Sep 10

99 Years Strong

“I didn’t have time for that.”  This is what my then 93-year-old grandpa told me as we took a trip down highway 5 to a strength and conditioning workshop in Orange county.  This is a phrase that a lot of us say when our jobs, stress, and laziness get in the way of taking care of ourselves.  However, what if this phrase was used in a different context?

Being confined in a small car with my grandfather for 9 hours sparked some hidden treasures of information that I still hold dear to this day.  As we drove through the barren wasteland of Taft County before ascending the Grape Vine, the landscape reminiscent to that of a Mad Max movie left a void for conversations to be had between the two of us.  We arrived to the topic of my grandpas experience as a radio navigator in a bomber plane during World War 2.  He told me a story of how he was flying in formation with other planes, preparing to perform their objective.  Everything was going according to plan until a bomb from another plane higher in formation dropped through the wing of the plane he was navigating.  As the plane caught on fire and plummeted to the ground, my grandpa got his parachute on and bailed out.  Astonished at his story, I asked my grandpa, “Were you scared?”  He answered, “I didn’t have time to be scared.”

My grandpa is someone I’ve looked up to my whole life.  One main reason is that his 99th birthday is occurring August 20th this year.  It’s impressive that he jumped out of a plane in World War 2 and prolonged his life so that I could eventually be born into this world.  However, his consistent attention to keeping himself healthy through regular exercise, hobbies, and routines are what kept him spry and kicking with life to this day.

In my youth, I would visit my grandparents in Redwood City.  The first thing you would see in the backyard were tomatoes, green beans, and hot peppers.  Neighboring the garden was my grandpas shed.  Inside the shed existed a multitude of tools including soldering irons, air compressors, and a few hundred pounds of wrenches.  Some of my most profound memories of my grandfather was images of him doing pushups every day.  He had an ab wheel to exercise his core and entire body that he would use on his living floor almost every time I visited.  A pull up bar was installed in the garage next to the washing machine as you passed by his 911 Porsche he tinkered on daily.  It was rare to see this man stop moving.

One of the keys to my grandfather’s health were the hobbies and habits he adhered to.  There was always a project that he refined and worked to get it to the next level.  The garden always needed to be watered, planted, or deconstructed.  There was always a malfunctioning radio, a broken television, or an appliance from his home on his work bench ready to be repaired.  The Porsche’s hood was open frequently with the upper half of his body submerged in the engine.  Most importantly, I would always see him exercising.

I rarely spoke with my grandpa about stress or hardships that occurred in his life.  Being a farm boy from Oklahoma and navigating a plane in World War 2, I could assume there’s been quite a few things he has seen as he reaches page 99 of his life.  A primary reason we avoided speaking about his hardships is because he was always doing something to improve what was around him.  If he spent all of his time working on projects, exercising, and focusing on his hobbies, then where was the time to share his hardships?  Stress, sadness, and rough times obviously happened in this man’s history, but he never spent his time dwelling on these things.  He spent his time focusing on what was in front of him to make himself thrive.  Therefore, when he said, “I didn’t have time for that.”  I can now see that he didn’t have time to be hindered by anything outside of bettering himself slow him down.

I want to acknowledge my grandpa for getting to this point.  He’ll always be a hero, mentor, and motivator for me to keep my head up when times are challenging.  If we could think about where our stress goes, how our animosity toward something induces rash decisions, if we let depression get the best of us, perhaps we can divert that energy elsewhere.  Look in the mirror. Spend the energy and time on that person looking you right in the eye.  Put the phone down and divert your eyes away from social media.  Turn the television off.   The stress caused by the news, social media, and shows we watch on TV are a form of stress society is stuck on.  These forms of everyday stress we see at fingertips holding our phones pale in comparison to jumping out of flaming plane in world war 2.  We don’t have time for these forms of aberrant stress.  However, we have plenty of time to focus on what’s in front of us to live longer. We don’t have time to scared.  We have all the time in the world to thrive.

 

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 30

Benefits of Upper Body Strength

“I have a ‘wonkey’ wrist,” exclaimed Sharon, one of our personal training clients.  “Whenever I pick up my cat Ozzy, my wrist shifts around and hurts.”  Sharon expressed this wrist issue sends pain through her fingers and thumb.  When she gets pots and pans from the bottom shelf of her kitchen cabinets, pain in her wrist makes her avoid the activity altogether.  Poor Ozzy the cat does not get picked up as much either.  This condition of wrist pain is common in the general population.  It can be caused by a previous injury, arthritis, overuse, or underuse.  Even though wrist and hand injuries are painful and detrimental to our everyday productivity, there is nothing some regular upper body strength training exercises can cure.

Muscles of the upper extremities are comprised of pushing and pulling muscles.  The big pushing muscles are the triceps and pectorals.  The strong pulling muscles are the biceps and scapular muscles.  Let’s not overlook the wide array of muscles attached to the forearm surrounding the wrist.  These muscles assist in grabbing onto objects, lifting objects up and down, pulling toward us, and pushing things away from us.  If we want to efficient move objects like the attention starved Ozzy the cat effectively, having optimal upper extremity strength is critically important.

