I have a confession to make.

Last fall, it took a health scare and my body breaking down to wake me up to the reality that all the stress from navigating the pandemic as a “non-essential” entrepreneur, with two kids under four, was TOO MUCH for my body.

2020 was the year that I obsessed about helping everyone else keep their wellness at the forefront, and I ironically shelved my personal wellbeing.

I justified it because there were more important things to do. That was real for me.

I was under a LOT of pressure to save the business, keep employees employed, stay positive for everyone around me and be a good wife and mom to two kiddos (one of which didn’t sleep).

I know you get it, too.

All of us felt the pressure and the urgency. We all had daily fires to put out.

I could have easily chalked it up as a crappy year for my health.

But when you run a fitness facility where literally 350+ members found a way through their own chaos to own their fitness and make good on their values…. it’s hard to push it down as “circumstance.”

But that’s what I did. Until my body said, “Slow the hell down.”

Let me paint a picture.

Our bodies are deeply wise. They hold the generational trauma of our ancestry. They hold our childhood stresses as well as all the stress and hurt we carry in our bodies as an adult. It fills up and symptoms of your body crying out for relief start to show up at the least convenient times.

I’ve always just known that my body will literally break down under prolonged stress or after being shelved as a “low priority.” I get hives, headaches, ulcers, and the kind of symptoms you mutter to your doctor because you’re totally mortified.

At 2pm, at my desk, in November 2020, I realized I’d been blankly staring at my computer screen for over 30 minutes. Weird. No memory at all of what I was even supposed to be doing. I tried to muster energy to push through, but felt like I had nothing. I pretended to work until 3pm.

Then, on the drive home I almost had to pull over because I could barely keep my eyes open. I was literally zapped of all energy. I got home and collapsed on the kitchen floor.

I remember trying to hold it together for my kids… but I couldn’t get off the floor. So I tried to make it a game… but no matter what I dressed it up to look like to save face with my kids… I was still just looking up at the ceiling.

Hard to make THAT a fun activity.  My little kiddos were looking at me like “what is going on with mom?”

Something seemed really wrong with me.

I was staring at the kitchen ceiling thinking, “I have three hours until Michael comes home and I don’t know what to do with myself.” I was completely brought to my knees by this. I was truly afraid that I didn’t have the energy I still needed to get through the pandemic.

And it was this uncomfortable moment where I was faced with the reality that there is NOTHING more important than your health and vitality. It was not lost on me how hypocritical it felt for me to acknowledge this as a fitness business owner.

Prior to this, I would say that I valued health. I valued fitness. I valued balance. I value alignment and I hate, hate, hate, hate being considered a hypocrite.

But there I was, literally on the floor of my kitchen looking up at the ceiling, totally freaking out because I had shot my adrenals. There’s a lot more to this story, including a soul adventure to Sedona, Arizona, and almost getting an auto-immune disease that I created from all of my stress, et cetera. I’ll spare you the saga for now.

But what I will say is I was faced with the reality that I needed to slow down. I needed to prioritize my body. I needed to prioritize my wellbeing, and that has transformed a lot of things in my life. And so as uncomfortable as it is to write this newsletter this month and own this hypocrisy…. I am doing so because I want to share my takeaway about being congruent in our lives, with what we say we care about.

I was reminded about something I used to tell my business consulting clients years ago…. “If you ever want to know how you can determine what somebody values, there are two obvious places to look.”

Two ways to gauge whether somebody actually values the things that they say they value.

1. The first is in their calendar and what they make time for, and

2. Second is where they spend their money.

Time and Money.

We might all agree that these are the two resources that we are the most protective about and we want to be the most conscientious about how we spend.

As I’ve spent the last 6 months putting my health back into my FOCUS, both time and money have been reallocated to help me stabilize. For me, the answer came from spending two hours EACH day, doing whatever I wanted to do to restore my soul, feel a sense of freedom, meditate, and of course workout.

It’s been game changing for me.

I’ve recently reconnected to the wisdom of slowing down, as to not burn out.

My question to you is, what do you value, based on calendar and income or how you spend money? If somebody were to look at the last month in your life, would they see health finding its way onto your calendar? Do you make time for that? Is it something that you hope that you can make time for? Is it something you rely on the conditions being perfect before you can do it? Or are you somebody that goes in and makes time and blocks it off in your calendar?

And then what about spending money? Of course, you can go on hikes which are free. But there is something about putting money behind a practice so that you SHOW UP for it. That’s where fitness memberships or wellness practices start to show up.

So what does all this look like for you?

If you’re one of those 350+ people who CRUSHED the pandemic and doubled down on your self care, you are my hero. You inspire me every day and I’m so thankful for you.

But if you are more like me, burning yourself out and hoping you can get through a challenging season, ignoring your health and wellness…. consider this a gentle nudge that you deserve to be prioritized. That living congruently with your values is an act of self love. And you can’t serve all the wonderful people and causes you were put on earth to help when you’re stuck lying down on the kitchen floor, staring up at the ceiling, scared for your health.

So if it’s time to start prioritizing your wellbeing and you are looking for a partner to help you do that, you know what I’m about to say: Come check out Gymnazo. We’re running some pretty cool promotions.

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I like to take note of events that are “firsts”.  Last week I had a very cool “first”: I had my tires rotated for the first time. Now that may seem pretty run of the mill to you, but when you go “all electric”, one of the benefits is how infrequently your vehicle needs to be serviced. It was the first time I’d taken it in for any kind of traditional service. 

Out of curiosity, have you ever questioned a mechanic who tells you that your tires need to be rotated? I haven’t. I would question why my fluids needed to be flushed earlier than usual or how they knew that my timing belt was in need of replacement, and I would definitely get a second opinion about anything over $500. But I have never questioned tire rotation. Why is that? 

I think it’s because it’s easier to see and understand the why. It’s obvious that if you drive for too long, in the same fashion and around the same sharp curves, the integrity of the tires could be compromised simply because of the wear and tear of the car’s position. It also makes sense that after ~5,000+ miles, you should rotate the tires as a precaution, because the odds are in your favor that this timeline is typical for wear and tear. 

If you know me, you know that I am always looking for a good analogy, and a car is such a good one.  Imagine that your body is the vehicle and the ligaments/ tendons and joints are the tires.

If you move or work out with too much repetition, you will eventually wear down your ligaments/ tendons and joints, and over time, and they will need to be replaced, or they will simply “break”.  To avoid that, you “rotate” your ligaments/ tendons by varying your movement patterns, changing planes of motion, and focusing on whole body exercises.

Today, it kills me to see fitness trends celebrate “innovative workouts” that literally have you running on a treadmill and rowing for over 66% of the workout, or 100% of the workout is done in a seated position, on a bike. This screams to me that it will wear down those athletes’ ligaments/ tendons and joints much faster because of the way the exercise stresses them. It’s not innovative; it’s simply a way to get the heart rate up, without considering the impact of countless repetition.

What’s the problem with non variant repetition?

Our bodies are designed to move front to back, up and down, side to side, and in rotation. Most of us sit so much during the day, that our bodies scream for motion through the aches and pains many Americans have accepted as “normal.” When we take our achy, inactive bodies and throw them into workouts that are highly repetitive, it wears down the system very similarly to how tires are worn down.

You bench your brain. 

Another one of the downsides of too much of the same thing is that it’s boring for your mind. For those of you who feel like your brain is constantly in high output and stress, this certainly has its appeal. But neurologically, it is the equivalent of benching your brain while your body goes up to bat, alone.  Science tells us that neurons that fire together wire together. Neuroplasticity is a real goal of humans, especially as we age. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to re-wire itself as a response to sensory experiences. The more you have to think and build movement literacy, the more engaged your brain becomes and therefore, longer term neurological benefits are achieved. Science shows us that the neurological benefits of exercise are powerful at combating debilitating conditions associated with old age. But it’s more than just exercising; it’s engaging your neurons when you move. That’s the missing link. You have to playfully engage your brain.

You only become strong in certain limited movement patterns, leaving you rigid and at risk of injury. 

The goal of repetition is to perform a particular movement faster, stronger and better all the time. To do this, your body focuses on only the muscle groups and joints needed to perform that singular movement pattern. To build strength, your body lays down layers of muscle fibers in specific places to strengthen only the parts of the muscle it needs for that movement. This leaves you at risk of injury or inflexibility should you need your body for the more functional, multi-directional motions we use daily.

