Corrective exercises

Regaining Independence: Mary’s Journey to Freedom

Solcore Fitness & Therapy Review. independence through holistic healing

When you think about independence, you might picture financial freedom or the ability to travel. But for many, independence means something much more personal: the ability to move, explore, and live life without being trapped by pain.

This is Mary’s story.

Finding Freedom from Pain

As an active person, Mary was deeply frustrated when scoliosis and SI joint issues sidelined her. The doctors told her she wasn’t a surgical candidate, and the physical therapy covered by her insurance barely scratched the surface.

Like many people, she was desperate for relief—but traditional approaches weren’t enough.

That’s when Mary found SolCore Fitness & Therapy. She was immediately drawn to our fascia-focused, holistic approach that addresses the root causes—not just the symptoms.

She joined our group classes and began private therapy sessions that worked directly with the source of her pain.

A Path to True Independence

The workouts were challenging, but never out of reach. Step by step, Mary began to rebuild her body.

Her pain decreased. Her mobility returned. Her confidence grew.

After a year and a half of committed work, Mary achieved something that once felt impossible—she completed a rugged 6-mile hike, a milestone that symbolized the independence she thought she had lost forever.

“I achieved results beyond my dreams.” — Mary

Holistic Healing That Works

Mary’s journey is a powerful reminder that when you address your body as a whole system—when you work with fascia, postural balance, and integrated movement—true independence becomes possible.

You don’t have to accept limited movement as your new normal.
You don’t have to settle for treatments that only scratch the surface.

There is a path to freedom.

👉 Watch Mary’s Full Story on YouTube

[Link to full testimonial video]

🎯 Ready to Start Your Own Journey?

If you’re ready to regain your independence and move without pain, we’d love to help.

👉 Click here to schedule your complimentary consult and see how holistic, fascia-focused training can change your life.

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Strength and Proprioception: You Can’t Strengthen What You Can’t Feel

Strength and proprioception are more connected than most people realize.
You’ve been told to get stronger. And maybe you’ve tried…
But here’s the thing no one tells you:
You can’t strengthen what you can’t feel.

If your body’s sensory map is fuzzy — if the nervous system can’t accurately locate joints, muscles, or tension — then you’re not building strength. You’re reinforcing confusion.

When the Signal’s Off, So Is the Output

That means:

  • The wrong muscles doing the work
  • Extra tension where you don’t need it
  • And a body that gets tighter, not stronger

This is why traditional strength training often fails people with chronic pain or poor posture. It piles output on top of dysfunction.

The nervous system is always prioritizing safety. And it won’t let you generate real force from an unsafe map.

Real Strength Starts with Signal Clarity

That’s where proprioception comes in — your body’s sense of position and movement. And it’s not just in the muscles… it’s in the fascia.

Fascia is one of the body’s most proprioceptive organs — a network of sensory receptors, both introceptive and extroceptive, woven throughout your entire structure.

To train it, we don’t start with load. We start with input.

That’s why methods like:

  • Segmental strengthening (precise isometric loading to re-educate joint control)
  • ELDOA (decompression to create space and normalize tension)
  • Myofascial Stretching (length + tension reset through fascial chains)
  • Proprioception exercises (low-load, high-precision training to refine joint feedback)

…form the foundation of intelligent strength development.

They wake up the system. They create clarity. And that’s what allows true strength to build.

From Signal to Strength — The Science Behind the Shift

Real strength doesn’t start with muscle. It starts with mapping.

According to Hill’s Muscle Model, force output depends on more than just fiber length and tension — it also relies on neural coordination and proprioceptive input. If the body can’t feel itself accurately, it can’t produce efficient force.

Your introceptors (internal signals: breath, organ tone, intra-abdominal pressure) and extroceptors (external cues: joint angles, balance, spatial orientation) work together to create a somatic map in the brain.

When that map is distorted, strength gets sloppy and injury risk climbs.
But when the map is clear?

  • Your system becomes more efficient
  • Force transfer improves
  • Strength becomes sustainable — not just performative

Fascia doesn’t just surround muscles — it interweaves with them.
It wraps around every muscle fiber, including actin and myosin, and envelopes the proprioceptors themselves — like muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs.

So when you train fascially — through decompression, tension normalization, segmental loading, and lengthened isometrics — you’re not just building strength…

You’re upgrading the entire system that strength depends on.

Related Resources:

📎 Internal Link: What Makes Holistic Fitness Actually Work
📖 External Source: FASCIA AS A SENSORY ORGAN: Clinical Applications (Schleip)

Ready to train from the inside out?
👉 Book your free 30–45 min strategy call and learn how to build sustainable strength from your structure up.

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Why Your Spine Isn’t Rehydrating Overnight — and What to Do About It

disc hydration ELDOA. Illustration of a yellow sponge between two vertebrae with water droplets rehydrating the spine — metaphor for disc hydration through ELDOA and TV Stretching.

💡 Your spinal disc doesn’t just “recover” with hydration while you sleep. It responds to what you do before you rest.

🟠 Your Discs Aren’t Lazy — They’re Just Dehydrated

Most people think spinal health and disc hydration is a waiting game: take the pressure off, rest a bit, and hope the body “fixes itself.” But that mindset overlooks one of the most basic truths of physiology: structure needs input.

Your intervertebral discs — the soft cushions between each vertebra — don’t have a direct blood supply. They rely entirely on your movement, posture, and hydration mechanics to stay supple and healthy. If you’ve ever felt stiff or achy in the morning despite a “good night’s sleep,” there’s a reason for that.

🧠 The Science of Disc Hydration — in Plain Speak

Discs rehydrate in two ways:

1. Passive Rehydration (Osmotic Pressure)

When you lie down at night, gravity is removed. This creates an osmotic gradient — water is slowly drawn back into the discs. Think of it like setting a sponge in a shallow bowl of water. It’ll eventually soak in… but only as much as its tissue allows.

2. Active Rehydration (Mechanical Stimulus)

When you de-coapt your spine through targeted movement — like ELDOA stretches — you create negative pressure and fascial tension. This primes the disc to pull in more fluid. It’s like squeezing and releasing that sponge right before soaking it — it absorbs far more water when prepped this way.

🌙 Why ELDOA “TV Stretching” Works So Well for Disc Hydration

“TV Stretching” is the term we use for doing your ELDOA decompression work 1–2 hours before bed. This timing allows you to:

  • Decompress your spine actively
  • Prime your discs to absorb water
  • Then follow it with passive overnight rehydration

You’re combining two mechanisms, not relying on just one.

This is especially effective if you’re dealing with:

  • Degenerative disc issues
  • Postural compression from sitting or lifting
  • Chronic stiffness that doesn’t resolve with sleep alone

🛠 Try This Tonight: 2-Step Reset (L5/S1 Focus)

Before bed, try this:

  1. Get into the L5/S1 ELDOA position, but keep your knees bent.
    This protects the popliteal artery, which runs behind the knee and can be compressed during long-duration stretches with extended legs.
  2. Stay in the posture passively — just hold the position and breathe for 5, 10, or even 15 minutes.
    You’re not actively reaching or tensioning yet — just letting the spine settle and decompress through position alone.
  3. Then do a single, focused ELDOA hold — no more than 1 minute.
    Engage the full fascial lines. Create vertical tension. Be precise.
    (Too long and you’ll reverse the effect — ELDOAs are about quality, not duration.)
  4. Lie down and rest.
    This primes your spine for both active and passive hydration during the night.

Try this for a few nights and feel the difference. It’s a strategy rooted in somatic intelligence — not guesswork.

🌀 Recovery Starts with Awareness

This is about more than hydration — it’s about being in your body enough to know what it needs and when.
If you’re curious how body awareness and healing are deeply connected, this Psychology Today overview of somatic therapy breaks it down beautifully. It echoes what we practice here — movement that starts with presence, not just position.

✅ Feel Different in the Morning — Not Just Rested

If you want to feel strong, tall, and fluid in the morning, you don’t need more sleep.
You need smarter pre-sleep recovery.

This approach is simple, targeted, and doesn’t take long. But it’s rooted in deep science and even deeper respect for the body’s rhythms.

🔗 Want help applying this to your specific structure?
Book a free 30–45 minute strategy call and we’ll walk through the right ELDOA and hydration approach for your spine.

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Fascia Healing vs. R.I.C.E: Why Movement Beats Ice for Recovery

R.I.C.E

❄️ Why R.I.C.E. Isn’t the Best Way to Heal

Most of us grew up hearing the same advice when we got hurt:

Rest. Ice. Compress. Elevate.

This is called the R.I.C.E. method—and while it once seemed smart, even Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who coined the term in 1978, has since retracted it. In his article “Why Ice Delays Recovery,” Dr. Mirkin explains that excessive icing can hinder the body’s natural healing process.

Why? Because fascia healing doesn’t happen by stopping the body. It happens through flow.

💡 What’s Wrong With Icing Too Much?

Ice helps right after an injury—for the first 12 to 24 hours.
It slows swelling and bruising, and that’s useful.

But after that? ❌
Too much ice can block the very process your body needs to heal.

It slows blood flow, pushes out the helpful cells, and delays your recovery.

🔬 Fascia Healing Happens in 3 Natural Phases

Let’s break it down simply. When you get hurt or sick, your body starts healing in three steps:

1️⃣ Vascular Phase(2 parts): First Comes the Swelling

When you get hurt, your body quickly sends more blood to the area.
This is called vasodilation, and it’s the first part of the healing process.
All that blood brings oxygen, nutrients, and important “emergency signals” that call for help.

🧊 This is the short window where ice can help.
If there’s a lot of swelling or bruising, icing during the first 12 to 24 hours can slow it down and protect nearby tissues.

But then the second part kicks in…

Now, tiny blood vessels open up and allow special immune helpers to pass through.
These cells begin preparing the area for repair. This part needs flow, not freezing.

So ice is only useful in the very beginning.
After that, movement, hydration, and gentle pressure help your body do its job.

2️⃣ Cellular Phase: The Cleanup Crew Arrives

Next, special immune cells move in.
They clean up the mess, fight off problems, and prepare your body for repair.

But if you keep icing?
It’s like putting a roadblock in front of those helpful cells.

3️⃣ Repair Phase: Tissue Starts to Rebuild

Once your body starts to rebuild, the goal isn’t to stay still—it’s to support the process.

Your fascia, muscles, and joints need:

  • Movement to keep fluids flowing
  • Breath to improve circulation
  • Light pressure to guide repair without overload

These things don’t just “speed up” healing—
They help your body do what it already knows how to do.

Cartoon illustration showing fascia healing response—red immune cells with weapons and green repair cells with tools working together inside the body

At SolCore Fitness we don’t fight the body’s response. We work with it—through guided movement and hands on treatment with methods like ELDOA, myofascial stretching, fascia-based exercise and fascial pumping to help your body heal with its natural rhythm.

These are the tools that work with your fascia, not against it.

This is where fascia healing really begins.
New tissue is built. Fluid clears. Your body restores balance.

But here’s the key:
✅ This only happens if there’s movement, hydration, and gentle pressure.

🧘‍♂️ What Helps Fascia Heal Best?

  • Short-term ice (only in the first 12–24 hours)
  • After that:
    • Breathing
    • Gentle movement
    • Techniques like pumping and stretching

At SolCore Fitness, we use methods like ELDOA, myofascial stretching, and fascial pumping to help your body heal with its natural rhythm.

These are the tools that work with your fascia, not against it.

🚫 Don’t Freeze the Flow. Support It.

Your fascia isn’t just a tissue—it’s a system.
It thrives on movement, hydration, and flow.

The R.I.C.E. method stops that flow.
But fascia healing needs it to recover.

✅ What You Can Do Today

  • Got an old injury that won’t heal?
  • Or a new one you’re icing too long?

Try fascia-first movement instead.
Give your body what it’s really asking for: flow, not freezing.

💆‍♂️ Want to Learn How to Take Better Care of Your Fascia?

