Baseline Health™ will be opening as a new multi-disciplinary medical centre in the Dundarave community this coming June.  Rather than throwing an opening party, owner Dr. Carla Cupido, has decided instead to host a charity event at The Beach House Restaurant in West Vancouver.  On July 15^th, 2011 we will be joining together as a community to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Camp Goodtimes and we would love and appreciate your support.

In our effort to raise funds for Camp Goodtimes, we are hoping that generous individuals, businesses and others in the community who share our passion will help us with our goal: to positively impact the lives of children who have had to struggle where many of us didn’t.  Throughout the evening we will be running a silent auction and a raffle; we are hoping to have these items donated.  Here are some ways you can help:

1. Come and join the party for a great evening of fun, mingling and fundraising.  You can purchase your ticket at here by “enrolling” in the “workshop” listed under Camp Goodtimes Fundrasier.
2. As a business or an individual, donate a product, service, gift certificate, free lesson etc. that can be used as a silent auction item or raffle.
3. Donate money to Camp Goodtimes; there will be a donation box at the venue on the night of the charity event and we will be doing scheduled pick-ups in the community as well.

Every contribution helps; even the smallest donation.  A gift as simple as a day pass to a climbing gym would be a wonderful give away or auction item.

You can find out more information about this wonderful program here.  Here is an excellent video illustrating the impact that Camp Goodtimes has had on children and their families.

We have already seen an incredible response to this event and the generosity shown has been outstanding.  We are excited to be in a position to help provide these brave children and their supporting families a special and meaningful experience.  They certainly deserve it.

Thank you kindly,

The Baseline Health™ Team

It is with excitement, that I formally blog-announce that my new health care facility Baseline Health™, will be opening its doors in beautiful West Vancouver on July 5^th.  Yes, that is only 23 days away!!!

A Bit About The Baseline Biz

A combination of passion, creativity and medical science has produced Baseline Health™.  We are an imaginative group providing manual medicine, rehabilitation, preventive movement prescription, health education workshops, movement based programming, and online health resources.

Baseline Health™ recognizes that our work is only one piece of the whole health puzzle.  We therefore support the integration of all health disciplines.  This concept of teamwork is sewn into the fabric from which Baseline Health™ was formed.  Our team currently includes: Dr. Carla Cupido (Chiropractor), Nara Henderson (Yoga Therapist), Jessica Nielsen (Registered Massage Therapist), numerous Educated Movement Session instructors and Online Health Experts as well as health professionals in the community to which we refer.

We believe that education is the key to health.  Without understanding how your body works, how can you properly care for it?  At Baseline Health™, our goal is to equip you with the tools required to live healthy and strong.  Operating on the leading edge of health research, we strive to offer the most current approaches and information available.

We have a temporary website up as our new baby receives its final touches.  Until then, our website,  BaselineHealth.ca In Vancouver, will offer you the links to our Mind Body Online site in order to book an appointment, an Educated Movement Session / Workshop and learn more about our upcoming fundraiser which I am going to blog about next.

The Baseline Health™ team looks forward to working you soon, to begin the life-long process of Making Body Sense Common Sense.

With warmth and excitement,

The Baseline Health™ Team

Find joy in movement!

My mom has a new blog to share with us.  My parents have been in Florida and the topic of weight loss seems to come up a lot in their conversations with others with others down there. My mom’s point below is awesome: FIRST FIND JOY IN MOVEMENT!

When you are at a healthy body weight, it is less stressful on your joints and your body in general.
When we concentrate our thoughts and efforts on weight loss without considering the possibility of finding joy in movement I think we do ourselves a disservice which inevitably sets us up for failure to control our weight and enjoy physical activity.
We need to find an activity we enjoy and the byproducts of that will be weight control, enjoyment and the possibility of healthy social interaction.
The joy found when engaging in physical activity will keep you coming back for more.

