Week one of training has come to an end.  Both Carley and Jon made it through without injury.  The first week went off without many problems. Carley and Jon handed in food journals before the start of week one. Some changes had to be made in both of their eating habits. Both of them ate well, but their greatest flaw was not eating often enough. Jon appears to eat enough calories, protein, and carbohydrates, but he was eating three times a day. He was aldo waiting a long time after workouts to eat. Carley also ate three times a day, but her calorie intake was very low with very few sources of protein.

The plan was set, both received their workouts, and advice on changes in their diets. Both followed a 6 day training program with a day of complete rest as the 7^th day. Jon is familiar with the gym and lifting. He went right to work on a lifting program with a small amount of cardio added into the program. The goal of the first six weeks is hypertrophy and muscle fiber recruitment. The addition of cardio is to assist with some excessive fat loss. Carley admitted to mainly doing cardio workouts and some yoga. She was given a basic weightlifting program and a more extensive cardio program. The goals of her first six weeks were to get her familiar with weightlifting to address all muscle groups and to increase muscle tone. The more extensive cardio was again to decrease lose some weight and work toward a more lean appearance.

The only problems during the first week were Continue reading »

There are several known benefits to strong flexible hips.     Some of those benefits include:

• Decreased knee, ankle, and foot pain
• Decreased low back, hip pain
• Increased general mobility
• Improved core stability
• Increased potential power, agility, and speed
• Improved posture
• Improved balance
• Decreased incidence of overuse lower extremity running injuries
• Decreased incidence of ankle sprains

A forethought…

Before we begin, it is important that you realize that your body is a series of muscles, tendons, ligaments (cables and levers) and joints (links) working together in a coordinated fashion. This mechanical system is known as the kinetic chain.  When the system is working well, the forces generated at one joint can be efficiently transferred to successive joints resulting in injury free movement.  When there is a deficiency (weakness, tightness, instability, injury, etc) at any segment, compensatory reactions throughout the kinetic chain may occur resulting in injury, chronic pain, weakness, instability, etc. anywhere along the chain.  Of course, other systems (neural, fascia, endocrine, etc) play a major role in all bodily functions but their role is beyond the scope of this article.  Also, it is important to note that the body is a 3 dimensional entity and the body must be stable, strong and mobile in all 3 planes.  All muscle forces must be generated from a stable foundation (in the lower extremity it is usually the foot or hip).  The forces generated act on and through the kinetic chain resulting in injury free movement.  Over the next few weeks, I will explain in greater detail each of these benefits and offer you suggestions on how you can improve both your hip flexibility and strength.  Interested?

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Is running bad for you? This is an age old question. If you think about it, before there were cars, bicycles, or any other forms of transportation, we depended on our feet to get around. Human beings are built to propel themselves and the only way to pick up the pace is to trot, jog, or run. Somewhere along the line we have devolved and no longer run to get from point A to point B. The excuse for not running, and I do mean excuse, is that running is bad for you.

Who says running is bad for you? People who don’t like running, of course. Some of the reasons people say running is bad for you: It’s bad for your knees, you could have a heart attack, it can ruin the female reproductive organs, it’s hard on your feet. The reasons, or should I say excuses, running is so bad for you can go on forever. It’s pretty safe to say, again, those who say running is bad for you are people who don’t like to run.

Let’s explore some of the myths on why running is bad for you. It’s bad for your knees. This may be true for people who  Continue reading »

Kinetic Connections is excited to announce we will be venturing into the world of bodybuilding. We have committed to training two athletes, Carley Karwoski and Jon Krizman. Their goal is to train for a figure competition and a bodybuilding competition. We have offered to assist them with their training. This is something completely new to us. Our background lies in weightlifting mainly to enhance performance on the playing field. Snap 24 Hour Fitness in Lake Villa has offered to help with providing a home gym to work out of a Nourish, LLC out of St. Louis, Mo. has shown an interest in providing nutritional consultation. On our end, Kinetic Connections will be providing workout routines and supervision in the gym. This is a learning process for all involved. We are excited to do something new and a little out of our comfort zone. Over the next year we will be journaling our progress through this journey. We will start with baseline measurements and photos and hopefully follow this project through to a competition late next fall or early next winter. Please join us as we navigate through this experience.

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The New Year is upon us. What does that mean in the health industry? Health clubs will be handling registrations at an alarming rate. The big question all the owners and trainers ask themselves when they watch this influx of new business is, “How are we going to be able to keep up with all these new clients?” The truth of the matter is by March, most of the people who signed up for new memberships and personal training sessions have dropped out.

Year in and year out “The New Year’s Resolution” is an empty promise to one’s self that is doomed to fail from it’s inception. The reasons for failure are many. The good news is these resolutions can be kept and followed. All it takes is a simple set of tried and true set of rules. In order to follow these rules, honesty to oneself is required. It is amazing how dishonest we are with ourselves. We are more honest with complete strangers than we are with ourselves. Realistic goal setting is the key to achieving success in whatever we do.

Our goal as a training organization is to navigate you down the path of achieving your goals. We aim to help ordinary people do extraordinary things. What follows are the keys to failure and the keys to success. Are you ready to get serious?  Register for a Free Membership and an occasional newsletter containing the truth about fitness and performance.