10/06/2022
🍖 Macronutrients 🥔
Macronutrients or as usually referred to as "macros", are essential nutrients the body needs in large quantities to remain healthy.
Macronutrients provide the body with energy, help prevent disease, and allow the body to function correctly.
The three main types of macronutrients are: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Determining the right amount to consume can be difficult. There are a number of factors such as age, height, and level of activity to take into account when you are deciding the right macro split for you.
A nutritionist (like myself) can help you design a recommended meal plan with a custom macro split based on your data.
If you are someone who has tried efficiently tried tracking your macros, tried making adjustments, but had no luck getting your weight up/down. Then I highly recommend seeing a dietician.
Nutritionists like myself are qualified to deal with general nutritional aims and behaviors. A dietician on the other hand are qualified to treat diagnosed eating disorders and design diets to treat specific medical conditions.
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DM or visit my website (link in bio) to inquire about nutrition or training needs.
Keep Moving Forward!
09/29/2022
📢Listen to your body!📢
This basically comes down to being conscious of how ready your body and mind are for exercise.
Here are some basic cues you can look out for when evaluating whether or not your body is ready to train.
Obviously nutrition and recovery (sleep) are a vital part to the equation to ensuring you are setting your body up for readiness.
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Keep Moving Forward!
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09/22/2022
🧱 Bracing 🧱
As mentioned in my previous post, diaphragmatic breathing aids in bracing.
Bracing is the ability to keep tension throughout your core protecting your spine and muscles in the back, neck and shoulders during lifts.
That means for those with injury-prone areas, it can help you protect and prevent those areas from getting re-injured or flaring up.
I see many people avoid exercises like squats and deadlifts and avoid using equipment like barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells because it hurts their back or bothers some old injury.
Well in most cases it is certainly okay to perform these exercises to help rehabilitate those injuries. The issue a lot of times is proper technique and proper programming. It may take regressing those exercises into modified versions of them and creating a program that involves great attention to detail, but they can be performed nonetheless.
I've had the privilege to work with several clients with pre-existing injuries ranging from lower back herniations to hip replacements and all of them successfully incorporated back-loading lifts that they were able to progressively becoming stronger and mechanically efficient.
The key? 🔑
Practice, practice and more practice of their technique in both body mechanics and effective bracing.
How To Brace:
Stand up straight with your shoulders down and back
Squeeze the glutes to set the pelvis
Contract abs like someone are about to punch you in the stomach
Diaphragmatic breathing into this position
If you're new to practicing this maneuver it may feel awkward as you get used to bracing, discomfort or pain is not normal and should not occur.
09/20/2022
🫁Breathe in breathe out🫁
Sounds like the easiest thing we do as humans. So easy we don't even have to think about it, quite literally.
But an area of opportunity for many clients is proper breathing. One of the most underestimated topics in my opinion.
For example breathing and posture are both directly correlated to one another, when one is dysfunctional it immediately affects the other. Or if we look at it from a better perspective, we can directly improve our posture or quality of breathing by addressing these areas.
First let's break down what proper breathing is.
Proper breathing begins at the nose and then moves to your stomach as your diaphragm contracts, the belly expands and your lungs fill with air. This can also be referred to as diaphragmatic breathing or horizontal breathing.
This is automatically occurring in the background as we go about our daily routines. In fact breathing is simply a reflex that our bodies do thanks to the Medulla, a long stem like structure that is located in the lower part of the brainstem.
Now I promise we don't have to begin thinking about every breathe we take. But we do have control of the muscles that aid this involuntary function to happen, so we must be able to train it.
So why is this important and how does it relate to your training or every day life?
Proper Breathing During Training Aids In:
Technique
Bracing
Protection of spine and lower back
Endurance
Oxygen Uptake & utilization
Power output
As you can see, breathing is a vital component to training. Those trying to overcome a plateau or improve quality of training, try focusing more on proper breathing and see just how much of a difference it makes.
