COACH CYNDEE

For a very long time I was having pain in my heal after running and particularly I would have pain the day after running in the morning when I’d get up.   Sound familiar?  It was similar to plantar fasciitis but only painful in the heal mostly the outside of the heal.   I was also having tightness in my calf and being a massage therapist when I worked it I felt swelling in the posterior tibialis    and retinaculum tendon across the top of the ankle.   I had a lot if issues going on!  I would do a lot of things that would provide temporary relief but it always came back. It would get better if I stopped running but once I started running again I would have the pain.   I decided to go see Dr. Nick at Canyon Lake Neck and Back again. His Graston and ART provided some relief in the past.   This time he told me about a new laser they had and suggested that I give it a try it.   I was open to just about anything because I wanted to run pain fr...

In my last blog post I talked about question I get on a regular basis regarding personal training and weight loss.  I am also a Licensed Massage Therapist and I get lots of questions regarding massage so here are a few common questions I get:  What can I do for my lower back pain?  This is common because a lot people have nagging lower back pain that doesn't really go away. Often times people move a certain way and tweak their back and cause sever pain.  Some times clients have had diagnostic tests to determine if there is any serious problems.  In the case of bulging disks or degeneration of the disk, I can't fix that but I can provide relief from tight muscles around the area.  I typically tell people with this problem to make sure everything else around the area is strong and flexible.  If you work on strengthening your body and keeping it flexible it's likely to help the problem and help you manage your pain.  So you can do the strengtheni...

I get random questions about fitness and massage all the time.  I could write a blog post about each topic but I've provided just a little information about each question I get asked.  Here is a few of the most common questions that I get asked all the time.   Fitness/Weight Loss Related Questions: How can I lose fat around my belly/arms or any specific area?   This is not a simple question to answer and when people ask it they are typically looking for me to respond with a super quick answer.  You can't target one area to reduce weight because when someone loses weight it just comes off however the body decides it wants to lose it.  The arms are tricky because women in general always ask how to get rid of the flabby skin on the tricep area.  Unfortunately you can't get rid of this either and especially if you're older and have already lost some weight it's just extra skin so without surgery to cut it off its not going anywhere.  Y...

 As a trainer people always tell me how they are eating and they don't know why they aren't losing weight.  Once I dig a little deeper by asking more questions they quickly realize when they are answering my questions what their problem might be.  Many people don't realize how much they are really eating.  Once you take the time to log your food in a calorie counting app for a few days you'll quickly realize you might be eating too much.  You probably didn't even realize those few chips you had the other day were 200 calories!  Or the few handfuls of almonds you had were 500 calories!  Not to say almonds aren't healthy but they are high in calories.  Things that could be sabotaging  your health and fitness goals are:  Eating portions that are too large. Eating processed foods instead of fresh foods. Not being prepared - grabbing things at last minute because you haven't gone to the store or meal prepped.  Not eating enough f...

Are you that person that ALWAYS gets sick in the fall and spring?  Do you simply expect it will happen and have accepted it?  I refuse to accept the fact that fall and spring have to come with a cold or flu.  I don't rely on the flu shot and I rarely get sick.  I'm not saying people shouldn't get the flu shot but I am saying it's not for me.  As a massage therapist and personal trainer I come into close contact with people and germs everyday.  I am an athlete so I also run myself down and probably do more than I should between work and working out.  There are so many things you can do to protect yourself from getting sick.  I take vitamins regularly and some I take seasonally.  My daily vitamins include the following:  A general multiple vitamin Mezotrace multi-mineral Now PQQ Energy - Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (pqq), CoQ10 and B12 Iron - being vegan I need extra iron Zyflammend by New Chapter Vitamin D and K2 doTerra Acidophi...

This year I haven't done much racing and it's been kind of nice just running and enjoying myself.  I did Two Oceans Ultra Marathon in South Africa in April.  For fun weekend getaway I signed up for a trail 50k in Lake Tahoe.  I am not much of a trail runner but I looked at race photo's and this didn't look like it was very technical.  Looks can be very deceiving because I did it last weekend and it was extremely technical.  A few months prior to the race I had a pretty bad fall on a trail and gashed my hand pretty bad.  Since I am a massage therapist it put me out of work for about a week.  I decided to stay away from trails and just run the road but still wanted to do the race in Tahoe.  I figured I had the fitness and if the trails were easy I would be OK . I trained on roads before for a 50 miler in San Francisco that was on mostly gravel trails.  This run in Tahoe turned out to have very technical trails with lots and lots of climbing a...

As a massage therapist I have several tools that I use on myself after workouts and between workouts that help with recovery, injury prevention and help healing injuries.  There are so many tools you can use on yourself to help with recovery.   Some can be used for injuries and some can be used as a preventative. Some can even be used before workouts as part of a warm up.  Gua sha - Gua sha is the practice of using a tool to apply pressure and scrape the skin to relieve pain and tension. The name gua sha — pronounced gwahshah — comes from the Chinese word for scraping.  I have several Gua sha tools but the one I use the most is the Jade.  It's great because its small, not too painful and inexpensive.  You need to use a little bit of lubricant when using this.  I use it mostly on my foot and ankle when I start to get a little bit of pain from running.  I don't wait until anything gets really bad and I start using it at the first sign of any p...