Tune Up Fitness® Self Care Blog

Levator scapula. When I first heard of this muscle in massage school, 14 years ago, I felt a little “ah ha” moment course through me and it quickly became my favorite muscle. First of all, I thought the name was so…

On Wednesday, I described how I modified the YTU Revolved Abdominal Pose to help my rotational imbalances. Are you ready to try it? Here’s how, plus a video clip: THE EXERCISE: Lie on your back with your knees bent 90 degrees,…

Daily life has a way of getting us out of whack. No matter how balanced we try to be in our bodies, we’re almost always favoring one side or another. I’m going to tell you about an exercise I began to…

Untangle and decompress the highly overcharged upper back and shoulders with Yoga Tune Up®’s Reverse Crucifix pose featured in the video clip below.  This pose takes care of stretching and releasing tension in not only the teres minor and deltoids, both…

Most of us have heard of the term rotator cuff before, but the truth is, there’s no actual cuff in any region of the shoulder.  The “rotator cuff” is a group of four muscles that includes the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor…

While practicing Bridge Lifts with Jill in this video, focus on the coordination of the respiratory diaphragm and the pelvic diaphragm. See if you can actively draw the pelvic diaphragm up as your hips release down to the ground at the…

The Yoga Tune Up® pose When No Means Yes shows how to release the scalenes (and other rotators of the neck) by putting them on a PNF pattern. In this exercise, your left-side scalenes turn your head to the right. Then…

Freeze. Are you jutting your head forward to read this text? If so, are you also slouching, a position that collapses the front of your rib cage and forces you into a belly breathing pattern? If so, your scalenes aren’t terribly…

The diaphragm is not an obscure muscle, but a central, totally essential muscle. The focus of this inquiry is the relationship of the diaphragm to the pelvic floor. The diaphragm moves in concert with the 16 muscles of the pelvic floor;…