Whether you’re just learning to surf or pulling into a nice hollow Honolua Bay wave, the thrill of surfing or dreaming of a wave like this is definitely good for your health. Here, Maui photographer, Simone Reddingius captures this surfer dropping in. His muscles are ripped, he’s focused and you can bet his heart rate is high. The endorphins that make you feel so good are exploding as he carves that gun into the blue room for that magical moment. This, you can be sure is good for your health!
CLICK here to see more of Simone’s fine surf photographer and other talents.
Also, check out all the photos from recent Suzie Trains Maui ENews Highlights of Naish & Suzie Trains Maui SUP Fun Beach Fitness & Paddle Challenge special guest Kai Lenny, as 55 participants finished FREE event. See the famous “taco rolls in the sand”. See photos and event highlights.
Gear & Board Reviews: The Alana Series featured here is oh so lovely. Don’t let the frills or flowers fool you. These two high performance boards are delivering waves of fun and miles of exlporations!Follow @SuzieTrainsMaui
Please feel free to post a comment and tell us how you love to surf to keep healthy! Also, any tips you want to share about how you approach the New Year to make good lifestyle choices, feel free! Mahalo!
Happy New Year! Suzie Cooney, CPT owner of Suzie Trains Maui
I’ve had the sincere pleasure of meeting and getting to know Chef Craig King. As a personal chef to the stars, his knowledge, depth and worldwide reputation on organic gardening, and delicious, healthy food preparation is enjoyed and devoured by thousands. We are lucky to have him here preparing amazing menus, and of course seeing his garden of health literally grow here on the N. shore of Maui at the beautiful property known as Lumeria Maui. Here his known “farm-to-table” practice is enjoyed by many guests.
Besides seeing him prepare a feast for a special few or a few hundred, his kind ways and natural talents shine through in every bite. I was overwhelmed with the first samplings one evening and to taste not only the freshness of the buffet he prepared, but the blend of flavors that exploded from the simplest herbs and green selections were over the top.
Get to know Craig and watch these videos on how you too can eat for energy and I’m sure he will inspire you to not only grow your own fresh veggies but you’ll learn so much on how to sustain your own personal energy and vitality. Also scroll down to watch his “Here We Glow” video of his special cleanse. He is offering workshops on Maui on how you can do a “healthy” cleanse that leaves you feeling vibrant and strong. Contact and cleanse info below.
Chef Craig King:
Chef Craig King has been at the forefront of the healthy food revolution for more than 20 years. As the personal chef for some of the biggest names in the natural food business (Steve Demos, White Wave/Silk; John Mackey, Whole Foods; Michael Gilliland/Libby Cook, Wild Oats), as well as some notable Hollywood stars, Craig brings a deep understanding of food and its evolution to the show. He has a keen ability to create food that meets the client’s need in real time–– knowing how to balance what the client wants with what the client needs. He recently created and directed “Here We Grow”, a documentary film highlighting our troubled food system. His latest venture has been helping transform food in various institutional settings, including assisted and senior living centers. The installation of gardens in seven senior community centers helps highlight the beautification of the food transformation and demonstrate the practice of the farm-to-table philosophy. http://craigkingenterprises.com/
Here We Glow
Chef Craig King is offering his Glow Cleanse for you to enjoy. You can learn more here:
You may contact Craig direct at 820.281.2381 or e: ckcooking@hotmail.com to enjoy his company and receive a private consultation.
Feel free to share your comments.
Welcome to Maui Craig! We’re all thrilled to have you as our neighbor and a part of our healthy ohana.
Maui, HI. December 27, 2011 : Your New Year Approach to Health & Fitness Choices for 2012 on Suzie Cooney’s Radio Health & Fitness Segment with the Maui Breakfast Club, every Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM @ 7:30am.
Make a “lifestyle” choice for life not for one month. Reward yourself with a new surfboard, new running shoes, and make a plan and stick to it and see yourself in that lifestyle. Like what you see in the mirror, but love yourself on the inside first. Tweet
Most News Year’s resolutions fail because it is not motivating enough. Forget them, get real and get real simple. Reflect back and see forward. Trainers like myself can help you plan and chart realistic, simple changes that before you know it, it’s March and you’re still on track.
CLICK HERE to listen to Suzie's Health Segment Now
Feel free to share your comments and tell us your tips to help our audience can make long lasting, lifestyle choices. Let this be your year to set the pace for yourself, your friends and family. Live the life you always dreamed of now, make it healthy and simple.
Suzie Cooney of Suzie Trans Maui is a weekly guest on the Maui Breakfast Club with Tom Blackburn Rodriguez and Kellie Pali and shares every week, her healthy tip. From how to train for big surf, SUP stronger, train to be extra strong for windsurfing and kiting skills, or how to get off the roller coaster of yo-yo dieting and shed weight for good. For over 12 years she has helped hundreds of people get in the shape of their lives and live the life Maui offers. People come from all over to train and learn from her.
Tune in every week, Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM at 7:30am or click here to catch the daily, live broadcast from anywhere in the world.
Happ New Year Everyone! See you on the water! Check out my other website: http://www.standuppaddlingfitness.com/ Here you can change your life and discover a new way to get healthy with the awesome sport of SUP or stand up paddling. This is YOUR year to try something new!
Suzie Cooney, CPT
Suzie Cooney is available on the island of Maui for private, fitness training, stand up paddle ( SUP ) coaching, lifestyle coaching and for public speaking.
If you’d like to join my confidential mailing list and keep up to date with Suzie Trains Maui and other health related news, go here:
Maui, HI. December 20, 2011 : Listen & Learn About Ten Survival Tips For Holiday Parties on Suzie Cooney’s Radio Health & Fitness Segment with the Maui Breakfast Club, every Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM @ 7:30am
On air Suzie Cooney shares her 10 Survival Tips for the Holidays!
CLICK HEREand listen and learn how to manage those fabulous holiday parties. Save your waistline and those extra calories that may sneak up on you at the buffet line, pastry cart or holiday dinner.
It’s not easy to pass up a delicious dessert, or that yummy, oh so fat filled glass of eggnog. Don’t fret, make a plan and practice talking more and scan the buffet table or bar and make a plan NOT to lose it, but enjoy in moderation without regret or extra time on the treadmill.
Today, on this special holiday show I’ve listed 10 helpful tips to keep you smiling and not sweating too much at the gym. Enjoy your holidays and friends and just learning a few of these tips will see you through to the next party without gaining an ounce, well maybe a few.
My top suggestion is to eat something prior to the party that combines protein and fiber to fill you up before you charge to front of the buffet line. Drink lots of water and leave the elastic pants or skirt at home!
Suzie Cooney of Suzie Trans Maui is a weekly guest on the Maui Breakfast Club with Tom Blackburn Rodriguez and Kellie Pali and shares every week, her healthy tips from how to train for big surf, to how to avoid weight gain at big buffets. For over 12 years she has helped hundreds of people get in the shape of their lives and live the life Maui offers. People come from all over to train and learn from her.
Tune in every week, Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM at 7:30am or click here to catch the daily, live broadcast from anywhere in the world.
Tom, Suzie and Kellie photo by Simone Reddingious
Feel free to share your comments and tell us your tips to help our audience enjoy the holidays without sabotaging one’s hard work to get in and stay in shape.Follow @SuzieTrainsMaui
If you’d like to join my confidential mailing list and keep up to date with Suzie Trains Maui and other health related news, go here:
Stand up paddling is no doubt taking the world by storm, and while you don’t need to be in the greatest shape to paddle, you’ll soon discover the benefits. As you begin to improve your technique, experiment with new gear and maybe decide to enter a race or wave competition, it’s a good idea to learn how to train in a balanced way to prevent injury so that you can enjoy paddling even more and stay on the water.
As the sport continues to evolve, and as a trainer who specializes in educating people how to paddle stronger and better improve their performance, I’d like to share with you first an overview of some of the known complaints and injuries that I’m seeing and helping people manage. I’ll also share with you many training strategies designed to help you better approach your SUP training in a balanced manor as a way to avoid injuries.
This article is part one of a two-part series that will illustrate a more in-depth review of the anatomy and how your muscles function while you paddle and how injuries might occur. Part two will be the actual exercises and training approach I recommend to help recover from some of these injuries and/or avoid them.
I’ve also gathered some helpful insight from one of our Naish Team Riders, Karen Wrenn, on how she trains to help her better perform. In addition, I’ll be highlighting another paddler, Kevin Vangritis from North Carolina and new racing competitor and long distance paddler, with his personal story and struggle with a unique injury and how he’s managed to come back on the water.
Common SUP Injuries
Overuse injuries and strains from SUP are common and include mostly the muscles of the shoulder and/or rotator cuff muscles, the knee joint, foot and ankle and low back. It’s good to have a knowledge base of the anatomy and function of each group so you can better adapt your SUP training to avoid these injuries. There may be more to mention, but in my practice and I too have experienced things such as a nagging bicep tendonitis issue in my right arm and on occasion after long distances over 20 miles, my traps (trapezius) have cramped a bit and my feet have fallen asleep.
Injuries that are more common where there are waves are fin lacerations to the extremities and face, paddle handles giving bloody noses (mine), and leash wrap-arounds I call them, that can cause sprains to fingers and other body parts from wrapping around you after a heavy wave wipe out. Also, as these boards are much heavier than surfboards for example, if you get hit in the head you could suffer a good blow or even a concussion. In addition, some super heavy hold downs at some of the bigger breaks can wreck havoc on your back and lower extremities.
Shoulder and Rotator Cuff Injuries:
Stand up paddling works a lot of muscles and is well known for being a great core workout. It also requires a lot of work from the stabilizers of the shoulder girdle. The paddle stroke is a combination of medial rotation and abduction (of the top hand). The deeper rotator cuff muscles included are the supraspinatus, subscapularis, infraspinatus and the teres minor. This requires the work of the subscapularis, latissimus dorsi, pec. minor, pec. major, and teres major along with deltoid and supraspinatus to lift the arm up. The bottom hand is mostly stabilizing to transfer the rotation of the trunk to the paddle the muscles used to stabilize are mainly latissimus dorsi rhomboids, triceps, and middle fibers of the traps.
One client complaint was that of a burning sensation radiating from his elbow up to his shoulder and down to his hand, and another, with numbness radiating down from his shoulder through his pinky finger. These can be common nerve entrapment injuries with chronic tension and overuse of certain muscle groups.
Rhomboid & Trapeziums Strains:
The rhomboid muscles interact with and help support the shoulder blade. Your trapezius (also referred to as your “traps”) are the connective muscles from the neck to the head of the humerus or top of the shoulder, and are responsible for stabilizing your neck and shoulder while you paddle. These muscles require a great deal of endurance. This is also where we tend to hold our stress and the area that can fatigue and cramp up on long distance races. I often hear of muscle fatigue and recently of a tear of the rhomboid as described by Kevin Vangritis. Read more of his experience and how he recovered:
Kevin Vangritis is a friend of mine from North Carolina and is just getting into SUP racing. Over the summer, Kevin was training for a big 50+mile-long distance SUP crossing in Chicago (with Windy City Waterman and Matt Lennert). Prior to the race, he was helping a friend with an exercise and felt a pop near his right scapulae or shoulder blade. At the time, he thought that to simply take an anti-inflammatory and ice should do the trick.
I should note that Kevin is in amazing shape and has a very consistent, well planned and executed training and paddling routine, so this was a bit of a surprise. Kevin is also well versed in the field of sports orthopedics as he assists surgeons and medical teams and knows the anatomy which is also helpful when recovering from an injury.
He writes, “Over the next couple of days, I began to develop a large knot in my trap as well as radicular pain down my right arm into my hand, which was my major concern. This is a classic sign of a herniated cervical disc. The knot began to limit mobility in my neck. Our endurance paddle of crossing Lake Michigan was fast approaching, and I had to come up with a plan to get better. Continue reading Balanced SUP Training to Help Prevent Injury Part One by Suzie Cooney for Naish
Introducing Matt Lennert, long distance and wave SUP paddler, SUP event director, windsurfer and surfer; stopped in for an all-on SUP performance tune up with me in my studio during his recent visit to Maui. He was up for any challenge, that’s for sure! I threw medicine balls at him full speed while he managed to amazingly hang onto whatever training apparatus I placed him on top of.
His sheer determination and already a finely tuned athlete; he was on top of his training game. Wow! He performed well this day and left with a good sweat. Unfortunately the conditions for a Maliko Run were not up to par but we’ll have to try again Matt when you come back with your family!
Childhood obesity is out of control. Who is at fault? How can you help as a parent, as a physician as a community? Since when do we have to worry about children at the age of 8 to have high blood pressure, heart disease and other such morbid diseases? Should McDonald’s be applauded for adding apples to their popular “Happy Meals”. Should we be “happy” about this?
Listen in on Suzie Cooney’s weekly health & fitness segment on the Maui Breakfast Club, with hosts Tom Blackburn Rodriguez and Kellie Pali-Cruz each Tuesday on KNUI 900 AM @ 7:39am. Today’s topic: Childhood Obesity: Things to Know and How to Help Radio Segment.
We need to lead by example and share with kids and teens of all ages to get up off the couch, turn off the cell phones and get healthy. Schools need to find better solutions for cafeteria food and cut the sugar and sodium out completely. Parents, are you the best role model you can be? What do you think the or a solution could be.
AP Huffington Post
I think that Mrs. President, Michelle Obama is doing what she can, but is holding the biggest jumping jack contest on the Whitehouse lawn enough to get an entire country off their duffs? I’m pleased but we all know it starts from the top. Educating the kids and parents on how to eat well with less should be their main focus. Regulate what is actually available to purchase on food assistance programs is another way to be sure kids just aren’t drinking Koolaid and eating crap.
Thank you for stopping by Suzie Trains Maui. The topics and opinions here are an expression of those who care. We encourage your input and feedback to better serve our readers and community.
What are your thoughts and feelings on this subject? We’d like to hear from you. You can help others by sharing and caring here.
Suzie Cooney Balance Training on Indo Board Gigante Disc
Balance training is a key component and is included in all of my training sessions with my clients, as a means to better improve their daily lives, surfing performance, SUP performance, or after recovering from an injury. I’ve written many articles on the topic and thought you might enjoy my quick radio segment from the Maui Breakfast Club, hosted by Tom Blackburn Rodriguez and Kellie Pali-Cruz, every Tuesday on KNUI 900 AM at around 7:38 in the morning:
Below are just a few of the articles that I’ve written regarding balance training. I’m also a team rider for Indo Board Company which supplies me with all of my balance training equipment. They are an innovative company that understands the importance of functional training and offer a variety of various platforms for all levels.
Suzie Cooney, CPT is a certified personal trainer on Maui since 2001. Her former background in sports orthopedics has exposed her to unique and challenging cases where her participation resulted in many positive outcomes. As an athlete, lifestyle coach, and professional SUP paddler, she too has recognized the importance of balance training when coming off of injuries or for increasing sports performance, but especially qualified to help those who are seeking to regain and rebuild muscle strength and coordination.
We encourage you to comment or share your experience and success with balance training and how it’s helped you in your fitness.
Thanks to Gretchen Reynolds, writer for the New York Times for writing such a great article and bringing to light the important role exercise plays in helping those who suffer from depression. As many of you know, I am a huge advocate in helping more understand the plight and challenges of Mental Illness.
Prescribing Exercise to Treat Depression: August 31, 2011 Tweet
Can a stroll help ease depression? That question preoccupied Dr. Madhukar H. Trivedi, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, after several of his patients, all suffering from serious depression, mentioned that they felt happier if they went for a walk. The patients in question were taking the widely prescribed antidepressants known as S.S.R.I.’s, for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, but not responding fully. They remained, by clinical standards, depressed. Dr. Trivedi and his colleagues began to wonder if adding a formal “dose” of exercise would increase their chances of getting better.
Certainly the possibility was worth investigating. Clinical depression, as anyone who has experienced or watched a loved one struggle with the condition knows, can be stubbornly intractable. Even if patients have been taking an antidepressant for months, recovery rates tend to hover below 50 percent.
In order to increase the odds of improvement, doctors frequently add a second treatment — often another drug, like lithium or an antipsychotic — to the S.S.R.I. regimen at some point, Dr. Trivedi said. Most patients ultimately require at least two concurrent treatments to achieve remission of their depression, he said. Studies have shown that these secondary drug treatments help an additional 20 to 30 percent of depressed patients to improve, but the medications can be expensive and have unpleasant side effects.
Which prompted Dr. Trivedi to look to exercise. His investigation joins a growing movement among some physiologists and doctors to consider and study exercise as a formal medicine, with patients given a prescription and their progress monitored, as it would be if they were prescribed a pill. Continue reading A Positive Article on Depression: Prescribing Exercise to Treat Depression
Belly Fat and the Dangers of Visceral Fat Radio Segment with Suzie Cooney
of Suzie Trains Maui
TweetAugust 23, 2011Taken from the Maui Breakfast Club: Suzie Cooney of Suzie Trains Maui, Health & Fitness Segment every Tuesday morning at 7:38 am on KNUI 900 AM. LISTEN HERE
Just the word visceral sounds bad and that it is. It’s not pretty and it’s deadly. Also referred to as abdominal obesity or the “middle-age spread”. The definition of visceral fat is basically subcutaneous fat that settles deep within the cavity walls of the abdominal area and also covers the abdominal organs. This condition can lead to many health concerns such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hormone imbalances and even cancer.