The push up is one of the simplest and most effective exercises to master.  Regularly exercise utilizing the push up offers significant strength adaptations in the upper extremity pushing muscles and wrists muscles.  The action of supporting one’s weight over the ground uses the muscles of the triceps and pectorals.  Stressing the muscles throughout the upward and downward action utilizes a sequential pattern of coordinated muscular contractions in which the wrist, elbow, and shoulder joint must work in unison to create a successful execution of pushing the body up from the ground.  To perform, find either an inclined surface or wall to place your hands.  Maintain elbows in by your side to emphasize efficient triceps engagement.  Ensuring to “roll the elbows” forward so the “eyes of the elbow” or “elbow pits” are facing in front of the body ensures the humerus is packed correctly into the shoulder socket.  Then perform your “push up.”  This technique will emphasize sufficient engagement of the triceps and muscles of scapular stabilization and decrease the likelihood of shoulder injuries from exercising.  Furthermore, if the wrists hurt because the palms are on a flat surface, use a hexagon shaped dumbbell or push up stand to put the wrist in a neutral position.  Perform your pushups for 2-3 sets of 5-10 repetitions anywhere from 1-3 times per week.

The bicep curl is one of the quickest and most effective exercises to assist in upper body pulling muscle strength.  We always tell our personal training clients in Napa that these exercises are too easy that they are commonly overlooked.  The bicep curl action consists of grasping an object with one hand, keeping the elbow isolated by the side of the body, and flexing at the elbow to bring the forearm closer to the humerus.  This exercise is traditionally performed with dumbbells.  However, there are a cornucopia of objects in every human being’s dwelling that can be used as resistance to perform an efficient and effective bicep curl.  Utilizing a gallon jug of water, a quart sized can of paint, an upside down bottle of wine, or in some cases an adequately sized skillet can serve as a object with sufficient weight to stress the upper body pulling muscles attached to the upper arm and forearm.  To perform, grasp an object that can be comfortably held in the hand.  Stand or sit down with the elbow pinned to the side and shoulder blades “parked” against the rib cage to ensure proper posture.  Lift the object to change the angle of the forearm and humerus to where tension can be felt in the biceps and forearm muscles.   Perform these biceps curls for 2-3 sets of 5-10 repetitions anywhere from 1-3 times per week.

Ozzy the cat and many other important objects need to be firmly grasped, moved around, and loved by Sharon and the rest of us who have furry friends and objects to move around the house.  However, if Sharon and the rest of us have insufficient strength and our hands hurt, how is Ozzy and the rest of the home pet crew going to get the TLC they need?  Pain and weakness is never fun.  The brightside of weakness in the human body is that weakness and pain are curable.  We need to train though.  The human body is designed to adapt to a struggle once we consistently tend to it.  Once we perform strength training exercises that target our trouble spots, pain and weakness will decrease.

After a few months of strength training 2-3 times per week, Sharon can now pick up Ozzy and give him the much-needed feline bonding he needs.  Make sure to listen to your body.  Address the trouble areas and develop a strength training regiment that will help us pick up pets, pots, and whatever else needs to be picked up to assist us in our everyday 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 25

Unbalanced Situations

Balance is a component of fitness that isn’t touched on until the realization that suboptimal balance affects our lives.  We need balance for many activities in our everyday lives to be productive.  Once balance is taken from someone, movement is significantly impaired.  Simple movements like getting out of the car, walking around the neighborhood, gardening or other recreational activities can be impeded due to hindered balance.

Gradual loss of balance could be a result of diminished athleticism and coordination from no longer participating sporty or recreational activities.   Decreased fitness levels due to neglect of strengthening muscles responsible for balance, stability, and change of direction, and the awareness to recover one’s balance contribute to successful human movement.  More importantly, a critical role in balance is the vestibular cochlear system existing in the inner membrane of the ear.  This complex portion of our anatomy is responsible for regaining balance when the head turns right to left or up and down.  It’s useful to identify what part of our body might be affected if a loss of balance is negatively impacting our productivity.

A solution to loss of balance when training our personal training clients in Napa is to note common triggers which induce  moments of imbalance. Common stimuli are turning one’s head in a way causing a moment of dizziness or uncertainty, random objects disturbing direction of travel, and threats of tripping over objects on the ground.  Once potential situations that disrupt balance are identified, an intervention exercise protocol can be implemented into the individuals exercise prescription.

Overall strength and conditioning of the body is critically important to any component of balance.  However, addressing an individual’s ability to turn their head and regain equilibrium efficiently is the first line of defense.  Activities such as Tai Chi, pickleball, golf, or bocce ball are all recreational activities that train the body and mind to move in various presentations of balance while in motion.  Additionally, these sporty, recreational activities have a low risk of injury or tripping.

