elsbethvaino.com - Page 2 of 29 - Exercise and nutrition for healthy living and sports performance

May01November 28, 2019Hamstrings, Training Basics, Training for sports

Is stretching the answer part 2: Your hamstrings are tight, but are they short?

I gave a talk at a local Running Room last week, where I opened by asking if anyone has tight hamstrings. Guess how many raised their hands. If your guess is about 90%, you’re right. I then asked half the attendees to lie on their backs while the other half observed. I instructed those on the floor to place their arms on the floor at their sides with palms facing up, and straighten their legs with toes pointed toward the ceiling. I then asked them to keep both knees straight and lift one leg up as high as they could.

Mar20November 28, 2019How to exercise videos, Training Basics

Is it a glute bridge?

This all makes sense because the human body is an example of a brilliantly designed system. Any engineer will tell you that good design includes backup options. The human is designed such that more than one muscle (or muscle group) can accomplish a task.

Mar07Training Basics

8 Easy-looking exercises that are surprisingly hard

It was the best of exercises; it was the worst of exercises. The bird dog truly is a tale of two exercises. When done properly it’s impressively challenging for most people. Unfortunately it’s often not done well, and when it’s not done well, it’s not that hard.

Jan29November 28, 2019Training Basics

Does it matter when you drink water?

one study had participants either drank water or drank nothing and imagined their stomachs being full before their meal. Over 12 weeks, those who drank water lost on average 2.9 pounds more than the visualizers.

Jan17November 28, 2019Training Basics

Is stretching the answer? My adductor stretching experience

Every trainer reading this knows we get some variation of this question often. It’s a logical direction: something is tight, stretching makes you less tight, therefore stretching is the solution to tightness. While it’s logical, it’s not necessarily accurate.

Jan15January 15, 2018Training Basics

Open letter to fitness conference organizers about diversity

As a fitness conference organizer, I ask that you implement a speaker application process.

This has the potential for you to showcase new and different people and perspectives to your seminar audience while opening up opportunities to talented presenters who may not be in your network or your network’s network.

Jan02November 28, 2019Training Basics

Get Lean / Get Healthy 8 Week Challenge

It’s time for the next edition of our Get Lean 8 Week Challenge, except this time, there’s an additional feature: We now have the Get…

Dec11December 10, 2017Training Basics

Playing music legally at a gym

While some clients poked fun at my playlists (arguably I am stuck in the 80s and 90s musically), for the most part the music that played in the background helped make their gym experience more enjoyable. That’s how we operated back when I thought paying the $9.99/mo for Google Play was all I needed to play music legally at my gym.

Nov14November 14, 2017Training Basics

Just say no to personal training contracts

I planned to use client contracts, and even put one together about five years ago. After all, it’s what all the business books tell you to do. But when it came time to pull the trigger, I changed my mind…

Nov02November 28, 2019Training Basics

9 Gym hacks for personal trainers and studio owners

You know how stability balls follow you around after you put them away? Whichever way you go, it somehow manages to be right there. No more! For a few bucks at your local hardware store, you can make rings out of flexible plumbing pipe and pipe fitting that will ensure your stability balls behave .