Functional Fitness for Daily Living

Strength, Flexibility, and Corrective Exercise Training

I now offer individual one-on-one strength, flexibility, and corrective fitness training to provide overall health and balance for daily living.

I believe many of the injuries and health conditions I see every day in my office and at the Chiropractor's office I work at could not only be improved with fitness training but more importantly could probably have been avoided entirely if the individual had improved muscular-skeletal balance beforehand. It is estimated that from the age of 25 on, the average person looses one-half pound of muscle every year. This is replaced (and then some) with fat weight unless we are actively challenging our body enough to keep the lean tissue on. The body composition changes are usually accompanied with a decrease in flexibility. Repetitive work and sports activities, injuries, and gravity, take a toll on our posture and musculoskeletal system resulting in overuse patterns, joint instability and chronic pain. It is a gradual process going largely unnoticed until it has progressed to the point where it begins to interfere with our daily activities or creeps in as chronic pain and discomfort.

Fortunately there are a growing number of options for people wishing to exercise and be proactive with their wellbeing. Whether simply being educated and aware of better food choices, going to a gym, or simply making an effort to include more fitness measures in daily life, more and more people are taking measures to improve their health and reduce their reliance on medicine and "being fixed" by their doctors. Many doctors are looking for good resources to refer their patients for exercise and preventative health care. The combination of Orthopedic, deep tissue massage and corrective, functional fitness training is just that resource. I offer a perfect combination that nets terrific results in a enjoyable process.

At the Tree of Life Center my goal is to offer individualized personal training based on where you are currently at health wise, your health history, your goals and your interest. If you are active and like to play sports and engage in demanding activities it is important to become fit for these activities opposed to using the sports or activities to become fit. However a majority of my clients simply want to improve their health, increase their strength and muscular endurance, and improve their balance and agility, for a better quality of life. This means preventing injuries from sudden demands on the body like avoiding a sudden fall, a whirlwind house cleaning for unexpected guest arriving, a weekend of yard cleaning or gardening.

Most importantly, overall muscular balance is essential. For many individuals their jobs or activities tend to use certain muscle groups more than others causing muscular imbalance. Muscular imbalance causes postural distortions, changes our gait, add stress to other muscle groups not designed to handle these demands and sets us up for chronic pain and injuries.

The training emphasis I tend to employ is based around Functional Fitness. This means helping you with exercises that tone and balance the body's structure and give you strength, endurance, and agility for activities of daily living. The methods I use are simple straight forward exercises that are designed and taught for you to be able to do at home, at the gym or otherwise on your own as a part of your everyday lifestyle. You may wish to have weekly or bimonthly trainings at my studio as an adjunct to your home program and as a way of checking in to make sure you are on track, or to learn new exercises, and for support as well.

For the full program an in-depth health and flexibility assessment is done as the very first step. This very important step highlights any health issues or contraindications to exercise or specific exercises.

Second, the assessment gives you a baseline of where you are starting from and allows you to see the improvements you will begin making.

Third, the assessment covers your goals, interest, lifestyle and such to determine the best approach that is realistic, obtainable, measurable, and enjoyable.

For an example of the type of tracking that is available go to Fitness Reports. You may choose the level of tracking you wish to incorporate into your program. The tracking is helpful to show you the progress you are making over time, to show areas that should be focused on, and to help your primary care physician with their decisions regarding the medications you may be taking (it is common to be able to reduce blood pressure medicine and cholesterol medicine for example as your fitness improves. It is important that your physician make this decision).

If the full program does not fit for you I offer basic training on the Swiss ball and using free weights. Often my clients will come with a friend or partner and learn the basic warm-up routine and conditioning exercises to work on in their home. They return periodically to update with increasingly challenging exercises as they become ready.

Whether you wish to break the pattern of chronic back pain, neck pain, or declining strength and flexibility, or wish to help prevent these conditions, I can develop a program that will benefit you.

Why Corrective Exercise Training

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