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The Psoas Muscle

And Fight or Flight

Niki Yancy

Certified Personal Trainer

The Psoas Muscle...

What is it? Where is it? More importantly, how do I pronounce it?

The Psoas (So-As) muscle is one of the 3 significant muscles that connect our spine to our legs. It can be quite long, up to 16 inches and is ribbon shaped. It spends its time hanging on to our vertebrae in the lumbar, or lower back region. It reaches out and crosses around the outer edge of our pelvis joining up with its buddy the iliacus (ill-ee-ack-us) muscle in our groin. When psoas and iliacus meet, they become “Wonder Twins” and form iliopsoas (ill-ee-oh-so-as) muscle and attach to our femur, or thigh bone. A real power team. This overworked, underappreciated muscle group is often first to sound off from our complaining hips during daily movements.

Essential for walking, running, standing, jumping, dancing, and maintaining posture, they can be negatively affected by both under and over use. Our brain triggers the psoas to move our leg forward and back, initiating the alternation between the front and back leg. Each successful step is brought to you, in part, by the psoas muscle.

A lesser considered purpose of our psoas is that it is the key muscle engaged during feelings of “fight or flight”. When you're startled, your psoas contracts. When you experience mental or emotional stress, the psoas will respond by tightening. If we consider throughout history how vital this response system has been for human survival, we may begin to value and appreciate this little worker as we do our abs, glutes, and biceps.

Now that we know, we can help! We can be mindful of the value and importance to this region of our body, and we can incorporate 2 to 4 minutes just 2-3 times a day focused mostly on our best friend, psoas. Many of you know my personal philosophy towards fitness. We want to "buy one, get two more free"! This means that while we are going to focus on our psoas, we also get to engage and assist some other areas.

Please, don't mind being that weirdo (health conscious) person in your office! Stand, hinge forward, reaching to toes throughout the day. When seated, raise one knee at a time towards your chest. You will feel tension melt a way and perhaps start a new office trend!

Here are some basic movements to help strengthen and lengthen our psoas:

Leg lifts standing or seated strengthen

Lunges strengthen/stretch

Squats strengthen/stretch

Standing toes touches stretch

Niki

Left Rachel - Middle Miriam - Right Niki

Client Spotlight

The hiking team Training power duo, Miriam Garcia and Rachael Myles.

Miriam is a Heritage Member having been a regular with the club for over 20 years. She enjoys an active lifestyle and loves to move in natural ways. Having fun while building and maintaining her body is priority and a proven method of success. Taking a new health focus just 2 years ago and adjusting her diet, she has lost a significant amount of weight in a way that will be easy to maintain. She is already active outdoors. Our goal for training is to get “a bit faster” on those hikes she loves doing with her sister. She looks forward to having to pause and wait for her sister to “catch-up”. Miriam is on her way swiftly! Pun intended.

Rachael is newer to our community so be sure to say hi! A fast student, Rachael takes her form and efforts seriously, giving 100 percent to every move with cheer. Already active outdoors, Rachael has plans to hike the beautiful landscape of the Scottish Highlands. She enjoys a routine of swimming, weight training, and the odd things I ask them to do, like walking backwards on a treadmill up hill. This helps reverse engineer the strength required in knees going downhill! While visiting in Georgia she shared a beautiful 5-mile hike she enjoyed while away from our trainings.

These women are dedicated, fun, and on their way to new peaks in their fitness. We often break into laughter during training making our hard work seem easier than ever. I am so impressed and always honored to work with them.

Niki

Updates from Elizabeth

Elizabeth Kramer (she/her)

Owner

e@nwwomensfitness.com



Hello All,

We are thrilled to welcome our new massage therapist, Selah Johnson! See her bio and hours below in the newsletter We are so excited to be able to expand our massage hours as many of you have been asking for this for quite some time. Welcome to our team, Selah!

Summer is a great time to change up your work out routine! Be sure to check out all the new Team Trainings we have available. So much fun stuff going on around the club. Don’t get stuck in a rut – try something new!

A friendly reminder to all – please limit your time on any ONE piece of equipment. We have been receiving complaints that people are staying on one piece of equipment for extended periods of time. This includes weight machines. These machines are meant to be used and shared. If you are doing a set please allow others to work in with you. Be aware of your surroundings. If you see someone waiting, allow them to work in. And please DO NOT sit on equipment and read your phones. There are benches in the dressing room and the hallway for this. Thank you for your understanding.

Thanks to everyone who purchased during our May sale! Now let’s put all those sessions to work!! 

As always please feel free to reach out anytime if you have any questions or concerns.

All the best, e

~ Great Father's Day Gifts ~

10 % Off Facials, Massage & Personal Training

For all the Dad's in your life...

Father, Son's, Uncle and Hubby!

Gift Certificates Available

Giving Back To Our Community

Every month we donate memberships and personal training to local schools and church's to support their fundraising efforts. We also donate to different non profits that help people and communities change lives for the better. We discount personal training and different services through out the year to thank our clients for continued patronage. We love giving back to our NWWF community and beyond!

May donations and discounts: $733.79

2024 total donations and discounts: $6,447.70

Jeanette Sanker (she/her)

Certified Personal Trainer 

Assistant Club Director

Group Fitness Updates

Monday 12pm Yoga canceled as of 6/10.

Cecelia needs to lighten her weekly schedule. She is moving to the sub list for a while. We have not been able to find another instructor for that time. We may bring it back in the fall.

Saturday 12pm Kick Boxing is canceled as of 6/14.

This class has had low participation, but members are starting a team training instead. See Sarah if you are interested.

Saturday 1:00 pm Mobility and Stretch will move to 12pm on 6/14.

New Cycle Class Starting Saturday 6/29 at 10:00am. We welcome back Desiree Catalano for this class. We are so excited to have her.

We are still searching for Instructors with a specialization in Tai Chi and Qi Gong. If you know any certified instructors, please send them my contact information jeanette@nwwomensfitness.com.

Debralyn Cox

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Membership & Special Offers

Summer Daughter Special - see flyer above

All Memberships

First Month Free When You Commit To A Year...

First months dues billed 30 days after join date

Join with a friend and receive $10 off your monthly dues

Does not apply to student membership

No Contract Required

All memberships are eligible for month to month

2 month minimum commitment – 30 day cancelation policy

Offer good through 6/30/24

Invite Your Friends

Membership Referral Program

Give a FREE week pass and personal training session

(Member referral gift certificates located at the front desk)

When they join or purchase 6+ hours of personal training,

we will thank you with one of the following (your choice)

an Hour Facial, Massage or Personal Training Session

Excludes Student Memberships

Equipment & Repair Updates

• A few light ballasts are out - Electrician scheduled for 6/11 or 6/12
• 2 group fitness wall fan replacements have arrived - Electrician scheduled for 6/11 or 6/12
• Zoom is in good working order since the update 2 weeks ago
• Group Fitness head set replaced
• Espresso bike CPU out for repair
• New BODYCRAFT U1000-X16TS EXP PRO UPRIGHT Bike ordered
• New 2nd Squat Rack for weight room ordered
• Extra 40lb and 50lb kettle bells arrived - Weight room and both training studios have their own
• Finalizing rubber flooring for weight room - stay tuned

We know it often takes longer than desired for repairs to happen. COVID still has an impact on our ability to get parts. We continue to ask for your patience. As soon as we know something is down we immediately contact our maintenance company who does what they can. Often parts are required and that causes further delays. We are doing our best to keep you informed here and on the equipment itself. Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions.