Programs

OK. So a new year is here. You tell yourself that the 1st chance you get you are going to:

1. Join a gym
2. Go on a diet
3. Order P90X, Insanity, or another product from Beach    Body Inc.
4. Buy a piece of exercise equipment for your bedroom
5. Get out of a bad relationship into a better one
6. Get a better job
7. Quit smoking
8. Get out of debt
9. Learn something new
10. Get organized
11. Travel
12. Volunteer
13. Etc., etc.......

Do any of these sound familiar to last year, or the year before that? Hell, I'm sure many of us can go back even further.

I can’t help with all of them but if the piece of exercise equipment you bought last year is now a place for your dirty clothes and your copy of P90X is collecting dust on a shelf, we should talk. Gyms can be intimidating and if you don’t know how to write a program you will wind up doing what most people do: hit the start button on a piece of cardio equipment and go for about 20-40 min (because that's what the mainstream media tells us to do) and you'll be good. Then maybe some dumbbell curls and call it a workout. Yes, you went to the gym today but what did you do and how did you do it?

Diet! How many diet books do you have on the shelf? You start one and stick to it for a week or two and go back to the old habits. Then you try another and maybe another…

Sitting all day? Lower back pain from weak glutes? Try this: stand up, hands on desk, legs 6 inches apart & knees slightly bent. Keep one leg firm on the floor & swing the other leg backward, keeping it stiff & toes pointed to the ground - feel the muscles on the back of the leg and bottom of your butt contracting on the leg you’re swinging. Go slow & hold at top for 1-2 seconds, repeat 12-15 times each leg.

Try these tips to get more exercise during the day: Take the stairs whenever you can & try 2 steps at a time or criss-cross the legs across and in front of the other as you ascend the stairs. If you drive to work, park far away from the entrance, during lunch go for a walk around the block or building. While sitting at your desk you can tap your feet. All of this can burn more calories trough out the day.

Take the Betz Method Phone Challenge: every time the phone rings at your desk, stand up, place your hands on your desk about shoulder width apart, feet about 2-3 feet away from the desk and legs spread, now do desk assisted pushups until you pick up the line or try to go for the length of the phone call (on speaker or headset). To make it more challenging place your feet further away from your desk.

To strengthen your abs while sitting at your desk, contract your mid section, exhale & hold for 6-8 seconds,…

Protein-Protein is a component of food made up of amino acids. These amino acids are the building blocks for cells, tissue and other major parts of the human body. Good quality protein is necessary for growth and repair of tissue. What is protein? It’s any food that used to run around or swim (ie: beef, chicken, fish). Grass-fed free range meats are what you should be looking for.

Check out these websites for your fresh free range food choices:
www.brokenarrowranch.com
www.blackwing.com
www.peacefulpastures.com
www.texasgrassfedbeef.com
www.scenicmesa.com
www.eatwild.com
www.buyseafooddirect.com
www.kasiloseafood.com

Chewing – Eating and digestion begin with the simple act of chewing. Digestion begins in the mouth; by chewing our food well we release digestive enzymes that break down food.

Sleep – Sleep is a basic for everyone. If you are not getting a good night’s sleep, you are never going to be able to recover from your workouts or the normal day-to-day stress put on our bodies. Poor sleeping can be a sign of other issues.

Eat 5-6 Times a Day – Always have food with you and eat every 2½ to 3 hours. Never be hungry. This will keep blood sugar levels stable and help prevent over-eating at the next meal. Equal amounts of calories and macronutrients would be ideal but 3 meals and 3 snacks will work. Divide up your macronutrient requirements throughout the day. This means you will be having about 42 meals a week.

There many theories on how to increase a persons range. Increasing a persons range of motion is great, as long as they are stable in that position. Most injuries occur in extreme ranges of motion and when we are eccentrically loading a position (as discussed by Josh Henkin in his L.I.F.T. course)

I have spent some time studying varies stretching techniques from AIS, PNF, Static holding, all to "loosen tight muscles" Then there is the school of thought that the "fascia is adhering to the muscles or scar tissue has built up and this needs to be taken care of. So we use a foam roller or have a body worker "release" the fascia, scar tissue, or work on "trigger points". If this has worked for you, great, my personal and professional results have been less then satisfactory. I am not saying they don't work, they just didn't work for me or several of my clients.

A few years ago I took a class given by the people From Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) called Jump Start, silly name I know but that is what it is called. Basically MAT looks at muscle tightness as being secondary to muscle weakness. We where taught a series of range of motion tests and from that screening we tested for positional weakness. We also discussed that, if we tell our bodies to do a job, it will do the job, but maybe all the muscles aren't working? So lets say 5 muscles are required to do knee flexion and only 4…

Last October I went through Josh Henkin's L.I.F.T. program. The course covered so much material, I needed to do it again. It was a great weekend with the crew out in Long Island and a old friend John, who I met when I did a internship at the institute fro human performance. Really long forward to incorporating Josh's principals into my coaching.

Well the answer to that is obviously no. No matter how well we eat, exercise and supplement we are all going to die. But how well we do all of the above can have a large impact on the quality of our life and how well we age.
Scientists have found that we all have certain genes in our makeup that we are born with that we cannot change, but how we age is primarily up to us. Our environment, our tendencies, our activities and our interactions are what matters. As a matter of fact, our inherited genetics account for less then 30% of all aging effects and the importance of genetic inheritance matters less and less as we age. By the age of 80, behavioral choices account almost entirely for your overall health and longevity.

There is no single cause for ageing and the subject is a matter of intense research and debate. We just know are bodies were designed to grow old. Here are the seven major theories on why we age. All of them have some credibility.

1. Our genes program ourselves to divide a certain number of times and once this division has reached the maximum number our bodies will begin to fail. This is the Telomar Theory. These are genetic elements that are controlling the number of allowable cell divisions.
2. The general degradation of the neuroendocrine system. The neurological and hormonal systems that regulate the body finally wear out and make us susceptible to a host of diseases.
3. Our body builds up many…

There are numerous studies supporting the health benefits of chocolate. We need to be clear on what this statement means. Snickers, 3 Musketeers, and M&Ms have no health benefits. Many mainstream candy bars can be contaminated with lead during processing and only contain 20% cocoa butter; the rest is made up of sugar and fillers.

Most research has pertained to dark chocolate which, unlike white chocolate, is made with at least 70% cocoa content. It also contains a compound called falconoid that helps keep blood clots from forming as well as reducing fatty deposits on artery walls. Cocoa and chocolate contribute to trace mineral intake, which is necessary for optimum functioning of all biological systems.

Below are a few benefits of dark chocolate:

Associated with improved insulin resistance/sensitivity and decreased systolic blood pressure (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)
Chocolate high in cocoa solids (cocoa powder/butter) contains a small amount of vitamins A, B1, C, D and E along with trace amounts of minerals including iron, calcium and potassium. Chocolate is also a source of magnesium and contains some fiber and protein (The Washington Post)
The stearic acid (1/3 of the saturated fat found in cocoa butter) in chocolate does not increase LDL (bed cholesterol) levels in the blood stream
The 70% cocoa content in dark chocolate is a mood elevator as well as having antioxidant properties
Evidence is mounting to support cardiovascular health benefits from the consumption of flavonol-rich cocoa (Dept. of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School)
Flavonoid-rich dark chocolate improves endothelial function and increases plasma epicatechin concentrations in healthy…