Hot Body - Cool Mind

Injury Prevention 101

2011-09-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

I heard on TV the other day that more and more people are getting injured while doing exercise. As someone who has been injured from exercise, and who deals with clients who have suffered exercise induced injuries, I believe this is one of the most important issues in the health and wellness field. So what are the causes of these injuries? Basically, people get injured when doing exercise for three reasons: 1) They perform the exercise with bad form. 2) They attempt to do something they are not sufficiently prepared for either in terms of coordination or intensity. 3) The have an accident due to a dangerous environment or faulty equipment.
Leaving aside the third reason, let’s analyze the first two reasons, which are by far the most common causes.
1. BAD FORM. What constitutes bad form? As a Yogilates instructor, I constantly stress proper alignment, control of momentum, limited range of motion, and performing the exercises with a minimum of unnecessary tension. Any deviation in these qualitative factors can lead to bad form and thus to injury. Above all, a participant must learn alignment principles when they are lying down, sitting, and standing. The neutral, parallel positioning of the feet, knees, hips, ribcage, spine, shoulders, neck, and head have to be shown and practiced in static positions and then gradually introduced into movement. This is why modern Pilates training which includes “functional awareness exercises” is so vital and important. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for someone to know how to hold themselves in proper alignment while performing an exercise if they had not first practiced simple articulations of the body parts to see how the movement affects their alignment. Cues such as “pull your ribs in”, “draw your shoulder blades down”, “keep your pelvis in neutral”, are common in Pilates training, but would be difficult for a non-Pilates exerciser to grasp while in the middle of doing a conventional exercise against resistance. A certain amount of body awareness training is essential to insure that a person first knows what proper alignment is and then how to maintain it. Emphasis on this when training should be paramount if someone wants to avoid injury.
Other factors that constitute bad form include giving into momentum where it throws the body off its center. One cannot move without generating momentum, but it can be controlled through stabilization and by initiating the movement from the center. Again, this is part of Pilates training, but as a concept it can be practiced in any exercise or movement. Suffice it to say that if you are jerking or swinging wildly in your movement, your risk of injury skyrockets.
Other key factors I mentioned earlier that relate to injury prevention is to limit one’s range of motion(ROM). Recently, I have seen a lot of people doing an exercise that some call “Bulgarian Lunges”, which is a lunge with the back leg and foot up on a bench or step. This creates an excessive ROM for the hip flexor of the back leg and very often can lead to injury in that hip. There is a better way to accomplish the same ends without risking the strain on the back leg hip flexor. Focus on keeping your hips level and inline with your back, and simply ease up the muscles in the back leg to place more focus on using the front leg. This is what we do in the Pilates studio when we do Step Ups on the Wunda Chair. By not letting the client tilt forward at the waist, we keep the weight centered over the front leg and get more work for those muscles.
Lastly, holding unnecessary tension anywhere in the body while exercising can lead to a strain. Always take a “sigh” exhale before beginning an exercise and try to let go of any unnecessary tension in the body. Try to get to know your tension spots, the places you usually grip, like the neck or shoulders, or buttocks or feet. If you can relax before and breathe with your movements, you will more likely be working with your body, rather than against it.
2) NOT SUFFICIENTLY PREPARED. It sounds so common sense, but you would be surprised how often this is the reason why people get injured. It is the classic weekend warrior syndrome – doesn’t exercise all week, then goes out and plays hard on the weekend and gets injured. To be truly effective, and to reduce the risk of injury, training needs to be consistent, progressive, and balanced. Someone who hasn’t run in months (or years) can’t suddenly go out and run like they used too just because they decide they are going to do it. Just like it would be silly to try to lift something too heavy for you, the same is true with trying to do an aerobic activity at an intensity level (speed) or duration that you are not used to. Same thing applies with flexibility exercises. Someone who hasn’t done any stretching for years and then goes into a power yoga class is setting themselves up for a strained, even a pulled muscle. For most people who are deconditioned and want to start exercising it is recommended to start with simple, functional strength, balance, and flexibility exercises. Simple exercises that are fully doable are better than complex movements even if your eventual goal is to play a sport that involves plyometric and/or coordinated movements. To better prepare for sports, one would be best served by doing body-weight exercises that teach not only strength, but work on stability and engaging of supportive core muscles, such as push-ups, free squats, supported lunges, and general calisthenics. Most people as they get older get better at pacing themselves and can perform well at moderate aerobic activity for extended durations. Unfortunately, our joints and tendons can become stiffer as we age, and support muscles can become weaker so while we may not feel pain during the workout, we often experience pain afterwards that gradually increases with each consecutive workout. The best ways to prevent this is 1) Always do a thorough warm-up before exercising which should include some gentle dynamic movements like leg and arm swings, brisk walking, short/light repetitions of planned exercises, etc. 2) Set a reasonable goal for each workout. You have to start from where you are. Anything that is new, or you haven’t done in a long while, needs to be approached carefully and performed at moderate intensity and duration so that the body can gradually get used to it.

