Why Dynamic Balance?
Mark St. Peter, Dynamic Balance Founder Read Mark’s personal story of tragedy and recovery from trauma »
The goal of Dynamic Balance is to help you optimize your body's capacity for restoration. Whether you suffer from chronic pain, minor injury, or serious trauma, your body has the ability to heal itself. This natural process can be guided and fostered by skilled practitioners through strength training, intensive stretching, and tissue manipulation.
Our approach is psychephysical. This means that we consider both the psyche and the physical body of our clients. Because each psyche and body is different, we individualize treatment programs to each person's unique needs and abilities. The key ingredient in this process is your participation. Your rewards will be proportional to your commitment.
Physical Hygiene
One goal of Dynamic Balance is to promote lifelong physical health. We refer to this concept as physical hygiene. Just as good oral hygiene promotes dental health and longevity, good physical hygiene prevents the development of maladaptations. It maintains postural and kinetic accuracy and minimizes the wear and tear of aberrant kinetic patterns.
In our society, everyone develops maladaptive patterns. Office workers, dentists, hairdressers, construction workers, musicians, the physically challenged, and athletes of all kinds – each have specific maladaptive patterns (coincidentally they also have associated pain syndromes and injuries). These patterns arise from excessive and inaccurate repetitive movements: lifting, reaching, typing, sitting… You can probably identify some of your own right now. These patterns lead to chronic pain and injury.
At Dynamic Balance, we develop individualized programs for each person to help overcome maladaptive patterns and maintain a healthy and pain-free body. Each unique regimen takes into account your lifestyle, personality, and history of injury, disability, or chronic pain. With your commitment to a tailored program, you can learn and maintain good physical hygiene.
Personalized Training
At Dynamic Balance, we believe that treatment strategies should be tailored to each individual: one’s physical capacity, carriage, history of injuries, and personal story. The secret to your program is a proper "reading" of this information; we can then guide you through the progressive steps to healing.
Following an initial consultation and assessment, we will work with you to design a program of stretching, strength training, and tissue manipulation specific to your needs and goals.
Dynamic Balance does not seek to implement a restrictive program, and we do not believe in imposing one particular practice on anyone. We do not adhere to any single method or system of therapeutic care or physical training, as none are universally effective.
Online
Dynamic Balance is developing a new way to manage physical fitness using the latest technology. Stay tuned for more information.
On-location
Personalized training is available in person at the Dynamic Balance studio, located at 35A Clement Street in San Francisco. Consultation is free, and economical program packages are available. Learn more about personalized training on-location and please refer to our Cost of Service page for pricing information.
If you are a current client, please click here to arrange an appointment."
If you are new to Dynamic Balance and interested in personal service please call or email Mark with a brief description of your condition an he will get back for further consultation. info@dynamicbalance.com • 415.221.72146
Why Stretch?
Stretching is an underappreciated aspect of fitness. Many of us make only token efforts at stretching – little more than a tug on the foot or a pull on the arm. But there are multiple important benefits to a complete flexibility program. Two of the most important benefits include reducing the risk for injury and improving performance. Other related benefits of stretching include:
- Promoting the ease and efficiency of movement,
- Warming up before activity,
- Clearing muscles of metabolic byproducts after exercise, and
- Assisting in the "warm down" (or "cool down") period after exercise to return blood flow from legs and arms to the trunk Inducing a meditative or contemplative state.
Stretching is a central feature of the Dynamic Balance approach to therapeutic physical care. Consistency of stretching can improve general health and fitness, athletic performance, and overall comfort and relaxation.
Heard of Cross Training? Try Counter Training
Most people are familiar with cross-training as an exercise strategy. While cross training has its place, I would like to introduce the concept of counter-training. The purpose of counter-training is to counter, or undo, the negative effects of aberrant or repetitive motions common in life and sport.
Cross-training is the inclusion of alternative exercises into a fitness or athletic training program to improve performance in one’s main sport. This strategy commonly involves utilizing an alternate mode of training to improve performance in the primary sport but with less wear and tear. A runner, for example, might ride a bicycle or elliptical trainer to work out their legs without the same impact as running. Cross-training focuses on improving performance of the systems involved used in an athlete’s primary sport.
Counter-training is the addition of exercises that train neglected muscle systems or provide relief for excessively stressed muscles; it is therapeutic and corrective in nature. As a simple example, a right-handed golfer might take an equal number of practice swings left-handed. Similarly, cyclists will benefit from back extension and hip extension motions that counter the fixed-forward position of the bicycle. The goal of counter-training is to maintain balance and flexibility and build strength in unused muscle groups
Counter-training is important not only for athletics, but as an antidote to the rigors of daily life. Many of us spend the majority of our work days seated at desks, driving cars, or reading with our heads slumped forward. Chronic sitting can result in weakened muscle tissue and abnormal posture. Our shoulders, neck, back, hips, and legs can be affected by prolonged sitting. Reaching or leaning forward, often associated with computer use or other desk work, can lead to forward-rounding of the shoulders, the result of chronic constriction of the pectorals and biceps complex. Uncorrected, this posture can lead to curvature of the thoracic spine (or kyphosis) and, eventually, the condition known as dowager’s hump. Even mild postural abnormalities often produce pain or discomfort and can make sitting difficult.
The Foundation Five™ exercises represent an excellent counter-training strategy to the demands of daily life. This regimen rebuilds strength in commonly unused postural and stabilizing muscles and fosters accuracy of movement. The result is balanced musculature and the correction of abnormal posture.