An exercise that assists the ability to maintain equilibrium and train the body to manage bouts of dizziness is to get a few reps in every day of training the eyes while the head rotates.  Presentations of imbalances occur when the head moves, and the eyes can’t catch up with the momentum of the direction the head is turning.  This disrupts the fluid in our cochlear membrane and causes the eyes to enter a momentary state of disturbance, causing a loss of balance.  When this loss of balance occurs, the body can move side to side, front to back, or wobble around in a circle leading to potential risks of tripping or falling.  To help train the eyes and neck to recover from these potential risk factors, focus your eyes on a single point of the wall and perform cervical rotation, or turning the head left to right.  Focus on one point on in front of you.  A magnet on the refrigerator will work.  Ensure to have a spotting device next to that you can put your hand on to regain balance if needed when performing this exercise.  While focusing that one point, lock your view on that point and turn your head to left to right until that point is just about to leave your peripheral vision.  Repeat for 5-10 repetitions each direction.  Perform this exercise every day or every other day.

In addition to sufficient function of the inner ear, let’s not forget about the muscles of the lower extremities, hips, and trunk that assist in holding us upright and correcting a random occurrence of imbalance.  The ligaments, tendon, and muscles of the ankle, knee, hips, and spine are vital to enduring a random moment of imbalance.  Additionally, if there was a presentation of losing balance that lead to a trip and fall, sufficient strength and coordination of a trained body can recover faster after an accident.  Therefore, don’t forget to strengthen the ankles, train in change of direction exercises, and overall hip and core strength.  Exercises that we always implement for our personal training clients are squats, planks, and step up exercises.

Loss of balance can occur in the oddest situations which can lead to significant injury.  The last thing we want is to have some silly injury shunt our productivity and enjoyment throughout our lives.  Exercising to lose weight, clear the mind, or increasing strength is vital to our lives.  However, let’s not forget to train our skills of having adequate balance to avoid injury and 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 30

Managing Sciatica

Physical pain throughout the body elicits a nuisance to our lives in many appearances.  A decrease in productivity can occur because we are apprehensive about how a specific physical activity will result in pain for days to weeks.  Psychological and emotional health can be affected from focusing on pain, diverting our attention from enjoying our lives.  We can even lose sleep due to the presence of pain.  In a world where managing stress is key to living a long life, the last thing we need is a loss of sleep from physical pain.

A common area of pain we see with our personal training clients in Napa is sciatica.  Symptoms of sciatica include pain originating from the middle of the buttocks.  This pain can travel down the entire back of the leg to the heel.  Sciatica can present itself as nagging pain for a short period or can increase to be an everyday debilitating chronic pain.

The pain experienced in the posterior hip and buttocks region is associated with the impingement of the sciatic nerve.  This pronounced, thick nerve is formed from the root nerves streaming form the lumbar and sacral portion of the spine.  The nerve budding out from these sites braid together to form the sciatic nerve.  The large sciatic nerve traces its way down the leg from the buttocks region to the heel of the foot.   Compression of the nerve can cause neuropathy down the entire back of the leg.  This disrupting compression can be a pinch from a disc in its origination points caused by an abnormal shift of the vertebra or a muscular strain around the spine.  However, one the most popular culprits response for this “pain in the butt” is a tight muscles pressing the nerve.  Introduce yourself to the piriformis.

This pear-shaped muscle is conveniently located precisely over the top of the sciatic nerve.  It originates on the posterior portion of the outer hip bone,.  This important muscle is responsible for internal and external rotation of the hip.  However, when the piriformis tightens and gets over stressed from overuse or gets atrophied from underuse, the muscles will press on the sciatic nerve.  The physical compression of the piriformis pressing on the sciatic nerve causes a disruption in the electrical signals the nerve normally sends from the brain the to the lower extremities.  Individuals with these symptoms experience nerve pain.  Similar to when the funny bone of the elbow gets hit and we grimace in excruciating discomfort, the compression of the sciatic nerve isn’t much different.

To prevent sciatic pain, strength and conditioning of the hip joint is critically important.  Exercises such as squats, hip abductions, and hip mobility exercises prominently seen in Yoga help to maintain the structural integrity, blood flow, and laxity to the piriformis and surrounding musculature.  Adequate strength in the muscles surrounding the piriformis even out force put on the hip joint, lessening the likelihood of the piriformis overworking.  Muscles that take on too much of a load get stressed, tighten, and possibly seize up.  Therefore, focusing on the wellbeing of muscles surrounding the hip joint will decrease the likelihood of sciatica occurring.

An exercise we prescribe personal training clients perform when sciatica is a symptom is the “prone 90.”  To perform, lay face down on a comfortable surface.  You can put a pillow under your face if needed.  As you are laying face down, bring the thigh of the leg affected by sciatica to the outside of your body.  The knee should be bent, and your thigh should be as perpendicular as possible to your hip joint.  Your knee and thigh should be as close to 90-degree bends as you can.  Once this position is achieved, relax as much as you can for 90 seconds.  Literally get your iPhone out and time yourself for 90 seconds.  The theory behind this exercise is to impose laxity on the tight piriformis muscle.  By relaxing the stressed-out muscle, there should be less tension pressing on the sciatic nerve.  Performing this exercise every night before bed can help to alleviate sciatica symptoms.

