Just Muscles Personal Trainer Laura Coleman Waite Portland

“I just know I’m not going to do this on my own,” said my track friend Sarah, “Can I hire you?”

I smiled.

I love it when people aren’t afraid to ask for help.

I am a big fan of outsourcing, too!

She had been trying to get some knee pain under control, and just wasn’t having any luck.

I could see her knee roll in, and I wasn’t convinced that she had totally exhausted her muscle options.

So we decided to get together virtually twice a week (and now just once a week) to see what we could accomplish in a half hour.

Also, I wasn’t allowed to get her sweaty.

She’s super busy getting her business off the ground and that is what she could squeeze in.

No problem! Got it!

We worked on finding a few key exercises that nailed the muscles that helped straighten out the knee, and then it took a little time to build some strength and endurance.

So pleased to see that she’s back to running 5 miles at a time, and working on increasing that distance.

Congratulations, Sarah! You did it!

The first step was reaching out.

I get it: lots of people have decision fatigue when it comes to their exercise, and sometimes just skip it as a result.

No judgement here.

Just want you to feel better, move happily along, and not get left behind or left out.

Knee (back, neck, shoulder, etc) pain doesn’t stop for the holidays, so if you need help, I am but an email or text away!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happy holidays happiness,

😊 Laura

Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and Boxing Day from all of us at Just Muscles!

Hope this finds you having a lovely day with friends, family, neighbors, or animals. If the holidays are a tough time for you, I send you my condolences and lots of love and hugs.

We are eternally grateful for you & looking forward to seeing you in the New Year- we have lots of fun planned to combat the epidemic of loneliness and back pain.

Much love & cheers to you!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura, Jakob & Riley

Tomorrow is Festivus Day.

Not feeling like celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or Diwali? Just not your jam?

I have a solution for you, made popular again on Seinfeld (well, now I am dating myself because this was in 1997!) by George Constanza’s dad.

Festivus!

You don’t have to fuss with a tree. Instead, an unadorned aluminum pole is the symbol of Festivus.

So cheery!

Meatloaf is the suggested dinner time main course (this is yum!) and after dinner you & your guests can enjoy “feats of strength” and/or “airing of grievances”.

Here is yet another reason to work on your muscles: you certainly wouldn’t want to be shown up during the “feats of strength”

portion of the evening.

Challenge someone to a bear crawl backwards up the stairs for instance!

That is always a big hit amongst guests. 😉

Have you tried it?

The video above shows you how!

Here’s to balance, strength for the ‘feats of strength’ contests, and lots of joyful giggling happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Caroling Day!

Go on out there and sing.

Why, you say?

Singing helps maintain the muscles in the back of the throat, which helps maintain the space and shape of the inside of the mouth.

Why is that important?

Cosmetically: It can help your face to not collapse in or get a double chin. It can also help your teeth stay straight and not wreck the braces you had as a kid.

Functionally: You want to maintain a nice big throat opening to avoid your throat closing at night when you sleep, so you don’t get sleep apnea or snore.

The muscles on the inside of the mouth can become lax, and just like any other muscles that don’t get worked they lose their tone and shape.

This is a fun way to work out muscles!

AND check this out from nicenews.com :

“A growing body of research shows that singing together at any occasion, holiday or not, boosts well-being. One of the reasons for that is endorphins, those happy hormones runners are always going on about.

“Singing is one of the mega-mechanisms we use for bonding,” Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford, told The Guardian. “Singing in the shower gives you a bit of an uplift, but when doing it communally, there’s something about the synchrony of singing that creates this massive endorphin uplift.”

Dunbar set out to prove singing’s bonding power in a 2015 study, in which strangers sang together for an hour and left as, well, not strangers. “It was as if they’d known each other since primary school,” he recalled. “And that doesn’t normally happen if you spend an hour in the company of strangers.”

There you have it:

Singing keeps the shape of your face intact, gives you an endorphin boost, and can combat the national epidemic of loneliness if you happen to sing in a group setting.

WOW!

The video above is my friend Tara’s choir ensemble singing one of the many holiday songs our audience was treated to this last Sunday.

It is a beautiful song and a lovely 5 minute break, even if you just turn it on in the background.

Happy Wednesday!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Bake Cookies Day!

Wrists can get out of whack with lots of holiday baking and furious amounts of online ordering. 🙂

I talked about my friend the baker who needed help with her wrist and I suggested involving her shoulder blade to help use the entire shoulder and all of it’s muscles.

That is a great global technique and tip, but sometimes you need to get rid of localized tightness in the forearm in the short term.

Let’s keep this quick this week as Hanukkah wrapped up recently, and Christmas and Kwanzaa are rapidly upon us:

Today’s video is a quick follow along forearm stretcher.

Hang in there, you’ve got this!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Remember what we were talking about on Monday?

Why you really really really need a workout buddy?

Because it is difficult for lonely people to stick to an exercise routine.

Well, my brilliant sister-in- law Linda researched it, and guess who else had something to say about that:

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the United States Surgeon General!

He created a first ever directive in 2022.

(Was it a repeat of the smoking directive? I remember cutting that one out of Parade magazine at the bottom of the cigarette ads and tearfully giving it to my dad, who clearly didn’t know. He stopped smoking later on, so I bet I made a difference. 😉

Nope: Dr. V wants to fight the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.

What??

Loneliness is of EPIDEMIC proportions!

Epidemic.

Wow!

Quote of note: “Lacking connection can increase the risk of premature death to levels comparable to smoking daily.”

So: you might as well be a smoker if you aren’t hanging out with some friends or family or neighbors or community group.

Just because you have people around you doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t feel lonely, either.

Compelling, eh?

In the 2 min video I linked above, he has four simple strategies to help gain connections.

He’s a pretty hip S.G. and has lot of interesting podcasts out too…you go, Dr. V!

Here’s to balance, strength, and connected happiness,

🙂 Laura

Did you see this social media post the other day?

“Lonely people are less likely to be able to keep up an exercise routine” 💔

How do I know that?

My amazing University of Chicago professor sister-in-law Dr. Linda Waite was speaking on the importance of social connections & wellbeing with Ira Flatow.

20 years ago she started the “National Social Life Health and Aging Study” to explore the links between the social world and other domains of health.

The WHO doesn’t define health as the absence of disease or illness; instead it encompasses positive mental, psychological, physical, and social wellbeing. This definition was the foundation of their research.

This loneliness finding is just one of the many conclusions and outcomes they have discovered and written papers on.

It speaks to my love of accountability workout buddies in a new way: we don’t want you lonely and we don’t want that to get in the way of your physical health!

So, reach out to that neighbor or friend you’ve been meaning to go for a walk with.

It could very well be lifesaving for both of you!

The clip above is just a smidge of the goldmine of information she discussed. Here is the link to the full interview:

I will delve more into this later this week! Happy Monday!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate and Happy Brownie Day for the rest of you!

Well, it is funny to me that I was just writing about if I had a dollar for every time I heard, “If I could just put my socks on without back pain”…

Because today I heard it again!

In this case, this client also presented me with another big issue: ridiculously tight insides of thighs.

The photos above of Mr. Smiley 🙂 show you what a really tight insides of the thigh looks like.

So, if this is also your problem or additionally your problem…then we need some additional strategies.

