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.

Apr 24

The Functional Strength of a Working Person

The local Napa gym attendees enjoy various times of for a workout. At 6 AM, dedicated fitness advocates can be seen migrating through the sliding glass doors of local gyms. Mid-morning Yoga classes are a popular event for people who might have days of throughout the week or work from home.  Small group fitness classes are offered at lunch times where the 8 to 5 workers can get a quick workout.  After 5 PM, rush hour at the gym includes swimmers, basketball players, and a rush of participants on the cardiovascular machines.  However, what happens when a chain of unfortunate events occur that deter a gym visit? Kids are at home sick from school.  Work goes to late.  Perhaps the toilet gets clogged and needs immediate attention just as you’re walking out the door.  Certain things are out of our control.  However, by focusing on specific tasks we do around our house, maybe we can derive some ideas to remain strong and refine our fitness when our normal fitness routines are halted.

If we look at the bodies of carpenters, gardeners, and vineyard workers, we can see their bodies are strong and able to endure quite a bit.  Shaking a carpenter’s hand, you can tell that their strong fingers and solid palms of their hands has bent some rebar in their day.  A master gardener or landscaper moves with good posture, able to bend down on one knee or squat down to pick potted plants and bags of soil from the ground.  Vineyard workers tend to our beautiful vineyards laced through the valley under the hot sun.  After their shift, you’ll find them on the soccer field for an hour or two scoring goals.  The strength of a carpenter.  The flexibility and resiliency o f a gardener.   The endurance of a vineyard worker.  There is something be said about the mental fortitude and physical abilities of workers from these trades.

Without mentioning the gym or strength training exercises, we can put together that moving heavy objects, bending, and turning while performing calculated tasks, and endurance while doing methodical tasks will administer fitness results a gym isn’t necessary for.

A carpenter needs to hold a 2×4 against another object and swing a hammer to drive a nail into the board.  The resistance of an 8-foot-long 10 lbs. 2×4 requires strength from the upper arms, shoulder blades, and core to stabilize this object for a prolonged period of time.  Swinging a hammer to put multiple boards together all day requires dexterity, control, and concentration.  The muscles involved in a gardener’s everyday tactics must be pliable and able to endure the continual demands of their work while their body is changing its shape from standing, to crouching down, and kneeling.  A day’s work of gardening includes bending at the knees, squatting down, and rotating at the core.   Therefore, a gardener’s body can build up strong and flexible joints through years of performing their everyday tasks.  The vineyard worker possesses a substantial amount of endurance to stand all day in hot climates as they complete their labor under as the sun’s UV rays radiate upon them.  The ability to travel an entire vineyard block numerous times throughout the day in heated conditions indicates a body that has an efficient cardiovascular and thermodynamic system.

If the local gym or workout classes are challenging to attend, look into projects and crafts that need attention around home.  Draw a connection between the muscles of the body and energy systems necessary to complete tasks.  After a full day of working on craft that requires focus from the body and mind, you’ll find that you can create a strong and active body without leaving the house.

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.

Apr 20

Napa COVID-19: Curing the Sitting Disease!

Restriction put into place by the COVID-19 pandemic shunts physical activities we didn’t know how normal and important they were until they were taken from us.  Running errands and visiting the store isn’t as prevalent.  Getting a bite to eat or coffee with friends is prohibited.  Recreational team sports such as tennis, bocce ball, and pickleball have had their courts chained off to adhere to shelter in place procedures.  As we abide by the rules of social distancing, we may have adapted into a new habit.  The habit of sitting.

As we wake up and work from home, we go to the kitchen, sit down and eat breakfast.  This seems perfectly normal.  As breakfast concludes, we endure a treacherous and taxing commute a grueling 10 meters over to our laptops.   We might sit down, check emails, conduct project throughout the internet that has given society the ability to work from home.  90 minutes pass by, it might be time for a break.  Sure, a walk over to the coffee shop would be nice.  Hold up, we can’t do that.  So why not bypass that thought for a coffee break?  Why not check ESPN.com, peruse the endless stream of social media, or check out the COVID-19 updates on CNN?  Seems relaxing enough.  Getting yourself away from the tactics of your job might be a good way to break up the work-from-home grind.  However, you’re still sitting.  That coffee shop visit left a gap of much needed physical activity that proved to be a good filler for our body and minds.

