Most people have waxed and waned with their exercise routine throughout their life. During specific periods, gym attendance is solid, and during other times it is non-existent. That's life, and that's ok. The important thing is being smart about how much exercise you do when returning from a layoff.

You've taken an important step in returning to an exercise program now; let's remember why you need to build a baseline of strength before going all out.

The human body continually amazes me with the adaptations it makes. From how it processes the chemically enhanced foods we eat to going from couch potato to running 6 miles over a short amount of time. When returning to exercise or trying a new exercise program, there are some things to remember so you don't get injured.

A baseline of strength can be gained in a relatively short amount of time. Plan on 4 to 6 weeks of strength-building exercises to give your body a good baseline before trying more intense or longer workouts. This might...

How important is core strength for massage therapists?

Can it make a good massage therapist better?

Core strength has nothing to do with your skill as a massage therapist right?

BUT a stronger core will allow you to share your talents with more clients and save your back from painful workdays.

Why core strength is important

A strong core will:

1. Build your endurance so you can complete more massages in a day

2. Improve your body mechanics and stability for those deep tissue, sports massage sessions, and hard to work on clients

3. Prevent suffering from back pain while working and after long days on your feet

Exercise 1: Crunch

This exercise is a good starting block to build your ab strength with, the basic crunch.

The important thing is to use good form and do them correctly.

1. Lie flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground, with your knees bent at 90 degrees. Alternatively, you can place your feet up on a bench a few inches apart with your toes turned inwards and...

As massage therapists, we work with clients using our bodies all day long to provide relief and relaxation to others.  

At times, our own body's signs of fatigue go overlooked until we feel pain or discomfort.  Low back pain or tightness can really hinder our focus on clients and make our massage less than great.  

Why is your back hurting?

Improper table height

The first signs of back tightness may be because your table height is off.  When working with a table that is too low, it's easy to slouch or bend forward towards our work on the table instead of getting lower in our stance using legs.  

Always check your table height at the beginning of your day and make adjustments.  The rule of thumb for table height is when standing next to the table with a loose fist, your first knuckles should just brush the top of the table. 

Another possibility contributing to your low back pain is a weak or unengaged core.  

Weak core...

If you’re thinking of starting a new fitness regime, which all massage therapists should have, use these 10 tips for beginners to make sure that you reach your goals. 

 Keep It Simple

 Those people you see in the gym running for an hour or lifting heavy weights began somewhere just like you.  Remember it’s a lifestyle and change doesn’t come overnight.  The cool thing is your body can learn to do anything you train it for.  Want to build upper body strength so your neck doesn't hurt while doing massage?  Take it step by step and you will get stronger and those little aches will go away.  In order to avoid injury, make sure you familiarize yourself with the basics first.  This is a good time to hire a personal trainer to teach you how to use the machines, show you proper form and write you an appropriate workout plan tailored to your current fitness level.  Start off with some shorter sessions and then expand your...

Metabolism.  How to keep it at peak levels is what we all want to know.  Everyone would like the metabolism of their 18-year-old self.  Food didn’t seem to affect your body as much at that age.  You may have heard about special pills, supplements or diets that can amp up your metabolism but believe it or not; exercise is the golden ticket for boosting your metabolism. Think of your metabolism as a powerhouse that converts your food into energy and propels your body from one minute to the next without missing a beat.

Factors that affect your metabolism

Multiple factors may affect how well your metabolism operates. Let’s take a moment to examine a few of the things that may get in the way of our bodies functioning at optimal levels.

Age

Studies show that with age, our metabolism begins to decline. This change often leads to extra pounds that are difficult to shed. Along with that we lose anywhere from three to five percent of our muscle mass, and we...

That one piece of equipment to have at home.

If I had to pick one piece of exercise equipment everyone should have at home it's the Swiss ball.  Also known as the stability ball, exercise ball, or physio ball.  These big balls are filled with air and are usually sold burst resistant.  They are heavy duty and last forever.  They are versatile and because of the rounded nature of the ball your body's core muscles are called into action while stabilizing the ball during movements.  In other words you have to balance.

There are exercises for your lower body, upper body and core all without using anything but your body weight and the ball.  Plus I think the ball makes any exercise more fun.  I've been known to "play" at the gym and make up new ways to strengthen and stretch with the ball.  The possibilities are endless but I've put together a few to demonstrate here. 

Wall Squat

This exercise is good for learning squat form or strengthening...

Shorter workouts while still getting great results! 

What is HIIT?

High intensity interval training is in it's basic form a cardio session split into short bursts of very hard work.  The goal is to pick up the intensity and give it your all for a short time.  That's the good news.  It's hard but only for 30-90 second bursts.  It's work hard, rest, work hard, rest and repeat.  When you read the benefits you'll see the appeal.  

Why is HIIT good?

High intensity exercise boosts endurance, increases metabolism, regulates insulin levels, and burns fat.  It's a fast track to getting lean.   

HIIT is known for it's calorie burn long after the workout is over.  HIIT uses the body’s reserves of energy and, after a workout, metabolism stays elevated and continues to burn calories for hours after the workout. This is due to something called the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) effect. With HIIT, you not only...

I look at any massage therapist as an athlete.  Do you consider yourself one?  You spent months or years  learning how to provide massage services to clients.  You practiced body mechanics every day to train your body so you can use it for hours on end and not injure yourself.  This is what athletes do.  They train for their race, game or competition, getting their body in shape to perform successfully.  Massage therapists train for 20-30 clients a week.  Once there, massage athletes need to continue to train to avoid injury.  There are certain exercises that give you more bang for your buck.  Whether you enjoy exercise or not it is an important part of your self care.  Here are the best exercises that go a long way to keeping  massage therapists strong and injury free.  

Exercises

Planks

Planks are a favorite because not only do you build core strength, you build shoulders.  Massage work is very upper body...

These past few months (since mid- March) have been nothing short of weird, crazy, scary, and ultimately life changing.  Who ever imagined a world wide sweep of a virus would lead to stay at home orders.  WHAT?!  Stay home?  Overnight I became a home-school mom with an income that came to a screeching halt.  I do realize others have more serious health related risks associated with a new, incurable virus on the loose and I was merely inconvenienced with the home school part but however this pandemic has touched your life, it's a big deal for you.  It's a big deal for all of us.  Is there a silver lining?  I'm a cup half full person so here's one area where COVID-19 may be a blessing in disguise.   

While there are many massage therapists without income which leads to stress and a host of other problems, I couldn't help but notice the frequency of posts on social media commenting how their body needed a break and this "forced" break...