Can you cross your foot onto your knee, or will your knee stick straight up into the air?

There are two things happening: the insides of the thighs are tight, and the femur isn’t rotating in the socket very well.

The insides of the thighs are a group of 5 big powerful muscles, and it is important to keep them under control.

If they dominate the leg, they can grab the femur and twist it in, giving you the appearance of having what I call “eggbeater on land” knees.

Not a good look, and the knees really don’t like to twist like that.

Try the exercise here https://youtu.be/yiJrGstbHnU for a way to get them to calm down and make it more possible to cross your foot on your knee.

Then you can go after what we talked about on Wednesday and get the rotation in the femur or upper leg bone working again.

Here’s to an amazing FRiYAY and here we gooooo into the holiday season, so keep after your balance, strength, and happiness!

🙂 Laura

Happy Eat a Red Apple Day!

Don’t forget to take a break from all the sweets and treats headed your way this holiday season…grab an apple instead!

So I was at soccer the other night, and one of my teammates asked a question about her wrist.

She works at a bakery and one of her jobs is to actually bake, which requires whisking.

Her wrist was now getting sore from all of the whisking.

If you need to also bake this holiday season, here’s what I told her:

Remember that there are 17 muscles that act on the shoulder joint.

If you are just using the wrist to whisk (or mouse!) then you are effectively cutting off all the power and stability and strength that those 17 muscles can contribute.

See if you can get the lower part of the shoulder blade (not the top part! That will give you a headache!) involved in the whisking motion.

That gets more of the 17 muscles to help out, rather than look on helplessly as the poor wrist does all the work.

The shoulder blade is to the arm what the hip is to the leg…the anchor and powerhouse.

Are you familiar with the shoulder blade area?

I have a great < 5 minute anatomy video so you can get to know this part of your body. Being able to see exactly where the muscles are is so interesting!

Have fun baking, don’t forget to eat an apple or two, and Happy Monday!

Rabbit rabbit!

Here’s to balance, strength, and baking happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Put on Your Own Shoes Day.

If I had a dollar for every time someone wished they could just put their shoe or sock on without back pain, I would be a wealthy woman.

It is a relatively simple fix, and maybe one you hadn’t thought of.

Remember that the upper leg bone- the femur- sits in the hip socket.

It moves two directions: straight up when you pick your leg up off the ground, and it rotates.

What, you say?

Rotates?

Why yes it does!

It is the rotational component that everyone forgets about, and maybe doesn’t know how to tap into.

It is that rotational movement that will help you get your leg to move from the HIP, rather than trying to use just your leg or back instead.

When you use your hip, you take pressure off of your back, and then your back doesn’t hurt when your try to cross your foot on your knee to get your sock on!

The exercise I use to help re-introduce the rotational component into the hip is above.

Happy sock and shoe putting on!

Happy no back pain!

Today is my daughter’s birthday, so Happy Birthday to my favorite Sarah. 🙂

Here’s to balance, strength, and Wednesday happiness,

🙂 Laura

Wow, Hokas nation, you are a loyal and passionate group.

You drank the kool aid in a big way!

I have posted a couple videos on Instagram pointing out that Hokas are making bad movement situations worse, and oh boy the comments roll in!

It is pretty amazing.

What do I mean by that?

Well, waaaay back in 2014 when I first started blogging I wrote about shoes.

Here is the blog if you want to read it:

https://justmuscles.net/running/best-running-walking-shoes/

I had just read this book and was astounded by one paragraph in particular.

https://www.powells.com/book/born-to-run-a-hidden-tribe-superathletes-the-greatest-race-the-world-has-never-seen-9780307279187

I don’t have the book in front of me, and this might be a direct quote from the book or my summation, but it goes like this:

“The major shoe companies have known for decades that the more cushion the shoe has, the less the muscles in the lower leg actually end up working.”

Translated:

more cushion = more problems.

Now, if I was smart, I wouldn’t say a thing.

This is job security and an endless source of clients for me having all these people think Hokas are great and super and awesome.

However, that’s not how I roll.

So just save both of us a lot of time and angst and potential source of injury …

JUST SAY NO TO HOKAS!

NO!

Send them to your worst enemy, maybe. 🙂

Just kidding!

Last Reminder: NO CUSHY SHOES! PLEASE!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Do you have someone in your family that could use a little help with their muscles but you’re not sure where to start?

OR do you want something for you, but you won’t buy it for yourself or you want to buy it as a gift ‘for the house’ and that way you can use it, too? 😉

I got you, either way. 🙂

I have three ideas for gifts for the holidays that are tried and true at my house, and that I find myself using over and over.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Fascia blaster- sounds dubious but this has a cosmetic as well as athletic application

https://www.ashleyblackguru.com/products/mini-2?dt_id=1050954%3Bap%3A394355

2. Infrared cupping device -aka “lazy girl cupping”

https://www.revomadic.com/products/smart-cupping-massager?sca_ref=4879454.RMCiJP4BFF

3. Infrared neoprene wrap – the best anti soreness and anti inflammatory device to complement all the icing you’ve done for decades.

https://dgyao.com/index.php/product/dgyao-near-infrared-light-therapy-pad-with-wrap-strapsone-pad/

I have videos for each item, and a link to expedite finding the exact one. The DGYAO infrared wrap takes you to their website, and I know you can find it elsewhere. I am not a fan of Am*zon, so I try not to send links to that company website if at all possible for a myriad of reasons.

Full disclaimer: Two of the links are affiliate links so those companies will know I sent you. However, I bought these and tested them without the companies knowing about it, so I am not unduly influencing you. These are things I really truly like and use.

I fully believe you can have an awesome home gym for under $100, and these items are non-essential, but crazy useful.

They might make life easier faster, and muscle recovery sooner and with less soreness.

I have timed this email with big sales, so you hopefully spend the least amount of money possible and get the biggest bang for your buck.

Any questions?

Shoot me an email back, always.

Here’s to balance, strength, and ease of holiday shopping happiness,

🙂 Laura

If you celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., then I hope it is filled with nice memories with family and friends.

If the holidays are tricky for you, I wish you big hugs and some quiet time.

If you don’t celebrate it, I wish you a yummy meal with family and friends this week just because.

Here is some more food for thought from the book I am reading:

“ I began to realize that my results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed.”

“Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”

“When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level.”

This is such a good book!

**Keep eyes peeled for a quick holiday gift guide for your fitness self or buddy or family on Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings to you today and always!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

I am a volunteer coach for Girls on the Run.

My group is comprised of 3rd-5th graders who are hilarious and make me smile every Tuesday.

When you are in GOTR, you pick an adjective that starts with the first letter of your first name that you think describes you.

This is how you are henceforth known in the organization.

In my case, I chose “Laughing Laura”. 🙂

Some of the kids came up with funny names for themselves:

Capable Cece, Just Josie, and Zippy Zoe for instance.

When I ran the marathon, I joined “Team Milk” as they were sponsoring women marathon runners and also donating to Girls on the Run as an underserved population.

They had a lovely “Recovery Lounge” in Lincoln Center after the marathon where they served chocolate milk, had snacks, new socks, a DJ, and massages. They also offered Uber credits to get ladies home safe.

I had never had an ‘after race plan’ like this, and it was fantastic.

