Congrats, signing up for an Olympic-distance triathlon takes bravery! It also keeps you accountable to actually train to swim 1.5km (0.93 mi), bike 40km (25 mi), and run 10km (6.2 mi). Typically the hardest activity to train for is swimming, because it's where most people have the least amount of experience. In this blog article, there are some tips to help prepare you for the swimming portion of the race, as well as some tips on what to avoid.

Many people walk into our physical therapy office with injuries from sports or exercise classes where they participate in activities that are too advanced for them. A main example of this is when people participate in High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) exercises. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that HIIT is a great form of exercise. There’s actually very few forms of exercise I don’t approve of. The exercise isn’t the problem, it’s the individual’s preparedness for it. Do they have the prerequisite strength and motor control for those fast paced movements.

“I think I just need some stretches.”‍This is a comment I hear all the time when people come in for an evaluation. When I ask, “What stretches have you been doing?” They typically describe or show me a collection of stretches they’ve been doing for weeks, months or years. My follow up question is: “Do those stretches seem to help your condition?” Most people express uncertainty when presented with this question. They feel like their stretches help but they’re curious why, if they’re helping, their condition continues to worsen.

As any triathlete knows, riding a Time Trial (TT) bike is not the most comfortable position to maintain for 5, 10, 56, 112 miles or more. First and foremost, please get a good fit from a highly regarded certified bike fitter. Fitters can get certified through a variety of organizations such as: International Bike Fitting Institute, Retul, Wobble-Naught, FIST, etc. It is easy to get lost in a sea of bike fitters, so find a fitter affiliated with a local tri club or cycling team where you can ask around about the fitters expertise & experience. Creating a team of a PT, coach, and bike fitter is the ideal scenario for injury prevention.

So you just had your 6-week postpartum check-up and have been medically cleared for exercise for your doctor. That’s great news! ‍If you were a runner before giving birth, I’m sure you're eyeing your running shoes and feeling eager to get back out there.‍ But not so fast!...

Whether you are a former runner, a seasoned runner, or just beginning, how you are running is important. I don’t know about you, but until recently I was just lacing up my sneakers and running out the door. I never thought much about the way I was running, just how many miles I was going to do and how fast I could get them done. Your running form is just as important to your training as mileage, duration, and intensity. A few variables that can have a big impact on your performance include a proper warm-up, cadence, and shoe wear.

The health and wellness industry has been receiving the attention and value it deserves over the last few decades. Whether we're talking about the hottest new workout, latest self-care trend, or coolest fitness gadget to add to our gym bag, the topic of health and wellness is on the forefront of everyone's minds. Therefore, it should come to no surprise that, as a physical therapist, I support an active lifestyle for myself and for my clients.

Running is a wonderful activity for a new or seasoned mom to burn off steam, get some aerobic exercise, and have time to yourself. However, there does come a time when running alone isn’t practical and you need to bring your little one with you. So you pull out that jogging stroller, tie up those running shoes, and start running down your block with baby in tow. Then you quickly realize this is a lot harder than you thought!

Before starting a performance training program, it’s always best to go through the proper evaluations and preparations with a qualified movement expert, such as a physical therapist.

In a previous post, we discussed how kettlebells allow you to replicate many of the basic movements you make in everyday life. This type of strength training helps you re-establish natural movement patterns, learn how to handle unstable loads without thinking about it, and reduce the risk of injury.