Month: February 2023

Why hire a personal trainer in Galway?

The word hire is very important. Your personal trainer is providing a service and that service has a purpose that is specific to your needs and goals.

Let’s cover the reasons that might not spring to mind immediately.

Confidence is a major factor in many deciding to hire a PT, a gym environment can be an intimidating place. Those first steps into the gym environment are not very different to starting a new job and your trainer is assigned to train you into your new position.  Like a new job everyone else seems to know what they are doing which makes it all the more intimidating. Couple this with the possibility that you might not feel the best about your current physique, and of course in those moments our gaze always lands on the most impressive physiques making us even more self-conscious.

Your personal trainer will help you to feel at ease because this is their environment, they are more comfortable in this environment than most gym users as they work there every day, and this confidence will pass on to you.

Now the practical benefits of hiring a PT. A good PT will have a record of low to zero injuries, and injured clients aren’t working clients, so injury free sessions are in everyone’s best interest.

A personal trainer will also teach you now to use all the equipment correctly, showing you the best exercises to maximise your output in the quickest time possible.

Finally a very important responsibility of your PT also plays the role of a reliable gym buddy who won’t cancel or let you down because they feel tired, it is my job to show up and ensure that you show up motivated to every session. If you are interested in hiring a personal trainer in Galway, please make contact with me through the contact form and we can get chatting.

How to run correctly

Do you know the movement pattern of running?

Asking this question often results in some funny looks but do you actually know how to run correctly.

As with everything in life there is a right and wrong way to do everything and often muscle strains and joint pains are caused by poor movement patterns.

From the feet up this is a description of efficient movement pattern for running.

1. The foot must stay dorsiflexed, this means toes are pointed upward. Landing on your toes can less to calf strains while landing on your hips will lead to knee and hip pain. Try to land on your midfoot every step.

2. Hips high. This refers to pelvic tilt, if your hips are pointed downward, your glutes will be pushed back as though you are closing a drawer with your bum, this will lead to your hamstrings being stressed and your hip flexors unable to fully open up.

3. Core is related to hips, keeping the hips high will allow the core to activate correctly. For correct core activation imagine a string attached to your core and coming out the top of your head. Pull on the string and your core is activated and your hips are high.

4. Shoulders are low and relaxed, if your shoulders are tense your whole body will follow this action and tighten up.

5. Head is neither too low nor too high. Slightly tip your head forward so your whole body is following this lead and moving forward.

6. Slight lean forward from the whole body starting at the ankles, never the hips. Practice this by standing tall and leaning forward from the ankles, gravity wants to bring you forward to conserve your energy and increase ease of movement by using gravity to your advantage.

7. Jaw is relaxed and mouth is left slightly open. Again any muscle tension will trickle into other muscles.

8. Hands are loose and relaxed just like the rest of your body.

Your whole body needs to be relaxed, relaxed muscles function well, tight and tensed muscles function poorly. Any tension in any part of the body will result in other muscles tensing up.

The fastest times you will run will feel almost effortless, this is because your body was relaxed and moving fluidly.

If you found this article useful and you want to know a little more about correct movement patterns for running you can book your free consultation today though the JC Fitness website. My running coach services might be just what you need.

Injuries are a constant for runners, we all know the pain of having to stop your training when you are feeling good, clocking up great times and adding miles to your weekly runs and when a dreaded injury comes along.

But the good news is there is a solution. Injuries are often caused by what we are doing and what we are not doing, this is extremely important.

Here is your checklist for injury prevention. Tick them off as read this and see if you can identify how your most recent injury happened.

1. Movement pattern  – correct movement patterns place less stress on your muscles. Movement pattern drills will help improve your running technique and reduce injuries.

2. Resistance training – strong muscles do not tear easily.

3. Muscle imbalance, if your glutes are incredibly strong and you neglect your hamstrings how long do you think the weaker muscles will be able to keep up with the stronger ones before an injury occurs? There can be no achilles heel, if you know you have a weak area you make it strong.

4. Flexibility – when you stretch do you feel a lot of discomfort? Tight muscles do not lengthen and contract efficiently.

5. Mobility – can you squat down comfortably in a low squat position with your hands raised above your head. A lack of mobility will lead to poor movement patterns.

6. Warm up- quite surprisingly many people skip this absolutely vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to running. Think of your  muscles as a stick of chewing gum, pull it apart cold and it tears , pull it apart warmed up and it stretches. Never skip the warm up.

7. Cool down- another often skipped piece of the injury puzzle, muscles that have been under intense resistance from training will tighten up so after exercise is a great time to cool them down and lightly stretch them.

8. Deep tissue massage – releasing tight muscles and especially knots require some deep tissue massage either in the hands of a professional or a simple foam roll and massage ball at home.

9. Loading – doing too much too soon, if I started a professional athletes training schedule today I would be injured within the month, allowing the body time to adapt to the stresses of training is vital.

So how many of these did you tick off? If you are missing one or more don’t be surprised when you get injured, in fact it’s in the post so expect it and day now.

If you found this useful and want to know more about the topics outlined here you can book a one to one or one to group running coaching session today