Prolonged sitting issues are at an all time high with the social shift of shelter in place.  As we remain indoors, we don’t move as much. Aside from getting up to get a snack and restroom breaks when working from home, activity levels are dramatically declining.  This inactivity introduces a gamut of issues negatively affecting our bodies and minds.  Not only will decreased physical demand affect the number of calories utilized, but significant parts of the body responsible for the structure stability for adequate movement are hindered.  The neck, spine, and hips take an immediate hit.  When sitting takes over the majority of the day, postural muscles of the back are not required as much as when we stand.  Shoulder blades muscles and along with muscles surrounding the thoracic and cervical spine aren’t required to be as active when seated.  As bouts of sitting progress, the shape of the lower body forces the muscles of the lower abdomen and hip flexors to shorten.  Blood flow throughout muscles won’t coarse as efficiently to inactive muscles, causing muscles to atrophy and weaken, increasing risks of injury.

We recommend to our personal training clients in Napa to take ensure they perform a critically important tactic before encouraging core specific exercises.  This is the encouragement to simply stand up and move.  Working from home, looking down at our phones interacting with social media, and advertisements for the next best miniseries on Netflix or Hulu hypnotizes us to sit down and stay married to our electronics.

Do you have some dishes to do?  Perhaps some weeds in the back yard are calling out your name on these 70-degree days in our forecasts.  I’m sure some youngsters around the house chomping at the bit to throw a frisbee or refine their baseball skills.  The prescription to cure to the sitting disease is literally and figuratively right in front of us.  It doesn’t require squats, pushups, or jumping jacks.  To cure the sitting disease, get up and enjoy Spring with some much-needed opportunities for movement within our home setting.

 

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.

Apr 10

Staying Mobile during “Shelter in Place”

During holidays, we sit down with our families for a full day to catch up on a years’ worth of each other’s lives.  4-day weekends including holidays like Thanksgiving influence our culture to sit down, relax, and sleep in more than a usual day.  As shelter in place restrictions influence society to stay indoors to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, a correlation can be seen between the activity levels of our holiday habits and our current daily activity as we stay inside distancing ourselves from society.  However, as physical activity decreases and the location of our bodies acclimate to being closer to the kitchen, we enter a scenario of a prolonged Thanksgiving simulation.  We know tryptophan in turkey can influence a brief relaxing coma of lethargy upon us after a Thanksgiving feast.  With a warm house, a few pounds of food in our bellies, and some eggnog, you can expect to mold into the couch following this hedonistic tradition.

Imagine if Thanksgiving lasted 8 weeks.  We would wake up every day with the desire to consume comfort food with our family, sit on the couch, watch 3 football games, and meander around our homes at the speed of a sloth in Costa Rica climbing a palm tree.  It’s important to think about what would happen to our bodies if we had 8 straight weeks of Thanksgiving.  Not only would the lack of physical activity paired with an overabundance of delectable foods lead to pre-diabetic conditions and influence cholesterol molecules in our bloodstream to swell to the size of mini marshmallows, but our joint and muscles would become rickety, stiff, and painful.  An 8-week Thanksgiving is dangerously similar to the lack of movement threatened by our current culture’s activity levels.  This can lead to debilitating factors.  If we don’t move, we get stiff.  If we get stiff, we don’t want to move as much because it’s painful to move.  If this is abused too long, we might not want to get back up to our normal physical activities when society reverts to normal.

