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Think of the most religious person you know. You know that they have a very strong belief in their religion and it’s dimensions. There isn’t much of anything that is going to make them stray from their firm belief. Even if historians and scientists have strict evidence that proves that there may be slight misconceptions of their beliefs, they are not willing to modify any part of their belief.

Say you have been of a certain religion since childhood. Why? Because your parents and your parent’s parents have been this way. Then one day a couple of people knock on your door whom try to open your mind to a different take on a similar religion. It is very difficult for these people whom are on a mission to make your (spiritual) life better than from your current path. Maybe you have just never been exposed to any other religion. For example, your great grandparents and theirs have been of a certain religion, but then your parents were negatively influenced by something evil inherently thought of as good. Since this religion is inherently good and many other people are following it, you have no reason to think it is bad when it reality it is actually causing more harm than blessing. Similar to religion, many have equally strong beliefs on the foods they eat.  Many are unwilling to listen to other food intake options, or have an unwillingness to change, and are influenced by their surroundings.

I do not not enjoy speaking/writing about food. I will not tell random people what and what not, when and when not and in how large of quantities to eat. When people inquire, I will definitely tell people of my take on healthy eating. However, I will make a great effort to positively influence my family and clients of clean, healthy eating which promotes health, life and physical performance. I have tried the more aggressive (knock on door) method of promoting eating for health, but the majority of the time it falls on deaf ears.

Then you have the people who know everything about what and how to eat yet they do not practice what they know. Similar to religion, this contradictory way will keep you far from (eternal) life.

A hypothetical conversation:

John Doe: I know I can and should improve my health through diet and exercise. I exercise somewhat regularly but what do I eat?
Coach: Eat about 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat from meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no (refined) sugar.
John Doe: Huh?
Coach: First and foremost, eliminate sugar from your diet(intake) which includes soda, candy, cake, cookies, just desserts in general. They have no place in eating for health, life, performance etc. It is going to take some self control. Start small by trying to not have any sweets for a day, a work week, 2 weeks, a month etc. You actually may find that you don’t need something sweet after your meal or sugar in your coffee. Self control, try to display some, seriously.
John Doe: Starch? How do I eat only LITTLE starch? I eat bread, pasta, rice and potatoes often. How would I get my carbohydrates?
Coach: Your main source of carbohydrates should come from vegetables. This means a lot of vegetables. There are many colorful and tasty vegetables to choose from. Have a very wide variety of vegetables especially the dark greens and colorful choices, such as kale or spinach over iceberg lettuce and a red pepper over celery.
John Doe: Vegetables are expensive and they rot fast.
Coach: The benefit of eating vegetables outweighs the cost. Compare a bag of baby carrots for $0.99 to a $0.99 bag of potato chips. Also, it is good that vegetables rot, it will force you to eat them and not waste them. There are no preservatives in vegetables, which is a good thing.
John Doe: 30% fat doesn’t sound healthy. If I eat that much fat am I going to get fat?
Coach: If you maintain an intake of 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat from meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar while engaging in varied bouts of intense exercise you will not get fat, but will actually decrease body fat. Fat tastes great and it gives you the feeling of fullness.
John Doe: Why is eating bread, rice, pasta and potatoes bad?
Coach: Those starches are instantly converted to sugar (glucose). Remember sugar is bad. Overloading on carbohydrates will cause insulin levels to spike to counteract the elevated sugar levels in the blood and cause them to be stored. Stored energy is essentially fat. There is often a reoccurring pattern of insulin spikes of those who eat a high carb diet which in turn can lead to insulin resistance (diabetes). Carbohydrates in the form of vegetables have a low glycemic index (measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels) and do not promote storage as fat or spike insulin levels.
John Doe: Which meats do I choose?
Coach: Stay away from highly processed meats. The more processing the less healthy. Grass-fed, open range animals and wild fish are best. These are not pumped with chemicals, or have heavy metal bioaccumulation.
John Doe: How do I know how much to eat?
Coach: You need to eat enough to support lean body mass and physical activity and not unnecessary body fat. You are going to have to battle this one out. Try to learn a bit more about yourself. Learn which amounts work best for the amount of exercise you do. Learn how long you can tolerate not eating. Learn the amount it takes to gain weight. Learn the amount it takes to lose weight. The amount is always going to vary. Experiment. Don’t be so quick to feed yourself every time you feel hunger. Self control. Break your feeding habits. Measure and record amounts of food so you know what exactly you are putting in your body to eliminate mindless eating.

How are you feeling these days? Like a rusted hinge? A well oiled machine?

Movement is the key to better movement. I am not a licensed physical therapist, but through my experience I have learned that the more your move the better you become at moving! Surprise-surprise!

Many people lose function of their body as a result of environmental factors, ie. sitting at your desk or car for many hours of the day, then sitting on the couch at home. Definitely a combination ill advised. If that is all you do and plan to do, then maybe you are in shape for your requirements. You are not in shape!. Our bodies were designed to move, but if we don’t move we may feel a little rusty. If you feel tightness in a joint, then move your bones that meet at the joint,

Do not be intimidated by moving! Everyone has to start somewhere. If you start training with me, we may start sitting down and standing up. Yes we may do it several times more than you are used to but that is what has to be done as therapy for your poor environmental factors.

