About Personal Training

Personal Training / Corrective Exercise Strategies

What is different about training at Sydney Myotherapy?

I'm passionate about - health and living a pain free abundant lifestyle. I think health and fitness is much simpler than we make it sometimes. Health is the end goal, because without abundant health, nothing else is possible. I have a hierarchy of priorities that I follow in my training and I want other people to know the strength, happiness, and freedom that comes with improving these 5 prioritie .

I want to reach people who are desperate for an alternative method to health and wellness, those that wish to prevent health problems, not treat them as they come up; those who want to PREhabilitate their bodies, not rehabilitate themselves; those that want to question conventional wisdom instead of blindly following the latest trend in fitness .The heirarchy of priorities:

Mobility
Flexibility
Strength
Functionality
Physique
Health

Mobility

I have seen joint mobility exercises prescribed as a method of rehabilitation, pre-habilitation, workout warmups, and a means of athletic enhancement. It has even been referred to as the fountain of youth.

As we grow older, and stop moving around as much, our body actually forgets how to move. The good news is that this process is completely reversible through highly-accessible, low tech, and easy to implement joint mobility exercises. Movement is one of the first, integral steps to any physical goal. Having full, healthy range of motion at each joint is imperative to staying injury-free and maximizing our performance in recreation and life, in general.

Joint mobility exercises involve moving each joint through its full range of motion. Some people do this naturally everyday, oftentimes tilting the head left and right or rolling it in a circle to relieve tension. We begin with linear movements such as forwards/backwards, and left/right. Eventually, we can graduate into circles and more complex movement patterns. These exercises involve reaching to the fullest range of motion possible, without moving through tension. It may resemble a form of standing yoga, stretching, or tai-chi, but joint mobility is in its own class and not dependent upon old traditions - it is fully supported by the latest research and science of the West as well as the ancient art and practice of the Eastern traditions.

Joint mobility exercise acts as a foundational technique to increase range of motion and restore lost movement patterns, but the benefits don't stop at increasing range of motion. There are a host of benefits waiting to be explored including restoring health at each joint in your body by washing them with synovial fluid (joint lubrication). Prior to adolescence, our body would automatically feed our joints with nutrition. After puberty, the body stops doing this, and the only nutrition that our joints receive is that which we feed it through movement. So, if we don't move through a full range of motion at each joint, we are literally starving our joints

Flexibility

Flexibility is commonly described as the range of movement , or motion , around a particular joint or set of joints . Or in laymans terms , how far we can reach bend or turn . Tight , stiff muscles limit our range of movement , interfere with proper muscle action and can even effect restrict blood circulation. If the muscles cannot contract and relax efficiently , this will result in decreased performance and a lack of muscle movement control . Short tight muscles also cause a loss of strength and power during physical activity.

Clients with the symptoms above are classified as being hypomobile and the best thing for joints and muscles that have restrictions to their range of movement is stretching. On the other end of the continuum is hypermobility of the joint and muscles of the region that is not balanced with sufficient strength. This is why we undertake a personal flexibility assessment when commencing personal training . When indicated both partner assisted and unassisted streching exercises are shown and taught to clients, so they can undertake these techniques at home.

Strength and Functionality

At Sydney Myotherapy we train our clients bodies for real world applications to become stronger, to endure longer, to function with increased coordination, to become more flexible and to be more resilient by focusing on performing practical, “functional” movements.

Functional training provides better muscular balance and joint stability , reducing number of injuries sustained and increasing performance . The benefits arise from two main reasons ;

1 Multidirectional ( Multiplanar ) Movement

-the use of training that emphasizes the bodies natural ability to move in three anatomical planes of motion . We live and play in a 360 degree environment , therefore we should be prepared for such an environment . Machines seen in gymnasiums restrict movements to a single plane of motion , which is an unnatural form of movement for the body and may potentially lead to faulty movement patterns or injury .

2 Muscular Integration

Functional training teaching all muscle to work together rather than isolating them to work independantly . In functional fitness, most of the time, you should be standing on your own two feet and supporting your own weight when you lift anything . Conventional weight training isolates muscle groups and doesnt teach the muscle groups your isolating to work together .

When training at Sydney Myotherapy exercise studio , a variety of exercises that work on flexibility , core activation , balance , strength and power are used . The exercises are multiplanar and integrate muscular chains necessary for joint stability and muscular balance .

Equipment available in the gym is the best available from Australia and the USA and includes;

Dumbells	Barbells and free weights
Swiss balls and Bosu	Olympic Lifting Platform
Spin Bike	Power rack
Medicine balls	Powertower
Cable machines	Assisted chin / dip machine
Resistance tubes and bands	Power Wheel
Plyo rebounder	Olympic Rings

Physique and Health

I know that taking personal responsibility for everything in your life is the first step to positive change, especially when it comes to your physique and espescially your health .

My general advice:

eat mostly fresh, natural, organic, and unprocessed food. If a food package has advertising trying to convince you that it's healthy, don't eat it.
eat a balanced variety of essential fats, lots of vegetables, and lean protein from red meats, poultry, and fish.
get daily physical activity - whether it's at the gym, at home, or a jaunt through the woods, it all adds up
going outside is better than staying inside - it's the best medicine there is!
get plenty of quality sleep (I aim for a minimum of 7 hours)
drink plenty of water and tea, no soda or sweetened drinks, and alcohol only on special occasions and never to excess
make time for having fun and playing games
take responsibility for yourself and your life in every moment.