Why it is important to check your Dance Fitness Instructor's Credentials

When i started working in the fitness industry about 11 years ago (around 2016), all i know is that qualificed instructors have to be certified in areas that encompass knowledge in at least these 2 areas: Exercise Physiology and Human Anatomy (and also the usual First Aid CPR certification). Exercise Physiology and Human Anatomy are very important knowledge for all Fitness Professionals. They cover the knowledge on human body movement so as to ensure exercise in proper safe technique and also to understand the body's physiological response to exercise and the effects. It is the same also for instructors teaching group fitness aerobics classes; Exercise Physiology and Human Anatomy knowledge is a must, not just learning how to count music beats.

Fast forward about ten years later, you are now faced with a variety of Group Exercise Fitness Aerobics labels and brands... I am tempted to name a few brands here, but due to some sensitivity (especially some of my friends are instrcutors of these brands), i shall not name them. But just make a visit to any community centres, or Public sports centres, you will find that there are many types of fitness brands classes available for any interested exercise participant to join. (Take note i use the word 'Brand', because they are classes that are either belonging to a certain trademark or license program). Even i myself am a certified instructor in one of these 'Brand' of Group Fitness Workout, simply because they are getting very popular than common freestyle group fitness workouts.

You will be in for a surprise if i were to share with you that many of these new trendy Group fitness workout brands, the focus is only for the instructor to teach their own brand of workout well and follow their own guidelines, but however do not put major emphasis (or do not even teach) Exercise Physiology and Human Anatomy. And it is also easy for anyone who wants to be an instructor; you do not need to have any other certification or exercise science knowledge in order to attend the course and become an instructor.

This means that in the current market of Group Fitness instructors, not all are equipped with the proper knowledge in Exercise Physiology and Human anatomy. And this is going to be something worrying for the exercise participants. Cos i have come across many instances of these 'no knowledge instructors' embracing the wrong concepts or even to the extent of giving wrong fitness advice. Can you imagine if someone were to tell you 'Go use the abs machine to workout the abs so that you can see define six packs' (by the way this is super wrong misleading advice).

Below are some of the wrong (and dangerous) situations that i havecome across:

- 'No Knowledge Instructor' showing a very creative dance move that involves rotating the lower limbs in a circular movement and at the same time perforiming a squat (Ouch! i can hear my knees crying).

- 'No Knowledge Instructor' tell exercise particpant to squeeze out more reps for that abdominal crunch or stay longer for the plank, and soon you will have nice 6 packs.

- 'No Knowledge Instructor' perform a high intensity dance fitness aerobics workout in a park, where the ground is hard granite road surface. The dance fitness workout involves many sudden foot twist and turning moves, high impact movements.

Exercise should be healthy and benefit the body to become stronger. But if the instructor does not have basic Exercise Science knowledge, it is definitely worrying. Wouldn't you agree with me that the best and safest bet is to check if your current instructor holds at least certain Exercise Science Qualifications to play safe?

Btw, in case if you want to know my credentials, i shall present you below:

- Basic Exercise Course (Singapore Sports Council)
- Certified Fitness Instructor (Singapore Sports Council)
- Certified Aerobics Instructor (Singapore Sports Council)
- Certified Sports Massage Therapist (Sports Medicine Australia)
- Certified in Dual Zone Myofascial Release Technique (Functional Training Institute)
..and also: First Aid and CPR AED
-

Happy Healthy New Year 2017

Happy New Year 2017 to all...

It's the 2nd day of 2017... oh, and i realized have not updated this blog for a long time... My sincere apologies.. in case if there is anyone who yearns to read up something here... I will make an effort to write my fitness stuff again...

TCM advice on high intensity workouts

As mentioned in previous posting about TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) view on high intensity exercises, I shall elaborate a bit more here. But before that, just to state a disclaimer; I am not a TCM practitioner. All information posted here are based on my personal read ups and information given by TCM specialists. Please feel free to consult a qualified specialist should you need any clarifications.

TCM does recommend exercise as a way to keep the body fit and healthy. However, high intensity may not be recommended. Do note that there are many types of exercises. The common best recommended types of exercises are gentle low impact exercises like walking, Taichi, stretching etc.. Any exercises that are performed at an intensity that is way too much for the body to handle can hurt the body. In TCM, it is common that the five main organs comes into the picture, namely: Heart, Spleen, Lung, Kidney, Liver. Doing high intensity exercises can put stress and strain on any of these organs. The lower scale of consequence will be bodily pain and discomfort; I'm sure any exercisers here have ever experience certain discomfort symptoms after participating in exercises, especially after heavy intense ones (Eg. Joint pain, heartburn, muscle ache, insomnia, flu etc). On the higher scale of consequence, death could be the result too. I'm sure we have read so much news of people collapsing and died after participating in some high intensity workouts. My most recent impression is a marathon runner upon completion of the race collapse with foam in mouth. Although western medicine offers its explanation due to certain conditions like 'Heart murmur', TCM definitely have its advice on the consequence when one work the body to the extreme.

The next thing to mention will be the outcome of excessive sweat production from exercise. In TCM, sweat is transformed by Yang Qi evaporating body fluids, which emerges out of the body through sweat pore. Do note bodily fluids means also fluids like blood. While normal sweating helps regulate and harmonize the internal and external body, excessive sweating depletes bodily fluids and blood, and this cause internal disturbance to the body.

Another simple way to offer TCM view; High Intensity Exercises = waste of energy. In TCM, we always talked about Qi, which is energy that flows through. We always strive to have a healthy and balanced flow of Qi, which is the important ingredient to leading an active life. Lack of exercise/movement will lead to stagnated Qi, which thus leads to an imbalance flow in our body. Similarly, extreme exercising is risky and lead to irregularities in the flow of qi, and the waste of vital energy will always be hard to compensate back for in the body. While hardcore exercisers and athletes may look fit and healthy, they are also prone to injuries and infection. Also when we trace back to ancient days of China, the patients that normally visits the Chinese doctors are mainly laborers engaged in hard physical work; Eg. Farmers, Craftsmen.

With this, you may wanna consider looking at health and fitness from another angle. The ancient Chinese way of promoting good health with moderate exercises definitely differs a lot from our current contexts, and may not get you to look like those hot magazine models, but will surely have a positive impact on our overall well-being.

2016 New Year post - TCM and Fitness

Firstly, wishing everyone  a Happy New Year for 2016...

And with that, this shall be the first entry for 2016... and this time my focus of the blog will be to include information related to TCM - Traditional Chinese Medicine:

Just a little update how come I start to go into talking about TCM... about 2 months ago, I have the opportunity to chat and learn some TCM facts from a TCM master. The information shared have really open up my views on total health from another aspect.

To cut the long story short, I am very impressed with the many wonders of TCM and how it can benefit our health...

But before I start to continue further, I need to put a disclaimer as follows:

- I am not a certified TCM practitioner; all information presented here are based on my learning experience from a  TCM master, and also with read up books from the library. Therefore, please take all these information with  a reading leisure for digestion, and perhaps you may wanna add on your own personal further research by taking up appropriate courses or approved  read up materials.

With that, I shall jump in to my main topic; TCM and fitness.... It is interesting to wonder what could be from TCM point of view with regards to Fitness...

To put it bluntly (so that I do not need to type so many words), TCM does recommend exercise for good health... However, not all types of exercises... In particular, High intensity types of exercises are not recommended... I'm sure those of you fitness enthusiast here should have a fair idea of what high intensity exercises refers (and definitely feel shocked and unable to accept)... However it is not nice for me to name the types of exercises... so to put it simply, any exercises which makes intensity hard, those gruesome workouts that makes you feel like almost struggling and dying and sweating lots of perspiration...

...As this topic description is kinda long, and to allow you to have a better read up digestioni have deiced to make short passages, and reveal more facts in 'to be continued'... for the current moment, do digest on my revealing fact here that TCM does not support High intensity exercises.

...To be continued...

Soon to be updated: TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine view on exercise and fitness)

Apologies for the 2 months plus of hiatus...

Anyway, coming up soon I will be writing some Fitness stuff that draws on TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) point of view...

Knee Pain Culprit Case 'No. 2': Tight Tensor Fascia Latea (TFL)

In the previous blog, I have mentioned tight Quads being one culprit contributing to knee pain... Today, let's look at another 'culprit'; tightness in Tensor Fascia Latea (simply in short 'TFL')

The TFL is a small muscle  located near to the side of the upper hip, and its function is to lift the hip to the side (hip abduction), bring the hip to the front (hip flexion), medial rotation of the hip (where you turn the leg inwards so that foot face to the middle part of the body). It's main presence is in providing stability and balance to the hip during walking/running and also standing.

This muscle tends get overworked and tight, and thus affects the proper balance and stability function; and therefore contribute to pain issues in areas like the knee, back and hip.

To relieve the tightness of this muscle, do consider combination of stretches and massage. Try some of these here:

Stretches (* there are quite a few stretches vid in youtube; I personally choose some of these which I personally feel it works better):

1st Vid (The narrator here describes with good example of your 'jeans pocket' to show exact location of TFL; kindly note how the narrator illustrate the difference between shifting hip forward which might cause the stretch aim towards the psoas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS7cYp4Z2kk

2nd Vid (same narrator, though more detailed, and to pay attention if you experience knee pain; however my personal additional opinion, if you already have serious pain, consult a sports doctor or injury rehab professional too):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nagbeOYtoM

3rd Vid (Simple lying alternative, narrator also include other areas, eg. Hip flexor)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsM64G546-0

Self Massage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjXOc4fF3Ao

Massage Therapist help (therapist also include quads and other hip areas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjeZw5m4n1o

*** Important: If you are already suffering from bad knee pain, please seek professional medical attention… The mentioned stretches and relief techniques, though are good injury prevention tips, but may not provide a guarantee of cure if you are seriously injured, and might even complicate the injury for some cases.

Knee Pain Culprit Case – Tight quadriceps

 

Knee pain is a very common discomfort experienced by many people, regardless of active or inactive people. I myself am also one of such victim (although I have my ways of managing it, which some of it I am sharing here). Today’s blog article, I will mention some points regarding knee pain and ways of managing and preventing it. However, most importantly you should consult a professional medical specialist if you are already experiencing knee pain. All these info written here is only provided for basic reference, and may not apply to every individual.

One of the most common cause of knee pain is due to the surrounding muscles being overly tight, and tight quadriceps is one of the common cause.  The quadriceps are a group of four muscles located at the front of the thigh that works to bring the hip forward and extends the knee. They can get overly stressed and tight from sports activities like jumping, squatting/lunging, running. Even sitting and standing can also produce tightness when the knees are hyper-extended. Tight quadriceps will cause misalignment of the knee cap, and this causes pain in activities that utilize the knee extensor.

Therefore, it is important to relieve tight quadriceps muscles. Stretching and massage will help to relieve the tightness. See below for stretching quadriceps, DIY foam rolling of the quadriceps, Deep massage application for tight quadriceps:

Stretches

1 - Standing Quadriceps stretch (take note knee cap points ‘vertically’ to floor; you can also put the other hand on a wall/door/any stable objects, if you have difficulty balancing on one leg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_pr9-LDUSQ

2 – Kneeling Quadriceps Stretch (this is the one that I do religiously every day; do make yourself comfortable by placing a thick cushion/pillow under your knee)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Mg-Owb14Y

DIY Massage

1 – Self massage (though I wonder where to get that equipment)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSYOQEzIugo

2 – Foam rolling (be careful of back alignment; also not suitable for de-conditioned people, especially if you have shoulder and back issues)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1xI25pBlKw

Massage therapy for Quads

·         This vid is more for massage therapist reference; note that there is additional showing of massaging the IT band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_DwyZyozhA

*** Important: If you are already suffering from bad knee pain, please seek professional medical attention… The mentioned stretches and relief techniques, though are good injury prevention tips, but may not provide a guarantee of cure if you are seriously injured, and might even complicate the injury for some cases.

Stay tune here as I will blog more on other ‘culprits’ contributing to knee pain!