Practice what you preach

Let me be honest with you -

I have been a competitive athlete and after I quit I have tried almost every other sport - even fencing - only one session. Why - because I love very active sports.

But this was when I was younger.

Nowadays I am not that active - first because a lot of injuries, second - life gets in my way.

I am still very active but not as much as I want.

But as I am getting older and realizing that things are not getting better I decided to correct what is not correct as much as possible in order not to be in pain later - when I get even older.

So I started working on my posture and my moving patterns. Soon, I realized how much work I have to do. 

But this is fine. I could manage this and it's not only good for my body but it's changing my appearance - double win. 

But with workouts - I am having trouble.

I have tried classes - because of my competitive nature I would overdo it and stop.

I signed up for a gym - boring.

I signed for PIlates- got hurt.

I signed for Tabata - too much sweat and fast pace that I lost my form and if I have continued - I would be hurt.

Maybe excuses. I don't know, the only thing I know is that I want this, just had to find the right way for me - not to struggle, not to push, not to force.

So I decided to challenge myself - 5 days to stick to 5 exercises. Done.

Then I did this twice.

Morning routine before getting out of bed. Done.

And finally the taste for more came in place.

But this time without excuse, committed, consistent and determined to make it as my routine.

What is happening now - I will reveal in my next blog.

I want to share with you that I am finally following my dream - to do everything possible now to stay pain free as I age. With all the injuries I have had.

We recover, we heal but once hurt, it never gets perfect again.

I will be happy to inspire you to do the same - take care of your posture and movement patterns to enjoy a pain free body as you age as long as possible.

And I am not going to lie - as you read this you already know that I am struggling, I am having excuses, I am having ups and downs - - just like everybody else.

But I know what it is to be in pain, not being able to do what you want, miss work or an event you want to attend, feeling miserable, sorry for yourself - thinking about  this freedom makes me jump right now and start my active routine.

But I am done for the day! Done my part!

Tomorrow, again!

Go to a professional, achieve your mission faster

Let’s start the journey of getting fit and getting in a great shape.

We decide to get fit.

We join a gym. 

We look for online programs.

We sign up for a class.

We ask others what the best thing to do is, we choose what we like and we do it.

What’s the best for you, for your current body condition and fitness level? Most of the time we don’t know or we just want to get fit no matter what it takes.

It’s all good.

So we start something awesome - take care of our body to be healthier, fit, look good, feel great, stay healthy.

It’s still good.

We push through.

Want it or not.

Like it or not, we do it anyway

We struggle but we still do it.

We have a mission.

We want results.

All good, right?

We keep going!

We start feeling some pain.

But we push - 

We keep going - no pain, no gain, right?

We are on a mission.

This is the point at which a lot of us end up at because we started something we are not ready for, pushed through to get fast results...and failed - instead of it being all for good, we ended up with pain we didn't have before.

After some or no progress, 

Already in pain,

We become frustrated, discouraged.

We start asking for advice on social media, online research,

What has helped others,

Hearing so many stories and advice from all over the place.

Then, we get overwhelmed…

And hurting - either the feet or lower back or neck.

It was all for good, right?

Have you ever tried to do something you didn’t know how? If you have - you know what it takes!

You know, that if you need to do you taxes - you say to yourself “Yes, I am sure I can do them, but how long will it take me to figure out stuff, not to make a mistake, to do it right, to do it fast and move on?”

Isn’t it better to go to a professional, give him/her the documents and they can do it for you in no time? The time you and I will spend to do it by ourselves is time that you and I can use for something we love to do.

And I am pretty sure most of you do this - fast, easy and done correctly, easy for you, great results in no time, no struggle, no research, no asking people for advice and looking for all the options in the world.

Think about all of the above when it gets down to your own body and why you wanted to workout in the first place.

What a journey!!!

The truth about bad habits

I am going to talk about postural and movement habits here.

Who wants to have bad postural and movement habits?

No one.

And how come we all have them?

And on the top of that, most of the time they are the reason our body is in pain.

Follow me on this.

We are training for these habits - they don’t happen all of sudden, they don't come from nowhere.

By the way,  what is training? Systematic activity.

Well, if we round our shoulders all the time or we keep our head forward - isn't this systematic activity?

And why do we train - to modify skills.

Well, if we keep our shoulders up with every movement we perform - we train a new skill, and start to create a new habit.

We train - all day, every movement or stationary body position is considered training.

It's so simple to create a new habit:

• No extra time needed - WHO has extra time, right?- we do it constantly along with what we already do- we don’t need to stop what we are doing to round our shoulders, they go rounded as we do other stuff

• Its very easy - we love easy stuff - we don’t need special training, coach, education, most of the time we are not aware or  not realizing how bad habits come when we are not resting, being stressed out, fatigued, in pain, in a rush - we keep moving.

• It does not require thinking - who wants overthinking or more thinking - we just keep going and doing movements or stationary body positions the wrong way which eventually become memorized 

• No effort - it comes without trying, while we are on the go and doing our stuff.

• No learning - it comes easy out of comfort.

Day after day repeat, practice unintentionally turns into training our bodies.

