Dec 24

Muscle Soreness is a Good Thing

There’s no better feeling than finishing an exercise session that challenges your patience and will.  Exercise routines such as resistance training, Pilates, or Yoga put demands your body that take true perseverance to complete.  The sweat, increased body temperature, and heavy breathing feel good after devoting an hour of valuable time to improve our lifetime fitness.  As we get home after a bout of exercise, our mind might be a clearer.  Our thoughts can decompress.  Most of the time we sleep better.  However, the next day we might feel the body moving a little slow.  Muscles experience slight soreness, joints are stiff, and our feet could be a little tender as we take the first steps out of bed.  This feeling following an effective exercise routine is called delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

Sore muscles are caused by minor pain signals from nerve cells surrounding the connective tissue around muscles that were stressed from exercise.  For example, when we train our personal training clients in Napa to perform 3 sets of 10 weighted squats, they often experience soreness in their glutes, quads, and hamstrings.  The muscles that were stressed from an organized exercise routine have had their cellular structure slightly disrupted.  This leads to microscopic tears in muscle cells and a brief inflammatory period.  This can cause slight discomfort.  More so, joints can feel the effects of soreness from workouts because of stress on the ligaments and tendons.  Muscle to bone attachments are held together by tendons while bone to bone attachments are held together by ligaments.

Living with pain is suboptimal.  However, it’s important to understand that the pain caused by DOMS is an important tool to reinforcing the architecture of the cells within lean muscle mass, tendons, and ligaments.  There is a difference between searing, shooting pain and DOMS.  For instance, if there was a random battery powered toy on the ground from the remnants of our child’s playroom that struck your shin, the shin would swell up, bruise, and hurt.  This is would be the effect of bruised bone that would take a week or so to heal.  In contrast, say you take a Yoga class from one of Napa’s elite Yoga instructors.  This workout could lead to muscle soreness in the chest, shoulder, core, and glutes.  However, this soreness would only last for a day or two.  This shorter span of soreness is caused by smaller tears in the connective tissue that heal faster due to controlled exercise.  The result of the connective tissue recovering following such a workout is stronger muscles, increased durability to the tendons and ligaments, and less pain the next day.  Additionally, now that the muscle has been reinforced following sufficient healing, soreness won’t be as pronounced following the next Yoga class.  This decrease in DOMS indicates that muscles are not as affected by physical stress due to increased repair stimuli and density in lean muscle mass.

It’s important to understand that the body needs to get sore to improve.  However, it’s also worth it to discern between the difference of being hurt and being sore.  Use exercise as a tool to continue to feel sore for the result of becoming stronger and increasing productivity.  To succeed, your intuition is a powerful tool to decide what exercise movements are best for you and your lifetime fitness journey.

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.

Dec 19

Winter’s Here: Train to Avoid Slipping and Falling

As the winter solstice nears, the days grow darker.  Along with these dimly lit times, the weather cools down and brings rain. Fog shows it’s face and lack of sunlight to leaves dampness on the ground from the previous night’s precipitation.  With lack of light in the evenings, we humans don’t have the nighttime vision of nocturnal animals like mice or owls.  This introduces a climate of low visibility and a terrain with a slippery surface.  For bipedal organisms walking on two feet, like the general population around Napa, we now have a perfect recipe for a risk of slipping, tripping, or worst off, falling. We can relate this type of slick, dimly lit environment to ice skating in the dark.

Remaining indoors to avoid the cold weather and stay dry is an effective way to avoid illness.  However, decreased physical activity can negatively impact our bodies.  It would benefit our bodies optimally by continuing to brave this cold, bleak time of year.  One of the best ways to fend off the threat of slipping and falling in terrain-altering conditions is to train the body to perform in slippery, dark environments.  Similar to how a snow athlete would train to perform in cold and snowy conditions, the general population should utilize strength and balance training to perform optimally during this wet time of year.  Here are some examples of a few techniques to decrease the likelihood of injuries from falling, tripping, or a losing balance:

  1. Perform static balance exercises: This is an effective technique to help people maintain balance.  Balance is critical for techniques requiring us to stabilize our limbs while dynamically stepping or walking.  Such as stepping off curbs or skillfully stepping over puddles.  A simple and effective static balance exercise is to stand on one foot while the other is elevated in the air for 15 to 30 seconds.  We recommend to our personal training clients in the Napa Valley to start off safely by standing next to an object to put their hand on, such as a wall.  To make this exercise more challenging, take your hand off of the wall and stand on one leg unassisted.  The next step would be to stand on one leg with your eyes closed.
  2. Increase your foot stride length and height: The winter weather introduces puddles and dark environments.  This decreases visibility which could lead to the need to step over puddles.  What if you accidentally clip an uneven part of the ground or there is some debris on the ground that can’t be seen? Walking mechanics with effective foot height and stride length decrease the likelihood of such obstacles effecting our ability to move in dark and wet environments.  To build stride mechanics, try marching in place.  Focus on maintaining an upright torso and alternate knees in a marching fashion.  Ensure that knees raise at least to hip height each march. Perform about 20 repetitions each leg.
  3. Improve Posture and Strength: Having strong and inline posture helps the torso to stay up right.  Most importantly, optimal posture allows the head to be upright.  As the neck is upright, we have better frontal vision which helps us predict hazards that impede our forward movement.  Poor, droopy posture in when the head is tilted down limits our ability to see what’s happening in front of us.  This introduces the threat of missing what is occurring in front of us and avoiding a possible fall threat.  The simple plank movement is one of the most effective exercises to improve postural strength.  To perform, lay face down on the floor.  Extend your arms and legs to where you are “planked out” on the ground and hold for 15 to 30 seconds.  Ensure not to allow the hips to sag and avoid any technique flaws that cause lower back pain.  This exercise safely and effectively targets the neck, shoulder, core, lower back, hip, ankles and knee joints.  If you’re not sure how to improve your posture and where to start, the plank exercise is one of the best places to start.

The cold, gloomy winter weather can introduce threats of falling.  However, to be productive in our everyday lives, we can’t let a little darkness and water slow us down.  There are plenty of gifts to be acquired to give to our loved ones as we do our holiday shopping.  Lots of hot chocolate and cookies need to be consumed on the Santa Wine Train with our kids.  Don’t forget all the beautiful lights that we only get to walk around and see this unique time of year.  Take advantage of this breath-taking time of year and exercise to prevent the threat of falling so we can enjoy the traditional holiday outdoor activities.

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.

Nov 26

Regular Exercise Helps Us Avoid Surgery

Car accidents, unexpected injuries, and overuse injuries can lead to corrective surgeries to remedy painful conditions limiting production.  Corrective procedures via surgery are important to fixing physical ailments that affect our lives.  Doctors and surgeons promote orthopedic corrections to repair bones, joints, and muscles when connective tissues are damaged.  We also put our bodies in the surgeon’s hands.  Corrective surgery could elicit a great outcome.  However, Surgery can also result in the feeling of having a new limb on the body.  While surgery is meant to put our bodies in a more optimal state, we roll the dice if we will feel better than before when a significant procedure is performed on the body.  Bones, tendons, muscles, and ligaments that we have lived with our entire life are severed, shifted and put in different areas.  Scar tissue will develop as a biproduct of surgery in areas we aren’t familiar with.  Screws, rods, and cadaver connective tissue are used to repair the body.  These surgical procedures can yield some fantastic results, offering optimal recovery, more productive days, and decreased pain throughout our lives.  However, we are never the same after the body is manipulated and put back together.  Imagine waking up with a completely different, hand, shoulder, hip or knee.  If any of you have had surgery, you can probably relate.  We live all our lives with the same joints.  We know how they work.  Imagine how long it will take us to acclimate to a new limb or joint.

In some circumstances, regular exercise focusing on conditioning and injury prevention to significant joints can delay and even fend off corrective surgeries overall.  Examples might include classic cases of arthritis causing pain to a significant joint.  Such as dull, achy, annoying pain in the shoulders, back, hips or knees.  A visit to the doctor might point you in the direction of getting rotator cuff surgery, a hip replacement, or a knee replacement.  This usually entails a bout of physical therapy prescribed by the doctor before making this decision to see if physical therapy can fend off the need for surgery.  However, even after physical therapy has been completed to degenerative joint conditions, the option to go under the knife is still present if pain and suboptimal living conditions persist.  A new joint, no bone-on-bone contact, and decreased pain sounds appealing to the person considering surgery.  However, after surgery people must deal with strict recovery protocols and limitations as the joint recovers 3 to 6 months after the surgery.  More importantly, if the treated area is not recovered correctly with professional physical therapy and monitoring, the joint may not function optimally or might be worse off then before surgery.  Surgery is an effective option and has its benefits.  However, we can also exercise to avoid the need to have surgery is an option as well.  Instead of deciding to go under the knife, perhaps we can consider utilizing exercise as a preventative measure to support our joints and increase oxygenated blood flow to help recover tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bones of arthritic joints.  Developing lean muscle cushions and reinforces joints.  If we must choose surgery, maintaining regular physical activity before surgery is going to make that road to recovery post-surgery that much easier.

