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Adopting an Anti-Inflammation Diet

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Avocado Toast
Avocado Toast

As spring approaches, are you starting to think “Wow, I need to dial in my nutrition” as another winter storm causes you to devour an entire box of Girl Scout cookies? Are you ever curious why so many people (maybe yourself included) feel so down in the winter? Have you considered that maybe it’s the food you are (or are not) eating? If you’ve found yourself asking these questions, it’s time to stop wondering and start reducing inflammation!

Nourish is Alkalign’s 21-day group health coaching program that helps you take a more holistic view of your health. Here are the top 3 reasons why this program works!

Quiche pie in a iron skillet
Quiche pie in a iron skillet

1 – LOSE THE WEIGHT AND PUFFINESS CAUSED BY INFLAMMATION Do you have extra weight/puffiness you would like to stop carrying around? Weight, inflammation and food sensitivities are all closely related. Spend 21 days discovering if one, or 5, inflammation-causing foods are standing between you and your health goals. 

2 – COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY We are more likely to reach our goals when we tell others about them. We are also more likely to succeed when we have support, help and encouragement along the way. Nourish will give you all of this and more!

3 – REDUCE ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION, INCREASE ENERGY Are you feeling less than amazing these days? Are you blaming it on the weather or the short days? Try something new! Take 21 days to eliminate sugar and explore what it has been doing to your mental health and energy levels. We FEEL how we eat and a healthy diet can help balance your mood and increase your energy.

CLICK HERE for a free recipe book and preview of the delicious food ideas you will get by joining Nourish!

A Refreshing ‘Mock-tail’ for Quicker Recovery After Working Out

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How did you feel after your last intense workout?

Did you experience muscle cramps, dehydration, or increased fatigue?

After your next hard workout try NASM Sports Performance Specialist, Geoff Lecovin’s homemade electrolyte recovery drink.

cracked coconut splashing in water

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Fresh Orange Juice
  • 1/4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 2 cups Raw Coconut Water
  • 2 tablespoons Organic Raw Honey
  • 1/8 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt

Directions

Blend all ingredients, chill, and serve. Enjoy!

Water galss with lemon
Sparkling water glass with lemon, view from the top

For more healthy recipes, visit www.robinluthi.com.

Reference

Lecovin, G. (2018). Refuel, repair, rehydrate, revitalize: Sports nutrition for optimum recovery. NASM Blog. Retrieved from link

Holistic Fitness Guide

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Introduction

Over the years I have carefully crafted a health plan for myself. This plan was created from research, tutorials, and a great deal of trial and error. There are 3 aspects of health I try to focus on over the years, the first is a

Healthy Diet, to make sure I am taking care of my body from the inside, because what happens on the inside affects the outside.

A rigorous Exercise Schedule/Routine that to guarantee my body is functioning at full potential. This is not forgetting flexibility and balance

and finally

Mental Health, because it makes me alert towards everything else.

All of these revolve around individual goals that I set for myself. With goals, there must be routine and guidelines that provide the structure for meeting any goals.

Sunset at the beach

The Mental State

This may not be the sexiest topic for health and fitness, but to me, it is the most important. How will you motivate yourself to get out of bed at 5:30 am every day to push yourself to do your best? One can put aside distractions and overcome inanimate obstacles.

Motivation to work out is one thing,  another more important is having the correct state of mind to regulate which ingredients/Chemicals/microbiology is entering the body and making the right choices each day. Consume clean and healthy foods. Many food options these days contain processed preservatives, added sugar, and added sodium. Avoiding these and understanding nutrition labels is key to not only improving aesthetics but feeling energized.

The first pillar for good mental health is well-rounded sleep that will allow you to awaken in the morning with energy. The added bonus is that enough sleep will also help in the gym by increasing alertness. The amount of sleep needed depends on the individual and their history of getting enough rest and the individuals lifestyle, as in how active they are. How much other energy is being expended each day should be added to the equation. My personal sleep need is between 6  – 7 hours every night. Trial and error will determine how much sleep is needed for each individual.