Proper Breathing In Every Day Life Aids In:
Improving posture
Quality of sleep
Digestion
Body's immune response
Greater sense of mental clarity
Reduce stress levels
Just think why psychologists recommend breathing techniques to patients who deal with high stress, anxiety and even sleeping problems.
Every system in the body relies on oxygen. From cognition to digestion. All of the reasons to make it a focus are there.
Breath in, breathe out and move forward!
07/21/2021
Hard work + Dedication = R E S U L T S
It won't always be easy but I can promise the results will be worth it. And when things get tough or hard, that's when I'll be there making sure you show up and give you the pep talk you need to stay dedicated. Because what you put in is exactly what you'll get out.
07/15/2021
Pigeon Pose:
Start on all fours and bring your right knee to your right wrist lowering it to the floor. Your right ankle will be somewhere in front of your left hip but play around with what feels right for your body. From here stretch your back left leg out straight with your heel pointing toward the ceiling. Take 5 long inhale and exhale breaths breathing space into your hips and anywhere you may feel extra tight. Then repeat these steps on your left side.
This pose helps stretch your hips and lower back and can help relieve pressure from your lower back. Additionally, pigeon pose helps improve posture, alignment and overall flexibility. Win, win and win!
07/14/2021
Have you ever felt gym-intimidation? When you're not sure if you're doing something right so it feels like every eye is on you?
I think everyone's felt that at one point or another. As your trainer it's my job to give you the confidence you need inside the gym to get the job done whether you're in a session with me or working out solo.
Which is why when working with my clients we go through a 5 step training process when introducing new material so you feel 100% confident that you're doing it right and safely.
It goes like this:
1. I tell you how and why
2. I show you
3. You try it out
4. We review it together
5. and then we do it again!
Which exercise do you feel you always do wrong or do you feel like you need the most help mastering? Comment below!
07/09/2021
Not only do I place an emphasis on warming up but also cooling down.
Cooldown is vital in lowering your heart rate at a constant pace allowing your muscles a gradual recovery thus reducing risk of injury and stretching you out.
I recommend no less than 5-10 minutes of dynamic stretching and myofascial release post-workout for maximum benefits, plus cool-downs just feel good! Cool downs allow you to thank yourself for showing up and putting in the work, its 5-10 minutes of calm before hopping back into the everyday hustle.
Throw this into your next cool down:
Thread the needle: Great after upper body days as it focuses on thoracic mobility by opening the shoulders and stretching the spine (and my personal favorite cool-down).
Finish it off with the for a great deep tissue massage to help with relaxing of thickened connective tissue and fascia.
07/05/2021
Bring on the heat!
Summer is heating things up -- and as much as you may already feel “warm,” make sure you don't skip out on your warmup!
During your warm-up, ask yourself a few questions:
Are you warming up the right muscles for your workout? Do you have the right equipment for the exercises? Are you activating the right spots?
Really take a moment and be intentional in your warm-up and you'll see a difference in your workout from start to finish.
Pictured: Band Pull Aparts - these warm your traps, rear delts, and musculature in your back. Use this as one of your warmup exercises for back/chest or anything that uses your upper back muscles.
06/28/2021
Every time you show up to your workout, you're taking steps forward.
Training isn't a singular event or a one-and-done type activity. It's a progression that takes time and effort. But it's not hard when you realize that to take a step in the right direction you just need to show up and try.
At MFF every day is a step closer to achieving your goals. What are you waiting for? Let's get training!
06/18/2021
In order to have it all, you have to give it all. And while it may not always be easy, giving 110% is what moves the needle.
When you're ready to give in to the burn, when that voice inside your head is telling you to give up, to drop the bar, to take off some weight... as your coach I'll always be there cheering you on. I'll be the one telling you that you can do it and you can push past your minds limits but at the same time I'll never push you farther than I know your body can go. Sometimes you just need a little motivation and sometimes you just need a distraction.
Moving Forward fitness was created to not only help you move through the finish line but to break barriers while doing so.
07/15/2021
07/14/2021
07/09/2021
07/05/2021
06/28/2021
06/18/2021