We should treat exercise as the first line of defense.  Unfortunately, that is commonly overlooked because the quick fix solutions of having a magically re-installed tendon or joint seems more appealing when someone else is doing the work.  The human body can’t be fixed by taking it in to the auto-mechanic to change the spark plugs.  We’re more complex than that.  Researching safe and effective exercises will enlighten us how to decrease joint pain and avoid injury.  Exercising joints are surrounded by large muscles groups reinforces joints and decreases impact.  Hip and knee replacements can be avoided by strengthening larger muscles surrounding the joint including the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps.  These larger muscles act like shock absorbers.  When they are exercised, oxygenated blood flow is delivered to the connective tissue increasing bone mineral density and decreasing the breakdown of cartilage and bone.  Shoulder surgery can be avoided by strengthening muscles attaching to the shoulder blade, pectorals, and triceps.  The spine can be reinforced by focusing on core strengthening movements such as planks.  This helps decrease the likelihood of bulging disks and neurological damage to the spine.

Simply performing 1-2 days per week of 20-30 minutes of strengthening exercises  to the shoulder, core, and lower extremities can significantly help us avoid the need for immediate corrective surgery.  Undergoing a significant surgery to repair a troubled area of the body can be helpful.  However, exercise helps us to reserve the body we have been born with.  Treat exercise as the first line of defense before undergoing surgery.

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.

Nov 17

Stay away from the pharmacy line: EXERCISE IS MEDICINE!

It isn’t a surprise that regular exercise benefits our society.  Multiple studies support evidence that at least 150 hours of exercise per week fends off significant illness such as cancer, diabetes, psychological and emotional disorders leading to depression, and an assortment of cardiovascular diseases.  When we go to the doctor with symptoms from a threatening illness, usually a prescription is administered to treat the symptoms.  When dealing with chronic symptoms, prolonged adherence to taking daily prescriptions can last 3 months to a year to treat certain illnesses.  How could we decrease the need to visit the doctor these diseases?  The answer is to administer your own medicine through exercise.

Scientific research has correlated poor eating habits and detrimental lifestyle decisions with the increase in metabolic diseases and cancer.  Sub optimal dietary and lifestyle decisions are commonly linked to decreased levels of physical activity.  When fatty, bready, sugary foods are consumed, people get bloated, lazy, and have gastrointestinal distress.  Smoking and indulging in copious amounts of alcoholic beverages into the wee hours of night stress the body, inducing poor sleep habits and increased stress the next day.  Sure, it’s fun to go out and have a few beers with the guys and watch the 49er’s game.  Or perhaps the ladies want to go out and share a bottle of Napa’s finest wines over a cheese plate.  However, if we stay too late and consuming much rich food and alcohol the body will hit a point of stress it cannot handle and start to deteriorate.  Feelings of lethargy, headaches, and stomach aches usually follow.  We can enter a vicious downward spiral from the biproducts of these decisions making physical activity painful and wilting motivation.  When the motivation to stop moving sinks, stress and sickness surface.

We see similar issues with our personal training participants in the Napa Valley.  As we consult with our clients, a popular goal is to refine lifestyle habits that support sufficient physical activity.  If we can reinforce the habits and decision-making ability of our culture to support physical activity, we will see a decrease in life threatening diseases.  Additionally, the dependency and need to visit the doctor’s office will significantly decrease.

A challenging habit to adhere to is prioritizing 2-3 days of physical activity throughout the week.  How are we supposed to prioritize that?  We can make a weekly schedule where specific days are exclusively dedicated to some form of physical activity.  When choosing physical activities, look at exercises you enjoy doing such as gardening, playing pickleball, hiking, swimming, or taking long walks in the sunset with your loved ones.  Don’t just get a year long membership to the gym because everyone else is doing it.  Avoid the exercise sessions and physical activities that feel like a chore.  The most important factor to getting involved in more physical activity is to find the activities that are gift to us.  If we identify that activities and movements we hold dear, we might think twice about going out until 1 AM to be in an environment consisting of suboptimal food, smoke, and booze.  Why would you want to feel like a train wreck when you have obligations to the physical activities you truly enjoy?

