Jan 30

Giving yourself permission for sustainable exercise

The final first month of the new year is coming to an end.   New year’s resolutions are thriving in abundance with the gym goers of Napa becoming happier and fitter.  As the first month of the new year finally wraps up, there is still 11 motivating months to make our lives happier, healthier, and stronger.  This healthy motivation includes increasing energy so we can enjoy time with our family and friends.  Being more active helps alleviate stress from our work lives.  As the new year offers more complexity to our lives, we can look to exercise and opportunities for movement to help us feel better and enjoy meeting our projected milestones.

Some of the stereotypical new year techniques are to “just go run,” or “all you have to do is get a gym membership”, or “just eat healthier.”  As a scholar who has made the study of living heathier and happier my life’s work, anyone who say, “just run more”, “I’m JUST going to eat healthier” or “all you have to do is…”, quite frankly does not have a grasp of the reality of sustaining life time fitness for the longevity of their lives.

We all know that the complexities of life can interfere with our plans to establish a worth-while fitness routine.  Priorities that can spoil our fitness plans might include:  picking the kids up at soccer, work calls you in on your weekend for some overtime, or you are just flat out too tired to get any physical activity after family and work obligations hit you like a ton of bricks.  If we rush into getting on track by following in the quintessential plans of “just going to the gym”, we show up to our exercise sessions unprepared.   It goes without saying that showing a lack of planning will lead to sub-optimal execution.  Which means a treacherous workout that not many people are going to want to return to.  The “all you have to do” approach rarely works and is challenging to sustain to get the life time fitness results we are striving for.

The issue of “just living healthier” leads to a lack of getting permission from yourself and significant others to start ingraining a healthy lifestyle to your wellbeing.  If we take time to look at our schedule and obstacles in our way of exercise, we can find some openings that lead to opportunities for movement.  A critical part of finding these opportunities to take time for ourselves is communication with ourselves and significant others we share commitments with.  We need to get permission and give permission to embrace in a healthy life style before we execute our game plan.

The first person we need to get permission from is the person we stare at in the mirror every morning, ourselves.  It’s a well-known fact that adhering to a healthy lifestyle will increase our energy, decrease stress, and aid us in living a longer and happier life for the people we care about.  We need to grant ourselves permission to set time aside for ourselves away from work to get some much-needed movement in.  Work isn’t going anywhere, it will be there after a 30-minute planned exercise session.  We can communicate with our spouse or a source of trusted child care to pick the kids up from soccer.  Your spouse and kids would more than likely understand and appreciate your effort for sustainable life time fitness is critical to you being a better provider.  In fact, they might even appreciate it and be glad to accommodate.  Perhaps you can tell your friends that you are making a serious effort to improve your life by adhering to some opportunities for movement that will make you a better person.  They might even want to join you in your journey for a healthier, stronger, and happier life.   Once you have permission from yourself and others, you can take a sigh of relief and dive into this healthier life you so deeply desire that you may have stated in your new year’s resolution.

It’s easy to look at some “all you have to do” strategies to become healthier before being granted permission to do so by yourself, family and friends.  However, just like going into work unprepared and acting on the fly without telling anyone elicits a lack luster work performance. The same thing applies to an unprepared, unplanned exercise session.  Arriving to work dressed sharp, your hair looking glorious, and you have debriefed with your team and boss, you will most likely have a successful day at work.  Embracing opportunities for movements is identical.

Show up prepared and limit the obstacles to have an enjoyable and successful exercise performance.  Before “just exercising more,” acquire permissions to do so.  It will be fun, healthy and sustainable when you lay out your plans.   Pick your favorite activity to reap the benefits of your new year’s resolution statement.

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.

Jan 22

Full Body Exercise for any Fitness Level: The Plank

While having a conversation with a computer tech colleague, he inquired about what exercises would be best for him to receive benefits to his health and wellness without having to devote a lot of time to exercise.  The first thought that came to my mind was an exercise we recommend to our personal training clients in Napa who are new to exercise, the plank exercise.  When I asked my computer desk jockey friend if he knew what the plank exercise was, he replied, “The act of making one’s body look like a plank of wood.”  This is normal response from an individual foreign to regular exercise. I got a good laugh out of this response.  However, my friend’s response was an accurate.   Ensuring that the plank exercise is executed safely and effectively will reap the benefits of a full body exercise. The plank is easy to master while offering immediate improvements in fitness levels.  I asked my computer buddy, “Would you be able to devote 20 seconds of a certain exercise somewhere throughout your day to get stronger?”  My computer geek friend responded, “Sounds right down my alley.”

