The object of education isn’t knowledge; it’s action.

This is a great quote I ran across this morning on Chris Brogan’s blog (social media thought leader).

I thought it was particularly appropriate for today, since we are teaching our Z workshop tonight. My personal goal for tonight’s workshop is to give people principles and a set of tools that they can use to stay out of pain, feel younger, and move better.

I believe that people should have the body awareness, knowledge, and tools to largely take care of themselves. Once you have the education, you turn it in to action.

Postponed: Seattle Z-Health workshop

For anyone who had seen my post about our upcoming Z-Health workshop in Seattle, it has been postponed.  I have a family emergency, and must leave town immediately.

We anticipate rescheduling it some time in the next month, and look forward to getting that back on the calendar soon.

Thank you for understanding.

-Jen

New Nike Frees

A few weeks ago I ordered a pair of custom Nike Free’s. They arrived today.

Head games

You’d think on SuperBowl Sunday that I’d be writing about the SuperBowl, but no. This is about tennis.

The Australian Open ended this weekend, with Rafael Nadal defeating Roger Federer for the championship in the longest Australian Open history — 4 hours and 23 minutes. It was heartbreaking to watch, with Federer in tears during the award ceremony. He’s currently at 13 major titles, one away from the record of 14 held by Pete Sampras. The man who, until August of this past year, was at #1 for YEARS.

It’s a continuation of a season that seemed to go horribly awry starting in July when Nadal beat Federer at Wimbeldon, on grass, which is supposed to be Federer’s domain. Since July, Federer  … read more

Vision and the elderly

If you read the most recent Z-Health Newsletter, then you saw the Ask Dr. Cobb question about vision. The super-cool thing about the Z-Health approach to vision is that it’s trainable. Much of seeing well is actually a skill. The ability to move your eye musculature to the end ranges of motion, or quickly change between focusing near and focusing far, is all trainable.

An article recently published in Science News talks about vision and the elderly, and how the elderly need to start giving up their car keys as their vision goes. I think it’s great that these seniors are able to identify that their skills have declined and have voluntarily taken themselves off the road. What I think would  … read more

FREE Mobility Screenings!

Once again, Katie and I are back at Pharmaca in Madison Park for free mobility screenings. Call Pharmaca at 206-324-0701 to reserve your spot. Drop-ins also welcome!

Friday, January 16. 1-3pm. Pharmaca, 4130 E. Madison. Seattle.

Begin your journey to movement fluency with a FREE mobility screening from Certified Movement Specialists Jennifer Waak and Katie Bigelow.

Using the science, tools, and assessment based upon the neurokinesiology of Z-Health Performance Solutions, these two senior movement coaches will evaluate your current movement patterns and identify corrective drills – to create a larger vocabulary of movement.

Movement = energy and cognitive function

After an extremely long three weeks of preparing for and then running the Z-Health Master Trainer live training event, I’m home and ready to get back to the rest of my life. The event far exceeded my expectations, and was an amazing experience — I’m lucky to have been a part of it.

Today was my first full day back home, and this evening I was staring at my computer, trying to will myself to write something useful. No luck. Finally I realized I had to get up and do something — anything. So, took the puppy for a walk, and came back feeling like a brand new person. My energy is back and I’m feeling creative for the first time  … read more

How the Blind See without Seeing

Every day I’m amazed at what the human body can do, how it adapts, and what it is capable of. The idea that the brain has certain “sections” and once you lose one section (i.e. speech) you’ve lost that capability for good was proven to be untrue years ago (a great read on this topic: The Brain that Changes Itself).

Published this week was a study where a blind man was able to navigate a newly-created obstacle course, even though his visual cortex is damaged and he cannot cognitively (consciously) process any visual information.

What it proves is that the subconscious mind controls movement much more than most people are aware, AND it is yet another demonstration that the brain and body  … read more

Bodyweight training while traveling

I’m on the road a lot right now, often without access to either kettlebells or a gym. I’m using the opportunity to add bodyweight drills in to my training. In spite of the fact that I can press a 20kg bell, I still struggle with the basics of good form for a push-up, and don’t have the upper body strength required for the quadrapedal movements needed in parkour. So, I’m working on just the basics — planks, push-ups, deep bodyweight squats, and some of the quadrapedal movements and deep lunges. What I find is in a half hour, and in next to no space, I can get a really complete strength and mobility training session in. Since I don’t get  … read more

Wii and Wii Fit

This past weekend I got to see a Wii for the first time – and yes, I’m aware I may be the last person on the planet to play with it. I had been wanting to play with one for quite a while, and was curious about carryover to real-life activities.

My brother and I played with the bowling, tennis, golf, and then the Wii Fit. My first really tough lesson is that there is tennis, and then there is Wii tennis – which pretty well answered the question about real-life activities. I was playing Wii tennis like I’d play tennis, and I was getting SPANKED by my brother. After three humiliating games, I had to step back and revise my  … read more