Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

As a personal trainer, I spend a lot of time and energy with my clients on the importance of accepting yourself as imperfect. I’m adamant about always applying yourself 100% to what you’re doing and always trying your best. But these things must go hand in hand with the ability to love yourself just the way you are, first. Having the ‘imperfect’ mindset is like having wings or like having your shackles removed. You will find yourself fearless and courageous and able to undertake any task bravely as soon as you can own the fact that you’ve got flaws and that’s OK. It is stated beautifully in a song called “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen: “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” If you can’t do a particular exercise or if you find a movement challenging, just do what you can do and eventually you’ll improve and soon you may even master that movement. Or if you fall off of your diet or ...

I recently sent out an email asking everyone if they had any questions about their hips as I was embarking on a deep study thereof. Here are some of the questions and answers published for anyone who is interested. **** Q: Hi - I have had severe muscle spasms in my neck, shoulder back diagnosed as arthritis in my neck and narrowing of C6 vertebra all related to aging - (inevitable) I would like to strengthen my body - CORE - and these areas as well As you know i am not very flexible and always have been this way. What would be the best direction for me to go - Yoga? Pilates? Stretching? Strength Training (that's what started my problem) A: Well, I have to mention that I know many people older than you who don’t have this problem and in truth, many people will never develop it. Your body responds to what you do with it. It's not that you reach a certain age and suddenly you have arthritis in your neck. You most likely have a simple physical habit or pattern that dev...

One of my first lessons in fitness school was the story of Milo and the Bull. Milo was given a calf by his father. He went out every day and picked up the calf and carried it to his father to show him how much he’d grown. As the bull grew heavier each day, so did Milo’s strength. Eventually, Milo was known in town for being the only man who could easily lift a full-grown bull. This fable is an illustration of the lesson that you must start small and add weights gradually. This is the safest, quickest and most effective way to increase your strength. The thing is, I know this. But I forgot that basic lesson for one fateful day. My story begins in late January of 2009. Just in case you don’t know this about me, I’ve always kept myself in good shape and placed a very high priority on my health and wellness. For the past few years, I had been focused on developing an intense fitness system that uses little to no equipment. It was not a body-building program, but it made me lean, ...

Medicine Show presents the World Premiere of: MAKING MONEY and 19 OTHER VERY SHORT PLAYS by William Saroyan with new works written especially for these performances by Kitty Chen, John Gruen, Lella Heins, Brian Murphy and Frederick Turner. Saroyan's series of plays was written in the early 1960's but have never been produced on stage. They are a free-wheeling, comically skeptical look at American society. They embody a time between The Twist and Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll. Saroyan's plays question the belief system imposed on the 'common man.' They see us all stumbling toward some kind of truth. Jason enjoys his fifth production with Medicine Show and says "you can always count on Medicine Show to confound its audience in good and bad ways, both intentionally and unintentionally. We unapologetically show you exactly what we think. This is real experimental theater fresh from the 60's. If you've never seen a Medicine Show production, you reall...

The pectineus is a flat rectangular muscle of the adductor group. It is the smallest, most anterior and most proximal of the five adductors (muscles that act on closing your legs). It originates on the front of the pelvic girdle and inserts on the upper portion of the inner thighbone; the femur. It is monoarticular, meaning it only crosses and acts upon one joint: the hip. The main function of the pectineus is to adduct the thighs. It also flexes and internally rotates the thigh at the hip. When this muscle is tight it limits full range of motion in yoga poses like baddhakonasana (bound angle pose). You can see by the way my knees are so far off the ground that my pectineus muscles are extremely tight. Pectinues is innervated by the femoral nerve and the obturator nerve. It is associated with the second chakra. You cannot see the pectineus in most people, but you can feel it if you know where to go. While someone's leg is slightly flexed and externally rotated at the hip, and...

The Serratus Anterior forms the lateral aspect of the upper torso musculature. It originates on the ribcage, attached to all but the lowest of the full ribs (numbers 1-9), and inserts at the medial anterior edge of the scapula. The tendon attachments on each rib, give the muscle an appearance similar to the edge of a serrated knife, which is where the name SERRATUS comes from. The “fingers” of the serratus anterior interlace with the “fingers” of the external oblique muscles and share fascial attachments on the ribs. Only a portion of the muscle can be seen. The pectoralis major lays over the upper portion of the SA, but the inferior four or five heads can be visible on lean people. Shown here, it looks like a row of bumps on the torso wall, just below the armpit. The actions of the serratus anterior are to pull the scapula away from the midline and to pull it closer into the ribs, hugging the body. It also functions to stabilize the scapula during contractions of the pectoralis major....