I chose the name ACTUALIZE because it’s the one word that could bring together all the passions I have for this business. It says make real, be true, act, move, achieve, you are ACTUALLY worth it. I became a personal trainer because I believe I can help others make their dreams and goals a reality.
My top priorities in life are to stay healthy, to stay strong, and to enjoy all the goofy moments I can with my children.
With my full body assessment I’m able to look at your body and identify if there are muscle strength imbalances, tight muscles, inappropriate tracking, Range of Motion limitations etc. All things that can lead to pain in our body. When you think of a personal trainer you may picture weight lifting and pain. My training isn’t like that. My goal is to help you reduce any pains you may have. You may feel some next day soreness from our workouts, but our goal will be to balance your body.
Dealing with pain can feel like a very lonely place. You may find it hard to find anyone who can relate, or understand what you are going through. Pain isn’t always visible to those around us, and it can become an invisible illness that makes us feel like we have to hide it from others. If you are slowly drawing away from the things you once loved doing because of pain, give me a call. We can’t always rid of our bodies of all it’s pains, but we can often make them much more manageable. And, for some they do achieve pain free status once their body is in proper balance. #ActualizePT
For some of us Winter is coming to an end, for others there’s still a few more months of it in the forecast. But, regardless of our winter status there is one thing way too many individuals struggle with in the winter, LOW or Deficient in vitamin D.
I personally run under the norm and come in deficient in Vitamin D fairly often when they check my levels. And, if I’m being honest with myself it’s whenever I start slacking on taking my Vitamin D supplement, or when I’m not taking a high enough dose. Lately I did a little more research into what Vitamin D deficiencies can look like and I was interested to find a wide variety of symptoms that it can cause.
8 Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency
1. Getting Sick or Infected Often
2. Fatigue and Tiredness
3. Bone and Back Pain
4. Depression
5. Impaired Wound Healing
6. Bone Loss
7. Hair Loss
8. Muscle Pain *
While many articles will state that you should take 400-800IU as an adult there’s much research that also supports this being NOT enough. My local province provides a write up of what the recommended daily intake is and what the Upper level Intake is. These 2 values are pretty far apart at 400 IU vs 4000IU. It’s worth talking to your doctor about testing your levels and making sure you are taking enough Vitamin D supplement to keep you in a healthy range. Health Link BC – Getting enough Calcium and Vitamin D
Just keep in mind that Vitamin D runs lower in everyone when we don’t see the sunshine so much.
I asked one of my client the other day, what is one of the things who’ve appreciated most about how I train you? She said, “It’s the WHY”. You explain to me WHY my body is doing something. You explain to me WHY that’s not the best way for it to move. You explain WHY you are going to suggest a particular exercise. And, you explain WHY you think this exercise will help me.
She explained that she is so much more motivate to keep up with her exercise routines when she can understand the importance of the exercises, and can understand the results we hope to achieve. She said it encourages her to believe things can get better and feel better when I explain to her why her body may not be performing at it’s best, and when I explain how we can get it performing better.
For some the WHY might not matter. For others, it can be extra push needed to stick with it. My starter package that includes 2, 90 minutes sessions is how I get the answers to the WHY’s. During my 60 minute assessment I piece together how to get you from A to B, and figure out why you may have ended up at Z instead of B.
So what makes me different than other trainers? In this clients opinion it’s the WHY.
I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to do cartwheels, but there is something to be said for how proper body alignment affects the outcome of your cartwheel. #ActualizePT
I was reading a great article today and thought I’d share. When I talk to people about working out often their primary concern is sticking with it. It’s a problem nearly everyone faces at some point. This article has some great tips about how to get started with working out and how to stick with it.
“Whether you’re a pro athlete or just starting to exercise regularly, there are days when we all need a little bit of extra motivation to suit up. Here are a few tips for when you’re tired, it’s cold and rainy, or you had the most frustrating day at work.” *
If you’d like to read more about each tip take a read over the linked website.
*https://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/9-simple-tricks-help-you-start-working-out-actually-stick-it/
Today’s post is one that relates to personal experiences I’ve had. I suffer from joint hypermobility in nearly every joint. Those that have caused me the most issues are my shoulder (rotator cuff), my hips (SI joints), my knees, and my wrists. Over the years I’ve owned a brace for each of these joints because it was often the only way I could immobilize the joint and stop the pain. Now if you don’t know what subluxation is thank your lucky starts. It’s when the joint partially dislocates, it causes pain and mobility issues, but it doesn’t usually require medical intervention to get the joint back where it belongs. The problem for people who suffer from subluxations is that it can happen very frequently, and affects their daily living. At one point in my life I had to wear an SI belt around my hips all day, just to keep my hips moving properly and to allow me to walk. Eventually I met a physician who helped me see how strengthening the muscles around my joints would be my best long term solution. By strengthening glutes and hip flexors the SI belt can become a things of the past. By strengthening shoulder muscles and doing rotator cuff rehab exercises you can say good bye to shoulders dislocations. By strengthening your core and back you can reduce spinal hypermobility and reduce pain. By strengthening the upper back such as the Rhomboids you can reduce cervical vertebrae subluxations, which reduces neck pain, can reduce migraines and tension headaches, and can improved your quality of sleep.
While it’s hard to be told that you need to work out when you feel like you can barely move some days, it’s advice anyone with Hypermobility really needs to give deep consideration to. Learn about why subluxations and dislocations occur, and then read about how to avoid them. All your research will bring you back to the same advice, strengthen muscles surrounding the joints. If you wait too long to build up the muscles then damage can occur within the joints and the ligaments. You may even begin to develop arthritis from repeated wear, which unfortunately is not reversible. That said if you are already at the arthritis point it’s not to say that muscle development wont help, cause it will. It will still provide more protection to the joints, and increase your stability.
Developing muscles in a person with joint Hypermobility can’t be done the same way as with someone that doesn’t have Hypermobility. More care and consideration is required by the trainer to ensure they develop a program with slow progression, minimal weight involvement, full range of motion exercises, and appropriate instructions on warm up and cool down as that can make all the difference to someone who struggles with pain and/or has inflammatory reactions to muscle demand.
I’m a great trainer for someone with Hypermobility because not only do I have a vast knowledge about how it affects the body but, I live with it, I understand it, and I’ve proven you can get stronger despite it.
Pelvic Prolapse, what a beast…want to reduce pain and get fit? It’s still possible.
If you don’t know what Pelvic Prolapses are then lets take a second to define them. Pelvic Prolapse can happen to any woman, at any age. To women who have had children, and to women who haven’t. Now most cases of Pelvic Prolapse will occur to women who are past menopause or who have given birth to large babies (so says most literature). But, many out there don’t fall into those typical categories either. Research is finding proof that more and more women develop prolapses at much younger ages then was previously documented. There are many forms of prolapse and some of them even men can develop. There’s Uterine Prolapse, Bladder (Cystocele) Prolapse, Urethra Prolapse, Intestine (Rectocele) Prolapse, Rectal Prolapse, and even internal rectal prolapse (intussusception). Now I’m not here to school you on prolapses because if you have them then hopefully you’ve sought out a Urogynecologist, Gynecologist, and/or Physical Therapist to help you understand your condition and options. However, I am here to encourage women to not turn away from working out because of having these conditions. And to encourage women who do workout to ensure they understand the precautions they should take when training. It is possible to work out with one or multiple prolapses, even those at stage 3 prolapse. The key is how you work out. And that’s what I can help you with. I have the knowledge and experience to guide you through the techniques you need to use while training to minimize internal pressure which can aggravate or even worsen prolapses. By increasing strength within the glutes, the low back, the core and the hips some individual even find they have a reduction in pain and discomfort associated with Prolapses. Others can greatly benefit from a proper stretching routine to address overly tight pelvic floor muscles. When back, hip and core muscles get shortened and tight they can pull the body out of alignment, again making worse any pelvic issues like prolapses.
So if you are a woman or man trying to manage pelvic prolapses and fitness, but aren’t sure where to start, give me a call. And if you are someone that currently trains and finds their prolapse symptoms are worsening, give me a call for a training assessment.
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Today is day 6 of a mix of migraines and tension headaches for me. I’m nearly positive they are due to the high winds and pressure changes we are going through, but the cause doesn’t make the pain any less. While it’s temping to just lay down and not move, I know that’s not the solution for today. If I lay down then other things will flair up, my back with ache, my neck will ache, my fatigue will turn into a depressive mood, and it will be impossible to find positivity for the day. So instead I try to stay slightly active while not increasing my blood pressure too much. Today I wont pump weights, or any cardio workout. But, it’s important to remain slightly active even when you feel like you want to just burrow away. Moving the blood around your body pumps out build ups in the blood stream, it brings oxygen into the blood supply, it reduces the likelihood of; clots, muscle cramps, and constipation. So even when you feel just terrible, do yourself a favor and promise to get up and move for at least 30-60 minutes that day. Every day wont be a workout day, but every day should always have some movement. I suffer through set backs just like every one else, and I’ve learnt it’s so important to find a healthy balance between cutting your body a break, and encouraging it to stay active to promote health and healing. And above all STAY HYDRATED!
“I’m totally sold on Actualize and Camille’s training after 3 months of working with her! I’m a female over 65 who’s stayed rather fit for most of her life but as I aged, my changing body became a bit of a challenge. So I turned to Camille for help. And boy did she help! She found all the nasty spots, the weak ones and the overworked ones! She built a workout plan just for me and made sure that I understood it and that I could commit to it (and I didn’t have to do it for 2 hours a day! ). I feel great and I know I’m going to feel even better when Camille helps me get to the next level! Gone are the morning aches, the tired body, the sagging backside! Actualize is for me!” – Female 65+
I’d say over 50% of the time when I ask people what makes them hesitate to hire a personal trainer they say COST. And that answer is twofold, either they think $65 for an hour with a personal trainer is too much for their budget, or they think $65 for an hour with a personal trainer doesn’t add enough value to their lives. So lets take minute to look at this.
How does $65 fit into a family budget.
What goes into one hour of personal training? What’s the value?
Let’s lead by example!
Actualize Personal Training