May 26

Shrugging Off Shoulder Pain

“Back in ’82, I could throw a football a quarter mile.  How much you wanna bet I can throw this football over them mountains?”  Uncle Rico, a character in the movie Napolean Dynamite, stated this.  Rico was in his mid-forties and hadn’t let go of his high school football dreams of being drafted into the NFL.  Even though Uncle Rico may have been living in another fantasy world where he could throw a football to the horizon, a small portion of his statement is true when we relate to our athletic experiences from our youth.

Athletes in their prime at younger ages can perform amazing feats of physical performance.  Baseball pitchers throw over ninety miles per hour.  Volleyball athletes with thirty-six-inch vertical leaps spike balls at their opponent’s faces with the force of a big rig truck creating a thunderous audible crack upon contact with the ball.  College football quarterbacks have been seen throwing over fifty yards from their knees.  The ability of athletes in their prime usually occurs at younger ages.  Why is this important to note?  The anatomy of their body has that “fresh new car smell” to it.  In other words, they haven’t been injured yet to slow down their performance.

A common injury following former athletic populations that have transformed into sedentary job settings is compromised shoulders. However, some of these shoulder injuries that might be perceived as remnants from high school pitching, throwing a football, or spiking volleyballs are less compromising than the injury that threatens our shoulder health in most society’s professions.  These injuries that sneak up unexpectedly in our everyday lives are shoulder underuse injuries.

As typical progressions of aging occur, we might get bumps and bruises along the way.  Additionally, individuals have an increased potential to veer away from the physical activities they enjoyed in their youth following their recovery from a significant injury.  Common shoulder injuries include tendonitis, bursitis, or inflamed rotator cuff muscles.  Rehabbing an injury poses a challenge both mentally and physically.    Pain isn’t necessarily the most desirable experience to embrace.  Add in the responsibilities we engage in throughout our careers of sitting at desks, driving to work, and enduring the stresses of being a parent and, paying a mortgage, and managing taxes, the time for our previous athletic career gets thrown at the bottom of the list of things to do.  Sometimes, it’s not the repercussions of the stress we impose on our bodies from being rambunctious, young, and active individuals. Lack of activity in the latter portion of our life significantly impacts our body’s integrity as we progress forward in the years to come.

Shoulder pain can be debilitating.  Anyone burdened with a history of afflictions to the normal function of the shoulder can relate to the limitations a bum shoulder imposes.  From reaching up in the cupboard to retrieve your favorite coffee mug to using a loofa to wash behind your neck during bubble bath time, a compromised shoulder throws a monkey wrench in the spokes of life’s normal physical activities.  Even putting on a seatbelt or sliding an arm into a zip-up jacket can be an obstacle when dealing with a cranky shoulder.

While it’s easy to blame what we did in our past to explain what makes up the present, it’s even easier to set aside what we need to do to make the present a better situation. For example, shoulder injuries from underuse have the potential to accumulate even more after an active, athletic career.  If the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones of a shoulder joint that were so active immediately stop moving, the connective tissue can stiffen.  This hardening of the connective tissue after five, ten, twenty, or forty years of underuse compounds exponentially over time.  Therefore, if left unused in movements that emulate the physical activities we performed when we were more active before our careers as adults took over, the shoulder’s functionality to maneuver in its ball and socket joint decreases substantially.

As a solution to continue participating in recreational physical activities that kept our shoulders active in the past, adhering to shoulder injury prevention and strength and conditioning tactics is just as much, if not more, critical toward the long-term health of our shoulders.  Dynamic stretching, mobility exercises, and shoulder strengthening exercises performed at a gym setting, with a skilled personal trainer, or at a reputable Pilates or Yoga class can offer these resources.  Additionally, the continuous use of the shoulder through various recreational physical activities around the house, such as sweeping, vacuuming, or gardening, positively impacts shoulder joint functionality.

It might not be the best approach to practice throwing footballs over mountains.  However, it wouldn’t hurt to practice and continue throwing something.  Whether it be a frisbee, a ball for your dog, or just some bird seed for the ducks out at the pond, continuing to use the shoulder joint throughout various modes of movement decreases the likelihood of permanent damage to this valuable joint.

