Welcome to part 2 of prepping the mind and body for quarantine!   The last thing we need right now is body aches, pains, and stiffness.  Apply these simple truths of posture and breathing to keep your body ready for anything and to keep the positive vibes flowing through the body.​  Take advantage of working at home by getting up and moving more often than you do while in the office, but also laying down to decompress and breathe. Make it habit so that when you get back in the office, your body will go off like an alarm when it is time to move.   

Get your spine set,  braced and organized for optimal movement!

1.  Flawed thinking.  "My (Insert Pain/discomfort Here) is caused by (Insert activity here)" 

When describing pain in the morning, your conversation often starts with "My knee hurts from running"., or  "My back is stiff from gardening / yard work",  or "my shoulder hurts from playing catch".    We tend to blame the activities we do for our pain/discomfort.    Why does it hurt?  "I went running",  "I worked in the yard",   "I played catch".   This is flawed thinking that keeps us blind to the real and very consequential issue at hand: lack of functional mobility during everyday activities.  This flawed thinking causes us to: 

• Wait for a terrible injury / tissue failure (ruptured disc, torn achilles tendon) to inspire corrective action 
• Take advantage of the human body's freakish tolerance to poor movement quality until it's too late 
• Prioritize TASK COMPLETION above everything else. 
• Ignore the simple solution that is right in front of us every day, all day! 

 

1. MOST dysfunction caused by missing range of motion (overtension) and/or moving in a bad position (open-circuit faults).  The precursor to this is POSTURE 
   1. Extended sitting is a major cause of movement  and positional impairments, and combines with other factors (genetics, previous injuries, etc) to reinforce negative impacts in daily living 
   2. Leads to open-circuit faults.  Tissues not intended to manage forces will expire.  Just a matter of time. 
   3. Sitting is toxic for the human movement system, but an unfortunate inevitability in modern society 
      1. Rounded back 
      2. Shoulders rolled forward 
      3. Feet turned out 
      4. Head tilted up or down 
      5. Elbows flared out 

 

1. Solution:  Creating a CLOSED CIRCUIT 
   1. Body operates best - IE, TRANSFERS and DISSIPATES FORCES -when in a closed circuit 
   2. Fire the big guns to create a braced neutral spine.  Relaxing leads to slouching.  We should always be carrying light tension in the big players - glutes, abdominals, upper back, in order to dissipate gravitational forces.  Here's how:
      1. Bracing sequence 
         1. Squeeze butt cheeks as hard as you can (to 100% tension), and release down to 20%.  Maintain this tension while sitting and standing, at all times.  
         2. Pull ribcage down 
         3. Tighten up the belly -"sphincter to belly button".  Same thing: 20% abdominal tension while seated and standing at all times
         4. Belly-smack test-  brace as if someone is going to pop you one in the gut. 
         5. Head neutral – ears over shoulders 
         6. Shoulder blades- "reach down towards your back pockets".  Again, with 20% tension.  Hold while seated and standing.  
      2. Two-hand rule  ​
         1. Place one thumb on sternum, palm splayed out and down, and one thumb on pelvis so that both hands are parallel 
         2. Determines whether you are in a broken position 
         3. Hands move together – you are rounded forward 
         4. Hands move apart – you are over extended 
      3. Breathing  
         1. Diaphragm breathing – expand stomach region instead of ribcage 
         2. Engage abs as you exhale – from 
         3. This breathing patter is automatic when in proper braced-neutral position 
   3. Braced neutral sitting (see pic below of proper sitting, using the the 2-hand rule)
      1. Employ the same bracing strategy and two-hand rule as when standing 
      2. 20% abdominal, glute, and upper back tension
      3. Very taxing to maintain position with defaulting to a bad position 
      4. If possible, get up and move every 20 minutes in order to reorganize 
      5. Change your position as often as possible.  You are not limited to one sitting position – you can lean forward and back while in braced-neutral. 
      6. SIT AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE 

Breathing

Practice breathing by expanding the stomach, instead of the chest.  Stomach breathing calms the body down and ellicits a parasympathetic (calming) response.   Chest breathing triggers a stress response, and feeds any negative emotions or dispositions in a feedback loop.  To break that loop, focus on deep inhales while pushing the tummy out, hold, and exhale slowly, to where one inhale/exhale cycle lasts 10 seconds or more.  Maintain that 20% tension if you are seated or standing.   Sometimes it helps to lay down to solely focus in breathing.  You are at home, so take advantage of that throughout the day.   Note how good and relaxed you feel

If it helps,  take breathing breaks every 10 minutes just to shut your eyes and focus on the sequences above.  Set an alarm on your phone or computer

Breathing better and carrying yourself more efficiently with proper posture is an underlying factor into a great state of mind during these tough times.  

