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.

May 20

Summer Time Veggie Healthy Cooking!

Welcome to May in Napa, California.  Other than a few showers at the conclusion of April, the hot and sunny days are just around the corner.  Expect to enjoy your breakfast in the warm mornings as the sun peaks its head around the horizon.  During sunset, dinners are waiting to be enjoyed in the heat of the night stimulates our palate for something grilled with a crispy, fresh salad as its companion.  We get to look forward to seasonal veggies that are hemorrhaging throughout local farmers crops, waiting to be acquired by us so we can create a dish to suffice our refined foodie palates.

The near-perfect Napa climate opens up opportunities to fire up the grill outside.  Perhaps this experience is enjoyed with a glass of wine by a poolside.  BBQ weather entices the welcoming back of burgers, grilled chicken, and marinated tri-tip.  While this food is tantalizingly enticing, there are a few components that can disrupt our ability to optimally regulate our health if we indulge too much.

A scrumptious burger is traditionally transported to our taste buds by way of a white flour bun as its vehicle.  The denatured and chemically enhanced bun has insulin spiking properties triggering the hormone insulin to take in more sugar to cells from the blood stream.  If this sugar is not effectively used as a fuel source, it will be stored as fat.  Pair that with a healthy meat-forward tri tip dinner, fiber in meals can become dwarfed by the mass quantities of an abundance of meat.  Lack of fiber means slower digestion, causing food to stay in the digestive tract for a prolonged period.  As food remains in the digestive tract for too long, it can be stored as fat and slow down the proper absorption of vital nutrients from other foods.  If we add a few glasses of wine to these meals, you have enough alcohol fueled calories that can equate to an excess of a full days energy expenditure, offsetting the ability to utilize fat as a fuel source and promoting undesirable fat storage.

Of course, BBQ burgers and tri tip aren’t the root of all things evil in this world.  The use of delicious summertime food encourages people to gather and use food at a catalyst to share stories, see people they haven’t seen for a while, and meet new people.  When delicious BBQ food is enjoyed in a controlled manner, red meat can be a beneficial food source.  So, how can we get the most out of this summer experience?  Visit the Napa Farmers Market and take in the view of the parking lot full of local farming vendors eager to share their life’s work in the form of fresh veggies that have been freshly plucked from the ground.

As you peruse through the farmers market, dig deep in your culinary archives to reference what veggies might pair with the protein you will be enjoying on these blissful summer evenings.  Sweet potatoes, bell pepper, zucchini, and carrots are go-to veggies that can put on the grill to enjoy.  Cabbage, broccoli, carrots, and radishes can be chopped up in their raw state to be assembled in a slaw to accompany a sandwich.  A crisp, cool, and fresh slaw will not only offer a crunchy textural contrast, but also squeeze in another vegetable to the inventory of your meal.

As we are blessed with the ethereal Mediterranean environment of Napa, we are also fortunate enough to have a climate that provides farmers the ability to pursue to their life’s passion to grow world class vegetables.  Raw and cooked veggies have cancer fighting nutrients, high water content, adequate fiber, and joint anti-inflammatory properties that supercharge our lifetime fitness capabilities.  More importantly, learning how to incorporate these veggies to be a delicious part of our meals will promote our bodies to stay happy, healthy, and strong.

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 09

Napa Valley Hiking for Fitness

The Napa Valley is graced with stunning hills and hiking trails begging to be ventured.  Outskirts of the city and trails strewn about a 25-mile radius of Napa possess overlooks of the city lights and velvet laced vineyards along the landscapes.  Pair that with the pastel gradient of blue, grey, and orange hues from a warm summer nights sunset, you have the perfect ingredients for an unforgettably breath-taking experience.  Not only will the Napa Valley landscape offer a world class display of natural beauty atop one of its hill, but hiking helps the mind shift to a sense of tranquility while taking on the picturesque display.  To compliment some much needed psychological and emotional therapy, hiking is proven to be a useful form of lower body strengthening, cardiovascular conditioning, and joint reinforcement.

Inclined walking has a similar cardiovascular response to jogging and running.  They both cause our hearts to beat faster and we breathe heavier.  The difference is that inclined walking such as trekking up a hill on hike is easier on the ankle, knee, and hip joints.  As a person hikes up a hill, there are less percussive forces on joints when compared to the vibratory response from each foot strike while jogging.  Slower speed and decreased technical decision making while walking along uncertain surface decreases risks of tripping or falling injuries.

The demand of the lower extremity muscles asks the heart to deliver more oxygenated blood to the working muscles as legs lift our bodies up a hill during hikes.  As the heart beats faster, the lungs require more air to be inhaled, causing us to take more breaths throughout a hike.