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

May 10

Finding Time for Exercise

Doctor’s recommendations, news reports, and a multitude of research support the benefits of exercise.  A healthy weight, decreased stress, and increased overall mood throughout the day are enticing factors to be attracted to.  A plethora of reasons to exercise to support our overall quality of life can make a list of reasons to invest in routine exercise adherence that can fill up the word space of this entire page.  However, over half of our society struggles with ingraining exercise as a staple in their lives.  While the proof is in the pudding when it comes to unveiling the benefits of exercise, why is it so hard to devote at least fifteen minutes of daily exercise?

A pesky factor impeding us from exercising is time. Family obligations, personal appointments, and the forty-hour work week all require a certain amount of time, energy, and thoughts vested from us.  Picking up kids from school, making doctors or dentist appointments, or devoting a substantial number of hours toward our careers requires significant attention.  However, every human on this planet is granted twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week.

Most of us know what we need to do regarding exercise.  We don’t need a doctor’s referral to drive to a nearby local gym, attend a Yoga class, or walk throughout the stunning Napa countryside.  So, what can we do if we don’t have time?  Or, what happens if we get so overwhelmed by the confines of our busy life schedule that we say, “forget it” and omit exercise completely?

A solution we recommend to our personal training clients who struggle to find time to exercise outside of their weekly training appointments is to identify exercise-themed days throughout the week.  For example, on the days our clients have training appointments reserved for seventy minutes worth of one-on-one guided fitness coaching, they commit those days as “exercise-themed” days.  This means nothing can get in the way of their exercise appointment on the days they meet for personal training appointments.  No partying the night before, no hair and nail appointments, the kids are already dropped off at school, or childcare has been organized before this appointment to allow this exercise reservation.  Therefore, the factors that could stress us out and make a mad dash for the gym while racing the clock is tamed down because of the reserved appointment.

This practice of reserving time on “exercise-themed” days is also effective outside of the personal training arena.  For example, some of the residents of Japan reserve a few minutes as the sun rises every morning to practice Tai Chi on their front lawns.  They have dedicated that time to putting life’s endless hustle on hold so they can focus solely on themselves to achieve the health benefits of the ritual of physical activity.  The layout of time allocation in our days aren’t much different in the busy lives we live in our society.  The Earth spins the same at our present location as on every other continent where there is a twenty-four-hour clock present.  The only difference for these morning Tai Chi practitioners is that they have made a ritual to practice their preferred exercise, akin to how we make a ritual of standing in line during a morning Starbucks coffee runs.  We can implement this same practice our Tai Chi friends do by turning our phones and televisions off and putting our busy lives on hold.  Once we pave this time out of our day, we can consistently focus on exercise tactics gifting us a healthier life.

Whether scheduling a time to attend a dance class, play pickleball with a group of three other friends, or take a long walk, reserving the time to do so is always available. It’s challenging to do these things if we don’t commit to dedicating time exclusively for ourselves.  Let’s put our technological peripheral brains on hold for a few moments.  When you return from a brief bout of physical activity, computers, phones, televisions, video games, and other technological dependencies will always be there.  I promise they aren’t going anywhere.  However, our time stays behind us if we don’t allocate meaningful activities toward the twenty-four hours we have.  Let’s take some time out for ourselves to give the gift of exercise to enjoy a happy, healthy, and strong quality of life.

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

May 04

Decreasing the Risk of Falling

Balance is a unique aspect of our physical activity affecting many interactions in our everyday lives. For example, the ability to get up from a seated position, get out of bed in the morning after a six to eight-hour slumber, or disembark from our car seats require an impressive combination of movements occurring simultaneously to perform correctly.  If one of the neural pathways or muscles fails to fire in the appropriate sequence, one blip in the neuromuscular system responsible for a seemingly simple task, such as getting out of the car we use every day, can cause a loss of balance.