Check out my new newsletter entitiled Breathing Basics on how our breath directly influences our body’s biochemistry which connects intimately to our overall health.

If you do not already receive my newsletter but would like to, you can sign up here.

Make it a great day!

Last week, I wrote a post called “Effective core training??” I included my article from a Canadian Running magazine issue released earlier in the year called “Stand Your Ground.”

I also told people to get off the balance board when strength training.

People started asking me “What’s your beef with unstable surface training?  Don’t you want to work your core too?”

Well, you see, unstable surface training is a popular method used to rehabilitate ankle sprains in physio clinics… with great success.  This method of training is also used to rehabilitate other injuries associated with the legs and hips.

The application of unstable surface training to healthy athletes and people of the general population is still unclear and constantly researched today.

Unstable surface training or UST for short consists of standing on an unstable surface while performing an exercise.  The focus of the exercise can be on the upper or lower body depending what exercise you are performing.   For example, you could stand on a BOSU, dome side down while performing a squat with two dumbbells in your hands.  The surface will be unstable because the dome is on the ground.  You could also stand on the BOSU dome side up while performing a bicep curl to overhead press.  This surface is also unstable because you’re standing on a balloon.  Both are good exercises to develop balance, proprioception (awareness of your body, limbs and weights you’re holding in space), coordination and stability.  They are also great to add into a circuit for a person just wanting to get fit and stay in shape.

When trying to improve performance, UST is not optimal.  Academic research has shown a drop in force output, reduced rate of force development and lower strength gains compared to performing the same exercise on stable ground.  An example would be performing a back squat on a BOSU dome up or down vs. performing it on stable ground.  Therefore, for optimal improvements in strength to improve athletic performance, it’s best to stand on stable ground when performing a leg exercise.  Therefore, if a runner wanted to run strong, I wouldn’t have him/her do unstable surface training as his/her main strength exercise for his/her legs.  To improve core strength and stability, I would first focus on core stabilization exercises and progress the challenge to anti-rotation type exercises.

For more information on UST and it’s inappropriate application to athletes, check out my post on effective core training on StrongerRunner.com.  For a great core workout, you can download my free DVD titled “10 MIN to a Stronger CORE” also on www.StrongerRunner.com. And if you liked that DVD, check out my anti-rotation core workout for runners here.

In addition to the stable ground leg training for a runner, unstable surface training can be performed later in the workout with a different focus – to improve balance and proprioception for the ankles.  This goal will improve ankle stiffness for trail running and reduce the risk for ankle sprains.  You see, UST is good, it just has to applied correctly!

Beginners to weight lifting, however, will be able to increase strength while standing on unstable surfaces.  Any stimulus, stable or unstable will yield improvements in a beginner.  A study was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning this past July (2010) called “Training Adaptations Associated with an 8-week Instability Resistance Training Program with Recreationally Active Individuals” by Sparkes and Behm who found that instability training with lower loads increased strength in previously untrained young individuals compared to training with more loads with stable machines.  Therefore for this population, UST will still yield benefits and provide exercise variety.

So, depending on your goals use UST appropriately to ensure optimal improvements in health and fitness.

5.  UST can be added as a supplemental exercise to a lower body strengthening program to develop balance, coordination, proprioception and core activation.

Thanks for reading,

Jon-Erik Kawamoto, CSCS, CEP

Strength and Conditioning Coach, New Westminster, BC, Canada

www.StrongerRunner.com

www.JKConditioning.com

I recently just wrote a blog for Jon Kawamoto’s website Stronger Runner on why Graston Technique can help with your running.  Take a peek!

One of my blogs was just featured on Jon Kawamoto’s website, Stronger Runner.  I wrote about how Active Release Technique can help runners.  Take a peak and send it along to your running friends if you think they could benefit from this read.

Jon is a kinesiologist and a certified strength and conditioning specialist.  He is one of the best in his field.  Thanks for featuring me Jon:)

Run strong!!!