Falling Asleep

Personally, what improved my sleep the most was no TV or screen time at least 1 hour before bed. The screens on these devices emit “blue light” which affect brain waves. Leaving the brain stimulated and requiring a bit of a cool down or unwinding period.

No Food at least one hour before bed. Food should be digested mostly before going to sleep. 2-3 hours would be even more beneficial.

Instead of tv or phone, try reading a book. Reading will tire out the mind as opposed to hyping it up.

Take melatonin,

Melatonin is a hormone, produced primarily by the pineal gland, which regulates wakefulness. As a medicine, it is used for the short term treatment of trouble sleeping such as from jet lag or shift work. Evidence of benefit, however, is unclear.

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Even on weekends set your alarm even if you turn it off.

Urban Waterfall

Waking Up

Wake up at the same time every day, go to bed at the same time every day because that will get your mind and body in a routine and after time, after few months it will become automatic,  Most people get used to it, I wake up within the 5 O’clock hour every day just by habit even when I intend on sleeping in. Make sure to get plenty of sleep by limiting screen time an hour before lying down to bed. Also, reading before bed will exhaust the mind that last little bit and aid in falling asleep.

Put your mind to it

When it came to growing my body I first had a great deal of brain power to grow. Workout routines, supplement routines, and just plain old focus on every last rep. I wouldn’t even say that having a good attitude is important, more the right attitude is important. For example many I have worked out in a fairly negative mood. When life events happen there were times when working out that’s all I can think about. However, I use even negative emotions for motivation to push through strenuous physical activity. Focusing those emotions into each rep, because even hatred can be a powerful tool when focused on self-improvement.

Mindfulness and meditation

This is the newest piece in the holistic puzzle I have been putting together. As I have mentioned throughout this section the state of mind is key when approaching exercise or diet plan. So not only can you train your stomach cravings and muscles, but you can also train your mind so it is in the right state when tackling the other areas.

Mediation can be defined as a practice where an individual focuses their mind on a particular object, thought or activity to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. It would make sense that when I am exercising that I would want to have an enhanced focus on pushing through the work and be mentally clear to lower the risk of injury.

To begin meditation try sitting quietly for minutes each day. Starting with one minute and each day adding a minute until you reach 30 mins at a minimum.  

Yoga is like an advanced type of mediation that allows your muscles to “meditate” as they are forced to look inward.

Food is Fuel

Growing up I ate with no rules, no regards for the amount of sugar and carbs I was consuming. I would eat a cheeseburger, pizza, lots of Pop Tarts and Little Debbies because they made me feel good and I was a young kid with cravings. I was highly unlearned in the way that food actually powered our body. Such as which compounds affect our body in certain ways.  For me, this is continuing education. Constantly, I am regularly learning about the different aspects of food.

Shrimp, calamari, deviled eggs and toast

You are what you eat.

For most of my life, I thought about food as something I consumed in order to feel good. I would wake up and grab something sweet to eat because it felt “good” and provides a sense of happiness when eating it. Or I based my order preference at restaurants based around what I felt like I wanted to eat as opposed to just choosing a healthy option that will fuel your body. For all this time I was totally neglecting what my body needed. Putting my wants over my actual needs. In fact, I didn’t know what my body needed, not until I took the time to learn exactly what that is.

That’s why a strong intellect is important, to read and educate yourself. Over many years I educated myself on what exactly a healthy diet consisted of. Not just some general food groups but understanding the chemistry of food and what happens to the matter after it enters your body. This understanding has given me a whole new appreciation of food. And not just the food I had been eating, but a whole new line of sustenance I never had access to as a naive and poor child.

Recently I have been introduced to intermittent fasting. Which on its most basic definition is allowing your body to run more efficiently using your body’s fuel sources.

Exercise

High School Lacrosse put me in shape for the first time in my life. Not until after a very non-impressive, fat, and slow Freshman Campaign. In the 10th grade, I found the ability to push myself from the inside in order to achieve physical peak performance. This line of thinking about the benefits of exercise other than aesthetic reasoning. Having a healthy heart and lungs is crucial. The ability to have strong joints and bones prevents injuries long term.

