Salvere Blog: Field Day and Presidential Physical Fitness

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Okay, how many of you sparked a real feeling of something between “ugh” and full on dread?? How many reflected on more fun memories? These two “events” from childhood help formulate the perspective and feeling many of us carry throughout life regarding physical activity. Now, before I go any further, this blog does not mean to suggest these events should be done away with at school.

So, what’s the point then? Take a survey of those in your closest circle by simply mentioning one or both. I find over half of respondents (really, it’s way more!) literally give a very real emotional reaction to how much it did not feel good for them to participate.

So, why then do we (still) do them (or some version of them) and require everyone participate? As with so many other things, lets dig a little.

Like, whats the purpose, where did they originate and why. Field day looks different everywhere but in general, it holds onto one of several events that culminate the end of the school year, designed around fun games. Presidential physical fitness events started in the 1960s as a way to measure the fitness level of the youth in America. Now you can go on and find out more about the whys and whats as some of the history is quite “interesting”.

Here’s the thing, for many, many individuals the memories feel embarrassing, traumatizing or simply not positive. If we spend more time peeling away these layers, it really starts the foundation for how someone feels about fitness, exercise and moving their body. While some people enjoy these types of events and the competitions surrounding it, many people don’t.

How do we provide different opportunities for different people? How do we look deeper to realize that something that seems one way on the surface may not actually elicit the intended feeling?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness.

To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to

continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Ageless Activity

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Raise your hand if you heard at some point about certain types of exercises “should” be done at certain ages. Very regularly I hear something about geriatric exercise on the news or hear clients say something along the lines of that’s for the “young people”.

I will use two examples to get to the real story behind these types of statements. First, the oldest client we work with just turned 89. If we followed the “geriatric” exercise recommendations, we would be doing almost all exercises from a chair and anything else focused on balance. We do cable machine rows, standing one sided band exercises and step ups on the side of the treadmill. Conversely, with “younger people” it’s often assumed that they “should” participate in higher intensity type movement.



Maybe instead of presenting exercise in the form of certain ages do certain things, what if we looked at it from the standpoint of each individuals capabilities including their experience, injuries and health. What if we didn’t wait until we struggled with things like balance or mobility to work on them? What if we appropriately challenged our abilities while also working all components of movement?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: I Wanna Exercise But …

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Something gets in the way. Do you feel like this? You want to workout, create a plan and even set out your clothes but yet seem to struggle with getting it done. First, you are not alone!

What happens to the disconnect between the “want” and actually “doing”? Lets take a closer look at the various reasons we come up with for wanting to exercise. Often we take action because something does not feel good or we want to change our outside body. We might add something else to the list but when the main “motivator” comes from something we don’t like, it becomes difficult to keep going.

Now, lets look at what messaging we send through the fitness industry, marketing and social media. First, the fitness industry presents movement and exercise in a way that suggests significant progress can be made in weeks. For example, how many programs last 4, 6 or 12 weeks. As an industry professional for over two decades, I can say from experience, it takes me 4 weeks of training a client to build a solid foundation and determine appropriate exercises based on experience, injuries, illnesses and abilities.

Second, marketing. When you see these programs advertised and discussed, they present if you “succeed” it was their program but if you “fail” its your fault. (Just so you know, I don’t agree with their ideas of “success”.) They also lead you to believe that you only need to do exercise for a finite amount of time. This deserves a little more attention as advertisers target us with so many subconscious messages we need to dig deeper into this by itself!

Third, social media. Okay, this needs to be a separate post too so look for that next time! If getting and staying in a routine is something you struggle with, send us a message with any strategies that you used or any questions with how we might be able to help.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

Salvere Blog: Navigating the Unexpected

by Salvere Health and Fitness

What unexpected events, people and/or things entered your world this year? How did you navigate them? Did you find yourself feeling excited, stressed, nervous, upset or some combination of emotions? Unexpected things and change happen all the time (probably daily if we took a few moments to process) yet when a big “thing” comes along, we often respond as if its unusual.

Since it’s what we do, how does this then apply to fitness specifically? The biggest struggles to maintain a consistent exercise routine come in the form of unexpected events such as injuries, illness and life changes such as a new job, marriage, divorce, etc. These events come along and suddenly change the schedule of life. Once your normal routine gets turned upside down, it takes time and intention to navigate something new and/or different.

In simply processing through the last 2-3 years, so many unexpected events, suggestions, twists and turns got thrown our way. What strategies did you use to develop new routines? How did you challenge yourself to try something different? Could we begin to look at unexpected things with a new lens of expecting unexpected? Let us know your thoughts!!!

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Obstacles

by Salvere Health and Fitness

“Life is full of challenges, obstacles, and problems. But learn to face them courageously with joy. Live every moment with happiness and positivity, for we never know.” – Sai Kaustuv.

Obstacles, what’s your mindset when one enters your path? Do you see it as an opportunity? Do you head towards it with excitement or slight apprehension? Do you try to avoid it all together?

Obstacles challenge our fears, courage, and curiosity. They come in different forms and look different to each of us — They can feel scary, exciting or a little bit of both. What’s an obstacle you navigated your way through over the last year? How did you feel during each stage, going through it and coming out on the other side.

When it comes to fitness, obstacles look like injuries, vacations, feelings of not accomplishing certain goals, uncomfortable experiences, new relationship and/or job and moving to a new location.

