It's so easy to get caught worrying about "the next thing"... A big project, a fun vacation, even what you have to cook for dinner.
Staying present in each moment will help slow your world down and highlight the little things that give you joy!

Are you experiencing knee pain? If so, check out these stretches! These help stretch the muscles around the knee such as your quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles. Each stretch should be held for about 10-15 seconds and repeating those twice. It is important to stretch just enough to fill a stretch in the muscle without going too far beyond that. 

For the quad stretch, standing next to a wall, bend your leg will pulling on the ankle by your glutes until there is a stretch in the front of the leg. 

For the hamstring stretch, Lying on your back, keep one leg extended on the ground while lifting the other leg up in extension, place both hands behind the knee to help with this stretch. 

For the calf stretch, stand with hands flat on the wall, have the front leg bent while the back leg has a soft bend in the knee. To feel more of a stretch in the calf muscle of the back leg, press into the wall with your hands. 

Are you incorporating planks into your workout routine?
They're a great exercise for multiple areas of the body, especially the core.
To ensure you're getting the most benefit and doing them safely, you'll want to keep proper form.
Here are a few tips to make that happen!

Goals are only achievable with a proper plan and sufficient accountability. Are your systems strong enough to support achieving your goals?

A commonly asked question is why we do cardio at the end of each workout session. The reason we recommend high intensity cardio at the end of the workout session is so we do not use up all of our energy stores before strength training. If we perform cardio at a high intensity before the workout, the chances of fatiguing is much higher and will start much quicker in the workout, rather than doing if after the workout. Form will be much better during the workout because muscles won't be as fatigued as they would be after cardio.

There are also many health benefits to cardiovascular activity such as: 

-Reducing risk of diseases and illnesses,

-Lower blood pressure,

-Strengthens your heart

-Helps sleep better

- Regulates weight or aids weight loss

Thanks to the clients, friends, and family who spent Thursday evening at Northstar's "Happy Hour"!
Congratulations as well to everybody who took on and completed the putting challenge!

Consistency is key! It's very common to start a task, and not finish it due to lack of time or other factors. Consistency will help you go from average to excellence by simply seeing the task through! Stay consistent and watch the outcome be that much greater!

We've had a lot of feedback from our clients that many of their family and friends aren't aware of what resistance training actually is or why they do it. So, we thought it would be a great topic to go over!

The definition of resistance training is "a form of exercise designed to increase muscular strength and endurance by making those muscles work against a weight or force". This means that, anytime you perform an activity that carries, pushes, or pulls something, you are doing a resistance training exercise. Even standing up off your couch or carrying groceries from your car are movements that work your muscles. When it really becomes resistance training is when those types of exercises are organized into a program and repeated consistently over time.

Why is resistance training important? Most people believe that walking/biking/running/swimming is enough exercise to keep them in shape. While those are great options for building endurance and overall health, they fall short because ...

It's easy to choose the path of least resistance, to look for the quick fix to all our problems.
If you're looking for lasting results and pride in your choices, you'll need to avoid those temptations.
Trust the process and avoid the traps of "quick success": The results will be greater and you'll gain far more appreciation for them, because you'll know they've been earned.

If your low back pain is preventing you from doing the things you love, you need to strengthen and stretch the low back musculature. Check out this example of exercises to help strengthen the low back along with a stretch to help with pain!

Exercises include: Birddogs- this exercise help with core activation along with stability which helps strengthen the low back. By keeping the core engaged and neutral/straight back, the stability will be easier when lifting opposite arm with opposite leg. 

                              Supermans- this exercise also helps with core activation and stability. Supermans are great low back exercises. 

                             Cobra Stretch- A great stretch to help with low back pain!