On your wellness journey, one vital aspect to explore is facilitated stretching. This remarkable method of enhancing flexibility and bodily awareness is a key component in a comprehensive approach to holistic health.
Facilitated stretching, also known as Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching, is a technique employed by skilled professionals to maximize flexibility and muscle relaxation. At the heart of this practice is the massage therapist or personal trainer, a guide and ally on your path to wellness.
How Does Facilitated Stretching Work?
In essence, this form of assisted stretching involves a dynamic partnership between you and your massage therapist. The practitioner gently stretches your muscles to their limit, enhancing your range of motion. Your therapist understands the intimate language of your body, knowing when to pause and when to push further.
The Benefits of Facilitated Stretching
Immersing yourself in the world of facilitated stretching provides a doorway to a treasure trove of health advantages. From increased flexibility to improved muscular coordination, the positive impacts of this practice are both significant and far-reaching.
Flexibility Enhancement
Chiefly, facilitated stretching leads to noticeable enhancements in your flexibility. When your muscles are regularly and carefully stretched, they naturally become more pliable and elastic. This not only allows you a wider range of motion but also fosters a sense of ease and freedom in your movements. Whether it’s reaching for that top shelf or executing a flawless yoga pose, facilitated stretching can help you move effortlessly.
Improved Muscle Function
But the benefits go beyond mere flexibility. Participating in this form of stretching aids in boosting muscle function as well. As your muscles are stretched, they’re activated and engaged in a way that strengthens them over time. Regular practice aids in making your muscles more responsive and resilient, thereby leading to better overall muscular coordination and function.
Posture Improvement
In today’s world, where desk jobs and sedentary lifestyles are common, poor posture is a frequent complaint. Facilitated stretching offers a potential remedy for this modern malady. By targeting and loosening tight muscles that often result from prolonged sitting or incorrect posture, it can help in correcting misalignments and enhancing your overall stance. You’ll find yourself standing taller and sitting straighter without even having to consciously correct yourself!
Injury Prevention
One benefit that often flies under the radar is the role facilitated stretching plays in injury prevention. When your muscles are flexible and healthy, they’re better equipped to handle stress and resist injury. Furthermore, facilitated stretching helps identify potential areas of tightness or weakness that could potentially lead to injury if not addressed. By nipping these issues in the bud, you’re giving yourself a fighting chance against future muscle strain or damage.
Encouraging Bodily Awareness
Lastly, but by no means least, facilitated stretching plays a critical role in cultivating a heightened sense of bodily awareness. This method of stretching requires active participation and engagement, making you more attuned to your body’s signals and needs. As a result, you become more aware of your body’s capabilities and limits, helping you make more informed decisions about your health and wellness.
In sum, facilitated stretching is more than just a physical practice—it’s a comprehensive wellness strategy that opens up a world of benefits, helping you foster a closer connection with your own body.
Why Choose a Massage Therapist for Facilitated Stretching?
The significance of engaging a licensed massage therapist for facilitated stretching is a point that cannot be emphasized enough. While there might be various service providers, including those employing non-licensed individuals, the expertise, proficiency, and assurance that comes with a certified professional are incomparable. Here’s why:
A Comprehensive Understanding of the Muscular System
A certified massage therapist brings a depth of knowledge about the muscular system that is typically far beyond that of an unlicensed practitioner. Their training in human anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology equips them with a holistic understanding of how muscles work, how they interact, and how best to stimulate them to encourage flexibility and relaxation. They comprehend the complex interplay of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints, which is crucial in providing an effective and safe stretch.
Hands-On Experience and Expertise
Alongside their academic understanding, licensed massage therapists have substantial practical experience under their belts. This hands-on knowledge, accrued over years of work, is invaluable. Each body is a unique canvas, with its peculiar quirks and characteristics, and an experienced therapist is adept at adapting their techniques to each individual’s needs. This adaptation ensures you receive a stretch session that is not only effective but also safe and comfortable.
