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With Coach Kennedy

Warmer weather is around the corner and so are all the outdoor summer activities like golf, tennis, jogging (not that the weather has ever stopped a die-hard runner!)l, soccer, and the list goes on. These activities offer countless health benefits: lowered heart rate; lowered blood pressure; reduced stress; improved muscle function; improved endurance; helps to increase and maintain mobility, flexibility and coordination; works on various energy systems to help make your game easier; and helps with the release of various hormones that make you feel GREAT! These benefits are all key contributors to your longevity, as well as your quality of life.

One of the key contributors to injuries is how we move based on our training and our training outcome. Here’s what I mean: if I train like an athlete expecting to look like a body builder, or vice versa, then I’m in trouble. The point here is, that one way of preventing injury would be to, at the very least, mimic some of the movements in training that are required to perform any of the activities I mentioned above. If you train in a linear fashion all the time and then suddenly move through a different plane – say transverse – this is an injury waiting to happen simply because that tissue has become strong in the specific plane or direction you’ve trained. Davis’s Law states: soft tissue heals according to the way it is mechanically stressed. Therefore, any quick directional change would be a cause for concern.

This leads me to the Movement of the Month, the Advanced Toner Shuffle with 180-degree Rotary Switch. This is a great exercise to help coordinate movement from the foot up to the hips, through the trunk, shoulders, and finally expressed through the hands, all the while moving in all planes of motion in a rotary fashion, through triple flexion and extension. This is KEY in performing any of the movements I mentioned earlier (golf, tennis, running etc.). Remember to apply the exercise based on your clients’ fitness level. In other words, regress and progress as required. Not sure how? Reach out anytime by contacting me at any of the places below in my bio.

Exercise Execution:

Begin by having your client set up in an athletic stance – feet approximately hip width apart, knees slightly flexed, CORE braced, long spine, shoulders set, arms out in front with a slight bend in their elbows, while holding onto a COREFX Advanced Toner anchored to their left at approximately shoulder height.

SAFETY NOTE: please make sure that the Advanced Toner is securely fastened.

Phase #1: Take 3-4 shuffle steps towards your right then as you come to a stop rotate the left hip out towards the right side, let the left foot follow as well, then the torso and arms and follow through with the advanced toner (think golf swing / baseball swing / 2 handed tennis swing).

Phase #2: Reverse your follow-through to bring the arms back to the midline of the body then rotate 180 degrees, repeat the swing-through portion to your left, return arms to midline center once again, and shuffle back to the start position and repeat.

Questions? Contact Coach Kennedy at kennedy@coachkennedyonline.ca

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Coach Kennedy (Kennedy Lodato) is a 27-year veteran of the fitness industry with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for teaching and running his CK Mentorships, CK Private Coaching sessions, and Fitness Educator of LIVE education to the fitness industry.

Before pursuing the role of Fitness Educator, he occupied the positions of Personal Trainer, Sport Conditioning Coach, and Personal Training Manager. Kennedy is a three-time recipient of the canfitpro PRO TRAINER of the year award, co-founder of the CFEA (Canadian Fitness Education Alliance), and master instructor for various industry companies including canfitpro and EBFA Global (Evidence Based Fitness Academy). For more information visit  www.KennedyLodato.com