How can 20 seconds of exercise improve fitness levels only once a day?  And what is an exercise that makes you look like a plank of wood? As personal trainers in Napa, we teach clients in our gym two variations:  the elbow plank and the straight arm plank.  The plank is performed by laying face down on the floor, lifting the body by pushing the torso off the floor, and extending the knees to where the base of pressure is situated on the balls of the feet.  Start by holding that position for 20 seconds.  Then relax.  There are multiple variations to the plank that suffice different fitness levels.  For example, we might have clients perform planks with their knees on the ground until they are able to hold that position for 30 seconds before instructing them to bring their knees off the ground.

20 seconds of holding a plank feels like an eternity.  We have advanced exercise level clients who have a warm up routine of holding a plank for 2 minutes.  The reason the plank exercise can be help longer by someone with an advanced fitness level is like how a plank of pressure treated redwood is stronger than a plank of particle board.  The stronger and more refined that muscles are in the body, the more load the body can endure.  Just like a high quality, strong piece of wood is meant to reinforce house framing.

The plank exercise is versatile because it promotes muscular stress on multiple muscles of the body in one set.  The core musculature of the abdomen and back are engaged to ensure the spine does not sag like a bridge from an Indiana Jones movie.  The pushing muscles of the upper extremities are challenged including the triceps, pectoral, deltoids and hand muscles when ensuring the body does not plummet.  The foot muscles, quadriceps, and glutes work to ensure that the knees don’t touch the ground and the hips don’t sag.

The plank exercise is a manageable exercise for my computer nerd colleague because this exercise can be adjusted depending on where an individual is on the continuum of being a beginner or advanced exercise participant.  For example, an individual who is just starting out with the plank exercise can perform the plank by just standing in front of the wall with their body tilted at a slight angle forward and extending their arms forward to hold themselves.  After mastery and competency has been developed in this variation of planks, advancement in difficulty can be increased and the individual can perform the plank on a lower surface, such as a kitchen or bathroom counter top.  As the plank exercise performance improves, then the plank can be performed on flat ground when sufficient strength has been achieved.

A cue that we caution our regular Napa gym goers is to ensure to watch out for a few things.  When planking out, make sure to tuck the crest of the hips toward the ribs and bear down the rib cage toward the belly button.  This will flatten out the spine to ensure righty in the back and reduce the likelihood of injury.  We also recommend to slightly flex the quadriceps to protect the knee joints and limit sagging in the hips and strain in the low back.  Another helpful cue is to “screw the hands into the ground”, which activates the triceps to support the upper body and limit wrist injuries.

The plank exercise is safe, effective, and easy to learn exercise that can be applied to most individuals looking to improve their life time fitness levels.  Despite where you are in your fitness journey, 20 seconds of the simple plank exercise once a day can transform your body from a plank of balsa wood to a piece of Australian Iron wood.

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.

Jan 14

Balance in Nutrition: Foundation Before Supplements

Nutritional research reveals diets rich in plant-like foods offer a multitude of benefits to the wellbeing and longevity of the human body.  A diet with a strong concentration of fruits and vegetables helps decrease metabolic syndromes, offers cancer fighting properties and supports proper balance of vitamins and minerals in the body.  We are seeing more powdered “superfood” supplements on the market offering high amounts of probiotics, sugar balancing effects and anti-oxidants.  The gut health and disease prevention effects these superfood supplements are vastly beneficial.  However, foods that are right under our noses offer the same, if not better, outcomes if we simply eat more them.  You can find these superfoods at your local grocery store for less than a dollar a pound.  We call them fruits and vegetables.  We teach our personal training clients in Napa that these are more beneficial than superfood supplements because of they are less expensive, offer the rawest effect of nutrient density in any food, and unless an asteroid hit the earth, we will never run out of veggies.

We see superfood supplements in the form of powdered green food concentrate, probiotic powder, collagen and other protein supplements being marketed to us.  Local gyms, health practitioner offices and social media ads are sharing a new superfood product to consumers who are attracted to feeling healthier.  While superfood supplements offer optimal benefits, what happens when they aren’t consumed on the recommended bases?  How about when the purchasing source runs out of inventory?  Or, worst case scenario, the product is recalled or discontinued?

When we look at how much these new “cutting edge” health supplements benefit you, we see a recurring trend circulating in the health food supplement fad, it’s challenging to sustain to get the real benefits.  If health food supplements run out of stock on the shelf we got it from, the only people benefitting are the companies who make the product. Not our blood sugar concentration, gut health, or immune system.  If there is an endless supply of superfood supplements available to you, I encourage you to reap the benefits and take the recommended amount.  However, if this is not sustainable due to availability, finances, or some other barrier, perhaps it would be a better idea to try a more long-lasting approach.  Enter the game of eating plant-like foods.