As the self-proclaimed auto mechanic in this analogy, I’ve often advised people to rotate their tires because of signs of wear and tear. As a movement therapist, it is easy for me to see signs of wear and tear through our 3D movement analysis. But I’ve spent a lot of time and money to develop the ability to see what’s happening.
But as an athlete, how do you recognize signs that your body is wearing down? What are some red flags to pay attention to?

Here are some red flags I see often, when the body is worn down:
1. Tight muscles
2. Pain, especially in joints
3. Cycles of workout intensity, then pain, then inactivity. Then repeat.

You deserve a body that doesn’t limit you.  Life, free of pain and movement limitation, while being strong, is the goal. You can take back control and become educated enough to know when your body is in balance and your brain is playfully engaged. 

I get fired up about this because before functional training emerged in fitness, the industry had spent 50 years breaking down whole body training into isolation, uni-planar movement patterns, with far too much repetition. Now, everyone is claiming to be “functional”, like it’s a buzzword, rather than a distinctive style, and so many programs are counterfeit. 

You deserve more, and it’s my mission at Gymnazo to be more bold with what we know and empower our athletes to understand what true balanced, functional, multi-planar and brain stimulating movement feels like. Then, no matter where you move or where you go, you will be able to know when it’s time to rotate those tires.

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This past week, I’ve had the rare privilege of doing manual labor to pull out and replace a fence line on our property. While that statement may sound sarcastic, I assure you that I genuinely enjoy hands-on projects and the process of improvement. But with any project, there are always forks in the road that require you to decide the next direction you will go and hope that you’re right. It was my first time removing a fence and it’s been an amazing metaphor for my work in Movement Therapy. 

Phase 1: Rip out the old fence.

“Demo Day”, as Chip Gaines would say, was rewarding. I started out, ripping out the old rotten fence, and I made huge progress in a short amount of time! It was one of the better ways to spend an afternoon. I have inherited the joy of working with my hands and learning how to do something I’ve never done. But here’s where the learning curve came in to play and decisions had to be made. As it turns out, knocking down the wall was easy. 

Phase 2: Dig out the cement footings.

Each post was secured into the ground with its own large cement footing. As it turns out, there are two ways to get through this phase: The first way is to cut off the wood post and leave the cement footing in the ground, and then place the new post in a new location entirely. The second way is to painstakingly dig out each cement footing in order to start with a clean slate. I am a firm believer in doing the job right the first time and not taking shortcuts. So I dug, and dug, and dug, and called in my Dad to help continue digging. It always takes a lot longer to do something the right way and often, you find yourself second guessing your decision, wondering why you are a glutton for punishment. But now that it was done, I had nine huge holes in my property line that I was proud of, despite my blistered hands. 

Phase 3: Re-build the foundation.

This was supposed to be straightforward; however, my next door neighbor’s yard is 12 inches higher than mine, on his side of the fence. This caused some concern around water and the inevitability of the new fence rotting. Either we were to redo it like it was before, knowing that the fence would rot faster, or we were to take my contractor’s advice and pour a cement wall that would act like a foundation for the fence, as well as a small retaining wall for my neighbor’s backyard. The second choice was more expensive, more time consuming and more of an obstacle. But once again, I wanted to do it correctly, and so we began to set the foundation for the fence. This is where we currently stand in our fence rebuilding process. 

Fence Metaphor: A Picture of Pain Removal through Movement

This is as far as we’ve gotten with the fence, but it’s been a powerful reminder of the process we go through daily, with people who are seeking to remove pain and rebuild a strong and resilient foundation so they don’t easily fall back into disrepair. 

Movement is complex and pain even more so. Keeping our bodies in a good, functional state is not a passive process. Clients often come to see us in pain, and their expectation is that it’ll be a quick fix. Like tearing down a fence line. How hard can it be? Just target the pain and remove it: “Here is where it hurts. Just massage here or stretch this and I should be good.” I wish it were this easy.

