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What are YOU training FOR?

August 31, 2011 By
What Are You Training For Fawn w dumbells

As we all know life throws us curve balls. Most of the time when we least expect it. It’s not so much about what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you. Are you physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually ready to handle the cards you could be dealt?  Do you have faith, hope, and belief to aid you?  Is your body physically ready to conquer the obstacle and get to the other side?  Training your body and mind is important, not only for good health, but to help you get through life’s challenges.

Every curve ball or challenge we get faced with is a gift.  Even though in the moment we may curse, scream, cry, or maybe shout out “Why Me?”  Remember YOU WILL go through that valley you are faced with and YOU WILL rise above on the other side.  The power of fitness teaches this with every set, every rep, every session, every time.  Being physically fit not only helps you feel good on a day to day basis, it helps you through life’s obstacles through stronger mentality and stronger physicality.

It has been just shy of four months since I went through surgery to remove an 8cm malignant tumor along with 12 inch of my colon.  I am stronger than I have ever been and know that being physically fit and mentally fit made a huge difference in my outcome and will in yours.  The day I went into surgery I kept repeating to myself, “THIS is what I’ve trained for.”  I never knew the awesome power that being fit would provide in my recovery from colon cancer.

Fitness teaches valuable life lessons built around the “I can” principle. Because I am fit I can face this challenge. Because I am fit I can deal with the setbacks that accompany this challenge, and because I am fit I can come back from this challenge, whatever it may be. Because I am fit I can cope.  Because I am fit I can conquer. The mental edge fitness gives you through your workouts and self actualization in them, is undeniable. When you think you can…………..you can, and when you do, it empowers you to do even more, more than you ever thought possible.

Thanks to the power of positive thinking and to my dedication over time to the strengthening of my own body, I was walking the halls of the hospital the day after surgery. I realized as I glanced in other patients rooms that most of them were overweight and un-healthy.  This really got me thinking that if I was not physically and mentally fit, my recovery would have been a longer slower painful process.

At some point in time we will all be faced with a challenge that will knock us off of our feet.  Illness, injury, or sickness will occur in your life. Wouldn’t you rather have trained to maintain a healthy strong body, mind, and spirit to reduce your recovery time, or perhaps prevent an onset entirely? How amazing our bodies are if we train them to be strong. Only two months after surgery I was in the gym working out and outside running, longer, harder, and with more stamina than pre-surgery.

Just like you, I was never expecting to hear the words “you have cancer”. You never think it will happen to you. But, when I got cancer; I was fit to face it, I was fit to go through it, and I was fit to climb out of my valley.  I possessed the mental and physical edge that fitness teaches, and believed in myself with faith, that I WILL get through this.  It may seem funny to some that fitness teaches faith too; faith in one’s self, and faith that god gives nothing to us, which he can’t get something through us with.

It took me less than four months after surgery to be back to 100%.  Sometimes our life’s valleys seem like a curse when we are in them, but looking back after this life changing experience I now understand the  gift given in that valley. I am living proof that fitness is, in and of itself, a cure all for the majority of illnesses we face either via prevention, or through accelerated recovery processes. I am taking my gift with me to Boston as I am moving to be closer to family and to start a family of my own.  I will continue my passion for life and personal training along with the added inspiration of my own “valley” to motivate others through the power of fitness, faith, and positive thinking.   I wish you all the best in life and health, and if a valley comes your way, know that, YOU……….. CAN.

Fitness Together Mission Hills 619-794-0014. Join us on our Facebook page Fitness Together San Diego - Mission Hills.

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Mind Body Attitude Matters

August 8, 2011 By
Mind body attitude matters Brain and body

So, how are you feeling these days? Got energy for life, plenty of get up and go, feeling spry and light on your feet? Life has a lot to do with attitude and outlook. Challenges that come our way are meant for our good, growing our strength, growing our character, and molding us, much like what happens to our body when it is exercised. The challenge you throw at it, forces it to “adapt” to that stressor, and grow to handle it. The same is true for the mental side of life. If you think you can’t………..you won’t. If you think you can……….you will. Your life “adapts” to the journey. Funny how that works huh? Our attitudes determine our altitudes, and our “can do” spirit, determines what we can, in fact ………….do.