As life time fitness coaches in Napa, we receive inquiries about health food supplements when people train at our gym.  We always recommend balance in the diet before turning to a supplement to achieve optimal health results from food.  The first plan of attack is to look at what our clients currently eat in an average day for them.  We can see if there is enough nutrient density and balance in their diet.  A great lesson to start from is to coach the regular consumption of veggies, protein and carbohydrate in each meal.  We coach that identifying aa good portion size is to use the palm of the hand as a measuring device.  This means a palm full of “fruity” or “planty” carbohydrate, such as oats, fruit, or starchy veggies.   Avoid the “bready” carbs.  A palmful of protein such as eggs, nuts, or meat.  A palmful of veggies such as salad, carrots to snack on, or creatively incorporated into your dish.  Building balanced meals throughout your day with a healthy carbohydrate, protein and veggies at each meal will ensure you receive similar benefits to what superfood supplements offer.  This way the body receives adequate protein for muscle repair, adequate carbohydrate for energy without insulin fluctuations, and enough veggies to offer probiotics, anti-inflammatories and nutrients to fend off disease.

A problem we see with supplements is the new “cutting edge” products that are offered by the gyms and other fitness professionals looking to sell products.  While we can never discount the benefits health supplements offer, the supplement world is not for everyone.  Finances and availability of the products will come and go, making it a challenge to adhere to consistently consuming the supplement.  However, once the knowledge of how to consume nutrient dense foods is obtained, the awareness that we obtain from practicing healthy eating habits and identifying healthy foods will never cease.  We just must remember that fruits, veggies, nuts and water are ever-present in our culture.

Supplement is defined as “something that completes something when added to it.”  A foundation needs to be built first to supplement it to make it better.  Perhaps we should build a strong foundation utilizing nutritional awareness of how much food to eat and identifying what foods to eat.  Reinforce a strong foundation of consuming veggies, healthy carbs and adequate protein.  After we master a strong foundation of nutritional awareness, we can start reinforcing the foundation with healthy supplements.

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.

Jan 09

Mission to Motivate: Doug Ernst

Doug Ernst was a local veteran writer for the Napa Register passed away recently from ALS, a degenerative neurological disease.  I considered Doug a friend, peer and mentor because of the presence imposed to on an audience not only in his writing but speaking in front of a room.  Additionally, Doug was responsible for helping adults find career paths in topics people enjoyed and were naturally talented by promoting continuing education at Napa Valley College.

I shared a unique connection with Doug after observing a presentation at a local volunteer group in Napa that I was attending.  Doug’s topics his work with NVC as a public relations representative reaching out to the community.  He explained that continuing education helps adults past normal college age pursue continuing education to acquire a degree, certification or skillset to aid them in enriching their lives.  This presentation covered the topics of adults who were single parents, young veterans returning from being deployed while serving for the military overseas, and adults who struggle with finding their way working standard hourly paying jobs.  This meeting struck home with me because I could relate myself as one of those adults who found success utilizing local community education at NVC to allow me to pursue a successful career as a successful health and fitness business owner here in Napa.

Finding myself as a single dad as the age of 22, I found myself working as a bartender.  Late nights and demanding hours to work on the weekends gave me little time to spend with my family.  All in the meantime, I had a passion to keep my mind and body strong through exercise, an active life style, sports, and hobbies.  I turned to NVC to get my units complete to be able to transfer to Sonoma State University and acquire my Master’s degree in Kinesiology.  Now I can help my family, friends, and clients live healthy, happy and strong lives with the years of higher education I acquired.  This was similar to the process that was same promotion that Doug was promoting.

After I saw Doug speak at this meeting, I was able to share my story. I shared that I was one of those adults who was stuck in a job just to get by.  He looked at me and said, “So you’re a success story.”  Bashfully, I agreed with him.  We spoke about how following what your passions are will undoubtably yield happiness in life.

It’s easy to find yourself in a point of staleness somewhere in life.  I could relate in my situation as a young, single parent.  However, pursuing a career that was fulfilling and enjoyable gave me a purpose to get past a few obstacles that now puts me in a position to hang out in a gym, laugh, and smile with people while improving their lives.  Not only is showing up for work exceptionally fulfilling and helpful to my community, but I can also support my family to live a healthy, happy and strong life with the college experiences, internships and hands on practice in a craft I am truly passionate about.

This experience that I had with Doug compared pursuing my interests in helping live healthful lives to the way we promote our personal training clients in Napa to focus on physical activities they enjoy.  inworking at a bar serving drinks until the late hours of the night to support my family was a mundane, repetitive and maddening task.  This experience is like mindlessly running on a treadmill you feel you should do it.  “The doctor told you so”, “Everyone else is doing this,” “It’s the latest new on Facebook or Instagram research advice.”  If you are embracing an activity that you don’t enjoy, but you feel you “should” do it, chances are it’s going to drive you bonkers.  Just like standing behind a bar pouring booze until 2 AM will.

Even though my connection with Doug was brief before he passed away, I realized how I appreciated embracing a career path that I enjoyed and wanted to do.  Before Doug left us, he promoted others to pursue something they had a skill in that could contribute to society and make a living form it to support themselves.  Just as Doug’s message to give potential adult students the ability to embrace a living they enjoy, let’s take this as a tip to choose things we enjoy in life that will allow us to give back to our lives to be strong, happy and healthy for our family and community.

