Think Fit. Be Fit.

“Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase.” Joseph Pilates The goal of today's short episode is to present the theory that Pilates, the modality and man, have a lot more to offer than ab exercises and helping lower back pain.  Jenn is bringing on her Pilates teacher, Tara Becker, for a presentation on a whole-body approach to Pilates and why every single person can use it in their fitness program.   Tara Becker discovered Pilates in the early 2000s while studying at Syracuse University. Having undergone three reconstructive foot surgeries as a teenager, she was impressed with the way Pilates safely strengthened her whole body while helping her feet. As a former gymnast, she also loved how Pilates combined strength and flexibility on different apparatus. Tara began teaching Pilates mat classes in 2012 and completed her comprehensive apparatus training through Power Pilates in the summer of 2016. Ever the student, she still takes weekly lessons with senior teachers,

Chances are your home exercise program is centered on full body cardio and burpees.  If this is the case, join Jenn and Ed Morand for a conversation on enhancing and amplifying your home workout.   There's nothing wrong with the typical full body cardio home workout, but what if you could replicate every exercise from a cable machine with tubing and a carabiner? Wouldn't that be better?  This episode will walk through several things that can be implemented at home for a rich and robust exercise experience. Topics covered: Training and fitness are essential services Why Ed doesn’t call exercises by a particular name Simple science can enhance your exercise experience and performance The make up of Ed’s unique at home pilates exercise class blend.   Boosting nitric oxide with exercise We discuss the physics of tubing  Cues that enhance bodyweight exercise Links of interest: Book mentioned: Movements That Heal https://muscleactivation.com/ (Muscle Activation Techniques) Purchase a quality carabin

Instagram influencer workouts seem pretty harmless and fun. While they serve their purpose of capturing your attention, Jenn and Jaclyn of Athleats Nutrition discuss how ‘fun and sweaty’ are not the same as appropriate and effective.  They would argue that the nature of Instagram influencer workouts are not stimulating enough to be effective for fat loss and achieving muscle growth in females. In other words, you can benefit to stop and think about your body and its mechanics while scrolling Instagram. Tune in for more information on getting the most out of your workouts and more nuggets, such as these conversation highlights: Fitness and nutrition programming Stress and weight loss Finding new ways to add resistance to exercise without machines An alternative to jumps and plyometrics Vitamin D    Jaclyn provides nutrition and fitness programming, check her out here: https://www.instagram.com/athleatsnutrition/   Jenn provides training for muscular strength issues related to old injuries and muscl

Today’s episode is a really important one.  It covers a topic that affects someone you know or perhaps even you and it’s definitely something we are trying to avoid, which is chronic pain.   Here are some statistics:   50 million Americans live with chronic pain Between $500 and 630 BILLION is lost annually due to chronic pain in  America  Patients experience persistent pain after routine surgery up to 50% of the time. 18% of women suffer from migraine attacks. Back pain is the leading reason for sick leave and early retirement in Europe.  Back pain represents 27% of all types of pain. 34.6% of pain patients in Canada think of suicide. In N America pain accounts for 78% of all ER visits.   Meet Jen DeLorenzo a Licensed Physical Therapist, Certified Functional Manual Therapist, Therapeutic Pain Specialist, National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.  She is based in Alexandria Virginia and aligned with Jenn's in-person practice.    Topics discussed A new way of working with

These conversations are the reason WHY Jenn started this podcast.   The way we exercise is a direct reflection on how we view the body.  The Exercise Science Insider episodes are designed to show you that exercise is so much more than meets the eye. This episode lays out some critical thinking pieces about exercise and training for sports that you can apply NOW and when our gyms and fields open back up    Theme for part 2: How learning the skill of an exercise or a sport skill can contribute to being injury free, confident, athletic and fit.   READ THIS White Paper from Gregory Gordon   Topics covered: Recap of our first episode, find it here  The importance of having a bandwidth of error How virtual training can be more effective exercise Tactile and verbal feedback- when it’s most helpful Electrical stimulation is not the same as teaching muscles in a rehab setting   Links of interest: Exercise Intelligence  https://www.instagram.com/exercise_intelligence/ https://linktr.ee/exercise_intelligence   Jenn on

