Our veteran client, Freddy, was beginning his weekly exercise routine. He expressed his back was feeling tight. He immediately knelt with his back facing an exercise bench. Putting one foot on the bench and the other foot positioned in front of him as if he were genuflecting in a position meant to stretch his quadriceps …
Tag: Napa Valley Fitness
Oct 18
Upper Back and Shoulder Blade Strength
“Can you make a brace for me?” One of our personal training clients, Frances, inquired jokingly. “Just so my shoulder blades and back can stay in place without me doing any work. Maybe just some brackets and a few deck screws to pin my shoulder blades in place so they don’t droop forward?” Frances added. …
Oct 12
Fitness Preparation for an Event
One of our aspiring young coaches recently completed an ultra-endurance event known as the Spartan Race. This is an event that includes eight miles of professionally designed obstacles one would see in a military boot. The only difference is a creative twist with the addition of obstacles including long distances of monkey bars, ice cold …
Sep 20
How Does Stretching Make you FEEL?
Flexibility and mobility are terms that contribute to an efficient, pain free, and productive body. Functions such as reaching over the head to acquire objects, bending down to pick objects off the ground, or rotating the torso to get in and out of cars are common movements that require joints to be able to move …
Sep 06
Healthy Dinners: Electronic Free Meals
Long days at the office require rest and relaxation. Waking up at the early hours of the morning, commuting to job sites, and devoting energy and time to your trade requires significant psychological, emotional, and physical bandwidth. As we make the journey home following a productive day, we look forward to seeing the inside of …
Aug 27
ABC’s: Feet, Stability, and Balance Exercises
Last week, we reviewed the young Olympic phenom, Simone Biles and her ability to display the extents at which the human body can move in various presentations of imbalance. We concluded that Simone is a generational phenom of athletic performance that arises once a decade to set new world records in sports. While the rest …
Aug 08
Healthy Knees and Strong Hips
A productive and enjoyable experience to our everyday lives is what most of us strive to achieve after we wake up in the morning. A critically important factor to a fulfilling day is our physical well-being. We can have a to-do list with the power to supercharge our world. However, we cannot make these life-enhancing …
Jul 29
Solving Sciatica Through Exercise
Back pain is no joke. Limited movement, decreased functionality, and living with pain are just a few negative biproducts back pain imposes upon a person’s life. Disruptions such as traumatic accidents, overuse, underuse, or injuries, to the structures surrounding the collections of bones comprising our spine, can turn a personal world upside down. These words …
Jul 12
BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals)
“I have a few big, hairy, audacious goals.” These profound adjectives presented before the word “goals” caught my attention as I was meeting with a new personal training client. “I call them BHAGs. I use them as a tool to achieve my sales quota for my job. If I don’t set those goals for myself, …
Jun 01
Give Pain Your Full Attention
Hinges, knobs, handles, screws, nuts, and bolts are instruments used throughout our daily lives. We see them as we open doors to our homes and cars. Metal hinges held on by screws attaching doors to planks of wood ensure a door operates efficiently. Handles attached to our kitchen utensil drawers are fastened by screws. The …