Working out on the Job – By Brian Zerega

I’m blessed in life to have a profession that keeps me on my feet.  I’ve only spent a bit of time behind a desk in my adult life.  So the times I have to spend long hours at the computer are excruciatingly difficult.  To all the Mr. and Mrs. 9-5 desk workers out there, I salute you.  You are an endurance champion beyond compare!

About five months ago my wife gave birth to our son, a healthy baby whose arrival marked the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new one.  This new chapter no longer affords me the freedom to train in a gym whenever I want, so I’ve taken to training at home, usually in small bouts throughout the course of the day, with a couple of 20 minute sessions throughout the week.  

The practice is primarily bodyweight work and resistance band exercises, both of which are tremendous at keeping me in tune.  As far as load intensity goes things have been a lot lighter than usual but I’ve surprisingly seen a lot of improvement in my physique and strength.  One of the major reasons is the effect of sporadic training on the metabolic system.  A 60 - 90 second bout of muscular contraction increases the uptake of blood glucose into skeletal muscle, thereby decreasing the chances of it depositing as fat.  Imagine doing this 3-5 times a day as opposed to 3 times a week and you start to see the benefits this type of training has to offer.
  
I can’t over emphasize the value of a bodyweight practice for general strength, mobility, and the understanding of one's body.  But the focus for this article is resistance bands.  

Resistance bands continue to impress me as one of the most versatile tools for developing strength and flexibility of the upper body.  Weighing in at only a few ounces, the resistance band offers unmatched variations in application.  A light band can be stretched gently to activate stiff muscles or stretched intensely to challenge your strength.  The band can be doubled and tripled up to offer you extreme maximum effort challenges.  

Bands have a “toy like” quality and you can fiddle with them while at a desk, making it possible to relieve stress and improve your shoulder and wrist strength while you work.   Many of the best shoulder rehabilitation exercises use bands because they have variable and continuous resistance, which is the perfect combination for activating latent muscles, the ones that aren't doing their job.  

I’m referring in particular to the muscles that retract the scapula and rotate the shoulders. If these muscles are weak, their predisposition to disengage is a key component in upper back, neck and shoulder pain.  Your upper back musculature that’s severely lacking in development?  Resistance bands are absolutely perfect for targeting just this area!  Improving these muscles will prevent pain and injury of the neck and shoulders as a result of working at a desk.
    
So grab a cheap resistance band and start!  Get a light to medium one and begin with a few of my structured, tried and true movements.  After that feel free to use the bands however you desire.  The only limit is your imagination.

Exercise 1
  Ext. Rotation and Retraction:

•  Hold the band face up in both hands shoulders width apart.
• Locking the elbows and depressing the shoulders, send your thumbs to the back wall.
• Continue to rotate your upper arms and forearms towards the back wall as you pull the shoulder blades together and down.
• Relax and repeat to taste

There’s no right or wrong way to do this, but I recommend performing the movements slow and let your focus be on activating the muscles you are intend to work, flex them as hard as you can and then flex them even harder!

Exercise 2
Shoulder Dislocate

• Grab the band shoulder width apart with palms facing down.
• Lock out the elbows and spread the band apart to double shoulder width.
• Now keeping this arm position and engagement pass the band over your head and take it down to your lower back.
• Return the band to its original position, and repeat.

Exercise 3
Hand Cuff escape

• Begin this movement on your last dislocate, with the band behind the back.
• Wrap your arms up in the band a few times so your wrists are closely bound together.
• Pull your shoulder blades back and down and externally rotate your arms as you pull your arms apart.
• Begin this movement slowly and focus as much on stretching the shoulders as you are actually trying to split the cuffs and you will give the shoulders a great stretch as well as strengthen them in a rather disadvantageous position.

Take your time with these exercises when you first start them.  Get to know the qualities of your resistance band and you’ll find it a tool of great benefit to the upper body.

