Our world offers majestic mountain ranges, azure and sapphire oceans, and unique cultures, offering us awe-inspiring food and human interactions. We have a seemingly unlimited number of options for those of us possessing a strong desire to explore the world. How people interact with each other, eat, and function in every life is unique to the different regions of the world. For those who love travelling, diving into such experiences gives us a feeling of fulfillment like no other.
Taking a trip halfway across the world evokes an overwhelming sense of excitement. The thought of taking a brief hiatus from our everyday lives of working and putting other stresses on hold is enticing. However, travelling logistics can prevent us from thoroughly enjoying an adventure we’ve been anxiously awaiting. We have to go to an airport, endure airport security screenings, wait in a terminal for an hour or two, jam ourselves in an airplane in close quarters with other humans, and remain in static positions for hours.
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Napa fitness expert Sean McCawley discusses the importance of keeping your knees strong and healthy.
Preparation is a tool for success. To mitigate the unhealthy effects of eating out too much, we can look at the menus of our favorite restaurants ahead of time to make healthy decisions for our nutritional success.
Weight loss and weight gain are constant balancing acts. Where can we start on a path to productively managing our weight?
Finding a way to squeak in an extra healthy habit significantly impacts our everyday health and happiness.
A fall can cause something as minor as a scraped knee or as catastrophic as a broken bone. One way to minimize injury is to have strong fingers and hands.
Maintaining a healthy body while occasionally indulging in less-than-healthy meals and snacks comes down to a question of balance.
Discomfort is an understatement for severe cases of sciatica, but identifying its common causes is an effective first step toward a plan of action to prevent it.
Fitness expert Sean McCawley introduces the lumbopelvic hip complex and explains why we might want to learn what exactly it is.
It’s not breaking news that staying active keeps us healthy but it’s important to strive for a balanced fitness routine that will keep you going and avoid injuries.
Sitting isn’t bad for you; sitting for too long without moving is. Napa fitness expert Sean McCawley offers exercises to do to counteract stiffness and stress from inactivity.
If losing extra fat and keeping it off is your goal, it’s important to understand that first you have to establish a foundation of eating healthy and adhering to exercise for at least three months.
SAID means “Specific Adaptation to an Imposed Demand” and this includes long hours sitting in an airplane or car. What can you do to help your body out after you get off the plane or out of your car?
Fitness trainer Sean McCawley experienced challenges to his healthy Napa lifestyle on his 10-day trip to Portugal.
Finding time to exercise is challenging but if you can find time to perform one or two exercises first thing in the morning, this can can accomplish simple and effective exercises.
On the run up to a championship match, the foods you choose will make a difference.
What’s for dinner? Before you turn to Door Dash, fitness pro Sean McCawley has a suggestion.
When striving to meet fitness goals, try keeping in mind a growing a plant — both a plant and your body thrive in a nurturing, supportive environment.
Exercising first thing in the morning may sound like a challenge, but the benefits far outweigh the pain of getting out of bed a few minutes earlier.
Rise and shine — or rest in bed? Sean McCawley provides reasons for getting yourself up in the morning.
We don’t realize how vital lower back health is until an accidental injury debilitates us, but exercises can help avoid this calamity.
A long-plane ride, turning your head the wrong way, even sleeping in an odd position, can tweak your back just enough to derail physical activities. The first step in avoiding these injuries, is learning the anatomy of your spine.
We can fall into an unhealthy rut of spending too much time on our phones. Take some time for yourself by stepping away from your cell phone to experience the gifts the world offers us that are right in front of us.
A few popular questions fitness trainer Sean McCawley is asked are: “How many calories should I consume?”, “Are carbs bad?”, “Should I be paleo?” and “What type of protein supplement should I take?”
Staying hydrated is important to overall health, longevity and functionality, writes fitness coach Sean McCawley. So how do you drink enough water each day? He has a plan for you.
If stepping into a gym is as intimidating to you as a walk in Jurassic Park, Sean McCawley has idea to help you overcome your anxiety and give yourself a gift of exercise.
An exercise program of resistance training can significantly increase your body’s ability to build strength in your bones.
From construction worker to desk worker, we all have muscles we don’t use in a typical day. Your can supercharge your fitness by adding exercises that target these areas of the body.
If you struggle adhering to an exercise program, pick out a few keywords of how exercise makes you feel like what you’re doing has value.
Fitness expert Sean McCawley explores why and how to do pushups.
She wanted to lose 10 pounds before a vacation on the beaches of Portugal. Fitness trainer Sean McCawley helped her come up with a plan.
Our spine is akin to a highway in the human body. By engaging in physical activity that keeps the spinal muscles active, we perform proper maintenance on our main freeway of nerves, just as of Cal Trans workers cares for these roads.
Our willpower and perseverance to make a trek to a local gym, take a yoga class or participate in outdoor physical activity are equally, if not more powerful, than any medicine that keeps us away from the doctor’s office.
Crunchy, salty, and sweet treats can provide comfort, joy and salvation from challenging times. We can’t just extract them from our lives on short notice but here are tips to still enjoy them with moderation, accountability and control.
One of the easiest ways to improve your health in 2022 is to be sure you are drinking enough water.
A plan to enjoy 2022 and reach our goals begins with Two great places to start building a good foundation of ensuring we reach our goals in 2022 is to eat the right foods and adhere to a exercise routine.
Napa Valley fitness guru Sean McCawley has suggestions for what to do when your lifestyle has you wound up tight as a violin string.
