Using special clips on your bicycle pedals and shoes for producing more power is a great way to increase efficiency while cycling. I always like to look at a complex motion in sports and break it down into components and perfect each part before putting it back together.

 The graphic below is the muscles used for an efficient pedal stroke, both pushing and pulling with clipless pedals. If you haven't yet switched to using clipless pedals for cycling, I recommend it! I use shimano SPD road and mountain versions. 

Core Strength and Endurance Class is back! 
April 15th - June 10th 
Bring a yoga mat or we supply you with one if needed. 

Where:  The Lewis Centre - 489 Old Island Highway
When: Wednesdays @ 1:00-1:30pm 
Cost: Free!
Register: Call the Lewis Centre  (250) 338-5371 to reserve or Drop-in on Wednesday!

We have all had that deadline to get something done on the computer that demanded our focus... but then we paid for it later. 
If you take a very short body break every 30 minutes you will negate many of the injuries that can show up with years of poor posture. 
I have previously talked about upper crossed syndrome, and this all ties together. 

Are you sitting down?
The modern analogy that sitting is the new smoking is described in this Runners World summary. It explains that from a study in Australia that the accumilated hours/days spent sitting at work and home will lower your lifetime by a significant amount - similar to what smoking will do. 

To me, this is a somewhat sensational approach to present the information. Sometimes it is unavoidable if your job involves a bit of sitting. It is what you do with your time away from sitting that is important. Can you walk to to the printer across the office? Can you park on the opposite end of the parking lot? Can you ride your bike to work?  All simple and all possible.  The other option is a stand-up desk - I recently purchased an affordable portable standing desk from Uncaged Ergonomics. 

My take home message is this; if you need to sit, try to work on good posture and take many body breaks!

You can get your ergonomics checked at Fit Chiropractic. Book in online here. 

FIT CHIROPRACTIC has taken the leap and expanded into a new clinic. The need to find a new location was realized when I couldn't keep up with the demand. To treat everyone right (including myself) I essentially needed a second treatment room, a proper waiting room and an office assistant!

Please join us for an Open House on
   Saturday, March 21st from 11am-2pm

• Healthy snacks
  
• Fun fitness activity 

526B - Cumberland Rd, Downtown Courtenay 
Right next to Kinaree Thai Restaurant and Pearl Cove Salon on the corner of 8th Street and Fitzgerald Ave.  

Shoulder pain and injury is common. Your shoulder is the most mobile of all your joints. A ball-and-socked joint there are no stabilizing bones attaching to your spine; it is a complex muscular girdle holding together a collection of ligaments. 

The reason for this system is to allow for maximum movement and has very small joint contact zone. This essentially means that your shoulder is quite unstable. That is why your shoulder and neck muscles are so vital to a normally functioning shoulder.

In most cases, if you are suffering shoulder pain it is because your muscles are simply not strong enough or they are uncoordinated.  The small rotator cuff muscles are often over-powered from the larger and strong muscles. Both of these dysfunctions can be normalised after a quality assessment and injury-specific exercises.

Often shoulder surgery is NOT NEEDED. Even if it was recommended as the first alternative. It is important to have an Active Release Technique (A.R.T.) certified therapist to do an assessment BEFORE surgery. 

Dr. Derek at Fit Chiropractic can localize the issue and conservatively treat the injury and avoid painful surgery if possible. Also, a rehab program to strengthen the tissue can be catered to each specific injury. 

 Breathless Legs? Consider Training Your Respiration
Compact, lightweight respiratory trainer for athletes that comes in two versions: GO for basic training and SMART for the more advanced, with a PC connection and software for sending training data to a computer. This makes it easy to monitor and keep track of your training on the computer. 

Respiratory Endurance Training improves performance and endurance capabilities in sports!
Respiratory muscles fatigue during sports activities. This leads to a decrease in performance. If the respiratory system is operating at full strength and capacity all the other muscles will perform at a higher efficiency. 

You don’t have to be an expert to figure out that consistency is pretty essential to successfully change things in your life. But it’s also pretty clear that building a consistent routine of regular exercise and healthy eating is not an easy thing to do.

You start off the day with the best intentions—to exercise, track all your food, and make healthy choices. But then life happens. One of the kids is sick, the babysitter is late, the windshield is frozen, the boss asks you to work overtime, or any one of a hundred other surprises that can really wreck your day. Before you know it, your plan is in trouble and your prospects for "sticking to it" aren’t looking very good. In fact, things are probably going to get worse as the day goes on. By the end of the day, you have no energy left for exercise, and the task of preparing a healthy meal feels like a big burden when what you really want is a break. Something has to give.

So how do you change this pattern? I use three rules to build consistency.

Rule #1: Build momentum one step at a time. 
It’s never easy to change old habits or start new routines. Studies show that it takes anywhere from 21 to 40 days to really turn a new behavior into a persistent habit. And during that time, you’re going to have to work at it pretty diligently—even when you don’t feel like it.

Start with something that’s pretty easy to manage and build momentum from there. Set a goal of one 7-minute core exercise session per week. Then increase it to two 7-minute sessions. Gradually add minutes to each workout (and eventually add one or more additional workouts to your week), until you're exercising as long and as frequently as you should in order to reach your goals.

Rule #2: Never tell yourself “I’m not motivated.” 
That’s not the real problem, unless you really don’t want to lose weight or live a healthy lifestyle. As long as you do want these things, you have all the motivation you need.

It may be true that sometimes you don’t want to exercise, or that you really want to stop and get fast food rather than cooking dinner. That’s understandable, but it doesn’t mean you’re not motivated. It just means that you want two different and opposing things, and you have to make a decision. Telling yourself that you lack motivation is just a way of denying that you really do have a choice. It makes the problem seem mysterious and out of your control, and it makes you feel less powerful than you really are, because you lack something (the motivation) you need. Not true!

Being consistent does not mean being perfect. (There are going to be days when you decide to do something other than stick to your exercise and diet routine, and that’s fine.) But becoming consistent does mean giving yourself the power to choose. 

Rule #3: Always have a plan B 
Because life is unpredictable and complicated, you need to have plan B ready—even before you actually need it. Plan B is an alternative way to stay consistent with your goals when your regular routine (or something else) doesn’t work out as planned. Obviously, you can’t foresee every single problem that might come up. But most of the time, the things that get in your way are things that happen fairly often—like kids getting sick, extra hours at work, or days when you just don’t feel very energetic. Those surprises won't throw you off track if you plan ahead. For example, have a friend or family member lined up to stay with your kids so you can make it to the gym; stock your freezer with some healthy meals when you're short on time; stash your exercise clothes at the office for a quick workout when you can't get away.

Put a little time into identifying the most common problems that disrupt your healthy routine, and plan (in advance) what you can do to handle these problems without sacrificing your diet and exercise routine. Then all you’ll have to do is put your plan B into action.

Following these three simple rules will help you overcome some common obstacles while building the momentum you need to stay consistent. At the very least, you’ll be able to take all those lemons that life hands you, and make some good (and diet-friendly) lemonade out of them.