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COG – Center of Gravity
When you begin to learn about the Center of Gravity or COG whether you are standing or sitting, you will learn how many small movements contribute to your COG and how they awaken the spine and your feet as the foundations for your COG.
You learn:
- how to sit properly on your sit bones vs. slouching and how this affects your posture both sitting and standing. If you slouch when you sit, you will most likely slouch when you stand. This
means learning to keep the belly button pulled in, shoulders square, a long spine and open chest (no slouched shoulders or shuffling when walking). - the importance of eye and head movement to sound balance. Most people do not “think” about how eye and head movement affect the body’s everyday functioning. This is especially critical as we age.
- the relevance of sensing your ankle, arch, heel pad, the ball of your foot, and be able to differentiate and move the five toes, which many people never think of doing.
Because the feet are the Foundation for the COG, weight shifting – both standing and dynamic (walking, running, cross training, etc), and learning to work your 
heels and toes together are paramount to healthy gait and balance. This applies whether one is aging, recovering from an injury/surgery or extended time off of the feet due to illness.
Understanding this leads to the comprehension of how these individual systems tie into “proprioception” or knowing where your body is in space. The sensors engaged by this proprioception are in each joint, the bottoms 
of the footpads, the visual and vestibular (inner ear) system as well as touch. For example, proprioception not only helps with daily direction-finding, but also is essential to becoming a beautifully expressive dancer or gymnast, successful professional golfer, or runner.
Together these sensors help to provide information about the environment that we see daily and that the muscles are engaging in judging the height of 
a step, the distance to the rail or ball, the depth of the curb, or the placement of the foot as a turn or a yoga stance is executed.
Learning to stretch and strengthen these muscles, their respective systems and their correlating movements on the non-compliant surface of an Original SANDDUNE™ makes it easier to do on solid ground. Why is it easier? You are not trying to balance your body on the ground as you do on the mirror resisting exercise produced by the Original SANDDUNE™. Referenced from Miriam Tate’s findings and class development.
Flow into your Fitness
The Original SANDDUNE™, a unique aerobic/anaerobic compliant device invented for interval training to keep performance level from losing momentum during off weather or injury downtime.
Being able to excel on off days or rehab muscles and joints when the impact of the ground is over exhausting, SANDDUNE™ Cross Training excels in keeping your current level of fitness.
Increase Cardio, while Reduce or Build
- Strengthen Muscular-skeletal, Body’s Core Muscles
- Build Stamina, Endurance and Agility
- Develops greater Dynamic Balance
- Aids in Rehabilitation practices
The device allows the body to train:
- up-hill, down-hill,
- sitting, standing, leaning,
- stretching, walking or running;
Similar to aqua-jogging, or plyometrics in the water, it offers therapeutic options easy on the joints.
“Flow” ~Artwork Courtesy of Kirk Wassell
Working on the SANDDUNE will allow one to learn how to:
- Stand at the Center of Gravity with the core engaged, knees soft, back erect, belly button back and gaze straightforward.
- Learn Feet and Foundation sense in the feet through learning to work the whole foot as weight shifts “around the clock.”
- Develop and understand proprioception (the ability to sense the position, location, orientation and movement of the body and its parts) on an uneven, moving surface as all of the parts of the body are taught to work together. IE…learning to “marry” the trunk and the lower body for greater flexibility in movement and walking.
Test jog @ Riverside Diabetes Walk, Nov 16, 2013.
Thank you Jenn!
Happy Thanksgiving
The staff of the
Original SANDDUNE™
wish you a
plentiful and joy filled
Thanksgiving Day.
“The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your perception to such an extent that it changes the world you see.”
— Dr. Robert Holden
The Original SANDDUNE™ Honors US Veterans
We at the Original SANDDUNE™
honor our nation’s Veterans –
past, present, and future
for their commitment to safeguarding the freedom that this great country stands for.
BEAR IN MIND THAT THE MEASURE OF A MAN (WOMAN) IS THE WORTH OF THE THINGS HE (SHE) CARES ABOUT.
~ MARCUS AURELIUS ~
~ GOD BLESS THE USA ~
Cross Training on The Original SANDDUNE
CROSS TRAINING ON THE SANDDUNE™ by Miriam Tait – Balance Instructor
The Original SANDDUNE™, a unique aerobic/anaerobic compliant device invented for interval training to keep performance level from losing momentum during off weather or injury downtime.
Being able to excel on off days or rehab muscles and joints when the impact of the ground is over exhausting, SANDDUNE™ Cross Training excels in keeping your current level of fitness.
