HNL Movement Podcast

What is motor control? What does acceptable motor control look like? Listen in to this episode as Andrew explains the theoretical concepts behind the complex neuromuscular system that controls how we move. Motor control on a basic level consists of: (1) necessary input from the somatosensory system sending signals back to your central nervous system, (2) the ability of the nervous system to sufficiently process that information, and (3) responding with an acceptable movement output.The human body functions with two primary goals. Survival and efficiency. This carries over to even modern-day rehabilitation, strength & conditioning, and sports performance training. Survival and efficiency can provide some clues as to how and why people adapt the way they do to training stimuli. Some people will adapt to training stimuli in a positive way that builds them up. Others may compensate in a negative way that breaks their body down in a viscous circle manner. Andrew breaks down how survival and efficiency are important components to understand when striving to optimize performance. As motor control improves, the goal is to improve the consistency of motor control through training. Andrew discusses imprinting motor patterns, or in Layman’s terms developing “muscle memory.” Imprinting motor patterns is training the nervous system to consistently interpret, process, and respond to control movement. As that motor control system gets fine-tuned, injury risk goes down and performance starts to improve. Visually, that is what the eye interprets as athletic, coordinated, and smooth movement. This episode is filled with many gems. Listen in and enjoy!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

Continuing with the National Athletic Training Month episode, Andrew welcomes Reid Takano to the podcast! Reid is an athletic trainer at Kamehameha Schools and the current Hawaii Athletic Trainers’ Association president. Like many other ATCs, Reid is passionate about helping young athletes succeed throughout their journey.Reid shares many experiences that athletic trainers can relate to. He talks about learning to take initiative and developing a strong work ethic as an athletic training student. Being immersed in athletic training, going through the internship route to become certified, has prepared him well for his career in the secondary school setting. He also shares memorable experiences working a couple of training camps with the San Diego Chargers prior to moving back home to work in the high schools. Reid has many great stories and memories in athletic training, but even more importantly has a passion for helping to progress the athletic training profession. Hawaii is one of the few states that has comprehensive athletic training coverage in high school sports. Reid was there to witness this movement during his career. They discuss the growth of athletic training in Hawaii, as a profession, and how important data has been to justify future athletic trainer positions. Athletic training is a growing profession that helps support the growth of sports. As athletic trainers, we are all on the same team and provide a safe environment for athletes to compete. For the fellow athletic trainers out there, stick together and help to progress the athletic training profession in the future. This episode provides first-hand insights into the athletic training field with so many great topics covered. Listen in and enjoy the episode!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

March is National Athletic Trainers’ Month! Show all the athletic trainers you know your appreciation for all that they do. Athletic trainers wear many different hats, have a variety of skillsets, and support athletes and people throughout sports and life. Listen in as Andrew shares insights about the athletic training profession, the training and educational requirements of certified athletic trainers (ATC), and what drives him to continue to help people as an athletic trainer.Athletic trainers are emerging in many different settings that help people through injuries, overcome adversity, and return back to sports. There are so many athletic trainers out there that dedicate themselves to make a positive impact on the lives of others. Athletic trainers do more than just keep people safe and help people back to full health, but also build valuable relationships with everyone they work with.Andrew is extremely grateful to all of the people he has worked with throughout his career, from athletes of all levels, colleagues, and a wide range of professionals. Everyone has helped Andrew to continue to learn and grow both professionally and personally. This is his passion and why he continues to do what he loves, helping people overcome injuries, creating resources that help to optimize human performance, and constantly learning to help to improve the quality of people’s lives. There are many great athletic trainers out there that do the exact same thing for all of the people they encounter. Be sure to thank your athletic trainers and show them your appreciation. Share this episode to help to advocate for the athletic training profession!Check out the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s website: https://www.nata.org/Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