If you want to move better, feel stronger, and truly support your body’s natural healing…

Discover the power of Osteopathic Manual Therapy.

It’s one of the most effective ways to restore balance, reduce pain, and help your fascia heal the way it was designed to.

OMT:Osteopathic Manual Therapy

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Katy G – When All Else Failed, She Tried Again And Succeeded

The big smile that Katy comes in with is always a joy to see. But situations with her body were trying to take that smile away. You see, 10 years ago, she was injured at work. The pain and limited activity were constant companions. 

She tried PT, Cranial Sacral, and all types of bodywork massage, including Rolfing, Feldenkreis, acupuncture, chiropractic, ergonomic office assessments, and yoga classes, and bought various DVDs specific to back issues. In 2023, I had spine surgery for sciatica and stenosis. She suspected her back would have been worse sooner without these efforts, but they didn’t fix matters.

Activities like gardening, bending, walking, and sitting were severely limited and painful. She had sciatica every day and neuropathy in her shin and foot. The walking distance was short, and her speed was slow. Sitting down really locked up her back and glutes. Standing was more comfortable. Lying prone with ice offered some relief.

Medicare cut off her PT five months after surgery, but she was still not okay. To make matters worse, and her more frustrated, PT had not helped much anyway. She was praying for direction when she saw an ad for a free SolCore Fitness trial class on Facebook (this is our Monthly Free ELDOA class).

She signed up online and attended the free Saturday group class, and since she found it so beneficial, then signed up for the 2-week trial to give SolCore Fitness a fair test. Ekemba Sooh did an assessment of my issues so he knows what is safe to do. Ekemba is active in class, hands-on, adjusting student postures, and he is very aware of our abilities and injuries. She also signed up for some individual sessions to include the manual therapy techniques because “I was desperate to get better.”

After six months of classes, she continues to improve. She walks better, moves easier, can sit longer, has reduced duration, is less frequent, and travels more efficiently. Since she continues to make progress, she is motivated to keep going and continue to improve her body, health, and life. So, She is sticking with the program that got her there.

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Gardening. The Unwanted Effects On Your Body.

🌱 Gardening Hurts? How to Protect Your Body While Doing What You Love

Gardening brings joy to so many people — the satisfaction of growing your own food or flowers, the quiet peace of working in the soil. But for many, it also brings back pain, neck stiffness, sore knees, or overall fatigue. It doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m Ekemba Sooh, owner of SolCore Fitness. I’ve been in the health and fitness field for over 30 years, working under the osteopathic model. And here’s what I want you to know:

Gardening is a sport. It’s physically demanding. And like any sport, if you don’t prepare your body for it, you’ll pay for it.

In this blog, I’ll break down:

Simple things you can do to avoid injury and feel better

Why gardening leads to pain

What’s really happening to your knees, back, and spine

Click on the image to watch the video

🌻 Gardening is More Demanding Than You Think

Here’s what most people miss: gardening places a huge load on the body.

You’re squatting, bending, twisting, lifting, and often holding these positions for long periods. That’s a combination of:

  • External load (heavy pots, rocks, plants)
  • Postural load (static crouching, awkward angles)
  • Repetitive strain (hours of weeding, digging)

One of my clients — an art teacher — came to me years ago with chronic pain. After months of work, she felt great and was living her life again… until one weekend she gardened for five hours straight. No warm-up. No cool-down. She undid months of progress in one afternoon.

This isn’t about fear — it’s about awareness.

🦵 Your Knees: Why Squatting Hurts Later

Gardening involves constant squatting, both dynamic and static. The knee joint is most stable at 90 degrees — but once you drop lower, things start to rub.

A law in biomechanics called Delpech’s Law tells us that high pressure on a surface leads to the body producing more tissue. In the knees, this can lead to roughened cartilage, causing pain, grinding, and inflammation — especially if you do it over and over without support.

🧍‍♂️ Your Lower Back: Lever Arms & Fascia Fatigue

Ever notice how heavy things feel when you’re bent forward? That’s the lever arm principle. The further out the weight (or your torso), the more strain on your lower back.

