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From the Trainers...
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Posterior Chain Workout
by Laura Coombs,
Personal Trainer
Summer is coming...how are your glamour muscles looking? Are your abs
amazing? Chest chiseled? Biceps buff? Hey, everybody likes to show
off their hard work.
Now, consider your backside for a moment. Have you paid enough
attention to exercises for your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings? Together they form the "posterior chain," a powerful muscular scaffolding
and support to our pelvis and keep us from hunching forward like our caveman ancestors. They also serve as decelerators and "put on the
brakes" for us when gravity pulls us forward into a fall.
The posterior chain is important! Often, we forget to train these
muscles because we can't see them. But without them, our posture
suffers, our back aches, our hips get tight and inflamed, our knees
become more prone to injury, and we are likely to lose our balance and
fall forward. Not only does the posterior chain get weak without regular
training, these muscles actually become long, lazy, and very hard to
activate! Think about it...most of us are sitting on them all day!! Ready to wake them up? Read more on Fitness Plus's Blog >>
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| Spotlight on Clients
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A CONGRATULATIONS to all
the Fitness Plus clients that competed in the Lexington Half Marathon, held on
March 28th at Fasig-Tipton. Despite the rain, all of the Fitness Plus
clients who entered the race completed it. Way to go!
Nikki's clients:
Jessica King, Cara Worick, Michelle Radtke
Gary's clients: Brad
Pitcock, Gina Higgins, H.G. Wells, Art Salomon
Josh's clients:
Becky Sullivan, Sara Williams
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Greetings!
 Happy Easter and Happy Spring
to all. We have been enjoying some great spring/early summer weather lately and
I have seen how it has positively affected several of you. I am amazed at the
increase in activity, especially outdoors, that so many of you have undertaken.
Several clients in the gym have jumped into spring with the convictions to move
more, eat less and lose weight. I am proud of all of you who have stepped it
up, literally and figuratively. I hope the commitment and success of these
clients can serve as motivation to the rest of you to shed any winter weight
you might have put on and get out and enjoy the beautiful Kentucky spring. If
you are looking for some additional accountability, regarding diet and aerobic
activity, talk to your trainer about helping you. Maybe you can come up with a
system that allows your trainer to set goals for and keep track of daily food
and activity. Reporting to your trainer on a regular basis about what you said
you were going to do is a good way to keep you honest and increase your chance
for success.
Have a great month,
Sheila
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What's Happening at Fitness Plus
We are in the third week of
the trial session of the new Liv Well Weight Loss program. This program
designed and offered by well-known Lexington trainer and fitness expert, Kelly
Cecil, is designed to offer a "kick start" for those interested in losing
weight. The Liv Well program is a welcome addition to the other nutrition and
diet services we recommend to our clients, i.e. Bluegrass Nutritional
Counseling, KC Wellness Coaching and Weight Watchers. The Liv Well program is a
more regimented diet program that last 8 weeks. It is geared toward identifying
and breaking destructive eating patterns and reorienting your body to make
healthier choices in the future. It is a calorically restrictive program,
keeping to 1200 calories a day, and does offer an energy "shake" as an option
for some of the meals. There is a weekly meeting associated with this program.
Expected weight loss for 8 weeks of program is 6-10% of total body weight. If
demand continues, Fitness Plus will continue to offer this program, through
Kelly Cecil. If you would like more information regarding this, please contact
Sheila at skalas@fitplusinc.com and
she will send you some information.
Fitness Plus trainers Gary
and Nikki Ditsch are offering an all day triathlon clinic on May 8th
and a triathlon seminar on May 10th through their endurance training
company Endurance Base Camp. Two-time Ironman winner Jordan Rapp will be their
speaker for the seminar. For more information go here.
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Junk Food 'Addiction' May Be Real
EverydayHealth
Obese people often say
they'd like to eat less but feel almost powerless to stop indulging, and
now new research suggests that explanation might be all too true.
Read More from EverydayHealth.com >>
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Keep it Lean: How to Cook Meat and Fish
EverydayHealth
 Buying skinless chicken breasts to cut back on fat makes sense; breading
and deep-frying them does not. Fortunately, you don't have to fry - many cooking
techniques seal in flavor while keeping out extra fat and calories. Read more from EverydayHealth.com >>
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The Rehab Corner
Keith Duerler, MPT
 Spring is
officially here (finally) and what that means for most people is an increase in
activity. This can be moving indoor exercise outdoors, an increase in yard
work/gardening and generally being more active. With these changes in
activities, an injury I often provide physical therapy treatment for is the
Achilles tendon injury. Most often this is an inflammation tendonitis-type
injury but it also can be a partial tear. For this month, I want to
briefly discuss some key points regarding managing these injuries.
Typically
pain is experienced along the back of the heel and this can travel up the back
of the leg or down under the foot. This discomfort can be present before
the activity but often improves while moving and then has an increase in
soreness after stopping your activity. It is very important to respect
this pain and immediately modify your activity. Just pushing through the
pain often leads to worsening of the inflammation and in worst cases the tendon
can tear, either partially or completely rupture. Decreasing the
aggravating activity or altogether stopping for a short while will in the long
run lead to a quicker recovery. Using direct ice, massage (rubbing ice)
along the tendon for 3-5 minutes several times a day and it will help decrease
the inflammation. Gentle stretching is also important and needs to include
stretching both muscles that make up the Achilles tendon. Many of my patients
are familiar with the gastronemius stretch but do not stretch the soleus, which
is also important. See these diagrams for examples of the stretches. The
second stretch shown is for the soleus. Hold each stretch gently for 30
seconds. Repeat at least two times a day.
There are
many factors that can be causing your pain that can include footwear, arches
(low or high), hip tightness or weakness, ankle weakness or tightness,
etc. A physical therapy evaluation can thoroughly assess to find the cause
of the pain and provide specific interventions to address the deficits. Modalities
to reduce inflammation such as ultrasound and/or iontophoresis are highly effective
to accelerate recovery. In cases with extremely low or high arches, custom foot
orthotics are beneficial. Custom orthotics can be provided here through my
practice at Fitness Plus. As always, I am more than happy to provide a
free initial consultation to discuss any aspect of an injury you are dealing
with and help determine the best way to get you back doing the activities you
enjoy and have to do (yard work)!!
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