A Personalized, Safe Approach
Perhaps the most significant advantage of opting for a massage therapist for facilitated stretching is the assurance of safety. Massage therapists are trained to recognize the limits of your body and to respect those boundaries. They understand how to navigate the fine line between a stretch that is beneficial and one that could potentially lead to injury. A licensed therapist can tailor the stretching session to your specific needs, considering factors like your age, flexibility level, and any pre-existing conditions or injuries.
Promoting Long-Term Wellbeing
A professional massage therapist doesn’t just guide you through a series of exercises. They aim to equip you with knowledge and tools that promote your long-term well-being. You’ll gain insights about your body, learn about areas that need special attention, and acquire techniques that you can incorporate into your personal wellness routine.
When it comes to facilitated stretching, choosing a licensed massage therapist or personal trainer offers a wealth of advantages. Their comprehensive knowledge, practical expertise, personalized approach, and focus on your long-term wellness ensure that you’re in safe hands.
In Conclusion: Stretching Towards Wellness
Facilitated stretching is more than just a means to enhance flexibility. It’s an opportunity to connect with your body on a profound level. Under the guidance of a highly-skilled massage therapist or an uber-talented personal trainer, you can unlock the potential of your muscles and move towards a state of enhanced wellness.
Are you ready to take your body to the next level? Our team of massage therapists and personal trainers is ready to help you get there with the best stretching in Bloomington, Indiana! Schedule your appointment today by clicking here or giving us a buzz at 812-333-3393!
Hi there, welcome back…to both of us! To say that it’s been a while since I’ve blogged is putting it mildly. It’s not that I have nothing to say, rather, I’ve been in one of those situations where I have SO much to say, that I have NO idea where to begin. Let’s start with a question Jim and I have been getting a LOT lately: “What are you two doing?” Normally, this would be a rather innocuous question, without much meaning, but in this case, I know what they’re asking: “How are you looking so much fitter and how has Jim lost so much weight in so little time?”
ANSWER: Nutrition…but not how you might think, and certainly not how most (all?) of us were taught.
Nutrition is a wide topic made up of misinformation, inconsistencies, and contradictions. There’s so much noise, it’s hard, if not impossible to know where to begin, therefore, I will begin with a brief summary of my own nutritional journey.
I’ve been eating low carb (Keto / keto-ish) for about three years. Previously, I’ve done the Adkins diet (version 1 and version 2), low fat, high protein, vegetarian, vegan, and Richard Simmons’ Deal-a-Meal (remember that one, it takes me way back to the days of infomercials, spandex, and teased hair). None of these worked for me for longer than six months, but each time I tried a new approach, I learned something new about my body, my lifestyle, and what I would and would not do for the long-term.
Interestingly, each of these plans always ended with the idea that you were expected to “go off” the diet at some point and then “just eat a healthy diet in moderation and your body will maintain the lean shape you have just gotten to.” Boo! Wrong! My body never maintained it, I had to fight for it every inch and pound of along the way. Anyone who seemed to not struggle with this concept (or not YET) always looked at me like I was crazy when I couldn’t maintain my weight loss. The simple, hard truth is there’s no way for me to maintain like this because our human bodies are designed to adjust to what we’re doing.
Yeah, I said it: Our bodies adapt to what we do with it, it’s called homeostasis. The body’s primary job is to maintain its homeostatic environment at all costs and that includes at the cost of your metabolism. Oh yes, your metabolism, that wonderful word that all guru’s like to throw around like it’s something magical, unchangeable, pre-destined, and fixed. It is magical in the way the body adjusts its metabolism to the environment it’s currently in. However, try going back to what you THOUGHT always worked for you before (you remember when you “were young” and could eat anything and everything) and you quickly find it doesn’t work that way after all. It has to do with that homeostatic environment that your body likes to create for survival and that’s what we’re going to address here.
Nutrition is such a difficult thing to broach in conversation because everyone (I mean everyone) defends their choices of what they consume and how as if their life depends on it (which to be fair, it really does, but not while we’re stuffing cupcakes and diet sodas down our gullets). Most of these defenses are excuses to give us permission to consume something that our body clearly doesn’t get along with (even if you think it does, it really doesn’t and over this and the following blogs I will be explaining why, and better yet what to do about it!). It makes it doubly challenging that what works for one person rarely does for another, but we try to blanket nutrition with a one-size-fits-all solution.