Routine is Valuable, change is key

Yes, it is great to have a set routine in terms of having a plan when going into a workout. One of the worst possible decisions you can make is to turn up at the gym with no idea of what you are going to do for the next 30-60 minutes.

I have a routine that is split weight lifting 3 times a week. Each split day focusing on specific and varying muscle groups. This method I pulled from the Beach Body DVD series, p90X. That is doing legs and back one day a week then alternating between chest/shoulders or chest/back, and back/biceps or biceps/shoulders.  

While focusing on a specific muscle group on certain days of the week I do different exercises with different goals on a given day. Some cycles I may be going for maximum strength, as in low reps(3-5) with lots of weight and other cycles focus on high reps (12-15) etc.

Balance

By “balance” I am talking about a couple things. First and foremost balancing the types of workouts one completes. Cardio vs. Weights, plyometrics or yoga. And speaking of Yoga, the second type of balance refers to your body. Think to be able to stand comfortably on one leg and even performing exercises such as lightly weighted curls while on one leg.

Physical balance is key for strengthening the minor muscles in your body. These muscles support your large muscles groups. Also, the practice in focus is another key reason to challenge oneself with balance based exercises. These are related to body weight exercises. Using your body as the primary tool to work out.

Practicing balance also pulls your muscles together helping to achieve that lean body type.

Strength Training

I have a routine that is split weight lifting 3 times a week. Each split day focusing on specific and varying muscle groups. This method I pulled from the Beach Body DVD series, p90X. That is doing legs and back one day a week then alternating between chest/shoulders or chest/back, and back/biceps or biceps/shoulders.  

While focusing on a specific muscle group on certain days of the week I do different exercises with different goals on a given day. Some cycles I may be going for maximum strength, as in low reps(3-5) with lots of weight and other cycles focus on high reps (12-15) etc.

Recently I have adopted the drop set method. Starting with a moderate weight and counting down from 25. Then as the weight gets too much every 5-10 reps you drop it an increment lower.

Interval Training for Cardio

Interval training is the most effective method for elevating heart rates. Of all common exercise types, this is most proven to make changes in overall body composition. Burning plenty of calories and molding lean muscle mass.

Conclusion

The 3 aspects broken down are having a clear and healthy mental state, focusing on fuel as food, and an exercise program focusing on strength training.

Thank you for reading, please let me know any positive or negative reactions to the thoughts outlined above. 

Leg lift excercise

Does Yoga Work for Weight Loss?

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It depends how you use it.

            Yoga, as a discipline, is chameleon-like in its adaptability to whatever you desire to gain from it. It also has several unique benefits and requires its practitioners to develop skills that can be found nowhere else in fitness.

            Its roots go back thousands of years ago in an era when many health and beauty ideals were very different than they are today. It was meant for wellness in all of its forms, and versatility became built-in.

            Therefore, if weight loss is your goal, yoga has several mechanisms that can be harnessed to achieve it.

            Is it the best way to lose fat? Again, it depends. Yoga lends itself to a practice in which devotees can enjoy its benefits for many years, including weight loss. As a weight loss modality, it isn’t fast, but it is sustainable. And, if you use it in keeping with its original goal of total wellness, it can be highly effective.

            For example, recent studies are debunking the concept that different aspects of fitness, such as cardio, have compartmentalized benefits and should be developed in separate workouts. For several decades, cardio has been considered to be the best way to burn fat. And while it is an essential element of fitness and certainly can be a great way to get rid of excess calories, strength training is now beginning to be recognized more and more for its major role in weight loss.

            Almost all of yoga’s asanas involve static, or nonmoving, strength training. Muscles can be challenged by range-of-motion exercises, and by nonmoving ones such as planks or wall sits. While the specific benefits of these two types of exercise differ slightly, they both build muscle. And while yoga is typically thought of as a stretching workout, a major element of each class is static strength training. In order to support yourself and keep from falling over in Extended Side Angle, you have to use almost every muscle in your legs while you are in the long lunge, and to keep your upper body still as you fight gravity.