It’s important to listen to the pain signals the body gives us.  Once you get a pain signal, solve it.  After a solution has been met to reduce the pain, take preventative measure through strength and conditioning of the body to ensure the history of pain doesn’t repeat itself.  The hips are one of the most important joints in body.  Imagine living without hips.  It wouldn’t be fun.  Treat the integrity and wellbeing of your hips the same way you would treat the stability of your job.  Manage sciatica by being more in tuned with the wellbeing of your hips.

 

 

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 16

“Dad, can you play catch with me?”

It’s an immaculate Sunday morning.  The weather has been starting off in the high 50’s and fluctuating into the low 60’s as you open your eyes and arise from your slumber.  As the summer solstice of June yields the longest day of the year over the weekend, birds can be heard performing a symphony of chirps, squawks, and cackles as they bask in the glory of the refreshing morning sun.  The week has been hard worked and strenuous.   Earning a living, commuting to work, important phone calls, and making critical decisions takes a lot of gumption to complete.

As your achy feet touch the ground walking down the hallway, your beloved sofa calls your name, wooing you to meld yourself into its velvety, soft, welcoming arms.  You figure you deserve this offer proposed by the welcoming sitting relaxation device.  Besides, you busted your butt all week.  Obliging the beckoning of the sofa, you rotate 180 degrees to free fall backward.  The cushions of the couch absorb your fall like the crash pad after a pole vaulter has cleared an Olympic level high jump.  A feeling of elation falls over you.  Your joints ache but feel the much-needed relief they desire as you kick your recliner up to elevate your feet.  A remote control belonging to your neglected television is sited from your peripheral vision.  Yet another breath-taking addition to you quintessential relaxing morning unfolding in impeccable fashion.  As you reach for the remote, your mind gives a preview of sports highlights, streaming Netflix and Hulu shows, and mind-numbing sitcoms you have been longing to catch up on.  Just one more movement of your thump to power on the television will unveil total rapture.  Then a faint sound can be heard down the hallway, emanating from another room in the house.  “Dad, can you play catch with me?”

The visions of grandeur watching Sports Center has reached a screeching halt as you hear your sweet child’s voice.  As your relaxed neck muscle turn your gaze to your childing holding her softball gloves, your knee jerk response might be, “How about a little later today?”  But you just can’t bring yourself to that level.  Championships in the 10-year-old age bracket need to be won. Your daughter needs the practice to crush the poor team that will be facing her unrelenting pitching.  “Sure honey.”  As your body reverses its gears from relaxation mode, your knees ache getting off the sofa.   As you walk to the garage to acquire your baseball mitt, your feet begin to feel tender and ache.

Practice has begun.  Your daughter throws you the ball and you catch it.  No problem.  As you prepare to toss the ball back to your daughter, a sharp pain is felt in your lower back.  Like someone just threw a manhole cover at your spine like a frisbee.  Back muscles seizing, your Sunday morning catching session ended before it began.  Those days of the starting high school shortstop on the varsity team aren’t like you recalled them to be.  The simple task of throwing a ball 10 meters seems to have gotten lost in the façade as your steady job took over your time refining your athletic abilities and the health of your body when your kids need it the most.

Stories like these are commonly shared by our personal training clients in Napa who are beginning fitness programs.  Sharp pains when performing athletic activities after a few years’ hiatus from sports and recreational activities you were accustomed to do can serve as reminders to ensure you allocate attention to the wellbeing of your body.  Once we stop practicing a skill, resuming that activity is a challenge.  Ensuring to keep that tempo and rhythm is critically important for our lifetime fitness efforts.  It’s easy to get lost in the time we spend in our work lives.  Sure, we have to support ourselves and family. There’s mortgages and health insurance bills that need to be paid.  However, if we devote 50, 60, even 80 hours a week to our jobs and neglect movement of the body, getting back into recreational fitness is going to be a struggle.

Reserving time for yourself to refine the strength and performance of the body is necessary not only to be able to play catch with your kids, but also for the longevity of your life.  Regular physical activity will help us to be more productive in our workdays, have clear thoughts, and be ready to play catch at will.  We don’t want to lose our physical and athletic abilities.

Set time aside to throw the ball, catch a frisbee, or wrestle with your kids a few times a week.  Kids need organized physical activity for their development.  We need to engage in regular physical activity for our own well being as well.  Work and the stresses of life aren’t going anywhere.  Focus on your own physical well being so we can contribute to what we feel is important in our lives and keeps us an athletic, physically active, and elite performing human.