From your belly button to your pelvis, you don’t have bones to hold things together. Your fascia — soft tissue layers — does the job. But fascia needs to be hydrated, supple, and trained to support load.

If your fascia isn’t prepped, long hours in bent-over positions can overwhelm it. That leads to tightness, spasms, or worse.

🌀 Your Spine: Why Flexing and Twisting Are Dangerous

Most gardening tasks involve two risky combinations:

  • Flexion + Rotation (scooping dirt, weeding)
  • Extension + Rotation (reaching up and twisting)

Both compress the spine’s joints and increase the risk of disc issues like bulges, herniations, or pinched nerves — especially if your spine isn’t stabilized by surrounding muscles and fascia.

This isn’t about avoiding movement. It’s about training your body to handle those movements safely.

🏋️‍♀️ What You Can Do to Prevent Gardening Injuries

Here are the three keys to keeping your body pain-free while gardening:

1. Train Like It’s a Sport

You wouldn’t try to deadlift 500 pounds without a program, right? Gardening is no different. Your body needs a holistic strength and mobility plan based on what you’re asking it to do — not just general workouts, but targeted prep for your spine, knees, pelvis, and fascia.

2. Warm Up Before Gardening

Your body is like an old car — it needs a few minutes to “rev the engine.” A proper warm-up turns on your muscular and neurological systems, thins out the fluids in your joints and fascia, and helps prevent injury.

Here’s a short warm-up that targets the most stressed areas:

👣 Knees

  • Knee Circles (clockwise and counterclockwise)
  • Figure 8s (vertical and horizontal)
    These gentle movements lubricate the joint and prep ligaments for squatting.

🧘 Pelvis

  • Pelvic Rocks in a wide-stance position with knees bent and torso upright. Helps activate the hips and lumbar spine.

🌀 Spine

  • Torso Translations & Tilts with arms in external rotation. Warms the ribcage and mid-back while protecting from over-compression.

Just 5–7 minutes of this can drastically improve how your body handles the demands of gardening.

3. Recover After Gardening

You’ve loaded the system — now you have to unload it. Stretch the areas you used. Use fascia-specific movements or myofascial stretches to rebalance the body. Don’t just sit down and let it tighten up.

🌿 Want to Keep Gardening for Life?

If gardening brings you joy, it’s worth protecting. And if you want help, I’ve got 3 easy ways to start:

Let me help you garden smarter, not harder — and keep doing what you love for years to come.

Building a foundation for a better life.

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Unlocking the Power of the Squat Exercise

The squat exercise is one of the seven primal movements. But unlike the others, a properly executed squat is the only one that can directly improve your posture.

Most people learn to squat the wrong way. Fitness classes, trainers, and online videos often pass down bad form like it’s tradition. Challenges like “100 squats a day” only reinforce poor patterns. They don’t teach you how to move—they teach your body how to compensate.

That’s a problem.

Click the image to watch the full video.

Why the Squat Exercise Matters So Much

A squat isn’t just for building legs or glutes. It’s a global movement that involves your whole body working together. In fact, it’s made up of multiple smaller systems working in harmony—from your pelvic floor to your jaw.

Done right, it’s one of the most powerful tools you have for long-term strength, mobility, and posture.

Done wrong, it becomes a slow leak—wearing down your body over years until the damage is finally too loud to ignore.

Most People Are Taught the Squat All Wrong

When I started training back in my teens, I was told to arch my back, stick my butt out, and look up. It felt powerful—but it placed massive stress on my lower back and neck. I didn’t feel pain for years. But by the time I hit 35, that form had helped cause a spinal issue and sciatic pain.

That’s how compensation patterns work. You don’t feel them until they’ve done damage.

And unfortunately, a lot of fitness systems still teach that exact form today.

The Squat and Posture: A Unique Relationship

Unlike bending, pushing, or pulling, the squat uses and improves your posture—if done correctly.

Your postural system is made up of:

  • The Plumb Line (ear, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle alignment)
  • The Gravity Line (a 4-degree cone rising from your pubic bone)

The squat interacts with both. If your plumb line is off, squatting can make things worse. But if you squat with awareness and alignment, it actually helps reinforce your posture inside that gravity cone.

