Sugar Bowl Ski Academy/TRX with Douglas Brooks.

 Here PT  Douglas Brooks, Director of Athlete Conditioning for Sugar Bowl Ski Academy near Lake Tahoe, works with competitive skiers daily and knows what it takes to give them an edge. Here, he shares with us a TRX “triplex” he uses to increase the lower body strength and stability of his athletes. Start by doing 12 to 15 reps of each exercise for two to three sets. Also, these are somewhat advanced moves, so they should only be attempted by individuals who have mastered basic TRX movements.
This clip is brilliant for all you skiers out there. I have just learnt to ski after snowboarding for 5-years and training to me is important to allow good range of movement with stability within the whole body so we don't get those niggles/pains in the knees and hips we want to enjoy the feeling of the movement along with feeling strong within that movement. The TRX is just one of those pieces of equipment that can give you this. I love it and so do all of my clients in fact they ask to use it within there session, and who am I to say no. Training should be fun as well as seeing those all important results, Enjoy the movement.

PTA Global: In New Zealand for a ViPR Play out.

Here is PTA Global in New Zealand with the Vipr work out.
     I love this new bit of kit it works and is lots of fun made out of dense rubber you can be as rough as you like with it but without catching yourself on sharp edges. I have just acquired one (10kg) and have used it in one way or another in all my clients training sessions.
    You may be thinking its a piece of equipment for anyone under 30yrs but you would be wrong, wrong ,wrong last week a client and I had a great session with the Vipr and she is 72yrs young, As she said when she lifted it above her head, ' This will give me strength to lift my suitcase up onto a shelf on a train if I need too' she is an independent woman .
We must allow our training to give our bodies this dynamic strength with added stability. So movement training moves from the gym into our everyday life's.
 Now that makes sense, doesn't it?

PTA Global: On-the-Floor

This clip is from a great person /trainer, Rodney Corn.
    In this clip he is talking to another trainer about training. This may sound boring, but it is great to here what I call a traditional  body builder changing the way he thinks about training his clients and himself. It make me feel happy to see that we are wanting to see smiles on our clients and our own faces and make our training session enjoyable along with personal training results, high up on the want list.
 Keep moving people along with a smile on your face

Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) take note

So I found this clip and I am so pleased as it says it all and the bit about move your body is so true. Enjoy and do a slow dance to this one. 

Long Live the North Wales team

    Sometimes I forget how import it is to have fun with friends/colleagues and how important my they are to me. I get wrapped up in the functional fitness world as great as it is and forget that we are not just body but mind and spirit as well and the balance is important to our health.

At Blackpool convention 

      This short little clip is from the Conwy 2010 Fitness Wales autumn tour it was taken at the end so we are looking a little bit worse for wear, after 4hours of aerobics with a bit of stretchy yoga , but after a second look scrap that last statement as I think the girls look really good. 

In this video clip is a few of us dedicated Aerobic Instructors, some teach children's  Fit Club, some teach adults in small local halls, some teach in leisure centres for very small amounts of money I my add which can make us feel under valued for the valuable work we do. Some take fall prevention classes and some of us including me teach good old fashion aerobics.

Each year I see the same faces and a few new ones, which I love as we have been attending these events for 15 years +, well some of us have and it reminds me that; yes I may pick up the latest aerobic move or a new to the market gadget for circuit, or find a great new piece of music/CD, but what really is the best thing about these conventions is seeing lots of great people you haven't seen for ages having a laugh, chatting about our work, and knowing that we are providing a service that keeps people healthy and fit, what ever the age or ability. 
So long live the North Wales health and fitness team, you truly do make a difference in lots of ways. 

Enjoying a pre dinner slurp 

Gil Hedley: Fascia and stretching: The Fuzz Speech

This is a great clip to remind us all the importance of that morning stretch or day time stretch or evening stretch. How many times do we see animals like a dog or cat wake up from a long sleep and before they do anything they stretch.......just like us!

   Most of the adult population including myself I hasten to add jump or flop out of bed quickly get dressed sit down, to breakfast sit down in the car to work sit down at the office sit down at lunch sit down in the car returning from work sit down for dinner sit down to watch a bit of TV. Sometimes we go to the gym or go for a long walk or just move, we may feel stiff or even in pain doing some movements.


See the clip below but be warned, a human body / fascia is shown in the demo, but I like it because he loves fascia and knows the importance of good movement in fascia or in his words the fuzz, long live a fuzz and my yours never fuzz up too much.

