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Burns, Scars and Tattoos

Fascia is like a big rubber-band beneath our skin that literally holds us together, and if restricted can result in seemingly unrelated pain.

Fascia is a three-dimensional web throughout the body. In order to function optimally it needs to be free in all planes of movement, but when its has restrictions due to trauma or long-term dysfunctional movement it can cause additional compensation.

When burns, scars and tattoos are deep enough to result in adhesions between the surface skin and the fascia we can experience seemingly un-related pain in other parts of the body.

Here are a couple recent examples we have seen. A tattoo on the back contributing to migraine headaches. A tattoo on the ribs that contributed to knee mobility restrictions. A scar on the shin that contributed to knee pain and immobility.

The good news is fascia can be remodeled over time. So, if you have a burn, scar or tattoo anywhere on the body and experience chronic pain anywhere in the body, it is worth investigating to see if there is a relationship.

Burns, scars and tattoos only take a few minutes to test, generally only a few weeks to fix, but may lead to a lifetime of improved pain-free movement.

It is worth pointing out that having a tattoo does not always lead to fascial restrictions.

Taiso Fitness and Nutrition

If you are looking for a shared personal training experience try Taiso Fitness and Nutrition. We are Tacoma’s fitness and nutrition gym for people who want to get out of pain or improve performance, who need immediate, measurable results, and want to make educated decisions to take control of their health.

Shared personal training provides the coaching of a personal trainer with the social support of a bootcamp […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:43-07:00August 5th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Burns, Scars and Tattoos

Vision Training Helping Shoulder Pain?

In this video Dr. Cobb presents a situation in which a woman who had had restricted shoulder range-of-motion and shoulder pain for 50 years had a significant improvement in one session.

I have had a similar experience with a client who came in to try a jujutsu class. After a few minutes of warming up it was clear the client had a major shoulder problem. I tested his range-of-motion and he was not able to raise his elbow higher than his shoulder.

I literally worked with him for less than 3 minutes just to make sure he was safe to conduct jujutsu training and his shoulder range-of-motion was fully restored. He had lived with that problem and shoulder pain for 14 years.

In this case, I did not even do any work with his shoulder. I started off taking his wrist through a series of movements and his should greatly improved. Then I took his elbow through some exercise and we never needed to do anything with the shoulder itself.

As Doc pointed out in the video, the lady who had a 50 year shoulder problem needed some exercise for her eyes. If you do not have a clear understanding of brain mapping this may seem strange. But at least 75 percent of the people we work benefit from vision training regardless of what else may be a problem area for them.

This is not always the case, sometimes it is something we have to work at over time. But very often we see cases like this where a single session will fix a long-term problem.

Taiso Fitness and Nutrition

If you are looking for a shared personal training experience try Taiso Fitness and Nutrition. We are Tacoma’s fitness and nutrition […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:43-07:00July 6th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Vision Training Helping Shoulder Pain?

Routine Training Miracles are No Less Extraordinary

In this video Dr. Cobb shares a story about a dancer who was unable to do the splits. Her doctor said for $50,000 they could break her hip, instead a Z Health Trainer was able to help her achieve the splits with a movement drill.

We see incredible changes in performance all the time. And if its the third or forth minor miracle of the day for us, we may not be amazed. But for the client who was unable to lift his arm past his shoulder for 14 years, the person who had chronic shoulder pain, or the runner who wanted to be faster but also got rid of back pain these are sometimes life-changing events.

And to be honest, sometimes there are things we help people with that we find absolutely amazing but the client says something like, “oh, that pain I had for 10 years is gone, that’s cool.”

This does not mean that you necessarily get the miracle you were expecting right away. Sometimes a person will say their knee has a problem and we will solve it right away. Sometimes a person will say their knee has a problem and we will fix a vision issue, a hip issue, and a balance issue which lead to fixing the knee after a few sessions.

But these results are equally amazing and you should embrace them.

The world’s understanding of neurology is improving everyday. The brain absolutely controls everything about the body, and by taking a neurological approach to training the extraordinary is not only possible, but routine.

Taiso Fitness and Nutrition

If you are looking for a shared personal training experience try Taiso Fitness and Nutrition. We are Tacoma’s fitness and nutrition gym for people who […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:44-07:00June 22nd, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Routine Training Miracles are No Less Extraordinary

Shared Personal Training

Shared personal training is a guided workout experience to motivate our clients with short-term and long-term goals, and measurable results. We take ambiguous goals like weight-loss, being fit, or getting healthier and turn them into concrete, measurable objectives so you see and feel progress in each class.

