• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

  • Home
  • Advertise
    • Advertise in One or All of our Magazines
    • Advertising Payment Form
  • Print Subscription
  • Digital Subscription
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Login
  • Contact Us

training

For Empty Nesters, Getting Back into Shape is a Worthy Challenge

December 1, 2016 by Andrew Vitelli

When Grace Bennett, this magazine’s publisher, saw the last of her children leave for college, she found herself with a bit more time to commit to getting into shape. But the added time at the gym, along with weekly walks with a friend, weren’t leading to the results she envisioned.

“My regular workout wasn’t helping me keep the pounds at bay,” Bennett recalls. “I just wasn’t pushing myself very much, and I definitely wasn’t watching what I ate very well.”

Bennett’s problem is one many empty nesters, and others looking to jump into a training program, encounter after only months of working out, says Saw Mill Club Fitness Director Billy Goda.

smc_grace-169-edit
Personal trainer Sarah Eichorn showing Grace proper form

“People think that they just need to learn the best ten moves, do them two-to-three times a week, and they’re good,” Goda explains. “They’re looking for an easy solution. There’s not an easy solution or quick fix.” “Routine,” concludes Goda, “is the opposite of fitness.”

Looking to step up the intensity of her workouts, Bennett decided to hire a personal trainer. She had trained a few years ago, but for the sake of convenience and consistency, she wanted the personal trainer to also be inside the Saw Mill Club, where she had recently become a member. “I gave up on the idea again that I could do this by myself,” she says. Still, she now admits that she wasn’t exactly looking forward to being pushed to her limits. “I fully expected [the trainer] to be something of a taskmaster. I thought, ‘This is going to be really awful.’”

In her first meeting with her new trainer, Saw Mill Club’s Sarah Eichorn, Bennett realized her fears were unfounded. Eichorn pushed her to gradually up her intensity without going beyond what Bennett could comfortably handle.

“With her we circuited between getting her heart rate up, going to an upper body [workout], then a lower body,” Eichorn, a Mt. Kisco resident, explains. “As she learned these movements individually, we started putting them together.”

smc_grace-152-edit
Soon, Eichorn saw great improvement. “I noticed a big change in her cardio, with the respiratory, with her heart rate,” Eichorn says. The two also developed a nice rapport and personal connection. “I feel very comfortable with Sarah; she is both low key and knowledgeable about fitness and health.”

Goda says Saw Mill Club gets many men and women in their 50s, like Bennett, who decide it’s time to get back into, or just into, shape.

“One thing that we stress is that what you’re going to do in your 50s,” Goda says, “that’s going to determine how you feel in your late 50s, your 60s, your 70s, and beyond.”

But while joining a gym is a good first step, there are many potential pitfalls that can derail one’s fitness program. Often, Goda says, people in their 50s join a gym and do the same simple workout every time, leading to some early but unsustainable progress.

“In the third month, when things aren’t going well, they disappear for a year,” Goda says. “What we try to do at the Saw Mill Club is we try to make sure people don’t just disappear.”

smc_grace-177-edit
Goda gets the club’s clients to focus on the five major components of fitness: muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardio health, and body composition. Trainers may have their clients start by improving their range of motion, then add weight to the movement, and then throw in a twisting motion.

Communication, Goda stressed, is essential so clients know what they are doing and why they are doing it. This will not only help them see quick results, but will better the chances that they continue to push forward six months to a year in the future.

Goda also points out that no one is too old to start training, and said that working out can alleviate problems like back pain.

“My oldest client is 92 years old,” Goda says. “I put him in all these different movement patterns, and he is pain free.”

When Bennett began her training, her focus was on the number she saw when she stepped on the scale. Eichorn convinced her that this approach was misguided, as losing weight and getting fit are not one and the same.

“People are telling me that I look better,” says Bennett. “I feel better in general from day to day. I feel like I have a little more energy. I’m coupling it with much better eating too.”
For info on membership and training packages, visit www.sawmillclub.com.

PHOTOS BY: Philip Holt/Mad Shots Photography

Andrew Vitelli is a Westchester native and the editor of Inside Armonk.

smc_grace-254-edit

Filed Under: Sponsor News! Tagged With: empty nest, Empty Nesters, get into shape, Saw Mill Club, training, workout

Avoiding Injuries While Getting Back into Shape

April 21, 2016 by The Inside Press

Armonk Physical Therapy & Sports Training Clinical Director Robert Fay
Armonk Physical Therapy & Sports Training Clinical Director Robert Fay

Article and Photos By Andrew Vitelli

You’ve spent the summer sitting on your couch, your treadmill collecting dust and the golf course or tennis courts frosted over. Now, with temperatures finally back in the 70s, you’re eager to spend every free moment at the driving range or on the track, enjoying the sunshine while putting your underused muscles and joints through the wringer. It’s an experience many of us can relate to and, according to Armonk Physical Therapy & Sports Training Director Robert Fay, a leading cause of injuries during this time of the year.

“If you do too much too quickly it leads to overuse injuries like tendonitis, stress fractures and that sort of thing,” Fay explains. “A lot of these injuries can be avoided if people go a little slower as they start up. But I know that it’s hard sometimes.”

Fay, who co-founded Armonk PTST in 2001, sees an increase in these kinds of injuries around this time of year. A general rule of thumb for aerobic workouts, Fay says, is to increase your workout by no more than 15 percent from your previous efforts. If you’ve only been eking out a mile at a time on the treadmill over winter, don’t try running a half marathon the first time you make it to the track.

“As the weather starts to get nice, we’ll get somebody this weekend that’ll go out and play golf Saturday and Sunday, hadn’t picked up a club in several months, and go and play 18 holes,” Fay says. Instead, he suggests, “Maybe go and just play nine holes the first couple of times.”

A large part of Fay’s practice consists of treating patients who have sustained injuries, whether minor, like Tennis Elbow or tendinitis, or serious, such as an ACL or Achilles tendon tear. Fay and his staff also, however, will meet with healthy athletes to evaluate where they may be particularly prone to future injuries.

“If you have weakness in one joint, a lot of times that’s not the joint that you injure,” Fay explains. “You might have a shoulder weakness, and then you overuse the next joint.”

Or, for example, having strong quads but weak hamstrings could make you more likely to tear your ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). Of course, getting healthy people into a physical therapist’s office to prevent injuries is a lot tougher than it is to get them in once they’ve hurt themselves. Mostly, Fay says, those who come in for preventive treatment are high school athletes whose parents are concerned about potential injuries.

“But I think it should also be done for that weekend warrior, 40-year-old or 50-year-old type person,” Fay notes.

After evaluating the athletes, Fay’s team can advise them of what exercises or stretches they can do to address their deficiencies and lower the risk of injury. And if saving oneself from a serious injury isn’t sufficient motivation, Fay points out that the weaknesses that these injury prevention exercises address can also be hurting their performance. “So that’s the key thing that I think it’s very important to get across to people.”

Fay, now the sole owner, co-founded Armonk PTST in 2001 after previously working in Pleasantville and Greenwich, Conn. His aim is to give clients true one-on-one therapy, meaning their trainers are only working with one person for the full hour.

Physical therapist John Connolly works with client Gwen Grotta at Armonk Physical erapy & Sports Training
Physical therapist John Connolly works with client Gwen Grotta at Armonk Physical Therapy & Sports Training

Armonk PTST also offers services ranging from Pilates to occupational hand therapy (a full list can be found at their website, armonkptst.com). Armonk PTST’s trainers, Fay explains, have a greater understanding of injuries than a typical trainer, giving them insight when working with clients who have suffered injuries in the past.

Not all pain and soreness is injury related. Fay acknowledges that, as anyone who’s gotten back into working out after hiatus can attest, a moderate amount of soreness the next day or two can be expected. If, however, you feel pain during your workout rather than the day after, that can be a sign of an injury. Another red flag, Fay says, is if the pain is in the bone or tendon rather than the muscle.

While there’s no fool-proof way to avoid all injuries, taking precautions can make them a lot less likely. The two most important things to keep in mind, Fay concludes, are not overexerting yourself early on and addressing weaknesses and imbalances before you reach mid-season form. Otherwise, you may spend the bulk of the outdoor season rehabbing indoors.

For more information, visit http://www.armonkptst.com/. 

Andrew Vitelli, a lifelong Westchester resident, is the Guest Editor of Inside Armonk Magazine.

Filed Under: Armonk Cover Stories Tagged With: advice, Armonk, exercise, injury prevention, Inside Press, Physical Therapy, theinsidepress.com, training

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Chappaqua Library Centennial Celebration Emphasized Symbols for Growth and Endurance
  • New Castle Stands Against Gun Violence in Rally Also Urging National Changes
  • Byram Hills High School Juniors and Seniors Honored at Awards Ceremony
  • Athletic Conditioning with Club Fit’s Mat Rios
  • Danielle’s Dreams: Sprinkling Joy Through Art and Adventure
  • The 2022 Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival Returns October 15

Visit Our Sponsors

Wallauer
Houlihan Lawrence – Armonk
Houlihan Lawrence – Chappaqua
Houlihan Lawrence – Pleasantville
Caramoor
William Raveis – Chappaqua
William Raveis – Armonk
Northern Westchester Hospital
Compass: Miller-Goldenberg Team
Christie’s Real Estate
Compass: Aurora Banaszek
King Street Creatives
Houlihan: Kile Boga-Ibric
CareMount Dental

Music in Chappaqua
Bueti Brothers

Follow our Social Media

The Inside Press

Our Latest Issues

For a full reading of our current edition, or to obtain a copy or subscription, please contact us.

Inside Armonk Inside Chappaqua Inside Pleasantville

Join Our Mailing List


Search Inside Press

Links

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Subscription
  • Print Subscription

Footer

Support The Inside Press

Advertising

Print Subscription

Digital Subscription

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Did you know you can subscribe anytime to our print editions?

Voluntary subscriptions are most welcome, if you've moved outside the area, or a subscription is a great present idea for an elderly parent, for a neighbor who is moving or for your graduating high school student or any college student who may enjoy keeping up with hometown stories.

Subscribe Today

Copyright © 2022 The Inside Press, Inc. · Log in