Strength Training at Gyms in Santa Monica: Benefits You Can Achieve

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered yet another benefit of strength exercises: better memory retention. A Medscape Medical News overview of the study reported that two groups of participants were each given a set of photographs that they were then asked to recall after a few days. One group was asked to use a strength exercise machine, while the other wasn’t. A couple of days later, the first group remembered the photos better than the second group:

"These results are consistent with the theory that acute stress during consolidation can be beneficial to memory for emotional but not neutral information," the researchers write.

Other research has linked enhancement of memory to acute stress responses, usually psychological stress, such as public speaking.

Studies have also linked the release of specific hormones and norepinephrine in rodent brains to better memory."

Regardless if people value their memory retention abilities or not, this study nonetheless demonstrates just how working out at gyms in Santa Monica, CA can have a significant impact on people’s lives. The only things holding most people back are a lack of motivation to exercise and lack of knowledge about where to start—things that can a personal trainer can help with. Strength training exercises, in particular, call for close supervision, as poor form can lead to serious injury.

The main goal of strength straining is to toughen up the musculoskeletal system, which can be achieved by subjecting the body to progressively heavier resistances. This usually involves lifting weights or performing calisthenics (i.e. pushups and crunches); the latter pits the person against his or her own body weight. Aside from developing stronger bones and muscles, strength exercises also lead to better resistance against injuries by improving metabolism and joint function. With the new findings from the Georgia Tech study, memory retention can be added to this list of benefits.

However, these benefits follow the assumption that strength exercises were done correctly in the first place. Improper lifting techniques, for instance, can inflict unwanted strain upon muscles and result in injuries, which is another reason why anyone who’s serious about getting into shape and onto the path to lifelong fitness should seek a strength training coach at a Santa Monica gym like 34 North.

 (Source: Strength Training Boosts Memory in a Single Session, Medscape Medical News, October 10, 2014)

5 Simple Nutrition Hacks

With so much information on exercise and nutrition floating around it seems overwhelming to even begin improving your diet.

Paleo, ketogenic, gluten free, and calorie counting are just some of the popular buzzwords in today’s mainstream health industry. Read any health and fitness magazine and you’ll find 20 different magic foods and 15 different diets that promise you a six-pack in a week. It’s easy to be misled and discouraged when you start to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

Let me begin by saying if there were a magic food or pill that made you shredded in a week, everyone would take it.  Period. 

But it doesn’t exist.   

There is no quick path to the body of your dreams. It takes knowledge of proper nutrition and the discipline to live a healthy lifestyle. It requires you to eat for optimal body function.  In the beginning, that can be difficult but giving your body nutrient dense food on a regular basis is hands down the best thing for your health.

Diet accounts for up to 85% of the gains you get from exercise (that’s a huge number). Eating healthy foods will help you look younger, feel better, prevent illness, improve metabolic functions, and improve energy levels. Eat healthy and you will have a good life.

When pursuing a healthier lifestyle, it’s important that the changes you make are not forced, but are voluntary. When adapting a new diet avoid quitting old eating habits cold turkey. Make the transition slow so you don’t create a negative identification to the changes.  If you view these changes to your life as “bad” you’ll lose the battle of self-improvement.

Below are five tips that will dramatically change your dietary lifestyle. These “nutrition hacks” are listed in order of importance so when looking to make improvements just slowly work your way down the list.

1. Eat Real Foods

It’s sad this statement needs to be on the list but it is absolutely a must. Stop eating artificial foods!! Everything that goes into your body needs to be organically sourced and non-processed. It is now common knowledge that processed foods, microwavable foods, and “convenience foods” are terrible for your health. Stop eating them immediately and start cooking your own meals. Cook your own meals for at least 1 week with no exception to engrain the habit of cooking for yourself.  This will make these dietary changes much easier because it gives you direct control of what is going in to your body.  Once you lock this step down the rest is a lot easier.

2. No refined sugar

Sugar is the number 1 abused substance in this country and it is literally killing you. Stop consuming refined sugars and watch the fat fall off your body. No more soda, store bought drinks, sweets, and putting white sugar in your coffee. Completing steps 1 and 2 will all but prevent diabetes. Just saying….

