Author: Michael Devon

Why We Build Your Body For Life Outside The Gym

Posted on by Michael Devon

When your training doesn’t involve rational components, your function away from the gym diminishes, because in reality the human body moves via macro and micro rotations. Perhaps not overnight, but eventually routine tasks you used to be able to do without any repercussions become a chore on your body. Playing a game of golf on the weekend leaves you feeling like you just ran a marathon, you start noticing little aches and pains that had been there for awhile but now they’re becoming less tolerable. Since none of this happens overnight you’ll start to blame your age and say it’s just a part of getting older. It can be, if you don’t take the necessary steps to prevent the degeneration.

If you’ve been following us or training with us in person or online, you know we teach you how to become a functional being without the pains you used to have to live with. We guide you along the right stepping stones to continue making progress from your first session! The exercises don’t always look so hard but you quickly find out that looks can be deceiving when you execute the movement correctly.

We educate you on what you should be feeling and when/how to produce the contractions naturally during the exercise. We don’t just count reps until you’re done working out, we’re with you every step of the way to ensure your body and your brain get the most of your time in the gym, to get more out of your time away from the gym!

Stretching, Evolved.

Posted on by Michael Devon

Evolve the way you “stretch” your muscles 


We condition muscles, along with the fascia that surrounds them, to lengthen and shorten through an entire rep. Thus we are stretching and exercising all in one move


The benefit to this simultaneous coordination is that the muscles are preserving their elasticity (ability to elongate and then recoil to their original position) which is key to moving well and without joint damage.


We know that flexibility is important to overall function, but the way we push extreme ranges of motion in a static stretching position (pictured) is damaging this function of your muscles. The range of motion achieved in a pose does not automatically translate to improved flexibility when you’re actively using your muscles to move.


That’s why we train the kinetic chain to actively contract (shorten) and then stretch (lengthen) muscles while the body is moving. Then we improve flexibility by gently testing the spectrums of available range of motions that the body is capable of getting into and then out of, using the muscles. This is important because the body can achieve a range of motion (sometimes forced and painful as in a deep stretch, other times accidentally just by moving the wrong way) from the force of gravity alone. So instead of leaving ranges of motion to chance, we teach the muscles how to guide and control those ranges. 

 

The exercises we utilize are built around the core staying engaged, while the surrounding muscles go through their series of contractions and stretches. A basic explanation of a more effective way to “stretch” while still respecting the functions of the human body.

Proper Muscle Function

Posted on by Michael Devon

Without proper muscle activity, physical activity suffers. If your muscles don’t work when you work, your body picks up the slack in deficit ways.

Walking the dogs, playing tennis, exercising, standing, and moving all require functional muscles if you want to do them without consequences.

We will teach your body (and brain) how to activate your muscles to support the actions required of your body. Placing the demand on your muscles rather than your joints and ligaments.

Welcoming new clients of all ages and stages of life who want to change the way they exercise to build a better body for the demands of the real world.

Rotational Strength

Posted on by Michael Devon

Your body needs to have the ability to rotate through all planes of motion while your muscles are controlling the range of movement.

When the body has to stay stiff to activate muscles, and it comes time to bend, turn, change directions, etc., it’s going to put torque in the joints because the muscles can’t activate to support the body in those ranges of motion.

You want to train your body to be strong, yet pliable, in multiple ranges and varying scenarios. That can’t happen working exclusively on machines and 1-dimensional exercises.

Contact us today to start teaching your body how to move, correctly, through multidimensional exercises that build your body for a multiplanar world.

Dysfunctional Muscle

Posted on by Michael Devon

Work around dysfunctional muscles and movement impairments cumulate. Work through the nitty gritty of retraining the kinetic chain to optimal function and expect a return to quality of life and freedom to move!

The way you train determines the outcome. Proper exercise patterns that respect human movements, or arbitrarily lifting weights the way you see in most gyms or fitness ads.

We aren’t your typical gym, we don’t push you to your limits of already poor movement, we push you to the edge of learning (mentally and physically) how your muscles should function, and why.

Contact us today to start reprogramming your brain and body for the reality it lives in. Otherwise, poor movement compounds and eventually leads to overuse, pain, and injuries that make life in the real world harder to live with.

