CoreFit » sports performance

Fit Your Feet

Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:46:33 +0000

The correct shoe can mean the greatest training and competitive season you’ve ever had and a poorly fit shoe can derail your progress and sideline you. As we age, without the correct anatomical support, the bones in your foot can collapse under the weight of gravity from all the added high impact exercise we sustain to stay healthy. Fortunately for all us runners, there’s a simple way to analyze your gait and you don’t even have to rely on the “experts” at Fleet Feet. Personally, every time I purchase a pair of shoes at Fleet Feet, I get a different diagnosis. One of my all time favorite running shoe companies, Mizuno, provides a precision online fit assessment and then recommends a specific model to try out. You can opt to buy their brand or search elsewhere with the info you attain from the fit assessment. I personally love Mizuno. The lightweight feel of their shoes coupled with the quality and ability to keep up with my training is why I go back to them again and again.

Here are the different elements of the test:

Apps Are So Out

Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:44:19 +0000

I know, I know… Apps are the next “It” thing if you are in business. But I am proposing that you NOT carry your cell phone everywhere you go. And hey, especially when you are exercising. Because, if anything, exercise is your hour to yourself everyday. And it should be peaceful and quiet and you shouldn’t have emails buzzing and text messages being sent and you shouldn’t be looking at yet another florescent screen just to follow an exercise routine. No, I’m thinking all you need is your eyes, your ears, your heart, your arms and legs to carry out the most physical part of your day. Forget technology, get in touch with something even more intelligent and complex–your body.

So I’m developing a CoreFit Deck that you can take with you. Get the first of these workouts here and print out so you can just grab them and go to the gym. In fact, why not just take a few in your gym back so all you have to do is follow the pictures and do the routine. Simple. And it won’t even show up on your data usage.

Plastics Chemical Tied to Increased Blood Pressure

Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:44:02 +0000

By Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD

There’s a new blood pressure trigger in town, folks.

Thought if you exercised and ate right you could prevent heart disease? Turns out research is piling up against more chemicals found in plastics. The latest study adds further credence to a growing concern that plastic chemicals not only throw off hormones and cause obesity but also cause oxidative stress internally on major organs within the body.

Researchers from New York University’s Langone Medical Center, the University of Washington, and the Penn State School of Medicine recently made a first-of-its kind connection between phthalates, a common chemical used to soften plastic, and higher blood pressure in children and teens. The study appeared in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Similarly, BPA has been shown to trigger abnormal heart rhythms.

9 Ways to Dodge Phthalates (DEHP):

The Heart Loves Yoga

Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:48:16 +0000

Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation

The first ever yoga study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found yoga to be a safe, effective and relatively cheap therapy for improving the lives of heart patients.

The study conducted by The University of Kansas Hospital found that,

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60 Second Healthy MicroWork

Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:30:37 +0000

Sometimes getting healthy means making a major time investment at the gym or eating really healthy for a month straight. But sometimes you can make bigger broader strides by making small changes. I call this MicroWork. Check out my own personal set of MicroWork; 18 little opportunities a day to make a change.

MicroWork

Studies have shown changing small habits can help you achieve your goals faster. You should have a long term goal and small short term goals, with sets of habits you can change and check off. These ground rules have a lasting impact on your overall success in any future goals too.

When	The Change	The Benefit
When you get out of bed	Stand up and stretch your hamstrings for 30 sec	27% increase in flexibility in 6 weeks
Before you brush your teeth	Take a baby aspirin	20% reduced risk of breast cancer in women who take one a day
At breakfast	Take a daily vitamin	19% reduced risk of getting sick. When you take daily vitamins, you support your immune system
At the office	Walk to talk to your co-workers, instead of emailing	More than 1lb of weight lost per year by taking an extra 4-5k steps per day
With every meal	Drink ice water	1lb lost every 8 weeks Give Me That Competitive Love Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:26:54 +0000 Could the future of athletic sports performance be judged by Oxytocin production? Imagine NFL drafts based around hormone production and neuropeptide activity in the brain. We felt it yesterday afternoon. That urge to high five the guy sitting next to you as the Bears defeated the Vikings. That chemical reaction in our brain–that Oxytocin surge–is responsible for feeling the bond between teammates, players and even fans. Now imagine a draft pick based on Oxytocin production–a team with higher production levels is going to be a better performing team…? Oxytocin is a unique chemical produced by our pituitary and released in our brain. It evokes feelings of contentment, reductions in anxiety, and feelings of calmness and security around the mate.^[23] Many studies have already shown a correlation of oxytocin with human bonding, increases in trust, and decreases in fear. It is no wonder that more and more health professionals have begun to acknowledge the correlation between Oxytocin production and performance in athletes. Recently a study in The Scientific World Journal