3. Avoid Grains and Gluten

Simply put, eating grains will make your body keep wanting to produce fat cells, removing grains from the diet will make your body return to its original function and eat fat stores for energy. If having abdominal muscles is a goal then say goodbye to breads, pasta, and rice. I’m not saying you can never eat them again but for the most part, cut them out of your diet. Now for all the haters who say that they need carbs for energy: A: you’re wrong B: eat more fat to replace the calories from the carbs you were eating. Your body will adapt.

4. Foundation

• Eat a variety of grass fed / wild caught meats
   
• Eat a variety of vegetables and greens prepared in different ways.  Cooking or eating vegetables raw unlocks various nutrients. Steaming, sautéing, baking, and eating salads are just some ways to add variety to your diet.
   
• Eat healthy oils such as: MCT, coconut, olive, and fish oil.  MCT oil can be added to your morning coffee, almost all cooking can be done with coconut oil or grass fed butter. Salads and steamed vegetables can be dressed with olive oil, and fish oil can be taken with your daily protein shake. Just as eating a variety of veggies supplies you with a complete nutritional profile, eating a variety of oils will give your body the fats its needs for optimal performance.

5. Eliminate dairy

• Eliminate all dairy from your diet.  Give it at least 3 weeks.  After 3 weeks begin slowly reintroducing raw dairy.  Raw cheese might be a good start because the cultures in the cheese will help your body digest it.  Whole raw milk or whole raw goats milk would be a good second step.  If you don’t see any ill effects then raw dairy is probably good for you.

There is no one “right way” of eating. We are all different people, with different genetics and dietary pasts. What works for one person may not work for another. Regardless of the subtle differences between people this list will provide you with a simple guideline to health. 

5 TIPS TO A STRONGER DEADLIFT

The deadlift is one of the pinnacle lifts for increasing strength.  Whatever your fitness goals, the deadlift will absolutely get you closer to achieving them.  The beautiful thing about the deadlift is its simplicity. It is an easy movement to grasp and when performed correctly it increases strength, aids in hormone secretion, helps burn fat, strengthens all of the posterior chain (every muscle on the back of your body), increases lean muscle mass, and strengthens the bones. 

As far as bang for your buck, the deadlift is at the top of the list.

The deadlift is a hinge movement and is classified as a lower body pull.  The deadlift stresses virtually every posterior muscle and places additional stress on some anterior musculature as well.  When trained with consistency and common sense the deadlift can become one of your best friends and greatest contributors to your godly shaped physique.

Unfortunately, many people speak negatively about the deadlift.  Walk in to most corporate gyms and you’ll find that one guy saying: “Bro, deadlifts are bad for your back !”

Wrong bro.   Bad form, poor programming, and weakness are bad for your back. Any exercise performed and prescribed incorrectly will do more harm than good. 

Here are five tips to get you a better deadlift:

1. Form is everything

Just because the deadlift is simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.  In deadlifting, perfect form must be maintained in order to SAFELY complete the lift.  When starting the deadlift first make sure that the bar is in contact with your shins.  Secondly, before beginning the pull, always make sure that the hips are above the knees, and the shoulders are above the hips.  Remember, perfect form means greater strength. If you cannot keep perfect form during the lift, lessen the weight and repeat until you have found the correct weight. Grinding away with poor form is a sure way to get injured.

2. Create Torque

Creating torque in your body is paramount for having a strong and safe deadlift. Torque simply put; is the result of rotational force and tension. By creating torque we effectively remove slack from the body, thus allowing all of our generated force to go directly into the lift. There are two techniques that we use to create torque in our bodies for the deadlift.

A. Bending the handle: The first way is to try to bend the barbell when grabbing it. Imagine the barbell is a stick and you are trying to snap it in half. This will powerfully activate your lats and create stability throughout the trunk.  Make sure there is no bend in the elbows, arms should be locked out.

B. Screwing in the feet: The second way is to screw your feet into the ground. Grip the ground with your toes and try to rotate the feet to the outside. It is exactly the same technique as the one mentioned above but more subtle and performed with your lower body. When screwing your feet into the ground your goal is to activate the muscles of your legs, not change the position of your stance. Too much rotation and you will compromise your form.

3. Warm up

Before any exercise you need to warm up. In order for your central nervous system to be fully activated you need to warm up before you get into serious training. For deadlifting I recommend thoracic bridges, kettlebell swings, and light deadlifts before getting into the working sets. A brief warm up would look something like this:

·      KB swing 3 x 10 reps

·      Thoracic Bridge x 2 per side

·      Light deadlift 2 x 5 reps

4. Listen to your body

Paying attention to how your body feels is an excellent way to maximize your progress in the weight room. I am not a fan of programming that dictates on which days you lift heavy. The reason being is that the program can never tell how your body is going to feel on that specific day. Can you imagine attempting a 75% 1rm lift for multiple sets when you feel totally thrashed? No, because it would kill you!

On days you feel good, lift heavy-ish (no more that 70-75% 1RM) with the majority of your focus on doubles and triples. On the days when you feel thrashed, work on your form and keep the weight super light. There is no shame in practicing with a lighter weight. So many people pursuing a heavy deadlift forget this fact and usually plateau as a result. Taking time to perfect your form is absolutely essential.  So on days your warm up feels heavy, check your ego and keep it light. It’s about mastery of movement not just lifting a heavy weight.

5. Consistency

If you want a big badass deadlift you have to stay consistent. You will never pull 500 pounds coming into the gym and training every now and then. My strongest students pull twice a week, every week on the same days. Everyone knows that Mondays and Wednesday are deadlifting days. Get a routine and stick with it, and if you don’t know what a good deadifting routine looks like, then please, invest in a good book, DVD, or an experienced trainer to develop one for you. 

Finding Passion in Your Movement

Is your favorite part of the gym when you WALK OUT THE DOOR?

If so, this post is for you.  I hear questions like this all the time:

"I go through phases of being active and exercising on the treadmill everyday, then I'll go weeks without doing anything and feel guilty for it. Problem is I hate cardio, I hate running, it's boring and I hate the feeling afterwards. I'd rather lift weights only, how can you mix cardio with weights?"

If this sounds like you, please stop right there.  Why do you feel compelled to do something you truly dislike?  

Based on your question, it’s fair to assume that you think cardio for health and weight management is the best way to go, even though you hate it. The good news is you can get the benefits you desire from a movement program of strength training, mobility work, and high-intensity intervals.  The best part?  No boring “cardio” style workouts you have to force yourself to complete.   

In fact, if you replace cardio with the aforementioned training, I guarantee you'll see far better results in body composition, performance, and energy.  

I haven't done any specific cardio like running or cycling (other than as a mode of transportation) since March 2014.  All my training has been bodyweight strength training and basic barbell lifting (deadlifts, squats, overhead presses, and Olympic lifts)  

As a result of this program, I weigh 220 lbs. and maintain a BF% of between 6-9% at all times.  Trust me, try this method and you'll look more attractive, perform better at the gym and in bed with the energy to do it more often, in BOTH places.  

I just gave you the Holy Grail of performance. 

You’re welcome.  If you’re not sure how to execute it on your own; hire yourself a personal trainer in Santa Monica that can show you the way.  

If you still feel compelled to get some aerobic activity, that's fantastic!  Instead of running like a hamster on a wheel go outside and play.  Remember games you enjoyed in your childhood when movement was about fun and exploration?  Those memories are the inspiration for the games we play in our gyms in Santa Monica. A Santa Monica personal trainer from 34 Degrees North will help you reconnect to those things.  Or try something you’ve always wanted to do, pick up a sport like soccer or a movement discipline like dance, martial arts or acrobatics.  Challenge yourself to go outside your comfort zone.   Have some fun!   