Here are a few exercises that can be performed at home for people who need an introduction to fitness. Each of these exercises have a zero cost and can be scaled to increase or decrease intensity.

1. Squats: Sit down on a firm chair then stand up (progress to a lower chair or not using your hands or increase reps or speed)
2. Isometric Push-up: Hands are placed on the ground or elevated surface and body is extended and held for time (progress by adding time or only using one leg or adding push ups)
3. Stand ups: Lie on your back, then come to a standing position. Be sure to alternate which side, arm and leg you use to get to the standing position. (progress by adding repetitions or getting to a stand faster)
4. Hip bridge: Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat, drive your hips to create a straight line from knee to shoulders. Hold as an isometric or raise and lower your hips for reps. (progress by adding time or using one leg or pressing with your hands into a full gymnastic bridge)
5. High knee marching in place. Stand with erect posture, alternate raising your knees while pumping your arms for balance. (Progress by adding time or by running in place)

This commercial made me think of one of the biggest things I have learned from working with the military. The way we trained our students tested even the most mentally tough people. If you start to make excuses, it just makes the task at hand that much harder. My former students never had this problem! Maybe it was because they were among their peers, or maybe because they were training to be Navy SEALs, or maybe they were just the most mentally tough people ever. Really though, it doesn’t matter who was around them, what they were trying to become, or how mentally tough they REALLY are. As a coach for these future Navy SEALs, I had to display this never quit attitude constantly. I do have to admit that amongst the the other coaches, we bitched about going on long runs in the rain or freezing weather and sitting in water for hours at a time, but we still did it.

A good friend/coach/coworker of mine said something to me in a moment of weakness, “Stop thinking about it and just do it!” This is one of those sayings that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life. Unfortunately my mental toughness has really started to decline since my days working with the military. Looking back, I was able to do so much more without any thoughts of quit, weakness, can’t, waa, or no in my head at all. I was comfortable with being uncomfortable. It is a tough battle to get back to where I was, but telling myself that I can and will still empowers me.

One great piece of advice taken from Mark Allen, the six-time Ironman Triathon World Champion, is ‘quite your mind’. But I like Courtney’s ‘STOPTHINKINGABOUTITANDJUSTDOIT!’ better.

Step up.

5 Factors Behind Exercise Discomfort
A new column by Olympian and orthopedic surgeon, Eric Heiden.

Eric Heiden, M.D.
Tribune Media Services

March 24, 2010

Exercise can be uncomfortable when beginning any new type of training or when getting back in the saddle after a long break.

In last week’s column I talked about the discomfort of exercise when starting out and also when competing at the elite level. It’s universal; it happens to everyone, and it is not a sign that you are not cut out for exercise. On the contrary, everyone is cut out for exercise. And for the vast expanse of training levels between the two extremes, exercise is a feel-good experience – most of the time.

Even in the middle, however, a little discomfort now and then is not unusual or unexpected. And it’s not a sign to quit your fitness program. Instead, I use it as an opportunity to get to know my body better. You can do so as well by breaking down any exercise discomfort you experience into its essential components.

Exercise physiology physician Massimo Testa, M.D., advises athletes to assess exercise discomfort as a combination of five factors:

* Your level of fitness
* The intensity of the exercise
* The degree to which you can tolerate the exercise
* Your motivation to keep exercising
* The degree to which you perceive you are suffering

The first factor comes into play when, say, walking three miles feels hard because it’s way beyond your fitness level. The other four factors may all be negligible – the pace is not too intense, you can tolerate exercise well and feel motivated, and sunshine mutes any grumbling – but your newness to fitness alone can spike your feeling of discomfort. Once you are walking five miles at a pop regularly, however, walking three miles won’t even register on your discomfort radar. The work your body does to walk three miles won’t change, but your improved fitness will shrink your discomfort.

Meanwhile, if you exercise at an intensity that is 70 percent to 80 percent of the greatest intensity you could possibly do, you (or anyone) will be uncomfortable starting out. After you’re experienced training at that intensity, though, you won’t be uncomfortable with pushing yourself that hard. That’s essentially the basis of interval training: You train at a higher intensity in short bursts (say, a few minutes) interspersed with rests (blocks of time at low-intensity) and soon higher-intensity exercise doesn’t hurt quite so much, because your muscles and lungs are getting in better shape.

Your brain also gets in better shape, creating a greater tolerance for exercise. As it learns to manage greater fatigue, your brain will interpret the same signals from your body differently.

Likewise, the signals to your brain (or your interpretation of them) change with your level of motivation. As you exercise, the level of signals coming from your body has a value – a number from 1 to 10, say – but the message from your cerebral cortex modifies that value, given your motivation. A 7 today can feel like a 10 next week if it’s raining and you don’t want to be out there. Other days, it can feel like a 3, if you’re with friends.

This is where the chatter going on in your cerebral cortex is cardinal to your fitness: It’s responsible for telling you how long you want to push yourself, either I can’t stand this another second! or I can hold this for another 30 seconds. You can control that chatter – and thus the impact of the motivation variable – very effectively.