            How does this affect fat loss? More and more, it is being found that a faster metabolism, rather than immediate calorie burn, has much more impact on weight loss than was previously thought. And the most effective way to increase it is through strength training.

            The rate at which your body burns through the food you’ve immediately eaten, and then starts looking around for more fuel, is affected the most by how much muscle mass you have in proportion to everything else. If you’re concerned about bulking up, don’t worry—it takes a specialized training and nutrition program to do that. However, what more muscle will do is allow you to burn more calories per minute, even when you’re not exercising. You could literally be losing weight in your sleep!

Again, you might not burn as many calories during an hour-long yoga class as you might if, say, you went for a jog for the same amount of time. But, if you take into account the extra muscle you’ll build and how much your metabolism after the class will increase, a strength-focused yoga workout can be a very effective weight-loss tool.

yoga instructor in dancer pose

The only fine print is that the intensity level has to be fairly high as far as the amount of strength your workout requires. You don’t need to have dramatic amounts of flexibility to benefit from this kind of workout, but you do need to challenge your muscles in order to reap that metabolism boost.

Another way that yoga can assist with weight loss is through variety. If you do the same workout for too long without changing it up every once in a while or mixing it in with other forms of exercise, your body is going to get bored. This is true for both strength training and for cardio, both of which assist with weight loss through different mechanisms. That’s when the dreaded weight-loss plateau tends to set in, and it can become discouraging for your time and effort not to accomplish what it did before.

How can you use yoga to prevent this from happening? One selling point of yoga is that it is very easy to weave it in to your fitness regimen without slowing down what you’re trying to get out of your other workouts. For example, the exercises in conventional strength training usually require that you keep the movements within a certain range of motion where the joints are the least likely to give out under a heavier load. A strength-training program is the most efficient when you have a balanced range of motion. Too much mobility, and you’re prone to hyperextension and injury; too little, and you may not be able to move completely through an exercise and thus end up sacrificing some of the benefit.

Many of yoga’s asanas increase your gains in range of motion without requiring you to put weight on certain joints. For example, Natarajasana, or King Dancer, encourages extension and mobility in the lumbar spine, and is, of course, a weight-free exercise. The ability to control and preserve the lumbar curve is essential in weightlifting exercises such as deadlifts, and losing that skill paves the way to a herniated disk.

Also, many forms of cardio are, by their nature, repetitive. To some extent, this is a good thing, as this leaves you free to focus on the intensity of the workout and getting your heart rate to where you want it. However, once again, it is easier for a weight-loss plateau to set in after weeks of the same workout, even if you increase the intensity. Also, a common belief is that in general, cardio is easier on your joints. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

Cardio is incredibly important for systemic health and for your heart’s ability to function properly, and is a crucial part of a balanced fitness program. Many of the potential drawbacks can be counterbalanced through yoga. Critics of cardio for weight loss often point to the loss of effectiveness due to the repetitive movements in the muscles. A muscle is going to stop growing as quickly and requiring as many calories to sustain itself if it is only asked to do the same movements over and over again without novel stimulation. Yoga’s asanas require the joints to stretch and support the body in a seemingly endless number of directions, which can easily be adapted to offset a plateau effect from jogging or the elliptical.

Also, yoga eliminates many muscle imbalances, focuses on healthy range of motion, and improves posture, thus taking much of the pressure off the joints. Also, adaptability is built into many yoga routines. It is rare to find two yoga classes that are exactly the same, and just about any yoga sequence can be modified to fit your needs. Many posture problems and muscle imbalances can be directly addressed through yoga, preventing uneven pressure from being put on the joints through unhealthy movement patterns. Cardio requires continuous motion, and if healthy movement patterns can be established, problems with shock absorption or uneven wear and tear can be prevented before they can become a problem.

Yoga’s history and benefits are vast. Its adaptability gives the practitioner an incredible versatile skill set for addressing a variety of health problems or fitness goals. If used properly, it can be a powerful asset in a weight-loss program. For those who practice it for its preventative benefits or who may simply enjoy it as its own discipline, these are some of the many ways yoga can enhance total wellness.