An easy way to apply this creativity is to interact with your environment when you go for your jog.  Jump onto and over things that you would normally just run past.  Benches, trees, walls and fences are fair game as long as you don't trespass on someone else's property.   When you stop for traffic do some calisthenics like push-ups, squats, or jumping jacks.  You may even find a bar from scaffolding to do pull-ups if you live in an urban area.  Tree branches also make a great natural pull-up bar.  

Who cares if people think you're crazy?  Nothing says “beastmode” like someone doing chin-ups while they wait for the light to change.  What I'm saying is to listen to your instincts, find what works for you and embrace your strength!

Be Strong and Move Beautifully, 

Tanner

Barbells = Bigger Boobs

Ever since my friend Amy started lifting seriously, her lady lumps have gone up by 2 sizes.

Say what? 

Imagine if more women knew this all-natural beauty benefit of the weight room.  The biggest concerns I encounter when introducing my female clients to weightlifting are:

1. Fear of becoming “bulky” and unfeminine.
2. Fear of getting hurt when lifting heavy weight.

So ladies, what happens when you actually start lifting?

At first, nothing.  You won't bulk up over night and as long as you lift with proper technique you won't get hurt.  In fact you may not even feel sore because you won't be doing as much volume as you are now (sets x reps = volume).  

There are many benefits to strength training, but it takes time before you start to experience the rewards.  If you can stay consistent for at least 3 months with a real strength-training program you will experience the following changes in your body:

More muscle mass, which is great because:

Increased Metabolism. Increased muscle mass exponentially increases your metabolic rate. Muscle tissue is alive and requires a lot of energy to perform.  All other things equal, if you had an additional 5 lbs. of muscle you would burn exponentially more calories throughout your day and workout than you do today.  

Longer, better quality of life. Increasing muscle mass boosts the immune system and slows aging.  

More strength!  Improving strength is the most efficient training goal for seeing results across the
board.  If you want to do anything you enjoy now at a higher level you need to get stronger.  Period.  

A sense of empowerment. Strength is empowering.  Something about picking heavy objects off the floor and putting it over your head makes other challenges in your life not so daunting.  

Improved posture. Strength training is the best form of training to improve posture.  That's right!  The reason Amy is enjoying the benefits of perky boobs is because she's done strength training for the pectoral muscles which has increased muscle tone (tension).  The added muscular tension in Amy's pecs are actually lifting her boobs up and away!  If you add lots of scapular retraction and depression training with exercises like rows and farmer's walks, the increase in muscle tone will improve your posture by pulling your shoulders back into their proper position.  Good shoulder posture is the best showcase for your lady lumps.

Hormone Balance - This topic could cover several blogs.  For now, know that strength training lowers blood sugar, increases insulin sensitivity, increases human growth hormone, improves testosterone to estrogen ratio (good for men and women), and has positive affects on the hormones that control hunger, satiety, and fat mobilization for energy.  

These are only some of the benefits of strength training.  Remember that strength training is relative to the person.  What's heavy for one person is different for the next.  However, there are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind:  

• Real strength training focuses on big compound movements like squats, deadlifts, lunges, Olympic lifts, pull-ups, and overhead/bench pressing.  Anything else is considered an assistance exercise.
• Pick weights that are challenging for 5 reps or less per set.  When you start doing more than 5 reps you're no longer focusing on strength, but instead developing other qualities like hypertrophy and work capacity.  
• Don't train to failure.  Always stop when you think you have one more good rep left.  
• Form is more important than weight.  Higher weight will come with time.  
• Seek out and hire the help of a serious professional if you've never been properly coached on the foundational strength lifts.  Even if you have experience I still recommend hiring someone to critique your technique and look over your programming from time to time.  I've been training hard for two decades and I still seek out coaches to help me.  We are all students.

In our blog library you'll find an article on the 5 Foundation Lifts that you might find helpful.  