Losing balance can be related to the lack of ability to correct an imbalance.  Scenarios that compromising balance can be as severe as an accidental collision of the shin stepping into a small dog or as simple as scraping the bottom of the shoe on an even section of pavement.  The repercussions of losing balance can result in a substantial injury when the human body topples over from its normal vertical position and plummets to the ground.

Tripping and falling are noteworthy risk factors for individuals hindered by suboptimal abilities to correct the presentation of loss of balance, proprioception, and neuromuscular coordination.  If the body’s strength and fitness levels are deconditioned, the potential to trip and fall from a loss of balance is more prevalent.  Examples of abilities to correct an imbalance present themselves when a person bumps their foot on an object on the ground and can immediately address the disruption by reflexively placing their foot in a stable position allowing the body to regain balance.  Proprioception is the body’s natural awareness of understanding exactly where the body is in an environment without necessarily looking around to identify where the body should move.  A person with a well-conditioned core, hips, knees, and ankles can manage scenarios of imbalance due to the structural integrity of the ligaments, tendons, and muscles surrounding joints to allow the skeletal muscles to absorb the physical demands of erratic and intense movements following a correction to an event in which someone might trip and fall.

To assist in reinforcing these mechanisms that aid in the reinforcement of saving us from tripping and falling, adhering to a routine of exercise movements aimed at strengthening our core, hips, and lower extremities has the potential to decrease the risk of falling. For example, performing strengthening exercises such as squats, hip bridges, and planks are simple and effective tactics that target a broad surface area of muscles surrounding the spine, hip, knee, and ankle joints assist in reinforcing optimal balance.  Additionally, participating in Yoga, Pilates, barre classes, and other small group fitness classes oriented toward flexibility, mobility, and single-leg balancing movements optimize improvements in the ability to correct presentations of imbalance.

Decreased physical activity, recovering from an injury, post-surgical procedure periods, or the advancement of age combined with reduced adherence to exercise are top offenders when it comes to developing poor balance.  Setting aside time to maintain a strong and coordinated body through routine exercise adherence can significantly decrease the likelihood of tripping and falling.

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

Apr 30

Success in the Pull Up World

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apr 21

What to Eat, and When to Eat

Weight loss is one of the most common fitness goals.  Whether shedding a few pounds to look for good for a summer cruise, managing body weight afflicted by metabolic diseases, or simply maintaining a healthy weight because it feels good, attention to how much one weighs is essential.  Usually, a doctor’s recommendation for healthy body weight reflects a healthy ratio of lean muscle to fat mass.  Lower concentrations of subcutaneous fat mass indicate a person is practicing techniques to support an optimally functioning body.

Expending sufficient calories throughout the day is an essential component of managing weight.  Adherence to exercise, acquiring enough steps on your wearable technology’s display of activity rings, or keeping up on chores around the house assist in healthy overall body composition.  Let’s not forget the importance of dietary awareness.  The decisions about what types of food enter the body are just as important, if not more important, than adhering to a consistent exercise routine.

The term “you are what you eat” is an accurate statement.  Indeed, a body fueled by three to four weekly trips through the McDonald’s drive-through more than likely illustrates the image of a body that looks like it has undergone regular visits to a fast-food restaurant. In addition, excess carbohydrates and overconsumption of value meal-sized portions have the potential to trigger additional fat storage.  Conversely, consuming veggies and lean protein five to six times per week at the dinner table will likely reflect a body with a lower concentration of fat mass and an increased presence of lean muscle mass.  However, choosing what time of day to consume specific types of food is also critical.

Identifying what time of day to eat specific types of food is a valuable skill for managing optimal dietary decision-making.  Just as a review, the foods we eat are comprised of three primary substrates that act as functional units to fuel our bodies.  Proteins are responsible for building, maintaining, and resynthesizing connective tissue and muscle stressed from exertive physical activity bouts.  Carbohydrates are essential sugars that convert to energy to create muscular interactions and move the body. Fats are lipids and oils that act as an additional fuel source, coat cellular membranes, and are transported to the area under our skin for storage and insulation.

Understanding calorie substrate functions helps optimize our decision-making in specific circumstances throughout the day.  Choosing to eat foods with higher carbohydrate consumption when the body is enduring bouts of exertive physical activity assists the body in having fuel to perform.  For example, having a bowl of oatmeal, toast, or a piece of fruit before entering a workout class is beneficial to exercise performance.  Eating carbohydrate-rich foods earlier in the day also benefits our daily routine.  The first portion of our day is usually when we are a little more active.  Humans typically do more when the sun is out after waking.  Manual labor, chores, and walking happen more during the early half of the day.  We are more likely to use carbohydrates as a fuel source if we eat them earlier in the day.

We usually prefer to wind down and move less during the late afternoons and dinnertime.  Consuming carbohydrates during periods of low physical activity can trigger fat storage.  The sugars in the carbohydrate types of food won’t be used as energy if the body doesn’t demand them to be used.  The result of unused carbohydrates triggers the conversion of sugars into stored fat.  Therefore, understanding the specific circumstance of eating carbohydrates when the body is in a state of high or low physical activity can significantly improve the body’s ability to maintain a healthy lean muscle mass to subcutaneous fat level.

Let’s not demonize carbohydrates and fats in food too much.  Starches, sugars, and fats in food possess functions that aid in the overall upkeep of the body. Therefore, educating ourselves on what is in our foods is essential.  Having a firm grasp on what foods you eat during the highly physically active vs. lower physically active scenarios is crucial to our long-term health and balanced body composition.

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

Apr 12

Want to play catch?

The sun is out in full force.  The vivid blue sky and toasty weather gracing Napa Valley have finally appeared following a frosty and damp winter.  As the birds begin their concert of raucous cackling and chirping, the cacophony of small children can be heard around our local schools and neighborhood parks.

Grimy baseball mitts, frisbees caked with dried sand from last year’s beach trips, and dusty basketballs start resurfacing out of the depths of storage bins in our garages.  Our young companions, such as our children, grandchildren, and students, gravitate toward these objects in our backyards, the schools we teach at, or on the field of the youth sports teams we coach and volunteer at.  These youngsters are eager to expend their pent-up energy by running rampant, throwing things outside, and screaming their little faces off like singing alongside the Foo Fighters at Bottle Rock.  Similar to the potential energy of a tightly coiled spring, any human under the age of fifteen is ready to erupt in exuberance due to the phenomenal springtime weather.

For the adults accompanying these effervescent young humans, we can also expect to see some activity relatively soon.  Our children and their buddies sometimes need an additional participant to interact with.  Sometimes, the only person available is you.  When the question, “Can you play catch with me?” arises, turning down that offer is hard.  Your wrists, elbows, rotator cuffs of the shoulder, lower back, and knees better be prepared to perform with these wound-up monkeys.  Otherwise, some painful repercussions are just a few days away following a fun day of throwing a baseball, passing a basketball, or tossing a disk with your favorite small human.

To prevent injuries during recreational physical activity, complying with a brief warm-up routine can significantly decrease the likelihood of injury.  Our personal training clients perform a dynamic stretching routine that warms up significant joints of the body.  In particular, the shoulders, lower back, and knee joints.  Here are a few examples of techniques we perform that help to increase blood flow to working muscles associated with joints of the shoulder, lower back, and knees:

Forward and Backward Arm Circle Stretch:  Start by lifting your arms to armpit level.  Make small circles with your arms toward the front of your body.  Increase the diameter of your arm circles to where you feel a little more stretched.  After completing ten repetitions, increase the diameter of your arm circles as wide as your range of motion allows and perform large arm circles.  You should feel a stretch in your shoulders and muscular sensation in your biceps and deltoids.   Once you complete three progressions of gradually increasing your arm circles from small, medium, to large, reverse the direction of your circles and perform the same sequence in the opposite direction.  Repeat each set of arm circles for five to ten repetitions.

“Hula Hoop” Stretch:  Start by placing your hands on the crests of your hips.  Rotate your hips in a circular motion as if swinging a hula hoop around your hips.   Reverse the motion by rotating your hips in the opposite direction.  You should feel a stretch in the front and rear portions of your hips and the lower back.  Repeat this movement for five to ten repetitions.

