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Author: Craig Smith

The 4 Types of SPC Supplemental Workouts

The foundation of our programming is the strength workout. Building upon this foundation using a progressive overload approach is essential for long-term strength and fitness gains. Incorporating supplemental workouts can provide variety, target specific muscle groups and movement patterns, develop new skills, and enhance overall fitness and performance. Supplemental workouts can serve various purposes, such as addressing weaknesses, improving mobility, treating recurrent injuries, reducing risk for falls or simply adding diversity to training. They include exercises like mobility drills, corrective exercises, accessory movements, and conditioning work. By integrating supplemental workouts into your programming, you create a more well-rounded and balanced training regimen. This approach not only helps to prevent boredom and plateaus but also allows for continuous improvement and adaptation over time. We want to review the types of supplemental workouts in this article. The 4 types of supplemental workouts We have 4 types of supplemental workouts: We will explain

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What is the difference between Phase 3: Activity Progression and Phase 4: Exercise, Maintenance, and Monitoring?

Welcome to the transition zone—phase 3 to phase 4—at Smith Performance Center. This shift marks an important move from rehabilitation to performance. We’re committed to ensuring that our community doesn’t get stuck in a permanent rehab mindset. The switch from rehab mode to peak performance mode can pose challenges, demanding careful consideration and expert guidance. Phase 3 is all about building up tissue capacity, gradually ramping up activity levels, and prioritizing overall well-being. It involves strengthening muscles, alleviating muscle inhibition, closely monitoring responses to increased activity, and addressing any lingering issues stemming from previous inactivity. Essentially, it’s about improving tissue capacity while laying down a solid foundation for what comes next. In contrast, phase 4 signifies a fresh chapter, with a focus on establishing a consistent exercise routine and raising the bar for performance standards. Our goal here isn’t just to ‘move’ but to instill a long-term commitment to fitness

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Physical Therapy Tucson

The 10 Strategy Mistakes of Repetitive Injury When Exercising

Do you want to get back to exercise but keep on getting hurt? The merry-go-round misery of a repeatedly injured exerciser is a common complaint at Smith Performance Center. When someone shows up, our physical therapists listen to a series of injuries that seem to occur every time they get into a workout routine. The exerciser finishes rehab and heads back to their respective sport. The first few days go well, but inevitably the same problem comes back. In our clients’ minds, their body has lost the ability to stay healthy. They believe age is driving the problem, or the joints are shot. They think the activity they choose to do is too vigorous and must be replaced.  These are not the problem.   The cycle of repetitive injury is a strategic mistake. Returning to activity with a strategy We believe in a process called the SPC Phases. A phase at

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Strength coach teaching a banded isometric deadlift at Smith Performance Center, emphasizing proper technique, core activation, and injury prevention.

11 Reasons Personal Training With Our Strength Coaches Is The Right Choice For You

Struggling to Stay Consistent with Exercise? You’re Not Alone. Ever felt stuck in a fitness rut? You want to exercise, but between work, family, and old injuries, it feels impossible to stay consistent. At Smith Performance Center, we make fitness work for real life. Our strength coaches provide expert one-on-one training to help you build strength, recover from injuries, and create a sustainable routine—without the guesswork. Why Personal Training with a Strength Coach is the Right Choice We know that maintaining an active lifestyle is difficult. Technology has made life easier but also less active—more driving, more sitting, and less natural movement. Add in work commitments, past injuries, and uncertainty about the right exercises, and it’s no surprise that fitness takes a back seat. But it doesn’t have to. Working with a strength coach ensures that you’re training effectively, progressing safely, and staying accountable. Here’s how our one-on-one training at

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Smith Performance Center Tucson

The 7 Home Plan Mistakes Ruining Your Progress in Physical Therapy

Not all home plans are made the same. Home plans are therapeutic exercise lists that undergird your journey in physical therapy. Unfortunately, home plans can stall your progress. This happens for a variety of reasons –  the home plan becomes an afterthought to your care, the physical therapist is overloaded with clients, the overuse of assistants, or too much of an emphasis on what is done to you by the practitioner versus what you can learn to do yourself.   We see each of these situations when reviewing the histories of new clients with long-term injuries. The home plan is a critical component of your rehab plan in physical therapy. Our team regularly helps new clients who have been doing the same home plan from physical therapy for years which is not helping. This includes obvious mistakes like stretching an irritated nerve, overloading a painful joint with weight-bearing exercise, or making

