The physical benefits of aerobic and resistance exercise are well known and established, but we are learning more about the emotional and mental health benefits of daily exercise. The National Institutes of Health reports 19% of American adults will be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and more than 30% may develop an anxiety disorder in...
You could be forgiven if you felt exercise should involve accessories such as vision altering goggles, balance boards, color coded objects, and other unstable surfaces after watching national sports highlight shows playing videos of professional athletes going through their pre season training. It seemed to be the theme of the year for one professional athlete...
The average adult carves out a 30-60 minute block of time to exercise 2-3 times per week and tries to protect it against infringement from family, work, and life responsibilities. The health benefits of exercise, including strength training, are overwhelmingly in favor of the trained over the sedentary adult. Despite the benefits of exercise life...
Previously it was thought Physical Therapists should withhold strength training from endurance athletes or have athletes perform exercises with high reps (>15) and low weights (30-45% 1 rep max). These incorrect guidelines and prescriptions created insufficient training loads in endurance athletes and even worse led many endurance coaches and athletes to avoid weight training all...
Strength training creates a positive stress on the nervous and musculoskeletal systems leading to well established gains in mental, emotional, and physical health. This stress must be continually progressed in a gradual fashion to ensure these gains do not plateau. It is no surprise many novice exercisers, and some patients in Physical Therapy, quit their...
Exercise selection is one of the most important variables in a weekly strength training program. In general, individuals should look for multi joint (ex. lat pulldown) exercises instead of single joint exercises (barbell curl). At our Boulder Physical Therapy practice we recommend participants select one exercise from each of the following categories: vertical push, vertical...
Isometrics, muscle contractions without movement of a joint, have been utilized for many decades as a form of strength training and performance, but have recently been highlighted as an effective treatment for tendon pain. In our Boulder Physical Therapy practice, isometrics are helpful to initially load a tissue after surgery or injury, as well as,...
It has been said you can tell a person’s priorities by examining their check book and calendar. Tasks and activities which are urgent or important to us are more likely to be done on a busy day, but others like sleep or exercise may be pushed to the back burner. This is despite the overwhelming...
Time and money are two finite resources most adults must judiciously spend each week. Family, work, and life demands can easily crowd into our exercise time cutting out health benefits when we need them the most. Edward Stanley once said “those who do not think they have time for bodily exercise will sooner or later...
Money and time is some of the finite resources in life. As our lives become busier with work, family, and life commitments our exercise time must become more effective and efficient. One of the biggest and most common mistakes individuals make in the gym is an ineffective cardiovascular or strength training intensity selection. Although any...