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SPRING INTO PILATES MAT CLASSES and PERSONAL TRAINING

3/1/2023

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Dear Pilates Friends,

I look forward to our Spring Pilates Reunion in the weeks ahead. The spring mat session will be 10 weeks, $100. Please pro-rate as needed. Classes will be offered Mondays at 5:15p.m. and Tuesday mornings at 8:30a.m. We will begin Monday, March 20, and the session will conclude June 5th. (No Class: May 8th, May 9th, & Labor Day)

As always, a minimum of 5 pre-registered participants is required for each mat class. If necessary, based upon enrollment, additional classes may be added. Please let me know your preferences and confirm your space via cash, check or venmo @Tiffany-Larson-32.

Personal Training will resume weekdays beginning Tuesday, March 14th. Please refer to my website Home Training, LLC for pricing details.  A few clients have personal training sessions remaining from a purchase in 2022. Please contact me at your convenience so that we can schedule those appointments.

During this time in Florida, I made the commitment of 6 personal training sessions in January.  The emphasis was on the development of an overall strengthening program using weights, machines, and basic functional movement props such as TRX, BOSUs, and physio balls. This was new for me as in spite of my 30+ years of exercise, personal training certifications, and Pilates and yoga teaching, I had never enlisted the services of a trainer for myself! I was pleasantly surprised by the difference this commitment and accountability made to my physical and mental health. While I missed the experience in February, I now have a strength training plan for the months ahead. With a little self-discipline, I hope to continue the program in West Bend. If you need extra encouragement or a push, find a trainer (Home Training or otherwise) and establish a program that is sensible for your body and goals.  

Looking forward to seeing you all soon and resuming our Pilates and fitness pursuits together in the Home Training gym and studio.  Wishing you all the best of health, MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT.

Warmly,
Tiffany Larson, MHS, OT
Power Pilates Instructor, 200 hour RYT

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Stan's Sunday Funday in Goodland, Florida

1/30/2023

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Joe Pilates said, "We retire too early and we die too young. Our prime of life should be in the 70's and old age should not come until we are almost 100."  Joe would be pleased with the lifestyles in South Florida, some might even refer to the area as a "Blue Zone," or a region of the world where people live longer than average. Some factors that contribute to a blue zone include eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, getting enough sleep, and having strong spiritual, family and social networks.  Ironically, except for sleeping, you can find nearly all these positive variables at Stan's Sunday Funday!
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https://www.stansidlehourgoodland.com/gallery If visiting the southwest coast of Florida, you may elect to attend Stan's Sunday Funday at the Idle Hour on Goodland, Florida.  Goodland is a small community off Marco Island and part of Marco's rich history. Goodland is believed to have been founded by Johnny Roberts in the late 1800's. It featured a 40-acre shell mound left by the Calusa Indians that was ideal for growing fruits and vegetables. It was also a popular fishing destination. Today about 200 residents call the fishing community home.  According to www.goodland.com the quiet village changes dramatically on Sundays when hundreds, and even thousands, of residents and visitors make the pilgrimage to Stan's for an afternoon of outdoor music, dancing, food and fun.
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Next week, (always the week before Super Bowl Sunday), is the 39th annual Mullet Festival and Buzzard Lope dance contest.  Stanley Gober, the original owner, passed away June 18th, 2012. Stan was well-known as people journeyed to his Goodland Idle Hour to hear Stan on a Sunday sing and perform. Born in Bessemer, AL, Stan was a child of the Great Depression. By the age of 12 he was working in restaurants to help support his family.  Just days before his 18th birthday, Stan joined the Navy and in 1944 was sent to the South Pacific as World War II raged. In his book, Stan: An American Story he says, "I was the lucky one," as his time in the military was tame compared to most.
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Stan married Faye Campbell and they had three sons in addition to a daughter. Migrating to Miami he worked more than twenty years with the telephone company and in his spare time traversed the Tamiami Trail fishing the backwaters of Goodland and Marco Island. In 1969 he made a permanent move to Goodland and purchased the Idle Hour Motel and the following year the restaurant. The stage became an outlet for his love of entertaining and he wrote the infamous "Buzzard Lope" and created the annual Mullet Festival, a party to honor the bait fish that gave Goodland its fishing village credibility. The restaurant, hospitality, and entertainment traditions continue through his children.  According to his obituary, "Stan was a family man, a singer, a songwriter, a comedian, and a true entertainer. Stan was red, white and blue through and through. He loved his country and he loved Goodland. He was a philanthropist, constantly raising money for organizations within the community. He was also a friend to many."