Be strong and move beautifully,

Tanner Martty

How Overall Strength Affects your Workout

by Orion Lee

In the movie Enter The Dragon there is a saying: “Sparta, Rome, the knights of Europe and the Samurai, they worshipped strength... for it is strength that makes all other qualities possible.” 

This statement is profound, simple, and true. Strength by definition is a body’s ability to apply force, but physical strength is not the only manifestation of strength. Willpower, concentration, dedication, and discipline are qualities that originate from having a strong mental disposition.

Regardless of your chosen discipline, the pursuit of strength is of great importance to the athlete. Physically, strength is important because without a strong foundation you cannot possess more advanced attributes such as: speed, power, coordination, agility and endurance.

Strength is also important because it enhances the base abilities that make movement possible and improving this base can lead to game changing improvements.  For example: in order for a person to have stability and proper movement patterns, the individual must have strength in the muscles and ligaments for the system to handle the load.

If an individual is hypermobile, adding strength allows greater control over range of motion, which equals better movement. If a coordinated athlete gains more strength they enhance the ability to move more efficiently. The bottom line is that higher levels of strength increase your other athletic qualities, resulting in superior performance.

Just because an individual chooses to get stronger doesn’t mean stability, mobility and flexibility can be neglected or ignored. Quite the opposite, the stronger a person gets the more mobile and flexible they should strive to be. These attributes are hugely important to having a healthy body and moving efficiently. For the serious athlete, mobility and flexibility is akin to brushing and flossing your teeth at night. It’s a necessary thing if you want to perform at your highest level. Don’t want cavities?  Brush your damn teeth. Don’t want injuries? Do your damn mobility work. Period.

Physical attributes are essential but I believe mental strength separates the moderate from the truly elite. Look at the Army Rangers: those men are put through absolute hell so that they can attain the mental toughness necessary to perform in action.

Just like its physical counterpart, mental strength must be trained and honed daily. With constant practice and the help of a Santa Monica personal trainer, your mind can attain an “iron will” and your body will perform the tasks you demand of it. The daily training and stress of being an athlete can be mentally exhausting and wear you out. This grind will tax your willpower, and for the record willpower is NOT an infinite resource. It’s a disciplined sacrifice most people never consider. From waking up early, to eating healthy, not drinking, not having a social life, having to train even when exhausted, to getting the crap kicked out of you in practice, athletes must to have a strong mind in order to keep up with the demands of their lifestyle . . . and their competitors.   

Focus during your chosen activity and meditate about it on your off time to build a strong mind. Have a clear goal, perhaps even one that you’ve developed with the help of personal training coaches in Santa Monica. A clear plan of action will help you to build a strong mind and improve the results of your training efforts without pushing you to exhaustion. You will notice that you’re improving your movement with each repetition and training session.

Engage yourself during the activity, feel your muscles activate and visualize yourself correctly performing the movement before you do it. Synergize mind and body in this manner and you will become better at what you do, regardless of the discipline.

It’s about training smarter not harder.  In the end, the choice to get stronger is yours.

Core and Grip Exercises to Strengthen Weak Links

by Orion Lee 

Everyone who trains hits plateaus.  It’s natural. How to address and overcome these plateaus is what separates the good from the elite. There are many different reasons why athletes plateau, but today I am going to focus on what I call “weak links.” 

A weak link can be anything from a lack of mobility in a certain joint, to an old knee injury.  Physiologically, the two areas where I see the most “weak links” are: grip/wrist strength and core strength. Both are essential for amazing performance and both connect the athlete to their power sources.

GRIP STRENGTH allows the athlete to express his/ her strength in their chosen activity. In athletic movement, the hands are usually used as hooks to hold yourself or an object in a certain position while the body generates force. If your grip is weak, a maximum exertion of force will be impossible and the movement becomes flawed. 

Example: While attempting a max or near max deadlift, the weight moves off the ground but may slip out of your hands before you can complete the lift.  This is why so many people use wrist straps; it’s a way to cheat oneself into “completing” a bigger lift.  You had the necessary strength to finish the lift but your grip strength fell short and you dropped the weight. 

