October is National Physical Therapy Month

One of the best programs we offer at the Monterey Sports Center is our Physical Therapy Program. We have two wonderful Physical Therapists, Gretta Lijbers-Williams and Katrina Uota. Gretta and Katrina have worked at the Sports Center since 2001 and have established a reputation as caring, skilled and fantastic therapists. Both Gretta and Katrina are excellent aquatic therapists and have assisted elite athletes back to full performance following injury along with children challenged by disabilities and older adults recovering from joint and musculoskeletal injuries.

Gail Devine is our support person for Physical Therapy, setting up appointments, checking insurance eligibility, coordinating referrals from physicians and assisting our patients when they get started. We are preferred providers for Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Tricare, Medicare and most other insurance companies. Our Physical Therapy office number is 831-646-5627.

So why Physical Therapy? Therapists can help you improve your quality of life. They can assist you in recovering from neck, shoulder, back or knee pain. They can help you move freely again without pain and discomfort and feeling renewed and ready to move on. They can help prevent injuries and tell you what exercises you should do to increase your overall strength and flexibility safely and effectively.

Did you know that 70% of all runners experience an injury every year? Most of these injuries can be prevented by understanding your body and training properly to strengthen weak muscle groups and stretch tight areas that can lead to injury.

A study of 1,435 NCAA Division 1 female soccer players demonstrated that those who participated in a Physical Therapy program had an overall ACL injury rate 41 percent lower than those who did only a regular warm-up prior to practice. Female athletes who play sports like soccer, basketball, and softball are six times more likely to injure or tear and ACL than men. Again, much of this is preventable through proper training guided by a knowledgeable Physical Therapist.

Because Physical Therapists receive specialized education in a variety of sciences - physics, human anatomy, kinesiology (human movement), to name a few - they understand how the body works and how to get you moving again. They know how to manage all four of the body's major systems - musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiovascular/pulmonary, and integumentary (skin) - to restore and maximize mobility.

Whether you are living with diabetes or recovering from a stroke, a fall, or a sports injury, our Physical Therapists will work closely with you to evaluate your condition and develop an effective, personalized plan of care. 

Yoga Low Back Relief Specialty Class Offered Sunday, September 29th

Low Back Relief Specialty Class is offered by Stacey Johnson this Sunday, September 29th at the Sports Center. This 75-minute yoga class is designed to increase comfort and mobility in the lower back. Class includes a combination of core strength exercises, lengthening stretches, and gentle twists. What a fantastic way to try out Yoga! All levels are welcome. You can register for this class online using Activity Number 42042-A - click here for online registration at the Sports Center: http://www.monterey.org/en-us/departments/montereysportscenter.aspx. Class is only $12 with early registration or $15 at the Sports Center on the day of the class. Stacey is also offering a Posture Clinic from 12:30 - 1:30 pm this Sunday, but that class has filled. Stacey usually offers one or more clinics every month so we'll post when the next clinic is scheduled.

Over 120 Classes on Current MSC Group Exercise Schedule

The Sports Center features indoor cycling classes as early as 5:45 am through 7:15 pm and usually has two offered most days of the week. The latest trend is combing spinning with strength training for a total body workout in about one hour of work - helpful for working folks with busy schedules.

The Monterey Sports Center features an incredible group exercise schedule with more than 120 classes offered every week. Group Exercise Coordinator Lauri Ataide has developed an extensive schedule with classes that challenge elite athletes for a high-intensity athletic workout to restorative classes that provide gentle stretching, balance and strength training for seniors, individuals recovering from injury and/or women in the later stages of pregnancy.

Lauri has also managed to assemble an outstanding group of instructors featuring some of the best instructors on the Monterey Peninsula in a variety of formats from Yoga to Pilates to Aqua Aerobics to Athletic Training to Kettlebell and more. The strength of the program has much to do with long-term loyalty of many of our top instructors and this starts with Lauri who has been the coordinator of the program for over 17 years and has been with the Sports Center for almost 20 years.

Another strong point of the schedule is that Lauri is always looking for new formats and new classes that provide excitement and motivation for the many participants that follow our program and look forward to the new class schedules. Our latest schedule was released on September 9th and features several new classes and new class times including:

Cycle Express - HIIT w/Teresa on Mondays from 6-6:30 am

Sculpt Express w/Teresa on Mondays from 6:30-7:00 am

U-Jam w/Mae on Mondays from 6:45-7:45 pm

Functional Fusion w/Lauri on Wednesdays from 4:30-5:15 pm

Pilates Mat w/Lisa on Thursdays from 6:45-7:45 pm

Cycle Express w/Rachel on Fridays from 6:00-6:45 am

U-Jam w/Mae on Saturdays from 11:00-12:00

Athletic Training w/Terri on Sundays from 8:45-9:45 am

For the full schedule, check here: http://www.monterey.org/Portals/1/sportscenter/pdfs/GroupExerciseSchedule.pdf

MSC has several outstanding Yoga instructors including Stacey Johnson pictured above. Stacey teaches Yoga Flow & Yoga Flow II, Yoga Sculpt, Restorative Yoga, Power Yoga, Yin Yoga, Happy Hour Yoga, Power Core and more. MSC also has Aqua Yoga and more traditional Yoga classes offered seven days a week. Check out our current schedule here:  http://www.monterey.org/Portals/1/sportscenter/pdfs/GroupExerciseSchedule.pdf

Yoga at MSC

by Group Exercise Coordinator Lauri Ataide

We offer a wide variety of yoga classes at the sports center so whether you’re a beginner or advanced, we have a class that will fit your needs.  “Yoga” is a traditional hatha yoga class…poses vary from standing to seated and suitable for all levels.  “Restorative Yoga” and “Yin Yoga” are very gentle classes designed to help prevent and heal injuries and body imbalances.  Poses are practiced seated and/or lying down and suitable for all levels. 