 

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 08

Knee Pain Relief

The simple tasks of traveling up and down stairs, stepping off curbs, kneeling down to get some extra gloves finally in stock on the bottom shelf at the supermarket are considered  everyday tasks.  Enjoying golf, a few games of Pickleball, or a hike in the beautiful Napa Valley shouldn’t take a second thought.  We should all be able to help our grandkids catch bugs on the ground.  Our knees contribute substantially to the production of our everyday lives.  We never know how important knees are until pain from straining, atrophy, or the effects of arthritis hinder a seemingly simple activity.

Healthy knees require a harmony of coordination, blood flow, and muscular strength from the ankle, knee, hip joints.  Underuse and inactivity are culprits contributing to nagging knee pain.  Joints that remain inactive lose blood flow, neuromuscular signaling, and the Velcro-like cellular structure of the muscle cells stiffen to become brittle.  As the knee joints become compromised from inactivity, the likelihood of injury, loss of balance, and debilitating pain increases.  Our personal training clients in Napa seek out our services for similar issues.  As a solution, we prescribe exercises to strengthen the ankle, knees, and hips.

Strong ankles distribute force efficiently when walking, shifting weight, or kneeling down.  A simple and effective ankle exercise is the ankle dorsi flexion stretch and hold technique.  To perform, place the toes of one foot staggered in front of the other against a wall.  While keeping the heel down of the foot that has toes against the wall, move the shin bone forward, as if tracing the shoelaces of your shoes, until the kneecap touches the wall.  Perform this movement for 5-10 repetitions.  This movement activates the numerous attachment points around the ankle such as the Achilles tendon and the medial and lateral ligaments at the base of the ankle.  This will not only prevent rolling of the ankle, but it will also ensure the shin bone does not over rotate past its natural range of motion or deviate medially or laterally.  Surpassing these range of motion limits could lead to sheering forces at the knee joint.

One of the best exercises my 98-year-old grandfather does for his knee health is walk up and down stairs.  Raising one foot atop a platform higher than the trailing foot and pushing with the quadriceps muscles to extend the leg at the knee contributes to knee joint health.  The quadriceps are responsible for keeping the kneecap stationary.  By ensuring the quadriceps are strong, the likelihood of sloughing of the kneecaps against the shin and thigh bone decreases.  Chondromalacia is a common knee joint issue in which the cartilage of the inner surface of the kneecap inflames, losing its cushioning and gliding function as the knee bends.   The kneecap is sheathed inside the quadriceps tendon.  Therefore, ensuring the structurally integrity of the quadriceps tendon is reinforced, mobile, and strong will decrease the likelihood of the damaging the cartilage of the knee cap. Controlled stepping up and down exercises are simple movements most people can perform at home in a  safe and controlled environment to strengthening the knee.

The inward collapsing of the knee joint is another common nuisance contributing to knee pain.  The knees are meant to move forward in a straight line of travel.  However, what happens if the hinges supporting the inner part of the knee grow weak and collapse inward?  The result is a tremendous amount of forceful stress applied to the medial and anterior cruciate ligaments.  The ligaments in the knee joint aren’t meant to support such loads.  Rather, the muscles connected to the complex network of the knee joint are meant to support the knee, so this inward pressure of the knee doesn’t occur.  An immediate solution to alleviate this type of pressure is to focus on the abduction of the hip.  Hip abduction is the action of bringing the leg away from the midline of the body.  The muscles responsible for hip abduction are the outer thigh and lateral gluteal muscles.  A “go-to” outer thigh strengthening exercise is the standing single leg hip abduction.  Simply stand next to a wall and lift the leg to the outside of the body as high as you can go with an extended knee.  Repeat this movement for 5-20 repetitions.  Developing these muscle groups will reverse the effects of an inward collapse of the knee by rotating the thigh bone outward and reestablishing congruency of the knee joint.

“We never know what we have until it’s gone.”  Unfortunately, with knee strength, this saying holds true.  Once pain and weakness of the lower body kick in from underuse, regular physical activities can be limited immediately.  Make sure to offer extra attention on the knees.  Just a few repetitions each day will support the longevity of these important joints to help us 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.

Jun 27

Identifying Weight Loss Obstacles

Restrictions placed upon us by the history-making COVID-19 crisis are gradually being relaxed.  Our down time while remaining inside might have consisted of learning a craft, working from home, or spending time with loved ones.  A popular trend deserving recognition is the popularity of exercising at home.  Improving our psychological, emotional, and physical wellbeing is one of the best things we can do in a time where civilization has been put on hold.  Home-based fitness equipment is running of stock at local stores.  Additionally, online prices for fitness equipment are increasing.  While increased cost is always a burden, the supply vs. demand indicates more people are gravitating toward home based exercise while regular gym and recreational physical activity settings are restricted.  I applaud all of the COVID-19 exercise enthusiast who did not let the fear of this pandemic hold them back from focusing on their health and fitness.