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Optimizing Your Strength Training: Understanding the Importance of Deload Weeks At Smith Performance Center

In the realm of physical fitness, the drive to push our limits often overshadows the significance of rest and recovery.  Enter the concept of “Deloading” — a strategic and essential practice that can be a game-changer in your strength training regimen.  As we engage in rigorous workouts and demanding physical activities, our bodies undergo stress, breaking down muscles and tissues.  Yet, it’s during periods of rest that our bodies repair, adapt, and ultimately grow stronger in response to these stresses. The Deload week, a planned phase of reduced training volume, intensity, or frequency, serves as a pivotal component of a well-structured training program. Its purpose is simple yet profound: to allow the body the necessary time and space to recover, prevent overtraining, and boost overall performance. Understanding when, why, and how to implement a Deload week can significantly impact your training outcomes, ensuring sustained progress, and minimizing the risk of

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Optimizing Your Strength Training: The Role of Open Clinics at Smith Performance Center

At Smith Performance Center (SPC), our primary aim is to facilitate a healthy and active lifestyle for all our members. One of the tools we employ to overcome potential barriers to consistent exercise is the utilization of open clinics, which play a crucial role in addressing pain and injuries. An open clinic session lasts for 15 minutes and serves four primary purposes: The genesis of the open clinic concept dates back to January 2018 at Smith Performance Center. Initially conceived as a space for members to report new injuries, discomfort, or movement issues, these sessions soon became integral to our strength training approach. On the first weekend, our physical therapist triaged six people.  Now after five thousand sessions, we recognize their significance in supporting a healthy lifestyle. Why do open clinics matter? Injury prevention, often a cornerstone in healthcare and fitness, presents challenges.  Being active inherently involves a degree of

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Smith Performance Center Tucson

7 Key Reasons Why the Home Plan Is Vital for Success in Physical Therapy

The significance of the home plan often gets overshadowed by in-session treatment.  At Smith Performance Center, our physical therapy sessions are one hour per week with your therapist. You are responsible for the other 167 hours. Due to this, the home plan is a vital component of your physical therapy journey, capable of either propelling your progress or impeding it. It’s not uncommon for our team to encounter new clients who’ve stuck to the same ineffective home plan for years, making errors like stretching an irritated nerve, overloading painful joints, or handling an extensive plan that goes largely undone. These missteps tend to patients undervaluing the home plan. However, the home plan stands as a linchpin for your success. We want to explain the 7 key reasons why the home plan is vital for success in physical therapy. Ensuring We Target the Right Problem There are instances where immediate relief

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5 Reasons You May Struggle To Get A Diagnosis And The Right Treatment At Physical Therapy

Upon your arrival at Smith Performance Center, our primary goal is to comprehensively understand the source of your pain or symptoms.  Our physical therapists initiate this by gathering information through a medical history form, conducting interviews about your experiences, performing thorough examinations, creating an initial list of potential diagnoses, validating our hypotheses through treatment, and finally, devising an initial home plan. This phase in our rehabilitation process is aptly termed ‘Diagnosis and Home Plan Development’. While not a creative title, it encapsulates the process our team undertakes.  A workable diagnosis is pivotal. However, arriving at a diagnosis can be challenging due to various reasons. These complexities range from the diverse causes of pain (such as injury, inflammation, nerve-related issues, sensitization, psychogenic factors, and dysfunctional conditions) to individual-specific challenges. Patients may struggle to explain their experiences, while others may not show rapid responses to treatment due to the absence of a

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The 4 Primary Goals In Strength Training When Struggling With An Injury or Pain

Goal setting is one of the most important, yet tricky aspects of training. Our team believes that goals are secondary to developing habits and systems that you can do day in and day out. We call this an exercise habit and it is a critical aspect of becoming an exerciser. However, goals can help to shape your training, increase motivation, and improve decision-making during the course of workouts.  When you are returning from an injury or dealing with a particularly irritating pain, we believe your goal is very specific. You need to exercise without your body feeling terrible. While this sounds obvious, one of the most common training mistakes our coaches see clients make is too much focus on performance while ignoring a recurring injury or pain.  If you have pain during your running, biking, lifting, etc., you will not achieve performance goals. We strongly believe there are 4 goals

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