An excerpt taken from the Harvard Medical School states this:
“One reason excess visceral fat is so harmful could be its location near the portal vein, which carries blood from the intestinal area to the liver. Substances released by visceral fat, including free fatty acids, enter the portal vein and travel to the liver, where they can influence the production of blood lipids. Visceral fat is directly linked with higher total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower HDL (good) cholesterol, and insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance means that your body’s muscle and liver cells don’t respond adequately to normal levels of insulin, the pancreatic hormone that carries glucose into the body’s cells. Glucose levels in the blood rise, heightening the risk for diabetes.”
How does your waist measure up? Typical guidelines for men’s waistline: if over 40 inches in diameter and for women over 35 inches are indicators that you may be dealing with this condition. Pinching more than an inch can be a concern.
Besides the role of over eating and a poor diet and lack of exercise that plays in the main contributing factor leading to the accumulation of visceral fat, there may also be hereditary factors that also play a hand. Knowing this may help.
The good news is there’s so much you can do to help avoid this condition. Getting your weight under control will help. Portion control and a healthy diet is first. Avoid all sugars and alcohol. ( See my article: Suzie’s Foods to Avoid ) Strength training or resistance training will aid in the elimination of visceral fat but most of all it will take some high-intensity cardio to assist in the breakdown of the visceral fat.
Start out with 30 minutes at a moderate intensity than work your way up to a much higher intensity of exercise. ( Always check with your physician first before embarking on a heavier work out regimen.) Remember, spot reducing does not work, this is a total body approach.
I hope you enjoyed the radio segment. A special thanks to the Maui Breakfast Club and to you for spreading the word and being healthy. It does a body good.Tweet
Previous Radio Show: August 16th: Mental Wellness: Why We Need to Have “Hope” for Our Body’s Health and Our Mind’s Health Radio Segment with Suzie Cooney
Gear & Board Reviews: The Alana Series featured here is oh so lovely. Don’t let the frills or flowers fool you. These two high performance boards are delivering waves of fun and miles of exlporations!Follow @SuzieTrainsMaui
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Suzie Cooney is available on the island of Maui for private, fitness training, stand up paddle ( SUP ) coaching, lifestyle coaching and for public speaking.
with the Maui Breakfast Club, every Tuesday on Maui’s KNUI 900AM @ 7:30am
Stand up paddling is no doubt taking the world by storm, and while you don’t need to be in the greatest shape to paddle, you’ll soon discover the benefits. As you begin to improve your technique, experiment with new gear and maybe decide to enter a race or wave competition, it’s a good idea to learn how to train in a balanced way to prevent injury so that you can enjoy paddling even more and stay on the water.
Stand up paddling works a lot of muscles and is well known for being a great core workout. It also requires a lot of work from the stabilizers of the shoulder girdle. The paddle stroke is a combination of medial rotation and abduction (of the top hand). The deeper rotator cuff muscles included are the supraspinatus, subscapularis, infraspinatus and the teres minor. This requires the work of the subscapularis, latissimus dorsi, pec. minor, pec. major, and teres major along with deltoid and supraspinatus to lift the arm up. The bottom hand is mostly stabilizing to transfer the rotation of the trunk to the paddle the muscles used to stabilize are mainly latissimus dorsi rhomboids, triceps, and middle fibers of the traps.
The rhomboid muscles interact with and help support the shoulder blade. Your trapezius (also referred to as your “traps”) are the connective muscles from the neck to the head of the humerus or top of the shoulder, and are responsible for stabilizing your neck and shoulder while you paddle. These muscles require a great deal of endurance. This is also where we tend to hold our stress and the area that can fatigue and cramp up on long distance races. I often hear of muscle fatigue and recently of a tear of the rhomboid as described by Kevin Vangritis. Read more of his experience and how he recovered:
Prescribing Exercise to Treat Depression: August 31, 2011
