Physical:

-Strengthen abdominal muscles
(side bridges and planks)

-Strengthen hip extensors
(floor bridges and soft-knee dead lifts)

-Stretch hip flexors
(lunge stretch or standing psoas stretch)

-Stretch hamstrings
(lying hamstring stretch or waiter’s bow)

Behavioural:

-Avoid hazardous exercises
-Avoid sudden jerky back movements
-Avoid improper lifting and carrying

Postural:

-When standing, keep the lower back
neutral (stand with one foot on a stool)

-When sitting, avoid slouching

-When lying, keep knees and hips bent
(avoid lying on stomach)

-When sleeping, use a firm mattress

Ask your personal trainer if you have any questions about exercises or stretches to strengthen your back and core.

-Christian Kubas

Come join us for the first of our monthly free personal trainer fitness presentations.

Presenter: Christian Kubas

Date: Oct 15th @ 2:30pm

Location: Kalev Fitness Solution

Sign up HERE

First impressions are initially limited to how a person presents themselves. Good posture is attractive and emits a sense of confidence. On the other hand poor posture makes a person look more timid. Just saying the word posture in a crowed lecture hall will provoke people to start sitting up straight. Everyone knows they should sit and stand more erect but seem to fall right back into a hunched over position once it is out of their awareness. Why is that? It very well may be the fact that your muscles are pulling you right back into poor posture because they are too tight or weak. Generally speaking, your spine should have 3 natural curves, not too big and not too small. Come learn what proper posture should look and feel like, as well as how to correct malalignments with a focus on stretches at Kalev Fitness Solution…

Kalev Fitness Solution
w: http://www.KalevFitness.com
t:604-568-6006
e:Info@KalevFitness.com

80% of the population will experience  back pain at some point during their lifetime. Strategies for promoting a healthy back can be categorized into physical, behavioral, and postural.

Physical:

-Strengthen abdominal muscles
(side bridges and planks)

-Strengthen hip extensors
(floor bridges and soft-knee dead lifts)

-Stretch hip flexors
(lunge stretch or standing psoas stretch)

-Stretch hamstrings
(lying hamstring stretch or waiter’s bow)

Behavioral:

-Avoid hazardous exercises
-Avoid sudden jerky back movements
-Avoid improper lifting and carrying

Postural:

-When standing, keep the lower back
neutral (stand with one foot on a stool)

-When sitting, avoid slouching

-When lying, keep knees and hips bent
(avoid lying on stomach)

-When sleeping, use a firm mattress

Ask your trainer if you have any questions about exercises or stretches to strengthen your back and core.

Vancouver Personal Trainer Christian Kubas – Kalev Training in Yaletown
w: http://www.KalevTraining.com
t: 604-518-4691
e: Kalev@KalevTraining.com
b: www.rippedmansecrets.com

A few years ago I took a big step in my life, and decided to go see a chiropractor about the minor shoulder pains I was getting in my left side, and about how I just felt “un-even”.  It was one of the greatest decisions I made in my life. This guy showed me all I know about proper posture and alignment of the spine. He had me come in for weekly adjustments to get my spine back in proper shape. Here is an article written by a chiropractor who is associated with Kalev Personal Training. His name is Gordon Gertz, and here’s what he has to say about visits to the chiropractor:

Ranking Health Decisions

“I asked a patient the other day how often she visits her dentist for check-ups? She stated that she goes for a cleaning and check-up every 4 months. When I asked her “Why every 4 months and not 6 months?”, she replied “With my teeth, I know I need to go every 4 months. Every 6 months is not good enough to keep them clean.” Wow! It is great to hear that someone has put such thought into her health choices and decisions! As with many of our belief systems, many of our health decisions and choices are often something we have been doing automatically, like a “knee jerk” reaction due to influences in our lives often instilled in us from a young age. Take the dental check-up for example. We’re taught from a young age about the importance of oral hygiene. I don’t know if you remember, but when I was young the community dental hygienist would come into our classroom, give us these red tablets to put in our mouths which showed us areas of plaque build-up. We were then given dental floss and a toothbrush and instructed on how to best brush your teeth and most importantly – to visit your dentist for a check-up every 6 months.  Practice becomes habit and habits become beliefs. This is a healthy beneficial belief! As with most beliefs, it is also important to challenge them to ensure that they are beneficial to us.  What are your beliefs about other areas of your health? Not sure. Well, try ranking them in order. Drinking bottled water? Eating organic food? Exercising? How about your cardiovascular system? How does having a healthy strong heart rank in comparison to the importance of oral hygiene? Many would say that having a healthy heart ranks quite high on their health scale of importance. Are we then putting as much of our resources into maintaining a healthy heart as we are with keeping our teeth clean? How about spinal hygiene? We use our spines 24 hours per day and therefore it is subject to many cumulative stresses. If our teeth wear out we can have them replaced or cavities repaired (though obviously not desirable).  What if our spine wears out? There are no “false spines” to replace the worn out parts! Regular check-ups to help keep your spine healthy make good sense.  It’s just not something that many of us have incorporated into our health belief system. At Pacific Chiropractic, we can recommend a frequency of check-ups that is unique to each individual.  Everyone is different, and we all have unique stresses in our lives that affect our spines, so we all could benefit from our own unique schedule of check-ups. And remember, staying healthy for a lifetime means taking care of our health now, not when the symptoms show up!

~Dr. Gordon Gertz

www.thebackdoc.ca“

Vancouver Personal Trainer Virgil Isaacs- Kalev Training in Yaletown
w: http://www.KalevTraining.com
t: 604-518-4691
e: Kalev@KalevTraining.com
b: www.rippedmansecrets.com

Posture is one of the biggest influences on your training. If you don’t line up your body properly, you will not use the correct muscles and risk injury and long term problems with muscles joints tendons and ligaments.

Kalev

w: www.KalevTraining.com
t: 604-518-4691
e: Kalev@KalevTraining.com

• abnormal wearing of joint surfaces that could result in arthritis.
• stress on the ligaments holding the joints of the spine together.
• spine becoming fixed in abnormal positions.
• fatigue because muscles aren’t being used efficiently
• strain or overuse problems.
• backache and muscular pain.
• constricted blood vessels and nerves
• headaches

Even worse, now that you are getting into an exercise routine, proper spine alignment combined with good flexibility is essential to getting the gains you want and preventing disc hurniation an spine damage while training!

So check your posture every day and before every set!

Stand against a wall and look for these key points:

• stand tall and feel your heels, butt, back of your shoulder blades (not edges), and back of your head touching the wall but looking straight ahead.
• Look for a small space both
o behind your neck (2 to 3 fingers width)
o behind your lower back (2 to 3 fingers width).

Now, hold that position, tighten your abs and take step away from the wall. Feels kind of funny doesn’t it? You may feel like you’re sticking your chest out too far, or your hips are in a funny position. These are all signs that you posture needs to improve.

Now pace yourself when adjusting your posture, don’t make any drastic changes. Slowly try to move your body toward that perfect wall posture day by day.

Try this out and let me know how it works for you. You will see visual results right away, but it may take time for your muscles to adapt so keep at it and your performance will increase!