Learnin to Fly...........or walk

I love toddlers. Don't you? They crack me up.

You know how they're all sort of wobbly, just walking and super organic in their intentions. My favorite age is probably 2 or 3 years old. There is something about the sincere nature of their movement however unstable it may appear at times and the way in which they are starting to assert their independence and autonomy. I find them so much more interesting and trustworthy than say, an infant. I mean really what can infants do but eat, poop, sleep and cry. Plus, their little tiny neck never looks like it will withstand the weight of their giant head. I just don't trust them. And a 1 year old? Really? In that odd in between stage? Growing at a rapid rate? Weaning from mom? Having that separation anxiety and angst. No. Thank. You. I will take a toddler any day of the week. Not that they don't have their issues, but in the grand scheme of things they are issues that I feel more comfortable with.

I don't have children, well human children anyway. I have 2 dogs, 3 cats and a husband. The closest I've come to help raise a baby from infancy has been to work for a start-up.

I came to 5focus 2 years ago. I remember my first meeting with Laura and how impressed I was with the place. The Kinesis wall had not yet been installed, so I really could not conceptualize what it was. It sounded cool though and Laura seemed to know a lot. And to be honest it was cool stuff I wanted to know much more about. And hey! I wanted to help start a start-up! I can do this! What fun! Sign me up! Wow........okay, as I said before about an infant. You know, the neck being too small to hold up the weight of the head and all they do is eat, poop and cry? Well, that's how we felt. Once the Kinesis wall was installed and Laura and I had been trained on it we were on our own......Allrighteethen!

Hmmmm, soooo. That wall! Oh that wall. So big. And it just sat there, the weight of it and the potential felt crushing at first. Eventually we came up with a class format that we liked and then it was a matter of getting people in the door so we could share this amazing new training tool called Kinesis. Cue the crying, pooping and eating (not necessarily in that order). We tried everything, and we had a few early converts, Karen Weisser, Kathy Sheldon, Kevin and Britta Steele just to name a few. But seriously, we had a business to run.

We sent Jeff (yes, 6'5", 210 lbs. Jeff) up and down Westlake Ave. in a Banana costume, we set up tables at random events, we had workout parties, we trained our friends, our families, each other. I would plod in there and train one person every few days, go home and cry. Laura would stretch clients, try to keep my chin up and make herself a smoothie and Jeff would look at the bills piling up and poop. But alas, we were patient with the business model and our program. We figured, "build it and they will come."

Eventually our hard work started to pay off. People were trickling in the door, word was starting to get around and the few classes we did have on the schedule started to fill up. Hey, we were growing! But ouch. Why did I feel so uneasy and weird? Things were finally starting to turn the corner at 5focus and isn't that what I wanted? What was this anxiety and guilt I was feeling? Could it be that I was finally weaning myself from the bosom of the only other fitness facility I've ever worked for? In a word: Duh. I felt such a push and pull for a while and such a growth spurt that my knees and ankles actually hurt. I was trying to cover too much, trying to say yes to too many people, and not doing a very good job at any of it. I finally trusted this new place we were building and the people I was building it with and was able to let go of some things that had not been working for me for a long time. 5focus gave me the opportunity to do that and I am grateful.

So here we are, 2 whole years old! Much better for Kitty. Even better, we've been smart and fortuitous enough to finally be able to bring on an incredible crew of team members. We have the amazing facilitator/instructor in Whitney, the ever brilliant massage/stretch therapist extraordinaire Gary, core massage expert Claire, dietician wizard Carrie. Oh and the newest member of our instructor team, the one and only Jeff. Sure he wears a headband, thong leotard and sparkly tights, and too much eyeshadow ;) but his classes ROCK!

So, as we cruise on into our 3rd year we may be a little wobbly on our feet at times and we might even fall down once and a while. But we are nothing if not sincere and authentic in our intention to help each and every one of you reach your personal best in 2010. Thanks everyone!
Happy New Year!

What a Concept!

So, here's the deal. Like most people I have a few pet peeves. One for instance has to do with people standing directly in front of a weight stack and performing their exercises, thus making it impossible for anyone else to access a dumbell or two. That just bugs me.