 

Common areas of joint stiffness from decreased human movement are the lower back and hips.  Nagging lower back and hip pain decrease people’s desire to move.  We can focus on alleviating these tight hot spots of the body by practicing stretching techniques a few times throughout the week.  These are two examples of some mobility exercises we instruct our personal training clients in the Napa Valley to do:

  1. Standing Bent Knee External Hip Rotations: While standing, lift one leg up to where the knee is about the height of your hip.  If you need to use an object to stabilize yourself, you can stand next to a wall for balance.  After you have achieved your knee to be the height of your hip, rotate your knee away from your body to until you feel a brief stretching sensation in your hip joint.  You should feel the muscle of the inner thigh, top of the thigh, and deep inner glutes being stretched.  Once you feel the stretch, lower your foot to the group and repeat this movement for 5 to 10 repetitions.  Ensure to keep the crests of your hips square in front of you and your core muscle slightly engage.
  2. Supine Knee Tilts: While lying flat on your back, bend both knees at a 45-degree angle toward your body. Keeping your knees together and feet flat on the ground.  Slowly tilt both legs over to one side of the body, ensuring to keep your feet stacked on top of one another and keeping your shoulder blades flat on the ground.  You should feel a brief stretching sensation in the lower back and outer portion of the upper thigh.  Once you have achieved a stretch, gradually repeat the same movement tilting your knees to the other side.  Alternate tilting the knees to each side for 5 to 10 repetitions.

By focusing on simple and effective movements that take very little time, we can decrease the likelihood of our bodies developing debilitating joint stiffness.  Remember, performing simple mobility exercises just 2 to 3 times per week can make a significant impact.  If you would like to further explore increasing the mobility of your joints, online Yoga classes are being offered by local Napa fitness professionals via Zoom video classes.

Shelter in place doesn’t mean its holiday season.  Don’t let the lack of cars on the road fool you.   Even though we aren’t venturing outdoors as much, it’s important to keep our bodies mobile 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.

Apr 04

A Day in the Life of Shelter in Place in Napa

Enter the next chapter of social distancing, shelter in place, and for some us, unusual work-from-home hours.  Some of us are fortunate to continue normal work without the restrictions of.  Others are not so lucky.  For the population who are not used to being at home, we co-exist with other family members and housemates in the same boat.  It can be an unusual experience to see the inside of house more.  For parents, interacting with kids to ensure they are getting their schoolwork done and entertaining them is a new set of tactics we may not be quite used to.  Getting out of bed and commuting 20 meters to your couch to get straight to “work” can feel foreign as well.  These new actions that we perform while we isolate ourselves from the outside environment can keep us stuck in a little fishbowl and slow our normal lives down.

Before shelter in place restrictions, separating home from our normal work labor seemed natural.  Now, life has become unnatural.   Traditions of being off of work combined with “work from home” daily habits can enter a detrimental crossover into becoming sedentary.  Along with the society’s collective effort to stay indoors to support the master plan of decreasing the curve of Coronavirus cases, our motivation to be creative, remain physically active, and eat for improved health becomes significantly threatened.  If we sit down and watch too many streaming episodes on Netflix, we can expect to visit the doctor sooner than we are thinking after shelter in places restrictions are lifted.  We threaten increased blood pressure, introduce the likelihood of prediabetic conditions, and can become unnaturally overweight if we allow decreased physical activity to get out of hand

Fortunately, if we identify such issues before they become a problem, we can usually find a solution by preparing.  Shedding light upon how important it is to plan your day before it begins offers our mind and soul stimulation to think about what can be done tomorrow.  Additionally, if we have a written-out plan, perhaps we can have something to look forward to so that we don’t enter in the same groundhog day of working from home and looking at the inside of our house for hours.  Here’s a brief example of how planning out health improving tactics set our days up for success:

6:00 AM:  Wake up, drink a full glass of water, make some breakfast

6:30 AM:  Take a shower, brush your teeth, style your hair like you’re getting ready for an important job interview.

7:00 AM:  Take a 10-minute walk around the neighborhood.  Wave to a few people and smile.

9:15 AM:  Get a quick bodyweight exercise session in.  Perhaps schedule a virtual personal training session with one of Napa’s local fitness professionals.

2:15 PM:  Focus on an outdoor activity.  Maybe some garden boxes need to be built, the front porch can use some TLC, or a new piece of furniture needs to be refinished.

3:30 PM:  Take another walk.  Wave and smile at more people.

5:00 PM:  Start prepping dinner.  With only take out options available and virtually not restaurants open, you have the perfect opportunity to put on your Iron Chef thinking hat and start making some healthy meals.

7:00 PM:  TV free family night and another 5 minutes dedicated toward tomorrows list.

A written-out list only takes a few minutes to compile   It doesn’t need to myopically focused and meticulously designed.  However, by keying in on a few key things that we used to do during our pre-COVID-19 workdays, we can get back in touch with reality.  Getting up and washing your face.  Waving at people.  Smiling.  These are all things that are slowly deteriorating as we are stuck inside interacting with social media and streaming devices.  We already have to stay in against our will.  Society doesn’t need to add to the damage of a culture with decreased physical activity by contributing to habits that add more sedentary time to our required shelter in place.  So, plan and aim to accomplish 80% of that plan.  Remember, having something to do, something to love, and something to look forward to willing keep that motor running past this obstacle and many more after we conquer this one.

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.

Mar 26

Eating Healthy for Lower Physical Activity Days (COVID-19)

The saga of staying in doors and practicing social distancing as the COVID-19 progresses.  The majority of society has seen a decrease in normal, everyday physical activity.  While we are recommended to take brief walks while distancing ourselves from others while Shelter is in Place in effect, fear of rainy weather and disease transmission is a powerful deterrent to venturing outdoors.  As we camp out in the comfort of our homes, we have become closer to our kitchens, fridges, and pantries.  Easy to acquire granola bars, cereals, and packaged snacks aren’t as far away as usual when we were at our offices or worksites.  Cold and dreary weather offers the desire to acquire “comfort food.”  Starchy, salty, and creamy foods.  These items are meant to alleviate our stress during trying times.  Similar to having a cold beer or a glass of wine after an intense day at work.  However, the last thing we need right now is to have the tense environment in our community steer toward eating copious amounts of processed, high fat, insulin spiking food.  Fortunately, by adjusting our decision-making ability toward food, we can protect our bodies against diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and becoming overweight while decreased physical activity is imposed upon us.

Traveling through the grocery store the other day, I observed that the bread shelves were completely desolate.  Dust from flour packages were the lone remnants on the shelves that used to have home for cake, all purpose, and bread flours.  There wasn’t a package of pastas, rice, and noodles anywhere to be seen.  This was a routine grocery store trip for me to acquire under 10 items.  However, even if I wanted to make comfort food, I don’t think I could with the current inventory available.  This experience of seeing so many processed carbohydrates gathered up indicated to me that more people were loading up on comfort foods.  This indicated to me of the likelihood of people staying at home and consuming these high glycemic, carbohydrate heavy foods at a time of low physical activity could spell disaster for our communities likelihood of gaining weight and introducing pre-diabetic conditions as we are forced to stay inside and move less.

The apocalypse hasn’t knocked on our door quite yet.  It’s important to prepare for events that prevent us from going out by supplying our homes with adequate emergency resources.  However, it’s more important to understand that depending on breads, flours, and processed granola bar snack will set us further behind than where we were before the Shelter in Place order began.

As I strolled past the barren wasteland the panic shopper swarm left behind on the bread and flour shelves, I came to the produce section.  I felt like Little Foot in the Land Before Time after he ventured through the dessert and arrived at the land where everything was green, water was flowing, and there was fresh air.    There was an abundance of fresh vegetables available.  Carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, bell pepper, asparagus, and wide array of root veggies were strewn before my eyes.  As the PTSD subsided after seeing the bread and flour swarmed over like locusts, I noticed that these veggies proved to be perfect ingredients for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  In fact, the lack of processed foods, bread, and noodles offered a blessing to me as I was forced to gather the neglected fresh veggies.  Vegetables offer critically important nutrients that we need during this high stress period.  The water content, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients available in fresh vegetables are productive toward decreasing the likelihood of cancer and boosting the immune system so we can fend off disease.  This is literally and figuratively “just what the doctor ordered” as we have a real fight on hands against the Corona Virus.