Sitting. Functional movement patterns

http://www.grayinstitute.com/webcast.aspx?newsletter=1&webcast=NLA09072010-B.flv

In this clip, my hero Gary Gray demonstrates some movement patterns to relieve the stiffness or even pain from long term sitting. 


In a perfect world we would not sit so much or as he rightly comments subject our children to hours and hours of sitting, either in the classroom or at home watching the television or on working on a computer. 


Our bodies are meant to move, so here he demonstrates  the 3 dimensional movement patterns that I use for my clients who may have to sit for long periods of time. Give them a go next time you have to sit a lot. 
Viva movement how ever big or small.   

A Brief History of Anatomy Trains the fascia

Fascia & Tensegrity

I have just been listening to Tom Myers on PT on the net he runs ‘Anatomy Trains’,(see the link). I am so excited!   Have you ever had that moment where you see a piece of the jigsaw come into place after looking for ages and ages? Well this information on fascia is part of the functional jigsaw. We are held together by the stuff like fine cotton wool or a spider’s web. It connects everything in our bodies. For every 1 nerve receptor in the muscle we have 9 in fascia. Have a look at some of info below on fascia and the u tube clip which is a bit technical but is interesting for those of you that want to see what fascia looks like. Are we not amazing? Enjoy your movement as that is food for fascia.

Tom says: "I developed the Anatomy Trains during the 1990’s as a game for students to play when I was teaching Fascial Anatomy at the Rolf Institute . All the books you can find put forward the ‘single-muscle’ theory, but Ida Rolf kept saying, “It’s all connected through the fascia.” Other than invoking the image of a grapefruit or a loofah, how do you make this real? 

Just as an exercise to cement the students’ knowledge, I began stringing the muscles together through the fascia. This idea was initiated when Dr Jim Oschman gave me an article by Raymond Dart, anthropologist and Alexander Technique student, that linked the muscle in the trunk in a double-spiral arrangement (which shows up here as part of the Spiral Line). Using this as a base, I expanded Dart's idea to the whole body, to help students see connections by stringing muscles together like sausage links – anywhere that went, or could go in some positions, in a more-or-less straight line.

"Since 1998, I have taught more than 200 workshops in the Anatomy Trains. To my surprise, interest has burgeoned from the original audience of massage therapists to PT’s, chiropractors, yoga teachers, and personal trainers. Because the increasing demand outstripped my ability to be everywhere at once, we have created more supporting products and trained a diverse and wonderful Kinesis faculty to spread the Anatomy Trains ‘gospel’ – a systems-oriented view of our musculo-skeletal anatomy.

Fascia & Tensegrity
Fascia is the fascinating biological fabric and glue that holds us together.  Long ignored, the fascial system is now getting its rightful due of attention, from both therapists and researchers.
Tensegrity is a model for understanding the geometry of the body, on both a micro- and a macro-cosmic scale, that leads to many new insights in terms of body connectivity, the relation between stability and movement, and how we can develop what might be called “Spatial Medicine”.

Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.

http://www.brainrules.net/exercise/?scene=1 

 Another brilliant but shorter video clip to yet again reinforce the importance of getting off your back side and start moving. Training is for life, this will enhance your body and brain for every day life experiences. It will only get better when you deicide 'your worth it' as that advert keeps saying. 

       So why do so many people not get it? I think it's because some people want somebody else to do it for them the word is lazy. We live in a world of can't do it, won't do it, can someone else do it. 

    I will add to this blog that all my clients yes all my clients are 'I can do it' people which makes it so much nicer when we train together and the results are  ...... better, faster, fitter, and fun, people. because they know they are worth it. Life, bring it on.

Authors@Google: Dr. John Ratey

This is a long clip 49min but well worth it if you are interested in how training is so interlinked to the mind and body and even more important as we get older if you want to know more buy his book 'Spark', enjoy and keep moving...... it make sense your body loves it!

In Spark, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's. Filled with amazing case studies), Spark is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run--or, for that matter, simply the way you think.

John Ratey, M.D. is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of numerous bestselling and groundbreaking books, including Driven to Distraction and A User's Guide to the Brain. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has a private practice.

This event took place on May 30, 2008, as a part of the Authors@Google series.

Why TRX Suspension Training?