Let me give you another real life example of what I am talking about. Kris started her transformation in March of this year. Intermittent exercise throughout her life, but nothing consistent, she knew she had to do something due to the severe back pain she suffered after the birth of her daughter two years ago. She procrastinated, and lived with the pain for two years due to her new mother status, and a demanding job. Self-doubt about exercising can debilitate action and avoidance only serves to exacerbate problems. Gravity has a way of torqueing our body over time, and the pull of earth’s gravity, combined with an unexercised muscles tendency to atrophy, yet still be forced to deal with our height and weight……..one of which usually grows with age, tends to lead to pains gate.

Trying to fit in when you are tall as a youth can lead to longer-term adult postural problems. “We focused on school as kids and young adults, and the emphasis was on the academics, rather than the physical.” What we learn as kid’s, tracks with us to adulthood, yes even the physical. We all know what it’s like to want to “fit in”, be liked and be loved. It’s human nature. No one is harder on you, than you, in terms of self worth and what you perceive people’s thoughts to be, about you. If you were taller than your peers as a child, you too probably adjusted your posture to “fit in”. With out of balance posture, lack of exercise, a busy life, an arduous job, and gravitational influence taking its toll, Kris turned to us for help. That gravity thing is working on you too ya know?

Five months later, 30 pounds lighter, Kris is more flexible, much stronger in terms of total body, her postural issues are in check, circumference measurements are down, she has a new way of eating, and a mattress more fitting to her body needs, and now the pain is gone for this 41 year old. We dug deep here, as is our nature, and discovered that sleep was being affected by a mismatched mattress, and via a little detective work, “uncovered” a complimenting anecdote to her exercise and nutrition program.

“I am over the moon with how much progress I have made in only five months. My life is so much different from what it used to be. I feel I can do anything, mentally and physically. I am not as worried about debilitating health issues that come with age, as I feel I can stave off anything at this point. Gwen and Blake have changed my life, and I will be forever grateful to them for getting me on the path to optimum fitness.”

If you live life thinking; “I can’t”, “I don’t have the time”, “It’s hopeless”, “I will never be able to get out of this situation”……………..THINK AGAIN.

YOU CAN!

For more information call Fitness Together at 619-794-0014 today.

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Simple Steps To Increase Your Burn

July 20, 2011 By
breakfast smoothie

The meal that kick starts your day that should be the highest calorie meal of your day is BREAKFAST. I know, you don’t have time, you never have eaten breakfast, you hate eggs, you’re not hungry, you’re a grab n go coffee type. I get it. But start somewhere. Your body as it slept last night repaired itself from the damages you laid in to it yesterday, and prepared itself for the next round today. But it takes work to do this. IT IS hungry. Your last calorie intake was last night sometime, be it early or late, good or bad content? Your body then works all night burning the midnight oil to get you ready to take on today. Breakfast breaks the fast of no nourishment during sleep, while your body continued toiling over your repair and preparation. Do with out a “break the fast” meal, and the body slows down metabolically working at a less than optimum calorie burn, robbing you of results.

Start simple but start somewhere. A meal replacement shake to begin the day’s journey is simple, and easily obtained from a variety of sources and can provide balanced nutrients and calories. It’s a start. Get in the habit of at least this. Perhaps in a week or two you’ll find that you ARE hungry when you awaken, and you can add a cereal, oatmeal or bagel to the line up and pretty soon, you’ll be a full fledged breakfast eater. Your body learns and adapts to what you teach it in the gym or at the table. Do the same things in the gym, teach your body just that, and limit results. Teach it to go hungry by not eating break fast, it learns to live with it. “Learns to live with it” does not mean it should live with it, as breakfast jump starts today’s calorie burn.

Outside of good and frequent eats, to get the most from your calorie burn, you must commit to cardio with regularity and change. People reply often when asked about cardio exercise “well I walk”. That’s great of course, but my reply is “your body knows how to walk”. Simply put, it is not being challenged by walking as it already acquired that skill. It is familiar with walking. But what if you walked as if you were late to a meeting? I mean late, as like your gonna be the VERY last person to walk in to a crowded “all hands” meeting where every one goes silent and looks at you as you enter the meeting, with that “ I’m glad I am not YOU” look on their faces, jaws agape. Now there, you have something. A brisk walk can raise your heart rate enough to give it a cardio vascular benefit. Just walking is just that….JUST walking. Have you ever tried walking backwards, or on uneven surfaces, or sand? Give it a go and see what it tells your body. It’s all about proactive cardio change, shaking up your norms to get gains.

Take your age and subtract it from 220. That result represents your maximum heart rate. The goal is to train such that your heart rate has a sustained period of time in the 65% to 85% range of that MHR number found by taking your age from 220. The lower end of that range; 65%, is more in tune with fat burning and the upper end; 85%, more for high end cardio endurance building. For an added boost use resistance training in combination with cardio. Weight lifting has its own cardiovascular benefits and the combination of the two is a powerful weapon. Using cardio for a warm up followed by a weight training session then closed out with a cardio session can be most effective. During weight training your body will burn through most of its stored fuels and when you hit the cardio post weight training, it has to reach deeper in to your fat stores for energy. For more information call Fitness Together 619-794-0014.



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Summer New Rears Resolution #3

July 5, 2011 By
summer new rears resolution 3 buns red bathingsuit bottom

By following April and May New Rears Resolution Parts 1 and 2, you are now 8 weeks or so ahead of the curve to tighten your toosh to bring in the summer with a tighter toner look in the back side. Last month’s installment tackled “My Buns Are Too Saggy” where we employed the Hyperextension with leg curl; the Donkey Kick; the Side Lying Bicycle, and the Couch Bridge. Those movements combined with the 3 additional exercises we demonstrated in our Part 1 segment for big bun reducing, should be giving you noticeable differences in the gluteus area.

Now we attack our last area of booty challenge: ”My buns are too flat” to “round out” your New Rears Resolution summer reveal. It is time to show off your hard work with confidence. You have now tackled the prevalent problem areas brought up when talking about our backside: 1) “My buns are too big;” 2) “My buns are too saggy;” 3) “My buns are too flat;” In order to de-flatten and build a shapely booty, you’ll need to head to the gym for this final round of shaping. The following 4 booty-building exercises will give your bum a serious shape-changing workout.

Booty-Building Exercise #1: Dumbbell Squat

Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, with toes pointed straight ahead. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Inhale as you squat down, keeping your back straight and tummy pulled in, as you lower your upper leg to near parallel with the floor. Exhale as you press up through your entire foot surface with equal pressure on the toe and heel to return to the standing position. Do 15 repetitions.

Booty-Building Exercise #2: Dumbbell Lunge

Stand with feet together and a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Inhale as you step (lunge) forward, keeping your lunging knee directly over your ankle. Exhale as you push off with your lunging heel, and return to the starting position. Take your time here, this is not a race. You need to “feel” the movement. Do 15 repetitions and repeat on the other leg.

Booty-Building Exercise #3: Straight-legged Deadlift

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing your thighs. Inhale as you bend forward at the hips, keeping your back flat, and legs relatively straight. Lower the dumbbells down until you feel a pull in your hamstrings. Keep the dumbbells close to your legs and as you exhale to return to the start position, focus on contracting your glutes and driving your pelvis forward. This movement, as with most, is all about “feel”. You must feel your glutes contract as you push through your heels to maximize results. Do 15 repetitions.

Booty-Building Exercise #4: Dumbbell Sumo Squat

Stand with feet significantly outside of your shoulders, toes pointed at 10am and 2pm respectively. A wider foot width allows you to drop your hips deeper in this motion. The goal is to squat to a level where your upper thigh is parallel or slightly below parallel to the floor. Depth of squat matters here. Let’s now take a single dumbbell that would equal the combined weight used in either the Dumbbell Lunge or Dumbbell Squat. Hold this single dumbbell in front of you with arms extended toward the floor gripping the dumbbell with both hands on one head of the dumbbell. Inhale as you sink your hips to parallel to the floor. As you ascend, place all of the pressure on your heels to direct the force to your glutes as you exhale.