Stan's Sunday Funday always begins with a special 1p.m. tribute to our nation with a traditional rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.  It is a reverent, solemn moment and you can hear a pin-drop as both stanzas of our anthem are sung in its entirety. Following thunderous applause, the band takes the stage, and the dance floor becomes packed with revelers from 20 to about 8 decades older!  And suffice it to say, it's the over-80 crowd that sets the pace for the rest of us! We were lucky to have dear Wisconsin friends with us at Stan's. They set the bar high and if I have any hope of enjoying life in similar fashion for the next 5 decades, then I must make stamina and endurance a priority!
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Family, friends, faith, fun, food and music,  these attributes and more tend to combine for an incredible day at Stan's. If you arrive early, you may get a table, but if you are after 11:30a.m., don't worry, the crowd always will squish together and welcome more to their tables!  We had organized 7 of us to attend this past Sunday morning. We arrived by 10:30a.m. to ensure an ideal location. By noon we too slid together to make room for some late arrivals seeking shade and a table to relax. To my husband's good fortune, one of the women owns a fishing lodge, Birch Grove Resort, in International Falls, Minnesota! He got her card and might change his usual summer fishing destination from Canada to Minnesota. Basically, everyone makes friends very easily at Stan's, which was always Stan's ultimate objective. Create an environment where people celebrate life, our nation, and strangers become fast friends!

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Counting Sheep or Fast Asleep?

1/21/2023

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​This week I noted a discount on the Amazon Halo Band. ($24.99 plus free 6 month membership, normally $3.99/month). This is a simple appearing device, it looks like a velcro band around my wrist, but offers high tech insight to my daily movement, heart-rate, activity levels, fat/skeletal muscle biometrics, sleep quality, and even my tone of voice! Evidently tracking your tone of voice provides insight into your moods and how people might relate to your presence. After 25 years of marriage, we don't need a tone tracker! If this is true in your case, you can turn off the tone portion on the app to save your battery life!


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Anyhow, I have never had a "wearable," whether an apple watch or fitibt, they never appealed to me. I am too easily distracted as it is to then have constant rings and dings of texts, calls, and reminders at my wrist. I have seen their effect too on my clients as even when they set aside time for personal training it is often interrupted by random messages which takes the focus off their movement and puts their mind back to their daily stressors. The beauty of the halo band is it records details of your health and you can view the data display at your leisure from your paired cell-phone. There are hundreds of detailed reviews on Amazon if you are curious about the depth of this device. I am not a techy person but was able to pair the device and read the data within 30 minutes of taking it out of the box.
To assess your body mass, one leans the camera vertical on a counter-top and while wearing minimal clothing (I wore a 2 piece swimsuit) the camera scans your body from all angles! It gives you prompts, "Turn to the right," " Now turn to the right again..." until it has obtained a 3-dimensional view of your body. I found it absolutely amazing. The same is true with measuring dynamic movements. The app prompts you to stand on 1 leg for 10 seconds, to lunge forward, to squat as well as to reach. It takes pictures of all these movement patterns, generates a score, and then provides reommendations of exercises that might enhance your strength, stability and range of motion. Maybe I am easily impressed, but it seemed incredibly detailed for a simple wrist band and a $24.99 price! In addition, the app houses hundreds of workouts from kettlebells to yoga to HITT. In fact, today I plan to do the 25 minute kettlebell workout in the small gym at the rental unit.


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​I can share more details in the days ahead as my experience with the app is still in its infancy. I ordered it Wednesday, it arrived Thursday, and I activated it for sleep tracking Thursday night. The sleep tracking function is probably the primary reason I purchased the device. Sleep has been a challenge for me over the years and I recognize quality sleep enhances every part of our physical function from metabolism to cognition and may even aid in the prevention of certain diseases like dementia. In addition, as I have shared, I am on a quest to build more muscle. A lack of sleep will short-change your body composition goals as sleep helps muscle release protein building amino acids into the bloodstream at an increased rate which helps them grow bigger and stronger over time. Sleep also aids in muscle repair, particularly during the rapid eye movement phase which is when growth hormone is released.


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​The screenshots show a few features of the sleep app. Last night I used the meditation option and listened to a 10 minute guided relaxation sequence prior to falling asleep. While there was significant improvement between Thursday night versus Friday night, one thing I lack is a full 8 hours of sleep! Often I awake around 2:30a.m. then have trouble returning to sleep. At least when I awoke this morning I had experienced quality sleep over the previous 6 hours versus Thursday evening where my sleep was a mess! I can pinpoint conversations, activities, and even food/drink intake that has a positive or negative effect on my sleep habits. Over time, I hope to improve my sleep hygiene through simple strategies and overall awareness. Obviously, my first step should be removing my phone from the bedside table! The good news is the halo will continue to track sleep quality even if the phone is in a different room.
Thanks for reading! Always curious to hear what has worked for you when it comes to wearable devices, sleep habits, and overall wellness. Enjoy the day!