Fitness has been reframed for us.  Today's episode is about balancing your beliefs about your fitness journey with what is important for health. Here are the 6 fundamentals of injury prevention while boosting the accuracy of your workouts: 1. Develop your intuition and knowledge about exercise 2. Perfect the warm-up process 3. Know what you're capable of and the opportunity costs 4. Spark recovery and care for the Nervous System 5. Match your nutrition to your workout goals 6. Aspire to live a life of physical self-sufficiency Links of interest: Support the show by drinking Ruvi, all fruits and veggies with no additives or sugar. Purchase here: https://impactyourfitness.thrivelife.com/ruvi  Check out this podcast episode if you want to meet a true professional in nutrition and functional sports nutrition http://thinkfitbefit.libsyn.com/jaclyn-interview-1420-520-pm   Blog on the Nervous System care https://www.impactyourfitness.net/NervousSystemcare   Learn about developing skills and knowledge h

Learning and skill acquisition have a big domain in the discussion on healthy exercise. This episode is a fun dive in to the inner workings of an intellectual connection to exercise.  Jenn’s guest today is  someone she calls a friend, mentor and colleague; Gregory Gordon MA of Exercise Intelligence. He is a movement scientist with a specialization in pain science and motor learning who practices MAT RX and customizes strength and conditioning programs.  He has notable experiences in providing continuing education courses for Cybex International in neuroscience based content and received his Masters degree in Motor Learning and Control from Teachers College, Columbia University.   If you are a personal trainer, this episode will directly influence your view on the body and what is actually important when it comes to overall fitness from a brain and motor learning perspective.    If you are an exercise lover, this episode has information for programming your workouts for accessing all types of muscle fiber

Quarantine and Chill with Ryan Crossfield!  Meet Jenn's new friend, LA based coach Ryan Crossfield.  He is an introverted Health & Performance Coach with a lot of experience optimizing health and body composition.  This is essentially a conversation between two exercise professionals that are not seeing clients due to the pandemic shutdown and social distancing.  It should be obvious that both Jenn and Ryan enjoy optimizing their health and live the healthy life.    We are reviewing Ryan's Quarantine and Chill guide, which can be found here. http://www.staystrongsc.com/blog   "With social-distancing in full swing, it may seem like options for improving your health are down to Quarantine and Chill, or participating in the scourge of bodyweight workouts that are woefully ineffective at promoting long-term results. Instead let's look at some options that can be completed within the isolation of your own home!”   We touch on so many things like Joe Rogan, kettlebells, toilet paper, sugar, sleep, stress, digestion

Now more than ever we are reflecting on community and depending on one another.  This interdependency makes us fundamentally human. While we are deeply entrenched in the culture of productivity it is hard to recognize the importance of community and the one-ness of good health.  This episode is a conversation about building a community with the goal of human expansion and taking calm, conscious action.     Today’s episode features Jane Bannehman founder and president of Nectar Yoga.  It was such an honor and a pleasure to sit down with her.     She is an entrepreneur, consultant and coach.  Her yoga studios in Northern Virginia serve up a a wide variety of classes including teacher trainings, hot yoga, vinyasa flow and vet yoga.  They strive to bring together community and yoga without an attitude.    Her resume includes roles in wellness leadership and serving on national advisory boards for the American Council of Exercise and American Fitness Studios and time at Georgetown University and university VA, man

We are in interesting and uncharted territory, so this episode is about keeping immunity high and being there for one another.  This pandemic is bigger than YOU - and requires action for the community at large... and aren’t we all curious on how the immune system works and how we can  keep life as normal as possible?  We are all experiencing deep fear of the unknown and anxiety about what’s to come.  While I don’t have an expertise in immunity, I do believe that if we take a step back and learn about our immune system that we can better navigate in this tumultuous time.   Supplement your at home fitness with Movement Pathways   Resources for learning about your immunity:   Dr Rhonda Patrick with the Sonnenbergs on the gut   Balaji Srinivasan on The Knowledge Project    https://youtu.be/icS3OM2WDm4%20 (Dr Rhonda Patrick on the importance of micronutrients)   How to buffer chronic stress with meditation   Rhonda Patrick’s top 11 supplements, doses and fav brands   Red Light Therapy and it’s numerous benefits

Our nervous system truly is exquisite, and our exercise is orchestrated completely by this system.  We are far from understanding all that this system is capable of, but one thing we know for sure is that our brain is wired for healthy movement.   Jenn has been exploring what it means to align your exercise with the nervous system since her first neuroscience education course in 2009.   This short scientific synopsis of Neuro-Aligned exercise will have you thinking differently about injuries and how to train your body for longevity.   What you’ll learn in this episode: •What the most precise and educated trainers know how to do with their clients  •The 2 strategies Jenn uses to teach her clients to move and exercise pain-free. •The 5 concepts of Neuro-Aligned Exercise Links of interest: Receive bonus information on Neuro-Aligned exercise when you sign up for the newsletter A lot of this content was inspired by Myotopia education  Feb 24, 2020 episode Podcast episodes with Rui, October 9, 2019 and

Exercise content cannot help us if we don’t know when to use it. The interplay of what is good for us and what is harmful might be confusing you.   This episode is the scientific synopsis for 'self awareness' and 'the science of you'. Things you'll learn in this episode: Changing the Allostatic Load is a concept that will help you execute better decisions about exercise. Tips on measuring your progress Links of interest:  Movement Pathways registration Paper on Allostatic Load Jenn on instagram https://youtu.be/WJ9DzSzUpio (Video on Allostasis) 

Here are our tips to adjust your exercise for a THRIVING muscular system that will award you in decades and in the mirror a few months from now Get specific with strength training Don’t exercise too much Use isometrics.      If you are exercising with diminishing strength, tight muscles and achy joints you need to be here for this episode.   Join Jenn for this 24 min. solo-cast on what she believes to be the most useful type of exercise: isometrics.     What you'll learn in this episode: how Jenn has been teaching this type of exercise to athletes and clients for a decade. an outline of important details and tips on how to use them the bone building capabilities of isometric exercise Links of interest: https://www.impactyourfitness.net/OnlineMovement (Register for Movement Pathways) https://localmotionproject.org/ (Local Motion Project) Sign up for the newsletter and receive free content on isometric exercise https://www.instagram.com/impact_your_fitness/ (Jenn on instagram)

The EXERCISE SCIENCE-focused topic for today is also the FOUNDATION of every single benefit of exercise and everything that optimizes our lifespan. It is the foundation for almost all biological processes in the world…. This solo-cast Jenn gets into the mitochondria and the energy of your body.  These new shorter episodes of 'Think Fit. Be Fit.' are designed to support you to be your own best advisor and design your own fitness.   Supporting academic information Highly recommended: What is Mitochondria? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYEYjintqU (HarvardX 5 min video)   Stressed mitochondria leaks DNA, Science Magazine Digital   Found My Fitness Frontiers in Neurobiology, mitochondria and stress An Energetic View of Stress: Focus on Mitochondria Register for Movement Pathways

Welcome to Exercise Science Insider #7 with Rob DiDinato, whom is my classmate and colleague in the elite MATRx program and a previous guest from October. (here's our first episode)   There are discussions around targeting vulnerable areas for strengthening in all types of athletes.  I’ve always entertained the idea that enhancing muscular foot strength works incredibly well for most athletes- for many reasons. In this episode you’ll hear our theories on this, I hope you find it as fascinating as we do!  The theme of this episode is ‘mindful motion’.  This is a conversation built off our first one in regards to isometrics and Muscle Activation Techniques™.   Please enjoy and let us know if you have any questions or are interested to learn more about foot muscles and athletic performance.   Links of interest: Rob on instagram https://www.instagram.com/impact_your_fitness/ (Jenn on instagram)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-v46OG2UnE (Belt squat ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CNndaVlIu4 (Pitch squat 