Ideally, with the right installation and maintenance, your body, like a fence line, should be solid and do its job for decades. But at some point, it’s natural to show signs of wear and tear. And it takes us a long time to recognize when it’s time to address and fix the parts in need.

Once you’ve decided to address the issues, you are faced with the decision of which service to choose and how to approach it. Are you planning for the short term or long term? Just like my fence, there are shortcuts that offer a quicker fix and relief, but the problems are likely to repeat in the long term. 

As we’ve been working with more and more clients for pain relief, we almost always recommend getting to the root of the pain, as well as figuring out which movements have lead to that pain. This is so that we can address any harmful patterns and avoid repeating them. Our goal is to eradicate the pain systemically, not just provide short term relief. It was the decision we made back when we were deciding which route Gymnazo wanted to provide for our members. 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, as I work on the fence line. Viewing my fence line like a body reinforces my belief in doing the job right the first time and reaping the long term benefits. If you are experiencing pain and not finding long term relief, consider a new method to approaching your pain. We’d love to help you and restore your movement, free of pain.

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Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to get up on “stage” in front of some of my favorite people in San Luis Obispo and share a little about the Gymnazo story. I joked that as the middle child, whenever I’m handed a microphone, there’s no telling when or if I’ll give it back. But recognizing that not everyone at our Annual Party knew the origins of Gymnazo, I took the opportunity to share a little more about how our programs and services have evolved over the years. I was struck with a key theme in our story:

We have expanded our services every time, to take what we do successfully in Exclusive training to reach more people, at a more affordable price. 

I think back to the days when we were in Kennedy Club Fitness, and we only offered two levels of group training (now G2 and G3). I remember one Kennedy member in particular, who would pop her head in and check out the workout of the day and then walk away. When I’d invite her to join us, she’d joke that once I created a program that wouldn’t bother her knees, she’d be there. So I did. We developed a new program (now G1) to address her concerns, and it’s been one of the key differentiators of what makes Gymnazo unique. We welcome those who have aches and pains and we have a plan or program for you when you arrive. So thank you, Debbie Duggan! 

Since then, we’ve created Semi Private training and Melt.Mold.Move. to address other needs in our membership. Each program continues to grow and further evolve the services at Gymnazo. 

I’m happy to announce that we’re now preparing to launch a new program to respond to the needs of moms and women in our membership and community. It is something I’ve been concerned about for a long time and have recently been able to put together all the pieces and science needed to create a program we are proud of. The larger AFS (Applied Functional Science) community has recently released some truly groundbreaking strategies and techniques, and we are better positioned to meet the needs of our members than ever before. 

What’s really amazing to me about all of this, is the convergence of recognizing the need for helping women recover from giving birth, finding new research and techniques, and watching my wife’s own journey to recover post birth. 

This last year, working with my wife to recover from childbirth has been enlightening. After giving birth, many women’s Pelvic Core Neuromuscular Systems (PCNS) are compromised. The need to rebuild the PCNS post birth is really common with new moms, in particular. It doesn’t always heal on its own and therefore requires specialized training. After confirming this was certainly a big factor, CJ and I started to program for this in Paden’s Exclusive and Semi Private workouts  

Since then, Kaleena, CJ and I have been sharpening our scientific knowledge of this dysfunction, as well as the techniques and strategies to train these systems, to help the women in our lives. What we’ve learned is that this is a common issue for women, and it is one we can solve. When we realize it’s in our grasp to offer a solution that our members (or family members) seek, it’s something we fast track. Kaleena is taking the lead on bringing this program to San Luis Obispo, and we are excited to see how it impacts the women in our community. 

So ladies, keep your eyes open for an email in the next couple of weeks, which will include more information and details! We will be launching Female Core Conversion sessions, specifically designed to target rebuilding the Pelvic Core Neuromuscular System.

Since there seems to be a lot of confusion about what this dysfunction entails and who it impacts, Paden wrote a blog post to describe her experience, and Kaleena wrote a blog post describing more of the science behind what it is and how to train for it. If you’re wondering if you have a PCNS limitation, I encourage you to read these and see if this new program would benefit you. 

