Dec 27

Fortifying Knee Stability and Strength

“We’re pretty much diagnosed with arthritis after we turn thirty,” was a phrase one of my mentors consistently said to me, his peers, and patients throughout my internship experience.  As a decorated physical therapist with an esteemed reputation in the medical community, this man who had over forty years of practicing as a physical therapist didn’t beat around the bush.  One personality trait I gathered from the mentoring of this gentleman was his rigorous relationship with the truth he expressed toward his patients.

Telling patients point blank that they’re diagnosed with degenerative bone and joint disease after they reach the milestone of being on this earth for thirty years can cause quite a shock.  However, after he would throw down this icebreaker to a patient afflicted with knee pain, he immediately gave them resources on how to build strength around the knee, function productively throughout their everyday life, and prevent accelerated deterioration of the bones, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons and muscles surrounding the affected area.  I took away a lesson that educating people afflicted with painful conditions develops a foundation on where to begin and continue on a path to recovery.

Some of the readers of this article may have been avid athletes, recreational weekend warriors, or participated in a career involving physically demanding tasks.  Looking back at our high school career playing popular sports such as volleyball, baseball, track, or football might have introduced a few injuries.  Traveling up and down ladders as a painter, kneeling to install outlets as an electrician, or hauling two-by-fours up and down stairs throughout a person’s career can impose a tremendous amount of stress on the joints of the body.  Looking at an athletic career at any age and level of competition paired with a life of demanding physical labor contributes to the likelihood of arthritis.  Among the wide array of joints afflicted with arthritis is the knee joint.

Comprised of the femur, patella, tibia, and fibula, the knee is a hinge joint that controls critically important movements throughout our every lives.  Without a healthy knee, our lives change dramatically.  Bone on bone contact is a common explanation of why people experience symptoms of arthritis.  The knee joint is on the bottom half of the body, below the hip, and right about the feet.  Knees are responsible for not only holding humans upright and moving us from place to place but also holding the weight of the upper extremities and the forces of gravity.  One could imagine without the cushioning properties the cartilage covering the end of the bones would cause the painful effects of bones pressing on each other.  Therefore, appreciating the importance of the knee is worthwhile if living a long and quality life is in our best interest.  Below are a few methods to strengthen the knee joint by focusing on the inner thigh, outer hip, and anterior thigh muscles:

Side laying hip adduction:  Start by positioning yourself lying on your side with your feet stacked on top of each other.   Cross your top leg over to the front of your body where your top foot should rest flat on the ground.  Keeping the bottom foot flexed toward the body and the knee extended, lift the bottom leg until a brief muscular sensation is experienced in the inner thigh region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions.

Side laying hip abduction:  Start by positioning yourself lying on your side with your feet stacked on top of each other.   Stack your legs on top of each other.  Keeping the top foot flexed toward the body and the knee extended, lift the top leg until a brief muscular sensation is experienced in the out hip and thigh region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions.

Seated on Ground Knee Extension:  start by sitting down flat on the ground with optimal posture with one knee extended flat on the ground and the other knee flexed to where the foot is flat on the ground.  While keeping the toes flexed toward the body, extend one leg as if you are trying to touch the back of the knee to gently touch the ground until a slight muscular sensation is experienced in the quadriceps and kneecap region.  Repeat this movement for five to 10 repetitions on each leg.

By executing a few of these movements consistently throughout the week or in addition to an exercise routine, the muscles targeted in these exercises can significantly improve the structural integrity of the knees.  These aren’t the most cutting-edge exercises known to man.  However, these exercises are usually practiced in a physical therapy setting because they are easy to learn, can be done with little to no pain, and have a substantial effect on improving lower extremity strength while decreasing knee pain.

Being diagnosed with arthritis after thirty may not be the most exciting news.  At the same time, it’s not the end of the world.  We can still live happy, healthy, and strong lives by adhering to simple yet effective exercises to put the detrimental effects of arthritis at bay.

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 20

Avoid pain when sitting long periods of time

I had the privilege of attending a pro pickleball tournament last weekend in San Clemente.  Along with the immaculate sixty-five-to-seventy-degree weather, cloud-free blue skies, and the view of the southern California Pacific Ocean visible from the hillside from the tournament venue, I got to see my favorite professional athletes compete in the “granddaddy” of pickleball competition.   I didn’t have much to complain about.  That was until my gluteal muscles, lower back, and shoulder blade muscles entered a state of disarray due to the concrete bleachers I was sitting on.

I had one of the best seats in the house.  Literally ten to fifteen yards away from the championship match.  This portrays everything a pickleball fanatic could want.  However, the seat that I positioned myself at for hours while watching the main event was not the most ergonomically sound seat.  One would think standing would be a worthwhile solution.  However, had I stood up in the middle of the match, being pelted by a projectile from a spectator behind me in my shoes would be in the near future for me.  What is one to do when a serious case of “bleacher butt” is imposed upon your livelihood?  Fortunately, there were small windows of time in which I could stand, move around a little, and stretch.

Sitting in a semi-squatted position while the hips are slightly below kneecap level introduces the potential for the body to become contorted in a suboptimal position.  When the knee is about the level of the hips while seated, the torso can come forward and create a hump-like shape in the upper back.  This causes pain in the neck, shoulder blades, and lower back.  Additionally, when scrunched in the ball-like position, the abdominal muscles and hip flexors shorten while the paraspinal muscles lengthen.  Staying in this position for prolonged periods can produce strains and nagging pain, leading to a disruption in quality of life during and after the circumstances the body is imposed to face the challenges of this suboptimal position.

I found a few solutions that alleviated the discomfort of being scrunched up like a baby wallaby in its mother’s pouch and enhanced my viewing experience.  One tactic was to practice performing scapular depression, standing up when there was time out to revert my back into a more optimal position, and mobilizing my hips and sacroiliac joint while standing.  Below is a description of how I mitigated back pain and enhanced my viewing pleasure while being confined to a less-than-desirable seating situation:

  1. Scapular depression while pushing down:  While sitting in the cement bleachers, I had enough space to place my hands behind me and push into the ground to straighten out my spine to encourage optimal posture.  First, I ensured my posture was in a strong position.  The head was upright with eyes gazing forward, ears in line with armpits, and accentuating the natural anterior curvature of the lumbar spine.  To support this position, I firmly pressed my hands into the back half of the bleacher behind me I was sitting on, activating my triceps.  Lastly, I ensured to activate the muscles of scapular depression, which means pulling the shoulder blades down toward the hips. Engaging the muscles of scapular depression utilized my shoulder blade muscles to hold my torso upright and alleviate the stress of my paraspinal muscles This tactic helped substantially in relieving back pain while sitting on this cement bleacher.
  2. Standing up: Fortunately, competition-level pickleball grants each team two timeouts per game that lasts about a minute.  Seeing as nothing happens during the timeouts other than the athletes walking off the court to recalibrate their strategy, I wouldn’t be irritating my fellow spectators by blocking their view if I stood up.  Therefore, I seized this moment to revert my body into a more favorable shape by standing up.  When doing this, my back muscles thanked me and reverted to their initial structure before the time out was over and returning to the bleacher seat.
  3. Hip circumduction while standing: Hip circumduction is akin to performing a “hoola hoop” movement.  To perform, place the hand on the crest of the hips and push the body forward, circle in one direction, push the butt out behind you, and circle back to your starting position.  A brief stretching sensation should be experienced around the abdomen, lateral aspects of the hips, and lower back.  This tactic was worth its weight in gold when I stood up from being crammed into a ball and having my butt go numb from sitting in the cement bleachers.  Getting blood flow and neuromuscular activation during my standing break throughout the championship match greatly enhanced my viewing pleasure and saved my back.

Our society sits a lot.  Whether it be parked at our desks at work, driving in our automobiles, stuck in a long plane flight, or sitting in an odd sitting apparatus at our favorite sporting events, seats will always be there.  Remember, the body doesn’t operate well in suboptimal positions.  Even though we’re stuck to the confines of specific circumstances requiring us to sit for long periods, we can minimize the damaging effects of sitting by practicing postural reinforcement tactics when we spot an opportunity.  Take advantage of periods to take a break from uncomfortable situations and give your body the gift to feel better during and after sitting for a while.

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 15

Holiday Leftovers-Portion Control

The magnificent spread of Thanksgiving food dishes we recently shared with our family, friends, and loved ones displays an image of food akin to a celebration one might see at a royal wedding.  Mashed potatoes are laced with butter, heavy whipping cream, and sour cream, and for those of us who want to apply more decadence, grated parmesan cheese might find its way in as well.  Stuffing made out of cornbread, a stick of butter, and a few cups of milk serve as another trusty sidekick to the masterfully prepared roasted turkey.  Why not throw a few Hawaiian sweet rolls on the plate to soak up the leftover gravy?

The Thanksgiving feast we share with the people we care about once a year unveils a quantity of food we usually don’t see in the other parts of the year.  Following the festivities of consuming copious amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and topping the night off with pumpkin pie produces a body filled with so much food we pretty much have to roll into our cars to drive home, and eventually roll into our beds like a slow-moving ball rolling down a hill.  Additionally, something extra finds its way into our fridges.  A few containers holding the contents of the Thanksgiving feast make their way home with us to be enjoyed throughout the next few days.  Enter the world of Thanksgiving leftovers.

