How To

The Challenge of Morning Workouts

Rachel Larson · October 11, 2023 ·

You go to sleep excited about tackling that early morning workout, but you wake up feeling … tired (of course) and the warm bed feels like a magical cocoon of sorts. Maybe I’ll hit snooze just one more time?

If this is where you find yourself most mornings, you are not alone. As the days get shorter, the nights get longer, and air gets colder, your bed and the snooze button can become not only your habit, but your achilles heel.

How do we overcome this and “just get out of bed”?

Plan ahead. Have a clear vision for exactly what you are going to do when you wake up and how much time you need to achieve it. “I’m going to do the 30 minute Total Body Strength Circuit workout today.”
- Tip: Set your workout clothes next to your toothbrush the night before. (Make this as easy as possible.)
Find a workout partner that is willing to commit to getting up at the same time and for a workout.
- You can text each other in the morning to make sure the other is up. Meet up and exercise in person together. Or, you can both login and do your on-demand workout while on speaker phone and laugh and chat together.
Enlist your spouse to push you out of bed. Although somewhat risky – this can be highly effective. 🙂
Decide that come hell or high water, you are going to drag your butt out of bed and get to business.
- This is where your determination and grit are needed. You cannot rely on how you “feel” in the morning. (We always feel tired…) This is a decision, not a feel-good moment. You are allowed to be grumpy. Just do it.
- The first 5 minutes are the worst. It gets better after that!
  - Tip: If you are a coffee drinker, imagine that warm cup of coffee in your hands and let that pull you into consciousness!

In Summary:

It always sucks getting up early in the morning. It’s just a fact. You are human, and oftentimes, this is how we feel in the morning.
When you do drag yourself out of bed and actually do what you said you would do, it feels amazing. You will have a more productive and energizing day. Most importantly, you will feel good about yourself and the accomplishment.

Grab your yoga mat and skip the snooze! Your personal sense of accomplishment and thoughts of, “Oh my gosh I actually did what I said I was going to do” can be a very powerful motivator. You’ve got this!

How to Stretch and Release Tight Calf Muscles

Alice Halvorson · August 7, 2023 ·

Oh our little calves. They seem to always take the back seat to other bigger and more sexy muscle groups like our glutes. But – they are such an important part of our body and may hold one of the keys to increased circulation and mobility.

Circulation

Did you know that your body has a second blood pump? It’s your calf muscles! With each and every step you take, the calf muscles pump venous blood back toward your heart. Our heart can pump blood to our lower extremities in seconds, but, since the blood is flowing against gravity, sending it back towards the heart will take more than a single pump from the heart. Because of this, the body uses the calf muscles to pump blood from your lower legs back to the heart.

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Here is how it works:

The veins in your calf act like a reservoir for blood your body does not need in circulation at any given time. These reservoir veins are called muscle venous sinuses. When the calf muscle contracts, blood is squeezed out of the veins and pushed along the venous system. One-way valves in the leg veins keep the blood flowing in the correct direction toward the heart. The valves keep the blood flowing in the right direction and prevents gravity from pulling the blood right back down.
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When you walk, your foot plays a role in the pumping mechanism as well. The foot also has a (smaller) venous reservoir. During the early motion of taking a step, as you put weight on your foot, the foot venous reservoir blood is squeezed out and ‘primes’ the calf reservoir. Then, in the later stages of a step, the calf muscle contracts and pumps the blood up the leg, against gravity.
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When you are immobile for long periods of time, like on an airplane seat or sitting at a desk for hours, your calf muscles are not contracting much and blood can pool in your lower extremities. That’s why walking is so good for the circulation in your legs. And it’s not just walking though,…the best way to improve circulation is to get moving in general! Whether that is walking, running, swimming or participating in a Flostate live or on demand class.

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Mobility

Abnormally tight calf muscles cause issues up and down the kinetic chain. You can think of your kinetic chain as interrelated groups of body segments, connecting joints and muscles that work together to perform movements. This helps explain how the movement of one joint can affect the movement of another joint within the kinetic link. In a nutshell – everything in the body is connected. The good news is we can use this information to help us figure out what is happening in the body.

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Calves can become tight for a variety of reasons. Maybe you’re a basketball player or a runner, wear high heels or even sit for extended periods of time. Let’s take one of these as an example. Wearing high heels puts the ankle in an excessive plantarflexion (“toe point”) position. This can lead to tightness in your gastrocnemius and soleus – the main muscles of your calves – causing your imbalances like overpronation or the flattening of the arch of the foot. This causes the knee to move inward and the hips to be misaligned – further altering movement patterns. This can lead to plantar fasciitis, shin splints, knee pain and lower back pain. That’s quite the chain reaction – all starting from our calf function.