Sure, treadmills and routine exercises in the weight room for the recommended amount of exercise per week are beneficial.  But nothing can replace doing what is fun and enjoyable to improve yourself.  Take more walks with your friends and family.  Work on that hobby that’s been collecting dust.  Get out and live, there is beautiful world out there waiting for us to enjoy it.

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 14

Avoid the “Chore” of Exercise

Losing weight, getting a toned body, decreasing blood pressure, and because the doctor “told you so” are all reasons why we start to exercise.  Perhaps there’s a wedding coming up that triggers the motivation to slip into a wedding dress for that special day.  Maybe it’s your 40th birthday with a trip to the Caribbean planned and you want to look good in your trunks on the beach.  You only turn 40 once right?  Or maybe the doctor says your pre-diabetic and you must lose weight and eat healthier.  This all sounds like a strict regimen leading to things that must be done.

So, what’s the solution?  We can dust off that treadmill costing a small fortune with clothes hanging on it.  Plenty of local small group fitness classes are offering 50% with the new year coming up around the corner.  There’s the annual gym membership as well.  The goal is to use these devices as tools to help lose weight for these short-term goals and the assignments given by your doctor.

Short term, assignments, “only turning 40 once,” “because the doctors said so.”  These all sound like chores or orders to do something because someone ordered you to.  Not much fun at all.

We work with personal training clients in Napa who come to us seeking our expertise as fitness coaches and motivational experts who present the same issue.  Most of the time, this story of losing weight or a doctor driven scare tactic to “exercise or else” is a repeat effort, or relapse.  When we are pressured into exercising because we are ordered to, that feeling of being told what to do is a like the way a parent tells their child to eat their vegetables before leaving the table.  As we are ordered to do a task, our free will is taken away.    When I tell my 12-year-old son to eat his vegetables before eating he leaves the table, I witness an interesting phenomenon.   He eats 2 slices of bread before he even touches his veggies.  This is a response to the being able to prove that he can make decisions for himself because the reason to eat the vegetables is pretty forced upon him.  He wants to be able to prove he can make decisions, which leads to less vegetables being eaten and more of what he likes.  Adults are no different when ordered to do something.

The same interaction occurs with the potential clients who come in seeking our health improvement services and are having a relapse in some health-related issue from lack of physical activity.  They were told they needed to lose weight by an authority figure or by some social standard that pressured them into forcing themselves to exercise.  When a person must get on a treadmill and jog on in for 20 minutes, hating every minute of it, resentment for that activity will start to surface.  Jumping around in an aerobics class feeling out of place in an unfamiliar environment is uncomfortable, making a person veer away from that activity.  Driving to a gym and finding a parking place before even going through the doors to get to the gym floor for some exercise can be enough to make a person just drive right out of the parking lot.    Reasons pressuring a “should” decision for exercising can lead to feelings of boredom and resentment.  Eventually a resistance to physical activity occurs and a vicious cycle of failure can occur.  The morphs into a coat rack.  The monthly gym membership dues reoccur and attendance drops.  Lastly, physical activity decreases and we can go back to where we started.  The result leads to making decisions we have control over that set us back in the first place like drinking beer and sitting on the coach with some potato chips.

How can we reverse this vicious cycle of failure into a virtuous cycle of success?  The answer is to investigate what keeps us going, the things we enjoy.  Instead of hammering away on the treadmill like a zombie, look into what physical activities you look forward to.  Walks in the sunset with a loved one.  Playing frisbee with your friends or family.  Fixing up your yard and making your garden look like a pristine wonderland that you get praised for.  Recreational activities such as sports, fishing or hiking.  Physical activities like these may not reveal as many calories burned indicated by the Fit Bit or latest fitness apparel.

However, let’s answer an obvious question:  Which activities are sustainable that can be embraced for your entire life?  Dragging your feet to burn those 300 calories on the treadmill or embracing a physically active hobby you enjoy?  The answer should be apparent.  I’m not quite sure I’ll care about burning those 300 calories or making it to the gym 30 years down the line.  But I’m dead set on being able to walk with friends and family and enjoy a conversation by the time I’m 97-years-old.

Let’s stop making exercise a chore and choosing the physical activities that enlighten our minds while offering us longevity and happiness.

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 27

Safe Exercises for Joint Health

Stiff, achy and nagging joint pain is something we all deal with in life.  It’s uncomfortable, inconvenient and annoying.  Elbows, hips and knees start to ache as the colder seasons approach.  People even say they can tell when it’s about to rain because of the pressure increase in the air due to the tightness in their joints.  The distraction of joint pain impedes or completely sidelines enjoyable physical activities.  Even more, lingering joint pain can negatively effect emotions and mood throughout the day.  These pain responses cause reluctance to exercise or participate in any physical activity at all.

Who wants to put themselves through a bout of physical exertion when going up and down the steps is painful to even get to the gym?  Unfortunately, abstaining from exercise is one of the worst things that can be done to fend off the negative effects of joint pain.

As someone who has endured a major reconstructive surgery in my elbow joint, I can relate that early onset arthritis is not a fond subject for me to deal with in my every day life.  As a 34-year-old athletic, fit young man, most people would think managing arthritis in my every day life is something I wouldn’t be tending to.  Some of my favorite activities such as Martial Arts and Boxing have hit the sideline because those activities threaten my career as a personal trainer.  There are activities that are always questionable for me that I must be careful of that might put dangerous compressive forces on my repaired elbow.  Such as hitting softballs, riding bikes or popping up on a surf board.  I can still participate in exercises that are lower risk such as slow pitch recreation softball, surfing, or leisurely bike riding with my son.  However, I would not be able to enjoy these activities without a structured regular exercise routine.

As personal trainers in the Napa Valley, my team and I work with clients with similar issues to my joint pain from previous surgeries.  In some cases, we work with more extreme cases in which joint pain is far more severe from the stresses of injuries, accidents and degenerative joint disease that life throws at them.  A subject that we find is usually neglected is being specific as to what type of stress in put on the body via exercise.  When exercising significant areas of the body such as the neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees and ankles, a forgotten topic is what has caused joint pain in the first place.  Joint pain is usually caused by an unhealthy mechanical stress on the joints through poor body mechanics, underuse and overuse of the joint.  The last thing we want to do is emulate these sub optimal compressive forces on the joints.  It’s important to understand that too much compressive force on the joints from exercise can exacerbate critically important joints of the body.

Unfortunately, we hear that people are apprehensive of starting an exercise program due to the fear of hurting themselves even further.  Avoiding exercise and physical activity is one of the worst things to remedy this issue.  Lack of exercise and physical activity will lead to underuse injuries, weakness in the body and ultimately accelerating the aging process.

A solution that we promote our personal training clients in Napa is performing eccentric exercises.  We define eccentric exercises as the slow lowering motion or “letting off” slow descent portion of an exercise.  An example of eccentric exercises that we coach our clients to do is the “Eccentric Chair Squat”:

  1. Position yourself standing in front of chair.
  2. Slowly push your hips down and backward in a squatting motion focusing on descending slowly at a rate of 3-5 seconds until sitting on the chair.
  3. Push your heels into the ground and stand back up.
  4. Repeat for 3-5 repetitions.

The benefit of this mode of exercise is the decreased number of repetitions performed for a movement that puts compressive forces on the back, knees, hips and ankles.  We see a lot of individuals performing a high amount of repetitions of the standard squat exercises.  The type of squats which you just squat up and down with out counting the amount of time on the descent.  While the squat exercise is a great movement for strengthening the lower back and lower extremities, too many repetitions can exacerbate stress on individuals with joint pain.  Therefore, a great solution is to perform an eccentric mode of exercise that will promote productive stress on the muscles surrounding the joint with a decrease amount repetitions on the joint.

We need to put stress on joints to keep the body in motion.  However, it’s critically important to be mindful of what movements might acerbate joint pain.  We must keep moving if we want to keep breathing for a strong, happy and healthful life.  Let’s make sure that we do this in a constructive and mindful approach.

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 19

Staying Fit During the Holiday Season!

Catching up with family, traditional holiday food, and bright lights decorating your neighbors’ houses are a clear sign that the holiday season is in full effect.  With 2019 waiting for us around the corner, the holidays bring one last hurrah before new year’s resolutions are established.  Along with the holiday rituals, the days get dark sooner, it starts to rain, and the temperature plummets to a chilly climate that the Napa Valley culture doesn’t necessarily enjoy. Staying inside sipping on hot chocolate, enjoying holiday cookies and watching Chevy Chase’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation sounds more enticing than to be out in the cold, wet, and dreary winter weather.

The frigid conditions outside promote people to stay inside more.  Leisurely walks around the neighborhood or hiking at local parks are halted by the lack of light and muddy terrain.  A pleasant solution might be to stay inside and get some holiday baking done.  Making gingerbread men and fruit cake is indeed a generous gift to your friends, family and co-workers.  However, we are now introduced with the struggle of consuming junk food and underuse of our bodies.

Who wouldn’t want to sample their own holiday cookies before sharing them at the office?

Additionally, you better believe that co-workers and fellow parents at school events are thinking the same thing.  It seems rude to turn down someone’s gifts.  To deflect the shame of offending someone on their holiday baking efforts, perhaps you could just take some home with you.  The next thing you know, you have snow man cookies and Disney themed cupcakes in your fridge.  It probably didn’t go in the garbage can.  It probably went into the fridge or stored on a plate with plastic wrap thoughtfully placed over it to save for later.

