Making a difference

Adam Marshall sees it all.

A personal trainer at the Spokane Valley Oz Fitness the past four years, Marshall sees what happens when warm temperatures and sunny skies converge: they combine to motivate people to ditch their winter of inactivity and jump back into action.

And suffer the consequences.

“You see a lot of people who have been pretty inactive over the winter and are suddenly really active – golfing, mountain biking, hiking, you name it,” he said. “What happens is they end up with sore, achy muscles and things like that. You have to ease into it.

“One of the most common complaints I see are shin splints. That’s really common when you try to go from being inactive to running at full speed.”

Not that he doesn’t empathize. Summer weather is one of the best motivators.

Marshall helps clients prepare for their chosen activities, as well as those just looking to improve their lifestyle.

“I had someone come up to me the other day and he said ‘You may not know what a difference you make, but the things that you have taught me, the inspiration you’ve given me – it all has made a big difference,’ ” he said. “He told me that I had really given him a lot of confidence and it had made a big difference.”

It helps to be ready to help on a number of different fronts, he said.

“I see all kinds of people,” he said. “I see people coming in training for a triathlon or a marathon that’s coming up, but I also see people looking to just lose some weight or to deal with different situations.

“One of the most rewarding clients I’ve worked with was a woman who came in looking for ways to deal with some pretty severe back pain. She was constantly having back problems. Every winter she would slip on the ice and injure herself, and was constantly dealing with back issues.

“We worked together on improving her core strength and after a couple weeks, she was seeing a difference. After a couple months she was getting around relatively pain free. That was awfully satisfying to see – especially in that short a span of time.”

Improving core strength and fitness is the new mantra among trainers.

“That’s something that we’ve seen now, of the last three or four years, and I think it’s really made a difference,” he said. “One of the things I talk with people about most is increasing their core fitness. Your core is your abs, your obliques, your lower back. If you can strengthen up those muscles, everything else comes along and shapes up much easier, much faster and with less risk of injury.

“That’s been really good, no matter what sport you’re into, you see a difference. You see improved balance and improved flexibility. Everyone, from professional athletes right down to amateurs, can see improvement by increasing their core strength.”

That’s a dramatic shift away from what used to be considered a strengthening regimen: pull-ups, sit-ups, presses and curls.

“There used to be a real trend toward doing things like that where you saw a real cosmetic change over a short amount of time,” Marshall said. “That’s a guy thing. They want to see arms and legs and shoulders getting bigger and stronger. They don’t think, necessarily, about their torso and making that stronger.

“You can do things to pump up the way you look, but if you want to see a real difference in how you perform, you want to strengthen your core. People aren’t going to notice what you’ve done, per se, but they will see a difference in how you perform.”

That new emphasis is something you will see across the board.

“It’s something you’re seeing everywhere now, from health clubs and gyms to college weight rooms right on down to high schools,” Marshall said. “I coach junior high track and field and we’ve even incorporated some of that into what we teach younger kids.”

Some lessons, he admitted, are harder to learn.

Marshall himself is currently recovering from an injury.

“I’m a little laid up,” he said. “I fell off my bike and kind of messed up my arm. In my case, it wasn’t so much about training, or a lack of it. It was just plain stupidity. That part I can’t really help people with.”