Clarisse McLeod, M.A., C.P.T., is a certified personal trainer, yoga, Pilates, and barre instructor specializing in weight loss, corrective exercise, and strength training. She is also the creator of Abili-Barre, a revolutionary exercise program that combines corrective exercise and modified ballet. A long-time resident of Ventura County, she believes that fitness should be fun, and creates safe, doable workout programs that build upon each client’s individual strengths to accomplish their goals. To get to know her and to understand a bit more about her training style, visit her website at www.personalbarre805.com.

Linking your social media to your Namafit page is a great way to stand out!

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When you create a Namafit account, you get a professional profile page with a unique URL address that you can use to promote yourself! Take charge of the level or privacy you want, and add your instagram, twitter, facebook and website links to your profile to get more exposure, more SEO love, and showcase your dedication. Stand out to employers and the industry!

Instructors, trainers, teachers, professionals aren’t the only ones who can add social links to your page. BUSINESSES can too! Go to https://namafit.com/business/edit to add your social links to your business page and get more exposure for the business you work hard to make successful.

Link your social media to your professional Namafit page
Linking your social media to Namafit is a great way to stand out

If you have a Namafit account already go to http://namafit.com/profile/edit to add your social links to your page.

If you haven’t created your professional profile page yet, you should! Just go to https://namafit.com/signup – it only take a few minutes and will open up new opportunities for you in this industry!

You can also confirm and adjust your account privacy by going to https://namafit.com/settings

Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world…and happy job hunting

Beyond the Metrics in Your Movement

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Have you ever had the number on the scale make or break your day (or week)? That reaction is deeply ingrained in our brain, but is so counter-productive to our wellness. Does you movement practice allow you to gauge your success by how you feel – not a number on a scale, dashboard, screen or spreadsheet?

girl jogging

Start your 2019 with mindful, purposeful movement in order to train (and re-train) you to move better in your body.  Screens and dashboards that measure how fast you are going and how you measure up to the competition or how many calories you are burning force your attention elsewhere and impair your ability to make brain-body connections. The use of metrics makes that harder, not easier. It is easy to become reliant on the machine for your workout.  This year, practice self-reliance. YOU are the machine and are in full control of it.

In this modern world, we spend so much of our time in front of screens and interacting with online communities that we lose our personal connection. Seek out a brick and mortar space because face-to-face interaction and physical touch is both necessary and therapeutic/healing.

Metrics are not as objective as you think. Machine calibration may vary and your heart rate can be influenced by your hydration, sleep, nutrition or how well you have recovered from a previous workout. Set technology aside, pay attention to how you feel and connect that to your behavior. What is working? What is not? Maybe you need a rest day or more sleep?  Identify causes vs. react to symptoms. Go beyond the metrics and connect with your inner powerhouse.

Getting a Burn without Burning a Hole in your Wallet

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The Burn that doesn’t Burn a Whole in your Wallet As a form of exercise, Pilates has been around for almost 100 years now, however its popularity has generally been reserved for dancers, athletes or anyone who could afford upwards of $100 for a private session. Now, state of the art Pilates studios are using new large, user friendly, machines in a more affordable class setting fueled by uptempo music and amplified instruction, and it’s giving Pilates a whole new image. Boutique fitness studios like SLT, WundaBar, Flex Studios and Studio Metamorphosis, are a small part of this huge craze.

The creative mind of Sebastien Lagree and the development of the Megaformer might be responsible for this shift. Lagree Fitness has taken the fundamental understanding of a Reformer, the main apparatus used in Pilates, and has made the machine wider, sturdier and with many more moving parts. These machines are much easier to use than the standard Pilates machine. The springs are large and brightly labeled so you can easily adjust your own tension throughout the class. The foot bar is split in half and the two parts can easily rotate 360 degrees by gently pulling up. These not so minor changes to this apparatus have expanded the possibility of exercises; deep lunges, squats, reverse sit ups, planks, etc., and when paired with the motivating beat of a popular artist it makes for a super intense workout.