A more agregious level of peevity (my word) would be the conceptual misuse of words. You know, things like "your going to get in trouble if you go threw that door." See the words aren't misspelled, they just are conceptually wrong. It hurts me that perfectly functional, red blooded Americans willfully abuse grammar and thus are never able to extract the desired result from their tortured attempt at communication.

The other night while I ruminated on a particularly tragic attempt at literacy with regard to a facebook status update, I had what Oprah refers to as an Ah Ha moment.

You see I am a fitness instructor. It is my job to see to it that individuals perform certain exercises, drills, movements, properly therefore reaping as many gains as possible. It doesn't peeve me when clients perform exercises "improperly" it just makes me sad. Everyone has the opportunity to glean the most out of every training session, but that requires one not just to listen to cues, but to hear them, internalize them and act on them...

Let's take the example of lateral flexion and extension of the torso with a load. If the torso or the core is where I'm trying to get my power and also the area I'm trying to target, the load does the most when it is close to the trunk (i.e. the Kinesis cable handle on the shoulder). Once the handle leaves the shoulder on the push the arm is simply following through. As the torso goes back toward the cable the handle just rests on the shoulder, it does not go down to the side. Why?

Well I'm glad you asked because that's where the conceptual thing comes back to play. You're not loading the bicep, you're loading the trunk! Yay! In fact the bicep has little to nothing to do with this exercise. It's about the C to the O to the R to the E. Remember that is the shoulder girdle, the hip girdle and everything in between. Always think of where your load is and what your force is. It's a concept that will allow you to garner the very most from your training sessions. Once you understand the concept, you will find that it just doesn't make sense to do things any other way. Okay, any questions? Let me hear them. In the meantime, Mary Mary and Happy Knew Year To! ( haha, just kidding;)

If The Mean guy From Star Wars Didn't Need To Scream Why does Your Trainer?

So, have I ever mentioned that I have never seen Star Wars. Not one. Not Luke's Last Stand, or Jedi Kingdom Something or other blah blah blah. I don't even know who Luke's father is. At the end of the day I do not enjoy science fiction. Part of the problem is that I spend half the time trying to figure out if the contraptions they have on set really work or where the guide wires are (or were pre green screen.) I couldn't even bring myself to enjoy the end of the original Willy Wonka alas spending all my energies trying to figure out if they made the chocolate river bed out of toilet paper roles or how they ever expected me to believe the miniatures they used for the part where they fly over the city (uh, my brother had a train set people.) But I digress. The point is, this new series V started tonight on t.v. (otherwise known as the device that babysits me and my husband after a long day of work.) I have no interest in this show V. From what I understand somebody clones something and then they eat it or whatever. The point is I made Toods(husband Todd) watch H R Puffnstuff or V or whatever in the bedroom and have found myself wandering around the t.v. stations in the living room. And guess what Coach Kitty found......
The Biggest Loser. That's what. And I am not happy.
That Jillian is not nice,and Bob has turned into a real diva. They seem to have succumbed to what I like to refer to as the Bull from Night Court syndrome wherein a once believeble character who was based in reality is, after one too many seasons reduced to a caricature beyond all recognition. Thus is the fate of Bob and Jillian or so I hope. I mean I hope this is not how they treat their clients or that people watch this show and are drawn to these kinds of abusive demeaning tactics. If you would not tolerate abusive behavior from anyone else in your life why would you accept it from a trainer? Ask yourself if you would allow anyone else to get an inch from your face and scream at you without punching them in the nose. I am not saying that trainers should sugar coat the truth and baby clients. Ask anyone who has trained with me and they will assure you nothing could be further from the truth with regard to my training philosophy. However, I like to employ a little thing I call the velvet hammer approach. A trainer can make their point without yelling and screaming. As a matter of fact didn't we all have that one teacher in high school who would stand at the front of the class silently with her arms folded until everyone got super uncomfortable and the room suddenly went silent which is exaclty what she wanted. The velvet hammer. A trainer should be able to make her point through example, correction, and well, a little bit of shame NOT SCREAMING AND YELLING! Got it?

One word. Kinesis.