It seems like there is a new product that comes out every day that will change your life! Maybe it’s a new supplement, training tool or book. Having a small voice in the health/fitness community has its perks and one of those is people send me products to test out frequently. I’m very honest with these companies and tell them that unless I really like and believe in your product I will not tell my athletes/colleagues about it. I don’t trade out my recommendation for free shit! That being said, of the products sent to me in the last year, there are two I can’t shut up about. These products are the FluidStance Level and the PerformaSleep Mattress. Here’s a scenario many of you may have experienced: You get sick of sitting and you read all these articles that tell you sitting is the new smoking. You decide you will petition your HR department to get you a standing desk. Success! They said yes and now you’re free! After a few days of standing in one place like a robot 8 hours a day, you start to get some tightness in your knees and lower back. Now you start leaning on your standing desk most of the day and constantly standing one one leg to unload one at a time. Eventually you wonder why you listened to that dumbass physical therapist (me!) and got a standing desk. Well, the problem is not standing. The problem is that we are designed for constant motion. Sitting and standing in one place are unnatural. This is where the FluidStance Level is genius. This is a board with a rounded base that is semi unstable. Think Indo Board but you can actually stand on this without the risk of falling off and breaking your wrist. The Level allows you to stand on one place but constantly have small movements occurring the entire time. Here’s a scenario many of you may have experienced: What I like so much about the Level is the simplicity of solving this problem. Plus, let’s be honest, it looks cool. I can’t have someone come in my office without petitioning me to get off of it so they can try it. If you have a standing desk and have a similar problem of discomfort during the day, getting a Level could be the answer. Plus, it kind of looks like a hoverboard and so you can feel like Marty McFly all day! The second product I’ve really been impressed with this year is the PerformaSleep Mattress. This is actually something I was very skeptical about. A mattress to help with recovery? Seriously, how could this be any different than a regular mattress? Well, within the first 3 nights of sleeping in the PerformaSleep Mattress my wife and I were sold. So was our dog and cat actually, we couldn’t get them off the damn mattress! Here’s what I noticed. First, I do the same tests first thing in the morning and have been for years. I roll out of bed, bend forward to touch my toes and then overhead squat. It typically takes me 15-30 minutes of moving around or a shower before I can touch my toes and a squat feels comfortable. The second morning of waking up on the PerformaSleep Mattress, I rolled right out of bed, touched my toes and dropped into a bottomed out overhead squat. The other thing I noticed was how quickly my wife falls asleep on this mattress. She typically doesn’t fall asleep very quickly and it annoys her because I’m out as soon as I lay down. She’s fallen asleep dramatically faster since we made the switch and says she feels much more awake in the mornings.
We are in bed for a third of our life. If you have to be there, you might as well have a really high quality mattress. If you are in the market for a mattress check them out! I’ll keep trying products out and letting you guys know what I honestly think. If you have any products you recommend that we test out, let us know! -Danny
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January 2019
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