Your body is your greatest tool, and like an instrument it needs to be tuned. The bones give us our shape but it is the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that hold us erect. This means they need to be both supple and also appropriately strong. This “tunes” the body for easy, fluid movement. This makes fitness the final step and key self-care tool.
When it comes to habits for healthy living, staying active is up there with drinking water in terms of how helpful it is to your overall wellbeing. Staying active doesn’t have to mean doing regular exercise. And honestly, when it comes to weight loss, active living burns more calories over they day than exercise does. This means doing things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away, fidgeting, having active hobbies, or even choosing to wash dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher.
Little actions like this build up to some major calorie consumption over the day. I can already hear the questions: If all I need to do is be active, why would I bother to exercise? I get it, very few people are actually excited to exercise.
Exercise vs. Active Living
Let me reassure you though, Exercise and Active Living are not competitors; they do very different things. Exercise is where we take the time to break down activities into key movements and then drill those movements so we perform them correctly from muscle memory. Exercise also lets us use a controlled environment to scale our training so we can safely build our body to new levels.
You see, when we’re engaged in normal life we frequently focus on “getting the job done”. When we’re in this “go mode” we don’t focus on how we do the job, just that it gets finished. This is frequently how we end up hurting ourselves doing the things that we love. (looking at you, gardeners)
Getting Started with Fitness Coaching
If you’re looking around our site the unfortunate reality is you’re probably dealing with chronic pain and/or tension. This makes it difficult to do your work and enjoy the important things in life. At the end of the day, we want to be able to actively engage with what matters most. This requires a combination of strength, endurance, agility, and mobility. (To me, mobility is the combination of balance and flexibility)
At the bare basics, our muscles should be strong enough and our tendons should be tough enough to hold us up against gravity without pain and fatigue. When we are in proper posture, our movements become easier and more fluid. We can access our full range of motion and we aren’t singling out any particular muscles to do more than their fair share.
However, muscles start to shrink within 7 days of disuse. This means we ned to be exercising our body 1-2 times a week just to maintain what we have.
To help with this we have three programs available, 2 self-guided and one professionally led. each targeted to one of the most common posture problems we see here in the office. Each program is a 4-week, self-guided launch plan to help you start strong on the next phase of your health journey.
Are you interested in something more personalized with more accountability help, scroll down to the Remote Coaching section.
Upper Cross Correction
Maybe you’ve heard it called ‘Rounded Shoulders’ or ‘Hunchback’. Either way if you spend a lot of time working or playing on technology, driving, gardening, or pretty much anything that requires you to work at a workstation immediately in front of you, you probably have Upper Cross Syndrome.
This can contribute to a number of problems:
- Headaches
- Shoulder/Neck/Back Pain
- Carpal Tunnel Symptoms
- shoulder Immobility
- Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Lower Cross Correction
This one is less talked about because it’s not as obvious. In Lower Cross Syndrome our pelvis is tilting forward, exaggerating the curve of our low back. This often comes about when people have to sit for long periods of the day or if their hips are otherwise weak.
Lower Cross Syndrome can contribute to:
- Hip or Low/Mid Back Pain
- Sciatica
- Poor Hip/Spinal Mobility
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Anterior Knee Pain
Total Body Posture Correction
If you’ve been having problems in both areas and are looking for a full body overhaul you can purchase the programs together and get a $25 discount. You get lifetime access so you can choose to start on one area at a time to make things easier for you to get going.
Fitness Coaching: Remote Training for a Life Well Lived
Too many times people get excited to start a new fitness program and start too hard, too fast. They end up hurt, which slows their training program and sets back their results. OR You started off with the best of intentions but life kept getting in the way and now it’s been a month (or six) since your last workout. If we establish the correct starting point, build from there, and provide a partner to hold you accountable, then we never lose that momentum.
With Fitness Coaching at Brookview Wellness we do more than help you burn body fat. We train for balance, agility, and flexibility in addition to strength and endurance. This is because we understand that exercise can be particularly challenging for people who deal with chronic pain or have otherwise been cut off form exercise due to surgery or injuries.
We create plans that progressively build you up and are tailored to the specific goals and interests unique to you. So if you’re tired of using templates from Pinterest or going to Trainers that don’t seem to understand your needs, schedule your Fitness Coaching Discovery Call with Marcia and see if remote coaching is a good fit for you!