Therefore, I would highly recommend a plan for after your race. Do you have warm dry clothes to change into? Do you have a snack to snack on, or a place to go? How are you going to get there?

These are things I didn’t think about for previous races. I was so focused on getting ready, I didn’t think about after.

Thank you to the people of Team Milk ( and if you are scheduled to run the Denver Marathon they are sponsoring women in that race!) for making my marathon at “mile 27” so relaxing.

Do you have a philanthropy you support?

Do you volunteer?

If you don’t and need to smile, try hanging out with my friends Zippy Zoe and Capable Cece.

You will get more than you give, every time.

Happy Hump Day to you!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Veteran’s Day tomorrow and thank you for your service to this country and others.

I am especially grateful for my dad, who was in the Army, my grandfather who was in the Air Force, and my 2 step nephews who served in the Marines and Navy.

So I ran the NYC marathon last weekend.

A friend of mine has a daughter who is going through a rough time. She textured me a screenshot of a text her daughter sent her which said:

“If you ever need your faith restored in humanity, go watch the NYC marathon.”

“Why?” texted her mother back.

“Strangers supporting strangers! Runners write their names on their shirts and the entire pathway is lined with people yelling your name.”

And then this:

“I cried it was really crazy to see.”

So how did a 4” piece of duct tape save my life?

Exactly that.

We were pretty sure it was going to be cold in the morning- and indeed it was 42 degrees at 6am when we arrived at Staten Island.

We had picked out matching outfits, but had gone back and forth on the top.

Long sleeves? Tank top with arm sleeves? Just a tank?

In the end, we layered the tank under the long sleeved shirt.

Thank goodness!

I embroidered our names riding on the train to NYC on the long sleeve shirts, but by the time we were ready to get running at 10:20, it was close to 60ish degrees and sunny.

I didn’t embroider our names on the tank tops as it was a 2 hour project that I didn’t find time for.

We knew that a fun part of the race was random spectators yelling your name, but how to get our names on the tank quickly?

Enter the silver tape and Sharpie.

I had no idea how important that little piece of duct tape became.

I wrote in my Instagram post that I love how NYC pronounces my name:

“GO LAAW-RAH! YOU GOT THIS, GIRL!”

Over and over and over and over and over and over.

It was as though the crowd came out to cheer just for me!

It was ELECTRIFYING. It was ENERGIZING. It was so FUN. It made my smile LIGHT UP!

If my head was down, less cheers.

Head up, smile and wave to the crowd: electricity.

I was channeling the penguins in Madagascar, “Smile and wave, boys, smile and wave.”

That’s your first race tip: put your name on your shirt/jacket/sweatshirt/hat/arm/forehead.

Anywhere!

It will pay dividends!

Here’s to balance, strength, and unbelievable-name-on-my-shirt happiness, and Happy Veteran’s Day,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Dunce Day!

There’s a word you don’t often hear used anymore: dunce.

I take it to mean, ‘I shouldn’t have been such a dummy.’

Or, I know better, and I still didn’t do the thing I should have to make me feel better.

In this case, as I was training for the NYC marathon, I was just skating by with all of my recovery things.

I didn’t roll frequently, I only stretched via yoga once a week, barely any fascia blasting, loaned out my lazy girl cupping thing, and relied heavily on cold showers, soccer, and my infrared sauna.

Skated.

Guess what: my knees were starting to hurt in my long runs. That is soooo annoying!!

And alarming.

Big lesson (again!) that a client of mine serendipitously reminded me.

She had a great quote that brought me back to reality, and that deep thought is in today’s video.

Duh!

I guess we ALL have things to learn (and re-learn and learn again!) as we go out and do fun fitness adventures.

Got it: big volume of training, big volume of recovery work…I have to do all the things I listed above.

Not some of them, all of them.

Don’t beat yourself up with the Dunce Cap in the corner.

Everyone learns by repetition. Especially me!

Here’s to balance, strength, and non-dunce happiness!

🙂 Laura

The other day I went out for upside down dinner with my friends Alex and Shellee.

Alex wanted to have dessert with us and then eat dinner with her family afterwards.

I have been on a very high protein diet and didn’t know what dessert first would feel like, but I was willing to give it a try. (All things in moderation- I’m not a saint!)

I could feel the sugar enter my bloodstream and hopped up from the table to bust out my table- side squats.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month and with big holiday meals coming up, I wanted to make sure you know how to do two things simultaneously:

Keep your blood sugar from spiking and ….horrifying your friends (or family!) in public.

A client of mine named Sara is a specially diabetes trained nurse, and she verified this fact for me:

The best way to keep your blood sugar from spiking is to go for a brisk 20 minute walk

immediately after a meal, or do 50 air squats.

So, in the restaurant, up I hop to bust out table-side squats so that my blood sugar won’t go through the roof.

I caught it on video to prove it.

The guy to my left looks like he just doesn’t know what to think! 🙂

These two are used to my antics, and hopped up to join me at the very end.

You just can’t take me anywhere!

Here’s to stable blood sugar balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Book Lovers Day!

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend James Nestor’s Breath.

Why?

Well, you can take my word for it and just learn to breathe in and out all through your nose to get your core strong or to take pressure off of your upper traps so your neck isn’t sore and tight or to get the most oxygen per breath….

But there is so much more:

The story about the lady who breathed her way out of scoliosis.

The professional bicyclists who swore off breathing with their mouth after road testing it with nose breathing.

The way it makes your walking and running and hiking more efficient and quieter.

The way it can help maintain the space in your mouth so you don’t snore.

How it can increase your lifespan by decreasing your sleep apnea.

The personal 10 day experiment he & a friend undertook under the close supervision of a Stanford rhinologist.

And on and on.

The book is chock full of so many interesting stories … there are way too many to list here.

If you need a good healthy read for the upcoming holidays, this should be on your list.

The video above is me reading about mouth breathing causing dehydration and why that can really mess with you.

Watch it, read it, get the information, and pass it on!

I read this on a vacation to Costa Rica and immediately came home and bought two copies and gave them away, asking for them back so I could give them away again.

It is good stuff!!

P.S. Wish me luck as I tackle the New York City marathon with my friend Margaret Floyd Barry this weekend! It looks to be a really fun race and we have a 10:20am start time.

Happy FriYAY!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

Laura 🙂

Feliz Día de los Muertos! Happy Day of the Dead!

Have you made an ofrenda for your family? An altar, with food, candles, flowers, and photos of those who have passed on?

Do you put trails of marigolds to your door so your ancestors can find their way to your home?

I found out about all of these traditions from taking Spanish and watching the amazing Pixar animated movie Coco.

If you haven’t seen it, you should.

I think it is such a lovely way to talk about death and think of your ancestors ‘coming to visit’ once a year. That way, they are always with you and you’re always surrounded by them.

I find it has remarkable parallel cultural traditions with Chinese feng shui.

In some variations of feng shui you are to make sure you have photos of all of your ancestors hanging in your home so that they feel welcome.

However, what staves off death and is your best anti aging strategy?

Moving.

Movement.

Using your muscles.

Remember, your brain does not register the passage of time. Instead, it notices if you use your muscles or not.

If you don’t use your muscles, you invite slow decline…and if you do use your muscles, you invite vitality.

All systems go: Invite vitality!

No video today, just a fun photo from Día de los Muertos in our neighborhood restaurant Tamale Boy.