Physical Fitness

Posted on by Michael Devon

If physical fitness only means big muscles and a 6 pack to you then you’ll likely encounter other detriments to your health over time. Fitness has more to do with your ability to function and perform in any given scenario without suffering from aches and pains- during and after.

Without prioritizing function in your training plan your health can suffer. Dysfunctional muscle mass compressing your ribcage can smash your intestines together and lead to GI issues. Or your lungs can no longer inflate properly so your basic nature to breathe becomes a big problem. Overly developed pecs compromise your posture, pulling your head forward out of alignment, leading to “unexplained” headaches that you’ll likely be prescribed meds for, entering the detrimental cycle of side effects that you’ll need another medication for…

You can’t have health without function. Prioritize function during your workouts to develop physical fitness and physiological well-being in the long run.

 

Heavy Lifting

Posted on by Michael Devon

Relying on heavy weights to produce muscle activity is like cheating on an exam, you pass but you don’t learn anything for real life.

Your muscles should be capable of producing maximal tension with optimal positioning of your bones. Skeletal movement engages muscle automatically.

The way your skeleton aligns when you move determines how effectively your muscles engage to support your movement. Whether you’re exercising or moving through real world conditions.

Cheating on an exam creates dependency on a cheat sheet, much like needing heavy weight to feel a muscle working creates muscles that don’t work well in their natural environment. (Reality, not a gym).

Knee Pain

Posted on by Michael Devon

Wearing a knee brace because you have knee pain doesn’t solve the problem. Like a bandaid on a gunshot wound.

Your chronic pain is likely the result of improper muscle function compounding over time, making the joint work harder than it has to. Leading to inflammation that doesn’t go away just because you put a brace on…

Exercise patterns that load the proper muscles and unite the entire kinetic chain, teach the body to distribute force through a network of muscle rather than repetitive force compounding in your joints.

Isolated exercise patterns teach your joints to act as the lever rather than leveraging weight and lifting objects with your muscles. Strengthen your body through patterns in synch with the myofascial sling mechanism.

Book your initial consultation through our website, under “Booking” tab, and start learning how to teach your body to regenerate- no matter your current state, level of experience, or past practices!

The Way You Exercise

Posted on by Michael Devon

Recognize that the way you exercise has significant influence over your function and fitness, and your dysfunction and pain. Training like what you see in the mainstream gym culture likely produces the same results- decrepit posture, lower back pain, a knee brace, etc. Movement that replicates the mechanics of the way the human body moves day to day, has carry over to life outside of the gym. Ergo, pain free recreational activities and sports, no joint stiffness or muscle tightness, and an overall freedom to move!

Ankle Sprains

Posted on by Michael Devon

A dysfunctional muscle in your lower kinetic chain will disrupt the interdependence of your neuromusculoskeletal system and cause dysfunction further up the chain.

Malfunction at your ankle causes your knee and hip to move poorly and compensate around the misuse of the ankle, the spine shifts to make up for the lack of proper mobility at the hip, which distorts the position of your ribcage and shoulder blades, causing your head and neck to be pushed out of alignment.

If left unresolved, movement compensations cumulate over your lifetime and signal to your brain and body that your dysfunctional alignment is “normal.”

Misalignment that stems from dysfunctional muscle, can’t be corrected for the long term with remedies like chiropractic adjustments alone. Your muscles are signaling to your nervous system that they “like” this position, no matter how damaging to the wellness of your body it is, and any time the spine gets realigned passively from a chiropractic adjustment the muscles intuitively pull you back out of optimal alignment. The objective should be to override the muscles keeping your body in malalignment, and through proper strength training, reprogram better muscle function!

A body that suffers from pain, doesn’t move well, and being stuck in a poor posture is not normal. Malalignment is a key risk factor for joint deterioration because the muscles are no longer in a state to support the joint in its proper position, leading to unnecessary force absorbed in the joint.

Stop looking for short term fixes, and passive manipulations, thinking they will help your body the way they’re advertised. Your body (muscles) and your brain (nervous system) are the only tools required to reprogram the function you’re missing to help your body regenerate.

FIX YOUR BODY… it’s the only one you have.