Training For The Hypermobile
Hypermobility is a condition where joints are unusually loose or unstable and often presents itself in people as excessively flexible bodies with poor proprioception (the sense of knowing what space your body is taking up and what it’s doing). The risk of injury that comes with hypermobility means that clients should focus on stability rather than flexibility, avoid extreme ranges of motion, be careful with controlling movement and form, and be aware that their strength will grow slowly. Personal trainers should familiarize themselves with common conditions like hypermobility in order to best support the wide range of individualization their clientele will need.
How To Avoid Loss of Progress During Time Off
It’s harder to lose muscle mass than we think it is, people can go up to a month off without noticable muscle mass loss. Strength is harder to maintain in off periods, but once training resumes, strength quickly returns. The most important thing you can do, whether your break is due to traveling, injury, or something else, is to continue doing whatever physical movement you can until you training starts again.
Understanding Survivorship Bias
Survivorship bias happens when we only see the successes (survivors) individuals and businesses have, which can lead to a warped perception of success rates.
Social media creates constant survivorship bias because people only share the good and successful parts of their lives in order to make themselves look better and trustworthy, naturally hiding the parts they don’t want us to see.
Most of the time, success takes a lot of effort and failure, but people on the outside don’t see behind the scenes. Don’t be fooled - continue to put in the work if you want to improve!
Is It Okay To Work Hard For Yourself?
Quitting isn’t bad - it’s an important skill to have. You can’t do everything, so you have to be okay with quitting things that you don’t enjoy or aren’t beneficial to you. Laziness, too, isn’t inherently bad. It’s a natural part of life and the cycle of productivity. You can’t always be doing something, and laziness helps us recuperate from the energy we expend. Forcing yourself to work tirelessly at all things (your day job included) doesn’t bring more productivity, satisfaction, or money - so you need to assess if it’s really worth your time. It is okay to work hard when you want to do it, especially on things that bring you happiness or make you feel proud of what you accomplished.
What's The Deal With Artificial Sweeteners?
Artificial sweeteners are a large and varied category. It’s difficult to conduct long term research on any one product, and it is unfair to assign the results of any one sweetener to the category as a whole. The long term effects of artificial sweeteners are still unknown in humans. The fears people do have come from studies on rats that don’t align with human behavior and also don’t include all of the different versions of sweetener. Artificial sweeteners can be useful for strict calorie management, but as with all things, should be used intentionally and in moderation.