Many of our personal training clients in Napa pair our coaching services with regular attendance to a local gym.  Since closure of gyms, our personal training clients are following similar efforts by creating at home-based fitness programs.  One client in particular noticed substantial weight loss during her shelter in place experience.  Martha has adopted to a regular exercise routine for 5 months consisting of 2 days a week of resistance training, 2 days biking on her Peloton, and 2 days gardening for a few hours.  These efforts resulted a 15% weight loss.  She also experienced decreased stress, an increased awareness of what she puts into her body and shared how her mind was in a more stable place to make better decisions for her demanding job.  However, Martha noticed she couldn’t lose weight as rapidly as when she first started her exercise program.  Slightly frustrated, Martha reached out to see what else could be done to reach her goal of 20% total weight loss from her starting point.

After congratulating Martha on her monumental achievement of a 15% weight loss, I explained that her body now has more muscle.  There has been a trade off for fat in exchange for lean muscle mass.  “But what about this extra bit of fat I see at my waistline?”  Martha inquired.  “I’m working out five to six times a week.  I feel like my body should be leaner by now.”  When individuals see these plateaus, my intuition prompts me to investigate the next usual suspect, her dietary habits.

I asked Martha what she thought might be holding her back from her weight loss progression.  “Well, nothing over the top,” Martha explained, “I have a breakfast wrap at home after workouts, and I have about 3 glasses of wine at night.  What’s wrong with that?  My body should be burning that off, right?”  This caught my attention.  I explained to Martha that processed flour tortillas, breads, and pastas increase insulin and have inflammatory properties that cause the body to bloat.  As the body bloats due to the inflammatory properties in processed carbohydrates, digestion slows down and sugar floods the blood stream.  Items such as breakfast wraps should be recognized more as treats, not a mainstay in the diet.  If the body becomes dependent on these types of foods, increased levels of insulin will trigger fat storage.  Add in the alcohol, you now have a significant increase in calorie consumption from the fermented sugars in an alcoholic beverage.  The frequency of Martha’s processed carbohydrate and alcohol consumption clarified how those items offset her frequency of her regular exercise.

As Martha and I assessed her issue, I proposed a 2-to-1, or even 3-to-1, tortilla and alcohol-free day.  This meant that she would work to abstain from alcohol and processed carbohydrates for two to three days.  She would be allowed a day to partake in a frosty alcoholic beverage and a breakfast wrap, then revert back to bread and alcohol-free days for the next 2-3 days.  Over time, the body will detect the new demand imposed upon it.  Decreased amounts of starchy carbohydrates and alcohol concentration in the body will no longer be a barrier to utilizing fat as a fuel source.  As more fat is burned directly, weight will decrease.  This is a challenge for individuals who take their weight loss seriously.  However, the benefits outweigh the struggle once this tactic is regularly practiced.  Once the obstacles of processed carbohydrates and alcohol are managed, the body will look and feel better as a result.

It’s important to our lifetime fitness journey to continually evaluate what might be holding us back and expose those obstacles.  Once we establish the truth of what might be hindering our progress in weight loss, the answers become clear and a path to success can be designed.

 

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.

Jun 09

Exercise Physiology Knowledge

Understanding the unique nature behind how muscles contract to create force during muscular interaction is beneficial to the human body.  Muscle cells have two primary proteins called myosin and actin that act like Velcro, grabbing onto each other when the brain sends a message to move bones closer or further away from each other.  These Velcro-like connections are referred to as cross-bridges existing within a skeletal muscle cell.  Cross-bridges must form to create muscular contractions and produce movement throughout the limbs.  There are two primary actions involved in the shortening and lengthening of muscle cells.  Concentric muscular contraction is when the cross-bridges in the cells shorten, causing a limb to flex. The action of performing a dumbbell biceps curl bringing the forearm closer to the humerus is an example of a concentric contraction.  The lengthening of the cross bridges is called the eccentric contraction.  For example, lowering the dumbbell during a bicep curl as the arm lengthens.

Muscle cells also have an energy storage supply in which sufficient energy is needed to for endurance throughout the day.  As the energy storage within muscle cells deplete, fatigue sets in and the muscles are not as productive in their movements.

Shedding light upon a few terms of exercise physiology and refining your exercise knowledge application supports our efforts to get the most from our exercise sessions.  Overworking muscle groups can lead to injury and unmask injuries previously recovered from.  We focus on educating our personal training clients in Napa in the beginning stages of an exercise routine how to perform 3 styles of resistance training.  These terms are isotonic, isometric, and eccentric themed exercises.  Mastering these forms of exercise optimizes their program depending on soreness, if injuries are acting up, or they increasing the challenge of exercise.

Isometric muscular contractions involve the muscle tightening and staying in the “Velcro” position for a prolonged period of time.  As the muscles tighten and remain in this position, the energy system is stressed as well as the cross bridges within the muscle fibers.  As the energy system within the muscle is fatigued, the body will adapt to match that demand.  Over time, the muscle cells will be able to endure longer, and fatigue occurs later.  Isometric exercise is great for participants at the beginning stages of an exercise routine.  Isometrics are easy on the joints because there is limited mechanical stress.  The joints remain in one static position.  Only one repetition is needed in this mode of exercise which doesn’t put as much compressive force on the joints but still puts productive stress on the working muscles.  It’s one of the safest forms of exercise.  If we have clients just coming back from a surgery or significant injury, we prescribe isometric exercises.  The most common example of an isometric exercise is the straight arm or elbow plank.