The art of marinating food items is a skillful technique to impart more flavor to our meats and other food items.   For example, soaking a cut of Tritip in a mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, rosemary, crushed garlic, diced shallots, and Worchester sauce for twenty-four hours produces a tender and delicious product.  The same process of imparting the flavor present in our Thanksgiving leftovers occurs as the brined roasted turkey, butter and garlic mashed potatoes, and sage sausage-infused cornbread stuffing in the Tupperware container we took home from our feast melds together in a majestic harmony of tantalizing flavor.  Who wouldn’t want leftovers throughout the week following their long-awaited Thanksgiving celebration?

The issue with the abundance of leftovers present in our fridge that radiates the essence of flavors like no other time of year is that there is so much food.  Usually, when humans see food in their fridge, they eat what’s in front of them.  This urge to consume food is how we survive.  When there’s healthy food in our fridge, we’re in a pretty good place.  A consistent diet of healthy vegetables, lean proteins, and a controlled amount of fats leads to a body that operates efficiently, performs optimally, and fends off disease.  However, a diet consisting of a surplus amount of carbohydrates and heavy fats produces a sluggish, hard-to-move body influencing sedentary behavior.  Therefore, it’s noteworthy to see the potential threats of consuming too many leftovers on a consistent basis following Thanksgiving.

A tactic to mitigate the effects of overconsumption of leftovers is being aware of portion size.  Acquiring a twelve by twelve-inch plate and stacking it full of a pile of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and turkey influences overconsumption of a surplus number of calories.  Eating too many calories in one sitting has an increased potential to be stored as fat if those calories are not used as energy.  Therefore, to manage the threat of overeating when it’s Thanksgiving’s leftover season, perhaps we should be focusing on our portion size when visiting the fridge for some day-old holiday treats that have marinated in a harmonious symphony of holiday flavor.

To help with portion control, choose smaller bowl and plate sizes.  Enjoy these delicious holiday foods that only meet our tastebuds once per year but enjoy them in a controlled fashion.  Additionally, identify how many items are on your plate.  Aiming to fit no more than a handful amount of each food item on your plate is an effective tactic to mitigate the effects of overconsumption.  For example, try to place no more than a handful amount of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes in your leftover meal at one time.

It’s important to appreciate the celebration of food.  Cultural holidays such as Thanksgiving bring about a sense of joy and appreciation among our friends, family, and loved ones.  So, we should cherish these sacred times and special occasions.  Let’s not go overboard with filling our stomachs to the brim of rupture.  Enjoy holiday food with skillful dietary decision-making to help us stay happy and healthy throughout the holiday 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.

Dec 01

Managing Weight Gain Over The Holidays

The last two months of the year lay claim to the most relaxing times.    Gatherings of friends, families, and loved ones occur frequently throughout our society as the year comes to a close.  Along with the joy the end of the year brings and the anticipation the new year has on the horizon, people come together for parties including another theme that brings every human satisfaction and happiness:  food.  That’s right, as we venture into the end of November and December, we can expect to see copious amounts of decadent holiday foods strewn before us everywhere from the kitchen table at home to the tabletops of our desks at our workplace.

It should come as no surprise that with the abundance of fruit cake, snowman cookies, and candy canes people might gain a few extra pounds throughout this celebratory time of year.  A few passes by the kitchen countertop where gingerbread man cookies reside might entice us to grab one or two throughout the day.

Let’s not forget the spread of food present at Thanksgiving feasts.  We can expect to see an entire week’s worth of calories on the table of our family Thanksgiving party.  Even after we pack ourselves to the gills with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and turkey, we’ll still take home leftovers that suffice as lunches and late-night snacks the next week.  Needless to say, we eat way more food than we usually do these last two months of the year than we do in the first ten months.  The result of this surplus amount of food in a short period of time equates to gaining a few extra pounds hanging onto us as we enter the new year.

The last thing we want is to have these last two months hinder our efforts to maintain a healthy weight.  That’s why it’s important to identify that this time of the year is likely to pose some obstacles to maintaining a healthy weight.  However, let’s demonize this joyful time of year.  Instead, embrace it.  At the same time, don’t let yourself fly off the rails.