March is National Athletic Training Month! This episode Andrew welcomes Joel Jaucian, a Certified Athletic Trainer at Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii. Joel has so many great experiences that he shares about finding the athletic training major, becoming certified and eventually stepping away from the profession, to returning to the high school setting where he truly enjoys helping young athletes succeed in sports and life. Listen in to this episode to learn about what athletic trainers do and what this profession is about.Joel shares experiences that most young athletes can relate to, playing through injuries and pushing through the pain without realizing the potential long-term consequences. He suffered a knee injury in high school while playing a fun game of football with his friends at the park. In hindsight, they both highly suspect Joel tore his ACL and it went undiagnosed for years. This led to a gradual decline of knee function and early onset osteoarthritis. He eventually had a total knee arthroplasty (knee replacement) at a young age that did more than just get rid of his knee pain, but may have been the upswing in life that he was hoping for.Through Joel’s experiences both as a patient and a Certified Athletic Trainer, he has developed empathy when helping athletes and people battling through injuries. He talks about how important it is for athletic trainers to advocate for those that don’t have adequate resources or knowledge when it comes to taking care of injuries. It’s all about caring for people, helping them overcome their pain and injuries, and get them back to living their life. Joel has a great outlook on making a positive impact on those around him and does his part to help improve the quality of people’s lives. For any athletes, parents, healthcare professionals, or future athletic trainers, everyone will find something of value that Joel shares. Lastly, don’t forget to show appreciation to any athletic trainers out there and thank them for all their hard work. Enjoy this episode!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This episode is all about culture influences nutrition. Nutritional practices and beliefs are not going to be the same everywhere we go. Nutrition will greatly vary across cultures, depending on the environment, values, and ethnic backgrounds of the individuals. For example, some cultures eat diets higher in carbohydrates, consider rice dishes or pasta a part of their balanced meals, while other cultures may not consume many of these carbohydrates altogether.  This diversity in nutritional habits can possibly create more confusion since we have all this information available at our fingertips. How do we know what's right for us? In this episode, Andrew dives into the details about the ways nutritional habits differ between cultures and how to differentiate what is right for you.  Just as different cultures have different nutritional habits, every individual is different. As you have heard on this podcast before, what is right for you may not work for somebody else, and vice versa.  This episode contains a lot of great knowledge and insights on how cultural backgrounds in life and sports influence nutritional needs. Andrew provides some great key points, outlining how fundamental nutrition habits apply to different cultures and individuals. Listen in and stay tuned for more great episodes! Aloha!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This episode is all about the importance of core function.  In this episode, Andrew will give you a refreshment of anatomical knowledge and the ways that everything works together.  Most of us know that core strength is important, and this episode will unveil so much detail on why that is.  Andrew provides not just the reasons why we should focus on having adequate core strength, but the ways our core helps to support both our upper and lower extremities.We know so much more today than we did even ten years ago about the mechanical function of the spine.  Andrew goes into this detail here and how we can uncover the things that might be holding us back when it comes to core strengthening basics.  He also provides some basic tips on core strength, which are centered around stability, movement control, and having a good base for generating movement through the extremities.Listen in on this episode to catch all these important details and start thinking about how to further train your core for better movement, strength, and power production.  Take a deep dive into how the core is connected to everything and what can happen if the core is weak.  This episode contains highly important and useful information for everyone.  Enjoy!Check out the other episodes below:Head and neck postureElevating shoulder healthDid you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this episode, Andrew welcomes former professional Muay Thai fighter, and world-class coach Ivan Flores to the podcast.  Ivan has a lot to share in this episode, which can inspire anyone who is following their passion and wanting to turn it into a career.  He shares his journey of hard work and dedication, which led him to become a professional Muay Thai martial artist.  Once Ivan was turned onto martial arts at a young age, he dreamed of becoming a fighter.  He shares here about the coaches he had along the way who inspired him and how important it is to have that inspiration from other people on your journey.  His inspiration came from many angles, and one of his great inspirations was the humbleness and mindfulness he saw in his first coach, even though he trained with great intensity and controlled aggression.  It’s interesting to listen to someone who has had to work so hard to get to where they’re at and hear what it really took, to listen to their observations of others, and to listen to the mental and physical techniques they developed along the way.  