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Relieve Tension and Increase Strength

1/19/2023

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Here are a few brief clips demonstrating movements to enhance thoracic spine extension, mobility, and shoulder strength.  Over the years I have written a number of in-depth blogs regarding shoulder function and development so feel free and use the search tool for more details. Sometimes we simply need to move our body through a variety of planes and discover what relieves tension and enhances motion. Perhaps it is my island mind-set that encourages my less rules, more movement philosophy!  Focus on your breathwork, full, deep inhales and exhales, as well as being aware of the position of the shoulders. Are the shoulders attached to your ears or drawn lightly down your back with width of the shoulder blades? As always, I value the gentle neck ramping movement, draw the chin lightly back to create length and strength through the back of the neck.  Keep in mind though, if you just need to let your head fall through your arms in gentle flexion to relieve tension, that is fine too! Play with it!
These are gentle joint oscillations in flexion over a half foam roller.  The roller provides gentle pressure to joint segments between the thoracic vertebrae. This movement helps to lessen tension. Although it resembles a curl-up, the emphasis is on lightly curling and relaxing back toward neutral or slight thoracic extension.  Begin around the mid-ribcage and work up toward the shoulder blades.  As always, these are simply movements that have been helpful for me through the years...they may or may not be suitable for you.  Explore and question how they feel to your body.  This is a great exercise to emphasize a tummy vacuum on the exhale. Exhale as you lightly lift and sink your abdominals toward your backbone; inhale as you return to neutral.  Check that your abdominals are pulling in on your exhale and seek to avoid the "pooching" or "doming" of the abs.
After you release tension through the mid back/thoracic region, then we need to build some strength. Can you lift your face and chest sequentially away from the ball without flaring the ribs or over-using the low back?  This segmental mobility from head to tail is healthy for the spine as the spine is designed to move in both directions rather than get stuck and fixed in one position.  Move slowly and mindfully and keep thinking "reach" through the crown of the head.  Finally, if you have sustained endurance to maintain extension of the upper thoracic spine, test if you can maintain the length and add shoulder movements like Y's, T's, W's and I's. (p.s. there was a gentleman in the gym watching soap operas while walking on the treadmill. I don't think I successfully eliminated the background noise.  Just turn down your volume! This tech stuff does not come easy for me!)  Thanks for reading.
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Ron's IslandĀ  Shrimp with Mango Salsa and Avocado

1/15/2023

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One of the best things about Florida is the abundance of year-round fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood. When the kids were here for the holiday, we tended to eat out more than usual however with their departure we find eating in to be healthy and economical.There are multiple farmer's market during the week within a 10 mile radius, but we tend to favor Wednesday's at Marco Island's Veteran's Park, a 2 mile walk from our condo. Last week we emphasized mangos, avocados, blueberries, strawberries, Honeybell oranges and onions in our bounty. Ron enjoys cooking both seafood and meat, so he often takes charge of the entree.  I like getting creative with some of the side dishes so I was happy to make a salsa to compliment his inspired shirmp recipe, one he has made for years.  This, as well as his Shrimp and Grits recipe, was a go-to favorite during the holidays.

PictureRather than using Sriracha Sauce for today's recipe, we opted for a habanero sauce called Barnacle Blaster from our favorite tiki bar, The Snook Inn!
Ron's Island Shrimp with Mango Salsa and Avocado ​www.kulinarian.com/recipes/ron-s-island-shrimp-with-mango-salsa-and-avocado?embed=link

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A Grinch Inspired Christmas Prank

1/7/2023

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This was the first perplexing gift opened by my son from his dad; a set of Skip-Bo cards. Grandma Larson tells Trey, "I was going to get you those, but your dad said you probably wouldn't play Skip-Bo!" Little did she know, this was the exact set of cards she had picked up for Trey and left on the kitchen table at her home.
This Christmas my daughter shared with my husband a funny, popular prank she had seen on social media. It involved grinch like antics of secretly taking items from Grandma's house and wrapping them up for family members under the tree. All are aware of the joke except for Grandma!  My husband went to his mother's house when she was at her sister's house earlier on Christmas Eve. He took a game of Skip-Bo (to give to my son), some Santa and snowmen arts and crafts for me, a John Adams and Bill O'Reilly book for me to give to him, a fish wall art from my son to his dad, and finally a black panther lamp/table decor that she would undeniably unwrap and recognize as her own.  Grandma Larson is keen and sharp, not easy to trick, so this success is due to the natural acting skills of the family. No doubt, if this had been my mom, she would have been inexplicably confused and then laughed about it for years to come!
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Tiffany Larson, Power Pilates instructor, occupational therapist, and personal trainer provides small group and personal training within her home studio in West Bend, Wisconsin.
​hometrainingllc@gmail.com
Photo used under Creative Commons from sigsegv