“Power Yoga” is a vigorous, strength based yoga practice and many of the poses performed require you to hold your body weight.  A majority of the poses are practiced standing or holding body weight in plank and held for a longer duration of time.  The poses are not complex but require more strength so suitable for all levels who want a strength component to their yoga practice.  

“Yoga Flow” or vinyasa style, flows one pose into the next, combining standing poses with a vinyasa in between poses.  The vinyasa is consists of plank/hover/up dog/down dog.  Poses are not held long and require strength and flexibility because you are moving quickly from one to the next.  Previous yoga experience is recommended and note that “Yoga Flow” is strength based.  

“Happy Hour Yoga” is a gentler version of “Yoga Flow” and suitable for all levels.  Finally, “Functional Fusion” fuses yoga and Pilates…combining standing poses, balance poses, and strength based poses like plank and down dog with Pilates-based core exercises.  Suitable for all levels and designed for fitness enthusiasts new to yoga and Pilates.  

New Equipment En Route to Sports Center

The Monterey Sports Center recently concluded a competitive bid process that saw Lifefitness, Precor, Cybex, Octane, Nautilus, Technogym, Stairmaster, FreeMotion Fitness, SciFit, NuStep and several other companies bid proposals to replace several pieces of equipment in our Cardio Fitness Center and Strength Training Center. We are pleased to announce that Stairmaster, NuStep and Freemotion Fitness were awarded the bids based on the quality of their proposal and on the price. The competitive bid process, required by our purchasing guidelines, allows us to procure the best quality equipment at the best price for our guests, allowing us to keep our fees reasonable while still offering state-of-the-art equipment that meets the many interests and needs of our diverse clientele.

Stairmaster will be sending three brand new Stairmaster Stepmills to replace three of our older units. The Stairmaster Stepmill is a very popular unit among our guests and the new features of the updated design are sure to please.

NuStep has been making quality recumbent upper and lower body steppers that have been a huge hit with our guests and are an ideal machine for individuals recovering from injury, with physical challenges and for seniors that enjoy the comfort and safety of the units while still being able to get a quality workout. We've had one in the Sports Center this past year and the demand for additional units is now being met with three additional units due to arrive next week, replacing three of the older CyclePlus units currently in our Cardio Fitness Center.

Freemotion Fitness was awarded the bid to replace four older treadmills, six recumbent cycles, two elliptical cross-trainers and four strength training units. The Freemotion Fitness treadmills have an appealing design and are loaded with great training features including iFit, an application that you can purchase and download that offers powerful training support including video training guides with fitness expert Gillian Michaels and loads of cool features that will help you enjoy your workouts:

The Freemotion Ellipticals also feature the iFit technology as do the recumbent cycles.

Freemotion Fitness was also awarded the bid for four strength training units including a plate-loaded leg press, and three selectorized units including the leg press, the abdominal crunch and the low-back extension machines.

With some of the cost-savings realized through the competitive bid process, we were also fortunate enough to purchase two of the hottest pieces of equipment on the market, the Freemotion Fitness Incline Trainer. With the ability to provide a 30% incline and a 3% decline, a wide surface area to run on and a display loaded with super cool features, the Incline Trainer is a fantastic unit that offers fitness enthusiasts and elite athletes alike a unique opportunity to add superior elements to their training. Check out this YouTube video clip on some of the advantages of this treadmill:

For more on this trainer and the cool features of the iFit live program:

Belgian Blue bulls look like they are made of muscle because they have a mutation in the gene that codes for the protein myostatin. In humans, as in other types of cattle, myostatin normally limits the number of muscle fibers that form before birth and then limits the growth of those fibers later on.

Excellent piece on NPR this morning about a new drug used to help treat muscle disorders. The drug has incredible potential to benefit individuals with muscle disorders and those recovering from injury, but fear is great that it will become the next big thing for athletes looking to boost performance:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/08/12/210487410/new-muscle-drugs-could-be-the-next-big-thing-in-sports-doping?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=DailyDigest&utm_campaign=20130812

Living the Active Life

How do you stay active? For many of us as we age, we scale back our activities from the adventurous and challenging competitive endeavors of our youth to more gentle activities like walking, golfing, working out at the gym or taking a nice bike ride through the countryside. Not Billy Thompson. At 71 years of age, this avid basketball fan makes time most days of the week to jump in with the young guys and play full-court or half-court basketball. He can still nail the outside jump shot and loves keeping up with his younger buddies in a good, strenuous game of hoops. Billy plays in basketball leagues in Salinas, but has been making time every Tuesday and Thursday to drive from Salinas to play with his friends in Monterey. He's been doing this since 1996. "I love this place," said Billy the other day while warming up from some friendly competition. "I wish we had something like this in Salinas, but I'm so glad we have this in Monterey." With it's three basketball courts and full suspension wood floor, the gymnasium at the Sports Center is one of the greatest recreation treasures of the area. With kids leagues in basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, wrestling, floor hockey and more and very active adult leagues in both coed and women's volleyball and well-attending drop-in basketball games throughout the day and most weekends, the gym has been a welcome venue for locals throughout the peninsula. At any given time, you might see several adults engaged in high-level badminton games on court three, while several adults are playing table tennis on court one and a great game of full court basketball is going on court two.When you have the chance, drop by at noon for a fun game of hoops with Billy or anytime to get your old athletic inspiration a good dose of active realization.