So, let’s all take some time to be sensible in our workouts. Never sacrifice good form for more intensity. Be gradual in your planning and be consistent in your schedule. Here’s hoping that the exercising you choose, and the way you do it, makes you healthier and injury free for the long term.

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

2011-04-21T15:32:00.001-07:00

I want to follow up on my article above regarding losing body fat and add some more information about weight loss. Many articles have been written lately (including the most recent Pilates Style magazine) about how exercise isn't very effective for those who mainly need to lose weight. The research on this subject is not very convincing as it doesn't really use a comprehensive exercise program, but nevertheless, common sense is all you need to agree that exercise compares poorly to diet when it comes to adding or losing weight. For example, to burn 3,500 calories, which is equivalent to 1 pound of fat, a 120lb person would need to run at 8mph (7.5min/mile) pace for 4.78 hours. To consume 3,500 calories, all you have to do is drink a Grande Skim Chai Tea and Blueberry Scone five days in a row. No comparison! Cutting back on high-calorie food is a lot easier to do than running for hours. If you only walk, you'd have to walk at 3mph for nearly 20 hours to burn 3,500K! So, let me be clear - exercise doesn't trump diet when it comes to weight loss. That being said, if done properly, the best way to lose weight is a combination of both diet and exercise, and it is proven to be the only effective and healthy way to keep weight off for good. My article on fat burning includes sensible diet guidelines, but the main point is that to really burn fat to look leaner, you have to charge your metabolism through specific exercise, as detailed above.
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

THE REAL SKINNY BEHIND LOSING THE FAT

2011-03-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants to know the best way to reduce body fat. The truth, however, is that it isn’t just about diet or exercise. There are some scientific facts about the body that many people fail to take into account when they approach the issue of losing body fat through training and or diet; and those facts have to do with your metabolism.

The simplest way to understand how your metabolism works is to think of it as the energy your body needs just to be alive. Basically, you can think of your body like an engine that needs fuel to power it just to stay on. However, unlike a car engine, which can be shut off, your body’s engine never shuts off until you die. Even when you are asleep, you are still burning fuel to power the ongoing systems of your body, which includes your respiratory and cardiovascular system, digestion, body temperature, and cellular functions and rebuilding. One thing to remember is that your body rebuilds itself constantly from the inside. Even after we become adults and stop growing, our body still replaces worn out cells with brand new ones. Physiologists call the caloric (fuel) needs of a body at rest the “basal metabolic rate” or BMR. Common sense tells you that the bigger a body you have, the more calories it will burn at rest to keep it functioning. But, your metabolism is also related to how much muscle you have as opposed to fat, since a muscle cell is used more for everyday functions, it will also use more calories at rest. So body composition (body fat vs lean body mass) is also a determinant of what your BMR is.