The proof is in the pudding when figuring out methods to decrease the development of cancer, depression, and cardiovascular disease.  One of the first lines of defense against such conditions is physical activity.  If we prioritize physical activity and exercise, there won’t be as many visits to the doctor or the excruciatingly boring line at the pharmacy.  By putting exercise first, we can live healthier disease-free lives yet still be able to have a few nights to splurge.  Utilize exercise not only as a multi-vitamin to fend off disease, but also as a tool to keep us in line to enjoy our lives to the fullest.

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.

Nov 14

Plans to Keep Moving when Sick and Hurt

Unexpected injuries and unwelcomed illnesses hold us back.  Heart conditions, the appearance of cancer, as well as upper and lower extremity injuries hinder people’s lives and their ability to perform normal physical activities.  These cases are emotionally scarring because physically active recreational sporting activities and extracurricular social experiences become limited.    Not to mention that recovering from an injury, progressing through chemotherapy treatment, or dealing with the stress of the uncertainty of the recovery is unnerving.  Even though unfortunately health issues hold us back, there are still opportunities to support the return to activity while on the mend.

When there are upper or lower extremity issues affecting movement limiting recreational physical activities, there is always another part of the body that can be refined.  A motivating story involves one of my Pickleball mates.  Jordan had an upper extremity injury that put him on the sideline for about 2 months.  This person is an active Pickleball player who I enjoy playing with 4 times per week.  Unfortunately, he has been sidelined due to this unfortunate injury.  However, he showed up the morning after his surgery and observed the various Pickleball athletes playing every morning.  Additionally, he would arrive with ankle weights strapped around the tops of his shoes to strengthen his lower body while his arm was immobilized in a brace.  He would also act like a ball machine for other players sitting out in games to work on their strokes by pitching balls to refine their technique.  Some valuable lessons to take away from Jordan’s story is his continued motivation to refine his physical activity craft, and awareness to strengthen other areas of the body while his upper body is out of commission.   The take home message from Jordan’s journey to recovery is there is always a road to recovery following significant injuries.  Sure, we will have to sit out for a little bit.  However, this doesn’t mean that we still can’t prepare and stay involved in the activities we enjoy for the day we return during recovery.

Another motivating experience involves a fellow Pickleballer who had to go through a few rounds of chemotherapy to treat a form of cancer.  Fabio was diagnosed with a form of cancer.  He knew that chemo was apparent.  To prepare for this, he kept playing Pickleball for 2-3 hours, 4 times a week before his series of chemo treatments initiated.   Fabio knew that the effects of this treatment would significantly debilitate the physical functions of his body.  But he didn’t let that slow him down.  He had a mentality that he was already returning after recovering from this harsh treatment before it started.  As the chemo treatments pursued, Fabio’s ability to play Pickleball faltered and his attendance lowered to twice a week. Then once a week.  Eventually, we only saw Fabio once every other week. Finally, Fabio had to sit out for 2 straight months. We didn’t his face for about 2 months until his return from a fully successful cancer treatment.  Fabio showed up to our weekend Pickleball at Las Flores, around 30 lbs. less than his normal body weight, frail, without a voice and a glaze in his eyes.  He picked up his paddle and started to do some light hitting.  After about a half hour, Fabio played 2 straight games.  We need to give credit to society’s advancement in medicine and treatment for cancer for Fabio’s recovery.  However, we can’t discount Fabio’s plan to stay in the activity he enjoyed.  Fabio planned for a treatment to go underway by staying active in his recreational physical activity before, during, and after a critically significant treatment.

If we catastrophize about the effects of an injury or serious illness, it will slow us down.  However, just like the injury prevention exercises we do with our personal training clients in Napa, it’s important for us to have a proactive mindset when we get dealt an unfortunate hand relating to a debilitating condition putting us out for a few months.  If we can set our feet after an unfortunate event, plan a return, and work to carry out that plan, we can continue to keep moving forward just like my dear friends Jordan and Fabio.

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.

Oct 26

Success Story: 4 years= Pull Ups!

A success story occurred recently for one our Napa personal training clients.  After many trials and hard work, this exercise participant was able to perform one complete pull up.  Let’s call this exercise participant who works out at our fitness facility Arnold for confidentiality purposes.  While making our way through a weekly training session, Arnold was given the task to perform band assisted pull ups, a form of the pull up exercise that we instruct our clients utilizing the assistance of a strong rubber band wrapped around the top of the pull up bar which is then looped under the participants foot.  This technique offers assistance to the participant to pull their body weight while performing the pull up movement.  We decided to try a set of pull ups with out the assistance of the band.  To Arnold’s surprise, he was able to perform 3 full pull ups unassisted.