More than anything, we seek to provide real solutions for our members. If you have a concern or something you are struggling with that you haven’t shared with a team member, please let us know. We don’t want anyone to struggle in silence, with anything movement related. Let us innovate for you and together we will continue to shape and build Gymnazo services to impact our community!

Do you suffer from PCNS dysfunction? Take our quiz to evaluate your risk.

The post Bringing Post-Partum Healing to Women appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Sometimes the “American Dream” becomes a series of life stages and expectations like a checklist for success in our society. Example: 

• Late teens: Pick a college 
• Early 20’s: Find a job out of college 
• Late 20’s: Fall in love and get married
• Early 30’s: Have kids and buy a house 
• (That’s how far along the “list” I’ve figured out)

I remember the year I got married; Paden and I had no less than 12 weddings we were attending in 5 months!  It was like everyone was doing it. Now, all of our friends are having babies, and they seem to be locking down home investments and sadly making an exodus from SLO to more affordable neighborhoods in North County. 

I’ve recently started to get hooked on familiarizing myself with the local housing market. I know affordability is a local issue that local government is seeking to solve. But as someone with this future milestone looming in front of me, I can’t help but think of a recent experience I had. 

My parents seem to have the unique skill of being able to see the potential in the worst of places and turn it into a dream home. Growing up, they would drive us to our “new home” and it would be beyond depressing for us boys to look at the newest dump in our lives. For as far back as I can remember, our homes were in constant re-model mode. I now appreciate this skill they have. As I have yet to venture into home ownership, I like to look at less than promising homes and try to “see the potential.” 

A couple weeks ago, I saw a property close to downtown, that had a small front house and a studio/granny unit in the back. It was clearly lower in price than the local comps, so you have to wonder what’s wrong with it. Have you ever heard Realtors say that a house has “good bones”? Well this house may have had osteoporosis because when I look at it, the foundation looked like it was cracking and the roof looked questionable. 

Later, I mentioned it to my dad and he said, “Yikes! Houses that need foundation work AND roof damage? Even if they are livable you know you’ll eventually have to get after it and fix it.” 

I’ve thought about that recently. What a sad prospect to know something is damaged at its foundation (literally) and to have to live with it until you get around to fixing it. 

This happens all the time in fitness. How many of us walk into the gym with the same old nagging injuries and pains? We push through it because we think it’s livable and not yet at that critical place. 

What amount of pain is too much? What is the breaking point? When is it unbearable? 

At Gymnazo, we think a lot about our athletes and the bodies they live in. We only get one body and we want it to be better than “liveable”. We want it to be a sanctuary; a powerhouse able to withstand the activities we want to do. 

I encourage you: If you have an ache or pain that you have been nursing and putting off finally getting fixed, please let us know. We are experts at remodeling bodies I do not say this in humility. While I may not have an eye for the perfect real estate project, I do have an eye for fixing movement dysfunction and reducing pain. Pain is not something you should have to live with until it gets so bad that you have no choice but to make radical changes. Let us help you. Trust that we are dedicated to assisting you in making sure your body is functional and ready for whatever you ask of it!

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A couple weeks ago my family and I caravanned up to Tahoe for our annual family reunion. It’s a trip we always look forward to. Garwoods, fireworks, cold lake water, rafting down the Truckee river and late night family games. What’s not to love? Oh, that’s right, the 7.5 hour road trip. That’s the only downside. 

With a new baby on deck, my wife had been planning to tackle the road trip for weeks prior. Reading every blog on the subject, she finally felt equipped for any scenario that should arise. She had lists prepped in advance of everything she needed to pack and she took care of everything baby. My one responsibility, to take care of myself and navigate us north late one Thursday evening.  I thought I had it dialed in, but I forgot the one essential tool I hate to leave the house without: my foam roller.  *insert dark, foreboding music* 

Not two hours into the car ride and I felt desperate to stretch. I was arching my back, pumping my legs up and down, and basically trying to get some movement back into my legs and low back. I was aching and getting tighter by the minute. It was like my muscles were locking down with each mile we drove, going into hibernation. I was increasingly aware of the havoc inactivity was having on my body. I could feel my body breaking down. 

