These beach stairs are 300 yards from my office. There’s literally no excuse to not use them. Yesterday was the perfect time, after a mass of rain, the beach was deserted 😍
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Workout went something like this, essentially stair repeats:
✨ 1/4 mile run, sprint up, go down, repeat 3x
✨ 1/2 mile run, two at a time slow up, go down, repeat 2x
✨ 1/2 mile walk, sprint up, go down, 3 at a time fast up, go down, 2 at a time slow burn up
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The key with all successful stair workouts is this: knee stability and glut activation and proper pelvic alignment. I don’t recommend people who are new to excercise to do a high intensity stair workout like this... why? Because you have to have the above and that comes with development of quad strength, and glut activation.
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You see, most people can’t even activate their gluts: gluteus maximus, medius, or minimus. Glut max adds the power and glut med adds the stability. One reason why you can’t activate your glut, is because your pelvic balance is off- and your pelvis has anterior or posterior tilt. Alot of women have anterior pelvic tilt, and some have posterior pelvic tilt, but this compensation pattern is more rare in women and is more common in men. Either can happen if you’re male or female.
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If you have anterior pelvic tilt, you will not be able to squeeze and activate your gluts to full capacity and get the athletic power you need out of this muscle group. You CAN learn to activate the glut muscles no matter what kind of pelvic tilt you have, but to get full activation you NEED to correct the tilt.
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Running up stairs should ultimately feel effortless. With full extension of hip, knee and ankle joints on the push off. Your upper body should remain upright, and you should not be compensating by tilting your body forward at the hip, that’s a sign your gluts and pelvic tilt need to be addressed.
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Concerned you have issues like we just discussed above? See a qualified sports med ND, a good DPT, or a quality sports trainer. You’ll fly up the stairs in no time, and you’ll eventually get #bootygains in the process!
When I walk into a room of doctors, who are my colleagues, I’m usually pretty excited but equally hesitant.
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“Does this outfit make me look young?” “I’m not wearing any makeup, will they notice that and judge me?” “Will they see my young face and discount me?” “Will they think my dress / shorts reveal too much leg?” “Am I asking too many questions after the lecture?” “Am I too enthusiastic about science?” “Why isn’t everyone as excited as me?” “Will they judge my youthful spirit and not take me seriously?” “Will they tell me to tone down my enthusiasm?”
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And I laugh at this dialogue every single time, because it’s all krap my brain dreams up, and tonight I realized why- it’s from several past wounds.
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I can remember vividly, during a volleyball tournament day when I was playing club ball in HS, one girl from my team pulled me aside. She told me that they all thought I was too enthusiastic, too aggressive, and that “my personality was getting in the way of getting to know me” and could I please tone it down a bit.
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I remember being incredibly stunned at the time, and also strong enough to tell her “you’re ridiculous, I am not the issue here” - but these words stay in our head because words are powerful.
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I remember moving from LA to Seattle and some girls in the bathroom at med school were judging me for wearing bright blue courdoroy pants (stylish and from Jcrew btw 😂😉) and suggesting that I wear something a little “less bright.”
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I remember being the only extroverted child in a family of introverts and constantly being told to “calm down” because I was having a lot of passion + enthusiasm for something, which was misconstrued as being “all riled up.”
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These situations reinforced that I am 1) too much, 2) too enthusiastic, 3) too opinionated. But what my life experience has taught me, is that my strong, determined, bubbly, authentic personality is why my friends + family + patients love me. It’s a strength, not something I should EVER second guess about myself.
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It’s amazing to notice what your insecurities are trying to teach you, or what wounds they come from. But while our wounds shape us, they are meant to be healed, and not held open forever. 🌿💕
