Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who are preparing for the new year. Yes, it Read more…
Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who have experienced Muscle Activation Techniques® (MAT®) and all Read more…
Welcome back to 2-Minute Tuesdays! This is the second edition of our weekly show. Today we are going to be talking about the number one thing you need to be thinking about when you are resistance training. And that is …. squeezing the muscles you are working. So, if you are doing a biceps curl, you aren’t thinking about moving the dumbbells up and down. You are actually thinking about squeezing the muscles you are working, which are your biceps. As personal trainers in Schaumburg, this is a HUGE focus for us when we are working with our training clients. (more…)
Welcome to our first edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we bring an exercise topic to you and talk about it for two minutes every Tuesday. Today we are talking about why resistance training is a MUST. Why you MUST include it in your workout plan. Why you can’t just do cardio. Why you MUST be doing some kind of weight training.
Check out a snippet from Charlie’s most recent article on FitnessProfessionalOnline.com, titled “Why Your Clients May Not Be Able To Feel The Exercises You Are Doing With Them“!
“Have you ever had a client that just couldn’t feel the exercise where you wanted them to? Every time you would do a chest press, all they could feel were their deltoids. Or if you did deadlifts, they only felt their hamstrings, never their glutes. You tried cueing them differently or changing how they would do the exercise, but still, they just couldn’t feel the muscles you were trying to work.
Many prospective clients tell me that their body seems to be getting achier for no apparent reason. They weren’t in any accident. They don’t have any surgeries to speak of. In fact, they have been relatively healthy their entire lives and cannot pinpoint a single injury or trauma. Yet, it seems that their bodies continue to get achier with each passing year. Activities they once loved to do now take a toll on them. Playing with grandkids, chores around the house, and exercising as they once did leave them feeling beat up. And the number one scapegoat seems to be the aging process.
As a certified personal trainer and Muscle Activation Techniques™ specialist in Schaumburg, I run across these scenarios a lot with prospective clients. After they have been cleared by their medical professional for regular exercise, there are seven tips I suggest they incorporate into their exercise plans. (more…)
I remember when I started taping and wrapping my feet. I would wrap the tape so tightly that I either had to sit or, if I stood, I had to deal with the fact that my toes would be blue. This all started before the age of ten. I remember my feet hurting so badly that I told my mother that I was scared that the bottom arch of my foot was going to literally rip and snap.
I remember my mother putting each of my feet into hard plastic boots before tucking me into my youthful, flower-power pink sheets at night. I remember having to wear the ugliest and clunkiest “pronator” shoes in 3rd grade when all my friends wore pink light-up shoes. I remember hating the 1-mile run day at school because it meant that I wouldn’t be able to participate in dance class later that night. (more…)
In Part One of the Healthy Feet series, I wrote about why your feet must absolutely be able to move. Your feet are made up of 28 bones and over 50 joints, and each one of these need to be able to move in order for the joints to remain healthy. In Part Two, I wrote about why your muscles need to be strong in order to support the bones and joints of your feet. I also recommended three different exercises that you can do to help improve the strength of your feet. Now, we need to talk about why your feet must be stable in order for them to be healthy.
What?? Feet need to be both mobile AND stable?? (more…)
Justin Ehrhardt, head trainer at CrossFit Rise in Schaumburg, describes his experience with Muscle Activation Techniques™ (MAT™) and MATRx™ with Charlie Cates at Muscle Activation Schaumburg. Justin gives details about the PR’s he has hit since beginning his MATRx™ sessions, and the suprising increases in strength, performance, and mobility that he has noticed. (more…)
In last week’s post, I discussed why your feet need to move. To recap, your feet are made up of many bones and joints. In order for each of the joints to stay healthy, they have to be able to move. Performing exercises for the muscles of your feet can help with this.
One of the most effective ways of ensuring that your joints are able to move is to make sure your muscles are working well. Why? Because the number one purpose of muscles is to help position and control joints. In other words, muscles help your joints move, so making sure your muscles are working well will help to make sure your joints are moving well. As a certified personal trainer and Muscle Activation Techniques™ specialist in Schaumburg, this is a conversation I often have with my clients. (more…)