Archives for June 2019

3 Tips To Help You Squat

June 24, 2019 By

The squat is one of the most important movements you can do. Have achy knees? A tender back? Tight hips? Squatting can help all of that.

Do you want to lose weight? Get stronger? Move better? Squatting can help all of that, too.

In this short video I give you three tips to help you squat better and improve on some of the most common mistakes people make when they squat.

Squats shouldn’t hurt and if they do, one or more of these hints can probably help.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Level 2 Lean Eating Coach, Egoscue PAS
Castro Valley Fitness at 2861 Grove Way
510-755-9191
Mitch@CastroValleyFitness.com
Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
We Help People Discover Their Strength

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

How You Really Want To Start Working Out

June 18, 2019 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 Tagged With: , , , ,

3 Secrets Your Trainer Doesn’t Want You To Know!

June 12, 2019 By

One of the things I hate most when it comes to fitness and nutrition is gimmicks. “Lose 12 pounds this week with my horoscope diet!” “Do this secret exercise to torch your belly fat!”

None of this stuff works. All it does is confuse people. If one more person asks me about apple cider vinegar speeding up their metabolism I’m going to lose my mind.

Apple Cider Vinegar Fitness Lie

Tastes Awful And Does Nothing For Your Metabolism! Try Some Today!!

Besides, why would a trainer NOT want you to know something? Wouldn’t that make them an absolutely terrible trainer and just as bad a person? I don’t get it.

Anyway, what I want to do today is give you 3 things I hear pretty regularly that are just not true. No matter how many times you hear them.

  1. I need to do more cardio to lose weight! No you don’t. Let me say this one more time: nutrition is what determines 85%-90% of weight loss. NOT EXERCISE!! There are many great reasons to do some cardio BUT WEIGHT LOSS IS NOT ONE OF THEM!!!! As a bonus, doing more cardio in place of strength training is probably making it HARDER for you to lose weight!
  2. Women will get bulky if they lift weights. This one is infuriating on so many levels and is usually perpetuated by people that are, frankly, afraid of strong women. Thankfully, it’s not nearly as common as it used to be, but it’s still out there. Just look on the cover of just about any fitness magazine that is marketed towards women if you don’t believe me. Let me say this for the record: this is not true and for many reasons it’s actually more important for women to lift weights than men. (Osteoporosis anybody?) Don’t let people put artificial limits on what you and your body can do based on their own fears.

     3. I need to lose weight. This one deserves not only it’s own post, but it’s own book. This one is maybe the best I’ve read on the subject.

Diet Trap Castro Valley Fitness Myth

Click on the picture for the Amazon Link

The fact is that you probably don’t NEED to lose weight. You may WANT to, but you likely don’t NEED to. The fact is most people haven’t even thought about whatever their real motivation is behind wanting to lose weight in the first place.

Whatever it is I’ll bet that your real reason is not to stand on a piece of plastic or metal and see it reflect a number back at you. If that’s all you want, I’m sure you can find a scale that will allow you to adjust how it reads. As a matter of fact, here’s the link to one https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-SAB602-05-Full-View-Scale/dp/B0014JRAAY/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=adjustable+body+weight+scale&qid=1560307855&s=hpc&sr=1-2.

Castro Valley Fitness Myth

Congratulations! You can weigh whatever you want!!

Here’s the truth:

  • you can get healthier without losing weight
  • you can look great without losing weight
  • you can be worth loving without losing weight
  • you can be a great spouse, partner and parent without losing weight

Weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry that isn’t all that interested in you feeling good about yourself. Remember that.

I hope this gives you a little different way to look at some things. Thankfully some of these lies are running out of juice, but they are still out there doing major damage and that makes me angry.

Please let me know what you think.

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

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,