MOVE!

Here’s to vital balance, vital strength, and vital happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Halloween (tomorrow!)

I think some people think that when you start (or restart for the zillionth time) an exercise program, that you might not like it.

It’s to be endured.

That just comes with the territory: the not liking part.

After all, if you liked it, you wouldn’t probably have to be starting (again).

You would have stuck with it.

I am here to tell you that having fun and liking your exercise or movement is proving to almost be the most important part of the equation.

Why does it matter?

Well, because of the cortisol factor.

Cortisol is that substance that is released when you are under stress, good and bad.

It is famous for packing on belly fat and signaling to your body that you are in fight, flight, or freeze mode.

If you like your exercise or movement, it makes all the difference as it can help keep that substance at bay.

Here’s your goal as we start to think about wrapping up the end of the year:

Joyful movement.

What are you doing that you like that keeps you moving?

-AND-

Can you do more of that?

Are there other things that you want to be doing that you can’t because of injury or a concern?

Don’t forget that I can help you with that!

Hoping to announce the limited edition of my group training program as soon as the tech glitches work themselves out to help if you need it.

**Joyful movement**

That’s the goal.

Happy Halloween from our chocolate kiss Nova!

Here’s to balance, strength, and joyful happy Halloween happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Tell a Story Day!

Here’s one of my favorites recently…maybe you’ve seen the 10 sec video on Instagram or YouTube?

Apparently it struck a chord with Instagram followers, anyway…it’s at 100,000+ views.

What’s the story? Well, here you go:

“My IT bands hurt,” said my 80 year old neighbor a couple of months ago.

I often see her in the morning walking her dog Thomas.

“Have you tried walking sideways to help it?” I asked.

I looked down at her knees which were looking like eggbeaters on land. Totally collapsed inwards.

“No!” she said, “How do you do it?”

I showed her, and got a report a few weeks later that her IT band pain had gone.

It’s now been a couple months, and I was delighted to see her take it up a notch with the hopping!

That was allllll her, not me!

We never had a formal workout- this was just a casual conversation one day while out walking the dogs.

Got IT Band pain? You need glutes to take pressure off the band, and walking sideways is one way to get those muscles working.

If you think you’re too old to get your body to change and get out of pain, talk to my neighbor.

She’ll say it isn’t so.

Send this to someone who needs help with their IT band.

There is always hope!
….

Just remember, there is ALWAYS hope.

Happy FriYAY!

Here’s to ageless balance, ageless strength, and ageless happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy World Opera Day!

If you’d like to belt out some big songs, sing in the shower, or hum along with your favorite singer, you are going to need one big ingredient:

Oxygen.

Let’s remember that there are three levels of breathing: mouth and nose, lungs, and with your diaphragm.

The deepest and most oxygenating is the diaphragm.

Consider it a superpower to be able to tap into that deepest level of breathing.

You can bet your local opera singer taps into this superpower, but it isn’t just reserved for them: you can easily too.

I spend a little longer explaining why and how in the video above, but trust me, it is a game changer.

You get core muscles to engage, lots of oxygen to work with, and more energy to zip around!

The technique can take some getting used to, but as I tell my clients, why would you do planks when you can get your core workout with every breath you take?

Don’t believe me? Ask the current fastest woman in the world: Sha’Carri Richardson.

Watch her running video closely and in particular her face. How does she breathe?

If it’s good enough for Sha’Carri and good enough for opera singers, it’s definitely good enough for you.

It will be like everything else…definitely takes a little practice to get used to.

Here’s to balance, strength, and superpower breathing happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Talk Show Host day!

Have you ever been on or been in the audience of a talk show?

I haven’t. It’s on my list though!

However, I can’t help but be excited about the one time a quick fitness tip of mine made it onto a talk show.

The Drew Barrymore Show!

If you’ve been a Just Muscles fan for awhile you know the story.

If you want to loosen up your back you’ll want to watch the tip above!

Hint: you’ll need two tennis balls in an old sock!

Happy Monday and here’s to balance, strength, and happiness!

🙂 Laura

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Our favorite Canadian was in town visiting the other day- none other than the fabulous nutritionist Margaret Floyd Barry.

One thing I do obsessively with all of my clients to help them unlock the secrets of what their body is doing is film them moving.

Most people haven’t ever thought to film themselves, nor have they ever had any feedback on how they move and what might be going on.

I can do it virtually very easily as I keep multiple devices nearby, and as long as I can see you I can film you.

No problemo!

So, in the case of Margaret, I happened to be running at the same park she was in, and plopped down on the ground to catch her running by.

The result is the still photos and video above.

Another cool feature of videos is that you can freeze them and capture still photos, so that’s what I did for her.

See anything that might be amiss in her still photos? (I do!)

If you haven’t watched yourself move before, set up your phone and take a look.

It can reveal all sorts of exciting details.

Happy Monday and Canadian Thanksgiving!

Here’s to balance, strength, and video secret revealing happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy World Smile Day!

The saying goes that when you “turn that frown upside down” you get a smile. That seems easy and quick!

Recently I was listening to a podcast where the hostess and guest were speaking about the book Atomic Habits.

In the book, one of the interesting recommendations was to tie your habit you want to cement to your identity.

One example: I like to draw and sketch. Before this podcast, I would never identify with or tell the world that I am an artist.

However, if I want this drawing and sketching habit to stick, I can just be bold and announce that I am an artist!

If you are just getting into an exercise habit, or never considered yourself to be an athlete, be bold and announce that you are an athlete!

That will help make that habit stick.

So, back to smiling.

I have talked about my cute 80 year old neighbor ladies.

One had back pain, and the other had IT Band pain down the outsides of her legs.

I went to the park with my doggie Nova the other day, and saw someone skipping along while walking her dog.

That caught my attention.

She immediately spun sideways, and I knew it was my neighbor with the IT Band pain.

The delightful part was: She wasn’t just walking sideways, she was hopping sideways!

I caught her in the quick video above.

By the way: That upgrade from walking to hopping was allllll her idea.

Walking sideways: all the kids are doing it ….causing big smiles.

Happy FriYAY!

Here’s to balance, strength, and smiling happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Golf Day!

I had the good fortune to watch the LPGA women’s tournament here in Portland recently.

Those women were for the most part very petite in build, but boy could they whack the heck out of the ball.

What was interesting was that the scores at the end of the day were big numbers: -12, -17, -22…meaning 12 strokes under par, 17 strokes under par, and 22 strokes under par.

I don’t know a ton about golf, but it seemed to me that this course was underestimating the power these women could wield, otherwise why would they be so many strokes under par?

So: what makes them so powerful?

The ability to twist, leading with your hips. (It’s always the hips!)

One time I had a client who was a golf pro. He said his back was tight, so we tried a few hip exercises, and then I had him show me his ability to rotate or twist.

When he was on his side, I instructed him to then twist and let the arm open up across the body.

His arm was sticking straight up towards the ceiling.

I said, “Okay, quit messing around, go ahead and let your arm open up now!”

He frowned, glared at me, and said, “I AM, Laura!”

Aah. Super tight. That’s why he was here! 🙂

The video above is a demo on my favorite lazy Sunday twist to work on opening up your shoulders and getting some nice deep rotation for those twisty sports.