Saving treats for later.  Eating higher calorie food with substantial fat content and sugar.  Staying inside and decreasing physical activity.  This sounds like preparation bears undergo in Alaska when hibernating for the arctic winters.

The truth is we are not Kodiak Bears living in Alaska.  We’re human beings living in one the best environments in the world.  Just because the weather outside is suboptimal to get outside and have a Labor Day tail gating event doesn’t mean we have to hang up our life time fitness efforts.

During these holiday months, we see our personal training clients in the Napa Valley veer off the path to their health and fitness goals due to some of the previous stated reasons.

“It’s too cold, it’s too late, there’s all this good food around.”

Sure, there are some variables that might impede us from staying active.  The overabundance of the traditional sugar filled apple cider and eggnog doesn’t help either.  But this doesn’t mean we should forget about how managing our life time fitness goals will set us up for a successful and exuberant new year in a healthy physical state.  Succumbing to the elements and glutinously devouring holiday treats without any concern will surely lead to the development of a winter coat in the form of fat that is a hassle to shed when the sun starts to shine outside again in Spring time of 2019.

We work on tactics with our personal training clients in Napa to manage these obstacles that might impede their health and fitness goals.  Here are some very low hanging fruit tips to help regulate holiday season threats to our health and fitness:

  1. Perform resistance training at least once a week. Resistance training can be anything from taking an aerobics class to performing a routine of push ups or squats.  It’s important to ensure the body’s lean muscles are consistently in a sugar and fat burning state.  Putting muscular stress on the body keeps blood flow circulating regularly.  A substantial advantage that resistance training offers is the efficient management of insulin.  The more lean muscles are working, the more sugars from food can be absorbed from the blood stream and utilized in the muscle to help rebuild connective tissue.  By performing resistance training at least once per week, you can avoid the threat of pre-diabetic conditions while all the gingerbread men are staring at you right in the eye enticing you to eat them.
  2. Be aware of your portion sizes. During each meal, be mindful about only eating a handful size of protein and carbohydrate in each meal.  This could be as easy eating a handful size of rice and a handful size of meat.  Over consumption of food will lead to excess calories not being able absorbed properly and transfer into fat.  We’re not bears in Alaska looking to achieve a winter coat.  Perhaps we shouldn’t act like them.
  3. Eat more vegetables.  You can never get enough of them.  The more plant-based foods present in the diet, the less likely you’ll get sick in these cold, wet months.

Take this holiday season to enjoy staying inside and embrace the delicious traditional foods that make the frightful weather more enjoyable.  Remember, the new year is right around the corner with plenty of exuberance on the horizon.  Fresh experiences and journey’s in the new year are way more enjoyable with a healthy and fit body.

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 12

Pick The Exercises You Like!

 

Part of my job as a personal trainer and life time fitness coach in Napa is to create and manage exercise prescriptions for our clients at our fitness studio.  Overseeing numerous fitness programs per month, I also have the privilege of creating my own new and improved exercise prescriptions every 4 weeks.  Just like a chef making a new menu for another upcoming season, gathering ideas for what types of new exercises to benefit my current fitness levels can be challenging.

Seeking out new ideas, I turned to one of my personal trainer colleagues and inquired about what types of exercises I should add into my new program.  She said something very simple, “Well, you seem to like deadlifts.  They make you feel really good and you talk about them a lot.”  She couldn’t have been more accurate.  I love the way performing this resistance training technique makes my body feel.  As an exercise physiologist, I know that the dead lift technique will help support lean muscle gains in my body and produce natural occurring growth hormone to support the density of my bones.  It’s appealing to me to delay the likelihood of arthritis and deteriorating joint conditions caused by a lack of bone mineral density.  Not only would this technique assist my body in the physical sense but including this technique will help me support my hobbies of hiking, surfing and playing softball.   As I sit here writing this article, I could also use some reinforcement to my postural muscles to sit up right and properly activate my shoulder blades while my arms are extended out in front of me toward my key board.  Yet another benefit of performing dead lifts in my exercise routine.   I enjoy being able to hike up a steep hill at a steady pace, having the lower body strength to control a surf board in the waves, and being able to slam a softball over the opposing outfielders head when I play my rec league softball.  My colleague reassured me that I was exercising for the correct reason, to support the activities that I like to do.

The dilemma of designing my own exercise prescription led me to think about a client who I always have a challenging time designing his new exercise prescription.  Let’s call him Jonny.  We make sure to interview our clients before designing their next 4-week exercise phase design.  This interview asks:

  1. What specific results have you experienced so far?
  2. What exercises did you enjoy?
  3. Which exercises would you like to omit from the program.