As the fire hose powered water stream of news bombards our eyes and ears of how COVID-19 is affecting our lives, our bodies don’t need the extra stress elicited by poor food choices.   Decreased physical activity and the introduction of comfort foods in our homes equate to a plethora of metabolic disease. The last thing we need is a decreased immune system as a result of suboptimal dietary decisions.  At a time where the weather is cold and wet along with the threat of COVID-19 knocking at our doors, veering away from processed foods and favoring fruits and vegetables is productive plan to counteract the likelihood of becoming unhealthy in a time where health is priority.  We need to survive this struggle against COVID-19 and come out victorious.  It’s good to have a back up supply, but don’t forget about your present state of health.  Let’s make a collective effort to focus on our well-being at the present state of “right now.”  By practicing mindful dietary habits as we reside indoors with the Shelter in Place order, we are going to thrive after we bested COVID-19.

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.

Mar 22

Shelter in Place Napa: Staying Fit While Staying In

Napa is experiencing one of history’s most trying times with the introduction of a new virus that I’m sure readers are all too familiar with.  This new development has urged government and health officials to keep citizens inside their home, only being allowed to travel outside for “essential” obligations.  Until we arrive to the other side of this historic calamity, we are limited in our resources to maintain a healthy state of moving our bodies.  The media informs us that we are performing a disservice to our efforts to decreasing the spread of COVIC-19 if we go outside to often in the presences of others.  Working from home limits us from going to our jobs where we perform physical interactions.  Inability to interact with the world we are accustomed to doesn’t mean we should forget about the integrity of our body’s health and fitness levels.  With a few simple themes to focus on while we are tucked away from the outside world, we can maintain our well being and endure this storm to where we can come out healthy and strong when restrictions are lifted so we can resume our everyday activities..

How can we continue to move when our gyms, fitness classes, and boot camps are momentarily shut down?  Some of most simple exercises that target large groups of muscle activation are right in front of us.  We are actually standing of equipment, the ground.  The simple squat exercise can be performed at any time virtually anywhere in the dwelling you are residing.  To perform, simply point your feet forward and act as if you are “spreading the ground apart.”  Imagine that you are making a crack in the ground. Create torque on the ground by turning the right foot clockwise and the left foot counterclockwise.  You only need to apply about 10% exertion to this portion of the exercise to ensure your glutes and lateral portion of the thigh muscles are sufficiently activated.  This will cause the knees to drive out slightly.  After this is achieved, sit your hips down and back ensuring that your entire foot remains on the ground.  We don’t need anyone falling backwards.  After you feel a brief stretch in your hips and thighs, imagine pushing your heels through the ground and bring your hips back under your torso to stand up right.  Performing the simple squat exercise using your bodyweight alone works a large surface area of muscles that can benefit the body to have increased strength, decrease the likelihood of injury in the hips and knees, and help defend against lower back injuries, such as sciatica.

Another important theme that is right in front of us and ever present in our homes is hydration.  We all have water.  So, we need to drink it.  One of the easiest things we can do to supercharge our health while being on restriction from the outside world is to get proper hydration.  Euhydration assists in ensuring blood flows efficiently through the body, enabling nutrients and substates to be delivered to our cells.  Adequate hydration also helps with lubricating our joints, which is a key contributor to reducing joint pain.  With all the time we have inside, we can at least make sure to drink enough water.  A helpful queue that we give to our personal training clients in Napa is to drink a tall glass of water first thing in the morning directly after waking.  Additionally, another helpful queue is to drink a full glass of water after each meal.  We want to aim for at least 3 liters of water every day.  If we can easily track a component of staying healthy during the “shelter in place” saga. Staying hydrated is an easily attainable component that can significantly reinforce our bodies.

