Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • About Me
    • Services
    • Shop My Favorites
  • Contact
  • Mobile Menu Widgets

    Connect

    Search

get PT complete

PT Complete

Promoting fitness and wellness for the mind, body, and soul.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • About Me
    • Services
    • Shop My Favorites
  • Contact

strength training

how to strengthen knees

May 16, 2023 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

How to Strengthen Knees for Function and Performance

One common question I frequently hear of is how to strengthen knees, whether it is for athletic performance, going on hikes, or going up and down the stairs. This article…

Read More

sports physical therapy

April 11, 2023 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Sports Physical Therapy: A Rehab Approach for High Performance

Sports physical therapy is a specialty in the world of physical therapy. It covers everything from rehabilitation after surgery, recovery from an injury, injury prevention, rest and recovery, and fine…

Read More

resistance band rehab exercises

March 7, 2023 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

5 Best Shoulder Strengthening Exercises for Healthy Movement and Stability

When it comes to shoulder strengthening exercises, physical therapists want to target the specific muscles that are weak. While weak muscles may differ from person to person, there are certain…

Read More

full body exercises no equipment

February 14, 2023 · In: Movement, Strength for Resilience

7 Physical Therapy Strengthening Exercises for the Full Body

Maintaining your body’s strength and muscle mass is important for your overall health, especially as we age. As movement experts, physical therapists are familiar with which muscle groups are commonly…

Read More

  • ← Previous
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6

Primary Sidebar

Meet Tera

Meet Tera
hi friends!

I'm a practicing physical therapist based out of sunny SoCal who loves to educate others and share information and knowledge. You can typically find me hard at work trying to manage normal life or cuddled up under a blanket enjoying coffee or desserts I can never seem to get away from!

Read More

Connect

join the list

Categories

Search

Archives

Advertise

SiteGround Ad

Follow Along

teravaughn22

I help high-achieving women stuck in pain & burnout
โ†’ build strength, regulate, & heal deeper
๐Ÿ’Œ Join 100+ women reclaiming their strength ๐Ÿ”—

If you sit most of the day and still work out, you If you sit most of the day and still work out, you might feel confused.

You are doing โ€œall the right things.โ€ But by 4PM, your hips feel tight and your neck aches.

Here is the part no one talks about.

A single workout does not offset prolonged static positioning. Your body adapts to what it experiences most. If eight to ten hours of your day are spent sitting, that becomes the dominant input.

This does not mean you are damaged. It means you need movement variability.

Mobility is not about aggressive stretching, or even long spurts of stretching. It is about restoring range and control in the areas that do not move much during the day. You have to be intentional about it. Work on the areas that are prone to tightness from the sitting position.

I put together a realistic 10 minute mobility routine for desk workers that:

- Restores hip extension
- Improves upper back mobility
- Reactivates circulation
- Supports postural endurance
- Can be broken into 60 to 90 second pieces, sprinkled throughout your day

If you work at a desk and feel stiff by the end of the day, this will help.

Full breakdown is live on the blog. Link in bio or comment โ€œDESK WORKERโ€ for the direct link.

#deskwork #mobilityroutine #neckandshoulderpain #lowbackstiffness
Just when I started feeling better after my very b Just when I started feeling better after my very bold 15 minute jog, I decided to try a simple bodyweight leg workout.

And when I say simple, I mean squats and stationary lunges.

Two sets in, my left hamstring cramped so hard I could not fully straighten my knee. The next day, I also realized I had strained my quad.

FROM BODYWEIGHT LUNGES.

It would be funny if it were not so informative.

What this actually shows me is that my left side is still significantly behind my right after my major back flare two years ago. I never fully rebuilt it. I would start, flare, lose consistency, then life would happen. And I would stop completely. The cycle only repeats.

And this is how deconditioning quietly accumulates.

Not because you are lazy or because you donโ€™t care. But because healing is rarely linear and inconsistency compounds just as much as consistency does.

This was not a catastrophic setback. It was feedback.

My body is showing me exactly where my current baseline is. And apparently that baseline still requires patience, even with bodyweight work.

Rebuilding strength after pain is not about what you used to be able to do. It is about what your system can tolerate today.

So for now, bodyweight it is.

Humbling, necessary, and temporary.

More to come.

#chronicpainjourney #returntostrength #muscleimbalance #stronglooksdifferentnow
I really did start this series off by doing exactl I really did start this series off by doing exactly what I tell my clients not to do.

A 15 minute jog on a body that was already irritated, all because I felt good that morning.

And this is the nuance of chronic pain that people do not talk about enough. Motivation does not override tissue tolerance. Energy does not cancel out load capacity. And feeling good for one day does not mean your system is ready for more.

This is especially hard when you have been waiting years to feel motivated again. That is the part that caught me off guard.

For so long, I did not have the drive to strength train the way I used to. Now, I finally feel ready. And my body still needs gradual rebuilding.

If you live with chronic pain, you know this tension:
Mentally ready. Physically limited. Emotionally frustrated.

Instead here is the reframe I am sitting with:
A flare is information..not failure. It tells me my baseline is lower than my motivation. It reminds me that strength is not built on one good day. It is built on consistency that my nervous system can tolerate.

So this series is not about getting back to where I was. It is about rebuilding in a way that lasts. Strong looks different now. And that is okay.

If this resonates, you are not behind. You are adapting.

I will soon share how I am adjusting my training accordingly.

#stronglooksdifferentnow #returntostrength #strengthtrainingjourney #chronicpain
February ๐Ÿ’•๐ŸŒฎ๐Ÿช๐ŸŸ๐Ÿณ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ““ February ๐Ÿ’•๐ŸŒฎ๐Ÿช๐ŸŸ๐Ÿณ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ““
Follow on Instagram

Footer

On the Blog

Info

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimers
  • Terms of Use

stay in the know

.

This website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Copyright © 2026 ยท Theme by 17th Avenue