When I reached #2 with Jonny, he informed me, “I don’t like any exercises.  I hate exercises.  I do this because the doctors and my wife tell me it’s good for me.”  This is not an unusual occurrence with clients as exercise is sometimes the last thing people think about, but it challenges me to dig deeper and discover what might be driving Jonny to choose an exercise out of his own free will that we can work on through out his program.  Relating back to my previous exercise prescription that I just designed for myself, I asked Jonny, “What would you like to be able to do physically that you haven’t been able to do for a while?”

Looking over his shoulder about 30 meters outside the shop, Jonny replied, “I’d like to be able to run to that stop sign and back with out feeling like I was going to have a heart attack.”

Bingo.  I discovered that Jonny wanted to be able to not feel out of breath after running.  You can image that I gracefully avoided question #3 of this interview, because I think the answer would be obvious (He would probably reply “All of them”). I stuck to the theme of choosing the exercises that gave Jonny the benefits he was looking to achieve.  I wanted to do everything in my power to ensure Jonny could run to that Stop sign and back feeling empowered, strong, and able to run to the Stop sign 400 meters away.  Therefore, while designing Jonny’s next exercises prescription, I input exercises that challenged his heart rate and made him breath a little heavier.  More importantly, I explained to Jonny that these exercises would improve his aerobic capacity to help his body perform at an improved level of cardio vascular fitness by challenging his lungs and heart to work harder in a safe and controlled fashion.  Jonny was pleased to know that the fruits of his labor would yield a result he enjoyed.  This made the exercises that Jonny dreaded so much become more of a gift to him and support something he enjoys, breathing.

I agree that exercising can be time consuming and physically challenging.  Just like Jonny, many people dread the idea of exercises.  However, choosing exercises offering success in activities we like to do, exercise becomes more of gift than a task.  When taking the time to exercise, why not choose exercises you enjoy giving the results you want?  Just like it wouldn’t be worth grinding away at a career you don’t want, performing exercise just because someone is pressuring you is a drag.  Pick the exercises that will make your life more enjoyable after you put in the work.

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 05

Removing the Rust of Age with Life Time Fitness

Aging can be an intimidating term.  Our personal training clients in Napa refer to how age effects their lives by saying “I may have slowed a little bit due to my advanced age” or “I might be a little behind because I’m “not as recent’”. The enjoyment of our everyday quality of life shouldn’t be hindered by age.  Research has shown that life expectancy rates increase due to living a healthy and active lifestyle.  Exercising an average of 20 minutes per day, adhering to a predominately plant-based diet, and not smoking has been shown to support longevity in human lives.  These factors slow down the deteriorating factors of aging.

As we age, we are more likely to be less active.  Absence of movement causes our muscles to deteriorate and slows down blood flow, impeding the amount of oxygenated blood delivered to our cells that keeps us alive and well. Unhealthy decisions such as copious amount of recreational drug use can be present as we enjoy the social scenes throughout our lives.  Additionally, we have probably made some decisions to allow processed foods to make their way into our diets throughout the years in in the form of breads, cereals, fast-food to name a few.  These choices take a toll on the body.  Lack of physical activity leads to under-use of important muscles and joints.  Recreational drugs such as alcohol or smoking deliver detrimental effects to the inside of our body, poisoning and oxidizing blood vessels and important organs of the body.  Overabundance of processed foods can produce free radicals in the body that are responsible for dysfunctions of specific cells in the body.

These factors contribute to leaving us immobile, poisoned and dysfunctional.  This condition is comparable to the neglect of a car.  Rusty, run down and a pain to start back up.  If nothing is done to keep ourselves moving, we’re going to turn into a run down, rusted, dilapidated 1974 Datsun.  What can be done so that we don’t age as fast as that jalopy in the driveway of your house?

The good news is that we can slow down the aging process of our bodies to live happy, healthful and enjoyable lives with a few life time fitness solutions.  Research has shown that at least 20 minutes of exercise per day will decrease the risk of falling, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.  When we work with our personal training clients in Napa, we coach manageable and efficient exercise routines that can be done in about 20 minutes.  We focus on coaching stretching exercises that each participant can efficiently and competently repeat at least 5 time per week ensuring to pay special attention to the neck, shoulder, spine, hip, knee and ankle joints.  In addition, the exercise that we put more attention on are the exercises that focus on balance and coordination.  Pair this with a leisurely walk 4-5 times per week and you are more than likely to hit that 20 minute of exercise mark.  Regular movement helps the muscles to keep moving and reinforces the supporting ligaments and tendons around the important joints of the body.  Exercise keeps the heart beating, the lungs taking in oxygen, the arteries working to deliver oxygen to the critically important cells of the body.  A few to trips to a local Napa gym throughout the month would help support regular exercise as well! Just like how we keep our cars running on a regular occurrence to be fully operational, the cells in the human body react the same way.

