Archives for March 2019

A Fitness Challenge To Help Your Back, Hips and Knees

March 25, 2019 By

You can’t go on social media without seeing all sorts of ridiculous fitness challenges. Plank challenges. Burpee Challenges. Abs challenges. Personally I’d rather eat glass than do a 5 minute plank. The kicker is that you know that most of the people doing these challenges are planking with somewhat less than good form.

I saw an Instagram posted fitness challenge the other day that wanted you to work out twice a day for 45 minutes each time and have no cheat meals for 75 days, along with about 4 other demands. Sure. Let me put my entire life on hold for the next 75 days to show the buff guy in the picture how awesome I am.

NOT!

Listen, if you want to try some of these things then please be my guest. You get to push yourself a little and maybe if you do it with a group it can turn into a fun thing. I’m the last person to tell someone to stop doing any kind of exercise they actually enjoy.

That being said, I thought I’d propose a fitness challenge that can actually help you and that you can even do while watching TV!

OK. Here it is. For the next seven days I want you to spend 30 minutes doing this:

Egoscue Supine Groin Stretch – Do 15 minutes each leg

It doesn’t look like much, but this simple stretch is the best thing I’ve found to loosen up your hips, back and shoulders and help improve your posture from the hips outward and you know my that your entire posture is set from the hips outward.

What does the Egoscue Supine Groin Stretch do?

This stretch focuses mainly on a muscle called the Psoas (pronounced SO-az). This is a long muscle that runs from from your lumbar spine on either side, down to just below your hips. See in this picture.

The Psoas is one of the muscles that are responsible for allowing you to move your thigh toward your torso as in this picture.

As a group, these muscle are called the Hip Flexors and the Psoas is the biggest and strongest of them.

The problem with the Psoas is that due to modern society’s tendency towards sitting, it can get pretty tight, and due to it’s attachment position at the lumbar spine, that tightness can cause postural problems which result in back, hip, knee and possibly even shoulder pain.

What the Egoscue Supine Groin Stretch does is help regain length and function in the Psoas. This helps put your body in better posture and helps reduce back pain, hip pain, knee pain and also possibly shoulder pain.

How do I do it?

Let’s refer to this picture one more time.

Egoscue Supine Groin Stretch

It really is pretty simple, but there a couple of important things to be aware of. Let’s go over it.

  1. Lie flat on your back with one leg straight and the other hip and knee bent to about 90 degrees and resting on a box or chair.
  2. The foot on the straight leg needs to be propped against something so your toes point straight up.

Keeping your toes pointing straight up on the straight leg is what allows the psoas to release and stretch. It’s also very important to have an object holding the foot straight up, not just you holding it. If you are keeping tension on the leg to hold it up under your own power,  the psoas will not relax.

If you experience back pain in this position it is likely because your psoas is a little extra tight. In this case, you need to elevate the straight leg like in this picture.

When you start the stretch, contract your thigh for a few seconds. You will likely feel the contraction close to your knee. Repeat this every 5 minutes or so. As you hold this position over time you will feel the contraction higher up your leg. When you feel that change, drop your leg a little lower.

I like to do this while watching TV at night. I’ve been through several seasons of Homeland and The Walking Dead this way. Half the show on one side and half on the other. I’ve been doing it long enough that I get a nice release from 10-15 minutes on each side although I still like to do 15-20. If you haven’t done this before it might take a bit longer. I remember the first time I did it, it felt like nothing was happening for a while and then all of a sudden my leg just started vibrating and relaxing like crazy. It was quite an experience.

What’s the challenge?

My challenge to you is simply this:

Do this stretch for 30 minutes per day (15 minutes on each leg) for the next seven days. That’s it. I’m pretty confident that you will feel some pretty powerful results. What’s most important is that you will start to realize the importance of your overall posture in how you feel and move every day.

I have found this stretch to have a massive impact on back pain, hip pain and knee pain. It very well may be the best thing I’ve found to help with these things and no, I’m not exaggerating. If you need more convincing just do a quick Google search for “Egoscue Supine Groin Stretch” and look at what comes up.

Also, if you want to have a little more fun with this challenge please post a picture on Facebook or Instagram or both. Tag me in it (Facebook or @mitchrfitness on Instagram) and use the hashtag #CVFitnessSupineGroinChallenge. Write how you feel in your post. I’ll be doing it, too.

Good luck and have fun!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, Egoscue PAS
Castro Valley Fitness
2861 Grove Way
Mitch@CastroValleyFitness.com
510-755-9191

 

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5 Ways to Measure Progress Other Than The Scale

March 19, 2019 By

One of the more frustrating things we experience as trainers is when someone can’t see the proverbial forest through the trees.