Leg Kick Stretch:  Reach your hand in front of you.  While keeping your supporting leg straight, actively bring one leg in front of you to touch your hand as if you are performing a kicking motion.  Ensure to keep the kicking leg as straight as possible. You should experience a slight stretching sensation in your hamstring and calf muscles.  Repeat this movement for five to ten repetitions on both legs.

Taking a little extra time to perform a few actions emulating movements the body is about to endure throughout a bout of recreational physical activity, such as throwing, running, or catching, not only aids us in avoiding injury but also increases neuromuscular coordination.  Therefore, by conducting a brief warm-up before interacting with our young human counterparts, we can avoid nagging strains and pain and show them we still have what it takes to be a dependable teammate to support their recreational physical activities.

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

Apr 08

Spring Time Dynamic Stretching

The rainy months of the year are subsiding.  Now that we can venture outside, the hills are lush with green grass and tree foliage.  Thanks to three months of steady rain, dust, and grime on the streets look like they have been pressure washed.   Majestic songbirds flutter throughout the sky, enjoying the blossoming pink plum tree flowers and mustards interlacing the vineyards.  Following the rainy season, Napa transforms into a unique place akin to a picturesque landscape painting by Van Gogh.

The residents and visitors of Napa are presented with the gift of interacting with this paradise.  Marie Falls, Devil’s Punch Bowl, and the small waterfalls coursing off the edge of Mount George are thriving as they emit an impressive display of heart-pounding flowing water.  The vibrant redwood trees residing at Bothe State Park emit a calm and serene environment under their canopy like no other area in the valley.  For the recreational gardeners in the community, the eagerness to venture into a sunny backyard accompanied by ruby-throated hummingbirds to embark on a green thumbs escapade is just around the corner.

Even though these activities offer breathtaking experiences, they require physical fortitude and the ability to endure the substantial amounts of physical movement needed to enjoy them. For example, hikes to the falls can take two to ten miles of inclined walking over technical terrain.  Spending time in the yard with our beloved gardens requires bending down, reaching over and around objects, and utilizing hefty tools.  With that being said, being physically strong is critically important to the enjoyment of these much sought-after springtime joys.

A tactic we perform with our personal training clients meant to prepare them for a rigorous exercise session is a concentrated dynamic stretching routine.  Our exercise sessions resemble movements involved in recreational physical activity, housework, or gardening.  These events include bending down to pick up objects, kneeling on the ground, or holding onto awkward structures involving grip strength.  Similar to warming up the muscles, getting your heart rate prepared, and settling in on a focused psychological state for exercise, our bodies would benefit similarly from a warm-up when we conduct challenging physical activities in our hobbies and common forms of labor.  Here are a few dynamic stretching techniques we perform with our clients before every personal training session:

  1. Side-to-side neck stretch:  To perform the side-to-side neck stretch, start by flexing the neck by bringing the ear to the shoulder until a brief stretching sensation is experienced in the side of the neck and upper shoulder.  Once you feel a slight stretch, flex your neck in the other direction by bringing your ear to the other shoulder.  Repeat this stretch for five to ten repetitions.
  2. Supinated arm crossing stretch: To perform the arm crossing stretch with palms facing upward, start by lifting your arms to armpit level.  Rotate your palms upward and perform a crossing motion across your chest and reverse the motion to abduct your arms away from the midline of your body.  Once you feel a slight stretch in the pecs, shoulders, and biceps, reverse the motion.  Repeat this stretch for five to ten repetitions.
  3. “Hula Hoop” stretch: To perform the “Hula hoop” stretch, start by placing your hand on the crests of your hips.  Rotate your hips in a circular motion.   Reverse the motion by rotating your hips in the opposite direction.  You should feel a stretch in the front and back portions of your hips and lower back.  Repeat this movement for five to ten repetitions.