Ivan’s road to success, like most, was not a perfectly smooth path.  He shares what it took and the skills he developed to keep himself going.  One of his biggest takeaways has been learning from the examples by observing other people.  Yet, most of all, his secret to success is in the love of the sport and loving what you do.  If you don’t love it, you won’t make it, or it will at least become a lot harder.  Listen in on this inspiring episode with Ivan Flores, learn about how he managed a multitude of injuries, his philosophies, and what it’s like to train with him now.  Ivan is now a Muay Thai coach and is passing this art form onto others.  This episode is not to miss, enjoy!Website: http://honolulumuaythai.com/https://www.gracietechnics.com/IG: @legacyhawaiiDid you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This episode is not to be missed if you are scrolling through which episode to watch.  Listen in on this one about head and neck posture!  The information in this episode can be so beneficial for everyone.  In this day of consistent smartphone usage, where we’re often looking down, our head and neck tolerates excessive stress.  Also, it’s a fact that our head and neck posture affects our entire spine.  This is an area of the body that tends to be overlooked, as we focus more on the bigger muscles.  However, when our head and neck posture is out of line, we begin compensating for that in other areas, creating tension and stress on other parts of the body. Andrew breaks it down for you in this episode with 5 key points, providing much detail on the effects that head and neck posture has on our body, what happens when it’s thrown off, and the ways that we tend to overcompensate with our head and neck.  For example, it is common to see people using their heads and neck to compensate for poor core stability.  Someone might be doing a plank and flexing their head and neck towards their chest to make up for this lack of stability.  Listen in, as you’ll learn so much from Andrew’s knowledge from each key point in this episode.  Your head and neck posture, position, range of motion, is all so very crucial.  Once you hear the information provided in this episode, you may start to notice what you are doing with your head and neck.  This little detail can help you to optimize your performance, both in sports and in life. Check out these episodes I mentioned:E105 Elevating Shoulder HealthE49 Senaptec Vision Training  Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This week, Andrew shares some of his thoughts around continual improvement and 5 tips that help us continue to improve at our sports and in life.  Besides staying busy with his PhD program, Andrew spends a lot of time with athletes.  On the podcast, he gets to hear many of their stories, and in this episode, he shares what he has taken away from listening to people who have made it to the top and operate at high levels of performance.  We all know that nothing comes easy that is worth fighting for.  So how do we continue on our journey when it gets tough?  This is a great episode to tune into for learning how to continue improvement without burnout.  Learn how to dedicate yourself and embrace the process.  Being a PhD student, Andrew has been refining these tips for himself, and what he shares in this episode is valuable for everyone.  He speaks about being open to what you don’t know you don’t know and what there is to discover in the area of new possibilities.  Being open-minded can lead to so much that we didn’t see as possible.  Andrew dives deep into each one of his 5 tips in this episode, so listen in, and gain some inspiration for your goals, whatever they might be.  There is no need to do a 180 and start over when we feel stuck.  Those tough spots are all part of the journey!  Tune in to find out how to embrace your journey and continue to improve each step of the way.  Aloha! Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This week, welcome Emily Lindholm to the podcast.  Emily is a Pilates instructor and also the writer for the show notes of this podcast!  Not only does Emily hold a very similar philosophy as Andrew, but she has listened to every single episode on this podcast.  Emily has a dance background and shares the story about what drew her to Pilates, how she stepped off her path for a while and the fascination with the way things can come back around full circle when you stay focused on what you want.  In the past, Emily went through many of the common doubts that occur in our culture, where we might be getting told to follow one path while another is calling loudly.  Some of us get caught up in following what we’re told we should do, and Emily shares what it took to turn that around so that she could pursue the path she knew was right for her.  Now working as a full-time Pilates instructor, Emily uses her training and background in dance to help others elevate their performance in life through the mind/body connection, postural adjustment, and overall strength and conditioning.  She is also an aerialist and dance-based movement coach.  Her plans to expand her online platform beyond Instagram are in the works, so be sure and follow her to see what she’s up to!  She just began a new movement page, which she plans to transfer to YouTube as well.For Pilates instruction, you can find her on Instagram @miss_emily_bethTo follow her movement page, check out her other Instragram @wild_free_movementEnjoy!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio