Justin G. Walls, Certified Personal Athletic Trainer

Putting the right foot forward Starting off on the wrong one can make you trip Ok, Enough with the puns. My favorite spring pastime, besides baseball, is observing the new runners out there. Yes, you have seen them too: You see, there are four really important parts to running: Posture - good spine control while running is important Cadence - how often and at what frequency you strike the ground Midfoot - too much heel is bad for your back, too much toe is prancing! Lean - proper placement of center of gravity Not everyone has the proper form for running, but believes it is an easy and economical way to lose weight. But it's not when done incorrectly. It can become a huge expense and burden on ones time to heal from running injuries. The number of injuries per 1000 people is pretty low, but the chronic injuries can reoccur  in a half to two thirds of runners reporting injuries. Runners World had a pretty comprehensive article on many of the injuries that can oc...

The Best Thing About Five Minute Workouts... ...Is That You Can Do As Many Rounds As You Want! Exercise #1 Body Saw You'll need a little bit of equipment for this, like  Glidders  or any furniture mover, or even just a towel if you are on hardwood. Start off in a solid plank position ( I discussed good form for planks in an earlier post ). Extend your forearms forward to slide backwards and tuck your hips under you so as not to squeeze your low back for balance. You abs and lats should start to become more active and you should bring your shoulder blades to the front of your body as you extend the arms to engage your lats even further. Pay particular attention to how his shoulder blades come forward to stabilize the body. Proceed through this exercise slowly for :30 seconds Exercise #2 Opposite Side Toe Touches From the plank position, raise up into a straight arm plank. Swing your left leg under your body as straight as possible until you can touch your l...

This week was the more official opening day of major league baseball, which used to not happen until April 1 for about a century. In honor of the historic opening day, I've put together a workout for those of you who play or would like to play baseball or softball. Power and Explosion instead of Endurance and Strength When thinking of baseball, the first thing that should come to mind is that everyone is just standing there and then need to jump into action! Here's a few exercises to put some spring in your step for baseball or softball Lateral Ladder Drills:  Working on lateral movements is really important because not everything in this game comes right at you. For this workout, if you have a ladder, then use it like you see in the video. If you don't have a ladder, you can still do this. Take ten lateral steps leading with your left (or until you finish the ladder) and then turn and straight sprint 15 yards. Repeat leading with your right, finishing wit...