This is one of those exercises that can look pretty easy but that doesn’t mean that it is.
This one move can help strengthen your hips, glutes, hamstrings and core and that can help your knees, back and hips feel a heck of a lot better!
Take a look and let me know what you think.
Castro Valley Fitness
2861 Grove Way
mitch@castrovalleyfitness.com
510-755-9191
I’m going to challenge you a little today. I know many people suffer from chronic pain. Back, knee, shoulder, hip. Most people’s reaction when they feel pain is to back away to avoid it.
That’s understandable. Pain hurts! It’s not comfortable. The thing is, though, that pain is telling us something and if we don’t listen it will be back!
I want to give you a different way to look at pain that may help you get rid of it. Not just right now but for good! After all, isn’t that the goal?
Let me know if you need help figuring out your pain.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, FMS, Egoscue PAS
2861 Grove Way
5120-755-9191
My family and I were in LA last weekend for a family vacation and I saw a sign that struck a chord with me. 
I’ll be clear about this:
Got that?
I love that the AARP put this ad out. I know that it refers to all kinds of strength, not just physical, but it’s all connected.
As we get older many of us have the mistaken impression that we have to accept all kinds of degradation in regards to their health.
It would be silly for me to say that age has no effect on our condition but I believe it is DRASTICALLY overstated as a cause for our ills.
I’ve had people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s all complain to me about how old they are and feel. The great trainer Ben Bruno once wrote that when people complain about their age to him (I’m paraphrasing here) he tells them the only thing that’s old is hearing them complain about their age!
When I think about AARP’s “Strength Is Not Optional” ad, I think of things like the fact that if you fall, and falling is frequently regarded as one of the biggest fears people have as they age, strength is what is going to help you prevent injury when you hit the ground and then help you get back up. Flexibility isn’t going to do that. Hours of cardio isn’t going to help you do that.
As we get deeper into that, we find that the fear of falling itself MAY ACTUALLY INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF FALLING!! and since one of the biggest benefits of strength training is an increase in self-confidence doesn’t it follow that strength training can help you not fall in the first place? Once again, a bunch of cardio isn’t going to help that.
Many people are afraid to really push themselves when strength training. They do the same things workout after workout and week after week. They’re afraid of getting hurt. I understand that. No one wants to get hurt. Add that to a fear of getting older (getting older still beats the alternative, right?) and we start to see a pretty vicious cycle.
They don’t realize that strength training can groove proper movement patterns that can both fix pain and prevent it!
Many times I’ve given someone a small form adjustment that has taken pain away from a movement that someone was previously afraid of. Once that happens we slowly and appropriately increase the difficulty of the movement to cement the new and improved movement.
Another common occurrence is when someone has joint pain mainly because they’re not strong enough to hold good, stable positions. This lack of stability is causing the joint to have to move or hold a position in a bad spot. A common example here is knee pain. The vast majority of the time knee pain doesn’t actually have to do with your knee. It’s actually a lack of strength in your hips that is causing instability in your knee which is causing pain. Once you are strong enough to hold better positions, the knee pain magically goes away.
This does not happen if you don’t push yourself.
Let’s sum it all up nice and easy.
Strength training allows you to age with more confidence, less pain, more resistance to injury and more resistance to the other things that people incorrectly attribute solely to age.
I know strength training isn’t easy. I know that walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes may feel more comfortable. I also know that strength training as we age can be truly transformative physically, and even more importantly, mentally.
Let me know if you need any help putting together your strength training program.
Thanks for reading!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PAS, PN Level 2 Lean Eating Coach
Castro Valley Fitness
2861 Grove Way
510-755-9191
Mitch@CastroValleyFitness.com
The most we’ll see someone at our gym is 5 hours each week. Most of the time it’s actually 2 or 3. That means that there’s somewhere between 163 and 166 hours for someone to either work on good movement patterns or bad ones.
Let’s backtrack a little bit. So many people have chronic pain. Shoulders, knees, back. You know those kinds of pains that you just started noticing one day and can’t really remember when they even started.
I’m about to tell you something important about chronic pain. Something crucial that, if you listen, will change the way you look at them and will give you a much better chance at dealing with them successfuly. No hyperbole here but, if you pay attention to this it could change your life.
OK. Are you listening? Well, here it is.
What does that mean? It means that if you have knee, back or shoulder pain it probably isn’t because you have a problem with your knees, back or shoulders.
Let’s just take your knees as an example. If you have some knee issues, let’s try something real quick. Stand up, close your eyes and march in place for 10 seconds. When you’re done marching keep your feet right where they are. Got it? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Great! Now I want you to look at the relationship between your foot and your kneecap. Your kneecap should face straightforward as should your foot. That would mean that your knee and your foot are in alignment and facing the same direction. Another way to look at it would be to draw a line from your kneecap straight down to the floor. The line should intersect your foot right in the middle. Take a look at the picture below. Notice how the left foot and knee are lined up and the right isn’t?
I’m guessing that if you have a knee issue, the alignment on the side that hurts looks more like the right knee.
So if this is the case, is it your knee that’s the issue or the alignment (which is actually caused by either your hip or ankle)? You guessed it! The alignment!
There are many ways to work on these things, but the key to all of them is understanding that dealing with these issues is an everyday thing. You can’t just work on it at the gym and forget about it the other 165 hours a week! There are weeks, months and even years of bad habits that have to be undone. It can happen, but you have to do the work.
Now, these things can get complicated but let me just give you a very quick and very simple guideline on the causes of knee, back and shoulder chronic pain. Obviously it goes without saying that if you’re having a major issue, see someone who can help whatever specific issue you may have.
Knees – As we discussed above it’s all about the alignment. Look at your hips and ankles. One or both are probably tight.
Back – Again, this is about the hips. Do you sit all day? It’s important to note that your hips are supposed to have lots of mobility and your low back isn’t, so if your hips are locked up what has to take up the slack? The low back. That equals pain.
One more thing, when your doc takes x-rays and notices you have bulging discs? In study after study it’s been shown that something like 90% of adults, both with and without back pain, have bulging discs. In other words, it’s unlikely that they’re the source of your problem.
Shoulders – Posture, posture, posture! This is the key. How’s yours? Almost everyone we see with painful shoulders has some sort of postural issue.
Here are the keys:
I don’t want to get too complex with anatomy here so I’ll make this quick. Take a look at the picture below and notice that there are lots of small muscles in the shoulder but not a lot of room between them and the clavicle. What that means is that if those muscles get irritated and inflamed they actually rub against the clavicle, which causes pain. What causes inflammation and irritation? You got it! Bad posture!
Well, I hope this helped and you now have a better idea of what is causing some of the chronic pain you may have. Please let me know if you have any other questions or have any thoughts about what we’ve talked about.
Have a great day!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Level 2 Lean Eating Coach, FMS
2861 Grove Way in Castro Valley
510-754-7113
MitchRFitness.com
www.facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness/
Discover Your Strength!