The founder of ActivEdge, Brian was born in Northern California and raised in Chicago, where he was a three-sport high school athlete competing in soccer, basketball, and baseball. He continued with soccer and club volleyball in undergraduate studies at Iowa State University and Hope College. He received his Master’s degree in Physical Therapy (MPT) from the nationally ranked program at The University of Iowa.

Since 1999, Brian has practiced physical therapy and trained top high school, college, and professional athletes in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. He is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) and is one of only two people in the Triangle area certified in Sportsmetrics ACL and knee injury prevention by the Cincinnatti SportsMedicine group. Brian is certified in Pilates Mat by Balanced Body and is a Level II Certified TRX® Suspension Training instructor. He has coached soccer locally for the top area clubs and the Durham Academy Men’s Varsity team.

Meredith is a Durham native, attending Northern Durham High School before graduating from Elon University. She was a three-sport high school athlete with numerous accolades and statewide recognition in volleyball, track & field, and softball. Meredith spent her first year out of Elon with a commercial fitness nutrition company before joining ActivEdge.

Meredith has used her nutrition knowledge and exercise experience to compete in figure competitions at the state and national level. She is a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) through the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and has used her continuing education to pursue advanced studies in functional training, yogic, and nutritional disciplines. Meredith is also a Certified Zumba® Fitness instructor and leads several Latin-style and dance fusion cardio classes.

Anna Wolfe Coyne is the lead Pilates instructor and head of the ActivEdge group class department. Anna graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Sociology. She has danced all of her life and loves many different types of movement. She has been teaching both Pilates mat and apparatus classes since 2008 and was certified at NC Pilates in Durham, NC. Throughout her experience, she has worked with people of all ages and abilities. Anna believes that everybody is different and therefore needs to move differently. Because of this, she encourages participants to challenge themselves, but also to listen to their bodies. She always offers modifications and variations so that everyone can feel safe, engaged, and challenged.

Anna was recently voted by Endurance Magazine readers as the leader of the #1 Pilates Studio in the Triangle Area. We are so excited for all the development and changes she has brought to our program and the #1 ranking is largely because of her teaching and guidance.

Garrett Davis is another fantastic trainer that ActivEdge was lucky to land after his graduation from the Exercise & Sport Science department at The University of North Carolina in December of 2011. Starting out part-time as he finished classes, then moving into a full-time position starting in the beginning of 2012. Garrett is a certified personal trainer (CPT) through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), a partner of ours and one of the top 4 certifying organizations in the country. He played baseball at UNC and went to the College World Series 3 of the 4 seasons he was there. Garrett was born and raised in North Carolina and his sister, Jill, is a physical therapist down the road in Raleigh.

Jacob started his education at The University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring and finishing with a degree from the nationally recognized Exercise & Sport Science department at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently taking graduate level classes and working on research towards a Master’s of Science in Exercise Physiology while working for ActivEdge part-time. Jacob is a seasoned trainer and a dedicated triathlete himself and helps lead the UNC Triathlon club team in his limited free time.

Krishinda is another Durham native attending Durham Academy and starring in basketball and track & field. She continued to run middle distance for The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Women’s Track & Field team for just under three years before deciding to focus on her studies. Krishinda was an Exercise & Sport Science major at UNC and a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). She is also a senior member of Durham’s own Bouncing Bulldogs having traveled all over the world for demonstrations and clinics on jump roping. Krishinda still manages to see clients at ActivEdge and help with the Bulldogs despite starting in the Physical Therapy graduate program at Duke University in the fall of 2011.

Lauren is a Durham local having attended Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill and now a student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was 4-year varsity letter winner in girls volleyball for the lady Lions. She was the captain her last 2 years and won the State Championship her senior year. Lauren was named the North Carolina Player Of The Year her senior year but decided to pass on the opportunities to play in college and attend UNC and focus on academics. She is still just as competitive as ever and would be happy to challenge anyone in a “friendly” game of sand volleyball… When Lauren is not helping us with various administrative tasks at ActivEdge, you can usually find her studying or working out somewhere nearby.

Michael (@Zimmstrong) has been an ActivEdge regular since it opened in 2005. He and his dad helped Brian pave the way for creating a wellness-type studio. Michael attended school locally at Cardinal Gibbons High School where he won two State Championships in soccer (only to be matched by younger brother, Tyler in the fall of 2011). Michael continues to play soccer at Christopher Newport University in Virginia where he is enrolled in their academic honors program. He has had the opportunity to study at Oxford University in London and landed various business internships scattered across the Triangle. On his breaks, he likes to come and help out at the gym with his positive energy and training plans.

Many athletes, from the first-timer to the experienced marathoner, struggle with what to do after a marathon or at the end of the season. There is a reason why great marathoners like Ryan Hall run only a couple of marathons a year. Marathons are exhausting, and the body needs to rest and recover between them. The saddest thing I see as a physical therapist is athletes who have completed five marathons in eight months and wonder why they are having iron problems, shin splits and are starting to develop plantar fasciatis. We need to let our bodies recover between races, and at the end of the season, we need time off entirely.

The best marathoners begin recovery immediately after they finish the race. They continue to walk around the moment they finish (some ultra-marathoners may even jog). Not only does this allow for a gradual coming down of the heart rate, but doing this every few hours for 10-15 minutes until the end of the day will help prevent blood pooling, DVTs and cramping.