A few productive tactics to mitigate the effects of the decadent holiday-themed food from expanding our waistlines to ensure we stay active, monitor our portion sizes, and stay consistent with an effective exercise routine.  Ensuring to engage in recreational physical activity such as golf, pickleball, or hiking keeps our heart rate increased so we can keep the cardiovascular system active to utilize extra fat calories as a fuel source.  When consuming our holiday treats, ensuring your portion size is about the size of one handful every two to three hours helps to control overeating and storing extra calories as fat.  Most importantly, adhering to routine exercise two to three times per week for at least fifteen minutes has the ability to keep the body in a metabolically healthy state.

The holidays bring about a profound sense of joy and accomplishment in our society.  Through the existence of our society, we’ve embraced the comforting and powerful properties of food to bring people together and laugh, reflect, and smile about coming together at this time of year.  Let’s embrace the positive energy of this magical time of year and the amazing food we’re fortunate enough to eat by taking care of our minds, bodies, and souls by staying active and exercising regularly.

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 16

Muscles of Scapular Stabilization: Take Care of your Shoulder Blades

Gymnasts have some of the most impressive body mechanics in the athletic world.  Standing on top of a thin beam with their arms projected out elegantly, their legs are positioned in a precise manner to ensure an undisturbed sense of balance, their back maintains an upright position demonstrating anatomical alignment, their head sits atop their neck absent of any hunching, and their gaze is projected in acute detail in front of them.  Similar to the drawing of The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci, the majestic pose of a gymnast standing atop a balance beam exemplifies optimal postural alignment to where the body is free of the majority of flaws caused by the presentation of postural neglect our society has become accustomed to.

Symptoms of suboptimal posture present themselves in a multitude of areas throughout everyday life.  However, if we walk through our local grocery store, dine at our favorite restaurant, or simply join our colleagues at our workplace, more often than not, we’ll see a prime example of what the antithesis of a gymnast’s pristine posture looks like.  We might see a few heads tilted downward gazing at a phone with a rounded cervical spine.  What follows is usually an arched upper back and collapsed shoulder blades.  It’s true that iPhones and Android smartphones have evolved our society into an advanced human race capable of phenomenological feats to make our lives faster and less complicated.  However, our posture has suffered significantly.

As the forehead is consistently hinged downward, the cervical portion of our spine flexes creating an arch.  Remaining in this rounded position causes the thoracic spine to round as well.  Additionally, as the thoracic spine rounds, the chest gets scrunched together, causing the armpits to get closer together and the shoulder blades to slide anteriorly toward the front of the body.  The result is forward flexion of the neck and upper back portion of the spine.  As the spine rounds forward, we adopt a bodily shape similar to the Hunchback of Norte Dame. As a result, neck, shoulder blades, and upper back pain can occur along with a cornucopia of neuromuscular and skeletal afflictions.

The symptoms of neck, upper shoulder, and mid back are common problems our newer personal training clients bring up as they first embark on a new fitness journey.  A cue that resonates with exercise participants that relieves this situation is to “park the shoulder blades down and back.”  These movements are commonly understood in the exercise physiology world as scapular retraction and scapular depression.  Scapular retraction is the backward gliding of the shoulder blades along the ribcage, bringing the shoulder blades closer to the spine.  Scapular depression is pulling the bottoms of the shoulder blades downward toward the hips.  When performing this movement, the muscles surrounding the posterior border of shoulder blades activate and pull the shoulders back.  The result of this action pulls the head upright and opens the chest.

Parking the shoulder blades down and back is one of the first steps to improving postural awareness and resolving the collapsed forward effects of suboptimal posture.  Perhaps we can be more aware of our posture and use the example of how a gymnast holds their body upright to live with less pain in our neck, upper back, and shoulder blades.

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 08

Lower Back Pain Solutions 101- Pelvic Tilt Exercises

Lower back pain is one of the most common physically debilitating ailments experienced in today’s society.  Symptoms such as pressure and tightness in the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine affect the population in a variety of presentations.  Dull pain in the lower back when getting out of bed in the morning, stiffness when standing up after extended time in a seated position, or fear and apprehension to bend over and pick something up from the ground due to disrupted lower back pain are a just a few examples commonly experienced by individuals dealing with low back pain.

The cause of low back pain can be created in a variety of ways.  Suboptimal posture for people who sit at desks all day could be caused by rounding of the upper back and lack of activation in the abdominal and gluteal muscles.  The stabilizing muscles connecting each vertebra to each other which are responsible for structural support when standing, bending forward, and walking could be deconditioned.  The lack of muscular tone and core fitness can lead to shifting of the vertebrae past a healthy range of motion, causing pressure on the supporting discs and possibly pressing on the spinal root nerves that give our body’s organs signals to function properly.  Needless to say, the awareness of inadequate conditioning of the muscles surrounding the spine, abdominal, and hip regions of the body can’t be overstated if our goal is to function to the best of our ability in our everyday lives.

