FLO FITNESS

Today I had the opportunity to talk with Jason Papalio of Stamford Connecticut, who is an Athletic Recovery Specialist.  He has a unique way of using Yoga and Mindfulness to help his athletes stay injury free.  I got a chance to pick his brain and talk about Athletes, Injuries, and Mindset. This is just a short interview before our podcast that will be coming soon. FLO: Can you share with everyone what it is that you do? Jason:  Work with sports teams that range from high school to professional teams.  I help to teach them movement through yoga as well as mindfulness and breathing techniques. FLO: What’s your philosophy on training and how does it help with MMA Jason:  Most injuries happen because of a lack of range of motion. The mobility gained during the Yoga training can help the athletes to move better, which will improve athletic performance.    The mindfulness training can help MMA fighters stay aware during a fight so ...

The third time’s a charm right? Hopefully this third blog post about motor control and feedback will be my best yet. As I alluded to in my previous blog on the stages of learning, this blog will be about feedback. I am going to talk about the different types of feedback , as well as how to optimize feedback for better learning . Lets start by looking at the different types of feedback. There are two main categories of feedback: 1.     Task Intrinsic Feedback – performance related feedback that is available to the learner directly through their sensory system.   An example of this type of feedback would someone who is catching a ball knowing where the ball is because they can see it with their own visual system. 2.     Augmented Feedback – performance related feedback that is provided by an external source; it adds to or enhances the task intrinsic feedback. This category is further subdivided: a.     Knowledge of Resu...

Coming on the heels of Conor McGregor’s recent UFC victory, the world has taken notice of his unique training style that stresses the fluidity and primitive nature of human movement. Practices such as MovNat, Ido Portal’s Movement Culture, and Animal Flow are just a few of the many up and coming training styles that stress fluid and intuitive movement. These training styles focus on making movement efficient, adaptable, instinctual, and practical. To better understand how these training styles work, we need to understand how the body adapts to movement training. Lets start by defining a few terms. -        A motor unit is a motor neuron (nerve) and all of the muscles fibers that it innervates (communicates with). -        The neuromuscular junction is the place where a motor nerve synapses (meets) with a skeletal muscle fiber. Essentially, the neuromuscular junction is what connects the nervous system to the...

In the midst of Conor McGregor’s win over Jose Aldo, there was also another champ named that night and his name is MOVEMENT. And after a long a waited shot to break through all the traditional and political barriers that the Mix Martial Arts world is presumed to be build upon, Movement is finally receiving the recognition it deserve and I think it is here to stay.   Essentially, movement is everything we are and everything we do on a daily basis. From waking up in morning and getting out of bed, bending down to pick up the newspaper, squatting down to tie your shoes, this all requires movement. The mere action of these daily activities might sound simple but the beauty lies in what occurs inside the body to make it all possible. Our nervous system receives information from outside the body in order to understand where it is in time and space. After it confirms it is safe by sending a signal back to the nervous system, the brain or spinal cord sends a signal to the muscles allo...