Until next time!  Leave comments with any feedback or questions!

Greetings Amway Employees!

Welcome!
Before I dive in to this topic,  I would like to welcome all of you to the first post in my Broad Scope, Narrow Vision Blog!  I am excited to carry on from my previous blog on the former website.  What better way to spend some time working from home- as many of us are for the foreseeable future- than to offer a brand new look and feel to the blog!  Bear with me as I work to add images and other content as we go.  As I've done before,  I will include category tags to help ease navigation through the content as I build it up.  I will cover many topics ("broad scope"),  but each post will work to emphasize the importance of the small things ("narrow vision") as we explore the vast wilderness of fitness and wellness together!

That said,  on behalf of all of the Fitness Facility staff, I would like to extend our best wishes to you and your families as we deal with this whirlwind situation taking place in our world right now.  If you're like me, you're tired of watching the news covering the fallout caused by Covid19.  Although some of it has been speculation and misinformation - only adding to the fear and anxiety - we have seemed to weed through a lot of it and arrive at a central message of how to contain this aggressive virus.  Thus, here we are, possibly working from home, many with school age children, trying to juggle everything.  It is my goal with this post to contribute to a positive outlook of how we can best use this time as stepping stone rather than a step back!  Understand, I use the term quarantine both in the strict sense of the word, and also for any other accommodation of this situation!
 
Prep the mind. Direct your thinking to the positive:

Prepping for quarantine starts with the mind.  All we see, hear, and process with our mind has an inextricable connection to our body's response system.  A positive frame of mind is perhaps the best way to approach this .   Below are some positive vibes for the broad scope of Covid-19;  I'm sure many of you are aware of these already, but my goal here is to invite you to simply take a deep breath, and spur you into positive thinking with some fundamental truths:

•  This particular Coronavirus is historically mild, as far as pandemics go.  This is not to downplay the seriousness of the virus, as it is deadly for a portion of the population.  Rather,  this experience can serve to galvanize our response system globally and locally.  An organized response quells fear and anxiety.  It is better to go through this learning process with a virus that is ultimately containable, and seemingly only slightly more deadly than the flu, yet serious enough that these measured responses of quarantine are appropriate. It has been widely believed that much of the world was woefully unprepared for a pandemic outbreak - see this study from 2017.   Furthermore,  research on creating vaccines for broad coronaviruses can only help.  Covid-19 could turn out to have a huge silver lining.
• There are so many in need during times like this, and thus is a great opportunity to see the positive side of human nature where we help each other out.  This is a great opportunity to be a source of good in our communities.  Helping others makes us feel good, and often serves as a reminder of the good in our own situations.  Make yourself a part of it-  it's good for mind and soul.  So look outward for opportunities to help
• Ignore the urge to panic-buy just because those around you might.   Panic buying, and the images of empty shelves at the stores on the news, spreads fear and anxiety, well, like a virus!   Don't be a part of it - your panic buying only serves to spread that fear, and contributes to food shortages for those that might need it.  Buy enough for the next week or two - grocery stores are telling us there is no need to stock up.  Listen to them
• The fallout of the stock market will impact many, but like other pandemics, the market after virus scares typically rebound quickly.  Leaders in finance are generally suggesting to leave things alone with your long term investments.   Talk to your adviser, but avoid emotion- and panic- based financial decisions.   In short, if we were to listen to the experts, we shouldn't have to stress about the temporary financial fallout.  Narrow your vision to the here and now to meet immediate needs 

• Instead of feeling enclosed by walls,  view this as a time of opportunities.  Finish that project,  learn something new, explore nature during your conference call, improve at least one area of fitness,  challenge your kids with a new fun project.  My son and I are going to start work on a Rube Goldberg Machine using toys and other things around the house and garage.  Think opportunity, not enclosure!  We will have more on this topic in coming weeks!

I challenge you to use this and opportunity to dwell on the upsides.  Continue this in your own situation, especially if you find yourself struggling with any fear and anxiety.  Do not underestimate the power of positive thinking!

See the next post on how to prep the body for work at home, or any other physical activity!  Just how the mind impacts the body,  the body will positively influence the mind, with proper posture and breathing!   You'll be amazed at how your outlook changes just by sitting properly and employing proper muscle activation.