What’s the first think people tell you to do when you get plantar fasciitis? Yup…more than likely they immediately say, “you should get orthotics!” This SEEMS like such an appealing answer, support the arch the way your foot is supposed to be and BAM your pain is gone and you’re good to go. In this blog post, we’re going to present the argument as to why this isn’t the direction you should go or at least why it isn’t the only thing you should do to truly solve your plantar fasciitis. We’ll present 3 problems and the solution to plantar fasciitis as well as at the bottom we’ve included a free download that has 3 exercises to prehab your plantar fascia.

Don’t believe everything you read or watch…especially around health and fitness!

There’s no shortage of information these days, ranging from fixes for your pain and training tips to nutrition tips. This is GREAT overall because you’re able to learn about most things you want to do. However, this can be really impactful on your health in a negative way as well if you’re seeing the wrong information.

Find out how our 72 year old client went from in pain, unable to walk more than 10 minutes, and never strength training to out of pain, walking for as long as she wants, and strength training 3 x a week!

When you hear the word core, I’d be willing to bet you start to think of the abdominals! I don’t blame you, as this is where most peoples heads go when they hear the word core. Most people don’t understand how their core helps them with their performance, what else is involved in the core, and how to train it in ways other than sit ups and planks. So my goal is to share our philosophy on the core, how you can think about its function and then share with you some ways that you can train it that you might not have expected.

Resistance training or lifting weights is something that we preach all the time. Generally speaking, people understand the benefits of cardiovascular training for overall health but tend to underestimate the value or resistance training for overall health beyond getting more muscular. However…

Okay okay….I know….the title of this blog is a little extreme. It’s completely fine to stretch your hip flexors for the most part…but not always AND it may not always be the best usage of your time. I can’t tell you how many times clients come in to see us and say they’ve been dealing with hip flexor pain and/or tightness, they’ve tried stretching….stretching….and stretching some more but haven’t seen results. That’s why in this blog, I’m going to teach you about when you may want to avoid stretching your hip flexors and when you may want to consider a different approach.

80% of runners get injured because they run at 80% intensity 80% of the time. This is what we’re aiming to help you avoid! To be frank, most people progress running too quickly. While you may be able to withstand the runs and recover aerobically, your tissues need time to recover and this takes more time (think tendons and bones). We like to think of run programming as stacking bricks slowly over time…it seems like you’re going slow, but done consistently over time you end up achieving your goals (see graphical depiction).

Recently we announced an exciting new expansion AND collaboration of The Movement into Brantford, where we’re opening a second location within Alchemy Community Fitness’ gym. This is something we’ve been working on behind the scenes for a while now, and we’re excited to finally share it with you. We want to talk to you about why we decided to collaborate with the ACF team and embark upon opening a second location in Brantford. After reading this post you’ll understand the collaboration and know what things will look like at our Brantford location!

Ankle dorsiflexion is an important movement for function in both day to day and during performance. This blog will outline what ankle dorsiflexion is, why it’s important, and how to improve it.

The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that are deeper than your superficial prime movers such as your pecs, traps, and deltoids and surround your shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint). Their primary role is thought to involve co-contraction to stabilize the head of your humerus (arm bone) onto your glenoid fossa (shoulder blade) during movement (co-contraction is essentially contraction on the opposite side of the joint to the prime mover). In short, your rotator cuff is an important group of muscles for shoulder function during movement. They help you manage forces on your shoulder and help you keep your shoulder healthy and protect it from injury. The purpose of this blog post is to show you ways you can train your rotator cuff to keep your shoulders thriving and healthy.

Let’s be real…low back pain sucks! If you’ve ever had it, it can sometimes feel like you’ve really messed up your back. We see and hear and even experience all kinds of things ranging from

“it feels like my back is stuck”

to “it feels like my back is out of place”.

As a result of the sheer intensity of the experience and the fact that it is something so shrouded in mystery that the brightest minds haven’t been able to crack the cure, back pain has developed its fair share of myths.

Agata was having back pain that was interfering with many aspects of her life, and when she came to The Movement she actually was hesitant to focus on that problem because she had tried everything. At a certain point of the rehab process, it became apparent that this issue needed to be addressed as she had a particularly bad episode. After some time, Agata was able to get back control over her back pain and get back to the active lifestyle that she loves…

When you’re a runner, you’re a runner, and that’s your priority…it’s what you love to do and we completely share that passion. But what if there was a way to maximize your chances of running for as long as possible AND improve your performance?