We’re also seeing machines that have combined two Pilates apparatuses into one such as the FlexFormer and the WundaBar Pilates machines. These pieces of equipment resemble your standard Reformer with a Wunda Chair attached to the back. The Wunda Chair is a classic Pilates apparatus that looks like a seat with a pedal at bottom near the feet. The pedal is great for advanced students because it’s spring loaded and unstable so it requires a lot of core strength. These classes are closer to what you’d experience in a Pilates private but the spring are still labeled and easily adjustable. Some are missing the loud motivating music you might get in a Megaformer class but you’re still going to get a good workout for a fair price.

While these machines are super cool and incredibly effective at giving you that deep burn, there are few things to be aware of. The classes themselves are designed to be very challenging, therefore, I wouldn’t recommend them to a prenatal client or anyone fresh off an injury. Megaformer classes can sometimes be rough on the hip flexors, especially for people with a weak core or with tight hip flexors already. So runners might want to be extra careful with that one. WundaBar uses a jump board attachment which is great for a burst of cardio, however if you’re not pulling in you abs real tight you might feel it in your lower back. What about that chair attachment? You need to have very good balance to feel comfortable on the chair especially for standing leg exercises. I also noticed a lot of instructors like to use the chair’s pedal for upper body segments, so your shoulders should be in tip top shape before you try that one.

The great thing about these new reinventions is that they are reinventing Pilates as a whole and bringing it to a broader population. Prior to this new trend in boutique fitness, your best chance of experiencing a Pilates machine was in a pricy one on one. Now, with these classes, people can enjoy the benefits of low impact spring resistance for a fraction of the cost. Across the board, these classes are fun, energetic and royally butt-kickin’ with minimal joint impact. A killer new addition to the fitness family and a great option for your daily dose of sweat, this Pilates Instructor approves.

megaformer workout

Finding your voice

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I like to sit quiet in wait like the wise owl , quietly observing my habitat, watching conversations enfolding, Keeping my distance from those whose ego gives rise to nonsense of knowledge. Then again, too often, I can also become the shrinking violet. Fearful my words, and stories are not worthy of attention. Always hiding in the corner, finding myself jealous of others ability to just be, and shine. Then there are those times where I speak from expansion of my own ego, feeding myself or others my own nonsense, and seeking praise or recognition from someone other than myself. There are moments when so much is to be said, but I become frozen in thought, too much thought, a lump forms in my throat, I am mute, silent by my own unconscious choice.

Mountain Ridge Path across the Sierras
Path through the Sierras

I have grown tired of walking this time worn road, I want to speak from my core without trepidation, to not tremble in fear from the sound of my own voice. To speak truths without causing pain, and to be a messenger of inspiration and hope!

I tuned in. Tuned into healing and finding balance in my throat chakra (visshudha in sanskrit), our communication center, our source of expression, gifting us the ability to speaking our highest truths. Chakras are energy centers in our subtle body, radiating from the base of our spine, to the crown of our head. These are the wheels of life circulating energy of uniting matter and consciousness. This energy is our life force, our prana, vital to the wellbeing of our souls expansion, our health,  to remaining vibrant. The throat chakra is one of our emotional centers, some believe the throat area is home to some of our emotions.

There are different ways to bring balance and harmony back to our throat chakra. I have embraced the act of singing, out loud, all day, anywhere, anytime, much to the embarrassment of my husband. I am just humming along, embracing my voice, finding silly tunes or songs popping into my head, one constant being the Indiana Jones theme song. I don’t even know where the tune came from. My husband has said we need to watch the damn movie, so I stop, and find a new tune. I have also embraced returning to our family kirtans, held every month. Kirtan is devotional chanting, and it is absolutely a magical experience every time. I am finding my voice, gentle, soft ,clear, and full of possibilities. Speaking my truths from my heart  without fear or anxiety. I am healing. I am.

Here are some other ways to find balance and healing of our throat chakra.