As the body requires more oxygen, blood vessels in the muscles sense this demand and become slightly stressed along with the muscular sensation of exerting muscles.  Feelings of soreness and slight fatigue might follow the next day.  Soreness in the muscles is a good thing.  We want the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves to feel a little sore.  However, we don’t want the ankle joints, knees, hips, and lower part of the spine to feel sore.  Joints shouldn’t ache as much as muscles.  If our muscles are sore, this indicate that our body is starting to adapt and heal to the work that has been imposed.  The body’s purpose is to match that work by repairing muscle and improving the architecture of the cardiovascular system laced throughout the body.  As muscles get sore, muscle fibers regrow to become bigger and stronger.   Muscular endurance will increase as an adaptation.  Capillaries will become denser within blood vessels so more oxygen can be transferred to working muscles.   The greater the ability to deliver oxygen to working muscles, the more energy will be produced to propel the human body longer distances up hills.  This is an aerobic adaptation we can get from uphill walking and hiking activities.

We can’t expect to gather significant adaptations from one hike alone.  The body can’t adapt unless there is a continually imposed demand for a prolonged period of time.  For instance, ensuring to walk uphill or hike twice a week for 20 to 30 minutes is a simple and effective dose to apply to an individual of the general population.  If we repeat this inclined walking protocol for 3 months, the body will detect that human controlling it desires to be conditioned enough to hike for this period of time.  This means that the adaptations will allow the body to condition its cardiovascular system and have strong enough muscles to hike 40 to 60 minutes per week efficiently without getting overly huffed or injured.  Imagine the changes that can occur from such an adaptation.  Decreased arthritic joint pain, improved balance, and decreased risk of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.  To cap it all off, you’ll see that you can lose a few pounds for the long run as well.

Hiking is beneficial for psychological and physical health.  We live in a beautiful area desired to be visited by people from all over the world. Take advantage of this blessing and use it to improve your health by getting out and hiking twice per week.

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 04

Don’t Forget Where you Left off Before COVID-19

We are all aware by now that the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced people to move around less.   Weekend beach or camping trips that were normally enjoyed have been discouraged.  Youngsters can’t go to the park or enjoy their team sports to relieve their infinite lasting energy.  Due to shelter in place restrictions, grocery store visits have been significantly cut.  Frequenting a favorite restaurant or coffee shops is out of the question due to their temporary shutdowns.  These can be depressing facts.  However, some light needs to be shed of the important movements our bodies produce that are linked with these activities.  Our bodies can remain mobile, healthy, and strong despite momentary restriction of some resources we depend on.

When beach trips and small “staycations” for a night or two are removed, our options to recreate away from the hustle and bustle of life. We are prohibited to get the extra 12-24 hours away from stress of jobs, family, and our own busy minds.  The packing and unpacking of our kid’s equipment, walking across the sideline, traveling to and from the parking lot to watch our kids ball games are momentarily non-existent.  The lack of lunch breaks or walking to the coffee shop down the street negate a few thousand steps per day.  Decreased store visits negates the normal physical activity of using your upper body to unload groceries and travel around the aisle of stores.  Put all of these issues together and notice how much physical activity is being done per week.  You’ll probably see that the amount of movement done per week has significantly decreased as we are stuck inside our homes and restricted from our previous physical activity as the pandemic restrictions continue.

Looking back before shelter in place took over, I moved my body a lot more.  Mainly due to my profession of being a personal trainer and gym owner in Napa.  I trained clients regularly in a 1000 square foot fitness studio.  As I retrieved equipment around the gym for our clients, I’d walk around the perimeter of the room.  I guided our clients throughout their exercise prescriptions and demonstrated how to exercise efficiently and effectively.  After training four or five clients, I walked about twenty times around the room and demonstrated movements like squats, pushups, and planks for a full shift.  Looking back, I repeated this type of shift four to five times per week.  I didn’t know how much physical activity was conducted throughout my day until it was revoked.  I also discovered new painful twinges in my neck, shoulder, and lower back along with my decreased time I spent working at the studio.  I attributed these pains to decreased movement that caused my joints and muscles to get stiff and painful.

I’ve observed my friends, family, and peers to have similar conditions.  Their normal activity has been reduced, causing under usage of muscles and joints that were used to more movement before the pandemic.  To resolute this, we can be mindful of what our activities were pre- shelter in place.  It might be useful to ask yourself, “what did my normal activities consist of 6 weeks ago?”  Making efforts to track what you did and comparing your current activity will expose truth to whether your activity has decreased.   Having this relationship with the truth of what was different six weeks ago can answer questions on why pain may occur, psychological states are being hindered, or if a few pounds have been gained.

Society wants things to “go back to normal.”  I do to.  However, history has played its role and affected our lives.  We can’t just wait for the past to reinvent itself and expect everything to return to normal.  You’ll be waiting a long time if that’s the case.  Instead look where we were before this mess.  Find out how we can match and even supersede our previous physical activities.  Pandemic or not, a body in motion will stay in motion as long as we ensure to keep it that way through future obstacles

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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