Archives for May 2018

An Easy Way To Start

May 30, 2018 By

Hello! I hope you had a great Memorial Day. I have a quick question for you:

What are you going to do for the rest of the week?

What do I mean?

Well, we all have some sort of goal for ourselves, right? In terms of fitness that may mean losing some weight, getting over some sort of injury, getting a little stronger or something else entirely.

Whatever our ultimate goal is, sometimes it can seem a bit overwhelming. Let’s get real here. Sometimes it can seem EXTREMELY overwhelming.

Well, you know how to eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

What I mean is that if you seem overwhelmed, I just want you to focus on the rest of this week. Do just one thing that will help you. That’s it.

Here are some quick suggestions:

  1. Go on a walk.
  2. Add 5 pounds to your main lift at your next workout.
  3. Do 10 minutes of mobility work.
  4. Eat an extra serving of vegetables with your dinner.

Take one of these suggestions or figure another one out for yourself (I fully believe that everyone really knows what they should do) and just do that ONE thing for the rest of this week.

Try not to think about what you want 6 months or a year from now. Try not to think about the things that are overwhelming to you. Just think about one thing and do that one thing.

Now here’s the real trick. Next week, do it again.

If you need any help figuring out what you’re one thing should be, drop me an email and we’ll get it going for you.

Have a great week!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Level 2 Lean Eating Coach, FMS
Castro Valley Fitness
2861 Grove Way
510-755-9191
Mitch@CastroValleyFitness.com

 

 

 

 

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What The Heck Am I Talking About – Set Your Core

May 21, 2018 By

Do you know what your core is supposed to do when you move? This is another in our series that explain common cues we give at our gym.

Set Your Core!

If you find your low back hurting when performing certain movements this might be a pretty important thing for you to understand!

Mitch Rothbardt
Castro Valley Fitness
510-755-9191

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May Member of the Month – Goretti Allenbach

May 14, 2018 By

May Member of the Month –

Goretti Allenbach

Goretti Allenbach

Goretti regularly brings her smiling face to Bootcamp at 6 a.m.  She has been a client of CV Fitness for 4+ years.

Since joining CVF, Goretti has been able to move without pain.  She has had some chronic injuries and her regular workouts have allowed her to feel better without pain.  The notable improvements are her increased strength and her breathing.   She finds the exercises in Bootcamp challenging and enjoys the variety.

She says it is worth it to make an investment in yourself. She recommends that new members be patient and be consistent for three months.  You won’t imagine the benefits – beyond appearance and weight loss.  She finds it is her “healthy addiction”.

She has really enjoyed spending time with a group of the nicest people she has ever met.

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Let Us Underwhelm You! Really.

May 9, 2018 By

LET US UNDERWHELM YOU!!

Wow. That’s as uninspiring a line as you’re going to hear, huh? Well, maybe not! Let me explain.

I think a lot of people are worried. About what? Well, about getting hurt, to be precise. I don’t blame them, either. Getting hurt hurts! Right!

I think as people get older they worry about moving. They’re afraid of hurting their back. Their shoulders probably already hurt so they’re afraid of making that worse, too. Who knows what else is going on? Knees? Hips? Feet?

Unfortunately, three things happen when people feel this way.

  1. Since they don’t move well or often, the body tightens up. Use it or lose it.
  2. Since the body gets tighter and tighter, people move worse and worse and injury becomes more likely and eventually inevitable.
  3. Once people become injured they convince themselves that movement itself is the cause of their problem and they start to actually fear it! This, of course, causes the cycle to perpetuate.

It’s a sad cycle. Especially since we know that GOOD movement is actually the cure to all of this! Good movement improves your range of motion, flexibility, mobility and just makes you feel better!

So let’s get back to what I was talking about originally. About letting us underwhelm you. I think a lot of people are afraid of exercise for the reasons I just talked about. A lot of times people’s only experience with personal training is what they see on tv. They see people yelling and screaming and crying.

THIS IS NOT WHAT WE DO!!

As a trainer, let me assure you that making someone sore and tired is actually pretty darn easy. It takes absolutely no skill or thought at all. The thing is that making someone sore and tired doesn’t actually get them better. Much of the time this is exactly what people are afraid of. Barely being able to walk for several days isn’t most people’s idea of fun, after all. What usually happens when someone’s first workout is like this is that there isn’t a second workout.

That’s why we want to underwhelm in someone’s first workout. First of all, we’d like to make sure that there’s another one. Second of all, we want to start establishing good movement patterns so that people can start to get over that fear of movement. That’s not going to happen if our only goal is to make someone feel like they’ve been hit by a truck.

Making something more challenging is always possible and there are many ways to do it. You can slow something down, speed it up, add more weight, change the tool you’re using, add more reps. The list goes on and on. The key here is that all of this is only worth doing once someone’s form is good.

Let’s take a squat for example. Someone may be strong enough to squat with a 45 pound weight but if they’re rounding their back then that could lead to an injury. I’d much rather they fix those issues first even though it might not feel like they’re doing all that much at first. Once they get that fixed we’ll have plenty of time to make it more challenging and in a way that won’t hurt them.

I think the main thing I’d like you to take away from this is not to be afraid of movement. Good movement helps just about everything. Good movement shouldn’t hurt. When you’re starting a new workout program with a trainer or by yourself, focusing on good movement first will make sure that you progress without getting hurt.

If you need help with your movement, please let us know. We can help!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Level 2 Lean Eating Coach, FMS
Castro Valley Fitness at 2861 Grove Way
Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
We Help People Discover Their Strength

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized