There’s no way around it: chronic pain, whether due to an illness, persistent injury, or an acute incident, sucks.

If you’re an active or competitive person and you’ve ever been seriously injured or dealt with significant pain, you know that it can be devastating. If you’re a coach or a trainer, you know that keeping a client motivated and even compliant in this scenario is incredibly difficult, to put it mildly.

Why is it that a seemingly superficial issue, like an injury, can inspire such a potent grief response?

Humans, especially those being drawn to competitive or challenging physical activities, generally will have a why, which is our ultimate end goal, and the how, which is how we plan to get there, that motivates us in our training.

When we find the how that aligns with our goals and makes us feel productive, we often begin to identify with how it will conflate the ultimate end goal with our ways to achieve it.

If someone’s goal is to get stronger, and their way of achieving that goal is to adhere to a powerlifting program, it’s not uncommon for that person to identify as someone who deadlifts, benches, and squats, as opposed to identifying as a person generally wanting to be stronger.

Pain and injury are uniquely potent in their ability to keep us from those hows that form fundamental pieces of our identities.

If I identify as a powerlifter and I sustain a back injury that keeps me from deadlifting and squatting for an extended period, during that time of extreme limitation, it feels like a large part of me is gone. That feeling sucks.

When or if the issue becomes chronic, another set of challenges presents itself. Many times, we can salvage our motivation by relying on the idea that our pain or injury is only temporary.

When that stops being the case, we lose hope and can act in ways that are detrimental to our health, such as stopping physical activity altogether.

There is a typical mourning process that happens around injuries that I think is normal and sometimes unavoidable. Still, there are specific measures we can take as athletes and as coaches to circumvent some of the harmful effects of this process.

1. Develop a Symbiotic, Proactive Relationship With Pain

Develop a symbiotic yet proactive relationship with your pain or injury. Irrational behavior around the damage and the pain is often due to the mindset that the pain is an opponent or doesn’t belong.

When we sustain a severe injury or have chronic pain, our perception of that pain must change for us to maintain our mental well-being and to act in ways that support our end goals.

The first step is to consider the possibility that this limitation is not going to go away for a while. Some may call this idea radical acceptance; no matter where you were or where you want to be, accept where your body is now.

At the same time, take daily action to ensure you are doing something to address the pain. Work with a qualified practitioner on the proactive piece.

Bottom line: Accept your current circumstances, but take daily steps to do something to change them.

2. Think Objectively About Why and How

Think more objectively about your why, and subsequently find other hows. One of the exercises I do with my clients involves delving into the root of their primary goals (AKA, their why).

When we lose our preferred method, we must figure out different ways to get to the why. Sometimes the why isn’t as clear as it may seem.

For example, if someone says that their end goal is to do a pullup, their real goal might be:

• To develop more upper body strength
• To become more effective at a particular activity
• To achieve something physically novel

Bottom line: Get to the root of your why. Then start thinking about alternative hows.

3. Develop and Hone Your Movement Toolbox

Develop and hone your movement toolbox. One of the most powerful realizations I see in clients is that when it comes to movement, there are always other options.

These options are dynamic and may change from day to day, and almost always will change as our bodies adjust and compensate for new circumstances.

However, over time we learn that if a specific tool (AKA a particular how) is not available to us, there is always another tool we can use.

In extreme circumstances like the case of a systemic flare-up or something similar, it may be that the tool isn’t physical, but it still helps move us closer to one of our actual end goals. This principle is what allows us to keep productive and to move despite our acute or chronic limitations.

Bottom line: Always have a plan B (and C) ready to go.

The Bottom Line of the Bottom Lines

While injury and pain can steal the spotlight and appear to keep us from our goals, if we change our perception, identify what we need, and get a little creative with our solutions, we can still make progress.

Identify, adapt, and move.

The post Adapt Workout Goals to Chronic Pain and Injury appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Chances are, despite your newfound title (“CERTIFIED”—oh yeah!) and position of authority, you have yet to teach one person how to even squat correctly.

So, you’ve passed your training certification. Congratulations.

Chances are, despite your newfound title (“CERTIFIED”—oh yeah!) and position of authority, you have yet to teach one person how to even squat correctly.

Perhaps I’m wrong, maybe you have taught one person how to squat correctly.

But have you taught five people how to squat? What about just two people—one with a left knee injury and one who has been sitting on the couch for the last ten years? What about someone over the age of fifty? A teenager with zero body awareness?

I digress.

My point is that the fitness industry has an extremely low barrier to entry; you can become a “certified” professional trainer having never had any hands-on experience—and this is bad. And wrong. Even “bad-wrong” or “ba-dong” (extra credit if you get that movie reference). But the risks can be mitigated if up-and-coming trainers humble themselves and take proactive steps to improve.

If you are a novice trainer and you happen to have a fixed mindset (read also: fragile ego), you will likely find this article largely offensive. If you genuinely want to become a better trainer and you are willing to admit that you may not know everything there is to know, my advice in this article will, hopefully, help you gain a better understanding of what your path should look like.

Mind you, this overview is extremely general. I could write an article about each individual bullet point here, but this is a start.

So, let’s begin at the beginning.

Do the Research

Do your research. Perpetually. But don’t be a douche about it.

If you can admit that the fitness industry has an extremely low barrier to entry, you should also be able to acknowledge that the exercise science field is relatively new and there is a lot of conflicting information. Most fitness gurus make a name and brand for themselves by endorsing one style or philosophy. Usually obnoxiously so. Moderation does not make for an entertaining Instagram page.

You’re (probably) not an internet guru. You don’t need to “pick a side.” I believe that, when working with the general public, it is your responsibility to weed through the opinions and build your own philosophy based on logic and rationale.

I also have a fun fact for you: you can attend a certification course and not become a zealot for that one method. Yep. You can take some tools—the ones that resonate the most with you—and use them where you’d like (until they no longer serve you), and disregard the rest. It’s allowed.

Additionally, you’ll need to acknowledge that some of the things you say today may possibly be VERY unpopular (or just flat out “wrong”) in three years. While you’re at it, acknowledge that you will most likely differ in opinion from the trainer next to you, and that is OK.

Be prepared to reevaluate your methods, be a proactive learner, and always critically think about information that comes your way. You must teach yourself to operate on information rather than ego.

Now, let’s move on to some more practical tips to consider when working with clients.

Learn How to Listen

This is a big one. As trainers, we hear ourselves talk constantly. We also have a charming tendency to project our fitness and health goals onto others.

“I want to get as yoked as possible and eat twelve eggs a day…Sally must want the same thing.”

“I want to run a marathon before the end of the year. I’m going to make all of my clients join my mandatory running club.”

Have you ever heard the phrase “to be truly wise, you learn from the mistakes of others?” Well, my trainer version is, “To be a quality trainer, you must empathize with and cater to the goals of others.” Listen to what they are telling you in their consultation (BTW, always do some sort of consultation before you begin training someone), ask questions, and build their program around their goals. Not your goals.

Listening intently gives us a few additional opportunities:

1. You can hear where a person’s pain points are.I don’t mean just injuries and lifestyle factors (though these are important) I also mean that you can listen for any signs of body dysmorphia or neuroses. The fitness industry does a great job attracting and promoting various disorders, and while it’s not necessarily your job to do something about this, it is important that you pay attention.
2. You can make an informed and rational decision about whether or not you are the right fit for that person.About five years into my training career, I realized that I did not want to work with competitive types anymore. When someone came to their initial consultation and threw out training percentages and aggressive body composition or performance goals, I almost always referred them elsewhere or had a very candid conversation with them about what I could do for them. The same principle applied when I owned my gym. Acknowledging your expertise (and your interests) isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. Reevaluate this often, and be honest.
3. When you speak, speak to your audience.Remember way back when I said that trainers talk a lot? Well, many times we also happen to talk in ways that our clients don’t understand. So our voices are gone, our clients are moving like crap, and we are generally annoyed and tired. Or we are completely oblivious BUT on the verge of losing business. Or we are offending someone unintentionally. Or a plethora of other ba-dong (ok, I’ll stop) scenarios.

   Here’s how to be a better communicator when training or coaching:

   • First, use language that your client understands and is interested in.
   • Next, please keep it simple. Using fancy anatomical jargon with people that just want to move around for an hour usually doesn’t make you sound smart. It’s also a horrible way to communicate any point you’re trying to make.
   • Also, use language that is common and recognizable to the people in your current audience.

   Here’s a translation for you:

   • Exhibit A: “Push your ischial tuberosities back and engage your erector spinae while you perform this movement; ensure you keep your calcaneus bones on the floor and to help avoid putting unnecessary pressure on your patellar tendons.”
   • Translation: “Push your butt back and keep your chest up. Keep your heels on the ground as well. It’s better for your knees.”

   Voilà.

4. Use only the level of detail that is necessary and relevant.It’s pretty clear when a client wants more information or detail about something (hint: they ask for it). Generally speaking, try to communicate your point in as few words as possible while staying clear. Most of the time, people just need to move safely. If you are working with a more competitive clientele, or you are working with someone that likes a lot of information, by all means, go forth and spread your wisdom. In most cases, however, keep it short and simple.

   Use the following principles to help:

   • When teaching a movement, keep your initial demonstrations to sixty seconds and under.
   • When teaching a movement, focus on no more than three major cues to start with.
   • When giving feedback, correct one issue at a time. Make sure it is fully resolved (cue it again and again if needed), and then move onto the next.
   • Use the principle of triage to dictate your feedback. Which movement flaw is the most dangerous? Correct that one first.
   • Rehearse and practice how you are going to phrase your cues. This last one might seem a little weird but stay with me. One of the main problems new trainers have is that they are trying to communicate concepts that they have never communicated before. This results in really awkward word jumbles that can usually be avoided or greatly attenuated by verbally rehearsing how you’re going to say something. Rehearse it with your friend or roommate and see if they have feedback. Figure out a way to work through the word jumble before you go live with a client. I promise it’s a good idea, and you should do it.

Additional Training Details

At the beginning of each session, consider briefly and concisely outlining what your client is going to do that day and why. When I say “brief,” I mean sixty seconds or less. Some clients don’t care (and in those cases, you can skip this part), but most clients that seek out training services are just a tiny bit Type A, and knowing what to expect can save them some anxiety, and can save you the need to explain or answer unnecessary questions during your session.

For example: “John, today we are going to be doing a strict overhead press for three sets of five. We are going to superset your strict press with some weighted chin up sets. After that we’ve got a 15-minute conditioning workout. We are working your upper body strength and getting your heart rate up in today’s session.”

Easy.

Be prepared to answer the same questions multiple times. People are absolutely terrible at listening. It’s not intentional, nor is it an insult to you. They just suck at it. I tell my trainers in training to be prepared to repeat themselves two to three times in a session on a good day.

Always have at least one scale (modification) and at least one progression (challenge) in mind for every movement. You never know when someone is going to start having a mystery pain or lack the mobility/stability to perform a certain movement.

Have sprints programmed? Keep the rowing machine nearby. Doing pull-ups in a workout? Get the TRX straps or the weight belt ready, depending on your client. People’s bodies don’t do what we want them to sometimes, and other times they do way more than we think they can; roll with it and make adjustments wherever is wise.

Practice. That is all. Let your ego go, apologize when appropriate, and practice often.

The post Training the Trainer appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The fitness industry is wrought with lies.

Are these lies intentional? Generally not. Exercise science is still a fairly new field with very few proven facts, and the fitness industry attracts the more “extreme” minds among us; therefore, it’s quite easy to reinforce our beliefs without critically evaluating them. In my years of coaching, gym ownership, and massage therapy, there have been hundreds of lies from which I have had to protect my clients, but there is one overarching piece of misinformation that spawns many of these untruths.

The biggest lie you’ve been told about fitness is that you don’t matter.

Consider these three statements (all statements I have heard from clients, in some capacity, multiple times):

• “I really want to start working out, but I need to get in shape first so that I don’t embarrass myself.”
• “I hurt my hip every time I squat, but I can’t stop squatting because my trainer or training partners will judge me.”
• “I don’t want to start on a meal plan because I am afraid that I will fail.”

While all of these statements appear different in surface content, they all have one common theme: there is a box, and if I don’t fit into that box, then I am not worthy enough to make my own decisions.

What’s Your Fear?

Do you fear to start a workout regimen because you haven’t been active in over a decade? You are falling victim to a false narrative that only already-fit people deserve to prioritize their health and fitness.

Do you continue to injure yourself in the gym or make poor decisions because your surroundings or your ego tell you that you can’t change or modify your workouts? You are neglecting your right to a healthy, injury-free life. No matter what your ego, your trainers, or your friends say.

Do you refuse to start on a meal plan because you fear that you will fail? You are buying into the belief that every diet has to be extreme and that any personalization is “cheating.”

There is no reason that you can’t personalize your health and fitness regimen to prioritize your well-being.

Do you want to exercise or join a gym? Do it. Right now. Start as slow as you need to, and find people that support and understand your journey (anyone that doesn’t is probably a jerk).

Do you want to stay injury-free? Embrace the fact that modifying and scaling your workouts is an act of good judgment. Don’t let your ego, your friends, or your trainer (by the way, if you have a trainer that encourages you to do things that hurt you, find a new one) shame you out of keeping your body healthy.

Do you want to adopt a healthier diet? Use trial and error and find something that works for you. Remember that 100% adherence to a crash diet isn’t necessary or even helpful in improving your health. Take control and customize your nutrition around what makes you look, feel, and perform better.

You matter. No matter where you are in your fitness journey, start taking care of yourself. You’ll thank yourself for it later.

The post The Pain Free Truth appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A good 90% of my clients (both for massage therapy and training) complain of some sort of pain regularly. In fact, it’s often the reason they seek me out in the first place. For the general population, nagging perpetual pain in the upper back, shoulders, and knees is egregiously common.

For athletes or generally active people, minor or severe pain or injury in and around the joints is a regular (and often self-induced) occurrence. In my experience, many of these issues arise from three main shortcomings:

• Ignorance
• Laziness
• Ego

While many injuries and chronic issues do require medical intervention (as an aside – I am not a medical professional and I cannot diagnose, treat, nor prescribe), many of these inconvenient aches and pains can be avoided—or at least greatly attenuated.

If you are an athlete (or if you just work out a lot), you probably already know this. You may even do a little bit of mobility here and there. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn’t. Let’s talk about why and the how.

The Big 3

There has been a big push for more mobility in the fitness communities in the past eight years or so. This is great. Having the mobility to move our joints through full ranges of motion is important.

Additionally, having the stability to keep ourselves from moving past a healthy range of motion is just as important. Having the body awareness to know which muscles we are activating and stretching, and when pain is or isn’t a serious warning sign, is even more important.

In many fitness programs, one, two, or all three of these elements get ignored. The mobility revolution has been fantastic for many reasons, but often results in the neglect of stability and kinesthetic awareness.

Self-care and maintenance—while many in the fitness communities brush it off as weak or “soft”—is crucial to our health and wellness. It’s not rocket science, but it can most definitely be boring.

And it’s not sexy. These days hitting a new PR in our squat, or running our fastest mile, or doing 50+ pull ups is considered sexy. Static stretching, foam rolling, band exercises, and isometric holds are not sexy.

You know what’s even less sexy? Not being able to get out of bed in the morning without pain while your body sounds like a giant bowl of Rice Krispies. Or maybe aggravating your shoulder to the point that you can’t fasten your own seatbelt for a week.

Whether you are an athlete or an office worker, preventative maintenance on your body is a big deal. Acquiring the knowledge and budgeting the time to properly perform this body maintenance is also a big deal and can be a huge obstacle for many of us, so let’s talk about “the how.”

When it comes to working on “the big 3″—technically, you don’t really need anything, but it can be helpful to have some tools at your disposal. I recommend getting a couple of Therabands, a lacrosse ball or two, and a foam roller.

If you don’t have any of these tools, you can still do a whole lot. In other words: no excuses. I could write an entire book on this, and I’ll give a sample routine at the end of this article, but let’s talk about the bare bones basics.

1. Mobility: When it comes to mobility (increasing your range of motion), there are two main components: soft-tissue manipulation like foam rolling and lacrosse ball triggerpointing and good old fashioned stretching.
2. Stability: Stability exercises can come in a few different forms, but my favorite stability tools are Theraband exercises, isometric holds (like planks), and unilateral exercises.
3. Body Awareness: Kinesthetic awareness is much more complex. Many of us go into autopilot mode when we move and building kinesthetic awareness forces us out of that mode. Think about what muscles you are activating when you move; are you bracing through your core? When you drive through your heels can you feel your glutes and hamstrings engage? When you hold in a plank are you activating your leg muscles and pulling your shoulder blades down your back? This attention to detail becomes increasingly important as we age and especially important if we are injured or suffer from chronic nagging pain. It takes work—and it takes diligence. Don’t be lazy, this is your body. Pay attention.

As a general rule, I try to mix one “bracing” exercise, two stability exercises, and two mobility exercises into my routine 2-3 times per week. That’s it. It takes 10 minutes (I usually work it into my warm up), and I’m good to go.

Not sure where to start? Here are some examples.

Get In Touch with Your Joints and Muscles: 1. Bracing

Take 2-3 minutes to work on bracing your core and stabilizing your low back with pelvic tilts.

I follow a 3-4 step bracing sequence:

• Breathe (inhale and exhale)
• Pull belly button back toward spine (engage the abdominal muscles)
• Neutralize spine (ensure there is no over-arching or over-rounding)
• Squeeze glutes
• Slowly release and repeat

Get In Touch with Your Joints and Muscles: 2. Upper Body Stability

• 1:00 – Scapular push ups

Start in a high plank position. Begin with your bracing sequence with a neutral spine, then, without bending your elbows, squeeze your shoulder blades toward one another, and then push them apart. Every part of this movement should be deliberate and controlled.

• 1:00 – Pull aparts

Pull aparts can be done with whatever grip is most comfortable for you:

• Grip pronated (facing the floor)
• Grip supinated (facing the ceiling)
• Grip neutral (palms face each other)

Set your grip on the Theraband with your hands directly in front of your shoulders and your arms parallel with the floor. You should have tension in the Theraband throughout the entire movement.

Squeeze your shoulder blades back toward each other while you pull the band apart. Stop when the band touches your chest and then slowly release the band back to the starting position.

Do your best to keep your rib cage from “flaring” forward during this movement. Use your bracing to keep your torso and hips still.

Get In Touch with Your Joints and Muscles: 3. Upper Body Mobility

• 1:00-2:00 -Thoracic foam roll and extensions

We are targeting the mid-to-upper back here so avoid the low back and avoid the neck. Start face up on the ground, hollow out your torso, place the foam roller under your upper back, and use your legs to push yourself forward and backward.

Pause with the foam roller against a tense area (across the shoulder blades is a good one), place the hips down on the ground, and arch back over the foam roller, dropping your arms back over your head. Hold for 10-15 seconds, return to the rolling motion and repeat these extensions in a few more spots on the upper back.

Get In Touch with Your Joints and Muscles: 4. Lower Body Stability

• 1:00 – Lunge hold, per side

Stagger your legs with one foot a healthy distance in front of the other. Lunge down to hover your back knee and drive through your front heel, keeping your front knee over your front ankle. Bend both of your legs and keep your torso upright. Squeeze your glutes and quads.

Get In Touch with Your Joints and Muscles: 5. Lower Body Mobility

• 1:00 – Figure 4 glute stretch, per side

Begin by lying on your back with your working leg crossed over the other in a figure 4 shape. Place your hands (or if you need, you can use a band to assist you here) behind the hamstrings of the non-stretching leg, and lean back to pull your legs in toward your chest. Avoid excessive rounding of the back here, try to keep both hips on the floor.

The post 10 Minutes to a Pain Free Body appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

There’s no way around it—injuries suck. As a coach, gym owner, and a massage therapist, I see them constantly and I observe the way they affect people’s lives. I also know from personal experience how devastating injury and pain can be. Why, then, is it such a taboo subject? What can we do (as trainers and clients) to mitigate the effects of injury? Let’s talk a bit about personal experience before we discuss solutions.

My Road of Injury

When I was eighteen, after several years of martial arts, dance, and CrossFit training, I wound up with very severe and very mysterious pain in my right hip and my left shoulder. I didn’t have health insurance at the time so there wasn’t a whole lot I could do, but the pain was severe enough that it affected my ability to move, work, and exercise the way I was accustomed to. Being young, I assumed (and was repeatedly told) that I would recover naturally with time. But I didn’t.

At the age of twenty-one, after several years of frustration, I was approved for a contrast MRI of my hip. My joint was severely impinged and my cartilage had been ground down to nearly nothing. We also discovered that I had developed mild scoliosis and an inguinal hernia.

I had reconstructive surgery on my hip shortly thereafter and got my inguinal hernia repaired five weeks after my hip surgery. (Note: my shoulder pain was likely due to a micro-tear or strain in a rotator cuff muscle. I did not get surgery on my shoulder, but I rehabbed the hell out of it. It took about a year for it to feel “normal” again).

The post-surgery road was enlightening, and I learned several important lessons. Injury begets more injury. Our bodies are amazing at compensating and avoiding pain. For me, having such major injuries at such a young age has meant dealing with regular and chronic injury ever since, and likely means I will be dealing with this pattern on some level for a very long time. I have had recurring issues with my lower back and neck, with my knees and my shoulders, but I now know how to respond, both physically and mentally.

You Have to Do the Work

In order to recover from injury or even nagging pain, you need to put in work. Rehabilitation is not about temporarily doing whatever you need to fix your issues and then being done with the issues forever after that.

You will likely need to completely re-think the way that you move and approach exercise, and you will likely need to continue your rehab (sometimes to a lesser extent) preventatively for a long time.

Once you are injured, you probably can’t go on “autopilot” in the gym anymore—you need to pay attention, stay aware, and stay on top of your rehab and pre-hab efforts. The sooner we accept this, the happier you will be.

If you can do any exercise, you are lucky and you need to take advantage of that ability. This one is a tough one. Injury has a tendency to bring out the “inner extremist” in all of us. I can’t judge, because I’ve been there; however, as a coach for the last eight years, I am appalled at how many regular clients cancel their memberships and stop exercising because they develop an injury.

The great thing about fitness (namely, functional training and strength training) is that there are literally hundreds (maybe thousands?) of exercises in existence. There was a period in time in which I had a “menu” of about eight exercises that I knew wouldn’t cause me pain—and after much griping, I learned to live with that temporary circumstance and I utilized those exercises.

Pain sucks, and rehab is boring. You know what sucks even more? Having to completely rebuild your baseline fitness and rehab an injury at the same time. Can’t do upper body work? Learn about different variations of squats and lunges. Have an injured knee? Work on your arms and core. If you can move, do it. You will thank yourself later.

The ego needs to go. This is perhaps the toughest of them all. Professional and competitive athletes excepted, your lifts and benchmark workout times do not define you. Your performance will vary day by day, year by year, and situation by situation.

When you are injured currently or previously or are prone to injury, your health becomes your number one priority. Whether you are lifting alone or taking a class with 20 people, if you feel you are doing damage to yourself, fix it.

Talk to your coach. Listen to your body and adjust. Do what you need to do to make sure that you address the issue quickly. If you don’t you are essentially gambling on your quality of life for the next month/year/decade for the sake of a few moments of competitive glory and ego. Be smart.

Get help from a qualified professional. Your trainer is not a doctor (and on that note, if you encounter a trainer that attempts to act like a doctor: please run away). Your friend with chronic neck issues can’t diagnose you.

That blog post you read on back pain is not customized to you. Seek help from a medical professional that knows what they are talking about.

Being in pain, being physically limited, and feeling like there’s no endpoint take a huge toll on our mental health. I get it. My personal injury history is the reason I got into this business; however, perspective trumps all.

When it comes to prevention and ego, what is ultimately more important to you: beating the guy next to you on the bench press in the next few minutes, or being able to put your shirt on by yourself for the next two weeks? Most of us work out so that we can live healthier lives. Make sure that your goal is reflected in your methods.

Take Advantage of Your Abilities

When it comes to injury rehabilitation: as harsh as it sounds, it’s not that big of a deal. My oldest sister has been confined to a wheelchair for over half of her life. My mother suffered a painful terminal illness for months.

Chances are, even when you’re injured, there are millions of people who would give anything to be able to do a quarter of what you can do. Take advantage of your abilities. Work on changing your movement patterns, seek treatment, be proactive about your recovery, scale workouts however you need to for the time being, and then just live your life.

These days, even when I wind up with pain that puts me in a neck brace for a couple of weeks, I work around it, I take proactive steps to alleviate the issue, and then I do my best to push it out of my mind. This mental control is a difficult skill to develop, especially when your pain affects other areas of your life, but it’s important.

Keep yourself in check. Our lives are full of struggles, and pain may be one of them, don’t let it rule your emotions if you have the luxury of a temporary situation. Be safe, be proactive, and stay active.

The post Recovering from Injury appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Many of us work over 10 hours per day, carry a ton of stress, and regularly miss out on family time and sleep as is, so the question arises: how will I find the time and energy to invest in a diet and exercise regimen, and how will I use my limited time and energy to yield the best results? Whatever way you slice it, this is a difficult balance. I hope that the tips outlined below will provide a sense of direction.

Set Realistic Goals

The hardest piece of news to hear for many fitness newcomers (and type A personalities) is that all results don’t happen simultaneously. Want to lose weight, and put on muscle, and run faster, and lift heavier, and eliminate sugar cravings forever, and make it to the gym every day, and have endless amounts of energy?

With time (months or years), you may achieve all of these results. Unfortunately, many goals in the fitness realm are mutually exclusive; for example, losing weight and putting on muscle mass are two goals that directly conflict with each other in most cases.

When you are regularly pressed for time, this point becomes magnified. In the short term, you need to prioritize your goals and figure out which one is the most important to you at this point in time. That’s right: pick one. Focus on it, achieve it, maintain it, and then move on.

Focus on Process-Based Goals

Consider making your goals process-based as opposed to results-based. The number one reason most fitness and wellness programs fail is a lack of compliance. Lack of compliance is often a byproduct of a loss of motivation. A loss of motivation is often due to disappointment.

Results-based goals generally have an endpoint that ignores the process and confounding factors involved in reaching these goals, so when we set a results-based goal (a weight loss goal, for example) and we don’t reach that goal in the timeframe we have allotted, even though we may have made progress in other areas in the meantime, we will feel disappointed and lose motivation.

When we are busy with work and family, and often low on sleep and high on stress, results can be more elusive than we’d like them to be, so rather than prioritizing your results, prioritize your process. Instead of setting a weight loss or performance goal, set a goal to build and maintain a regular 3-day per week exercise routine over the next two months and beyond.

Once you are maintaining that goal, set a new goal to eat vegetables at least two meals per day. Once you are regularly maintaining both of those goals, choose an additional one.

Small, cumulative changes are the most sustainable.The more aggressive or results-based goals can come later, but your initial goals should be realistic and reasonable for your lifestyle. Build healthy habits first and foremost.

Create Your Routine

This is the boring part. Building and sticking to a routine takes time and continued effort. Find simple actionable daily steps you can take to make your hectic life easier, such as:

• Meal prep your lunches every Sunday evening.
• Pack your gym clothes every evening before bed.
• Go to the gym straight after work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
• Buy a large Hydroflask and fill it up completely with water every morning.
• Find a gym close to your home or workplace and commit to weekly class times.

Small steps can be taken daily to help guide our lives in a healthier direction. Figure out what those steps look like for you, and act on them one at a time.

Have a Daily Plan B

Life gets wonky on us sometimes. As much as we plan, plot, and prepare, sometimes we forget to meal prep or we just don’t have time to make it to the gym. What can you do in these instances?

• Find somewhere close to your work that has healthy lunch and snack options. Starbucks is my regular go-to.
• On a time crunch, YouTube has a number of wonderful channels dedicated to bodyweight workouts you can do from your living room.
• Get up several times throughout the day and move around. Go for a walk around the parking lot with co-workers, stand up at your desk and stretch. Get your body moving and give yourself a mental break.

Sometimes, however, the best thing to do is just to let it go for that day. Fitness and wellness should be enriching to your life, so if you find yourself stressing immensely over the healthy meal you left in the fridge, or wondering how you’re going to possibly muster up the energy to workout at home at the end of your day, just don’t. Be sure that your efforts to pursue your fitness don’t become an unhealthy tax on your mental health. Get through your day, go home, rest, and start fresh the next day with no guilt.

Remember: the first step is motivation, and if you’re here, you’re motivated, so let’s put some of these steps into play to turn your motivation into results.

The post Fitness and Nutrition for the Busy Professional appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Do you work in an office? If so, chances are you have neck and upper back pain. Do you get massages and shoulder rubs which temporarily relieve your pain, only to revert back a couple of days later?

I don’t know your situation, but I do know that as a trainer and a massage therapist, approximately 80% of my clients complain of tension in their necks and upper backs. Many of these clients work office jobs and suffer from the dreaded “tech neck,” and many of them receive upper back and neck massages to no avail.

This happens because while the upper back and neck are taking the hit for our poor posture, they are usually not the root cause of our issues. In order to relieve tension and pain in the upper back, shoulders, and neck, we’ve got to hit the muscles in the front of our body as well as the back. Try the sequence below, switching movements after 1-2 minutes each.

Massage Your Pecs

Working on your own pectoral muscles is a little awkward. In the pictures below, I demonstrate some of the movements using a lacrosse ball, but you can get the same benefit by using your fingers or a soft fist.

There are a lot of nerves that run through this area, so please remember that any tingling down the arm/pins and needles/fingers falling asleep should prompt you to move the lacrosse ball off of the spot that it’s on. An inch to the left/right/up/down normally does the trick.