There is a key move to execute after twisting that is also mentioned in the video, so don’t forget to watch the whole minute and 1/2!

Happy Wednesday to you!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Name Your Car Day!

What is the name of your car?

Ours is “Bluetiful” after the crayon of the same name.

Have you ever tried doing a handstand as a way to get into your car?

This cool lady named Dr. Kaye Cleave decided it was a great idea.

This is her idea of fun and “aging creatively”!

I tried it.

Harder than it looks. 😊

One secret: I think she also has a right hand drive car…the steering wheel gives your feet something to hook onto. 😉

If you want to do something else in the car, and have a tight upper back or neck or shoulder, watch the less than 3 minutes video above.

It is designed to help loosen things up on while you are on the move!

Here’s to loose necks and having fun with your car, balance, strength, and happiness!

😊 Laura

P.S. Here is the full handstand video in case you want to see the action sequence:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqzlvS6JUnK/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

Happy Confucius and Chinese Moon Festival Day!

Funny Confucius quote: “Confucius say, man who sit on upturned tack, rise above all!” 🙂 (there were some super saucy ones in there, too!)

Serious Confucius quote: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

So if we take the serious Confucius quote seriously, we can figure things out three ways:

Thinking about it, mirroring it, and experiencing it.

Apparently, the path of least resistance is to copy someone who has been there already.

That is why I send out exercises to try.

If you try them, and get good results, then you hopefully don’t have to go the bitter route.

I have been experimenting on myself and with others for the better part of 25 years, and I am always trying to dial things down to the absolute nitty gritty that will get you where you want to be… pain free and zipping around doing all the things you want!

Happy FriYAY, and how about we talk about opening up rounded shoulders: it’s the end of the week, and you might need to give them some love to get ready for the weekend.

Here’s a <1 min video above to give you an idea!

Here’s to balance, strength, and shoulder happiness …

🙂 Laura

Happy National Fitness Day in the UK!

The USA has a National Fitness Day in May.

Shoot! I guess I missed it!

Last week I talked about the one exercise I would do if you didn’t have time to warmup.

You do have time to warmup, you just need to carve out a tiny tiny bit of time.

Remember our friend the bear crawl?

One of my clients Julie took my advice to heart, and sent me a photo of her exactly replicating the exercise on a big log over the Hudson River.

That was funny! 🙂

She is super funny and both she and her husband Mike have been workout buddies since the pandemic.

I think it gives them an advantage as they have recreation time together, and are each other’s accountability partners.

I do love the idea of working out with a friend or a group that you can join regularily.

Remember, that group coaching program is coming up.

Love to have some fun and work on painful spots and give you strategies to use the rest of your life together.

In the meantime, do you have any burning questions that you’d love to see answered?

I haven’t asked for any feedback lately, so shoot me a question if you have it!

In the meantime, think about those people in the UK celebrating their fitness day.

How would you celebrate that day if you weren’t in the UK?

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

: ) Laura

Happy World Dream Day!

Yesterday I was at the first of two soccer games, and one of my teammates Mia had her neck spasm on the field.

As in, couldn’t turn her head without turning her whole body.

To my amazement, she continued to play the game as best she could.

At halftime, she said, “I need your help,” and so we jumped into trying an exercise to take pressure off the neck muscles and give her the ability to turn her head again.

Now, my teammates have grown accustomed to someone asking me for help, and tend to stop what they are doing to listen to what I am talking about this time.

When she said her neck was tight, there was a general murmur amongst the nearest players to us, and they all nodded that their necks were perpetually tight, too.

I also noticed the body language of those players: it is what I call the ‘international tight neck’ signal.

Whereby you reach up and grab that tight spot with one hand, move your head around a little, and grimace.

I’m sure you’ve seen this happen countless times.

So, we tried the exercise, and it took some, but not all the tension out.

Enough to turn her head more than she had been able to previously, and then it was time to take the field again.

What did I have her try? The video is above, and we did a version of that.

If it is your dream to have a pain free life or to not panic that your pain might strike at any time and you will be forced to stop what you’re doing, consider joining the upcoming group training program.

I am going to bump the start to mid-october for a bunch of reasons and it will run 27 days.

Here’s to balance, strength, and dreamy happiness!

🙂 Laura

Don’t have time to warmup?

Yes you do.

Take a tiny chunk of time (and I mean tiny!) and do one thing.

How about a really fast warmup exercise that uses every muscle from your hands to your toes?

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before…

Don’t groan…

Remember, we are thinking super time efficient since you “don’t have any”.

I am talking the bear crawl.

There’s one big mistake that I see people make all the time, and that is to mistakenly move like an elephant instead.

Both cute animals, but differ in one way.

What do I mean by that?

Well, watch the <1 min video clip above to find out the trick.

Cheers on this Elephant 🐘 Appreciation Day and Happy FriYAY,

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,
🙂 Laura

Happy National Indoor Plant Week!

Did you become an indoor plant enthusiast during lockdown?

Good for you, but get back outside now!

I’ve been outside playing soccer on the weekends with my teams, and inevitably someone comes up with a sore something that needs some immediate attention.

Last week it was an inside of a knee that was the problem; this week it was a deep hip tightness.

In both cases I used the exact same exercise to address both sore spots.

What was the exercise?

Watch the 3 minute video above and learn all about it.

Get outside! Get moving! Your plants will love to see you refreshed and invigorated.

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Yesterday was National Women’s Friendship Day.

As a busy working mom, I felt like I rarely had time to see my friends.

Now that I’m a bird launcher (as opposed to an empty nester!) I make a point to schedule workouts with different friends nearly every day.

Mondays I see my friend Heather, Tuesdays I have my soccer friends and strength (we call our group the Hard Core crew!) friends, Wednesdays I have my track team, Thursdays are more soccer & strength, Fridays are my friend Tara, and Saturday mornings are long runs in the forest with Carol, Holly, Tiffany, Margaret, and any others who join in.

This makes for some incredibly fun time socializing, staying current on big and little events in each others lives, and celebrating birthdays.

Most importantly, it’s extraordinary accountability.

I don’t miss workouts because I don’t want to let my friends down.

I don’t miss workouts because I don’t want to miss out on the fun and camaraderie.

In return, I don’t miss workouts & stay pretty darn fit as a result all the while having fun.

I often think about not going due to missed sleep or too much to do, but then I know I’ll be sorry.

I believe deeply in this group power, which is why I’m launching a new group coaching program the first week of October.

If this sounds appealing to you or someone you know, just reply to this email.

Do you have workout buddies?

If not, shoot that friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with and see if you can’t schedule a walk or hike or run in the forest.

It could just be the start of a new fantastic weekly social (exercise) time!

Today’s video is how to think about exercise like medication…

Here’s to balance, strength, and accountability happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy Positive Thinking Day!

One of my most un-favorite statements that occasionally roll off my client’s tongues is: “I can’t”.

I immediately interrupt that statement with, “I’m having difficulty” instead. 🙂

I like to say that your muscles can hear what you’re saying, and this mindset will make a huge difference in how you approach getting better from an injury (physical or otherwise).

I love watching long-time clients practically choke, trying to overcome that seemingly automatic response (“I can’t” …. to “I’m having difficulty”) to adversity.

Mindset is so fascinating.

Like all things, it requires practice.

So, how else can you positively spin a challenging situation?