Unintentional Consistent Training

Not 2-3 times a week, no every day.

We train 24/7.

This is the reason why we don’t realize how fast we create a bad habit or that we have already created it and put it in action.

So we train:

• Unintentionally - we perform movements without thinking, it is our nature, we just move. But because our mind is busy with other things, we have one million things to do all day long, fatigue, stress, overwhelm etc. we don’t think how we reach out or if our shoulders are where they're supposed to be.

• Consistently - yes, we are very consistent in training these bad habits. Because once we start modifying different postural elements or a movement, we start doing slowly and gradually all our movements the same wrong way and slowly and gradually this becomes a pattern, gets into a moving chain, interacts with other moving chains and leads to aches, pains, higher risk of injury. Not a good stuff.

• Every day, all the time at any time - slowly and gradually this new information  gets recorded in the brain and becomes unintentional, normal and we use it without realizing that  affects other moving patterns, creates compensation patterns and the bad habits multiply.

Let’s look at an example:

If I sit with rounded shoulders all day long, when I go for a walk I will walk with rounded shoulders unless I intentionally work to bring them back to the normal alignment. Then, I will do the dishes with rounded shoulders and day after day I will end up doing everything with rounded shoulders. And this will be my “normal “. Ok , but it doesn’t stop here.

The body creates compensation mechanisms and patterns to keep us moving and performing as productive as possible, the whole body gets involved and starts modifying other moving patterns to make it for the lack that the first bad habit cause. And day after day, we train more and more bad habits - unintentionally but consistently. And they become our normal way of moving but not only that - when they become normal and the changes are made, we start moving, working out, performing daily tasks based on this wrong information and signals. And we do it until the warning - pain.

When one part changes its position, other parts of the body have to adjust to this and they change until the whole body is changed in order to be upright and function somehow. But this deepens the muscle imbalance, the joints alignment is compromised and the body, no matter how high its potential is to adapt and compensate. However, we all know the body has limits. And when we push to the limits, we get the warning - the pain I was referring to earlier.

Then we realize that our posture is bad, our muscles are tight, and its pretty hard to perform some movements with out pain.

Creating just one bad habit leads to creating other bad ones because of the ability of the body to adjust or compensate.

And the big truth is..

They come very fast but they go away very slow - if its only one - it will be easy to go back to the good one, but as you realize that one leads to a lot more and we end up with pain when we exhaust all the body capabilities to deal with the constant stress on muscles, joints and soft tissues.

And we are facing a long journey to get back to what we have lost - the good habits which keep us in good shape so we can do everything we need and love to do without fear of pain and complications.

Please remember:

If you are wondering why you have a pain - maybe it is a bad habit(s) which led to it.

Do not live with bad habits, do not ignore small details which can lead to big struggles.

It is this simple to be pain free!

Home workstation challenges for all the girls in the world

It has been too long and will continue for most of us - working from home and running the daily tasks and kids. Too much to be perfect but there are always some key points which can help enormously. 

Lets’ review together the ergo home settings. ( one biggie out of everything else we do and have a great impact on our body).

So many of my clients are dealing with headaches, back, shoulders, wrists, neck pain. And my first question is about their desk settings. And all of them think and state that everything is set correctly but I insist to review it and...this is not the case

So I decided to put together the main and the most important things for you all to review and try to match as much as possible.

1. Neck position - chin tucked and retracted - that helps tremendously for the neck tightness and headaches. If you are using a laptop and you need to look down - it is ok, just be sure you do it correctly following this neck position - keep the chin tucked and retracted and bring the head down from its top, not by protracting the chin forward (like a nod).

2. Sitting on the chair:

• Feet are resting on the floor

• Knees are relaxed to the side - don’t try to hold them or keep them together or inward

• Hips are bent less than 90 degrees - knees have to be lower than the hips

• Sitting - buttocks all the way to the back of the chair - try to sit at the bottom of the back of the chair so you feel a little push on the sacrum, then adjust the body up straight over the pelvis - at the beginning you may feel a little discomfort at the lower back ( or it will feel awkward, which is normal because you have never sat this way before and it is new to your body) but this will relax completely the sacrum area and the muscles and the body parts will be stacked correctly

• When you sit, be sure you sit on your sitting bones or slightly infront of them instead your weight to fall behind your body - this is fatiguing affecting the lower back natural curve

All of the above is great for women because of the blood and lymph  flow in the pelvic area.

• elbows - relaxed next to your body, pointing down and slightly less than 90 degrees bent - this allows the wrists to be relaxed

• wrists in neutral position with a support under them ( you can use a small towel or any kind of wrist cushion to keep them rested, not up in the air - this helps to type with fingers only without the wrist being involved

• screen top 10-20 degrees under eye level, approximately arm length away from you and slightly tilted backwards

If you apply all these together I assure you - you can sit on your laptop in any environment and still be pain and tension free.

If you have done it incorrectly for a long time, when you start applying any of the above, at the beginning you  will feel so awkward and not right - do not get discouraged - it takes time, consistency and practice in order to change a habit. 