What It Takes to Do a Proper Squat Exercise

The squat is built from many parts. Each part needs to function independently before it can function together.

Here’s what that means:

✅ The Beam Phenomenon

Your torso needs to move like a solid beam—no wobble. That requires training your:

  • Pelvic floor
  • Abs (especially lower abs)
  • Diaphragm
  • Lats
  • Pecs
  • Fascia in the mouth and throat

✅ Foot and Ankle Mechanics

Your feet are your foundation. A weak or collapsed arch (especially at the navicular bone) throws off everything above. You may need arch support or proper shoes when lifting heavy.

✅ Pelvic Tuck and Knee Drive

A good squat is knee-dominant. That means knees move first—not hips.

At the same time, keep your pelvis tucked and chin tucked to stay in the beam. This requires both abdominal strength and fascial flexibility in the back.

If your soleus and calves are tight, your heels will lift and stop your knees from driving forward. So you may need to stretch and strengthen your calves to get full range.

Learning to Squat Means Slowing Down

If you’re constantly focused on performance or fat loss, you’re not giving your body the time it needs to learn proper form. And in a class environment, correcting your form often isn’t the priority.

That’s like trying to learn typing by mashing keys as fast as possible without learning the keyboard.

It’s not a matter of willpower—it’s just bad input. And bad input = bad output.

Good Squat = Good Life

Learning how to do a proper squat gives you a relationship with your body.

You’ll learn where you’re tight, where you’re weak, and where you’ve been compensating without even knowing it. And when you address those things, your body responds.

You get stronger. You feel better. You age slower.

Want Help With Your Squat?

I’ve helped thousands of people reconnect to their bodies through correct, holistic training. Here’s how you can start:

You’ve been given a body that can last 90+ years. The squat exercise is one of the best ways to take care of it.

Let’s make sure you’re doing it right.

it’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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The Surprising Truth About Iliopsoas Muscle Pain

If you’re dealing with iliopsoas muscle pain—sometimes called psoas pain—you’re not alone. The iliopsoas plays a critical role in how your spine, pelvis, and hips move… and when it’s tight, weak, or dysfunctional, it can cause low back pain, hip pain, bursitis, pelvic issues, and more.

But here’s the real problem:
Most people—and even many professionals—oversimplify it. They give you generic psoas stretches or strengthening exercises that don’t address the full picture.

Let’s change that.

Click on the image to watch

What Is the Iliopsoas Muscle?

The iliopsoas is a deep muscle made of multiple parts: the psoas major, psoas minor, and iliacus. It doesn’t just run from your spine to your hip—it has multiple attachments at the spine, pelvis, and upper leg, making it a true tensegrity muscle in the osteopathic model.

That means it plays a central role in connecting and coordinating movement between your upper and lower body.
It also means problems with your iliopsoas don’t stay localized—they can ripple out into your spine, pelvis, or even internal organs through fascial connections.

Why Basic Psoas Stretches Don’t Work

Search the internet and you’ll see the same stretch everywhere: kneeling lunge, arms overhead, arch the back, slide forward.

Sounds familiar?

Here’s what’s wrong with it:

  • It ignores the multiple fiber directions and attachment points of the iliopsoas
  • It reinforces poor spinal positioning and can compress the lumbar discs
  • It fails to address fascia, which is key for actual lengthening and balance
  • It’s based on basic anatomy—not the complex interconnections that actually matter

Worse, these stretches can aggravate spinal conditions and reinforce patterns that caused your pain in the first place.

A Holistic Way to Work With the Iliopsoas

To truly improve iliopsoas muscle function, you need a program that goes beyond muscle alone.

Enter Hill’s Muscle Model:

A true holistic approach includes:

  • The muscle itself
  • The fascia that supports and connects it
  • The ligaments and joints it influences

All three work together. You can’t isolate one and expect long-term results.

What I Do Instead

As a Soma therapist and trainer with 30 years of experience—18 under the osteopathic model—I help people move and heal holistically.

Here’s how I work with the iliopsoas:

  1. Normalize the fascia
    Fascia surrounds and runs through the psoas like a spiderweb. If it’s twisted or adhered, the muscle can’t function correctly. Manual therapy helps unwind these patterns.
  2. Myofascial stretching
    Instead of basic stretches, I use biomechanically precise postures that account for all attachments and fiber directions. These target the whole chain, not just one part.
  3. Postural release
    Sometimes, just hanging in a specific posture allows the psoas to release more deeply than any active stretch. I show clients how to do this safely and effectively.
  4. Strengthen it—correctly
    A tight muscle can also be weak. I use movement patterns that strengthen the iliopsoas in the right directions, based on how it truly functions.
  5. Address the surrounding system
    That includes spinal stabilizers like the transverse spinalis, longissimus, iliocostalis, and lats. Muscles don’t work in isolation—they work in systems.

Want to Try a Simple Postural Release?

Here’s a safe, passive way to begin releasing the iliopsoas:

  • Sit on the edge of your bed or a bench
  • Lie back and hold one knee to your chest
  • Let the other leg hang off the edge
  • Hold for as long as is comfortable
  • Switch sides

This gentle release works with the body rather than forcing it.

Ready for Deeper Change?

Most iliopsoas issues don’t get better with surface-level fixes.
You need to work with the cause, not just the symptoms.

If this resonates with you, I have a few resources:
✅ Free Resource – To Get Mobile, Get Out of Pain, and Live the Life of Your Dreams
✅ Consultation – Want to work together? Book a time via the Calendly link

You’re capable of more than you think. Allow the process to change you—and you’ll be amazed at what your body can do.

Building a foundation for a better life.

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Amber SolCore Fitness and Therapy Success

Sometimes, what you’re doing just stops working. For Amber, it took years of yoga, chronic pain, and a sudden breakdown to realize her body needed something different. This is her story—and how SolCore Fitness helped her shift from injury to healing.

When Pain Overrides the Pose

Amber had been practicing yoga since she was 19. It was more than a workout—it was a lifestyle. She loved the wildness, the philosophy, the breath work, and the physicality.

But over time, yoga shifted. The deeper, spiritual practice faded, replaced by fast-paced, athletic movements. Like many, Amber had flexibility—but not mobility or strength. She could move into poses, but her body couldn’t support them.

Eventually, her back gave out.

“It was the day after Thanksgiving. I stepped out of the car and literally couldn’t move. I crawled up the stairs to my mom’s house. It was terrifying.”

That moment wasn’t random. It was the result of years of compensation, strain, and bypassing the body’s needs. Her long-time bodyworker warned her:

“You’re too stretchy. You need real strength.”

Why Yoga Alone Couldn’t Help

Amber loved yoga. But she realized she had been using it to avoid—not address—her deeper structural issues. Like many, she thought movement alone was enough. But flexibility without strength, and effort without direction, only made things worse.

“I didn’t want to bash yoga. But I had to admit—it wasn’t working. My body needed something more holistic, structured, and biomechanically sound.”

Enter SolCore Fitness.

A New Approach: Structured, Subtle, and Demanding

Amber admits it wasn’t easy at first.

SolCore’s program required consistency and re-learning. The exercises were unfamiliar and subtle—but also deeply challenging.

“It was counterintuitive. I had to unlearn how I’d been moving for decades. But the subtlety was powerful. Within six months, I was 75% better.”

Through personalized training and a focus on fascia, mobility, strength, and proprioception, Amber rebuilt her foundation. The back pain lessened. Her posture improved. Her nervous system regulated.

And maybe most importantly, she reclaimed her relationship with her body.

Lasting Changes and a New Way Forward

Amber still has a desk job. She still feels occasional pain. But now she knows how to manage it. She’s no longer dependent on yoga poses to feel “better.”

She’s walking more, doing breathwork, meditating again—and she can sit in silence without discomfort.

“This has helped me return to the real yoga: presence, breath, and awareness. I found a better balance.”

Her advice?

“Don’t wait until things break down. Be willing to change. What worked in your 20s won’t work forever. Find a system that evolves with you.”

