Our patients here at Digital Nomad Health are interested in living a better quality of life with less disease and less medical intervention. One way to achieve this is developing the perfect harmony of strength, flexibility, and stability - we refer to this as Strength-Flow.
1. Strength
Lifting weights or any resistance training isn’t just for men. It isn’t for the young, either. Women and older people can do it, and those with severe chronic medical conditions might benefit the most from it.
Strength training doesn’t make you bulky or limit your range of motion or flexibility.
It improves your ability to maintain your balance, prevent falls, increase bony density, prevent joint damage, and increase stamina and energy.
2. Flexibility
Flexibility comes from the muscles, the connective tissue, ligaments, tendons, and the joints. Whether it’s scar tissue or lack of selectivity with old age, losing our flexibility limits the ability of the muscles to function at their best.
More flexibility decreases joint and tissue injury and helps with the stability or balance of the human body. Something imperative to prevent falls and fractures.
2. Stability
Stability is the key to preventing joint injuries and moving in our environments without falling or putting undue pressure on a joint surface.
Stability exercises are somewhat new and are mostly addressed in those with previous strokes or major vertigo issues. But we all benefit from it, and it’s common to start losing stability in our early 20s.
The Concept of Strength-Flow
Strength-Flow is the concept we teach here at DNH that embraces aerobic endurance, muscle strength, range of motion, and stability.
If my muscles tire out quickly, the mitochondria may not function optimally to help me live the best quality of life I want.
Without the flexibility and stability we discussed above, we are more likely to experience stiff joints, pains, falls, or overuse injuries.
Preventing Physical Degeneration
The most common chronic physical diseases we aim to prevent with our patients at DNH are:
- disc herniations
- osteoarthritis
- needing joint replacement
- bunions
- carpal tunnel syndrome
- labral tears
- chronic pain
- falls
- hip fractures
- wrist fractures
Can these all actually be prevented? Maybe, but perfection is the enemy. Doing anything in this regard will help. A mild disc herniation that responds easily to some physical therapy is much better than one that requires the intervention of a spine surgeon.
Join us @ DNH!
Interested in having the kind of physical body you feel good in? Join others here at Digital Nomad Health and learn about our Strength-Flow program.
The Strength-Flow Program
We test 4 concepts when it comes to the physical health of our patients:
- Aerobic Capacity
- Physical Strength
- Joint Flexibility
- Body Stability
1. Aerobic Capacity
Aerobic Capacity can be measured using VO2 Max, but there are other ways of estimating our body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently.
Improvement from baseline is more important than comparing one person’s VO2 Max to someone else’s.
We like HIIT training and use it in our Strength-Flow program, but there are other ways of achieving this. Generally, a good amount of Zone 2 training with some time spent in the higher zones is adequate for achieving good Aerobic Capacity.
2. Physical Strength
Moving weights here is the goal. However, some of our patients start out with isometric exercises. Eventually, the motion with resistance is important because it also addresses balance and flexibility.
We don’t believe in fast pumping of weights and begin most of our patients in steady contraction exercises with very controlled and rather slow eccentric movements of weights.
3. Joint Flexibility
We utilize a combination of dynamic and passive flexibility exercises. We’ve had a lot of success with Yoga but realize each person has their own preferences for particular types of motions.
4. Body Stability
The ability to control our movement and have strength and control throughout the entire range of motion is a powerful skill to develop.
This starts with controlled movements at first, and then we put our patients through various exercises, challenging their balance.