When exercise is about being your best self, strength should be your first goal.  In this episode Rachel Garmon joins the podcast for a 3rd time and they are encouraging one another (and you!) through our own workouts and the common mistakes that our clients make.     In the conversation you’ll learn how we work on a multi-faceted approach to strength, specifically squats and lunges.  When executed well, squats can pay big dividends in health and wellness. The potential benefits are vast, which includes improving athletic performance, overall muscular health and flexibility.     Join us for a look at this queen of an exercise and to possibly arrive one step closer to a more fine-grained analysis of what separates exercise that is effective and intelligent from being stuck in an injury-inflammation cycle.     Topics discussed in this episode: dismay for the idea that squats are 'bad for the knees' What people actually need to execute squats well Exercises that help control and stability around squats and lu

Functional Nutrition, Sports Nutrition and Female Leadership with Jaclyn Sklaver of Athleats Nutrition. When it comes to the complexity of your health, we have to think bigger than just making fitness and nutrition as simple as fast food. You must think of it as nurturing an asset. There’s no better person to help us see the big picture about nutrition and a long-term successful relationship with our food than Jaclyn Sklaver MS, CNS, LDN, CDN Board Certified & Licensed.  In this episode Jaclyn shares several knowledge gems about Functional Nutrition and she discusses important topics in Functional Sports Nutrition and research.  The conversation also touches on one of my favorite topics; female athletes and leadership. Jaclyn is a passionate, self-employed leader in sports nutrition.  Her clients include NFL players and college athletes of all types, combine trainees, weightlifting athletes, diet through hormonal changes and fitness competition athletes.  Her sports background even includes authoring a stu

In this episode, Katie and I recap my last ten years of business. That’s one whole decade of dedicated service to injured populations - turning the dial from “survive” to “thrive”, even with old injuries. It’s no secret that I’m passionate about what I do, and with the turn of the decade, I re-hash my own exciting, emotional and sometimes not-so-sexy journey in the business. If you’re an entrepreneur yourself, this episode is for you - as I’m sure you can relate to a lot of the foibles from getting injured during a side gig, fired from a random desk job, to feeling fulfilled every single day with my hands-on work. If you’re a fitness junkie, this podcast will give you more insight to the industry, my background and where my passions lie. Join me on a 10-year journey, this is a podcast where we laugh, cry and dig deep! And a special thanks to Katie for co-hosting the episode and providing amazing support to my business.  Links of interest: You can find Katie here and on https://www.instagram.com/namaste

Welcome to the second Boutique Fitness Guide on Think Fit. Be Fit. Podcast!   We love the idea of boutique fitness for the greater good of our collective fitness and for creating valuable health assets.  A sense of belonging and managing a healthy lifestyle are what Boutique Fitness studios offer that the bigger gyms are striving to copy and why we keep going back.     Even though some studios are getting $300 a month from their clients, the quality is not styled to accommodate all the injuries lying beneath the surface of those of us exercising with old injuries. The reality is we need a critical view and legit injury prevention advice before committing to what seems to be the most popular classes.     What is critical review of exercise?  Most exercise or class reviews are focused on what sells.  I have nothing to gain by sharing my views on these classes except to show you that your body deserves an individualized approach to improving your exercise.  My belief is that with applicable basic science knowled

Exercise Science 101 is all about understanding the Stress Adaptation Curve and how human biology is innately connected to the rise of a challenge and adaptations from exercise.    The Stress Adaptation Curve promotes the understanding that creating change and progress in your life isn’t a linear process.Our hope with exercise is that our body creates “functional adaptations” like improved health, more muscle, less fat, and increased performance.  However this isn’t possible without proper recovery.   The point at which the body responds poorly to exercise or any stress is during the recovery period – or lack thereof.  So if you want to guarantee results your best bet is to spend time with the science of recovery.   This episode is full of Exercise Science from the cellular level of protein synthesis to the cheapest most effective ways to elicit the body to perform it’s amazing self-healing abilities.   Please note this episode doesn’t cover the basics. If you’d like to learn the fundamentals of this concept