These examples demonstrate an effective warm-up for the neck, shoulder, lower back, and hips.  Performing simple preparatory movements targeting structurally significant joints of the body bolsters neurological activation of those sites of the body.  Increased neuromuscular conduction optimizes coordination, fine motor movements, and dexterity.  Additionally, warming up larger muscles surrounding structurally important joints triggers the absorption of more oxygen from the bloodstream to utilize as energy.  This causes the heart to pump more oxygenated blood to the working muscles.  A steady supply of oxygenated blood to muscles stressed from physical activity assists working muscles to fatigue less and operate for more extended periods.  Most importantly, performing a movement prep routine before each bout of physical activity consistently fortifies the muscular architecture of the muscles.  This means the connective tissue comprising the intricate structures of the bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles holding joints together can withstand more stress and produce increased work for physical activity.

Perusing through the countryside on awe-spiring hikes, showing those weeds who’s boss around our garden beds, and painting the side of our houses are just around the corner.  To get the most out of these experiences, give your body the privilege to prepare for these events so we can truly enjoy these experiences in Napa’s wondrous climate.

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

Mar 30

Staying Healthy Pays for Itself

Two of our full-time coaches called in sick a few weeks ago.  With a slew of clients eager to achieve their weekly and bi-weekly training sessions, myself and the remaining coaches, unhindered by the season’s illnesses, put in some extra hours to accommodate our beloved personal training clients.  The standard eight-hour day of coaching cascaded into ten to twelve hours of coaching clients.  We became slightly backlogged by adding in program design, onboarding our talented new coaches and apprentices, and the logistics of managing training schedules.  Two days later, we were back in full force.  All the coaches resumed their normal operations, exuberantly guiding our clients to succeed in their weekly exercise sessions.

As a nasty bug latched hold of our sick coaches, the other coaches took all the proper precautions to ensure our gym was free of the sickness that possessed their bodies and to ensure they recovered efficiently and effectively.  They updated the coaching crew on their body temperature status every four to six hours to see if their fever broke.  The helpful representatives of local COVID testing stations happily shoved swabs up their nostrils to check for the latest strain of the coronavirus.

After a few days of our sick teammates feeling like they got tossed out of a high-speed train, their fevers broke, headaches subsided, and the faucets of their runny noses turned off.  Additionally, the coaches holding down the fort returned to regular working hours.  Two days of disruption caused by an illness were effortlessly shrugged off like a rookie linebackers attempt to tackle Bo Jackson.

As ambassadors of health and fitness, the coaches at our fitness studio participate in regular exercise sessions three to four times per week. Additionally, one would be hard-pressed to find one of our coaches scrolling through their phones or in front of the television, vegging out in their free time.  Instead, they participate in their favorite recreational physical activity outside of training clients.  This is the quintessential fitness coach’s optimal state of homeostasis.

Exercise puts the body through bouts of physiological stress.  Stress hormones, heart rate responses, and blood pressure increase during rigorous exercise.  These reactions momentarily cause stress hormone production along with a slight reduction of the immune system.  The key word here is “momentarily.”  This controlled dose of exercise prepares our body to handle sources of external stress.  Such as physical weakness, psychological and emotional distress, and suppressed immune system threats.  An invoice for a hefty utility bill, a phone call that your child ditched school, or a heated business discussion can induce the same stress.  This type of external stress can produce just as much, if not more, physiological and emotional distress than a controlled exercise bout.  It should come as no surprise that the more stressed we are, the more likely we will forget to take care of ourselves.  In this case, we might become ill. However, adaptations to the stress imposed on the body via regularly organized exercise sessions ingrain the ability of the body to manage external stress.  Additionally, if the body is in optimal physical condition, it wants to recover and return to a healthy state of homeostasis.  Just like our personal trainer friends.

Illness throughout our lives is inevitable.  Unfortunately, everyone gets sick.  However, if we include regular exercise and incorporate recreational physical activity into our lives, we don’t have to be sick for very long.  That’s why it pays off to be healthy.