Because we’re human, we then follow up our own behaviors with judgment for those who clearly can’t / don’t maintain their bodies as well as we do — or at least it seems that way more often than not (fat shaming is a pastime for many people, especially on social media). This is nothing less than blaming the victim, it’s not right, but when it comes to nutrition science, the human condition and the state of our food supply, make no mistake about it we are all victims of the industrial food complex and those who profit from what you consume.
The good news, despite people who say “just accept it,” is your body is NOT designed to be fat all the time, it’s not “just the way you were created,” it’s also not choosing to accept who you are. Staying in the victim state IS a choice, but once that choice is understood, it is easy (really) to choose something else.
I am not a nutritionist, I am not a scientist, I am not the alpha nor the omega of this conversation. However, I have spent the last 30 years studying the human body, consuming (pun intended, of course) every bit of dietary information I could get my hands on, and putting to use every kind of nutrition advice I came across, no matter how contradictory to other advice I may have already read, seen, or heard about. In short, I’m a body-hacker, and my goal is always to be the best me possible.
Here’s the sad truth: Every one of those diets, techniques, and fitness things might have been okay for a while, but I couldn’t maintain them because I always had cravings that I just couldn’t kick….come on, admit it you do too. It’s why you’re reading a blog about nutrition written by a massage therapist and spa consultant – maybe, just maybe she’s going to drop some knowledge that’ll work THIS time (fingers crossed).
In today’s post-industrial-food society we have the ability and are actively encouraged, to eat whatever we want to, whenever we want to, however, we want to, wherever we want to. Food (and food-like stuff) is all around us, all the time, and we are encouraged to eat and eat and eat – six meals a day (three primary and significant snacks) is now considered “normal.” It’s not, and if you take a quick look at history, you’ll find it rarely was before World War II (this is a very rough time frame as many cultures were impacted by factory foods 50 years before this and some only as recently as the 1960s).
It’s all about the forgotten SCIENCE (not art, not religion) of Eating windows (more popularly, if erroneously called intermittent fasting for those who want to Google more after this article). “WHAT?!? You mean you’re STARVING yourself?!?” Nope. Not even close, in fact, Jim did the math, we’re both eating MORE than we did just a few months ago…but we’re doing it LESS often and with MORE joy.
It began with a random conversation with family friend and world-class Magician Andrew Baerlocher on a visit to town in February. He mentioned he’s been doing really well with an eating window and weight loss. To be fair, he’d been talking to Jim about this off and on for a couple of years, and Jim flat out ignored it. This time was a little different, however, as he had both of us in the room and was able to lay out references and studies and books (Jim is all about the books). Andrew was adamant we at least look into it, and as we’ve all been friends for 20 years, we figured it was polite to at least watch a couple of YouTube videos and read a study or two.
Jim and I looked at each other and right after he left we dove in with digging up as much research as we could about eating windows and intermittent fasting. There’s a LOT, and not all of it is good, valid, or based on hard science…but a lot is, and there’s more coming out every day. This was about three months ago and we haven’t looked back. It’s hard at this point to remember a time when we were eating our three meals a day plus snacks if we got hungry. This intermittent fasting / eating window thing easily just became our thing, as we studied fasting protocols more, I quickly learned WHY it was so easy to stick with: the longer I use a shortened eating window as my choice of eating style the easier it becomes. My cravings have all but gone away (I have a potato chip hunger I have tried to shake for decades with little success which no longer affects me).
This is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change.
What am I doing? I simply eat within a specific eating window, which changes by the day (I do this to keep my metabolism always guessing what’s next, which is easy because my schedule is nuts). That eating window is influenced by how I’m feeling in my body, about my life stresses at the moment, AND how much time I have on my hands. Some days the eating window is 8 hours long, some days it’s 1 hour long. But as a rule, I try to not eat for at LEAST 16 hours (this is because of something called autophagy which I’ll dig into more soon).
The secret little beauty about eating windows is, I’m not constantly fixing the next meal. I have my coffee in the morning, make my electrolyte drink to take with me (water, salt, potassium, and lemon juice), pack some tea to take with me and off I go. Easy peasy. It’s been great! I’ve saved so much time not making meals, grocery shopping for meals/snacks, and cleaning up after I make them. I haven’t yet noticed any money we’ve saved, but we did heavily invest in teas in the beginning because I think both Jim and I thought eating windows were going to be harder than it is. It isn’t hard at all.
Jim and I are coming at this from different directions for our own health reasons, but here is what has happened so far. I have lost at least 8 lbs and two dress sizes, all of my clothes look too big for me. This is the first time in over four years that the scale has budged. My skin has become softer. I look younger…the fountain of youth maybe? I have more energy, more focus and more awareness of what’s going on in my body (a blessing, and a curse). I have virtually no hunger — at least not the way I’m used to experiencing hunger. If I do feel like I need something, usually water quells it. No. I’m not kidding, just water. If it doesn’t go away with a few distractions, then I eat. When I do eat, I eat a balanced ketogenic diet (more on this soon as well), but I’m not able to eat as much and as such have to choose wisely, i.e. nutrient-dense foods to get the most out of what I am eating. But during my eating window, I eat the same number of calories I always have, I’m far from starving.
Jim’s coming from a very different place than I am. After retiring from the Air Force, Jim’s weight climbed rapidly (go figure, he was special operations for a chunk of his career and was used to constant physical exertion). Due to several injuries along the way, it simply became too much for him to run all the time, and eventually, as of 2017, he topped out around 330lbs (Jim is 6’0” and can hold a lot of weight well, but that’s a lot for anyone)! For years, he tried everything, more exercise, less calories, this diet and that…nothing worked, or didn’t work for long. In 2016 he started seeing a personal trainer (Lannie at Impact Fitness) and dug into more dieting. It was a slow roll, but over two years he lost about 25 pounds, was much stronger, and certainly looked better…but he was still over 300lbs if barely. Since we began eating windows (not quite 3 months ago), Jim has lost 35 pounds without changing a single thing other than WHEN he eats. Same workouts, same calories, same crazy work schedules…just following an eating window. This is all well and good but having lost 60 pounds since the last time he bought suits is putting a serious, if welcome, crunch on his clothing budget. Even better, he’s aiming for 200lbs by Christmas, and honestly, I see no reason he’s not going to do it. Yeah, it’s that easy.
This is not anywhere near enough information to pass along, so there will be a Part 2 and 3 for sure…maybe more. If I’ve piqued your interest and you too are interested in looking good and feeling great, the resources you choose make a HUGE difference. Dr. Jason Fung is a doctor of nephrology out of Canada who researched these results based on his diabetic patients and got the ball rolling with his book The Obesity Code, even if you aren’t diabetic or obese you WILL get a lot of information from this book. The Guide to Fasting, also by Dr Fung, breaks down what to do, how to do it and why. But you do not have to spend a dime, he gives it all away for free on his website and lectures on YouTube. You need spend nothing.
I also recommend, YouTube channels for Dr Eric Berg, Thomas DeLauer and there are several Ted Talks with fantastic information too. Know you are not alone. If you too have struggled with your weight, are confused about what you should and shouldn’t eat, when to eat or why, you are NOT alone and these resources above can be your first step in learning more about your body, what you want to put into it, when to put it there and why. It will change your life. I know, because it changed ours. Good luck on your journey and please reach out, post below, and let us know how it’s going for you. I’m a sucker for success stories. :o)
Each visit you make the therapist you prefer, the therapist may (and likely will) use different massage types and applied styles to change up the massage. However, after multiple treatments sometimes things stop working or you’re no longer getting the results you’re looking for or you’re just not sure you like this type or style of massage any longer. You can ask to go back to another massage style you know you liked or worked for you or you can ask to see another therapist. It’s nice to compare different styles after all they are just as different as the individuals themselves.
So why mighty you want to try another therapist you ask? Well, because sometimes when the personalities don’t fit between the therapist and the client, it might feel awkward to get a massage with this person no matter how skilled they are. You don’t know exactly what’s wrong; everything “feels” as it should, but it just feels off. That might be a sign to try another therapist. Another reason to see another therapist, if you’ve been working with the same LMT for years and now you’re in a maintenance phase, meaning you’re no longer working on those bigger goals that you originally started coming, it might be nice to try something new every once in a while because your body adapts. Additionally, a different therapist’s perspective on what’s going on with your body might bring fresh awareness and deeper growth for your goals. Lastly, another reason to try another therapist is you aren’t getting the results that you once were from the therapist you’ve seen for a long time. That’s okay; it doesn’t mean that they are no longer doing their job, rather it just means that your body has adapted, which it is designed to do, and a fresh take on massage applications just might be what it needs to let go on a deeper level.
Here at The Rub we customize all treatments based on several criteria: your goals – both short and long term what you want to get from your massage, the type of treatment your scheduling – this is discussed in deeper detail with your LMT during the intake process so that we know that the appointment you scheduled is the right one for your goals, and finally the therapist’s personality. If for any reason you are looking for a change, The Rub offers different massage therapists to fit those needs, and we all refer to each other when we feel that we’ve done all we can or believe another modality or therapist may be a good fit for you. Think of it as helping your regular therapist help you achieve your goals. After all that’s what we’re here for, and we feel good when our clients are happy with their results. Welcome to The Rub!
I’ve been working on the ongoing practice of mindfulness for years now, since I started as a Spa Director in 2004. Mindfulness is something to be honed daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. until it becomes a part of who you are. Being mindful is about presence in the moment and being thoughtful every day about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. How to get the results you’re really going after and achieving them through mindful planning and execution. This is not to say that sometimes your brain gets in front of you for how quickly you put your thoughts into action, it just means that you think about what you’re doing and how it effects the desired outcome and those around you.
MINDFULNESS (def.) – a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
Using mindfulness for the greater good, a few years ago my gut was telling me it’s not happy. Mostly through constant bloating, inflammation and constipation, you know, things that I thought were just normal parts of everyday living, until I started having a pain in my liver area that wouldn’t go away. Not being one to run to the doctor over trivial matters, I ran to the doctor…are you kidding me, this pain in my liver that wouldn’t go away. Pain is a sign in the body that something is wrong and it wants you to pay attention to it. I had been ignoring the other symptoms: constant bloating, inflammation and constipation, so my body gave me something I couldn’t ignore. Well, things checked out well for my liver, and now I was out $900. But I had a true wake up call, that what I was eating wasn’t working for me and I needed to be more mindful about what I was eating and how my body was reacting to it.
Of course being human I would slip, you know how it goes…I’m feeling better, maybe it was just a bug (it’s not just a bug), maybe I’m not as sensitive as I thought I was about what my body can tolerate (yes, I am), but being human, I eat that thing that made me feel not so good and the feeling instantly comes back, no matter the “little” quantity that I eat of it. It’s our way as humans to try to get away with having that thing we THINK we want. It’s habit. It’s comforting. It’s a food I love. However, the more I dove into the mindfulness part of eating, I was beginning to realize that everything that I loved to eat, hated me, because I would react to it. Thus, what I’ve become is a health nut, a food snob or a picky eater, take your pick. I can no longer eat the foods that I grew up eating, thinking that they weren’t effecting my health and making me feel less than. As my nutrition blueprint improved so did my mindfulness in what I was eating, as well as my mindfulness in everything else I do. It helped lay the foundation for me to see other areas of my life in which mindfulness could be applied to achieve the result that I was looking for. After all, that’s what I want…results.
Being mindful has taught me a lot about my personal nutrition, which has lead me to better exercise outcomes, better treatment outcomes for myself and my clients, better outcomes in the classroom…mindfulness has allowed me to see what works and change it immediately if it isn’t. Mindfulness allows awareness in everything else you do.
See how you can apply mindfulness to your daily life to achieve goals that you have set for yourself. Before you know, you too could be getting the results that you’re looking for.
That’s the Rub,
Lisa
P.S. This is an interactive blog. If you have any questions, thoughts or ideas you’d like to discuss or are interested in, please comment below.