When FitBit released their initial step counting wrist monitor, a typical part time coach at Gymnazo could clock 14 miles in steps in a normal day. To put that into perspective, I believe at the time the daily goal for most of working America was 3 miles in steps, which typically meant that in addition to the day’s typical activities they would have to take a long walk to hit that mark.  Let’s face it, as movement professionals my team and I we are the exact opposite of most of our clientele. While most of our white collar working clients get up to move around and “take a break” we actually look forward to sitting down to “take a break.”

With this in mind, I have to admit when my body experiences long periods of inactivity it is not trained to be able to handle it, I struggle to sit still. This causes us some trouble when I want to pull the car over every 30 minutes to do the Gymnazo warm up, but each time I stop the car our 5 month old wakes up crying. My wife early into the trip warned me to only stop for gas or extreme cases of needing to use the bathroom. So picture me in the driver’s seat squirming, begging for back rubs and neck rubs and trying everything I can think of to move my aching body.  Welcome to the Hughes Family Tahoe Road Trip 2017.  

 It may not surprise you that my wife pokes fun at me during long car rides because as she says, “inactivity to you is as bad as a man flu.” For those curious about the pop culture reference, the man flu is a joke typically wives make about their husbands for over dramatizing their sickness in order to get more sympathy and assistance.  I continue to reject her reference to my “man flu” symptoms, but of course what husband wouldn’t? 

There is a reason for my response to inactivity (what she calls my “over reaction”). Today white-collar workers have to train for the amount of inactivity they put their body through. This lengthy inactivity is not normal and not something we were created for. But our bodies are adaptable, which is part of how we’ve been able to survive and evolve with nature.

Think back to kindergarten and grade school. Children are being trained to sit still for length amounts of time.  This can equate to being “good” children. This training for sitting starts at age 5, so by the time we enter the work force it should be no surprise that it’s not much of a shock to our bodies to sit for over 8 hours per day. In fact, Americans are sitting an average of 13 hours a day and sleeping an average of 8 hours resulting in a sedentary lifestyle of around 21 hours a day. 

When my wife isn’t poking fun at me, she makes the comment that when I complain about my low back or tight hamstrings that I’m finally feeling what my clients walk into the gym with on a daily basis. It’s truly awful and reminds me how passionate I am about warm ups, cool downs, stretching, mobility, and stability. 

If I only get 1 hour of your time, several days per week, I want it to count. I want it to reduce your pain. I want to fight inactivity with you. My team and I are so motivated to help you combat the effects of gravity, because it’s just too painful!  Life is too short to live in pain. While most of us have to be inactive to make a living, we can still choose movement daily. 

I may have the “man flu” when it comes to a tight and achy body and curse the day I forgot to bring my foam roller to Tahoe with me. But this experience makes me a better coach. It makes me empathetic and motivated to help each one of you fend off pain and aches that steal joy and fun from your life. Being socially active is a blessing and we want to empower each one of you to take full advantage of hard earned weekends and vacations. 

Thank you for trusting us each time you walk into the facility!  We are in this together!

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Without a doubt having a newborn child makes you ponder the value of sleep like never before. It’s amazing to me how my wife can operate under such a lack of sleep night after night for almost two months. What further amazes me is how much my growing daughter sleeps (however short the spurts are) in a given 24 hour period. When’s the last time you averaged 13-15 hours in a 24 hour day?

One of the ladies in my life gets hardly any sporadic, interrupted sleep and has been feeling the effects of sleep deprivation. We recently had a discussion about ways I can support her, especially on the weekends when I’m home. So armed with the best of intentions, I set aside a Saturday to help. I kicked off the bedtime routine like a pro, woke up first for the mid-night wake up call and changed Kennedy’s diaper, woke Paden up to nurse and she was so thankful. I told her, “No problem, I’ll get up for the 6-8am alert time so you can sleep…” and there ended my best efforts as sleep took hold of me and when I woke up it was 10am and she’d been up with the baby since 6am.

Sleep is a powerful thing. As I’ve been watching the relationship a newborn and a new mom share with sleep, it’s reminded me of something I’ve known for a while: sleep is the bodies way to recharge, grow and heal. The importance of restoring your mind, body and soul cannot be overstated. If you know me or any other Gymnazo coach, you know we preach restoration religiously.