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

Mar 17

Physical Activity is the Natural High

“Wow, I actually feel better than when I walked in,” exclaimed an individual concluding a training session.  Geno had just finished his initial consultation, in which we conducted a physical assessment and gathered information to build a customized fitness program. As Geno exited the studio, the weather presented an ominous gray, gloomy, and rainy day.  Not only was Geno slightly stressed due to a combination of work travel and personal stress, but he was also dealing with pain in his lower back that impeded him from performing his favorite recreational physical activity of bowling.  Geno felt like a little black cloud was following him around that didn’t just bring rain and a frigid climate to his world but also made him feel like he was down in the dumps due to his current situation.  However, after he completed a small series of movements to activate the musculature of his lower back and hips, that little black cloud seemed to fade away along with his lower back pain.  His eyes opened, and he started telling funny stories about his friends at the bowling alley.  Indeed, Geno felt better at the end of this brief exercise assessment than when he walked.

February and March of 2023 have been rainy months.  Even though Napa has one of the world’s most temperate and desirable climates, these last two months have given us a reality check of what everyday life might be like in Portland, Oregon or Seattle.  The amount of rain we’ve been blessed with sets us up for success in the future.  However, the gray sky, lack of sunshine, chilly temperatures, and wet ground can give rise to feeling confined.  The desire to venture outside our cozy, warm, and dry homes isn’t the first thought running through our minds when another bomb cyclone, atmospheric river, or meteorological phenomenon is set to roll over our town.  Add a dash of twenty-five to thirty mile per hour winds, and remaining behind the framing and walls of our houses seems like a more desirable scenario.

Sunny days inspire us to take walks, dabble in chores in our backyards, and engage in outdoor sports activities. Unfortunately, the lack of this preferred climate puts a roadblock to participating in our hobbies outside. For those of us who perform work in an office, work from home in a home office setting, or commute for hours on long highways, the barricade cold and damp weather imposes upon us can induce ominous thoughts, accumulate frustration, and increase stress levels.  Without an outlet to participate in the outdoor activities we cherish, pent-up restlessness and stress can present suboptimal experiences.

The good news is there is a solution to some of these issues of temporary weather-imposed confinement:  exercise. For those who work from home, conducting administrative work via looking at a computer screen or even a tiny cell phone screen can be increased due to the lack of outdoor walk breaks or lunch meetings. In addition, as a method to intervene with the lack of usual recess sunny days offers us, we can reserve some time for brief bouts of indoor exercise.

Reserving time for exercise creates an environment where we put our phones down, step away from the computer screens, and focus solely on ourselves.  As people get past the first few minutes of exercise, the focus becomes centered on the effort and concentration needed to perform the challenging movements exercise requires.

Taking a Peloton class?  You better hold onto the handles of that bike and listen to the instructor’s cues from the app.  If you have a phone in your hand, you might fall off the bike and fail to keep up.  Doing a set of planks?  Looks like you won’t be able to text your co-worker about that deadline.  It can wait.  In a Yoga class?  If I were you, I’d put that phone on silent and stash it in the depths of your gym bag.  Better yet, leave it in the lobby on the other side of the classroom door.  It will be there when you return.  If your ringtone goes off in a Yoga class setting, you will endure the wrath of an entire class’s worth of eyes scorning your presence.

After completing as little as ten reps of squats or as long as a thirty-minute Pilates class, a feeling of victory courses through our body because we’re relieved of that period of rigor exercise is finished.  This feeling of post-exercise elation is the exact opposite of the “let me out” scenario we endure on damp, dreary, and rainy days.  Additionally, research supports exercise physiologically supports our mood and positive outlook in our everyday lives.  Physicians, psychologists, and the literature of peer-reviewed exercise physiology journals recommend exercise to reduce stress due to the positive endorphins the body experiences, an increase in circulating serotonin and dopamine, and a decrease in excess cortisol and similar stress hormones following the completion of a workout.  Furthermore, indoor exercise routines performed on a rainy day impart muscular adaptations to support the outdoor physical activities we engage in when the sun peaks its head out.

The gray and chilly gloom is almost over.  Sun and blue skies will soon illuminate the ground the rain has been kind enough to clean off for us.  We need to hold it together until that day comes.  Step away from the hustle and bustle of indoor work activities and reserve some time for indoor exercise.  By staying happy, healthy, and strong throughout these winter months, we can take full advantage of the warmer days in one of the world’s most beautiful areas.