Arnold was elated because this was a tremendous victory for him.  He had never performed a pull up in his life.  As an adult, this was a monumental moment for him and me.  He comically exclaimed at the conclusion of his pull ups, “After 4 years of training at Napa Tenacious Fitness, even you can do a pull up!”  However, even after his comical reference for a sales pitch to promote his success, he reflected more seriously upon his experience.  This statement was also a realistic statement of the truth.  Having never been able to perform a full pull up in his life, there was no question that the 4 years of adherence to a training regimen of consistently performing a professionally designed resistance training program was necessary to be able to achieve this elite level of human performance.  To master the pull up, a tremendous amount of practice, dedication, and time need to be put into a training program. More than half of the population in our society cannot perform pull ups.  The performance of a pull takes a tremendous amount of strength, courage and coordination.  While there are people who can perform pull ups, I have seen less than 10% of the adult population able to competently perform one.

Arnold’s journey to achieving this goal is similar to that of an apprentice sushi chef or a culinary student entering their stage.  Staging is an unpaid internship test when a cook or chef works for free to gain a position in another chef’s kitchen to learn and be exposed to new techniques and cuisines.  Historically, traditional sushi chefs in training have been known to cook and roll rice for months to years before actually picking up a knife and cutting sushi.  As culinary students enter their stage to learn about the infrastructure of restaurants, their tasks may be to peel shrimp, scrub bones with a toothbrush, or clean dishes before getting firsthand experience on how to properly cut an onion.  It might take another few months to a year to learn how to make a sauce.  We can see a comparison to the years of development of the muscles and coordination that are involved in harmoniously interacting when performing a pull up and the years of busy work for culinary students as they put in their time for a promotion in the ranks.  Arnold’s journey of mastering the pull up is an example of refining a lifelong craft to improve the strength of his body.  Whether it be peeling shrimp, cooking rice, or performing band assisted pull ups for years, mastering your craft in the arena of your choosing takes time, dedication, and passion.

Arnold had a similar experience to culinary apprentices.  He showed up on time for personal training appointments in Napa 3 times per week and put effort into every exercise.  The training sessions focused on a full body approach to strengthen his legs, upper body, and core.  Over this time, Arnold received adaptation in strength in his grip, forearms, and shoulder blades muscles.  Additionally, Arnold had to overcome his fear of heights and the rare possibility of slipping off the bar and falling.  As the story goes, after 4 years of showing up and facing these challenges, Arnold performed a pull up.  He can now do 7 in a row unassisted.

Arnold peeled the perfect shrimp in the back of the kitchen.  He cooked flawless rice for the veteran sushi chefs.  He put in the time to face his fears and work because he loves his craft of refining his body.  Sushi apprentices and culinary students cook food for people to express the love they exude toward their craft of preparing delicious meals.  Arnold’s commitment toward the time he puts into mastering the health and wellbeing of his body allows him to be a strong, healthy, and fit for the people he loves. If you show up to master the craft you love, you will improve.

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.

Oct 16

Taking Walks in the Fall

Another warm and beautiful Northern California Summer is coming to an end in Napa.  Grapes have been harvested to make some of the world’s finest wines.  New restaurants and tasting bars have been opened in downtown Napa to showcase how our amazing wines pair with world renowned cuisine.  The breath-taking summer climate in the Napa Valley promotes physical activity among its inhabitants.  Plenty of pickleball, golf, and bocce ball has been played in the one of a kind Mediterranean environment.  My Pickleball comrades and I enjoy the foggy, overcast mornings as we smash a ball back and forth as the vineyards glow gloriously in our peripheral visions.  It doesn’t get much better than summer in Napa.  However, just like many great things in life, all good things must come to an end.  The Fall season is upon us.  It’s time to bundle up, fend off the cold weather, and stay dry.  The sun rises later in the morning and sets earlier in the evening.  This offers the opportunity for plenty of sleep to fend of illness and recharge our bodies for the next season’s summer.

Along with the cold, damp, and dreary weather fall brings, so does the desire to stay indoors.  Our natural inhibition to remain inside keeps us warm, dry, and around light sources.  This helps us remain healthy, allowing us to perform our essential duties for work and daily living.  However, remaining indoors introduces the tendency to reduce physical activity.  Who wants to venture out to get wet, cold, and trip over something because it’s ominously dark like the setting of Friday the 13th?