Grip strength not only helps in the gym.  A strong grip makes simple tasks much easier such as: carrying a massive load of groceries, cooking with your cast iron skillet or just opening a door.  Regardless of what you do, increased grip strength makes life much easier. 

CORE STRENGTH is the second major weak link I see in the kinetic chains of many athletes.  I often see people train the big lifts but skip out when it comes to core.  Granted, the big lifts do work your core musculature but taking some extra time to strengthen your trunk can have tremendous benefits, efficiently helping you generate force and making all your movements more powerful.

Hips and shoulders are the power sources of your body, allowing you to generate huge amounts of force.  Between these two engines are the muscles of the trunk, when trained and used correctly they can effectively generate, steer, and assist force into powerful movement, but when the muscles of the trunk lack strength the force generated by these power sources quickly dissipate and result in weak movement.

Sherrington's Law of Irradiation states:

A muscle working hard recruits the neighboring muscles, and if they are already part of the action, it amplifies their strength. The neural impulses emitted by the contracting muscle reach other muscles and 'turn them on' as an electric current starts a motor.

A perfect example is a fighter throwing a right cross.  The force originates from rotation in the hips, travels through the trunk as the fighter begins to twist, this force gets another boosts from the abdominal contraction, shoulder rotation and receives one final boost with the contraction and rotation of the fighter’s hand. 

Taking the time to train both your grip and the musculature of your trunk will make you much more effective at generating force and performing athletic movement. Some of my favorite exercises to strengthen these areas are:

Grip

• Bottom up press / carry
• Farmers carry
• Towel carry
• Hanging work
•  Finger tip push ups
• Rope climbing
• Thick bar deadlifting

Core

• Hollow body holds
• Hanging leg raises
• Hard style plank
• Ab wheel
• L sits
• L holds
• Dragon flags
• Front levers
• Skin the cats

Do these exercises and your “weak links” can become some of your strongest physical assets.  

Injury Prevention For The Everyday Athlete

Today I am going to talk about injury prevention. I’ve been a coach and personal trainer in Santa Monica for several years and have seen and personally experienced numerous injuries.  I hate getting hurt but to see my students, friends and fellow classmates get hurt is even worse. Especially when that injury could have been prevented by some simple rehabilitative exercises. That being said, the risk of injury is always present when practicing a sport with unforeseen variables. My goal is too help you minimize the risk of injury while doing what you love to do.

Injuries are more likely to happen when one of the four following factors is in a state of imbalance: Flexibility, mobility, stability and strength. These four qualities are the foundation for anyone looking to become more athletic and they are the foundation on which you build success.  But if one of these factors is unequal it increases the probability for an injury to occur.

Strength: Getting stronger is a relatively easy skill set to attain.  A basic strength and condition program followed several times a week under the guidance of a trained professional will improve your level of strength very quickly.

Flexibility: Flexibility is a more passive skill that involves static holds to elongate the body's muscles.  

Stability: Defined as the ability to maintain or control joint movement or position. Stability is achieved by the coordinating actions of surrounding tissues and the neuromuscular system.

Mobility: Mobility is the ability to move a limb or joint through a full range of motion with control. Mobility is voluntary and requires strength to perform the action.

Both mobility and flexibility are important skills for any athlete to posses but often the development of these skills are neglected during training. The more mobile an individual the more easily and freely they can execute the athletic task. Whether throwing a roundhouse kick, swinging a golf club or just picking up a bag of groceries, greater mobility always equals improved performance.

Every person is going to have unique mobility challenges and to remedy them I highly suggest meeting with a professional and educating yourself on how to properly treat your specific condition.  

However, some of the more common mobility Issues I see frequently at the gyms in Santa Monica involve impingement of the hips and shoulders.  A great way to improve mobility is through myofascial release and various exercises specifically designed to target the proper movement of a joint or limb.  Below are two ways to increase the mobility of your hips and shoulders.