Eccentric themed exercises can serve as a productive progression to improving exercise performance following a 30-day prescription of isometric exercise.  This can be best recognized as the slow lowering descent of an exercise movement.    A preferred form of eccentric exercise we like to perform with our clients is the eccentric push up.  Starting from the straight arm plank position, slowly lower your body for a count of 5 seconds until the elbow meet the ribs.  Once the elbows meet the ribs, put the knees down and perform the concentric form of the push up until the elbow are extended.  Once the elbows are extended, straighten out the knees and repeat for 5-8 repetitions.  The gradual amount of force on upper body muscles while lowering the body activate muscles at different insertion and attachment points.  Similar to isometric exercises, eccentric exercise has more time under tension and puts less stress on joints.

Isotonic exercise is the most relatable form of exercise we see people doing in the gym on exercise machines, magazine articles, or demonstration videos from local Napa fit pros we follow in social media.  Both the concentric and eccentric movements are involved.  The simple dumbbell biceps curl is an example of an isotonic exercise.  We progress our personal training clients to perform isotonic exercises once they complete 60 days of isometric and eccentric based exercise prescriptions.  Isotonic exercise requires more control and coordination because it is a more dynamic movement.  The squat, deadlift, push up, and pull up are example of isotonic exercises.  Therefore, ensuring that isometric exercise and the slow lowering motion of the eccentric movement of an exercise is mastered is a critical component before going into the more advanced exercises.

Understanding the unique styles of exercises is important because it gives you a tangible starting point when resuming or just beginning to participate in regular exercise.  Take a forecast of where you are in your fitness level.  Set your ego aside and demonstrate the mastery of isometric and eccentric techniques first and then progress to the more advance 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.

Jun 03

Understanding Exercise Progressions

Understanding the unique nature behind how muscles contract to create force during muscular interaction is beneficial to the human body.  Muscle cells have two primary proteins called myosin and actin that act like Velcro, grabbing onto each other when the brain sends a message to move bones closer or further away from each other.  These Velcro-like connections are referred to as cross-bridges existing within a skeletal muscle cell.  Cross-bridges must form to create muscular contractions and produce movement throughout the limbs.  There are two primary actions involved in the shortening and lengthening of muscle cells.  Concentric muscular contraction is when the cross-bridges in the cells shorten, causing a limb to flex. The action of performing a dumbbell biceps curl bringing the forearm closer to the humerus is an example of a concentric contraction.  The lengthening of the cross bridges is called the eccentric contraction.  For example, lowering the dumbbell during a bicep curl as the arm lengthens.

Muscle cells also have an energy storage supply in which sufficient energy is needed to for endurance throughout the day.  As the energy storage within muscle cells deplete, fatigue sets in and the muscles are not as productive in their movements.

Shedding light upon a few terms of exercise physiology and refining your exercise knowledge application supports our efforts to get the most from our exercise sessions.  Overworking muscle groups can lead to injury and unmask injuries previously recovered from.  We focus on educating our personal training clients in Napa in the beginning stages of an exercise routine how to perform 3 styles of resistance training.  These terms are isotonic, isometric, and eccentric themed exercises.  Mastering these forms of exercise optimizes their program depending on soreness, if injuries are acting up, or they increasing the challenge of exercise.

Isometric muscular contractions involve the muscle tightening and staying in the “Velcro” position for a prolonged period of time.  As the muscles tighten and remain in this position, the energy system is stressed as well as the cross bridges within the muscle fibers.  As the energy system within the muscle is fatigued, the body will adapt to match that demand.  Over time, the muscle cells will be able to endure longer, and fatigue occurs later.  Isometric exercise is great for participants at the beginning stages of an exercise routine.  Isometrics are easy on the joints because there is limited mechanical stress.  The joints remain in one static position.  Only one repetition is needed in this mode of exercise which doesn’t put as much compressive force on the joints but still puts productive stress on the working muscles.  It’s one of the safest forms of exercise.  If we have clients just coming back from a surgery or significant injury, we prescribe isometric exercises.  The most common example of an isometric exercise is the straight arm or elbow plank.

Eccentric themed exercises can serve as a productive progression to improving exercise performance following a 30-day prescription of isometric exercise.  This can be best recognized as the slow lowering descent of an exercise movement.    A preferred form of eccentric exercise we like to perform with our clients is the eccentric push up.  Starting from the straight arm plank position, slowly lower your body for a count of 5 seconds until the elbow meet the ribs.  Once the elbows meet the ribs, put the knees down and perform the concentric form of the push up until the elbow are extended.  Once the elbows are extended, straighten out the knees and repeat for 5-8 repetitions.  The gradual amount of force on upper body muscles while lowering the body activate muscles at different insertion and attachment points.  Similar to isometric exercises, eccentric exercise has more time under tension and puts less stress on joints.