At the same time, you need to replenish your glycogen stores and allow for cellular-tissue repair by ingesting a balance of carbohydrates and some protein. Most races will have an arsenal of donated food and products waiting for you near the finish line. There are also many recovery drinks and some of them will be available at the race. But in a pinch, many of our athletes love plain old chocolate milk.

You will probably feel like doing nothing but walking, rehydrating and replenishing for the remainder of the day, but the following day would be a great time to get a massage. Massage is one of the missing links to improved performance over time and it needs to become a mainstay in your training and recovery routines. Often, the body tries to find its best position to maximize muscle force during training and racing and most of the time that puts us into a spiraled position, favoring one side or the other. Many therapists miss the rotational component that muscles often exert on the joints and skeleton and think that runners have only linear problems. But whether a runner, triathlete, basketball player, tennis player or golfer, combined with gravity, our body develops a way that mobilizes us best. As the volume of exercise and movement increases, the amount of tightness on certain areas of the body increases, and it needs to be addressed before injury occurs, performance wanes or both. A good massage therapist takes some patience to find, but once you find one, try to make it a priority to get a massage after big races and throughout periods of tough training.

Lastly, consider how much time you should take off. There is no perfect answer to this and each person will have to figure out what works best on an individual basis, but I can tell you this: You need to rest in order to get better. For many of you, the winter is considered offseason and following your last race or long run in the fall you will need to take off at least three weeks of running (some triathletes take off up to six full weeks). If you are a runner and just finished a late-season marathon, like Hall did with Chicago, find something else to occupy your time. Hall went fishing with his dad. You can go hiking with the kids, kayaking with a friend, or try a new sport, like paddle boarding. All of these things will keep you active without stressing the body in the same way as training hard for the marathon did. Yes, you may drop a little in fitness. But you will only be stronger when you pick back up.

Originally Published by Endurance Magazine in Aug 2011

by Brian Diaz

As an endurance athlete and outdoor enthusiast, I am routinely asked to do 12- and 24-hour adventure races, as well as 8- to 12-hour continuous mountain bike loops and road rides that challenge many aspects of fitness other than just your running ability or cycling stamina. These types of races have been around for a while and various training strategies exist for the various disciplines you may encounter.

Recently, a newer type of “race” has emerged as somewhat of a blend of endurance and strength. It has attracted all types of people, from the CEO desk worker, to the weekend warrior, to the ex-Division I athlete, to the current U.S. Marine or soldier.

These races are popping up all over the state and country with names like Primal Challenge and Warrior Dash, and are filling up and selling out quickly. My focus as a personal trainer and physical therapist now includes not only preparation, but survival without injury.

In terms of training, and as a physical therapist, this is actually one of the more rounded training regimens that you could utilize. A blend of functional movements and gym-based exercises built around the high-intensity interval principals that I covered in a previous article are going to be the focus of your time outside of traditional cardiovascular training. These types of races require a unique blend of endurance, strength and flexibility to negotiate the course fast.

A typical breakdown for these type of races up to a half-marathon for the actual running distance covered should be a minimum of three days of running and two days of resistance work. Depending on your schedule, you may be able to add a fourth day of running and/or a third day of resistance training. The total time spent training should be in the range of 5-6 hours per week for a shorter race and 7-8 hours a week for a race over 10 miles long.

Obviously, your time commitment to the training and goals set for accomplishment may be different and the intensity may vary, but the time dedicated to training should be the same in order to minimize the risk of injury. One of the most prevalent mechanisms of injury that I am seeing in the clinic for physical therapy is overuse of certain muscles groups that have been fairly dormant up to this point.

Whether in the feet, knees, hips, low back or shoulders, your body needs to be prepared to do certain activities; otherwise injury is almost certain. You can’t expect your sedentary lifestyle to immediately adapt because back in high school you were a three-sport athlete. It takes time and preparation and believe me you don’t want to be seeing me for the next four to six months to recover from a fairly major injury as a result of your actions.

So where to start? Many of you have already begun a running schedule that you may have found on the Internet that helps prepare you for the distance needed to be covered. These can range from a relatively simple and flat 2-3 miles that might be done on concrete (I’ve seen a race in the parking lot and track of Charlotte Motor Speedway with obstacles) to a much more challenging hilly 10-12 miles that covers a ski resort from top to bottom.

Whatever your goal, find a program that works for you or discuss your plans with a personal trainer with an endurance background to get you pointed in the right direction. The second step is to recognize the need to be prepared to run while seriously fatigued and to learn how to utilize your upper body to navigate some of the obstacles.

That leads us to the high- intensity interval training and sets of exercises that we can pair together to get the greatest results mimicking the course-like conditions. I have put together a series of movements that require minimal equipment so most of them can be performed at home.

I would recommend getting a TRX Suspension Trainer if you don’t already have access to one or some other type of suspension device. I suggest utilizing a timed interval approach; going on for 40 seconds and off for 20 seconds will keep the timing simple and keep you starting on the whole minute. You should do 15 exercises three times through for a total of 45 minutes of exercise. If needed, take an extra minute or two of rest after each time through the 15 exercises. For videos of the exercises see below or please visit our YouTube channel for more ideas.

1. Squat
2. Alt Single Leg Squat Hops
3. Step Side Lunge

4. Chest Press
5. Chest Fly

6. High Row
7. Power Pull

8. Lunge Hop

9. Hamstring Curls

10. Crunch into Oblique Crunch
11. Horizontal Pull Up
12. Plank

13. Deltoid Y Fly into I Fly

14. Torso Rotation
15. Overhead Back Extension