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

Mar 12

Exercise Hurts

“I don’t like to sweat.”  “Why would you want to inflict pain on yourself?”  “There’s weird people at my Yoga class.”  “I don’t want to be around all those young kids at the gym taking pictures of themselves.”

An alarmingly prevalent reason people veer from fitness is the physical discomfort exercise can impose on a person’s mental and physical state.  Training specific areas of the body through skillfully designed strength and conditioning movements has been proven through the millennia that exercise aids the human race in functioning at optimal levels.  However, reserving time to put yourself through a bout of physical exertion isn’t like curling up on the couch with your favorite snack and watching the new season of The Mandolorian.  Accomplishing exercise is challenging.  Sometimes people don’t like to exercise because exerting oneself is painful and uncomfortable.

The fear of physical discomfort exercise inflicts on the body isn’t uncommon. Unfortunately, we see many of our personal training clients start this way.  Local gyms, exercise classes, and fitness studios are set up with what a fitness professional would see as valuable tools to assist exercise participants in completing a workout that will improve their lives.  However,  for some exercise participants who haven’t been introduced to the culture of a gym setting, one look at a hyperathletic Yoga instructor, the barbells resting on the back of a young twenty-something-year-old, or sweat dripping off of a gym rat hell-bent on getting the most of his workout isn’t what the novice exercise participant envisions as fun.  The site of these typical exercise environments is enough to send a gym newbie running out the door like they just saw a wild bear enter their house.  Why would you want to work out if the gym setting induces a stress response akin to having your hair on fire?

A solution that gives fearful exercise participants hope is to understand why exercise is a good fit for someone’s life in the first place.  What does exercise give you?  In some ways, adhering to an exercise program offers us similar benefits to the hard work we put into our careers.  For example, attending four to twelve years of college probably wasn’t easy for some.  Waking up early for a four-hour class once per week or taking a late-night class on economics isn’t’ the most desirable event..  Additionally, sitting down to answer emails for a few hours, commuting to a town two hours away for an important sales meeting, or taking a flight to another state or country for important work endeavors aren’t at the top of the list of entertainment.  Once again, begging out on your favorite Netfilx series sounds way more fun.  However, these less than palpable tasks offer us gifts in financial success, the ability to take care of family, and invest further in our lives.

Devoting time to exercise isn’t much different than the tasks we complete to advance our careers and support our lifestyles.  However, exercise is equally, if not more, essential to the time we devote to our work lives because of the benefits it offers our  health.  Without the ability to be physically strong, fend of disease and illness, and mitigate pain in our body, we won’t be able to perform at our best in vital areas of our jobs, hobbies, and interactions with our family and friends.  Therefore, understand that putting oneself in an uncomfortable situation in the exercise arena aren’t much different than inserting ourselves in the labor we regularly conduct to support our careers and livelihood.

To be successful in our careers and functions of everyday life, people usually gravitate toward job skills they are good at and enjoy.  For example, an individual who excels in mathematics could perform optimally in accounting. On the other hand, a bachelor’s in finance probably wouldn’t necessarily support a career working as a deep-sea fisherman.  Comparing  successful academic background and job selections has similarities to finding enjoyable modes of exercise.  If the goal of exercise is to decompress from a stressful day, improve flexibility, and move in a low-impact setting, then perhaps a Yoga or Pilates class would be a good fit.  However, if lifting heavy things and exerting oneself until your face is red and sweat drip from your brow is enjoyable, maybe a bout of resistance training with barbells, dumbbells, and weight machines at a local gym is the right fit.  If we want exercise not to seem like grueling work, we need to find an exercise setting that we enjoy, perform well at, and supports our goals.

Most importantly, understanding exercise is similar to the work we do in our everyday lives is a useful tactic.  No one ever said completing forty hours of work per week would be easy.  Devoting three hours a week of exertive activity via exercise isn’t a walk in the park either.  Grasping the concept that exercise will pay a dividend in an enjoyable and pain free life can help us preserve through the seemingly painful and daunting portion of adhering to a fitness routine.

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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