A diet rich in plant-based foods supports the body from oxidizing.  Nutrients from fruits and vegetables have anti-oxidizing and nourishing properties that fend off deteriorating factors in the body.  Vegetables fend off free radicals that threaten the integrity of cells and keep us from getting ill.  A plant-rich diet also has been shown to decrease the likelihood of cancer occurring and has continually been shown to help alleviate conditions from other harmful diseases as well.  In addition, fruits and veggies are filled with a high amount of water, unlike processed bready and fat-based foods.  The more water we have in our blood, the more efficiently our blood flows through our body delivering the much-needed oxygen and nutrients that are vital to keep us moving like a well-oiled machine. Keeping the cells in optimum condition helps them perform their functions in efficiently helping to reinforce the structure of bone, cartilage and muscle cell as well as promote proper hormone balance in the body.  Neglecting to feed our body with plant-based foods and water is like forgetting to put oil in the car, replacing the spark plugs or just letting the car run on a flat tire.

Lastly, smoking cigarettes or what ever the latest trend of things to put in your lungs for a brief high has and always will be correlated to the cause of some sort of disease.  What would happen if you drove your car through a war zone every day?  I’m pretty sure you’d get some smoke damage or even worse somewhere along the line.

Time can take toll on any object that endures our experiences in this world.  However, just like the upkeep of your dependable automobile, adhering to the life time fitness themes of regular exercise, an abundance of plant-based foods and taking it easy on alcohol and smoking will lead us to a fulfilling life as we age.

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 28

Fitness and Aging: Stay Young with Regular Exercise

Aging is a process when we realize our fitness levels decline.  We can recall that we may have been at our peak fitness levels when we were in our 20’s.  We had the body we wanted and might be wishing we had back.  Being active athletes, dancing, hiking and other recreational activities were all things that we did back in our youthful days.   Walking around in tank tops, wearing a bikini at the beach or possibly wearing a set of heels with a dress was normal.  When you are at the prime of your physiological well-being with freedom from the stresses of life, your body functions very well and you’re happy with how it looks too.  As we all know, time goes on and we all get older.  Not only does our body’s metabolism slow down to where we gain extra fat and feel aches from previous injuries and the body’s wear and tear, but we also have plenty of additional priorities that consume our time and energy.  The effect advancements in age and added priorities in our lives contribute to decreases in fitness.

Some of our personal training clients have fitness goals in which they want their body to feel that way it was in these golden years of being young and active.  The problem is that life gets real.  Jobs, families and relationships seem to take over the attention that we give to our fitness.  These factors may get in the way sometimes for people working to obtain their life time fitness goals of getting back to the lean, athletic and active bodies we once had.  Decreases in upper and lower body strength occur.  Walking up a flight of stairs or hills can leave people feeling out of breath.  Increased potential of injury can occur due to a lack of coordination and balance.  These are all caused by lack of adhering the activities that once made us exuberant and healthy.

How do we get back to this feeling of happiness and activity in life?  Sometimes that answer lies within the problem statement itself.   Let’s look at what might be holding us back.  Age contributes to more wrinkles and maybe holding onto fat a little more than we used to.  Maybe we had a few injuries in the past that we have to be careful of.  There might have also been some bumps along the way that put our minds in a hindered emotional state due to a work, family or relationships.  But we sometimes fail to see the bigger elephant in the room that causes us to gain weight, lose strength, and be more susceptible to physical injuries:  We don’t work out as much as we used to.

The good news is that most of these issues caused by age is all curable.  If we can find a routine of exercise that fits within the obligations we hold in our busy lives, we can get closer to that feeling of how alive we felt in our younger days of physical activity.

A tactic we give to our clients who are working to fend off the effects of aging is to start building baseline attributes that are universal to improve every human’s life time fitness.  Look at how you can exercise at least ONCE per week.  During this exercise routine, focus on improving upper and lower body strength variables.  An average fit person should be able to bend down and tie their shoes, throw a ball for their dog, or get out their car pain free.  Focusing on simple exercises such as planks or squats are a simple and effective technique which can be done once per week to significantly help improve upper and lower body strength.

A technique that we coach our personal training clients in Napa is to stand on one leg to improve balance and improve the function the stabilizing muscles around the knee and ankle joints.  A simple modification to this technique is to place one hand on a wall or stabilizing object, such as a couch or chair, and work on balancing on one leg for a series of time.

Another simple and underused tactic we offer to our clients is simply walking more regularly.  If one of their goals is to be able to walk a hill and go on outdoor excursions without getting out of breath, then we set a weekly tactic to walk a certain distance up a hill or an amount of time each week.

Age contributes to our body slowing down physiologically.  However, age is also a simple advancement in time that we endure.  Living for a longer amount of time in this beautiful world full of so many great things shouldn’t slow down how we move.  So, let’s make the most out this and embrace life time fitness as a gift to help us embrace the years to come and feel better physically, mentally and emotionally by ensuring that we adhere to regular exercise as we continue to age.

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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