I often speculate aloud …

“I wonder what the blessings are” in attempt to infuse a supposedly bad situation with more hopefulness. This also opens up the possibility that something that looks detrimental initially might actually be a great thing long term.

Think of: forest fires. Oregon had a devastating forest fire that burned a significant portion of our precious beautiful Columbia Gorge.

Two years later, the president of the Friends of the Columbia Gorge was interviewed, and he said it was the best thing for the forest and that it had done important things.

I was stunned. I had read of this phenomenon before, but didn’t think such devastation was applicable this time.

And yet…it was okay in the end.

That’s another one of my favorite sayings from an unknown author:

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

If you need to get a little stress out so that you can think positively, I enjoy using a sand-filled medicine ball called the smash ball. It does not bounce, instead it only smooshes into the floor. So, you can throw it as hard as you’d like into the floor and keep doing that until all your stress is gone.

Look at that! You get stress gone AND you get a strength workout. Very satisfying!

My friend Margaret is visiting this week, and I made a video awhile ago of her using one. She is a big fan.

Have you tried it?

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Today is 9/11 Remembrance Day.

Have you been able to visit the memorial?

It is beautiful and haunting and astonishing how quiet it is in the middle of the city.

One of my favorite parts of the memorial is the pear tree.

It was found in the wreckage, miraculously surviving the attack, and taken to a nursery in the Bronx where it was carefully tended to until it flourished again.

Then, and only then, was it brought back to the memorial to be re-planted and its story told of its resilience in the face of horribleness.

A little sign of life in all of the destruction.

It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings, attributed to Eleanore Roosevelt:

“When you think you’ve come to the end of your rope, tie and knot and hang on!”

Hang on like the little Callery pear tree.

You can do it.

Peace and blessings on this most somber of remembrance days.

Here’s to balance, strength, and hanging onto glimmers of resilience and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National “Fight Procrastination Day”!

Well, I have a strategy to fight procrastination and some exciting news!

I think having a crew to workout with is super fun and very helpful in many ways.

Therefore, I am getting ready to finally launch my virtual group training program in the first week of October.

If you have ever wanted to work through your back (or hip, knee, shoulder, neck, elbow, ankle, or wrist) pain and nothing else has seemed to help… now is your chance.

If someone has told you that you need to lose weight to get your back feeling better (not true!), this program is for you.

If you worry that your back pain will strike at any time and take you out, this program is for you.

If you want to have strategies to tackle your back pain – no matter where it happens- and to feel that it is within your locus of control to keep it under wraps, this program is for you.

I am so excited to offer this program, and there will be lots of things to keep it fun along the way.

You know it has to be fun! 🙂

Shoot me an email (you can simply respond to this one if you’d like) if you’re not already on the waiting list when the website goes live to snag the limited spots.

In the meantime, I think the best strategy outside of having a crew and all of the live coaching I will be imparting is to schedule time to workout.

Just like you schedule time for meetings, schedule time for your movement.

If that movement isn’t going the way you’d like, then consider joining me in the official Hack Your Back Pain crew!

Love to have you!

More later on this, and in the meantime, schedule time for you!

Right now! No procrastinating!

🙂 Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness!

Laura

Happy Labor Day!

Fun fact: Canada, The United States, and Bermuda are the only countries to celebrate Labor Day in September. All other countries celebrate Labor Day in May.

“The end of labor is to gain leisure.” – – Aristotle

This begs the question: What can you do to increase your leisure time?

-OR- How can you end your “labor” quickly?

I think for workouts that means doing an interval -style workout.

The latest research talks about women over 45 lifting heavy weights twice a week, and then doing interval -style workouts two other days.

HIIT workouts are ‘high intensity interval training’ where you choose a short interval to work really hard, and then recover for another period of time.

How long?

That’s up to you.

Try 10 seconds really hard, and then recover until your heart rate is back down to 120 (if you happen to have something that tracks heart rate.) Try that a few times.

See how many intervals you can get accomplished in 20 minutes.

You might also consider keeping track of your workouts and your heart rate, because two things will happen relatively quickly:

Your heart rate will drop faster, and you will recover faster. That means you are done with your workout faster.

Therefore, ‘the end of labor.’

Time for leisure!

Happy Labor Day!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

Happy National Bacon Day!

I have two super fun friends that live in Minnesota named Lindsay and Jessie.

Jessie happens to loooove bacon and is frequently photographed wearing her bacon costume. So, when I went to visit last summer, I wanted to be aligned with the mission and bought an egg costume to wear at the airport.

We spent the weekend laughing and having tons of fun!

One of the things we did was participate in a OCR event.

OCR stands for Obstacle Course Race, and I’ve lost track of how many Tough Mudder races Jessie & Lindsay have participated in.

It might be more than 100 at this point. They are nuts, in a great way.

The idea is that you have obstacles along a 5k or longer course that you can choose to tackle, help others tackle, or skip entirely with absolutely no shame.

You know what it reminds me of?

An adult playground!

All the obstacles are designed to fit adult -sized people, and you know what else is fun about it?

The team or community element. You help others, and they help you.

It’s additionally just fun to have something to train for, rather than just general fitness and health.

The obstacles add a strength component in a way that ordinary running races don’t offer.

I did a Tough Mudder (race involving mud over a half marathon course with 20ish obstacles) with my brother when he turned 40, and wrote a blog highlighting my top tips if you’re considering heading out to one of these races.

https://justmuscles.net/adventure-racing/top-10-tough-mudder-adventure-racing-tips/

What are your plans for the fall? How are you going to have fun and stay or get fit?

Happy FriYAY!

Here’s to balance, fun with strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura

We escaped to the Oregon Coast during the 4 days that Portland had temperatures in the 100s.

We just happened to choose a happening surf spot to camp near, and I struck up a conversation with a surfer as he was climbing up the stairs that led to the beach.

“How was it?” I asked.

“Great,” he said. “It was warm (says the guy in a full thick wetsuit with a hood and booties in an ocean I know was 55 degrees F that day) and there was no wind.”

But then he said something that made me smile.

What did he say to me that left me feeling inspired?

Watch the 33 second video above and see if you are similarly encouraged to adopt his philosophy if you don’t already.

Happy Hump day!

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness!

😊 Laura

Happy Race Your Mouse Day!

Are you a desk jockey, often finding yourself in front of a screen, using your mouse extensively?

That sitting stuff can catch up with you, and it’s easy to start slouching down slowly in your chair.

This happened to my client Austin recently. He had an extended project that required extended sitting at his desk to complete.

Soon after, what he called his “haunch” hurt. That was the lower side quadrant of his low back.

Happily, it was fixed very quickly with what’s called “hip hinging”.

This is where you lean over using your hips as the fulcrum.

Alternatively, if you don’t use your hips, you end up using your back instead.

He does a beautiful job of demonstrating both leaning over using his back, and then using his hips on the right side in the video above.

He says in the video, “it doesn’t hurt when I do it this way!”

Are you a hip hinger?

Here’s to balance, strength, and hip hinging happiness!

🙂 Laura

Happy National Dog Day! (Tomorrow!)

The video above is of my friend Heather’s puppy Luna.

Cuteness overload!

Luna was “helping” me film the other day when I was talking about the benefits of eating protein.

I’m working on my “under recovery” at the moment.