  1. Singing , of course. A beautiful throat cleanser.
  2. Wearing the color blue.  I love to wear blue jewelry near my throat chakra as well.
  3. Protecting our throats from the cold by wearing a scarf.
  4. Drinking lots of water, staying hydrated, and our throat moist.
  5. In meditation or a moment of stillness, imagine a lovely blue light radiating in your throat area. Inhaling and exhaling through your body!
  6. Crystal healing is wonderful with stones of blue such as, Lapis( a favorite,this stone helps expand our awareness, and self expression.)Turquoise( helps us to express our emotional issues, creative endeavors, finding your true path in life, and harmonizing us with our highest self.) Aquamarine( this beautiful stone has a calming, stress reducing effect, and also stimulates this chakra.)
  7. Certain yoga postures can also be beneficial. I enjoy shoulder stand, baby cobra,supported(with blocks) fish pose, and I love Lions breath.
  8. Journaling, write your heart out!

Some great resources for Chakra healing or general knowledge I recommend reading are:

“Wheels of life”  and “Chakra Yoga” by Anodea Judith, she is my absolute favorite.

“The complete book of chakra healing” by Cyndi Dale.

“Llewellyn’s Complete book of Chakras”, by Cyndi Dale.

“To speak well, and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.”- Unknown

Pilates and Injury Prevention: A Unique Approach to Sports Performance Improvement

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Athletes are always looking for the next best exercise to build strength, increase energy, help them go faster, and further with more endurance often pushing themselves to and sometimes past their limits to outperform the competition.

The quest for performance dominance if left unchecked and without proper guidance and training can lead to injury leaving the goal for greatness unfulfilled.

Pilates Reformers being used
Pilates Reformers

Athletes, like their coaches and owners hate injuries and do all they can to prevent them at all costs. To help with this goal, many coaches and athletes themselves have added Pilates training to their fitness regimen.

Recently, Pilates has become a common component for amateur, elite and professional athletes alike. According to Stott Pilates writer Kerrie Lee Brown, this shift into mainstream athletic training is due to “Pilates evolving to focus on the modern day biomechanics of the athlete’s body with essential scientific research.”

Pilates’ mind/body training techniques has proven effective in helping participants focus as they gain body awareness and proper postural alignment helping them to perform exercises properly and efficiently without placing undue stress on muscles and joints. To help athletes acquire these skills, and train for peak performance, experienced instructors will perform an assessment of the athlete’s current posture to identify postural deviations. Following the assessment a program is designed to address muscular imbalance issues. For example, a baseball pitcher may show signs of muscular imbalances in the shoulder (due to overuse issues). Based on the specifics of the imbalances the instructor will work with the pitcher to stabilize the shoulder while working all four of the shoulder muscles to strengthen weak muscles and stretch tight muscles.  Two exercises that are sometimes used to strengthen the shoulder muscles are called internal and external rotation.  To assist the participant in properly executing the exercise the instructor provides verbal and imagery queues along with tactile instruction to guide the participant safely through the exercise.  When performing external rotation, the instructor may instruct the participant as follows

Inhale to prepare

Exhale: Stabilize the scapula (verbal instruction) “Slide the shoulder blade down –into an imaginary back pocket “(imagery instruction). — Externally Rotate arm (away from the body, like opening a door) (verbal and imagery)

Inhale: Return the arm to the starting position (like closing a door).   

The verbal and imagery queuing allows the participant to hear, visualize and perform the exercise with proper form. Proper work of the muscles helps to insure strength, proper range of motion and flexibility to alleviate any muscular aggravation and reduce the chances of injury.

Whether you’re on the professional sports field or the field of life, Pilates training will help you stay in the game. Adding Pilates to your training regimen will insure proper balance, postural alignment, strength and flexibility for an active, healthy, injury reduced lifestyle.

The Journey Begins. How Namafit Got Started.

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How I Solved My Own Staffing Problems At My New Fitness Studio

handstand

When I opened a yoga, fitness and dance studio in 2010 I was embarking on a journey very new to my family and me. Prior to opening our new studio, I had been a software engineer for over 16 years, a husband and a father of 3 boys. As you can imagine, my wife and I were very busy — on top of being an awesome mother to our boys, she owns and operates a busy local restaurant.