• Place the lacrosse ball (your fingers or a soft fist) against the outer chest, right inside of the crease between the chest and the shoulder.
• Begin by applying pressure and rolling the lacrosse ball in small circular motions. Do not roll the lacrosse ball over breast tissue (because ouch).
• Find a spot in the pecs that feels tense, apply a bit of pressure, and then move the arm through some range of motion: reach forward and pull back, move the arm out to your side and above your head, etc.
• Pick a few spots on the pecs and perform similar ranges of motion.

Stretch Your Pecs

The goal with any pec stretch is to lengthen the muscles in the chest, so we place our hand or arm against an anchored surface and turn the chest away from that surface, relaxing the shoulder so that we can pull the front of the shoulder away from the midline.

To target the different fibers in the pecs, perform this stretch with the arm:

• Down by the hip
• Parallel to the floor
• At a diagonal angle up from the shoulder

Stretch Your Lats

• Begin in a kneeling position with a box/chair/couch at an arm’s length in front of you.
• Place your hands face down on the surface.
• Reach your hips back and drop your chest down toward the ground.

Stretch Your Upper Traps

• Begin standing or seated with your torso upright.
• Push the palm of one hand toward the floor (lowering your shoulder away from your ear).
• Use the fingers of the opposite hand to lightly assist the neck to flex toward the opposite shoulder.

The goal is to create as much space as possible between the ear and the shoulder.

Relax Your Suboccipitals

Having a strong finger position is essential for this technique.

• Cross your middle finger behind your index finger and hold both straight.
• Place the fingers directly below the back of the “ridge” of the skull on one side.
• Move fingers in a circular motion and apply pressure.
• With pressure applied, move the head through some ranges of motion.
• For better results, perform this exercise lying down with the head and neck completely relaxed.

Please note: this routine is not guaranteed to yield results. I am not a medical professional, and I cannot diagnose, treat, nor prescribe. My advice should not replace the advice of your medical team. Do not do these drills if you suspect that they will exacerbate your pain.

The post 10 Minutes to a Happier Neck appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Photo by Bev Childress

It is a common misconception that fit people are all naturally self-motivated. In my eight years of coaching, I have met only a handful of people that feel genuinely energetic and look forward to their workouts on a daily basis. There are legit reasons for skipping your workout, such as illness or extreme sleep deprivation.

But what about the days we just aren’t feeling it? For a large majority of us—yes, even your coaches and fitness idols—have to dig up that motivation in any way we can. How, then, does one stay consistent with a routine? Here are a handful of tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years.

How to Harness Your Motivation

1. Get a workout buddy. I know it’s cliche, but it helps. Knowing that there is someone counting on your presence and holding you accountable can do wonders for your consistency in the gym.
2. Take classes. I have a strong suspicion that part of the reason the class-based model has become so popular in the last few years is the accountability aspect; when you commit to and pay for classes, you are committing to showing up not only for yourself but for the class trainer and the other participants. As an added bonus if your gym has a class reservation system, book your classes in advance; this pre-planning will help you stick to a schedule, and also holds you responsible for canceling or rescheduling any planned classes or sessions.
3. Keep a workout journal. This sounds silly but has been a game changer for me. Rather than focusing my journal on my workouts themselves (though they are included), I write down how I am feeling before and after my workout. As a gym owner, trainer, massage therapist, et al. I often will have a pre-workout entry like “feel tired, headachey, and unmotivated. Going to try to get through the warm-up and if I don’t feel better, I will call it a day.” In nearly all cases, my post-workout entry is something like “head feels clearer and I feel more energetic. Happy I worked out.” When I am struggling to find the motivation to work out, reading those pre and post workout notes helps me tremendously.
4. Set small, short-term goals. And I mean small, short-term goals. Not feeling motivated? Tell yourself that you’ll just drive to the gym, just drive there. Then tell yourself to get through the warm-up, just the warm-up. If you still feel tired or uneasy, you can stop. Next thing you know, you’ll be done. And you’ll be glad you did it.
5. Look at pictures. Progress pictures of you, progress pics of other people, pictures of you in that bikini you love, pictures of some of your fitness role models in the gym.
6. Listen to some “pump up” music.
7. Drink a small amount of caffeine or pre-workout supplement.

Remember, any time you spend moving is an accomplishment. After you’re done with your workout, congratulate and acknowledge yourself. Then get ready to do it again tomorrow.

The post The Pain Free Guide to Motivation appeared first on Breaking Muscle.