Healthy HIT Pilates Lucan
Are you looking to get fit and healthy and looking for a New challenge? at ServiceYourBody.ie we have great New class... Healthy HIT Pilates Lucan program.
This is the perfect class if you are looking for another weekly training session that will enhance your sports performance and help prevent injury!!
This new Healthy HIT Pilates Lucan program is an all round fitness program, that gives you the amazing aerobic benefits of High Intensity Training with a Pilates focus on core, precision and control.
The programme includes 6 x 40 minute classes and on-going testing so you can keep track of your improving fitness.
Classes take place in our studio on Wednesday evenings 6:45pm - 7:30pm, you can book your class through our Booking Page.
HIT (High Intensity Training) is a fantastic concept, however many people completing HIT programs have poor technique and work to a level that their bodies may not be capable of.
The Healthy HIT Pilates Lucan programme has been deigned to ensure that the same benefits of the HIT physiology are achieved but with correct form, function and ensuring you stay Injury Free.
The Healthy HIT Pilates Lucan programme is on its way to changing the face of Pilates! Book your class NOW!
Beginner Pilates Classes Lucan
We have a number of Beginner Body Maintenance Classes running during the week. These beginner Pilates classes are a great way to experience Pilates for the first time, understand the main principles of Pilates, and see how Pilates can help make you stronger and prevent injury and pain.
Who is this class suitable for?
This Beginner Pilates class is suitable for those of you who have never done Pilates before and are curious about how it could help you.
What is Pilates?
Pilates is a dynamic form of exercise, that conditions and specifically targets your deep core muscles. Good core stability and strength is essential in developing Injury Free and Pain Free bodies.
Our Body Maintenance classes combine Pilates, Mobility and Flexibility techniques to improve your overall strength and maintain your body in great working order.
Do you run other classes & do I need to book?
You can look at our full weekly online class schedule. To do this simply click this link to view it and to book your place. If however you would prefer to drop-in to any of our classes that is also possible. We offer full class passes for when you book classes in bulk as well as drop-in rates all of which can be found via that link.
Who teaches the class?
All our Pilates instructors are Physical Therapists and we cater for all levels from the complete Beginner to Advanced.
Good Core Strength and Improving your Swimming with ServiceYourBody.ie
Core Strength is all the rage at the minute and we are going to talk about Good Core Strength and Improving your Swimming with ServiceYourBody.ie. Most of you know it is important to have good core strength to help prevent injury and improve sports performance.
Unfortunately while you probably have good strength from all the training you do, you need to know how to engage your core and utilise the strength effectively. I know from my own swimming classes I am told that a good swim stroke technique must be fluid and relaxed, with your arm and kicking action also being nice and relaxed.
However, this is where this ends, I find engaging my core helps to stablise my swim stroke, improve my body alignment in the water, and connect my arms and kick to develop a better technique.
Simply by lightly drawing your belly button in will engage your core more, and by activating (squeezing) your glutes a little will help improve the strength of your kick. Squeezing the glutes will also help the alignment of your legs in the water, keeping them higher so as they are not weighing you down.
It is important to only activate core and glutes lightly and this takes practice, it is also a lot more tiring so you need to build up your core endurance so this becomes your bodies natural position when swimming.
One simple exercise to try is a front plank, keeping shoulders tucked back and down, curl your toes under you, stay relaxed through shoulders and draw your belly button in slightly so as you feel your core engaging, squeeze your glutes and lift your hips off the floor so as your back is flat and hips are level.
If you are not able to do this or can’t hold this position for any length of time, we would recommend attending some of our Body Maintenance classes.
You may find it challenging to learn to engage the core, at ServiceYourBody.ie we run Body Maintenance classes that are mix of Pilates, Mobility and Flexibility. The classes are designed to build core strength and endurance, you will also learn to tune into your body so as you can activate and draw on your core strength.
In addition to helping you develop great core strength, the classes will also improve your overall posture, balance and strength. Please conact us at ServiceYourBody.ie Lucan if you wish to book in for a class.
ServiceYourBody.ie We are Expanding and Rebranding
As you may be aware Range of Motion Physical Therapy is re branding as ServiceYourBody.ie with a view to focusing on educating our clients on the importance of maintaining your body in good working order to help prevent injury.
We are delighted to announce that we have leased the unit next door to our physical therapy clinic at Gandon Mews (Image above). We will be renovating the unit to create a modern, warm and welcoming studio, which will enable us to offer our clients a full timetable of classes throughout the week.
As part of our injury prevention services we are introducing a number of classes to help to target and improve Core Strength, Flexibility and Mobility. Classes will be suitable for all levels with specialist classes for Over 55's / HIIT classes etc
We will also be running specialist workshops around Nutrition, Injury Prevention, Training Tips and lots of other interesting topics, let us know if there is a topic you would like to learn more about. Keep on eye on our Facebook page for updates and information.
We are planning to have an open day and relaunch of our clinic and studio in September with a full timetable of classes available to clients from September.
Watch this space for more exciting updates...
Sports Injury Prevention Tips for Beginners
A client asked us at ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Lucan, how they can stay Injury free when training, this gave us an idea for this blog, Sports Injury Prevention Tips for Beginners. We looked at a few general topics that apply to any training you might be thinking of starting, sports injury prevention tips can be applied whether you are starting to go to the gym or run.
Picking the wrong training plan
There are hundreds of training plans available on the offer, but none of them are tailored to your needs. Make sure to do your research, talk to an expert/coach/personal trainer and make sure you pick a realistic and achievable plan. It’s important that you build your training slowly, be patient and set realistic goals and targets.
Over-training
It is common for people to be over excited when they start a new training plan or exercise programme, thinking the harder they train the quicker they will reach their target. This is the opposite, it is important to build your training at a steady pace, building in rest and recovery time.
For example when running there is a 10% rule which states that you shouldn't increase your weekly long run by more than 10% a week, and definitely do not increase speed and distance in the same session.
Sports Injury Prevention
To help avoid sports injury it is important to have a balanced training plan that includes Mobility / Stretching and Core Strength. It is important to build in mobility and stretching session both during and after your training sessions. At ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Lucan we run Core strength and Pilates classes which build in flexibility and mobility.
We have attached a video that takes you through a good mobility session which can be done a couple of times a week. It is important to ensure the muscles and tendons are kept supple so as you do not strain a muscle during exercise. It is also important to keep joints and ligaments loose to ensure good joint flexibility and mobility.
Check out our short series of videos that help with Core Strength, Mobility and Flexibility which will enhance your training and sports injury prevent ion.
Listen to Your Body
As well as over training there is always the chance you will injury yourself. When taking on something new the body needs time to adjust and adapt to the new exercise regime or plan. A new exercise plan or regime will result in aches and pains during your training, these can be worked through with rest, but a niggling injury that prevents you or stops your training must not be ignored. A problem with a joint or ligament won’t simply go away. Ice, rest and treatment of the sports injury maybe required, an important part of training is learning to listen to your body.
Quality not Quantity
Another common mistake involves a training schedule that focuses on volume and has you doing the same activity for 6 days a week. It is important to look at your plan and build in a variety of sessions e.g. Day 1: Weights / Day 2: Cardio / Day 3: Rest / Day 4: Core Strength / Day 5: Interval Training / Day 6: Rest / Day 7: Endurance.
Nutrition not Diet
There are hundreds of diet plans and so much nutritional advice on line it becomes very confusing. Depending on your goals and target, the easiest rules to stick to are, eat a balanced diet of Carbs and Protein, Eat within 30 min of exercise, avoid processed foods and sugar, drink 2lts of water a day. It is best to look at nutrition as a lifestyle not a diet, get some expert advice and do your research as nutrition will be different for everyone based on metabolism and what your training goals are.
Ignoring rest and recovery
Rest and recovery are an essential part of any training plan, your body repairs the damage to the muscles when it is resting. There are two ways to look at rest and recovery, short term and long term.
Short term is where you need to allow 24hrs rest before working that part of the body again, e.g. Strength train one day, cardio the next day and go back to strengthen the following day.
Long term is where you build in days off into your weekly schedule and easy training weeks or weeks off into your annual schedule.
If you wish to learn more about injury prevention training contact us.
Calf Strain Treatment
At ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Clinic Lucan we have had a number clients presenting with a calf strain in the past few weeks, with this in mind I decided to write a guide on how to manage a calf strain.
The calf is made up of two main muscles in the lower leg: gastrocnemius or soleus, these are strained when they are stretched beyond their ability to withstand the tension. This strain can result in small tears to the muscle fibers or, in a severe injury, a complete rupture of the muscle fibers. There may also be bruising and swelling of the lower leg.
A calf strain can happen as a result of sudden acceleration or change of direction while running.
Calf strains are typically graded as follows:
Grade 1 Calf Strain: The muscle is stretched causing some small tears in the muscle fibers. Full recovery takes approximately two weeks.