We’ve recently created two new programs at Gymnazo to focus on restoring our bodies. While we haven’t yet digressed as a society where people will pay us to let them come and actually sleep, we’ve done the next best thing: restorative movement practices.

1. G Flow. With an emphasis on flexibility, dynamic controlled movement and slow paced strengthening, we’ve launched G Flow. This new program resembles yoga in many ways, with a feeling like Vinyasa Flow sessions. It’s unique in that it’s truly three dimensional and thus strays from more traditional poses associated with yoga. We hope you check it out. 
2. Melt. Mold. Move. We also know there is a need to restore our muscle tissue and movement foundations of mobility and stability. So we created a shorter session entirely dedicated to the TrueStretch, targeted foam rolling and strategic motion patterns designed to facilitate muscle restoration to compliment your Gymnazo workout routine. This program will launch later this month and we are excited for it. 

Our bodies are truly incredible. It’s amazing to see what it can do, how is heals, how it grows, how it restores at a cellular level nightly to give us what we need to thrive the next day. If we value our bodies as a vehicle through which we discover and enjoy life, taking care of it is critical. As we value vitality at Gymnazo, we know our goal is to never over work your body, but to provide opportunities to push it and then help your body heal and repair. The delicate balance between hard workouts and restorative motion is something we seek to offer each member.  

Our hope for you this month is that you explore what that balance between performance and restoration is for you, and perhaps venture into one of our new programs to see if these type of restorative experiences bring value to you. We may not be able to promise you a full night of sleep, but we can give you a 45 minute to 1 hour break in your day to spend on yourself, in peace, giving your body the gift of restorative movement. 

Let’s place a premium on our bodies and seek to care for it like we would care for someone we love!

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It is a well known fact that many people sit all day long: at work, at school, while studying, and while constantly browsing the internet and answering emails. However, it is lesser known how destructive this constant sitting is to our bodies. With the increase in the sedentary, American lifestyle coupled with gravity working on our bodies daily, we are in desperate need to make a change. So what happens to our bodies when we are sitting for prolonged times?

1. Gravity Pulls the Body Down and Forward.

While sitting down, working on a task in front of you, you may reach out and grab something like a phone or pen. When we do, our shoulder protracts forward, taking the whole upper body with it, extending and rotating it forward, and rounding out our upper back.

2. Neck Muscles Get Overstressed

When we are in a forward reaching position, we tend to tilt our head more forwards, taking the weight of the head away from the supportive framework of our shoulders and spine. This is where the weight of the head was intended to rest. Now our neck muscles are doing their best to strain against gravity and keep our head from totally nodding all the way down to our chest.

Picture a rope attached to a tall building and you are leaning back, pulling on this rope to keep this building from falling over. Now do this for hours. That’s what your neck muscles are doing while your head is tilted forward.

3. Shoulders and Back Muscles Work Overtime

Shoulders do the same thing from a different angle.We have to lift our hands to do “busy work”, which requires our trapezoids to lift our shoulders to elevate the arms. The trapezoids as well as the levator scapula have to stabilize and mobilize the shoulder to lift the entire arm up to grab the mouse or lift your fingers up to hit the keyboard.

It’s the constant holding position as well as keeping our arms out in front of us that cause muscle fatigue and subsequent pain.

4. Core Muscles Weak and Unused

Your abdominal muscles are attached to the pelvis and the bottom of our rib cage, which is attached to the spine. When we sit in the same position for hours, we begin to slouch. Most of us don’t realize we are doing this, essentially slouching turns off our core. So, the part of our bodies that most people complain about being flabby is what we use the least, based on the way we traditionally operate during work hours.

5. Glutes Lengthened and Hamstrings Shortened.

Something you may not have considered is what is happening to your lower body while you have been sitting all day? When sitting the hips and knees are flexed thus keeping the glutes lengthened and hamstrings shortened. In time, either position will cause the tissues to evolve into a dysfunctional state. The lack of movement can put you at risk for injury while you are on a run or participating in your favorite after work activity.

Bottom line: Gravity Wins the War on Our Bodies When We Sit For Too Long!

So how can we fix this problem?