I always knew that I wanted to open a small business close to our home — something that would help contribute to the overall wellbeing of our community. After living in our area for several years, we realized that there was a need for an awesome local dance/fitness studio. We had lamented the fact that there was nowhere in Menlo Park to take good fitness and yoga classes. We also noticed that the dance studios where our boys were taking classes were packed with kids. We have both been active and into athletics our whole lives, and as parents, that segment of our lives had definitely been neglected for years! So, looking back, I guess opening a yoga, fitness and dance studio was a pretty natural thing to do.

Getting the business systems setup, finding a space to rent and getting ready to open was time consuming but all fairly straightforward. I called a contractor to help with the interior build out. They took care of the details. I opened bank accounts. I signed up for MindbodyOnline to handle reservations and payments. Making a schedule of classes was actually pretty difficult because it meant taking into account the demographics in the neighborhood and neighboring cities, figuring out what types of classes were appropriate at which time of day. The initial goal was to offer youth classes, mostly dance, in the afternoons, so factoring in the times that schools let out was important. But in the end, it was all set in place. This was all in motion leading up to an opening date.

Staffing for a new fitness, yoga and dance business

Staffing (hiring professionals who were going to instruct my classes, not to mention represent my business to the public) was something of an unknown. After doing some research online, Craigslist quickly became my go-to resource for posting job ads to find teachers. Being a new business, I had a budget for marketing and advertising, which helped cover the cost of the $75 each job post cost with Craigslist. Everyone knows Craigslist — you write up a job title and description, pay $75 and submit. The job loads into the “fitness/spa/salon” category search results and you wait. At some point for most Craigslist posts, just like anyone else who posts on Craigslist, I received emails from people interested in my open positions. Sometimes I would get an email with a nice paragraph about the person, along with their name, email, phone number and resume attached. Sometimes, I would receive a quick request to be hired, with a name and nothing else. The rest of the responses I saw fell somewhere in between those two extremes.

When I did receive enough information about a person applying, my next step was to google their name and hopefully find out more about their background, where else they teach, how long they’ve been teaching, etc. After several email and phone call chains, followed by onsite interviews, ultimately, I was able to hire enough professionals to fill my staff sufficiently to run thebusiness.

Connections

A big part of running a business that relies on independent contractors for its staff is the maintaining and building of professional connections. I found out very quickly that my day-to-day staffing needs relied heavily on my ability to search my rolodex in an efficient manner for not only “great instructors”, but “great instructors” that could teach the types of yoga/fitness that we were filling classes for. (I don’t actually have a rolodex, as I’m sure you may have surmised, but instead have several email lists that I am constantly curating.)

Basically, this is how my current “networking” efforts have gone:

  1. Post to Craigslist
  1. Email/phone back and forth
  1. Invite potential instructor for an onsite chat
  1. HIRE them for a class
  1. After hearing feedback from those who participated in the class, add the instructor to my list.
  2. Repeat steps 1–5 next time an instructor bails on a class (which happens more often than you’d think)

After going through this process more times than I can count, I started to think that there had to be a better way. After doing a bunch of research, and interviewing a bunch of my instructors and many similar businesses, I came to realize that there wasn’t anything available that suited my needs. As it turns out, the fitness/yoga industry is very word-of-mouth driven when it comes to staffing. Most other studios and gyms follow the same pattern of Craigslist and email lists to fulfill their staffing needs.

Enter Namafit

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been a Software Engineer for years, for startups all over the Silicon Valley. After experiencing the above issues for months in my own business, I decided that enough was enough! I hooked back up with a buddy of mine that I’d worked with for years on other projects and we built namafit.com.

Namafit is a platform that completely solves my fitness instructor staffing problems. I’m able to quickly post opportunities, which are then automatically broadcast to all of Namafit’s extensive database of instructors. Instructors have the ability to create their own profile, which includes information such as their qualifications, styles/levels they teach, and even their resumé. We have been hard at work building a product that will replace the dreaded email list, and will give businesses such as myself a tool to find quality instructors quickly. And it’s a tool to for fitness instructors and trainers to find more work, and more importantly, have more work find them.