Grade 2 Calf Strain: There is partial tearing of muscle fibers. Full recovery takes approximately 5-8 weeks.
Grade 3 Calf Strain: This is the most severe calf strain with a complete tearing or rupture of muscle fibers in the lower leg. Full recovery can take 3-4 months and, in some instances, surgery may be needed.
Calf Strain Treatment:
The first treatment is R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, elevation). Wrap the calf and keep it elevated for the first 24 hours to reduce swelling. Ice the calf for 2 mins then remove the ice for 2 mins, repeat in blocks of 20 mins.
Typical rehab for a calf strain depends upon the severity of the injury, and includes the following.
Rest the Muscle. Avoid impact activities that cause pain and excessive stretching (no running, jumping, or weightlifting). Do not return to your sport until you are pain-free.
Dry needling can be very effective in speeding up recovery by increasing blood flow to the muscle to repair the tear.
Massage also helps realign muscle fibers, breakdown scar tissue and speed up repair of damaged muscle fibers.
Strengthen the Muscle: When the acute pain has eased you can start strength exercises for the muscle, some early stage exercises include thera band exercises i.e. wrap exercise band around your toes and press foot away against resistance and then slowly return to the start position. Do 10 reps, rest and repeat 5 to 10 times.
Over time you can progress to the Calf Raise Exercise both double and single leg raises. These should be followed by gentle stretching. As the calf strength improves you can add in some plyo exercises to increase load in the calf e.g. Hoping, Skipping, Lunging and Squats.
If you wish to return to running it is important to ease your way back into running so as not to re injury the muscle, while also allowing the muscle to adapt and change to the extra load. A good program to follow is a walk/run program e.g. 2min Walk followed by 2min Run and slowly increase the run time over a number of weeks.
As you get back into regular training it is important to include regular stretching and flexibility program to gain range of motion and prevent future calf injury. A Foam Roller is a great tool to use to perform self-massage to reduce scar tissue formation and improve blood flow to the area.
ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Clinic Lucan goal of rehab is to return our clients to normal activity as quickly as possible without any long-term effects. If you return too soon, you risk developing a chronic injury. Keep in mind that everyone recovers at a different rate, and your rehab needs to build over time so you don’t re injure yourself. Patience is key to rehabing a calf strain injury.
Full Body Maintenance & Injury Prevention Series
At ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Clinic Lucan we have created a range of Body Maintenance and Mobility videos, they are short demonstration videos using Pilates and Mobility exercises to target Abs, Glutes, Upper body and Shoulders. Included in the series is an injury prevention mobility video focusing on Hips, Back and Shoulders.
The videos can help reduce the risk of sports injury, strengthen core muscles and reduce postural aches and pains.
Check out the videos below and try each of them, you can rotate them through-out the week giving you a full body maintenance and injury prevention workout.
Abdominal Series: Uses a variety of core exercises to target the abdominal muscles to help with core strength and activation.
https://youtu.be/8Q_Oql-NEos
Glute Series: The glute series targets hips and specifically glutes, great for any of you that run or cycle, strong glutes helps to protect against knee, leg and hip injuries.
https://youtu.be/gE3zs3EYvS0
Upper Body & Shoulders: This series assists with upper body posture. If you are an office worker and spending hours at your desk this series will work upper body postural muscles and shoulders to prevent postural aches and pains.
https://youtu.be/bVclkqDuR_A
Full Body Mobility: This video is a combination of mobility exercises and streteches that can be used either as a warm up or cool down after a training session. The exercises are designed to help increase hip, back and shoulder mobility to help reduce the risk of injury or postural related aches and pain.
https://youtu.be/CAlXz2Vb37g
Please contact us at ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Clinic Lucan if you would like to learn more or attend one of our classes.
Injury Prevention Screening and Sports Massage Offer
Are you embarking on a season of Triathlon or Training for an up-coming Marathon?
Are you worried about Sports Injuries and Over-use injuries?
We are offering a 5 month program which includes an Injury Prevention Screening and a 30 min Body Maintenance Sports Massage
Boost your performance by maintaining your body in good working withServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Clinic
order through our Injury Prevention Screening and Body Maintenance Sports Massage offer
5 x 60 min FMS & Sport Massage Session for ONLY €200 (20% Discount)
Movement: Movement quality is essential to reducing your risk of injury and reaching optimal levels of performance.
Systematic Approach: A recognised screening system of your movement to provide an effective program of corrective exercises.
Exercises: A 5 month program of tailored corrective exercises to address any Movement or Strength issues that arose during your screening.
Relieves muscle tension
Improves flexibility and mobility
Improves Performance
Prevents Injury
Increases blood flow and healing
Breakdowns scar tissue
Removes waste products
Stimulates the nervous system
Simply contact us ServiceYourBody.ie Physical Therapy Clinic Lucan to book your Injury Prevention Screening and Body Maintenance Sports Massage in April, you will also be given your first tailored corrective exercise.
We will then book the remaining sessions from month to month till August.
During each of these sessions you will be given your follow up Corrective Exercise and 30 min Sports Massages.
Contact us to book your Injury Prevention Screening and Body Maintenance Sports Massage offer 086 8318931
We are Re-branding!!
Are you constantly being Injured and in Pain?
Would you like to break this cycle?
We help our clients maintain their bodies in good working order...
Injury is a sure-sign of overextending the body, resulting in a breakdown that could have been avoided through good body maintenance.
Why wait until it is to late and you are in pain? Maintain your body with us, and feel the benefits of a well-tuned, healthy body!
Over the past 5 years we have seen a pattern were our clients come to us when they are in pan. We are constantly trying to encourage clients to maintain their body's in good working by having it serviced regularly.
With this in mind we have re-branded asServiceYourBody.ie and developed a maintenance program that fuses 3 different elements (Core Strengthening, Mobility and Flexibility) into One Dynamic program to create a highly effective body maintenance.
Our maintenance program incorporates classes that develop great Core Strength, Flexibility and Mobility. The program is designed to work for everyone, whether you are training to a high level or just trying to stay pain free from having to sit at their desks for 8 hours a day.
At ServiceYourBody.ie we can ensure you a Pain and Injury Free Body through our combined services of Injury Treatment and Injury Prevention Body Maintenance Programs.
If you are unlucky enough to be injured or suffer from pain, we will be here as always to help resolve your pain and work together to get you back to your pain free state.
Get yourself down to us today for your body's well over due service, and start your body maintenance program.
Our Body Maintenance Services and Programs will help improve core strength, joint mobility and flexibility, the key elements to Injury Prevention.
Contact us today to Service Your Body 086 8318931
Stress and Tension Relief through Exercise
We put together this blog on "Stress and Tension Relief through Exercise", in this blog we explain what stress is, how it impacts the body and what you can do to help Stress and Tension relief through exercise.
We have also included videos with simple stretches you can do at your desk and a longer relaxation exercise video you can do at home, a couple of times a week.
A 2014 study on absenteeism by the Small Firms Association found that absenteeism cost small businesses over €500 million a year.
It found that 4,052,222 days were lost last year of which 21% were due to Anxiety/ Depression (14%) and Stress (7%)
What is Stress?
Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response.
The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses.
Stress is a normal part of life. Many events that happen to us and around us put stress on our body.
You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts.
Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger. Fight or Flight!!!
Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked and stress-related tension builds.
Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress. Distress can lead to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping.
Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try to relieve their stress. these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems.
Stress and Tension Relief through Exercise:
the body produces Adraline and Cortisol when under stress, the body then must use up these hormones to regulate the hormones in the body, this can be done through exercise. If these hormones remain in the body due to lack of activity it can lead to a build up of stress and muscle tension. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to manage these hormones. Walking is a great way to get started and stretching can also relieve muscle tension. Everyday activities such as housecleaning or gardening can reduce stress. Any exercise helps to reduce adrenaline and cortisol from the body which will not happen sitting at your desk.
Benefits of Exercise on Stress:
- Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.
- Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators.
- Exercise and sports also provide opportunities to get away from it all and to either enjoy some solitude or to make friends and build networks
- Regular physical activity will lower your blood pressure, improve your cholesterol, and reduce your blood sugar.
- Exercise cuts the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, colon and breast cancers, osteoporosis and fractures, obesity, depression, and even dementia (memory loss). Exercise slows the aging process, increases energy, and prolongs life.
10 min Desk Stretch:
http://youtu.be/-HC46hj2cBQ
20 min Relaxation and Stretch session:
http://youtu.be/2gZzU1vbYEE
Other ways to Avoid Stress
Stress is a part of life, and you can't always avoid it. But you can try to avoid situations that can cause it, and you can control how you respond to it.
Manage your time: find the time for more of the things you want and need to do. Managing your time can make your life easier, less stressful, and more meaningful.
Look at your lifestyle: Find a balance between personal, work, and family needs.
Get enough sleep: Your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping.
Adopt healthy habits: Eat a healthy diet, limit how much alcohol you drink, and don't smoke. Staying healthy is your best defence against stress.