There are deterrents to venturing outside during the fall and winter months.  However, this doesn’t mean that all physical activity needs to cease.  It’s vital for our previously active Summer bodies to stay moving so that we can maintain our fitness levels and healthy parameters of our body.  Cessation of physical activity from being formerly active can lead to threats of a sedentary lifestyle.  These detrimental effects include increased bodyweight, decreased immune system, and developing arthritic symptoms in joints.

Instead of letting the cold fend you off from venturing outside, welcome it.  A variety of outdoor beauty awaits us as the seasons change in Napa.  The leaves transform into yellow, orange, and amber hues like the historic paint strokes of Van Gogh and Caravaggio.  Fog rolls over the hills of valley that we reside in.  The fall sunsets melting against the greyish-blue clouds the cold Winter months bring are like no other time of year.  These moments are impossible to view if we remain indoors and hide from a little bit of winter weather.

One of the best times to venture outside is after dinner.  Once we get home from a long day of work, school, or yardwork and sit at the table to partake in some much-needed nutrition, the body needs a chance to digest.  If we simply sit down after a large meal, the food that we just took in will sit in our bellies.  However, by taking a small jaunt around the neighborhood, circulating blood will continue to deliver oxygenated blood flow throughout the body and the stomach.  This will give the stomach and gastrointestinal tract some energy to move along food and absorb nutrients as the food we consumed is passed through our bodies.  Not only is this important for immediate digestion following a meal at the end of the day but taking an evening walk is a calming conclusion to the day.  A post-dinner evening walk can symbolize an end point to the day.  This gives our minds and bodies to truly relax and get ready for a good night’s sleep.  Plus, we get to enjoy the picturesque beauty fall brings.  We can’t see that if we stay inside hiding from a drop of a few degrees and some water on the ground.  We don’t live in the mid-west where blizzards ravage the cities.

Summer will come again in another 6 months or so.  The physical activities and hobbies that we enjoyed during those months will return.  We need to be ready for those opportunities for movement next season.  Let’s keep the momentum and continue to move during this unique change of season before day light savings time hits.  Enjoy what fall has to bring and take some walks after dinner.

 

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.

Oct 02

Injury Intervention: Research, Professional Help, and Movement

Just like getting a flat tire while driving down the highway, injuries can happen when you least expect them.  Unexpected injuries hurt, decrease our strength, and serve as a inconvenient distraction in our everyday activities.  Being sidelined due to injury is discouraging as well.  Injuries can occur anywhere from poor posture while sitting, unexpected accidents or falls, and overuse from recreational activities.  Sometimes we’ll hear people say, “I’m hurt.  This is just the way it is and I have to live with it.”  This explanation is congruent with throwing your hands up in the air when you can’t solve a frustrating problem and just walking away.  If there’s anything that ruffles my feathers is the phrase, “You just have to live with it.”     If you just bought a brand-new Ferrari and got a flat tire on I-5 in the middle of Taft County, would you just throw your hands up in the air and walk away?  That $200K investment would sit on the side of the dusty road.  The car would hang out with the cows and tumbleweed.  Seems like a waste of time and money to me.  If we just “live with pain” and say, “that’s just how it is,” we might as well collect dust next to that Ferrari on I-5 with the flat tire.  Why let that Ferrari go to waste?  Why let your body go to waste because of the distraction of pain from an injury?  Fortunately, the human body can be fixed.  Just like a Ferrari with a flat tire stranded on I-5 next to Button Willow, CA.  The key is patience, trust and will power.

If we get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and we don’t know how to replace it with a spare, the first resource available is to dig the car manual out of the glove compartment and read up on how to replace the tire.  Perhaps a quick web search via Google or a YouTube instructional video could offer pointers on how to accomplish such a task.  This example is similar to one of the first steps to intervening an injury from getting worse or keeping us limited in our physical activities for too long.  When we’re hurt, we have a plethora of research around us.  Have a case of golfer’s elbow?  Research it.  Look up the source of the injury, how it was caused, what you could do to alleviate the symptoms.  While the internet doesn’t have all the answers, we can at least learn more about our specific ailments limiting our physical activity.  Conducting research is a productive first step in discovering what tactics to prioritize to put us on a road to recovery.