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To get things back in balance, a few things need to happen. First, we need to release the tight muscles via inhibitory techniques such as foam rolling (Self-Myofascial Release). Then, lengthen the muscles by stretching. According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, when self-myofascial release is applied in conjunction with stretching techniques, it was shown to significantly increase range of motion.

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Next we “activate” underused muscles with targeted strengthening exercises, and finally “integrate” via dynamic strength exercises.

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Step 1: Foam Roll

Sit on the floor, sporting your body with your hands. Place the foam roller underneath your calf muscles, possibly stacking one leg over the other for added weight. Roll your calf muscle across the roller – down, up and side to side – pausing the rolling action over painful areas until a “release” is felt in the area or the pain sensation dissipates a bit. Hold tender spots for 30-90 seconds depending on the intensity of application.

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Step 2: Stretch

Place your hands against a wall with arms relatively straight. Bend one knee, and lean into the wall. Straighten the other leg behind you (careful not to lock or hyperextend the knee), working the heel of the back foot down to the floor. Lean forward a bit to accentuate the stretch through the back calf muscle. Hold the stretch 20-30 seconds or 60 seconds for exercisers over 65 years of age. Do 1-4 repetitions.

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Step 3: Isolated Strength

Let’s do some strength work.

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Calf Raises: Stand on a step or platform with just the balls of your feet (widest part of your foot should be on the edge). Lower your heels down and lift heels up so you are standing on your “tip toes”. Squeeze the calf muscle at the top.

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Anterior Tibialis Pull: Take a loop band (any size) and wrap it around a bench leg, banister – something to anchor it. Put the top of your foot in the band. Point and flex the foot back towards your body to work the anterior tibialis – the muscles located in the front of your calf. Do 1-2 sets of 10-15 reps. Take 4 counts to release back to a pointed or neutral position with the foot and hold 2 counts at the contracted position when the foot is flexed.

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Step 4: Dynamic/Integrated Strength

‍Wall Ball Squat or Squat: Place a stability ball against the wall and stand with the ball positioned across your mid & low back. Squat down – lowering your body until thighs are positioned parallel to the floor. Squeeze your glutes and thigh muscles and stand back up to your starting position. If you don’t have a stability ball, just do a normal squat.

Do 1-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions.

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References:

NASM Essentials of Corrective Exercise

https://veinatlanta.com/your-second-heart/

Caring for your ‘second heart’

How to Boost Mental and Physical Resilience

Alice Halvorson · August 7, 2023 ·

RESILIENCE. It’s a pretty strong word, right? We want to be resilient. Have a resilient body. And be able to count on a resilient mind. So what exactly does that mean, and how do we become more resilient?

Definition of Resilience
The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Resilience is multidimensional and encapsulates the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual parts of us. Let’s focus on the mental and physical aspects here.

Mental Resilience is the ability to adapt to change and uncertainty.

Physical Resilience is the ability to recover and optimize function in response to the stressors of disease, injury, or age-related physical decline.

Resilience is what gives people the emotional strength to cope with trauma, adversity, and hardship. Those lacking resilience get easily overwhelmed, and may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms. Resilient people do the opposite. They utilize their resources, strengths, and skills to overcome challenges and work through setbacks. They have healthy coping mechanisms and support systems.

You can increase resilience by:

Mental:

By creating support systems, healthy coping mechanisms, stress relieving strategies and using them
By getting out of your comfort zone and flexing your “resilience muscle”
By fostering overall mental health

Physical:

By consistently moving your body in different ways
By trying different things that challenge or scare you (hint: this is mental too!)
By fostering overall physical health

Resilience is also built through “reps”: The more times we face mental and physical challenges and overcome them, we build resilience. The learning and confidence that results from overcoming challenges is powerful, and reminds us that we can do it again the next time we encounter adversity.

5 Resilience Building Self-Care Strategies

Mindset Muscle
Having the right mindset is essential. Each thought has power. Are we powering constructive or destructive thoughts? Practice having empathy for others and reframing your situation in a more positive way.

Breathe Through It
Breathing is proven to calm the mind and body and increase awareness and attention. The next time you are stressed or overwhelmed, close your eyes and inhale/exhale for 4-6 seconds each.

Get Moving Now
Movement helps create a strong, mobile, healthy body and a clear mind. Also, try something new physically that gets you out of your comfort zone or requires you to learn a new skill. Sign up for a race, try snorkeling on that vacation, etc. When we overcome nervousness or fear we flex that resilience muscle!

Create a Margin
Intentionally creating space for what’s meaningful to you reduces stress levels and creates freedom to actually be present. It takes us out of scarcity and panic mode and allows us to be more flexible and tolerant. Create space in your calendar now.

Get Vulnerable to Connect
Vulnerability encourages connection. And connection fosters relationships and a
support network that you can rely on when things get tough. Open up and share your struggles.

We can’t escape stressful situations and the challenges placed on us, but we can equip ourselves to handle it all just a little bit better and in doing so, make ourselves a little more resilient each time.

