We have a very special treat today and for our upcoming Fridays. We have started a new feature: Fitness Fridays with my dear friend and personal trainer extraordinaire, Laura Coleman of Just Muscles. I’ve been working with Laura for years now and I love her approach. She specializes in rehabilitative kinesiology, which essentially means she helps your body get back into alignment and thus optimal form through creative and strategic exercises.
A little background:
I used to have all sorts of wonky knee stuff. I have always loved running, but I always said that running didn’t love me. I’d train for a few months and then my knee would act up. I saw all sorts of professionals to help me through these times – massage therapists, chiropractors, physio therapists, trainers… you name it, I tried it. It would work for a while, but ultimately that knee would act up again and I’d be right back where I started.
When I met Laura and learned she was a trainer with this special focus, I told her a little bit about my knee. Her response: “We can fix that.” I just laughed and wrote her off. What on earth could she do that none of these other folks had done?
We became friends and every so often I’d complain about my knee. She’d say again, “we can fix that” and again I’d either ignore her or just shrug it off. Until one day I finally figured I’d give her a try.
I won’t give away her techniques, but I’ll say that they were unlike anything I’d ever seen before. She even asked me if I’d crawled as a baby (nope) and incorporate crawling into my routine (which is surprisingly hard to do correctly if you didn’t do it as a baby). The amazing thing was the transformation I was seeing and feeling in my body right before my eyes in that one session. She’d “prescribe” an exercise, and I’d do it and we’d see if it made a positive difference. If it did, we kept going in that direction. If it didn’t, we’d move onto something else.
An hour and a half later, I was standing differently, my knee didn’t hurt anymore, and even walking was totally new. But best of all, with just a few quick exercises a day, I was able to rehab that knee immediately and have since that time trained for and run two marathons without a single injury. I’d never made it past 8 miles before without tweaking something.
And so, I’m more than thrilled that Laura has agreed to share some of her wisdom with all of us here each week! This first week she introduces us to one of her most powerful tools: the foam roller. Check it out:
Come back next Friday for your next installment of Fitness Friday!
Laura Coleman rocked my world a few years back when she helped me get to the root of all the knee and lower-back issues I’d had since my teens. In just a couple of sessions, Laura put me on a simple program of rehab exercises (unlike any I’d ever seen before) that brought my body back into alignment and actually fixed the problem that no physiotherapist, massage therapist, or chiropractor had ever been able to solve. I was hooked! We’ve been terrific friends and shared many clients since, and I’m delighted that she has offered to share her wisdom with all of you via this Fitness Friday video series. Laura lives in Portland, OR with her two gorgeous daughters. She works her magic at Club Sport and with clients all over the continent via the magic of technology (aka Skype). Check out her blog and website here.
i would like to try the foam roller but where do i find the right one. i am from the niagara region in ontario canada so somewhere near by would be great. thanks
Hi Paula, I’m not sure about a place near you, but here’s a link to an online source for the exact foam roller laura recommends highly.