Portion size, frequency and quality of food choices are key, as well as starting your day with a quality breakfast. You can not out train bad nutritional choices, no matter how hard you work at shaping your toosh. Eating healthy; light and often are key.

For professional guidance call Fitness Together at 619 794 0014. Follow our blog at BetterBodySanDiego.com

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Summer Look Calorie Burn Basics

June 21, 2011 By
summer calorie burn basics mans abdominals

With summer right around the corner following a few tactics can help you achieve the best look possible when slipping back in to those shorts, tanks, tees and swim suits. Your metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns up calories. Burning more calories than consumed is goal to lose weight. You burn calories to provide energy for three main functions:

Basil Metabolic Rate: This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive, even when you’re doing nothing. It accounts for approximately 60 percent of calories you burn.

Burning Calories for Activity: This is the energy used during movement- from lifting your arm to button your shirt to cleaning house. This accounts for approximately 30 percent of the calories you burn.

Dietary Thermogenesis: The calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using food accounts for approximately 10 percent of the calories you burn.

You can influence all of these factors, and speed up your rate of burning calories, using the following tactics:

• Build muscle: increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. Leaner is better, as lean tissue is “active”. Fatty tissue just hangs around, literally, while lean tissue burns calories due to their active status.

• Be active: the average person burns about 30 percent of calories through daily activity; sedentary people only use about 15 percent. Taking every opportunity to move more can make quite a difference to the amount of calories you burn.

• Eat spicy foods: spices, especially chili, can raise the metabolic rate by up to 50 percent for up to 3 hours after you’ve eaten a spicy meal. I love spicy foods, and notice when I eat them, that it tends to make me perspire. Yes the food itself might be hot with spices, but my metabolism is also a blaze!

• Aerobic exercise: high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories during exercise and for several hours afterwards. The after burn is called Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption. After exercise the body must use increased amounts of oxygen to replenish energy supplies, lower tissue temperatures, and return the body to a resting state. Getting your heart rate up is one of the keys to the calorie burn kingdom.

• Eat little, often: eating healthy small meals will keep your metabolism moving faster than larger, less frequent meals and helps to control hunger, making you less likely to binge. Start with a balanced breakfast. Skipping this meal is the worst thing you can do as it tells your body that it is in starve mode, so it slows metabolically, storing fat, waiting for its next intake of nutrition to burn for energy. The goal is to burn calories around the clock by teaching the body that it gets fed every 2 to 4 hours. What can you port from home for your day out that is smart snacking to keep the calorie burn on high? Fruits and nuts, power bars, protein drinks, yogurts, the list is endless, but planning ahead is required.

Five sure fire ways to get you lean and toned for that best summer look possible!

Fitness Together 619-794-0014.

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Summer New Rears Resolution #2

June 15, 2011 By
Summer new rears resolution 2 beach butts

By following last months New Rears Resolution Part 1 you are 4 weeks or so ahead of the curve on the toosh tightening plan to bring in the summer with a tighter toner look in the back side. Last month’s installment tackled “My Buns are Too Big” where we lauded the value of the Elliptical for “streamlining”; running as a “tightener” and swimming for the added value of “calorie burn”.

We are attacking the most prevalent problem areas brought up when talking about our backside:

1) “My buns are too big;” 2) “My buns are too saggy;” 3) “My buns are too flat;”

Let’s tackle “My buns are too saggy” next.

The solution to a saggy bottom is to target your glutes and your hamstrings. Try the following 4 bun lifting exercises at home, as these require no equipment.

Bun Lifter #1: Hyperextension with leg curl
Lie facedown on the floor with your arms extended above your head and knees together. Bend your knees and curl your heels toward your glutes, contracting your glutes. Lower your feet back toward the floor, raise your chest and shoulders up and hold for one count before returning to the start position. Always remember to seek out the “feel” of your glutes contracting. You should feel this in your hamstrings as well. Do 15 repetitions.

