Family Friendly Millard Falls Trail in Altadena

I was asked today where a photo was taken with my kids this past  weekend. It was at Millard Falls in Altadena up the Chaney Trail. We've taken our kids there since they were toddlers because it is close to town and very easy for them to do on their own. It was closed for a long time so this was our first visit back in a while. I highly recommend it for any families wanting to introduce hiking to their young kids. It's shady along the trail which hugs the stream up to the falls.  Kids especially love to take their time by the water looking for frogs and salamanders or any other critters. We saw so many beautiful blue birds, not sure exactly what type, but they caught our attention because they were up on the hill digging for food which created a falling debris over our heads. What a better way to learn about nature than by watching it and learning to respect it.

My kids have come to enjoy hikes, they have a few friends who join them. They mostly love them when near streams. They get angry at me often for pushing them further than maybe I should have. But at the end of the day my son said to me at Millard Falls this past weekend, given a choice he would choose the mountains over the ocean. A boy after my heart....

High Protein Breakfast Ideas

I came across this older article with a few suggestions for  high protein breakfasts. I personally have the oatmeal  listed here a few days a week ( when I am being good ). Since I often don't have a break in my schedule until close to noon this usually fills me up nicely and holds me over until lunchtime.

Let me know what you think.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/10/high-protein-breakfasts_n_3732490.html

CPR Training Coming to Pilates of Pasadena

CPR CERTIFICATION CLASS

Pilates of Pasadena is hosting a CPR course for all ages! Saturday June 4th @ Noon - $50.00

RSVP: info@pilatesofpasadena.com

 

http://www.code3life.com

 

Pilates of Pasadena
990 South Arroyo Parkway unit 2 Pasadena, CA 91105 www.pilatesofpasadena.com

(626) 765-6500

 

990 S. Arroyo Parkway Blvd. Pasadena, California 91105

   

You Cannot Ignore Your Feet in Pilates

This is my conclusion to previous blogs regarding strengthening of the feet.

 

Pilates is typically performed bare footed. In an hour’s workout, 50% percent of the time the feet are active and in contact with equipment. In the "footwork" portion of a Pilates workout, the feet are in constant motion as they work utilizing resistance from the body and facilitated by springs that are part of the apparatus. These exercises are performed in either plantar flexion or dorsiflexion positions. Simply put, the feet are either up on their toes or in a flexed position. In these varied positions, all of the muscles throughout the feet are being strengthened and stretched.

At Pilates of Pasadena we also incorporate additional exercise props such as Thera-Band, along with a wide variety of balance equipment, to our Pilates repertoire. 

Whether you are working on strengthening your feet or on balance. Pilates will do it!

Maria

The Right Way to Strengthen Your Feet by Michael Frank for Men's Journal

You run to boost your heart rate, lift to build strength, and stretch to stay flexible. But chances are you're ignoring some of the most important muscles in your body: those in your feet and ankles.

If you're like most people, your feet have probably grown weak and inflexible — underused, confined in shoes, and idle the majority of the day under a desk — and they're not providing the support the rest of your body needs. Something has to compensate to pick up that slack, a burden that usually falls on the back, hips, knees, and shoulders. "I get all these patients who say, 'I have chronically tight IT bands' or 'I've always had this low back pain,' " says Chris Delehanty, director of Physiofitness, a physical therapy clinic in New York City. "You look at how they stand, and the light comes on: weak feet." This, Delehanty says, is the real source of many chronic injuries and pain.

Yet go to the gym, and the one body part you don't see people targeting is their feet. "The majority of us — even some of the most elite athletes I've trained — have little-girl feet," says Jay Dicharry, director of REP Biomechanics, in Bend, Oregon, the physical therapy lab of the U.S. Ski Team and other pro athletes. Among the problems Dicharry regularly encounters: stiff ankles, tight Achilles tendons, toes that won't spread and bend, and immobility in the small, stabilizing foot muscles — all of these issues get in the way of reaching peak performance. "We've finally absorbed the message that to do any sport well you need a strong core," says Dicharry. "But a strong core is useless without a strong foundation."

How much work do your feet need? Dicharry suggests this test: While barefoot, try to push your big toe down as you lift the other four toes off the floor. If you can't, that's a clear sign that the muscles in your feet are not as strong as they could be, and your ligaments and tendons are tight. This inhibits the ability to plant the toes and push off — a basic action that affects the height of your jumps, the speed of your sprints, and how quickly you can make a lateral cut. Delehanty, meanwhile, uses this test to assess ankle mobility: Put your bare feet together and try to squat; your butt should hit your ankles. If it doesn't, your ankles are tight. "If your ankles move well, you move well," Delehanty explains.

You'd be surprised at how many people flunk those tests. "We plant our feet more than 10,000 times a day to sit, stand, and walk; make that 15,000 to 20,000 times if you exercise," says Rock Positano, director of the nonsurgical foot and ankle center at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. "And each time our foot presses into the ground, it absorbs some 300 pounds of force." The wear and tear adds up. If that tension was in any other part of our bodies, we'd hit the foam roller, stretch, or try massage. "But when was the last time you did any recovery work for your feet?" asks Jill Miller, a movement specialist and the author of the mobility guide The Roll Model.

Check in with our blog tomorrow for my conclusion to this weeks information on the importance of strengthening your feet and how integral this is in every Pilates session. 

Maria Jiménez-Tierney

 

NEW MODEL SHOWS IMPORTANCE OF FEET, TOES IN BODY BALANCE

More on feet:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers are using a new model to learn more about how toe strength can determine how far people can lean while keeping their balance.

The results could help in building robotic body parts that will closely imitate human movement, and might lead to a new generation of advanced prosthetics.

Many studies concerning human balance have emphasized the legs and upper body while ignoring the feet, he said.

Hooshang Hamami, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State University built a complex computational model of the human foot to look at the role of the feet and toes in determining the body’s movement and balance.

“My hope is that my work will inspire construction of robotic models of various body parts that can move similarly to the human body. If you can make a robot or computer model kick a soccer ball like a soccer player, we will have a better understanding of how various parts of the body work during movement. Then, perhaps, you can build an artificial spinal cord that could help the handicapped,” Hemami said. “Attaching a robotic spinal cord to the outside of someone who is handicapped could help muscle development.”

 

 

 

Your Feet Need Training Just Like the Rest of Your Body

Feet can take a beating if you participate in sports. And just like any other structure in the body, dysfunction in our feet can lead to serious issues, including knee pain or lower back aches.

IMG_0157.JPG

Your feet need training and conditioning just like the rest of your body.

Why Exercise Your Feet?

The muscle groups of your two feet make up 25 percent of the body's muscles. If you ignore the strength and function of the muscles in your feet, it is like eliminating upper-body exercises from your routine. 

Exercises that innervate the intrinsic foot muscles and restore the length of lower leg muscles are extremely important. Foot strength directly influences proper foot mechanics, gait patterns, ankle stabilization, and whole-body balance.

 

About The Author

Suzanna McGee

Suzanna McGee is a Ms. Natural Olympia bodybuilding champion and athletic trainer with a focus on sport conditioning and injury prevention

Pasadena Garden Club Centennial Flower Show

The Pasadena Garden Club Centennial Celebration/Flower Show 2016

Themed “Reflections-A Centennial Celebration” the event will feature Flower Arranging, Horticulture,Photography,Botanical Arts and Needle Arts

From STAFF REPORTS

Friday, April 1, 2016

 

 

On April 23rd and 24th, the Pasadena Public Library will be transformed into a botanical paradise. “Reflections – A Centennial Celebration”, a Garden Club of America Flower Show presented by the Pasadena Garden Club will be open to the public, free of charge during the library hours of 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.

A grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 23rd at 8:45 a.m. to honor the Pasadena Garden Club’s centennial year and the club’s involvement in the Pasadena community for 100 years.

Philanthropist Arthur C. Noble, a Star-News headline announced: “Prominent people form organization to aid beautification of the city.” Now 100 years later, members say, the Pasadena Garden Club maintains that core mission, continues its early influence on preserving the Arroyo Seco; and works to restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment, through programs and actions in the fields of environment, conservation, civic improvements and education.

Myron Hunt one of the club’s founding members was the architect for the Pasadena Public Library and the architect for the Casita del Arroyo, a community meeting house, with a water demonstration garden and butterfly sanctuary, which has been the major community project for the Pasadena Garden Club since it was conceived, designed and built as a public works project during the Great Depression. The building was a joint project between the Pasadena Garden Club and the City of Pasadena. Its walls include boulders from the Arroyo, and its original roof shakes cuttings from fallen trees in the upper canyon. Virtually all the lumber came from the bicycle track built inside the Rose Bowl for the 1932 Olympics.

The purpose of this Garden Club of America flower show staged within the Library is to set standards of artistic and horticultural excellence. Judges from all over the United States will offer their evaluation of the individual entries.

Viewers will be inspired by floral designs including period style botanical hats, miniature arrangements, and traditional and modern interpretive designs.

A horticulture division will feature Pasadena landmark gardens created to miniature scale; display containers of native plants; succulents in a salvaged container; window boxes displaying culinary herbs as an ode to Julia Child; and cut roses from the gardens of garden club members. Judges will look at 35 ‘Heuchera Maxima’ challenge plants to decide what makes one stand out as the blue ribbon winner?

Another division ‘Pasadena in Focus’ is a photography exhibit of creative views of the city as seen through the lenses of talented photographers. In Botanical Arts entries of necklaces and crowns made only of botanical dried material are transformed into adornment worthy of the city’s celebrated Rose Queen and Princesses.

Needlework canvases in this division take La Casita del Arroyo as their theme.

And last but not to be missed the POP Conservation Garden Exhibit will present how to make your local garden a haven for bee, bird and butterfly pollinators.

A visit to the library to see this show will be a morning or afternoon well spent.

For more information, contact Robin Stever at (626) 695-2846 or email robinstever@yahoo.com.

For more information about Pasadena Garden Club, visit pasadenagardenclub.com.

Athleta Empowering Young Girls

I would like to forward this message from our friend Ashley Rodrigues.

Hey ladies!

I wanted to invite you all to a special event we have going on May 7th.  Athleta is working on a new campaign called "Power to the she" which will give the message of women empowerment. "At Athleta, we believe in the limitless potential of women and girls. And we believe that undermining one another is one of the key blocks to realizing that potential. Athleta will be the first brand to take on undermining – raising awareness while tackling a key cultural issue – and acting as a catalyst in the growing momentum of female support. Alone we are strong, united we thrive"

It will take place from 12-1pm here inside our shop and we will be partnering with Girls on the run. Girls on the run will be speaking about their empowerment message as they push young girls to learn key life lessons while building confidence and celebrating their accomplishments at the end of the season with a 5K. We will also be taking donations for GOTR during that week.

This will also tie in with our GIRLS line which will launch April 27th. With this 60 min event we want to bring the community together and tackle these issues. If you have any clients with young girls, teach younger girls or have a daughter yourself we ask that you invite them  

We will also be having refreshments and snacks and getting to know one another.

If you'd like to attend and want to invite anyone please let me know. We are hoping for a large turn out for this.

Thank you 

Ashley Rodrigues

Community and Events Lead/ Athleta 

T (626) 765-0183 Ashley_rodrigues@stores.gap.com 

46 W Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105

Athleta.com