What do I mean? It’s when someone has been making progress but can’t see it because the number on the scale hasn’t changed enough for them. I’ve actually had people tell me they feel better, are fitting in their clothes better, are moving better and feeling stronger, but aren’t happy because of what their scale says.

I’ve said this many times and I’ll say it again.

No one’s goal is to lose weight.

Their goal is what they think losing weight will get them.

In other words, the deeper you think about your actual reasons for wanting to lose weight, the better you are able to achieve what is really driving you. I know this may not be easy, but seeing as doing this work is putting you in a much better position to actually get you what you want, don’t you think it’s worth it?

What I’m going to give you today are some ways to measure your progress other than just looking at a number.

1. How is your strength? Are you getting stronger? Simply put, there isn’t a goal you can have that getting stronger won’t help you with.

2. How do your clothes fit? Especially when you’re first starting to exercise it’s not uncommon for you to lose some inches even though the scale isn’t moving.

3. How is your energy and mood? Many studies show that exercise is just as good, if not better, than medications for certain kinds of depression and exercise also helps you even out

4. How is your pain? Are you moving with less pain? Good movement can be the medicine for joint pain and general creakiness.

5. How are your workouts? Are you able to do more work in the same or less time? Are you able to do more challenging exercises? That means your overall condition is improving!

Really there are a ton of ways to measure progress that are probably a lot better than some number that can fluctuate 3-5 pounds over the course of an average day. Figure out what is really important to you (it’s not the scale) and measure your progress in a way that relates to that. Let me know if I can help with that. It’s very important, but not necessarily easy.

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

 

 

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March 2019 Member of the Month – Jen Petroelje

March 12, 2019 By

It is our pleasure, and with the enthusiasm of her workout peeps, to recognize Jen Petroelje as the CV Fitness Member of the month for March 2019.

She joined CVF four years ago because she wanted to start exercising before menopause.  Her personal training sessions three times a week allow her time to pay attention and focus on herself which is an unexpected benefit.

She has lifted far more weight than she ever thought she could and she credits that to her gym cheerleaders who give her lots of encouragement.

She set a goal last year to hike to the bottom to the Grand Canyon and then back up – a 27 mile trek.  She trained for six months and after a lot of hard work and many, many lunges and step ups, she made that goal!

Exercise has become a habit.  She finds it nice to feel strong and building strength came as a surprise. It’s not unusual to see her and April 2018 Member of the Month Nick Chavez ending their workouts with a rope and medicine ball slam relay that makes you feel tired just watching them.

She says the people make CVF fun and her advice is to follow the 5 Keys to Success.

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Your Five Keys to Success

March 4, 2019 By

Today we are going back to basics. I can talk (or write) your ear off about all sorts of different fitness or nutrition topics. At Castro Valley Fitness we have conversations about all sorts of things along those lines but none of that really means much without the basics.

As you can see from this picture:

5 Keys to Success

we have what we feel are the 5 Keys To Success written on our wall. I can pretty much guarantee that if you aren’t achieving results then you aren’t doing one or more of these things.

Let’s get into it.

  1. Be consistent.

Simply put, nothing works without consistency. Any kind of real lasting improvement must be done intentionally, and that doesn’t happen without consistency. Very few meaningful things in life are accomplished all at once. It’s usually the end product of a lot of hard work.

  1. Work hard.

If consistency is number one, then hard work is 1A. There is no substitute for simple hard work. There are no secrets to anything, whether it’s losing weight, moving better, getting more flexible or stronger or anything else. When you exercise, work to the best of your ability and push yourself appropriately. Remember this: without consistency and hard work, nothing else matters. You won’t get anywhere.

  1. Be engaged.

If you have a coach, do your best to listen to their cues so that you get the most from your efforts. Pay attention to how the proper form and posture feel. Don’t just go through the motions. What are the things you’re doing supposed to be helping you with? If you can’t answer that question than how are you supposed to know what is working and what isn’t? If you don’t know that, then you are basically just throwing things against the wall and probably wasting your time.

  1. Ask questions.

Believe it or not, there are reasons behind a good exercise program. If you have any questions at all about your program ask your coach if you have one. If you don’t, then do some research and find out.  We love it when our members ask us about their program because we love to talk about this stuff! The more you know about why you’re doing what you’re doing, the more you can get out of it. By the way, if your coach can’t tell you why you’re doing something, that may be a red flag.

  1. Follow your program.

Any good program is written with your goals in mind, and there should be a reason behind everything. From the exercises themselves to the number of sets, reps, the order of the exercises, the rest periods and everything else, you and your goals should be taken into account. If you simply follow the program, you are giving yourself the best chance at success. By the way, if you don’t have a program you need to get one! There’s a million books out there and I also know a very good gym that could help!

Do you know a good gym?

I feel pretty confident that these keys can really help you out. If you feel like you’re having trouble with any of these things, please drop me a line and let me know. We’ll figure it out together!

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

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