Bun Lifter #2: Donkey Kick
Get into a plank position with hands directly under your shoulders and feet spaced shoulder width apart on your knees. Contract your core, lift your left leg with flexed foot, then raise your heel up in a quick motion skyward contracting your left glute for 15 reps. Be sure and “feel” the contraction phase. Your left hamstring should get a nice burn here as well. Keep your core contracted throughout the exercise and back flat. Repeat with right leg.

Bun Lifter #3: Side-lying bicycle
Lie on your right side with your elbow directly under your shoulder and legs stacked on top of each other. Bend your right knee back slightly. Lift your left leg about 6 inches, then draw it forward to a 90 degree angle, keeping your foot flexed. Swing your leg back, pointing your toe and extending your lower back as you contract your left glute. Feel the contraction as you do 15 repetitions and then repeat with right leg.

Bun Lifter #4: Couch Bridge

Lie on the floor with your feet shoulder width apart on stabilized chair, couch or a stability ball. Your head, neck and shoulder blades are supported by the floor. As the soles of your feet press downward through the heels, on the couch, chair or ball, raise your hips to create an imaginary straight line between your knees, hips and shoulders. During the lifting process squeeze your glutes as hard as you can and you’ll also feel your hamstrings ignite too. That’s a good thing. Do 20 repetitions

With all this bun targeting let’s not lose sight of nutrition as you can not out exercise bad food choices. Since you are moving more, you are probably hungrier.

Portion size, frequency and quality are key, as well as starting your day with a quality breakfast. With the big bun and saggy bun work in hand, next month we move on to the “My buns are too flat” attack to round out your summer New Rears Resolution. For a jumpstart call Fitness Together at 619-794- 0014.

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Summer New Rears Resolution #1

May 4, 2011 By
summer new rears resolution butt in white bikini

This is the first of a 3 part “Toosh Targeting” installment to get your backside reduced, toned, tightened and firmed for the summer months ahead when your buns will be a bit more on display, given our skimpier summer attire. This is non gender specific, so guys and gals lend me your ear to kick it in gear for your 2011 New Rears Resolution.

Most people have one of the following things to say about their toosh: 1) “My buns are too big;” 2) “My buns are too saggy;” 3) “My buns are too flat;” or 4) “My buns are too big, too saggy AND too flat”………………………uhoh!

 New Rears Resolution #1   “My buns are too big!” Let’s tackle this one first.

Fat-Burner A: Run………….”The tightener”

  1. To target your glutes focus on extending your hips and keeping your chest lifted. Consider your stride length; the farther you extend and contract your glutes the more work they do.
  2. Roll all the way forward onto your toes with each step, in order to engage more of your glutes. This also gets your calves deeper involved in the action.
  3. Run up hills, stairs, or on the treadmill at an incline. Inclined surfaces engage the glutes more so than flat surfaces.
  4. Run on a sandy beach or gravel path – the uneven surface forces you to work harder to stabilize your lower body. You get great core benefit and again more deeply engage the calves.
  5. Before you run and after you finish take a few moments to stretch. Stretching is essential as a warm up and cool down to running and works to elongate muscle fibers pre and post workout.

Fat-Burner B: Elliptical……..”The streamliner”

  1. Posture matters. Don’t drape your upper body over the front of the elliptical machine, as this will bring the focus to your quads and lower back instead of your glutes. Instead, keep your back straight and posture upright. If you try to push slightly more through your heels rather than your toes, you’ll get added glute targeted sensation.
  2. Most machines have computer modes that simulate stairs or hills. Use those modes when available. This will ensure that the emphasis is on your glutes instead of your quads.
  3. Remember to push down through your heels with each stride. For an added jolt to the toosh, sink down into a squat for 30 second intervals while striding. This will intensify the bun burn. Oh my!
  4. Let go of the handles. This will force your core to stabilize you for some added core benefit. Hands free operation is always slightly more challenging, hence a greater calorie burn.

Fat-Burner C: Swim………..”The calorie burner”

  1. Start each lap with an explosive push from the wall. Place the soles of your feet flat against the side of the pool, bend your knees and explode forward with your legs. Pushing through the heels directs more energy to your glutes.
  2. Use flippers. This may sound silly, but try a few laps with a kickboard and swim fins, and you’ll quickly feel the intense emphasis on your glutes. The flippers displace more water and create greater energy needs directed at your rear end, Your New Rears Resolution rear end that is.
  3. Vary your kick. Go from flutter to frog kicks to target all of your glutes.
  4. Try some in-water squat jumps: stand in chest-level water with feet shoulder width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Bend your knees and lower your hips then explode upward, pushing through your heels. Heel pressure targets the hamstrings and glutes. Toe pressure puts more on the knees and quadriceps.

This month we focused on bun reducing, next month, on bun lifting and in June we’ll attack bun shaping in our final toosh targeting New Rears Resolution installment.  Jumpstart your summer now by calling Fitness Together 619 7940014. Follow our blog at www.betterbodysandiego.com

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Summer Tight Ab Tips

April 21, 2011 By
Summer Tight Abs womans abs in white bathing suit

Summer is typified by fashions that can be more form fitting, more revealing, or in the swim suit case, unveil our bare skin. If your abdominals are in need of a quick pick me up to tighten up for your individual “reveal”, lend an ear and then some strategic effort at these strategies.

Perform strength training abdominal exercises at least three times each week. Your abs are like any other muscle in your body—they need to be consistently challenged in order to become stronger and tighter. The abdominals, due to their size and design can take daily conditioning, due to shortened recover times needed. Want real results? Do it daily.

End poor food choices. Processed foods, refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup do NOT belong in your diet if, especially if you want tight abs. The fat stores created by excess sugar, and fat intake most often, accumulate around your waist, covering up your abdominal muscles. Cut these items from your diet and replace them with real whole foods such as lean meats, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fruits.

Change your lengthy slow cardio workouts. Your body has figured out how to do this and is not “adapting”. Instead, use HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). HIIT training uses intense bursts of cardio peppered throughout your workout. This is a sure-fire way to rev up your metabolism, burn calories, and get your fat stores to shrink.

Use resistance with your abdominal exercises and have a “change mentality”. Crunches are good, but your body quickly becomes accustomed to the motion, rendering it less effective. Hold a medicine ball or dumbbell at your chest as you perform your crunches—this will force your abs to work harder, and you will achieve better results. Change motions frequently and keep your body guessing. Once it learns how to do it, throw it a curve ball and change it up.

Target your lower abs. It’s easy to neglect the lower abs, but they are an important part of the equation. Gravity and the weight of the volumes in our abdominal cavity pull at the muscle system which tend to distend our lower abdomen. In order to work the lower abs you’ll need to engage your legs in order to get at them more effectively. As an example incorporate the V-Up into your ab routine: Sit on the edge of an exercise bench; lean back to a 45 degree angle. Extend your legs out until they are level with the floor. Exhale and bring your knees and upper body close together, while contracting your abdominals. Inhale as you slowly release your legs, returning them to the starting position.

‘Weight Loss, Lose Weight’ products and products that claim to flatten your stomach typically, don’t deliver the goods. Never waste your time or money on: So-called packaged food products that come with weight loss claims. If it’s processed in a package with a host of chemical additives then it will not help you achieve sustainable flat abs. If it’s abdominal exercise gimmicks as sold on infomercials – all you really need is your own body weight, an exercise ball, dumbbells and or a medicine ball. If it’s the so called “magic pill”, the magic pill for flat abs doesn’t exist. Sorry about that. Good nutrition, resistance training and cardiovascular workouts are the solution. For more sure fire ways to get a summer tone up call Fitness Together Mission Hills 619 794 0014.

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Boomers Should Add Muscle Before It’s Too Late

April 6, 2011 By
Boomers man training w woman in background

Strength training can help people build muscle mass to assist in the fight against the debilitating effects of age until they reach 80, a new study says. The key for the 80 plus group is to keep moving, as the ability to generate and maintain muscle mass decreases beyond your 70’s.

A Ball State University study, sponsored by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, found that while six men in their 80s did get somewhat stronger, their whole muscle size and fiber size did not grow during a 12-week training regime.

“We know that there is accelerated muscle loss as we get older,” Scott Trappe, director of Ball State’s Human Performance Laboratory, said in a university news release. “The best way to keep our muscles from shrinking is through resistance training, which allows our body to maintain muscle size and strength as we go through our 60s and 70s.”

Looking forward from our 60s and 70s, one has to think about mobility and ability to have functional use of the extremities used for daily living. Hip and leg strength, to continue to ambulate, or get out of a chair, or bed. Chest, arm and shoulder strength to open doors, pick up groceries or drive a car. All of these basic functional muscle uses, fade with age, if not worked on, as we age.

Trappe said aging eventually causes the loss of “fast-twitch” muscle fibers, reducing the ability to produce the explosive movements that allow us to move our feet and arms to keep from falling. The concurrent loss of slow-twitch muscles, the large ones found in the legs, thighs, trunk, back and hips, weakens posture as well. Together, these losses make it harder to balance and maintain an independent life.

“At this point,” he said, “I would advise people to actively engage in some sort of resistance training once they hit their 60s. From our study, once you hit the threshold of 80, that may not be possible.”

A 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, estimated U.S. health care costs directly attributed to sarcopenia, the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, exceeds $26 billion. Indirectly, sarcopenia has contributed to a doubling of home health care and nursing home expenditures to $132 billion annually. 

The best way to fight the effects of aging is to get in to an exercise program and keep moving. The more our lifestyle trends to sedentary, the less likely we are to maintain balance, strength, stamina, and musculature. It’s not so much about what you may be like today, it is more about who, and what you can, or will become tomorrow.

For more information call Fitness Together 619-794-0014.

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Something Has GOT to Change

March 26, 2011 By
Something must change woman cant button pants

It’s a New Year, and yes, THAT is hard to believe and usually THAT comes with something in your life this year, you want to change? Is it your blood pressure; your weight; your cholesterol or a pair of pants you’d like to fit in to again? Are you “back on the market” after a break up or thinking this is the year that special someone will appear? What then is keeping you from making positive changes? Frequently, it is the time lost devoted to thinking about it. The “getting ready to change” stage becomes the action killer. The hardest step in fitness is the first step; actually doing something. In this latter stage, the pondering is over, and now it’s all about the doing. So how do you jumpstart that change? Jumpstart change around the following principles that when put in to action propel you out of the “thinking” and in to the “doing”.
Something must change. Do you kind of want to get into shape, or do you absolutely “have to” lose weight? Is the Doctor shaking his finger at you over your BMI or blood work? Does dropping a few pounds sound like a good idea, or is living another day to its fullest important you? In order to make a lasting change you must be convinced that this isn’t an either or proposition. It is a MUST.
I must change it. You have to take full responsibility in making the change. You can only blame you for getting you where you are today. Get over the pity party, own it, and do something about it. Others may assist you, but in the end you are the engine that drives the car. You have to need this change enough in order to “own it” personally —no one else can own it for you.
I can change it. Don’t let past failures get in your way. Use set backs as “set ups” for future victory’s. The truth is, you have done and can do amazing things when you put your mind to it. Believe that you are capable of making changes in your life, regardless of what lies in your past. Rear view mirrors are small for a reason. What is behind you is far less important than what is in front of you.
Willpower is NOT the answer. Most people fail to make lasting change because they leave it up to their willpower. This works for a while, but you’ll always revert back to what’s comfortable. So, change what you’re comfortable with. We are all motivated by pain avoidance and pleasure enhancement. When you want to change a behavior pattern the key is to associate pain with the behavior that you don’t want and pleasure with the behavior that you do want. “Trip the switch” and associate exercise with pleasure and any unhealthy behaviors with pain. As an example, your brain might be trained to associate pleasure with eating comfort food late at night and to associate pain with exercise. It’s time to retrain your brain to feel good about exercise and to feel bad about eating late at night and the good news is that you are capable of tripping these switches to do just THAT.

It is a brand new year, and if you’d like help applying these principles with your 2011 change jumpstart, call Fitness Together at 619-794-0014.

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