Isotonic exercise is the most relatable form of exercise we see people doing in the gym on exercise machines, magazine articles, or demonstration videos from local Napa fit pros we follow in social media.  Both the concentric and eccentric movements are involved.  The simple dumbbell biceps curl is an example of an isotonic exercise.  We progress our personal training clients to perform isotonic exercises once they complete 60 days of isometric and eccentric based exercise prescriptions.  Isotonic exercise requires more control and coordination because it is a more dynamic movement.  The squat, deadlift, push up, and pull up are example of isotonic exercises.  Therefore, ensuring that isometric exercise and the slow lowering motion of the eccentric movement of an exercise is mastered is a critical component before going into the more advanced exercises.

Understanding the unique styles of exercises is important because it gives you a tangible starting point when resuming or just beginning to participate in regular exercise.  Take a forecast of where you are in your fitness level.  Set your ego aside and demonstrate the mastery of isometric and eccentric techniques first and then progress to the more advance 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.

May 28

Strong and Healthy Shoulders

The general populations everyday functional activities involve multiple movements that the upper body is responsible for.  Opening doors, reaching overhead, writing, and postural support are just a few actions involved in the usage of the upper extremities.  Inadequate shoulder strength or previous injuries to the should joint can limit movement significantly.  Imagine a world in which we couldn’t open a jar of peanut butter, raise a glass of wine, get a book off the top shelf, close the shower curtain, or reach back for your seat belt.   These everyday activities can be slowed down due to lack of exercise and neglect to shoulder health.  Shoulder injuries can randomly affect our lives, such as accidents, and previous sport or work injuries.  Adhering to an upper body strengthening routine and injury prevention tactics can ensure your shoulders can endure the demands of a normal days work for the rest of your life.

Some of the simplest tactics to improve shoulder health include focusing on the anatomical planes of motions in which the arm moves.  The musculature of the shoulder joint has a network of attachment points between the shoulder blade, arm, ribs, upper neck, and spine.  These unique attachment points allow the arms to move side-to-side, up-and-down, and to reach in front and behind the body.  A simple way to ensure these movements remain strong is to stimulate these movement for repetitions in an exercise session.  We teach our personal training clients in Napa to perform 10 repetitions of these movements before every training session to keep the should area activated, coordinated, and allow sufficient blood flow to the intricately placed muscles of the shoulder joint.  Examples of shoulder strengthening techniques in which only gravity and your own body are necessary to perform include shoulder protraction and retraction, supination and pronation of the forearms, and internal and external rotation of the shoulder.

Scapular protraction and retraction:  This is a fancy word for moving the shoulder blades forward and backward along the ribcage.  To perform, raise your elbows to where they are just below your armpits and elevated from the side of your body.  Bend your elbow at a 90-degree angle with your fingertips projecting forward.  Glide the shoulder blades backward, as if feeling the shoulder blades get closer to the spine and the muscles surrounding the shoulder blade contract.  Reverse the motion, moving your arms forward and feeling the shoulder blades separate as your pectoral muscles are engaged.

Supination and pronation of the upper arm:  With your arms by your side, rotate your arms to where the thumb side of your palm is exposed.  Your elbow pit and palm should be facing forward.  Rotate the arm enough to where a brief stretching sensation is felt in the upper chest and armpit region.  The area between the should arm pit and chest should start to feel opened up.  Kind of like how a rooster walks around the coop to show his machismo.  After the stretch is achieved, reverse the motion, and rotate the palms and elbow the opposite direction. Your knuckles and tips of the elbows should now be exposed.  This will narrow the space between the shoulder joint and chest while opening up the shoulder blade region.

Shoulder internal and external rotation:  With your arms bent at 90-degree angles and elbows tucked in by your side, point your fingertips forward.  While maintaining this 90-degree bend in your elbows, rotate the arm inward, giving yourself an ergonomically sound hug.  After you feel a brief muscular sensation in your pectorals and shoulder joint, reverse the motion until a stretching sensation is felt in the deep internal attachment points of the rotator cuff.  It is imperative that the elbows are pinned to the side during this movement.  Many exercise participants “flare” their elbows away from the sides.  The tendency to let the elbows move away from the side during the external rotation of this movement indicates that the lateral attachment points connecting the outer arm to the shoulder blades are not being properly activated.   To get the most of this technique, go by the “less is more” principle.  Fasten the elbows to your sides and stretch as much as possible rotating the arm outward.

These exercises will make your shoulders feel limber, alive, and strong.  However, they are useless if performed on a random occurrence.  To get the most out of these simple and effective exercises, it’s critically important to perform them on average twice per week.  All you need to do is 10 repetitions of each movement.  Just like learning how to crochet, play Yahtzee, or master the art of cutting an onion, the body will master these movements with adherence to consistent practice refining these techniques.

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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