Increase Cardio, while Reduce or Build
- Strengthen Muscular-skeletal, Body’s Core Muscles
- Build Stamina, Endurance and Agility
- Develops greater Dynamic Balance
- Aids in Rehabilitation practices
The device allows the body to train:
- up-hill, down-hill,
- sitting, standing, leaning,
- stretching, walking or running;
Bounding Segment of Running Workout
Similar to aqua-jogging, or plyometrics in the water, it offers therapeutic options easy on the joints.
Perfect for:
- Senior Fitness in Fall Prevention,
- general athletic conditioning among women, men and children and
- professionals who fitness and reflexes are key components for successful execution of duties .
Used by for all levels of warm-up, interval training and cool down by:
- therapists in clinical or personal settings,
- golf pros, athletes from a variety of sports, professional dancers, and
- seniors across the country at home or in group balance classes
Foot Pain or Metatarsalgia
Metatarsalgia is a common overuse injury described as pain in the forefoot
The Original SANDDUNE™ can be utilized in a rehabilitation regimen for the the plantar neuroma known as metatarsalgia, a common problem for many runners and dancers, which is characterized by pain and/or numbness in the forefoot.
People coping with this ailment have symptoms that are varied among individuals. Some people experience shooting pain affecting toes that are side by side (2nd & 3rd or 3rd & 4th toes).
Others describe a feeling similar to having a pebble in their shoe or walking on pins & needles, a prickly/tingly feeling known as paresthesia or PVD/PAD as doctors refer to it. Burning and numbness may also be another symptom experienced.
This ailment can also be the result of a poor diet, a vitamin deficiency, the metabolic disorder diabetes or inflammation like rheumatoid arthritis.
The comforting properties of the Original SANDDUNE™ provides a cushioning and malleable platform, rendering it an effective instrument to utilize in the early segments of a rehabilitation plan.
Fall Prevention *Call to Action*
Granny @ 86 yrs Young!
Our goal is to provide people who are “at risk” for falling, a unique device that WILL adds a valuable new dimension in your desire to help others or yourself, achieve greater balance, coordination and strength as a greater confidence to participate in life with less fear of falling is realized.
With more nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities reporting increases of people being admitted who have fallen, this fact is creating a “call to action” nationwide, to develop Fall Prevention and fitness programs that are effective and enjoyable while creating a community of support for those who need to embark on a renewal of fitness and vitality.
Letting physical vigor and productivity drop because you have retired, and ignoring the signs of loss of balance and strength can lead to falls and the chances escalate that you will continue to fall without some sort of intervention in the form of a fitness program to strengthen balance, gait and flexibility. Look for signs of everyday activities that require sitting and standing as a normal part of day, becoming more challenging. 
With over 8,000 people per day turning 65, it is alarming that one-third of this demographic are injured due to falls. Make it a personal “call to action” to start a fitness program or keep your fitness on a level that is compatible with your capabilities, age and health.
Create a list questions for discussion with your doctor to develop an exercise regimen and review diet. Join a club or a group to help motivate and energize you as you begin your new path of better fitness and vitality. Get Moving Again Get Back Into Living Life with Zest and Zeal!
Sports-Neuromuscular Stimulation & Mirror Resistance
Neuromuscular stimulation provides your strength, coordination, reflexes, and balance. If this system is lacking you will not have these capabilities in daily living or athletics. The neuromuscular stimulation and feedback loops are highly responsive to high frequency contractions which occurs during the rapid compression movements performed during cardio burst workouts. These feedback loops are referred to as Mirror Resistance.
Squat Run beginning position. You may want to try dropping closer to your heels to increase the muscle activity. As you run or pad in and out of the squat, try touching the foot pads when in full squat. Give yourself that extra challenge building your cardio and strength.
The SANDDUNE’s Goal
Our goal at the Original SANDDUNE™ is to provide orthopaedic and neurological patients of all ages from kids to grandparents, as well as dancers, golfers, and athletes from other sports, the benefit of working out on this challenging and effective apparatus. It will add a valuable new dimension to the goal of helping reestablish greater balance, coordination and strength to those coping with the fear of falling due to injury, illness and recovering from surgery.
The distinctive properties of the SANDDUNE also lends itself to athletes striving to increase coordination, greater flexibility in their joints, core strength, a more responsive musculature, and balance components critical to sound fitness and successful athletic performance.
Jack’s 5 minute testimony
Mighty Dancer!
Cardio Burst Squat Run
Original SANDDUNE™ 