What makes shared personal training different then conventional personal training is that once your program is established you do the majority of your workouts in a group setting in which each participant has their own personal program. These are small controlled groups and have the constant supervision and feedback from a coach.  Once you hit certain performance markers your program is changed to continue to get you to your next goal.

Is it right for me? Well let me give an example. Vin decides she wants to lose a few pounds and “get fit,” but she is concerned because she has a history of knee pain. Vin schedules a consultation with us and we discuss her goals.

We discuss what being fit means to her and decide that a couple solid, measurable goals are to be able to do handstands, and do a full range-of-motion squat without any pain. We use biofeedback from her nervous system to test the movements that will go in her program. We want everything we do to contribute to her success and not become a hinderance down the road.

Then next time she comes in a coach will get her started on her program then move around the room assisting the other people in her group to insure everyone is properly challenged and successful. As Vin becomes proficient at her program and is seeing results, parts of program will change to keep up her progress.

She gets way […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:44-07:00June 2nd, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Shared Personal Training

Winning Like Michael Phelps

We all want to be a champion in our own lives, winning like #winning. Micheal Phelps knows a thing or two about winning so we will look at his behavior and mindset to become a champion of our own lives.

In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown narrates the race ritual of Micheal Phelps, the most decorated American Olympian of all time winning 22 Olympic medals. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China he set a record for most first place finishes by any athlete in a single Olympics, eight gold medals.

Two hours before a race Michael Phelps would conduct the exact same warmup swim every time, in the exact same order.

After the swim he would dry off, put on his headphones and sit on the massage table. Always sitting, never lying down.

From this point forward he would not speak to his coach or anyone else until after the race was over.

At 45 minutes before the race, he would get dressed for the race. At 30 minutes before, he would go to the warmup pool for a 600 meter swim.

At 10 minutes before the race he would walk to the ready room and find a place where he could sit alone. He would place his goggles on one side and his towel on the other.

When his race was called, he would walk to the blocks. He always approached the blocks from the left side. He would dry the block every time, perform the same two stretches in the exact same order always with the left leg first. Then he would remove the right earbud.

When his name was called he would remove the […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:44-07:00May 17th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Winning Like Michael Phelps

Thinking About Thinking About It

This past Saturday we held one of our monthly RESOLUTE Studio Sessions. One the topics we discussed was the first stage of change – precontemplation. Precontemplation is when you are becoming aware of something that needs to change but you are not ready to do anything just yet.

We like to think about this as the “thinking about thinking about.” If you have read Martha Beck, or have started the RESOLUTE Online Course, you already know the story behind that phrase.

But for everyone else, precontemplation is when we avoid the subject, we do not want to learn or discuss it, we do not take responsibility for our actions, and we are unwilling to consider the consequences.

But if a person has already made the effort to start the online course or attend a studio session, haven’t they already progressed beyond the precontemplation stage? Yes they have. However, if the change is too much or happens too quickly they may revert to the precontemplation stage and they need to know what it looks like.

It is also important to understand that we are all in various stages of change at any given time. We may have one change which we are doing well on, but others we are still in precontemplation about.

Our best chance to implement long term change is to understand each of the stages of change, what it takes to fulfill the need of that stage, and what to do next to insure success.

Taiso Fitness and Nutrition

If you are looking for a unique gym experience try Taiso Fitness and Nutrition. We are Tacoma’s fitness and nutrition gym for people who want to get out of pain or improve performance, who need immediate, measurable […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:45-07:00May 4th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Thinking About Thinking About It

RESOLUTE Free Studio Sessions

This is a FREE to-the-public in-studio Q and A about stress, metabolism, and health. It is the live discussion portion of our RESOLUTE online program and takes place on the first Saturday of each month at 10am at Taiso Fitness.

Stress, Metabolism, Health

Why stress, metabolism, and health? Because stress and metabolism effect every measure of health.  And stress, as the brain experiences it, comes from a lot of places other then the mental stress that we normally consider.

We each have a personal threshold for stress, and when that threshold is exceeded we experience negative effects on our health and performance. This is one of the reason the same diet and exercise program does not work for everyone.

We can experience stress from a variety of sources. In the body it may come from posture, movement, sleep, balance, vision, diet, breathing, etc… Now add to that all the outside sources that we would normally consider such as work, relationships, traffic, bills, etc…

As an example, lets say my posture stress is 10% of my threshold. I had a past injury to my back so lets call that 20%. I use a computer all day so my eyes contribute another 25%. I have a big deadline at work so that is 30%.

Right now I’m at 85% of my stress threshold. If I have a good diet with enough nutrients and calories, I may be ok and never experience performance crashes or chronic pain.

