movement. This would utilize multiple energy systems and provide radical variation in intensity and workload. The next thing as you may have guessed is to try not to repeat the same pattern from one workout to the next. When you understand this concept you realize there are endless combinations, once you apply it you realize this can even make working out more fun as you it never needs to be the same. And that is a crash course on how to easily avoid plateaus.

Personal Training in Red Deer is a Little Twisted!

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At least when it comes to Lunges recommended by our personal trainers in our Red Deer studio. The Lunge is an excellent whole leg and lower body developer utilized by many Red Deer personal trainers. The lunge on its own is a great exercise, but be prepared for a whole new experience when you add a twisting variation. Many new muscles will come alive for the first time; though that’s not exactly what our Red Deer personal training clients say I am sure you get the idea.

lunges Personal Training in Red Deer is a Little Twisted!

Red Deer Personal Trainers like Lunges! But at One-to-1 Fitness things get a little twisted!

Let’s begin by learning to lunge in place. Standing comfortably take a big step forward, about 1 ½-2 times normal walking distance. Settling the foot flat on the floor you are now in a straddle position. Elevate the heel of your back foot by shifting your weight forward at the hips slightly. Both toes should be pointed directly ahead of you while the heel of the back foot is now off the floor. From this position we will perform our lunge by bending the knees, descending at the hips until the knee almost touches the floor. It’s important to note that our forward knee should never go past our toes during the movement. You might begin by lunging by a wall. You would place the toes of the front foot against the wall preventing your knee from going past this point during the movement. At the bottom of the movement you should feel the stretch in the quads, glutes and hamstrings. Now return to the start position and let’s make it more interesting.

This time holding a small medicine ball high overhead (we start with 4lb ball or if you are working out a home a heavy book will work fine also). Start again by taking a large step forward with one foot to our straddle position. As you descend this time we will add a twisting motion with your ball. You are going to perform a large circular motion keeping arms straight bringing the ball down in a circle back to the hip of the extended leg. You should concentrate on twisting the shoulders and the torso and keeping your hands flat on the ball. The idea is utilizing the core muscles to maintain balance as you shift the weight throughout the movement. From the bottom of the movement with the knee almost touching the floor and the ball now at your side on the hip bone return to the start position again reaching with the ball in a circular motion and back overhead. Complete for sets of 12-15 repetitions and then perform on the other side. Not only is this variation a great lower body developer but will also help strengthen the abs and torso leading to better posture and even an improved golf swing. Summer, golf, grass and the great outdoors, you can’t really beat it!

You're Working Out Too Much!

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Yes you can exercise too much. I was struggling thinking of what to write about this week so I began to review some of my client notes thinking of what discussions I’ve had with some of my clients lately. Recently I’ve had a couple of my clients where I’ve prescribed an extended rest or detraining period. Two solid weeks away from the gym, nothing but light activity and only if desired, a prescription that will insure additional progress upon return.

This idea often just doesn’t make sense to most people. Our good work ethic tends to make us believe that if progress is not satisfactory then we must simply push on and work harder. Whether it be physical activity, work, or some other type of stress our body uses its vital resources to perform through each situation. If our body grows too low on resources it begins to break down: sickness, injuries, lethargy, all common symptoms of overtraining.

If we learn to identify when our body is running low on resources we can use extended rest periods to push our progress much further faster. The hard part is knowing when extra rest should be taken. Unfortunately signs of fatigue or overtraining can be easily ignored. Symptoms such as a sudden loss of desire for physical activity, tired or twitching eyes, restlessness and an inability to fall asleep easily, increased thirst or mild dehydration, prolonged muscle soreness and loss of strength are all common signs of overtraining or over exercising. If you didn’t sleep well last night because you haven’t flipped your mattress for a year; and you had a hard day at work today so your workout suffered you might be confused about whether you are overtraining.

lazy america fail 300x225 You're Working Out Too Much!