Want to Explore a Better Path for Your Body?

Amber’s story is one of many. At SolCore Fitness & Therapy, we help people get out of pain and into possibility through a method that combines manual therapy, fascia-based training, and deep biomechanical insight.

💬 Curious if it’s right for you? Click here to schedule a free consult.

📄 Want the case study version? Click here to download.

Building a foundation for a better life.

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Unlocking Vitality: The Power of Zone 2 Cardio for Optimal Health and Fitness

Zone 2 cardio is getting a lot of attention lately—and for good reason. But this isn’t just another fitness trend. If used properly, Zone 2 cardio can become the foundation of your long-term health, energy, and recovery.

Let’s break it down and show you how to make Zone 2 part of a complete, fascia-informed training approach—not just another checkbox in your routine.

Click the image to watch the video

What Is Zone 2 Cardio?

Zone 2 is the second level in a 5-zone cardiovascular scale, where your body primarily uses fat and oxygen (aerobic metabolism) to fuel movement.
It sits between gentle movement and high-intensity exercise, typically falling between 60–70% of your max heart rate.

Not sure what that means?
Start with a basic estimate: 220 - your age = max heart rate.
Then calculate 60–70% of that number.

More precise formulas exist, but the important thing is to start where you are and listen to your body.

✅ A heart rate monitor (Apple Watch, Garmin, etc.) can help
✅ You should still be able to talk comfortably while training (aka the “talk test”)
✅ You may still breathe mostly through your nose

Why Zone 2 Cardio Works So Well

Zone 2 improves how efficiently your body uses oxygen, delivers nutrients, and clears waste.
Here’s what you gain:

  • Stronger heart and lungs
  • More mitochondria (cellular energy factories)
  • Better capillary density (circulation)
  • Faster recovery between workouts
  • A solid base for strength or higher-intensity training

If you’ve ever jumped into HIIT, CrossFit, or intense lifting without seeing results, it’s often because your foundation was missing.
Zone 2 is that missing piece.

But here’s the part most people miss: your structure matters just as much as your heart rate.

If your posture is collapsed—rounded shoulders, forward head, restricted breathing—you’re limiting the ability of your lungs and heart to perform.
And that can reduce the effectiveness of even a perfect Zone 2 session.

That’s why we integrate corrective and structural work into all our programming at SolCore Fitness.
When you combine Zone 2 with myofascial stretching, segmental strengthening, and ELDOA techniques, you unlock the full benefit of cardio.

Explore how ELDOA exercises can open space in your spine and thorax to support better breathing and recovery.

How to Build Your Zone 2 Routine

  1. Start with Zone 1
    If you’re new to cardio or unsure of your baseline, begin with lower-intensity Zone 1 work and good posture habits.
    Let your body adapt before pushing harder.
  2. Dial in your structure
    Use corrective exercise and mobility work—like Global Strengthening and postural realignment—to prepare your body for regular training stress.
  3. Progress gradually
    • Begin with 45-minute sessions
    • Aim to increase duration to 60–90 minutes over time
    • Stay consistent and let your body adapt over weeks—not days

Don’t Skip Corrective Work

Even walking puts thousands of pounds of force through your joints over the course of 10,000 steps.
Without corrective exercise, those forces accumulate and degrade performance—especially in an unbalanced body.

Every Zone 2 session should be followed by realignment and decompression work, not just foam rolling or massage.

Corrective support ensures that:

  • Muscles recover efficiently
  • Fascia maintains healthy tone and hydration
  • You prevent breakdown while building endurance

Final Thoughts: Periodization Is Key

Zone 2 isn’t meant to be a permanent state. It’s a phase in a smart, periodized plan.
You cycle between:

  • Structure + Zone 1
  • Structure + Zone 2
  • Corrective + Recovery
  • And eventually, higher intensities with full preparation

This is how you train for vitality, not just fitness.

Want support?
We offer multiple ways to help—from ebooks and training groups to personalized plans. Reach out or explore more resources on our site.

Request A Free Consultation Here

it’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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