In my experiences of interning and working at various physical therapy clinics, I observed the physical therapists I was fortunate enough to mentor under work miracles and cure individuals who came into the clinic with back pain.  We worked with patients who had the common “tweak” in the low back to the very advanced cases in which surgical intervention was performed on the spine weres screws and rods were installed to correct a severe spine injury.  One of the first exercises the PTs recommended was the posterior pelvic tilt exercise.

The PTs would cue the patient to sit down on a chair and put their hands on the crest of their hips in the front of their body.  Then, they would cue the client to bring their hips toward their ribs.  That was, is it.  Being a young intern working on my master’s thesis, I had no idea about the benefits of this exercise and was oblivious to the benefits this simple and effective technique had on people with lower back pain.  “Wouldn’t it be useful to strengthen the core muscles with planks and stretch the lower back?” I thought.  I learned a valuable lesson that my order of operations when addressing lower back pain was pretty much wrong.  Similar to the bracing foundation of the framework and cement foundation that holds up a house, the deep, intrinsic muscles surrounding the spine and connecting the spine to the hips and thighs were what truly needed to be conditioned when resolving lower back pain.

To perform a seated posterior pelvic tilt, place your index and middle finger on the crest of your hips located just below the navel and on the outside of the body.  Gently “tuck” your hips by pulling the crest of the hips toward the navel.  You should feel a slight muscular contraction in your abdominals and glutes.  Depending on the tightness and condition of the spinal stabilizer muscles, you might feel a gentle stretch within the vertebrae of the lower back.

Performing five to ten repetitions of this simple and effective exercise once or twice per week has the potential to not only alleviate symptoms of lower back pain but also help reinforce optimal posture and mitigate the possibility of other nagging pain symptoms caused by lower back pain dysfunctions such as sciatica, piriformis syndrome, of sacroiliac joint dysfunctions.

Strength training and stretching for the lower back is of the utmost importance.  However, let’s not forget about the deep internal muscles that act as the nuts and bolts for our spine and hips.  Without adequate strength in our spine, hips, and thighs, we’ll topple over.  Spend some extra time to prevent injury on the center of the body with pelvic tilt exercises and we can ensure our back remains healthy and strong.

Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.

Nov 03

Returning to Exercise After Getting Sick

Enduring a bout of sickness is one of the least desirable states of existence to be in.  Whether it be food poisoning, a bout of the latest strain of the coronavirus, or the newest edition of the flu floating around in the air, coming down with an infection that hinders our physical well-being affects our productivity and overall quality of life.  In addition to feeling like a wet noodle and having the mindset of a three-toed sloth when feeling under the weather, achieving physical activity or an exercise session isn’t the most attainable task either.

Illnesses affect humans in unique ways.  Additionally, every person handles illness differently.  We have unique immune systems. Our bodies and behaviors differ from person to person.  Daily temperature drops due to the changing of season can cause disruptions in our sinus cavity, imposing symptoms of post-nasal drip, earaches, headaches, or sore throats.

Additionally, a new set of plants are flowers are scheduled to bloom after the rains of the fall and winter seasons grace our presence.  Along with the damp environment and photosynthesis, the sunny days in Napa are blessed with trigger plants to produce a new set of pollen.  This new strain of pollen circulating throughout the town’s air can cause allergic responses to individuals sensitive to allergens to have respiratory distress including snot production, raspy throats, and wheezing.  Furthermore, the decreased temperature exposes our immune system, making a virus’s ability to latch onto our body and induce an infection.  Needless to say, the colder, darker, and damper holiday seasons can bring about a few cases of illness in our lives.

Wearing warm clothes, ensuring to eat healthy food, and getting enough rest mitigates the effects of allergies and contracting illness.  It’s also important to understand what our body’s barometer of physical stress is telling us.  For the “movers and shakers” in our society, the “go-go-go” and “get it done” mentality assists people to be productive and successful in their everyday life endeavors.  Staying fit and ensuring consistent exercise is adhered to on a weekly basis is critically important to aiding us in getting the most out of our busy days.  However, when a headache impairs our thoughts, body aches influence us to move slower, or something just doesn’t feel right in our body, there might be a message being sent from our central nervous system telling us to take it easy.

Consistency in an exercise routine is a key ingredient for living a long and healthy life.  However, exercising while in a physically impaired state can do more harm than good.  In the case of feeling a little under the weather, it might be best to take a day off to recover and let the body recalibrate.  Once the body is free of symptoms of beginning to get sick or is coming with an illness, then we can resume exercise when we feel better.  We get the most adaptation of strength and feel amazing from our exercise sessions when we can perform at our best.

that understanding “less is more” is critically important to our lives.  Exercise is vital to our existence.  Performing at our best is equally, if not more important than exercise adherence.  Listen to your body when experiencing something unusual.  The gym will always be there tomorrow.  It’s not going anywhere.  It’s OK to recover so you feel your best to achieve your best exercise session possible.

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

Staying Active to Reduce Stress

“I’ve been busy” Is a common term in response to the question “How’s life been?”  Our everyday lives include a plethora of activities that keep us occupied.  Whether it be the busy life of a parent, forty-plus hours a week of dedication to our jobs, or a sleep-deprived student staring at a pile of assignments due in three days, humans find ways to have something to do.  “It’s better to have too much to do than nothing to do at all” is a common response when expressing our to-do list to others demonstrating how engaged we are with deadlines and obligations.  Humans are achievement-oriented creatures that strive for something to do.  Why else would our brains evolve to such an advanced degree to be the most advanced organisms on the planet?  We all work to prolong our existence.  However, there comes a time when having too much on our plate can cause deleterious effects on our health and well-being.

Understanding and managing the stress we endure is key optimizing to our overall quality of life.  Getting enough sleep and getting to work on time, making sure the kids get their homework done after gymnastics class, or ensuring to pay the bills before late charges ensue can put a person under immense pressure.  If the supporting variables of maintaining a busy lifestyle aren’t regularly tended to, suboptimal repercussions can occur and hinder a person’s ability to live a healthy and productive life.  Understanding and appreciating the effects of overworking oneself and focusing on factors that reinforce our ability to sustain the constant demand to remain productive is commonly overlooked.

The result of putting oneself in a pressure cooker of deadlines, hustling without rest, and taking on cumbersome tasks equates to symptoms of mental, emotional, and psychological stress in the form of anxiety, irritability, or depression.  Furthermore, the physical and physiological effects of becoming overstressed include increased stress hormone response such as cortisol and adrenaline throughout the day, increased heart rate, headaches, storage of additional fat mass, and decreased lean muscle mass.  If action isn’t taken to correct such symptoms, the result is suboptimal for thriving in the beautiful world we’re fortunate to live in.

Thankfully, these symptoms are curable.  We can prevent the likelihood of symptoms of overstress from the demanding confines of our obligations by focusing on exercise and physical activity to reduce stress.  One of the human body’s most remarkable capabilities is its ability to adapt to stresses and demands imposed upon it.  Akin to how Wolverine from the acclaimed X-men comics, cartoons, and blockbuster movies played by Hugh Jackman, heals after an epic, action-packed battle against an evil villain, our bodies adapt to stressful responses in a similar fashion.  Of course, our bones won’t heal at the rate of Wolverine after Magneto smashes him through a wall.  However, following the stresses imposed on our body after a strategically designed exercise session, our body progresses through a remarkable transformation at both the psychological and physiological levels.

Exercise sessions such as resistance training, Yoga, or uphill hiking induce increased heart rate responses.  Additionally, after the first few minutes of exercise, our bodies produce stress hormones to increase our heart rate, increase the rate of blood flow to our working muscles, and ultimately put us in a “fight or flight” period.  Similar to how muscles break down at the microscopic level during exercise and the body repairs exercise-induced intramuscular damage a day or two after an exercise session, the body learns to manage exercise-induced stress hormone responses as well.  After a few weeks of running fifteen to thirty minutes and tracking your heart rate response on your Apple Watch, you might notice that your working heart rate decreases after a few weeks.  This is because your muscles are learning to gather more energy from oxygen, meaning the heart doesn’t need to work as hard.  If there isn’t any demand for the heart rate to increase, then there is less need for exercise-induced stress hormones to be produced.

This adaptation to producing less excitatory hormones throughout exercise carries over to the function of our everyday lives.  The ability to be less fatigued after a long day of work when the body is conditioned allows us to be more productive in getting the kids to soccer practice, making it home from work at a reasonable hour to make dinner, and spending quality time with our loved ones.  The increased heart rate produced by external stress caused by financial concerns, interpersonal relationships, or a concerning current event from the news won’t spark as much of an increase in heart rate response or the influx of stress hormones because your body is attuned to this type of stress you’ve put it through during exercise sessions.  In other words, regular exercise conditions the body to be resilient when the stresses of life present themselves.

Reserve time out to appreciate the gift of setting aside your obligations and participating in physical activity.  Your family, friends, colleagues, and the person you look at in the mirror every day will be happy you did.

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 20

Fun and Safe Exercises to Keep you Going

Light gray clouds brush across the sky during the brisk, damp winter mornings of Napa as we enter the year’s closing months.  “This year just flew by,” can be heard from our peers when Halloween concludes.  Following the celebration of dressing up in creative costumes and as the trick-or-candy hits the clearance rack at grocery stores during Halloween festivities of October, Thanksgiving is next.

Gathering with friends, family members, and peers throughout Thanksgiving week offers time to sit back and unwind.  Thanksgiving week usually includes taking a few days off work and preparing delicious food to gift the people we care about.  Along with the infamous pumpkin spice latte, It’s not uncommon to see Thanksgiving-themed treats at our offices or decadent treats on our counters.

Immediately after Turkey Day, we see December emerge in all of its glory.  December 24th and 25th bring about a holiday that is celebrated throughout the nation.  Similar to the November festivities of having a few days off of work and being surrounded by holiday-themed treats, December brings about a period of bundling up, galivanting through a series of holiday gatherings, partaking in copious amounts of comfort food and drinks, and kicking your feet up with the family to relax indoors.   This is a popular time of the year because we know that we have a powerful representation of society, symbolizing putting forth a game plan to achieve phenomenal accomplishments as December approaches.  New Year’s Day is on January 1st.  After New Year’s Day hits, the next year will be the best year of our lives.  This is where New Year’s resolutions are created.

A resolution can be defined as a firm decision to do or not do something.  After twelve months of living our lives to the fullest and accomplishing milestones through our professional careers, interpersonal relationships, and self-care, the first month of the year marks the starting point to the beginning of a new journey toward accomplishing monumental goals.  One of the most common goals regarding refining oneself for New Year’s resolutions is making decisions to take better care of our bodies.  Common examples of improvements in self-care include losing weight, optimizing our dietary decisions, or engaging in more physical activities.  While these goals are motivating and powerful symbolisms, it’s all too often that these New Year’s resolutions are overlooked, discarded, or forgotten by March or as soon as the first week of the New Year.

Falling off from our goals set forth in our New Year’s resolution can occur due to setting lofty expectations in a short amount of time.  For example, setting the goal of abstaining from sugar is an effective tactic to refine one’s dietary habits to aid in decreasing fat mass and the risk factors of metabolic diseases.  However, to completely omit something commonly consumed in our everyday lives for the previous few years isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Another example that requires strict discipline is making decisions to commit to regular exercise routines.  It should go without saying exercising three times a week for over two hours of rigorous physical activity aids the body in developing lean muscle mass, decreasing fat mass, fending off illness, and improving psychological and emotional well-being.  Who doesn’t want to be leaner, stronger, and feel less stressed?  However, with ads featuring New Year’s specials of signing up for new gym memberships rampantly present in our social media feeds and inbox promotions, this decision seems like a no-brainer.  If it was only this easy.

So, why can’t we simply get a membership to one of our local gyms utilizing a New Year’s discount graciously offered by our local fitness facilities and ingrain a routine of health and wellness that immediately becomes a staple in our lives?  More often than not, humans will either choose to continue or abandon an activity based on whether that activity is enjoyable or not.  In other words, people fall off from their New Year’s resolution of developing a fitness routine because it isn’t fun or it becomes boring.

Who said exercise can’t be fun?  Does exercise need to be defined as driving up to a crowded gym parking lot at 5:30 PM immediately after getting off work?  Or, do we need to enter a small group fitness class led by instructors directing us to perform movements that feel uncomfortable and even painful?  The answer is no.

Similar to revisiting your favorite restaurant three or more times a year, humans enjoy returning to experiences that leave them feeling happy, comfortable, and energized.  For instance, my favorite pizza in Napa Valley is the takeaway pizza from R+D Kitchen in Yountville.  Their Hawaiian-style pizza has a texture that feels toothy and doughy, pineapples and mind-blowing house-made sauce with just the right amount of acidity, thinly sliced red onions that aren’t too chunky, and jalapenos applied in just the right quantity so as to not blow my face off with spiciness.  This same heartfelt and memorable feeling I experienced with food can be said for my experience in my weight-lifting routine and when I play three hours of pickleball with my friends.  I can describe in excruciating detail why these activities bring about such fun and splendor in the soul.  Could I say the same for running for thirty minutes on a treadmill?  Absolutely not.  I would lose my mind.

However, the same can’t be said for others who experience a feeling of mind-opening catharsis when running for hours.  In that instance, running is an entry into a realm void of distractions and stress.  Additionally, perhaps long hikes into the open under redwood trees and mossy-covered trails pave a road of freedom for someone who enjoys hiking.  Or, maybe setting thirty minutes aside to play “Just Dance” or “Dance Dance Revolution” on the Nintendo brings joy to the soul through interacting with a video game while achieving physical activity.  The point is that if there is something we truly enjoy, look forward to, and remember, the likelihood of returning to that activity is increased.  The urge to return to physical activities that are fun creates strong building blocks for developing a routine of fitness.

After these slower, darker, and colder last few months of the year, the motive to refine our physical well-being is going to be a popular mindset as a New Year resolution.  Before we decide to sign up for the next New Year’s special offered by a fitness advertisement, take a step back and identify some physical activities you enjoy.  By choosing a physical activity that warms our soul, we can adhere to a routine that is not only good for our body but also ignites a sense of exuberance in our overall existence.  If we want to make a resolution that can stick with us for the long run, we never want to stop having fun, and we should always want to keep playing.

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 12

Building Exercise Routines: Never Stop Playing

The never-ending, perpetual downward scrolling of Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok douse our minds with stimulating content like the velocity of water coming out of a ruptured fire hydrant valve.  As we scroll through our social media feeds, peering down at the three-by-six screen of our cellular devices, we have the privilege to view whatever content we desire.  The content could be who the latest celebrities are dating, or our favorite foods.  Other noteworthy topics available on social media are posts about health and fitness.

The delivery of health and fitness awareness brought in by social media is a helpful tool for encouraging our society to eat better foods, exercise, and live happier lives.  Living in less pain, having more energy, and encouraging the ability to live longer are values the world can’t have enough of.  However, a problem still remains present in our society regarding reaping positive outcomes in our fitness efforts.  Sometimes, exercising isn’t fun.  In fact, I’ve heard a few people say that showing up at the gym is like making a trip to the dentist.  Nothing against our fellow dentists out there.  Tooth health is of extreme importance.  However, the idea of sitting in a chair with your mouth propped open for an hour, a pair of latex gloves moving around your tongue, and sharp metal objects prodding the gum line can be slightly unnerving.  In some cases, the gym might offer the same experience to people who have similar feelings of discomfort.

Small group fitness biking classes, hot yoga classes, or Cross Fit sessions are valuable resources to encourage class participants to receive positive outcomes in a group setting.  The gathering of exercise participants in biking classes follows along to the beat of enthusiastic spin instructors while motivating music blasts to promote endorphins throughout an hour-long cycling class.  The relaxing breathing techniques in a local hot Yoga class allow participants to breathe and stretch for an hour.  Let’s not forget our buddies at Cross Fit gyms.  Lifting heavy weights, throwing things, and jumping around like chimpanzees with a few other like-minded individuals fit exercise participants’ interests who enjoy pushing their limits.  Small group fitness classes from different activity categories offer life-enhancing results to their participants.  That is, if the humans in the class enjoy these physical activities.

Being forced to do something brings out resentment.  In some instances, individuals interested in improving their fitness don’t know where to start.  So, local gyms, small group fitness classes, or personal training facilities offer entry-level discounts to try out their programs.  While the goal of investing time into a fitness activity is to improve health and wellness, an activity that isn’t energizing and entertaining to an individual can be similar to getting a tooth pulled.  While bright lights, fun music, and cheering during a biking class might be fun to some people, the overstimulation of strobe lights and loud noise can terrify others.  A relaxing and laid-back Yoga class with soft meditation music and the instructor’s soothing voice could be enough to send a person with an upbeat “get it done” personality screaming out of the room.  The clanging of barbells on the ground and heavy metal music in a Cross Fit facility might make a person make an immediate one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn by just taking a glance at the class setting.

Do these two paragraphs sound contradictory?  They should.

The reality is that many forms of fitness applications are present in our society.  We are incredibly fortunate to have an abundance of resources available from certified exercise professionals specializing in specific skills that cater to the vast array of people looking to enhance their health and wellness via an exercise routine.  However, let’s not forget one of the most critical factors that present a successful outcome in a fitness program: consistency.

In order for efforts toward improving health via exercise to be effective, adherence to a routine must be applied.  There’s no way around reaping the benefits of a fitness program if the tactics are inconsistent.  Exercise one day per week and then avoiding exercise for two straight weeks does very little for an individual.  Therefore, find exercise routines that are enjoyable, memorable, and that you look forward to.  If the result of your exercise routine is that you had a fun time, you’ll probably go back to it.  If the routine makes you feel good, you might be motivated to return to that activity.  If the exercise setting gave you an unforgettable experience, the likelihood of wanting that feeling again is increased.  Therefore, if we want to get the most out of exercise to refine our health and wellness, put the feeling of having fun during physical activity as a priority.

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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