All of the above get down to:

• Relaxed neck

• Relaxed shoulders and arms

• Relaxed wrists

• Relaxed pelvis

• Relaxed hips and legs

• Proper weight distribution

• Great posture

• Great circulation

• Efficient breathing

• Less fatigue

• Clear mind

• No headaches

• No tension

• Increased level of productivity

• No pain down the road

Maybe some of you are not aware of or  you are wondering why you have  aches and pains  - have in mind that you spend hours behind the desk every day and sooner or later this will affect your body in a negative way.

This is the truth, believe me.

13 winning tips to enjoy gardening without pain

Hello Gardeners!

We have time to organize our gardens the way we want them - beautiful, healthy, flourishing.

But that requires a lot of bending over, kneeling, digging, cleaning, pulling weeds, moving pots, lifting soil bags. We forget about what is good for our bodies, we forget pains and aches. But most important -  we forget how to stay safe and move around correctly to avoid strain on joints and muscles and be able to move tomorrow also.

My garden’s turn was today!

Unfortunately, I have a patio not a real  garden, but I have 56 pots and a nice patio set. Everything had to be moved around, reorganized, replanted, refreshed.

A lot of work and a whole day with a lot of physical work!

Now everything looks great, I am a little tired but I wanted to share with you - It is very intense for the body, especially if you haven't done it for a while. 

It is hard to be aware of the body and posture and doing every move carefully but if you don't - that can cost you a lot later. So it is worth thinking about it.

13 TIPS on how to garden without being stuck with aches tomorrow

#1 Warm up - prepare the body for physical activity - it is work.

#2 Prepare for a lot of bending over - here is how to do it right.

The lower back is the most common achy area after gardening. A lot of pulls and lifts.

Put your feet a little wider than the hips, hinge from the hips, buttocks go back and down like you are sitting on a chair do not round the back- keep it straight. When you pull or lift, bring your tummy down between legs, your weight goes down through the belly button, do not let your shoulders pull you down, make sure your core is fired up to protect and stabilize the lower back

Going back up - place your hands on your thighs and walk them up until you get all the way up

And gently lean backwards few times.

#3 Always face the area you are working on and avoid twists - if you are done with the area in front of you,  get up,  turn your body as a block ,face the next area and then bend over 

#4 If you need to kneel - use kneeling pads or get a pillow/towel and put them under your knees, if  you already have back or knee pain, kneel on one and have the other foot on the ground.

#5 When you pick up or lift - follow tip #1

#6  When you have to reach out or up - be sure your core is stabilizing and your shoulders are ready to take the move

#7 Pulling weeds is a repetitive motion - do it in portions, not all at once

#8 If a part of your body starts to ache, stretch to the opposite side it was in or change the position or activity to avoid stiffness or cramps.

#9 If you are tired - take a break, do not push through,  do not overdo, I know one day is not enough! 

#10 Wear comfortable shoes - provide stability and safeness 

#11 Keep yourself hydrated for more energy

#12 Stretch your hands, hips, hamstrings often, the prolong time doing a task builds up a tension and changes the body alignment - the risk of injury increases during and afterwards activities

#13 Take a bath after you are done to relax the whole body

Enjoy the outdoors, beautify the garden and be sure you will enjoy all the hard work - no pains and aches, no injuries to follow!

Bonus tip: talk to the flowers and vegetables. They like music also. Show them your love.

If you end up with pain that is not going away, I am always ready to help! 

The most important step towards victory

Lets face it - everybody has some sort of a pain.

How do we approach it? 

I have gone through most of these excuses or maybe all of them. 

• I do not want to be a complainer, it is fine.

• It will go away

• It is not serious

• Almost everybody has this issue

• I was born this way

• It runs in the family 

• I can still keep going

• I will take care of it if it gets worse

• I do not have time for this right now

• I can not do anything about it

• and many more

Where am I going with this?

Let me share my story.

I grew up with a lot of injuries from sports, but recovered fast. Kept being very active and pushing to the edge. More injuries and fast recovery.

Then life got in my way. Family, kids, husband, work. A lot of work.

Some of my old injuries would remind me from time to time about themselves, aches and small pains will come and go until...

What happened?

I got to the point that there was not a single part of my body happy! I started to injure myself a lot easier, doing very simple things. I could not find a comfortable position in bed, in a chair. Even standing and walking became uncomfortable. I started realizing that this is not leading to anything good.

I got sick of this. Different thoughts and pictures started coming to my mind. How would I feel 10 years from now? Would I be able to even put my clothes on? Who is going to help me all the time?

And at that moment everything changed!!!

I was ready to take ACTION!

I did not want to be who I saw 10 years from then!

But where should we start from? - Everyone will figure it out as long as the “10 years from now“ picture gets in your mind.

Just remember -

ANY pain is a red Light!

                       - Signal for something is wrong

                       - Violent Root of Injury 

                       - Planted weed seed

It is your RSVP for failure - I know that for sure! 

If you do not recognize it as a problem, do not understand its role and let it be, remind yourself how you want to be 10 years from now!

Do you want that or do you want to change and improve that future “YOU”?