Three Simple Ways to Do Crow Pose

Rachel Larson · August 7, 2023 ·

Crow pose can be both inspirational and somewhat intimidating. If you didn’t grow up in tumbling or gymnastics, the idea of balancing on your forearms with your head hovering off the ground can cause some hesitation. Instead of sitting it out and watching from the sidelines, try out these three modifications.

Click here for our free 2-minute step-by-step video to walk you through it or watch the video on YouTube HERE.

The Hover:
Instead of going for the full balance, why not set it up and lean into it, without lifting the feet off the ground. This option will challenge your arm and shoulder muscles, increase hip flexibility and core activation – all without the worry of dropping onto your head or falling into a somersault.
One-legged Hover:
Take it one step further and pick ONE foot off the ground. Oof Da, that is getting tough! This is a great option to do for a few classes to build upper body strength before trying to lift both feet.
Crow with the yoga block:
Here is where it gets fun. Grab a few yoga blocks and place them out in front of you where you anticipate your head would touch down if you tipped forward. Use two yoga blocks to cover more ground until you have a better idea of where to place the block.. I’ve seen people place the yoga block too close and end up missing the block, and somersaulting forward due to the miss!
Now when you pick both feet off the ground and transfer the weight to your arms, if you lose balance and begin to tip forward, you can gently set you head down on the yoga block. Easy breezy.

And just like that- you are doing a crow pose. Click here to try a yoga restore class with crow pose. Bring these tips and tricks along with you and let’s do this!

Questions? Email us at info@theflostate.com.

Want to reach your goals? Do these 5 things

Alice Halvorson · August 3, 2023 ·

Tis the season for goal setting, resolutions, and embarking on new ventures. Most of us have that nagging feeling that we want to make changes and start fresh. This can happen at any point for any reason, but the drive is especially strong right now as we usher in a new year. We always have good intentions, but many times we miss the mark with our plan (wait, I need a plan?!) and ultimately fail to reach whatever we set out to achieve. How can we do better? What do we need to change to reach the goals we set and get the results we seek?

Here are 5 things you should be doing to reach your goals:

Number 1: Make your Goals “Smart Goals”

You’ve probably heard this one already, but it bears repeating. Your goals should be S.M.A.R.T. That stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound. Why?

Specific goals help bring focus to what you want. You can’t do everything; narrow it down.

Measurable goals are anchored in metrics that you can measure and therefore track. How will you know how far you’ve come if you don’t have a way to measure it?

Achievable goals are things that you know you can realistically accomplish. So probably not losing 20lbs in one month or climbing Mt. Everest…forget the extreme, get real instead.

Relevant goals are those that make sense in your life. Why is this goal important to you? This may be one of the most important aspects of your goal and goal setting in general – THE WHY. It has to mean something to you, or when the going gets tough, you’ll jump ship.

Time Bound goals have a deadline attached to them. You need this time frame so you can create your plan. It also gives you a sense of urgency that motivates you to act.

Number 2: Defining Your “WHY”

Get crystal clear on why you want to do this. Why change at all? Why THIS goal? Make it for you, not for anyone else. Why will this goal improve your life, health or situation? Why is it important? Visualize how you will feel once you achieve this goal. Is it striking a nerve or not? Go deeper and keep asking “why” until you can articulate why this goal is important to pursue.

Number 3: Learn from Past Experiences / Failures

Most likely you’ve tried to make changes before, or even tried to achieve this same goal in the past. Reflect on that. What worked? What didn’t? What were your “hiccups”? Where did you get stuck? When did it get hard and why? This reflection could give you some important information on what strategies to use this time around.

Number 4: Secure a Source of Accountability

Tell someone about your goal, and better yet, someone with whom you value their opinion (related article). And get specific. Talking about the plan you will do specifically (versus the end goal) is even more beneficial in terms of holding you accountable. There is a part of you that won’t want to let the person you tell down or risk their disappointment if you fail. Use this to your advantage! And along with that, get yourself an “Accountability Partner”. Maybe this is a coach, friend, trainer, colleague – someone that you trust and “gets it”…someone that will support you through the journey, but will also get real with you and coax you back on track when things get challenging. Speaking of challenges…

Number 5: Expect Challenges

If nothing changes, nothing changes. Reaching a new goal will require a shift in you and it will require WORK from you. This is uncomfortable. I believe this is one area where people tend to have a blind spot. We want to skirt through on motivation alone, thinking it should be relatively easy because we just want to succeed so bad. However, there will be times that you want to quit and following your plan will be hard. What’s your plan when it gets tough?

When that happens, you know what? Come back to this article. Come back to your “Why”. Analyze it all again. Call your accountability partner. Follow your plan. Keep on going. You’ll shatter your goals and learn a ton in the process!

How To

Definition of ResilienceThe capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

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Definition of Resilience
The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.