On Wednesday I talked about getting to bed in the same 30 minute window every night.

One of the complaints I had was that if I stop lifting weights my muscles seem to evaporate and my skin starts to get “crepey”.

My dear nutritionist friend Margaret Floyd Barry suggested that I try upping my protein intake to 120grams/day in (3) 40 gram meals.

She said to avoid “protein dribble” with 10g here and 10g there.

She also said there is approximately a 40-50g upper limit at any one time after I ate 58g in one meal.

Can’t absorb that much.

Is this for you?

**Caveat: I have worked on my protein digestion with her previously, so I’m confident that my digestive process is relatively intact. If you’re not sure about that, find a functional nutritionist or work with your naturopath or homeopath to fire that up if they know how to help.

The latest research says that if you’re a 50ish + woman you need to lift heavy twice a week and eat lots of protein.

Therefore, this is not just about me and my quest to conquer my “under recovery”!

Luna helps while I explain another benefit of eating tons of protein and I laugh most of the 35 second video above.

Laughter is contagious so if you need a laugh on this FriYAY…

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,

🙂 Laura (& baby puppy Luna!)

Happy National Senior Citizen’s Day!

Here’s the question: Are you ever too old to lift weights?

Nope.

Not ever.

Why would you?

Muscles are the engines of the body and are the best anti-aging strategy you have.

The brain does not recognize the passage of time; instead it only knows if you are using your muscles or not.

If using muscles: All Systems GO!

If not using muscles: There’s the invitation to slowly shut down all the systems.

Just ask Joan MacDonald.

She’s 75 and lifts weights with her daughter 5 days a week.

Her story is so inspirational, which her daughter documented, that she now has 1.8 million followers on Instagram.

You read that right.

1,800,000 followers.

Watch the 2.5 minute story above when she and her daughter were interviewed by Good Morning America last year.

Then, go get some weights!

I do it twice a week myself and am happy to help you get started if you don’t know where to start.

Tap into the best anti aging strategy you have!

Here’s to balance, STRENGTH, and happiness!!

🙂 Laura

Happy Ride the Wind Day!

Portland had a heat wave last week and we headed to the beach to work remotely. Guess what we got to do while we were there?

Fly a kite!

It was super fun, whimsical, and brought back so many memories of trying to get kites in my childhood aloft.

Usually without much success. 🙂

While I was flying my kite, I discussed an interesting concept that my dear nutritionist friend Margaret Floyd Barry proposed to me:

Was I overtraining or was I …and this was a new concept…

u n d e r r e c o v e r i n g?

Hmn.

So interesting.

What exactly did she mean?

Quite a few things, actually.

Sleeping. Eating. Supplements. Training program.

Did this mean that I could play on as many soccer teams as I want, workout twice a day, run on my track team, and train for the New York marathon all at once?

I certainly hope so, because that’s what I want to do, but currently it feels like it falls a bit into the overtraining category right now.

I realize most people don’t have the same goals, but on the other hand, I want you to do as much as YOU want to without any limits.

One suggestion: get into bed in the same half hour period of time every night. That apparently has a huge impact on sleep quality.

(That is going to be a tough one for me, especially when Womens World Cup Finals are at 3am!)

Let’s talk about more of her suggestions this week!

Here’s to balance, strength, and recovery happiness,

🙂 Laura

Feeling a little down?

Need a little energetic boost of oxytocin, that feel good hormone?

No one nearby to grab onto for 6 seconds (that is the magic amount of time to get that feel good hormone)?

Guess what: good news!

You can hug a tree and it has the same essential effect as a hugging a person.

“Research shows that spending time around trees can reduce stress, improve immunity, lower blood pressure, and accelerate recovery from illness or trauma.

Furthermore, when you hug a tree, you release a hormone called oxytocin – known as the hormone of love and trust – which gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling.”

Don’t believe me? The research is below…

The Benefits of Hugging Trees – An Darach Forest Therapy.

Some people also try forest bathing, which is mostly hanging out in the trees and breathing along with the lungs of the planet.

I notice the weeks that I don’t get any forest time, and the weeks when I do.

I am a big proponent of time with trees, and time in trees.

And if you need a quick pick-me-up, run outside and hug a tree!

Here’s to balance, strength, and tree-hugging happiness,

😊 Laura

Last time we talked about a secret that Sha’Carri Richardson uses…she’s the fastest woman on the planet right now and headed to the Paris Olympics soon.

She’s an exclusive nose breather- meaning that she breathes in and out of her nose.

So, on Monday I was at the track and the cutest little guy was doing laps with his grandma.

I will guess he was 10 years old, and did some cool power skip warmups that I rarely see anyone do, let alone a 10 year old.

Then he proceeded to bust out a 400, and finished right by my friend Heather and I.

He had his mouth wide open and was huffing and puffing in his recovery.

I couldn’t help myself.

Why build bad habits when you can learn good ones from the get-go?

I said, “Do you know who the fastest woman in the world is?”

He looked thoughtful, and then his grandma came over, and said, “Didn’t you see Sha’Carri Richardson run when you were watching the Olympic Trials?” (Ah-ha! That’s where he learned the power skip warmup??)

He smiled and said, “yes, I did see her run.”

I smiled back and said, “Do you know one of her secrets is to run and breathe all through her nose, in and out? I noticed you were breathing through your mouth and thought you might like to be fast like she is.”

He immediately closed his cute mouth and tried…but guess what happened!

His shoulders came up along with the nose breathing attempt.
I pointed that out, and said, “You don’t want to breathe with your shoulders, you need to breathe with your tummy,” and showed him how to do it.

His shoulders kept popping up.

He was using his shoulders to lift his ribcage up to get more air rather than expanding his diaphragm to let more air into his lungs.

I said, “If you use your shoulders, you might make your neck sore.”

His grandmother piped up and said, “You know, he gets neck tightness!”

Neck tightness.

He’s 10!

10 years old and gets neck tightness. *sigh* My clients get younger and younger!

So, if you get neck tightness too, tap into your inner nose breather because that just might be a potential cause of the problem.

With one tweak you’re now fast(er) and you’ve figured out the cause of your neck soreness.

BOOM !

What a discovery!

If you want to watch Sha’Carri run her way to a spot on the USA Olympic team, watch the video above.

It gives me shivers and tears!

Happy FriYAY and here’s to balance, strength and no neck tightness happiness,

🙂 Laura

Why does your back hurt in the middle of the night?

This question is asked by lots of clients, followed up by the comment, “but then it usually feels better once I am up and moving around.”

Is that you?

Consider that the muscles that are helping you move around once you get up are also helping take pressure off the back.

However, the tightness in the middle of the night is the truth of the matter; don’t ignore it.

How about this: “Approach your body with curiosity and compassion”.
This was the theme of a podcast I heard recently.

Resist going into negative thinking modes of: “oh no, it is broken” or “I am getting old” or “not again!”

See if you can find a way to wrap your head around the feedback even though it might be scary…and then see what you can do about it!

That is what I am always trying to do with clients…help them find solutions to move forward with their muscle problems.

I love when clients tell me that when various body parts hurt they don’t worry about it anymore, because they have a plan.

Worry and pain is double the trouble.

You are going to keep moving, and things are going to get tight and out of balance, and you might get some complaints.

Me too.

Be curious what your body is trying to tell you, and if you need help decoding the information, I am but an email or a text away.

Here’s to balance, strength and curious happiness!

🙂 Laura

“Your nervous system has a preset. You’ve been here before. I want you to override it.”

Said by the fabulous Dena in my yoga class today.

What does she mean?

Here’s how I interpreted it:

She asks us to do a pose.

We try it.

We naturally go to where we are strong, which may or may not be the right muscles doing the right thing to get the most out of the pose or exercise.

She coaches & cues us to ask more of our bodies.

To tap into the muscles that aren’t quite as strong.

To override a highly developed nervous system path and forge new pathways.

I ask the same of my clients, because that’s what it’s going to take to get you moving and feeling better.

I so appreciate a coach that understands this and asks it of me, but has fun along the way.

I hope we can have fun, learn along the way, and get you moving and feeling better!

Happy FriYAY!

Here’s to balance, strength and nervous system happiness!

🙂 Laura

This question is posed a couple times a month.

Consider that when you’re resting in bed, you don’t have any other muscles to help take pressure off of a tight muscle.

I hear all the time that things feel painful or tight “until I get moving”.

You therefore get the truth of the matter in the middle of the night.

Good: now we know what’s going on and what we need to take pressure off of.

Consider also that tight, painful muscles are working pretty hard; the question is, what muscles aren’t actually working that we could kick in to take pressure off of the hard workers?

That’s a big reason why I’m not a fan of back exercises for back pain.

Why work muscles that are already working overly hard?

Doesn’t make sense to me.

I don’t help people feel better with back exercises.

Happy Wednesday!

Here’s to balance, strength and happiness!

🙂 Laura

Have you ever wondered exactly how many steps your animals actually accomplish?

I often wonder how many both my dog Nova and my cat Smokey get any given day.

Recently, I knew how the day was going to play out and I knew my movement goals included a spin class and that was just about all I had time for.

I also, deep in my heart, knew it was therefore unlikely that I would meet my step goal if I went to spin class.

My watch doesn’t seem to register the fact that my legs are zipping in circles and add that movement to my overall step goal of the day.
Super annoying.

Come on Garmin!

Then, inspiration struck.

I recalled a commercial that Organic Valley did to prove that their cows were active.

They strapped fitness trackers on the cows legs!

Watch the 15 sec video above to see if I channeled my inner cow to get my step goal accomplished.

🧡 🐮 💚

BTW, there are a few spots available in the hackyourbackpain.com group training program… lmk if you’re interested!

Here’s to balance, strength, and step goal happiness,

🙂 Laura

Here is one idea on how to fix a tight hip- specifically that screwdriver feeling in the center of back of the hip.

UGH. That is no fun!

On another note: Need a Mother’s Day gift idea? 😊

Does she have a nagging sore something that interferes with her happiness?

Sign your mom up for my group training program & come along for the fun of it. 🥰

You both can use the code BRINGAFRIEND for $100 off at hackyourbackpain.com

Here are some common questions that have popped up with the program:

💚When exactly will the group be meeting?

We will meet Mondays and Thursdays at 4:30pm PST with replays avaliable within 24 hours.

💚Do I have to have back pain to participate?

No! You are in the lucky category of PREHAB instead of REHAB! You can focus on optimizing your body and get the best possible results from your muscles. Lucky you!

💚 How much time will this take?

I anticipate about 10-20 mins/day, especially once you get familiar with the exercises you like.

💚What if I can’t make a live training?

We have lots of options for you – we have the trainings uploaded in our gamified learning platform, OR you can ask a question in the Facebook group, OR if it is a crunch situation then you can send me a voice text on an app called Voxer. I’ve got you!

Just reply to this post if you have any questions I can answer for you or someone you love. 💚

Here’s to all those moms & aunties & special friends & neighbors & step moms & grandmas & step grandmas & bonus moms this weekend:

You make the world a better place! Thank you!

Here’s to balance, strength and super strong hip happiness!

🙂 Laura

One day, I went to track and I could see that something was bothering my friend Marcia.

She loves CrossFit and lifting weights, but the day after lifting her back would be sore and painful when she went out for a run.

This was clearly bothering her, because she didn’t want to stop lifting weights and she didn’t want to stop running.

No need. You can do both. (And more!)

I asked her what her warmup was (typical: nothing!) and we went about crafting one.

It doesn’t have to take up a ton of time, but you need to pay attention to the muscles to make sure the ones you want are actually the ones working.

I notice this all the time; people just assume an exercise will get the right muscle working just because they are doing the exercise.

That, unfortunately, is not often true.

Back to Marcia: after two (2!!) exercises, I asked her to take a spin around the track.

I know that people are feeling better when they shift the conversation from what hurts to in Marcia’s case, “I should have timed that lap!”

Another happy story (plus her warmup if you want to use it too!) in the 90 second video above.

I want the world to be out of pain; this has always been my mission in life.

Don’t put up with it!

Here’s to balance, strength and running AND lifting happiness!

🙂 Laura

P.S. She just sent our track team this message: “I did have a fabulous competition this weekend down in Eugene. My first masters competition. I was 1st in discus and 2nd in the 200m.” Congrats, Marcia! You rock!

….By the way, results are not typical because only 35% of people ages 45 to 64 engage in regular leisure-time physical activity. If you are in that 65% of not regularly active, you are doing your brain and body and organs a big disservice.

Hi!!!!!

Just wanted you to know we are up and running on hackyourbackpain.com ™

I can’t tell you how excited I am to create what I’m calling a “Movement Movement”… a fabulous community that takes on previously unresolved back, neck, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, and ankle pain and puts the power in your hands to solve it, wherever and whenever you want without having to go to someone to fix things.

Most notably in regards to your back pain: Without actually touching your back.

Kicking off the 27 days of happiness together will be a huge overview workout so you can immediately see the Birds Eye View, and then we zoom in.

We will kick off the program on Monday May 13th, and then meet again on Thursdays to add to your workout at just the right pace.
You are here to learn about you and this will happily continue for 27 days.

At the end of the 27 days, you will know all about the main target muscles, where they are, how to get it to work, how to know if it is working and options on exercises for that muscle.

Remember, this requires a willingness to explore, experiment, and curiosity as you take on the responsibility of learning about yourself.
This is what I’ve been up to for the last 25 years, and now you will get all the secrets and tips and tricks and tweaks that I can possibly pack into our workouts without overwhelming you with too much information.

Have a friend in mind to be an accountability partner?

I have a code for you to use at checkout to give both of you a $100 discount: just type in BRINGAFRIEND Here we gooooo!

Here’s to balance, strength and group training happiness!

🙂 Laura

P.S. Since this is a beta group, you are getting a discount by joining in the first iteration. At the risk of sounding cheesy, spots really are limited. I don’t want a huge group so we have high quality sessions and special time together. Super excited! Check out hackyourbackpain.com if you’re interested….

Hello there!

Super excited to open up registration for my brand spanking new group training program Hack Your Back Pain.

CLICK HERE for Hack Your Back Pain:https://hackyourbackpain.com (I opened it up a bit early to avoid bottlenecks and spread the load on the server.)

Special bonus : Included is a 30 minute private session with me!

The program kicks off on Monday May 13th so there’s no time to lose.

Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness!

🙂

Laura

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