A more direct solution to getting the tire fixed in our Ferrari stranded on I-5 while the cows gawk at us, would be to call a tow truck or specialist, like AAA.  If we can’t find the solution through a car manual or an internet search, perhaps we should consult with a pro.  As an exercise physiologist and lifelong gym rat, I struggle with mechanical repairs.  Therefore, with an activity that would take me 2 hours to figure out, the AAA representative can switch out tires in about 5 minutes.  I’d much rather utilize his skills as resource than going into a cave of frustration.  Just like a AAA representative could switch out a tire in record time, a physical therapist can narrow down the source of injury and design a rehab routine faster than us.  Physical therapists specialize in identifying injuries and understanding what exacerbates injuries and how to expedite healing.  So, if your hurt, seek out a specialist.  A brief phone call to an injury rehab specialist is far superior to “just living with it.”

More importantly, the most useful intervention to an injury is to keep moving.  Injuries can debilitate, slow down, and ultimately emotionally depress us.  Humans are blessed with the ability to move forward.  If the upper body is hurt, walk, hike, and perform resistance training on the lower extremities.  If a part of the lower body is injured, do some pushups and planks.  By keeping the body moving while another area is temporarily in the repair shop, the mind will still progress.  By maintaining a form of physical activity during an injury, we can provide a happy, healthy, and strong environment not only for our friends and family, but most importantly ourselves.

We can’t let injuries put us on the sideline and just leave them untreated.  Just like the $200K Ferrari parked on I-5 with a flat tire, we’ll just sit around and collect dust if we don’t keep moving forward to fix the injury.  Intervene and positively influence the recovery from injuries by continuing to research, seek out professional guidance, and continue to move.

 

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.

Sep 23

Just like turning over crops, rotate your exercises

Growing up a gym rat and studying to be an exercise physiologist, I would never consider myself a farmer.  However, I do see similarities between the two.  Driving down to Monterey recently, I noticed the abundance of artichoke orchards scattered along the side of the freeway.  To my surprise, there would be random plots of land perfectly tilled and managed with nothing but dirt.  I thought to myself, “Why wouldn’t there be any artichokes planted in this perfect piece of land.”  After a quick Google search, I learned that crop rotations are a technique used to help soil maintain and regenerate the nutrients each season.  Little did I know, artichoke farmers perform this tactic purposely throughout seasons to ensure their world-famous artichokes grow strong and beautiful.

This is like how the human body reacts to exercise and physical activity.  If the body lacks “seasons” in exercise and physical activity, the possibility to grow and adapt diminishes.  Like a plot of land that hasn’t been turned over.  Performing the same exercise routine repetitively for weeks, months, or even years can lead to staleness in the effort put into workouts and decreased motivation.  Performing the same exercise routine can also lead to a decreased amount of stress put on the muscles because the body gets used to that stress, limiting the adaptive properties muscles and bones use to regrow following a challenging workout.  Additionally, performing repetitive physical activity increases likelihood of overuse injuries on significant joints such as the shoulders, back, knees or ankles.  Similar to how the soil can get overused, our bodies can get overused from too much of the same activity.

When the body doesn’t have a sensitivity induced upon it with a variety of exercise, its ability to adapt decreases.  Repeating the same movements we are accustomed to, we don’t introduce a chance to challenge muscle and bone cells to grow.  Additionally, when the body settles into a state of comfort in an exercise routine that has been repeated for months or even years, the energy spent during comfortable exercises won’t be efficient enough to burn as much fat as with newer, more challenging exercise routines.  When artichokes have an absence of nutrients in the soil, they will produce puny artichoke buds.  Similarly, if the human body has an absence of various exercises, the muscles won’t grow, bones won’t be as strong, and fat underneath the skin won’t metabolize as well.

An example of performing too much of the same exercises could be performing Zumba 3 or more times per week.  Granted, Zumba is an enthralling and fun form of physical activity.  But performing the same routine 3 times a week or more throughout a few years can add up to overuse injuries on significant joints like the knees or ankles.  Other popular modes of exercise include group aerobics or CrossFit classes.  Granted, these are effective and productive forms of physical activity that help society become healthy and fit.  However, performing the same modes of exercise repetitively can introduce factors leading to injury.  Too much jumping, change of direction, or lateral movement can add up over time. My personal experience of playing recreation softball about 4 times a week over the years added up.  I noticed that my shoulder experienced pain like never before due to pitching 7 innings, 4 times a week.  Dabbling with too much of a good thing introduces a threat of staleness in the body, where connective tissue may stop adapting and slightly deteriorate.  These factors can lead to nagging aches, pains, and decreased interest to perform physical activity at all because it hurts.