Last but not least, don’t be afraid to go out in your back yard and “smell the flowers.”  Sunshine, fresh air, and colors are what are going to get us through this.  If you’re inside all day, crack the blinds so some sunshine can come in.  The stimulus of the sun and a little fresh air are the things that are going to keep us looking forward to the other side of this hill.  If we don’t have something to look forward too, we won’t get excited.  Make sure to safely check out the outside world every now and again to keep your mind and spirit stimulated.

The human race has endured hardships similar to the Corona Virus before.  Natural disasters, war, and uprising in political beliefs have yielded similar results that urge us to seek safety.  We rode through those undertows and came out the other side.  We will ride through this as well to embrace the beauty of life as well.  We may not be able to control what makes a virus occur.  However, we can make decisions to keep our bodies and minds happy, healthy and strong by remembering to exercise, stay hydrated, and look the trees we are so blessed to have.

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.

Mar 12

Easier to Stay in Shape than to Get Into Shape

The start of 2020 marked a great experience.  I took a trip to Hawaii for the first time in my life.  As I flew into the Honolulu airport in awe of the sapphire blue water, diamond dusted beaches, and amazing jungle foliage, I knew I was in for a monumental trip.  The first few days were filled with beach hopping.  I was able to play Pickleball with the locals and jumped in and out of the water right next to the courts in between games to cool off.  I had the chance to experience Hanauma Bay and snorkel alongside all of the marine life.  I’ve never experienced such warm, clear water.  Being a native of Northern California, our waters are darker and colder.  Overall, this was an unforgettable, breathtaking experience.  That is, until the ear infection of the century unleashed a pincer attack of pain, loss of hearing, and an altered equilibrium on both my ears the last day of my epic vacation.  I had the privilege of flying back home with a dual internal ear infection that would affect me for the next 4 weeks.

As I landed back in the mainland, I knew I was going to be sidelined from my normal activities for a few days.  My job a fitness professional and my normal exercise routine needed to cease so I can recover.  This meant no lifting weights, home exercise, or Pickleball.  I couldn’t even coach my personal training clients in Napa and demonstrate exercises because my hearing was so off that it sounded like a person directly in front of me was 20 meters away.  I needed to lay low in my bed at home to fully recover.

As weeks passed, my health began to improve.  My hearing was starting to return, and my head didn’t feel like I got a left hook from Mike Tyson.  I could gradually start to get back into my normal fitness routine and recreational physical activities.  Fortunately, my physical performance wasn’t hindered as much as I initially perceived.  Maybe I performed a few less repetitions and lifted less weight than normal at the gym.  Perhaps I played only 1 game of Pickleball the returning week.  However, even after 4 weeks of doing very little, my fitness levels were still there.  I contributed this accelerated recovery to my previous disciplined adherence to ensure I was exercising and participating in recreational physical activity 3 to 4 times per week regularly throughout my life.

Exercise adherence is the key to longevity.  Performing resistance training at one of the Napa Valley’s local gyms, regular recreational physical activity, or going to a Yoga class 3 to 4 times per week is critical to keeping the cells in our body functioning correctly.  Even if a person is sidelined due to illness, injury or some other unfortunate turn of events in their life, the body knows it will return to the physical activities it has been conditioned for.  If we pave this groundwork of exercising regularly, we can stay on the path of staying in shape if we have to take weeks, or even months off of our regular physical activities.

“It’s a lot easier to stay in shape, then get back into shape.” This is a quote Mark Wahlberg uses when describing his regimented exercise program.  We don’t’ expect everyone to wake up at 2 AM in the morning and exercise 5 times per week like Wahlberg.  However, we can at least relate to his mantra of staying in shape.  If we keep the mind set of staying in shape, we can protect against unexpected occurrence that take away our normal exercise time and we need to rest or remain inactive for a period of recovery.  We never know when the rug will be snapped out from underneath us.   But when that happens, we still have the foundation of fitness if we continue to practice regular exercise 3 to 4 times per week to “stay in shape.”

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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