Finals week — or any week during college — may not be the prime time for thinking about healthy food choices, but Sean McCawley offers some easy-to- make alternatives to one more bowl of instant ramen.
Nutritional advice today can be confusing and often contradictory.
Napa fitness guru Sean McCawley outlines how to use your gardening tasks for a fitness routine worthy of a gym-workout.
Stress has a profound effects on our well-being, but exercising even once or twice a week can also have a profound impact on stress.
Carbohydrates, proteins, and fat are the big three that are predominantly focused on the back of nutrition labels when counting calories.
If you see a rogue candy wrapper left over from trick-or-treaters, bend over and pick it up. Practicing mindfulness of picking up objects from the ground helps mitigate the debilitating effects of back pain while bending over as we progress through life.
We spend so much of our time sitting, including driving to work to get ready to sit some more. Napa fitness coach Sean McCawley suggests exercises you can do in your car to counteract the toll that prolonged sitting takes on the body.
Napa Valley fitness pro Sean McCawley shares thoughts about the importance of continuing to get down and dirty — or at least being sure to include a few bends every day — as we age.
It’s a hassle to regain the strength of our hands if unmaintained over time. Sean McCawley has suggestions to keep yours strong.
Constraints of hours in our demanding schedule is an eternal balancing act. Don’t the let the idea of “I don’t have enough time” hold you back from much needed exercise.
If we don’t have a physically active profession and spend 40-plus hours a week at a desk, we have to find new ways to stay as physically fit as our hard-working ancestors. Becoming a recreational athlete is one of them.
Focusing on the well-being of your hip flexor muscles is a great solution to alleviate common lower back symptoms in which our society struggles with on a daily basis.
You never know how much you use your scapula — aka, your shoulder blade — until it isn’t working well.
Having a goal to work towards can give a boost to striving for health and fitness goals. Sean McCawley shares one success stor.
Do you feel you just don’t have time to exercise? Napa fitness guru Sean McCawley has suggestions for getting around this obstacle to fitness.
If your routines help you feel better throughout your day, keep them going. Sure, scientific data is always going to benefit us but it’s the traditions we practice that make us feel good that scientific data doesn’t necessarily support.
A personal training client showed up sporting new clothes, hairdo, new sunglasses — and a new confidence. What was his secret? A few lifestyle changes.
Fitness guru Sean McCawley urges people to turn off the electronics and enjoy conversations dinner with their families.
Balance can be defined as the ability to correct imbalances. Sean McCawley has an exercise to help this.
Not many of us have the skill and talent of the champion Olympic gymnast Simone Bile, but there are ways to improve our balance.
There’s nothing more frustrating than having to walk at snail speed because of nagging knee pain, but one way to keep your knees healthy is to make sure you do hip-strengthening activities.
We can’t thrive in life when being held up by painful symptoms such as sciatica. Pick exercises that are simple, effective, and easy to replicate on weekly basis to help us live pain free, happy, and strong lives.
What causes the debilitating condition sciatica and can a good exercise routine help mitigate it?
All kinds of emotions can hinder fitness plans. Sean McCawley has ideas for moving ahead to accomplish even the biggest “hairy audacious goals.”
Getting ready to travel again? Make sure to plan ahead for trips with a balanced exercise prescription to ensure your body is strong and injury-free to enjoy these life-changing experiences.
The challenges of pregnancy are many, but understanding that the body can still benefit from a structured fitness routine throughout pregnancy helps the body ride through the mental, physical and emotional undertow.
Weight management is challenging. As we age, our metabolism decreases. However, the advancement of our age and the slowing of our metabolism is usually not the primary culprit when it comes to gaining excess weight.
Ball-and-socket, hinge and saddle — these are just a few names of the joints responsible for the elaborate movements of our bodies. They are masterfully engineered, however, they are at risk if they are left unattended.
After we land, we must reorient our body to its natural shapes and hit the ground running. A potential long wait through the rental car line and another commute to a hotel might ensue. If you’re lucky, checking in at the hotel might be fast but, then again, it may not.
And let’s not forget about our 50 to 80 pounds of luggage we have to haul in and out of rental cars, to an elevator, and ultimately throw onto our bed to unpack and organize. The mountains, oceans, and food of far way lands are waiting for us, however, physically and psychologically demanding tasks are required.
Adhering to a fitness routine to maintain a healthy and mobile body is essential to these adventures. The ability to move fluidly, contort the body to fit unfamiliar situations, and being able to stand for long periods are critical parts of enjoying these adventures. Similar to how professional athletes approach their season in elite athletic condition to manage the stresses of a four-to six-month season or a 10-to-20-day trip to an unfamiliar land would benefit from a similar mode of preparation.
It’s a good idea to prepare a few months in advance to condition the body to manage the stresses of travel with a foundational level of fitness. We know a 12-hour flight across the ocean will impose stress on the body. To prepare for this physical stress, regular stretching and mobility can mitigate the stiffening of the body. Yoga, Pilates and stretching classes are helpful tools to aid in preparing to put the body in the restrictive position of a plane seat.
Recreational activities such as walking cobblestone streets, hiking rugged treks, or swimming are common activities while traveling. A resistance training protocol to exercise the upper body, core and lower extremities two to three times per week can assist in the body’s overall strength, endurance and structural integrity while participating in these fun activities. To fully enjoy these experiences, setting a foundation of optimal health and fitness is critically important.
Before we go on these monumental adventures, it’s a good idea to prepare the body a few months in advance to condition the body to manage the stresses of travel. We don’t want nagging pain or determinants of our physical abilities to slow down the trip of a lifetime.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, [email protected], or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
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