A solution is to take a page out of the artichoke farmer’s book.   Leave and come back.  The concept of having seasons is an effective practice to stop what you’re doing, and then pick up on a new activity.  We turn over our personal training clients exercise prescriptions every 4 weeks.  Certain exercises are removed, some are kept, and there are new additions.  This gives muscle groups prone to injury a chance to regenerate and opens an opportunity to exercise specific muscles that may have not been focused on previously.  Just like the plots of land lying dormant for a season, the dirt has a chance to regrow nutrients and healthy bacteria to supercharge the world-famous artichokes.  If we treat out bodies the similarly and take a few seasons off specific activities, or slightly reduce the frequency in which we are performing the same activities we enjoy so much, we can develop a more sensitive  environment to super charge the development of our muscles and bones while increasing the amount of energy we spend to burn more fat.

It might be a good idea to take some time off the activities you like so much.  That way you’ll develop a fondness of the activity and be motivated to return better than before.  Avoid doing the same old thing.  Develop a gap in which new activities can be explored in a safe and fun environment while keeping track of how long you’re away from the activities you love so much and miss when you’re away.  Just like rotating the artichoke crops, maybe we can learn something by rotating what types of physical activities and exercises we do each season.

 

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.

Sep 03

Attention to Detail: Injury Prevention

Maintaining fun and interesting physical activities are important to our everyday life.  Failing to stay active results in deterioration of the human body as father time continues tick his clock.  Optimal doses of physical activity might include hobbies and projects around the house, recreational activities, or regular exercise.  Golf, Pickleball, Tennis, or swimming are common recreational sports embraced by the general population.  Tending to a garden, cleaning the house, and tending to everyday arts and crafts are fun activities that keep our bodies in motion.  Popular exercises at local Napa gyms such as Yoga, bar classes, or Zumba classes are always a hit.

Adherence to movement keeps us going on many levels.  The increase in heart rate response from physical activity keeps blood flowing through our veins and arteries, decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.  Participating in opportunities for movement fend off the rust that advancements in age bring to the table, decreasing the accumulation of free radicals.  Most importantly, staying active benefits our minds to be mentally fresh, able to think clearly, and serves as a form of meditation.  As an ambassador of physical activity and exercise for all of society, seeing people participate in these forms of movement warms my heart.  However, something that is commonly overlooked are injury prevention specific exercises.

There’s nothing worse that hurting oneself from a silly accident that will leave you sidelined from your favorite form of physical activity.  Often, we have requests from new personal training clients in Napa to create an exercise design that supports a person to move past the obstacles a previous injury has inflicted upon their everyday life activities.  Our focus is centered on regenerating the previously injured area.  However, it’s important to carry out themes of injury prevention for commonly used joints that are prone to injury.  Areas such as the neck, rotator cuff of the shoulder, lower back, hips, knees and ankles are specifically targeted to in a client’s exercise prescription to future proof a client from potential injuries in the future.

In addition to our clients concentrated 1-on-1 exercise routines, we promote a form of fitness homework that is a dedicated injury prevention day.  Are you going out to golf more than twice a week?  To decrease the likelihood of Golfer’s Elbow appearing, it would be productive to maintain your performance by spending time to focus solely on the forearm and triceps muscles to prevent severe cases of Golfer’s Elbow.  Are you actively gardening, walking your dogs, or consistently cleaning your house?  Lower back pain is a common injury that prevents people from doing these activities around the house.  To prevent the low back from deterring the activities we enjoy doing around the house, a day dedicated specifically to performing a series of plank exercises and lower back stretches will strengthen the core and lower back so common activities around the house can be performed optimally.  Playing with the grand kids on the ground?  You’ll need some healthy, pain free knees to participate for at least another 5 years before they run off to team sports.  Arthritic pain in the knees and hips are common occurrences that hold individuals back from interacting with their grandkids.  Devoting a specific day once per week to strengthen the muscles surrounding the hips and thighs as well as exercises improving on balance assist us in being able be physically active and have fun with our grandkids.

Aerobics classes at the gym, Yoga classes, bar classes, and recreational sports have their place in keeping us fit, happy, and healthy for the years to come.  So please don’t stop participating in these important activities.  However, our bodies need to hold up to these forms of exercise.  We also need to be able to remain active in our everyday lives that require our bodies to be resilient without nagging injuries holding us back.  We can take one step further into our lifetime fitness efforts and spend at least one day throughout the week focusing solely on injury prevention.  Dedicating time to areas that are commonly injured will help refine our efforts to living a strong, healthy and happy life for the years to come not only in our recreational activities, but also with the ones we enjoy spending time with the most.

 

 

 

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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