This is the video clip of the TRX

Hill running and my new TRX

Hello to all of you training for life out there. This month I have a new toy the TRX which is fantastic for building in strength but with fun. Pat one of my clients (who I am sure wouldn’t mind me saying) is the fine age of 82yrs had her first try with the TRX last week and loved it. Another client whose identity will remain a secret said it was one of the hardest workouts they had ever had but loved it. So there you have it whether old or young in years the TRX can adapt to whatever your needs.

Another advantage of the TRX is that it is so light I can carry it and then use it for the odd boot camp run and workout as I can strap it to a tree or fixed post, workouts just got more creative

As functional piece of equipment I have a slight unease about it but you can take away some of the support when the move becomes too easy, by not using total upper support, but it is fun and brings smiles on my clients faces so as a tool used every now and then its fine. Have a look at the clip above
 So I am back to my hill running be it slow and I have just invested some Inov8 running shoes. They are very light and give a feeling of running barefoot which as you know I love. Great grip on wet grass and with enough support on tricky rocky surfaces, so again check out the inov8 web site. Joe Browns in Llanberis is the nearest stockist. The clip below is my video of the run enjoy it as the sun came out every now and then. Keep moving you know it makes sense.

The start from Llanberis towards Nant Peris

up the Zig Zags

Coming down the hill too the other lake heading back to Llanberis

Back in Llanberis in time for a cup of coffee, whoopie.!!!!!

Functional Movement Class for Injury Prevention and Rehab

This clip is from the English Osteopaths site. It shows clearly all the movement patterns and with good instruction, for all of you that want to understand more about functional training.
I teach functional training on a Friday morning at Maes Glas University sports hall Bangor at 1pm. Open to all, so if you want a taste come along.

The hips

Welcome to the Junes blog, last month I had the knee fetish and said I would talk about helping knee pain and so now we work our way up to the hips.As you may of gathered the knee pain is more than likely coming from the hip, or foot but don't forget it may not be shoulders have had effects on knees. In my day to day practice I get all sorts of clients come to me with their training needs, some of them have been referred to me because of pain usually in the lower back but it can cover all areas including knees.
I will only work with people once they have had the all clear from the hospital or GP and some after having MRI scans. Sometimes I get the request to have a look at someone with regards to training them for something specific. Before I start any training we work through some basic movement patterns and one of them is the tri plane hip mobility. Have a go and see if your hips are moving. Gary Gray said once in a session that I attended in London,’ if the hips aren’t moving the body’s not grooving’, how true!

Hip mobilises
These movement patterns allow the hip area to loosen up ready for the rest of the training programme
Try and keep relaxed in the shoulders and upper body area when performing them.
Sometimes it is better to perform with no shoes on but if it feels uncomfortable keep your foot wear on.
 Try and perform 30sec on each move
 If when performing the moves, it feels not right slow the move down or come back to it later. Work to your transformational
zone = TZ.



Start position
 Left foot is placed high on a box or
chair
 Hands shoulder height on the wall
 Right leg is straight heel of foot
pushed into the floor



Side too side movement = S2S
 Rock / move hips side to side



Twist movement = TM
 Twist hips towards the wall and then away
 Try and keep heel of back leg on the floor



Forward and backward movement
= F&B
 Tilt/rock the hips forward then back
 Keep the heel of the back foot on the
floor



Now move too the side then repeat the mobilises
Keep same left foot on the box/chair
and slightly bent right leg straight
 Repeat the same movement patterns
only in a different sequence
1st F&B 2nd TW 3rd S2S



 Keep left foot on the box/chair slightly bent. The right leg which is
now the leg in the front slightly bent
 Repeat the same movement patterns only in a different sequence
1st S2S 2nd TW 3rd F&B
 Now repeat with the right leg on the box and the left leg on the floor

Causes of Knee Soreness

A lot of my clients come to realise as their sessions mount up from weeks into years that the training I offer is not the traditional gym based training. Yes the results or outcomes they want are tide into their programme but as a functional trainer I have to ask myself are they moving and performing those movements well. As we move up the chain we go to an area which I feel gets a lot of blame I talk of the knees. Time after time I hear these chosen words, ‘I can’t /run/ go up or down mountains/ walk far/ squat/ lunge, because of my knees’. Now I have to say if you have had an injury to the knee or knees then ok but still I say things can be improved, but if not why are you getting knee pain? The knee like the rest of our body reacts to the ground and goes through that tri plane loading. As I wrote about the foot in my earlier blog hitting the ground, that reaction of loading in all three planes works its way up the body. The knee reacts the same, dissipating some of that force, and in doing so it will move forward, frontal plane (to the side) and even rotate, Have a look at Gary Gray talk about the this subject to David Tiberio on there U Tube site. In my next blog I will give some strategies / training to help the knee and give some true stories of my clients and there successful training for there knee pain. Keep moving you know it makes sense