This is not a license to be lazy, nut know when to take a break.

What I would recommend initially is to be keeping an exercise log so you have some documentation to identify your current performance levels. After an arbitrary period, say six weeks of steady workouts, try taking four to seven days of complete rest or what we refer to as detraining. Carefully document how you feel during the first few workouts of the next phase and again over the next six week period. At the end of the second period you can compare your progress and determine whether the rest helped or not. You may decide to increase or decrease your extended rest, or maybe even increase or decrease the training period before the next rest period. Over a time you will begin to be more body aware as to exactly how your body is feeling and performing allowing you to just know when extra rest is needed. This article is not a license to be lazy but a reminder that a little extra rest once in a while might push you over that next jump on the path to your goals.

North Americans are Fat, Lazy and Stressed Out!

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3 lazy polar bears North Americans are Fat, Lazy and Stressed Out!

Lazy North Americans

Recent exposure to another part of the world left me with a feeling of disappointment. We in North America are horribly inactive and the by-product of our industrialized society has really created the modern day health problems known as stress related illness.

A few weeks ago all forms of local media graciously reported that myself and fellow Red Deerian Glenn Moore were heading to Tanzania, Africa to climb the great Mount Kilimanjaro for charity. (www.thewaterschool.org) The fundraiser and the climb were very successful and our determined group persevered with 23 of 24 individuals reaching the 5895m summit, far higher than the typical summit success average. Personally it was the greatest challenge I have faced in my life so far, the effects of altitude and the limitations in your ability to work it creates is an incredible and very individual experience. At times I would walk no more than 30m before collapsing for 2-3 minutes of rest with a heart rate of likely 150+ bpm. The anxiety and frustration of an inability to perform or maintain my heart rate I am sure only made it worse. In just shy of six hours, but truly what felt like an eternity, I reached Uhuru (the Swahii word for Freedom) Peak under the careful and watchful eye of Odell, one of our porters who had become my personal guide for those last few kilometres. It’s a funny thing when you get there, you sort of can’t believe you made it, you quickly hurry to take your photos and videos as though you might forget altogether and just as quickly begin to head back down simply because inside you are so exhausted that you are afraid if you don’t get going right now you’re not sure if you will make it back to camp.

Now not to belittle the personal sense of achievement that myself and the others share for having conquered the world’s highest free standing mountain but this story is about how we in North America have created a lot of excuses to be inactive and the modern day illness called stress. I make my living in the fitness industry. I trained for this climb for about four and half months. Growing up a strength athlete I was way outside of my comfort zone but after losing 18lbs in preparation I felt I was in pretty good shape for the coming adventure. Spending time in Tanzania you suddenly realize in that part of the world being active is simply a way of life. It was unusual for me to see hand drawn carts of goods for sale, supplies and everything else in the cities. It was more unusual to see people walking, carrying many items miles from any city or town. However the best example of amazing fitness as a result of a lifestyle requiring a great deal of activity came on the mountain from our guides and porters. We were only carrying our 20-30lb day packs walking pole, pole (pronounce poleE poleE, Swahili for slowly, slowly) while our team of porters is carrying about 30-50lbs of their own gear and camp supplies and another 30-50lbs of your additional supplies, food, etc, usually balanced on their heads; walking quickly up the mountain and often in simple running shoes. Each day they would reach camp long before us, often with our tents fully setup and prepared and busy boiling drinking water and preparing the evening meal. On summit day Odell needed no rest but he would patiently rest and wait with me as I struggled to persevere onward. Our lead guide Godfrey travelled to the summit three times total assisting climbers to reach their destination. Another of our guides aptly nicknamed Masai (the Masai are Tanzania’s tribal herder/warrior people) ran a full marathon the day prior to our trek leaving the city of Moshi. It was by far the most amazing example of fitness, conditioning, commitment and hard work that I have ever seen.

I left that mountain with a true sense of respect for a people and culture that was previously foreign to me, but I also left with an awareness of how our complex lives have made us lazy and allowed us to create excuses for being ill and overweight. Day to day in North America revolves around our careers and this word stress is constantly applied to all the difficult decisions we must make every day. On paper it seems crazy that this could make us inactive, overweight, and sick but as I sit here in front of my computer I am reminded it’s very real. March 1-6, 2010 myself and 23 others trekked over 100kms through four distinct climates and faced numerous physical obstacles for the pursuit of clean water worldwide. And yet that exhausting task now seems easy compared to the tiredness I feel after spending a day in my office or dealing with the day to day tasks of life in North America. If you don’t like exercise, or on the days you simply don’t feel like it remind yourself that obesity is now labelled as an epidemic in North America. Try to find ways to set aside the “stress” of each day for a couple an hour or two and go and do something active. I bet if we all did this we would relieve major “stress” off of our health care system and some major illness would drastically decline. Just a thought.

If you search “Red Deer Personal Trainer” on YouTube you will find I have posted a morning and evening video from each day of our trek explaining what it was like and how I felt, it’s amazing to hear my voice change on summit day and how foggy my thinking was at times.

It's Not NORMAL to Live Each Day With Pain

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There are certain things we do like clockwork. Generally we have our teeth cleaned every six months and book our next appointment after each cleaning. We change the oil in our vehicles at steady increments and don’t wait to run out of gas before we fill up. And most of us see our physicians annually in an effort to ensure our bodies are functioning optimally. And still it seems many of us may be a little confused about maintaining the physical performance of our bodies; particularly when it comes to our ability to move, perform and live without pain. Having been a personal trainer in Red Deer for more than twelve years I have encountered literally thousands of people that seemingly believe it’s normal to have a certain amount of physical pain in their lives as they age. From sore knees, elbows, hips and shoulders; to day to day back pain and headaches; many people feel this is an acceptable sign of aging.

I hope today, together we can break this paradigm. It’s not normal to live with pain, especially where serious injury is not a factor. Injury or not with some basic understanding of how our body works to move; chronic pain can often be reduced, eliminated or prevented altogether.

massage%20pict%20Tuina It's Not NORMAL to Live Each Day With Pain

Massage is a key treatment for improving the health of soft tissue.

Soft tissue needs maintenance just like our teeth, cars and our internal organs and immune system. What we think of as the skin that covers our muscles and the muscles themselves is actually an elaborate system of multilayered tissue. The layers of tissue from the outer layer of the muscles (known as the fascia), the independent muscles in each group, and the layers of the skin are actually all designed to move freely over one another. Over time, lack of increased circulation and movement to different areas of our body, (primarily from in-activity involving these areas) allows adhesions to form that prevent these tissues from moving freely. A good example of this is pinching your skin. Someone very fit will often be able to pinch (just their skin without much if any fatty tissue) and have a lot of mobility of the skin when compared to someone not as fit. The fit person would have less impingement of their facial layers.

When our facial layers become impinged or are unable to move freely our body compensates by altering our patterns of movement, our posture, and joint alignment. Any and or all of these inevitably lead to pain and injury. As society continues to develop more conveniences our lifestyle habits provide more repetitive in-activity and ultimately the day to day pain that many people experience.

Here is what you need to know in order of priority to live a pain free life:

1)      Treat soft-tissue impingement regularly. Massage therapy is one of the best treatments available to break apart facial adhesions and increase the mobility of the facial layers. The results of treatment are almost immediately notable. The problem with massage is most of us don’t use it enough. If you are currently experiencing day to day pain that is not related to a specific injury I highly recommend discussing treatment with a qualified massage therapist. A couple treatments in the same week followed by regular treatment 2-3 times per month will likely have significant and immediate impact on how you feel. Ongoing treatment in this fashion will almost certainly eliminate and prevent further pain throughout life.