Share with us any of these you experienced and what strategies you used to move around the obstacle.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Holding Steady

by Salvere Health and Fitness

… Right where you are today. How many times do we take the time to simply be okay with how we exist in the present? Right here, that day, that moment.

Not trying to advance in a job,

not thinking I’ll do better tomorrow,

not feeling the need to lose weight,

not pressuring yourself that you should have done a harder workout,

not worrying if you did enough for others,

not planning to do more things during your day…

Take time to hold steady, simply be where you are at this moment and maybe, stay there for a few weeks. See how it feels to be A OK with being.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Yep, It’s Boring

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Ever felt the challenge to sticking to an exercise program because “it got boring”. As fitness professionals, we hear this frequently as to why someone stopped their regular program. Let’s take some time to peel this away as it’s got a few layers!

Rewind to a time when life presented more opportunities for movement all throughout the day. A time when the fitness profession did not even need to exist. Fast forward, fast forward to today when that movement exists but, for most, very little, we now “need” our workouts to actually move our bodies.
In a nutshell, we created an environment where instead of accumulating movement throughout the day, we now set aside time to move in a gym type environment and set parameters on what that “should” look like. Amount of cardio, strength, etc with artificial measurements of “progress” and “success”. Well, it was only a matter of time before that gets boring. Maybe not all of it but certainly some parts.

Stepping away from fitness for a moment, think about the process to learning something such as a new language, math, an instrument, or a sport. When you first start, how long do you spend on knowing the basics, building a solid foundation? Every time you add numbers, do you want to do it differently? Or kicking a soccer ball? Or speaking a new language?

Okay, now back to fitness. How often do you apply the same process to an exercise? As with any skill, there’s something to be said about spending a lot of time mastering the “basics” and then returning to them frequently. As professionals, how can we begin to teach fitness better, with this same philosophy?
Sometimes, in the name of making it “not boring”, we suggest exercises that are not appropriate. Sure, things might get repetitive, but how do we change our conversations and realize that doing same or similar movements matters?

How do we find “success” in taking time to build a solid foundation? Why do we expect something different from fitness then we do other things we learn in life? Maybe instead of “boring” it’s building a foundation? How do we find other ways such as connecting it with time spent with a group of friends or family members?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.
We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Growing Carrots

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Over the past year, more people picked up gardening as a hobby since it provided a safe environment and something to do outside the house. I happen to be one of those people who returned to gardening, something we did quite regularly growing up as a family. (Although I bet my parents wouldn’t say we did it happily or voluntarily!) This year, two of my nephews decided to join us and it started some interesting conversations surrounding growth and patience through their initial planting of carrots.

The planting of these carrot seeds took place in March and here we sit, the beginning of June, yet to actually eat a carrot. What a lesson in growth! From a seed in March to teeny tiny sprouts in April to very big stems in June with still more to go.

What if we learned from the way a carrot or any other plant goes through the life cycle? A planted seed needs to be watered and tended, a conscious paying attention to what it needs at various growth stages. What if it attracts a pest or fungus, something to impact growth? What would you do to give it proper care? No matter when you want the carrot to be ready, it will grow at its own pace. Regardless of how much you want the carrot, it will not magically appear.

What if we provided space for different attention needs at different times, awareness of various phases of growth of self and others as well as appropriate expectations? How do we learn to appreciate the rainy days, as we need those just as we need the sunshine?

How about being present in each phase of growth and not trying to be somewhere else.

Pondering …………………

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: What Makes it Social Media Worthy?

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Oh, social media! So many pieces and parts to the impact and role of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like in our society today. How do you decide what makes the cut for a social media post? What impact do other posts have on you?

Process the various pictures and messages posted regarding exercise, fitness, and nutrition. What do you usually see people post about? How do you find yourself responding both internally and publicly with a comment or “like”?

I notice that I see posts more often of a sweaty workout, a challenging run or bike ride or exercise with friends then I see someone post a picture of themselves stretching (not doing yoga) or doing mobility or balance and stability work. It also seems to be more often posts “making progress” then when struggling with something on the journey where posts become less and less.

How do we start to create more balance in what gets shared to the world? How do we start to make all the components of movement equally post worthy??

Pondering …………………

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.
We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and taking the steps to become a healthier YOU.

Salvere Blog: Virtual World “Stretch” #4 – Hips and Hamstrings

by Salvere Health and Fitness

How’s everyone doing? What stretches and movements did you experiment with other the last few weeks? Hows your body feeling? Do a little check in each day to see how and what impacts your body. Email us if you feel something specific and we can work to include it in our series.

In this blog, we will start to investigate the hips and hamstrings. Sitting creates many different opportunities for our body to be in awkward positions. Typically the hips and knees bend in close to a 90 degree angle. This causes the hamstrings (on the back of the leg) and hip flexors (on the front of the hips) to hang out in a shortened position. Then add in crossing the legs, wearing a wallet in the back pocket or the feet not touching the floor and other alignment issues appear.

For this week, lets keep things simple. Take time every hour or two to simply stand up. Think of what a give this gives those hips and hamstrings! When you stand up, take a few minutes to swing the legs back and forth, one at a time, march in place and maybe even a few circles of the leg out to the sides. This will help to loosen the muscles and give them a chance to stretch out.

As various parts of your body start to “feel” pay attention. Give them some TLC and you will do wonders for keeping your alignment going in a positive direction.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.
We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and taking the steps to become a healthier YOU.