Maggie Downie, Author at Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

What is fascia?

Drink fluids for healthy fascia!

This month we are highlighting fascia. Fascia is the connective tissue that runs along every surface of the body, encasing the organs, muscles, and other soft tissue like a sausage casing or the sections of an orange—where each large and tiny segment of juice is held together by a sleek, thin film. So the muscles themselves are encased, but so is each muscle fiber. Fascia is everywhere in our body. There are different types of fascia in your body that serve different purposes.

Fascia helps us move. It helps make us glide so that when we move our skin, tendons, and muscles don’t stick to all our other parts. Each part can slither smoothly alongside each other. Fascia can help the muscles do their job. When healthy fascia remains springy (for lack of a better word) in movement, the muscles can use less energy and won’t fatigue as quickly because the fascia takes some of the burden of force and helps the body return to its “normal” shape. Fascia is your friend for all kinds of movement.

Recently it was “discovered” that a particular type of […]

What is fascia?Maggie Downie2018-05-04T11:38:40-04:00

Happy Mother’s Day!

There are many reasons why I’m grateful I had the mother I had. Here are just some in honor of Mother’s Day!

Advice

Me and my mom, my mom and me

My mom has always been a great advice giver. She taught me to never let them know they are getting to you. When things didn’t go my way, she encouraged me to see the humor and the story in the event. She always encouraged me to pursue dreams without letting me think they are easily attainable.

No Pressure

My mom expected us to try our best, but there was no pressure to do better or be a straight A student for the sake of getting A’s or killing ourselves. She has always balanced work with fun and encouraged relaxation—a trait I’m still trying to learn from her. I admire her ability relax. It’s vital to our health and we don’t give enough credit for those who don’t sweat the small stuff. The older I get, the more I appreciate this about my mother. Not just because it is a good trait, but because I was born a type-A, go getter who could burn the […]

Happy Mother’s Day!Maggie Downie2018-05-04T10:52:34-04:00

Fascia & Chronic Low Back Pain

Supporting the legs will often make it easier to do a pelvic tilt from the abs.

If you are prone to low back pain, you might want to consider fascia as the culprit, especially if an X-ray and MRI reveal that nothing is wrong.

Fascia is the connective tissue that runs along and encapsulates everything in our body. Research has shown that people with chronic low back pain have lumbar fascia that is about 25% thicker than people without pain.

What should you do if the lumbar (low back) fascia might be causing your pain?

1) Massage

Find a qualified good massage therapist. An effective massage does not have to feel like torture. You don’t have to opt for a sport massage, unless that’s up you alley.

2) Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate

Like most of our body our fascia needs […]

Fascia & Chronic Low Back PainMaggie Downie2018-04-27T06:57:45-04:00

Wrist Pain When Exercising

If your writs don’t hurt you may take for granted how much they are supporting you on an exercise like sidebends.

Our fingers do not have any muscles. They move like puppets on a string via tendons connected to the muscles of the hand and forearm. That means we need flexible, strong, mobile wrists so that our fingers can maintain all their movements. The opposable thumbs we love so much would be less useful without a tendon running off a muscle down through our wrist. Whether our wrists are tight or weak, it can cause wrist pain when we do exercises that rely on the wrists. This includes plank, push-ups, tricep dips, holding weights, or supporting your body weight in any way. If the wrists are getting in the way, it can drastically limit our upper body work.

Injuries or carpel tunnel make people think of their wrists, but otherwise, unlike six pack abs, most people are not looking to tone their wrists. This becomes a problem if you go to do an exercise and your wrists get in the way because they are weak or feel strained when you put your […]

Wrist Pain When ExercisingMaggie Downie2018-03-21T15:42:56-04:00

Straight Arm or Elbow Plank

Snap a picture doing your favorite version of plank and send it our way!

As humans we ponder many great philosophical questions of life such as what is the meaning of life? Or can we trust our own memories? What is time? What is reality? And now we can add should I be doing a straight arm or elbow plank (aka forearm plank)? People always want to know which is harder.

The Answer

Apparently, the answer to this seemingly simple question is as mind boggling as all the rest. Making the answer: BOTH. Alternating between both is important because the body requires, likes, and benefits from variety.

Read a book or look online and most places will tell you a straight arm plank is harder, but not all agree. Clearly, this is a mystery. In my body, there is no doubt in my mind that an elbow plank is considerably more challenging. Everybody is different. But here are the facts we have.

Facts

An elbow plank works your abdominal muscles more. Everyone agrees on that and you can probably feel it for yourself if you compare planks.

Elbow plank is easier on the wrists. So if your […]

Straight Arm or Elbow PlankMaggie Downie2018-03-21T15:42:15-04:00

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