( Eric Heiden, M.D., a five-time Olympic gold medalist speed skater, is now an orthopedic surgeon in Utah. He co-authored Faster, Better, Stronger: Your Exercise Bible, for a Leaner, Healthier Body in Just 12 Weeks (HarperCollins) with exercise performance physician Max Testa, M.D., and DeAnne Musolf. www.heidenothopaedics.com)

Copyright © 2010, Tribune Media Services

Most people bite a bigger piece of cake than they can chew when it comes to exercise. They try to commit to going to the gym X amount of times per week or hit X amount of time on the treadmill (and probably eating too much cake!)

If you are one of those people who have trouble getting yourself to exercise you need to start doing something. An easy way to start is by doing ONE MINUTE of exercise per day. This is how the program works:

1)Print out a calendar.
2)Choose several exercises. ie. squats, push-ups and pull-ups.
3)Write the exercises on your calendar, one for each day of the week repeated in order. ie. Monday-Squats, Tuesday-push-ups, Wednesday-pull-ups, Thursday-Squats, etc. (Do not skip any days)
4)Do the exercise that coincides with that day for one minute.
5)Write down that number. The next time you do the same exercise, try to beat your previous score(number of reps) in that same minute of time.

This is a very simple way to start doing something! You are only doing one minute a day, you get to track your progress easily, and you will see results.
If you are completing 50-60 repetitions within that minute you can choose a more advanced exercise, such as jump squats, or squat thrusts, or single leg push-ups.
Try to stick with following this for a few months! Then choose harder exercises for several more months.
Choose exercises that use multiple joints versus single joints, ie. squats verses bicep curls.
If you have pieces of equipment, you can use them! Presses, deadlifts, and weighted squats are all great options..just be consistent with doing one minute of exercise per day.

A client of mine uses the minute while the iron is warming up, another client; just before the shower. Please try this and email me your success story!

You are probably not an old-fart but just wanted to see the kind of trash I would talk about old people. If you think you are an old-fart please know this:

I admire and respect age and experience, so please read this without an old-fart attitude. I would hope that through your amazing journey of life, you have a positive outlook on the future and are content with your past. I also would hope that knowledge you have gained over the years stays with you for years to come so it can be shared with those around you.

I can only assume that your wisdom has concluded that being ‘too old’ is a poor excuse used much too often. Of course age related problems do exist, but they most often do not happen overnight. These age related problems start to increase when the “I am too old” excuse increases. There are many people doing things that are not typical for their age, for example the Great-grandmother and powerlifter. I am not expecting you to be a competitive powerlifter! I want you to do something over nothing, be positive, be moving, be an inspiration for others, and feel younger than you are.

Articles for information and inspiration:
Exercise: Key to a long life, healthy life?
Exercise Helps Reduce Pain In Old Age

Benefits of Exercise in Older Adults

Cardiovascular
Improves physiologic parameters
(V°O2 max, cardiac output, decreased submaximal rate-pressure product)
Improves blood pressure
Decreases risk of coronary artery disease
Improves congestive heart failure symptoms and decreases hospitalization rate
Improves lipid profile
Diabetes mellitus, type 2
Decreases incidence
Improves glycemic control
Decreases hemoglobin A1C levels
Improves insulin sensitivity
Osteoporosis
Decreases bone density loss in postmenopausal women
Decreases hip and vertebral fractures
Decreases risk of falling
Osteoarthritis
Improves function
Decreases pain
Neuropsychologic health
Improves quality of sleep
Improves cognitive function
Decreases rates of depression, improves Beck depression scores.
Improves short-term memory
Cancer
Potential decrease in risk of colon, breast, prostate, rectum
Improves quality of life and decreases fatigue.
Other
Decreases all-cause mortality
Decreases all-cause morbidity
Decreases risk of obesity
Improves symptoms in peripheral vascular occlusive disease

After looking over the benefits of exercise you have realized that you should have been exercising your whole life! Please share this crucial information with your children and grandchildren! They are still learning from you. Set a good example for them. Don’t let poor excuses cloud your thinking. Know that you can receive benefits of exercise regardless of your current age or ability level. Everyone has to start somewhere. The important thing is starting! You are at greater risk of doing nothing.

If you are a younger person reading this, understand that you are aging. Exercise is the fountain of youth! I know that work is a very important thing in your life at the moment, but without your heath, you don’t have anything! It is amazing to see how previously active individuals enter the workforce and just become sedentary. Exercise is the perfect way to get out of the work rut. Think of how the benefits of exercise mentioned above can improve your life and the way you feel at work. The cost of spending time working out versus the cost of sick days, medication, hospitalization, stress, and obesity is much more enjoyable. Don’t let yourself feel, act, or move old, just be wise like the old and start exercising to better yourself, your loved ones, and every other part of your life.

What you need.
Something over nothing. Progression. To be perform movements that structurally load your body, that increase flexibility, demand coordination, increase strength (not just big muscles), and strengthen your core. Use it or lose it.

Squat
Deadlift
Overhead press

Run
Jump
Pull-up
Push-up
Sit-up

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