Barefoot running at the 5k Race for Life Caernarfon

This blog is my account of running in the Caernarfon 5k. The ground under foot was part tarmac and part grass so had to move pretty quickly on uneven surfaces. Here is the start of the race
I started slow at the back to be fair, but that gave me the chance to chat to a few friends on the way along the Strait. I really enjoyed my run the weather was good and in my barefoots I felt strong in my running.

For those people starting out walking or running in barefoots trainers train smart there a alot of U Tube clips to get you started have a look. I would also say I did my tri plane warm up and 3D stretches before I started so that added to my free running movement. I have noticed when running I have a lot more thoracic extension which gives me more abdominal loading these days. I still need to work on my right hip extension but that I think is product of my left shoulder injury which is in recovery from my snowboarding crash. In my next blog I shall move up the chain from the foot to the hip and write about that chain reaction. Enjoy your movement

This weekend the 5k race for life, and I am wearing my Evo's for the first time in a race.This is just a clip of what they look like, short and sweet.

Biomechanics of the foot

Biomechanics of the Foot

Hello everyone in lets train functionally land. Here above is a video showing how wonderful the foot is and the base for all movement
The foot as I mentioned in another blog has 33 joints, 26 bones, 24 muscles 2 sesamoid bones
All movements of the foot and lower extremity evolve within a three dimensional environment. To fully appreciate the actions of the foot, ankle, leg and hip, our movement must be understood if you want too train functionally
Universal to all motion is:
All movements are tri-plane.

All integrated motion involves multi-joint actions.
Effective actions must first undergo deceleration (force reduction), stabilization and then acceleration (force production).
The body reacts to ground reaction forces.
We can break the foot into 3 regions – rear, mid and fore foot
Rear foot – looking at the foot from side think of the big heel bone (calcaneus) as a bicycle the talus the rider who sits on top of the bicycle
Mid foot – reacts to what goes on with rear foot
Fore foot – has it’s own action which reacts to what happens with rear and mid foot
So it makes sense that your foot needs to know what is going on if you cushion the sole with a cushion then you get the cushion effect which if you have ever stood on a cushion can be a bit unstable. If you are running and hit the ground with a rubber bouncy effect lots of the wrong messages get sent up the chain your body if you must wear trainers go for the cheap ones and if you are starting to wear bare foots here is a bit of advice start wearing them for an hour at a time and build that time up so your foot muscles can adapt to the change and when you start running in them of bare foot apply the same method as this will lead to less fatigue in the foot. enjoy!

The Barefoot Professor: by Nature Video

Lets start with the feet

I have for the last 2 years been wearing bare foot trainers. I started wearing them because of my interest in what happens when your foot hits the floor (without shoes). And as you may or may not know the foot goes through a lovely 3D motion. A typical human foot is 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments By walking or running you stimulate those muscles in your feet along with the whole body which will not only make you stronger and healthier, but it improves your balance, agility and proprioception. With that in mind I set about tracking down a pair of trainers that looked liked trainers. Some of you may have seen the Vibram Five fingers which are great but I wanted something a little less obvious. So I found Vivo barefoot at Terra Plana which in their words, ‘employs an innovative approach to shoe making. We strive to achieve our goals of urban respect and eco-sustainability whilst producing shoes that are good for your feet.’ What more could a girl want! And two years later have never looked back. It took a bit of time for my feet to get used to working a bit harder muscle wise, but now I run (5k so far) and teach my aerobic classes in them. But the exciting bit is they have designed a running shoe which I have just ordered so in later blogs I will let you know how I get on. In my next blog I will write how important it is for the foot to be fed by proper ground reaction. Have a look at bare foot running

Dont you just love to move

I love the idea that you can create better movement through training functionally, and that it not only helps the body too move better but it is fun. The word 'movement' is a word that I am more and more interested in.
Without it the body as a whole is not fed, I feel that as we are 3D humans we need to use all the envelope however big it is. As I write this blog on what I discover by functionally training my clients and working on my on training, the world of human biomechanics opens up to me (what ever that my be) and that is indeed very, very exciting, something that I will write about on a practical and personal level.