Welcome PJ Sharon
Welcome to Mary's Garden. Welcome PJ Sharon.
background in
physical therapy, my best advice for enthusiastic spring gardeners is:
As a Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA),
Massage Therapist (LMT), Certified Personal Fitness Trainer (CPFT), and Yoga
Instructor, Ms. Sharon brings a wealth of knowledge to her clients and
workshops. A graduate of Springfield Technical Community College and the
Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy, Ms. Sharon also holds certifications as
a personal trainer through the NFPT and teaches therapeutic yoga.
Thank you for joining us again, PJ.
Gardening
Tip: Beware the dangers of “Spring Fever”.
As
a massage therapist, personal trainer, and yoga instructor with a
Treat
gardening as an athletic event. I know it sounds silly, but you won’t regret
following this advice. Warm up, stretch, hydrate, and take frequent breaks to
avoid injury and save yourself a weeks’ worth of aching muscles and sore
joints. Start slow and build up just as you would if you were starting a new
exercise regimen at the gym. Whether you work out on a regular basis or have
spent the winter desk-dwelling or wearing the hat of the couch potato,
gardening requires a whole new level of athleticism, so treat your body kindly
and don’t go crazy right out of the gate.
Tips
for gardening safely…
If you’re like me, as
soon as that first sunny, sixty-five degree day rolls around, you’ll want to be
out prepping your garden, cleaning up winter’s debris, or otherwise trimming, shoveling,
lifting, digging, bending, and twisting your way into several days of debilitating
muscle strain and joint pain, effectively derailing your plan to “get-a-jump on spring clean-up”.
Overdoing is a gardener’s prerogative but let me suggest a few ways to minimize
the harmful effects of giving in to “spring fever.”
Dress for protection: Aside
from wearing adequate sunblock and a wide-brimmed hat, make sure you wear tick
repellent (even in early spring), and tuck your pants into your socks to avoid
the wee beasties gaining access to places you’re less likely to detect them. Do
a tick-check and brush off before entering your home and toss gardening clothes
directly into the wash for good measure. Shower to catch any stragglers and put
on after sun lotion to minimize sun damage. An ounce of prevention can save you
a lifetime of living with Lyme’s disease or dying of skin cancer because you
think you’re invincible and impervious to UV rays. Be smart!
Warm-up and stretch:
Dynamic stretching can be as simple as doing toe-touches, arm circles, trunk
twists, and military marching in place. Add a few walking lunges or squats and
you’ve done a basic warm-up and stretch to prepare your joints and muscles for
your gardening marathon.
Hydrate:
Fill a large water bottle and be prepared to drink at least a third of your
weight in ounces of water. (A 150-pound person needs to drink at least 50
ounces of water per day—more if you are sweating). Add citrus, an electrolyte
powder, or alternate with coconut water to balance electrolytes and maximize hydration.
Take frequent breaks:
It’s easy to get carried away in projects and suddenly realize you haven’t
stopped moving in the last five hours or that you’ve been pulling weeds too
long and now you can’t stand up straight. Have a plan for dividing projects
into short “sprints” rather than trying to get everything done in a day. Rotate heavier and lighter tasks (don’t plan
to build a stone wall the same day you need to move a load of mulch) and determine
ahead of time that you will take a fifteen-minute break once an hour. During
that time, you can rest, hydrate, and gently stretch (hamstrings, quads,
calves, hip flexors, hip rotators, shoulders/neck, and upper and lower back
muscles).
Bonus tip: Yoga
poses like crescent moon, downward dog, pigeon, wide angle forward fold and
cows face are quite restorative and hit all the right spots! Take a restorative
yoga class and consider scheduling a massage the day after your event to speed
recovery.
Enjoy!
You
can find these stretches and more tips for healthy living in my health and
wellness book: Overcome Your
Sedentary Lifestyle (A Practical Guide to Improving Health, Fitness, and
Well-being for Desk Dwellers and Couch Potatoes), along with tips on proper body
mechanics, ergonomics, nutrition, injury prevention and treatment, self-care
techniques, and even stress management tips.
Is a sedentary lifestyle killing you? Are
you gaining weight, developing neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, back
problems, or other health issues that are interfering with your ability to
achieve your goals or live life to the fullest?
Sedentary
Lifestyle Syndrome (SLS) is one of the fastest growing
health care crises of our time. In this digital age of techno-overload, where
most of our waking hours are spent sitting, or otherwise “connected” to some
device, we are quickly realizing the negative effects. If you can answer yes to
the following questions, you may be suffering from SLS.
· Do you sit for at least 6-8 hours per day
without adequate breaks?
· Have you gained significant weight from
lack of exercise and poor nutrition?
· Do you suffer from headaches, fatigue, listlessness,
and lack of motivation?
· Have you been diagnosed with one or more
health issues aggravated by prolonged sitting and lack of movement? (i.e.:
Obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome or posture
related orthopedic conditions)
Overcome
Your Sedentary Lifestyle is
the practical guide you need. Author and holistic health care professional, PJ
Sharon, includes tips to keep you healthy—even if sitting is in your job
description. Ms. Sharon offers easy to implement solutions for proper work
station set-up, exercises for injury prevention and treatment, and a practical
plan for self-care success—whether you’re perched on the couch, or on the way
to fulfilling your dreams.
Isn’t it time for you to stand up for your life?
As a Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA),
Massage Therapist (LMT), Certified Personal Fitness Trainer (CPFT), and Yoga
Instructor, Ms. Sharon brings a wealth of knowledge to her clients and
workshops. A graduate of Springfield Technical Community College and the
Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy, Ms. Sharon also holds certifications as
a personal trainer through the NFPT and teaches therapeutic yoga.
In addition to
authoring award winning young adult novels, PJ Sharon owns ABSolute Fitness and
Therapeutic Bodywork in East Granby, CT. With over twenty-five years in the
health and fitness industry, Ms. Sharon finally wrote the holistic living,
self-help guide her clients have been asking for.
When she’s not
writing romantic and hopeful stories for teens, or spreading the love through
her practice, she can be found kayaking in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts
and renovating an old farmhouse with the love of her life.
Website: http://www.pjsharon.com
Follow PJ on Twitter: @pjsharon http://www.twitter.com/pjsharon
“Like” PJ on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pjsharonbooks
Signup for PJ’s Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bm7rj5
Find PJ on Amazon’s Author Central page: https://www.amazn.com/author/pjsharon
Add OYSL to ‘Want to read’ list and rate it on GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27854102-overcome-your-sedentary-lifestyle
Thank you for joining us again, PJ.
Comments