2)      A body in motion stays in motion. This simply means we need to move on a regular basis and if you don’t use it, you will lose it. Exercise is essential if you want to live a long, enjoyable pain free life, and when used with regular massage therapy goes a long way to guarantee prevention of pain. 30 minutes of steady motion of any kind (the more of your body in use the better) each week will be an acceptable minimum.

3)      Maintain joint alignment. This recommendation is the most broad as it may be controversial with a number of people. People in general, active or not will likely experience some joint misalignment, the hazards of our complex internal structure versus gravity. Joint misalignment can often be improved with regular stretching, something that none of us ever do enough of. Ten minutes of static stretching per day (broken into 2-3 minute increments) will have a tremendous impact. A more direct approach would be to also work with a reputable chiropractor. Now not everyone is comfortable with a chiropractor, and even though I have worked with chiropractors most of my life even I am not comfortable with them all. I would recommend meeting with one before a consultation before ever receiving an adjustment and I would also recommend using a chiropractor who avoids using aggressive velocity adjustments.

If only everyone educated themselves and used these three services and therapies with the same type of regularity we do the dentist, lube shop or our physicians the world would be in a lot less pain.

The Basics of Training and Understanding the Core

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core The Basics of Training and Understanding the CoreCore training is the buzz word in fitness these days, I’ve touched on it in previous columns. Previously while snowboarding at Panorama I experienced first hand the significant impact of core training on balance and performance. I was excited and yet very nervous about the trip as I had not been on a snowboard in nearly two years and my father has become quite the avid snowboarder. I couldn’t have dear old dad show me up that’s for sure. Too my surprise my confidence and ability on the snow had improved over my last trip in spite of the time that had passed since I’d last been to the mountains. Core and functional training is really the only possible explanation for this improvement. Core training not only makes traditional strength training more interesting it also produces significant improvement in a very short time.

If you are reading this article chances are you have a weak core because at this moment you are engaged in a position all too familiar, one that may make up a large portion of your day, every day. Sitting is without a doubt the largest contributor to a weak core. Our car seats support us to and from work, the couch or lazy boy takes care of us at home and your ergonomic deluxe office chair isn’t helping either. When we’re seated and supported there is essentially no reason for the muscles to be strong so gravity begins to transform us and we don’t even realize until we feel the all to common low back pain or other aches. It’s time to do something about it.

Our core is mainly comprised of the abdominal muscles both, front and side, and the muscles of the lower back. You could expand this to include the muscles of the hip and pelvis and the small supporting muscles that follow our spine. If you’re ready to improve or avoid the back pain that might be in your future here are 3 things you can do to be well on your way:

1)      Draw In – This is a simple little exercise that you can perform right now where you are sitting, in your car or at the office. In fact no one will even know your doing it and yet it is highly effective. Simply draw your belly button to your spine, and I don’t mean suck in your bulging belly, I mean concentrate on contracting the abdominal muscles all around the belly button as though you were trying to pull them to your spine. Hold it for a few seconds and relax and repeat. Just a few minutes each day will greatly strengthen your core help to trim the belly and eliminate back pain.

2)      Plank – This is an abdominal hold that is great for the core performed on the floor in a position kind of like a push up. Instead of positioning yourself on your hands rest your elbows on the floor and extend your legs straight. You will hold your body up and keep it straight by contracting the abdominals similar to the draw in. Simply hold the position as long as you can. (You can find a full description with pictures on my website for this exercise.)

3)      Hip Bridge – Great for the butt this exercise is performed lying flat on your back on the floor. Bend your knees so your feet are flat on the floor much like you would to perform a sit-up. Now push your heels into the floor to raise your thighs, butt and low back off the floor. You should be supporting yourself with your heels and shoulder blades squeezing the butt tight. Hold this position until fatigue and repeat a couple times.

Performing these three exercises two to three times per week will begin to yield results in just a couple weeks. This is only the surface of core training and what it can do for posture, balance and performance.

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