But if I cut calories because I am too busy to eat or because I’m on an extreme diet that’s going to add more stress. Or if I am eating enough calories but I’m busy and eating fast food that’s lacking the nutrients I need that’s […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:46-07:00April 27th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on RESOLUTE Free Studio Sessions

Kickballerz

Thanks to everyone who came out Saturday to play kick ball. Penny and November led a great warmup with some quality movement and a little skill building. Then it was time for us to release our eight year old selves and enjoy the game.

The great thing about kick ball is that no expects to be awesome. Its a great way to just have fun for a while and remember what it’s like to play. Very often we get caught up in being serious adults, who do serious things. When we do play as an adult it usually revolves around machines or electronics. Be sure to take time to just relax and chase a ball. Laugh. Have fun.

Chasing a ball, any ball kick ball or not, is a great way to get our eyes out of the cages our society puts them in. We normally see the world through a framed experience. The frames may be glasses, or windows, or screens, or windshields. But they all limit the movement of our eyes and contribute to atrophy of the eye muscles, certain types of tracking, and peripheral vision.

Besides, when else does sprinting in one direction while looking in another sound safe?

Taiso Fitness and Nutrition

If you are looking for a unique gym experience try Taiso Fitness and Nutrition. We are Tacoma’s fitness and nutrition gym for people who want to get out of pain or improve performance, who need immediate, measurable results, and want to make educated decisions to take control of their health.

Ready to get out of pain or improve performance? Looking for a gym, personal trainer, or unique boot camp experience? Set up a complimentary consultation, or start a 21 Day Risk Free Trial. Stay […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:46-07:00April 20th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Kickballerz

Tactical Strength Challenge Spring 2015

This past weekend we tried out the Tactical Strength Challenge. It consists of deadlift, pullup, and kettlebell snatch. It was a fun, well run, and friendly event. We really enjoyed it and will definitely attend the next one on October 3, 2015.

It is held internationally on the same day, and the closest location for us was Kettibility in Seattle. The staff and participants were were all great. Everyone was very supportive of each other. When people asked about your results, the next question was most likely, ”was that your personal best?”

Tactical Strength Challenge

chart

We arrived a half-hour before the event, signed our releases, got our t-shirts and started warming up. As soon as I picked up the first kettlebell to do some swings, I felt a strain in my right adductor. I strained this same muscle about four months ago testing a narrow deadlift stance.

Jennifer put me in a quarter squat to activate the muscle, covered my dominant eye, and did drills with my non-dominant eye to lower my overall stress. At this point I was able to squat with full range of motion but was still aware of the strain.

The first event was the deadlift.

Jennifer’s personal record was 210. So we planned her lifts to be 190, 200, 210. But we had been training to drop the bar after the lift, but the rules required we lower the bar with control. Not knowing if that would have any effect on her lifts, Jennifer decided to go for 200 on her first lift. She successfully pulled 200, then 210, then set a new PR with a 220. All lifts were nice and smooth and she probably could […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:47-07:00April 13th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Tactical Strength Challenge Spring 2015

RESOLUTE Course Launch

Low metabolism? Gain weight easily, cold hands and feet, energy crashes, hair loss (especially outer eyebrows). These are the problems our clients were seeing with traditional weight loss.

After years of working one-on-one with clients, months typing away in front of a computer, building modules and doing voice-overs, the RESOLUTE program has launched.

The idea for an online program started in the fall of 2014. Each time we have held or twice a year in studio program, we limited the amount of participants. After the fall class we decided that an online program would give us more options to share information while allowing us to continue the course longer then the eight week studio course.

Here are the problems we were seeing with traditional dieting:

•Dieting only leads to short term success.

•The weight always comes back, and then some.

•When people are dieting their energy is low.

•They are tired all the time.

•They are less creative and productive.

•Sex drive is non-existent.

•and lets be honest, they are kind of a bear to be around.

We ended up with an eight module course, with several lesson per module in a short video format with worksheets, exercises, experiments, and habits. Some of the foundational topics are:

•Stress and the Brain

•Stress and the Body

•Respiration and Carbon Dioxide

•Repair and Restoration

•Movement and Exercise

•Diet and Nutrition

•Stages of Change

•Step By Step Habits for Stress, Hormones, and Weight

The course is concerned with raising and repairing your metabolism by focusing on and controlling stress. When most people hear stress they only think about mental stress, but there are also a variety of physical stressors that effect the body. It is designed to walk you through from “thinking about thinking about it” all the way to maintenance.

To give you an idea of the topics […]

By |2017-09-06T15:55:48-07:00April 8th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on RESOLUTE Course Launch
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