1. During Work Day: Get Up and Stretch!

Some people find it helpful to set an alarm to remind them to get up, grab some water, and stretch their legs and upper body. The best idea is to move in the opposite direction that you are in while sitting.

2. Work at a Stand Up Desk.

We would ideally recommend trying to get an upright desk where you can stand up to work, instead of sit. Rethink how you do your work. Suggest to your boss that the company invests in their employees through whole body wellness and purchase stand up workstations.

3. Be Active!

The important thing to remember: without specified activity or training we cannot reverse the side effects consistent sitting has on our bodies. Whatever it is that gets you moving outside of the office, let’s make it happen! Commit to 3-5 times per week of at least 30-45 minutes of activity. We live in such a beautiful place, let’s take advantage of it. Added bonus, if you are able to exercise outside, you are able to take in some sunshine, which is a natural source of Vitamin D.

The post Want More Pain in Life? Keep Sitting. appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Last week my wife was working out with me in Fortis (our advanced group training program) doing a variance of a push up. She’s was in her second round, going strong and then I saw her arm buckle and face grimace. She tried again to do a push up, and cringed in pain. She said she felt something pop in her elbow like a tight guitar string got plucked and she couldn’t put any weight on it.

A week later, she was still in pain and unable to fully workout. Frustrated, she couldn’t figure out why all of a sudden her elbow of all things went out on her and why it wasn’t healing quickly.

One of the challenges coaches have in our industry is combating injuries that seem to come on without a warning and also trying to keep the injured member from “working through the pain.” When someone gets injured what or who is to blame?

Sometimes it’s the coach putting the member in a position of vulnerability or it can be a member who doesn’t remember to tell the coach about a previous injury that would adjust their strategy for their conditioning. Other times, it’s non-movement or a sedentary lifestyle that subtly impairs the body from performing as it was designed.

For my wife, it is non-movement that was to blame. Like many in today’s workforce, she works 10-12 hours Monday-Friday and sits all day long. This position disables her core and pulls her shoulders and head forward making the muscles on the posterior side of the body (back and neck) work harder to resist gravity. For her, it was her scapula (shoulder blades).

So I took her to the facility on Saturday to find out what exact movements create pain and ultimately what muscle group was responsible for this joint pain. When a particular joint is in pain, it is more than likely not the joint’s fault. It’s most likely a joint up or down the chain reaction that is not moving as it should. This in turn forces the joint that was injured to compensate/overwork in order to accomplish the desired movement.

After a couple movement assessments it was clear her shoulder and back muscles were limiting the movement of the shoulder blade. It was not surprising that is was due to the long hours she spends at a desk.

So we put together and filmed a sequence of movement patterns to go through that will benefit anyone who sits most of the week.

If you do not have a TrueStretch, try using a chair or doorway frame at home to get some of the reaches this video shows.

The post [Video Tutorial] How to Stretch the Upper Back After Sitting a Long Time appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Do you ever have days where you wish someone would grab your head and feet and give your body a good stretch? As we go through our days, no matter our occupations, the cumulative compression of gravity and ground reaction force take their toll on our bodies. This daily compression affects our muscular, neurological and skeletal systems. It can also play a role in lower back pain.

One of our favorite ways to alleviate pain caused from compression forces, and distract the compression is to stretch out in the TRUE Stretch.

There are many ways to stretch, sometimes you’ll see people stretch out prone (parallel to the ground on their hands) or supine (laying down on your back). The TRUE Stretch allows us to stretch in an upright stance. By stretching in an upright function we can use the same forces that beat us up to help us heal. This type of stretching is critical to injury prevention and increasing flexibility.

We recommend that after a workout our members get into the TRUE Stretch and stretch out.  This is particularly important for members who experience post workout tightness or need relief from the compression of gravity and ground reaction force.

If you come to Gymnazo and are not sure how to start to use this equipment, here is a video to show you some beneficial stretching sequences to do after your workouts.

*Click here to view the video on YouTube

If you continue to prioritize stretching after workouts you will realize tremendous relief for continuous compression and feel far better walking out our doors and going back to your days.

If there are particular areas of the body you would like to know how to stretch, let us know below in a comment and we will make sure we post a video that targets that area for you.

The post How to Harness the Power of the TRUE Stretch appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.