Exercise physiologists William McCardle and Frank Katch came up with a simple formula that you can use to estimate your BMR once you have your Body Fat % measured. It is:

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Example:
You are female
You weigh 120 lbs. (54.5 kilos)
Your body fat percentage is 20% (24 lbs. fat, 96 lbs. lean)
Your lean mass is 96 lbs. (43.6 kilos)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 43.6) = 1312 calories

REMEMBER, that is the calories needed just to maintain yourself if you were lying in a bed ALL day. This is not your maintenance amount of calories if you do any activity at all, including just sitting at a desk. To find out what your maintenance level of calories would be, you have to factor in your activity level. Below is a chart to help gauge this number which is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure needs (TDEE):

Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

Example:

Your BMR is 1312

Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week)

Your activity factor is 1.55

Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1312 = 2033 calories

According to exercise physiologists McArdle and Katch, the average maintenance level for women in the United States is 2000-2100 calories per day and the average for men is 2700-2900 per day. These are only averages; caloric expenditure can vary widely and is much higher for athletes or extremely active individuals. Some triathletes and ultra-endurance athletes may require as many as 6000 calories per day or more just to maintain their weight! Calorie requirements may also vary among otherwise identical individuals due to differences in inherited metabolic rates.

Calculating your TDEE is very useful for planning any weight loss program. Basically, you would want to create a slight caloric deficit (15-20% of TDEE) in order to lose body weight, but you have to be careful that you also maintain a lifestyle that helps you lose fat and not muscle, or you could wind up with deceptive results (more about this later).

Most of us don’t know our exact body fat % or our TDEE. However, if your weight hasn’t changed in several years, you can still figure out some important information that you can use to reduce your body fat. If your weight has been consistent, than you are in a homeostasis (metabolic balance) in that your body is maintaining a fairly steady weight. Most of us will over eat some days and under eat on others. Even with these variations in our caloric intake, our bodies will adjust metabolically to settle back to what it feels is our regular weight. The formulas above make it look like all you have to do is establish a negative caloric balance from your usual TDEE and voilà, the fat will burn off. The truth is that is a little more complicated than that, especially at first. This is one reason it is so hard to lose weight just through exercise. In terms of establishing a negative caloric balance, you can burn 250Kal on the elliptical (around 30 minutes) and cut out 250Kal from your diet daily and you still might not lose a whole pound each week, even though formula wise, 7 x 500 = 3,500K which equals one pound of fat. The reason is your body is going to fight going down to a weight it is not used to. I have found that you actually have to hit specific targets in terms of exercise and diet and maintain them for several weeks, before the body accepts the change permanently and resets itself with a new metabolism matched to your new weight.

One of the exercise targets that absolutely must be met is to increase your cardiovascular endurance to where you can do 45 minutes to an hour of steady aerobic exercise. Studies have shown that for the first 45 minutes of aerobic activity, your body will derive most of it’s energy from the carbohydrates floating in your bloodstream and in your muscle cells. Only a small percentage of your energy needs come from fat during this time since fat is harder to break down and it doesn’t have the need for using it as fuel yet. After you go past 45 minutes however, the metabolism will kick into burning fat mode, using it as its primary source of energy to support your aerobic exercise. So, someone who does 30 minutes of cardio every day may still be frustrated from not seeing fat loss results because they never reach the 45-minute threshold. I actually don’t recommend anyone to do 7 days a week of cardio, nor do I think you have to. Five days a week of exercise is plenty to reach the 3,500K goal, especially if you add some weight training into your fitness program. Which is exactly what you want to do if you want to lose body fat, because increasing muscle tissue has been proven to increase the metabolism. Twice a week should be enough for the strength training to have a noticeable effect. However, there is an interesting phenomenon with the two different forms of exercise; strength training has been associated with an increase in appetite, while moderate aerobic training hasn’t. So, you should do both kinds for best results. For most people, they should build up to doing 4 – 5 days of cardio training, with 2 workouts lasting over 45 minutes long. On the other 2 days of cardio, you could try doing shorter “interval training” workouts, which have been shown to help people lose weight faster than plain steady pace aerobics [please see following article on Interval Training Plan].

In terms of diet, of course you have to cut some calories if you want to lose weight, but again, you need to be really careful how much and when you do this or you can really sabotage your system. A lot of people find breakfast the easiest meal to skip. This is a big mistake. You don’t have to eat breakfast right away in the morning, but you should try to eat within 2 hours of getting up. That means you could even go for a 45 minute run after you wake up (drink at least 8oz water before), and then come home, shower, and then eat and you would still be within the guidelines. What is not good, is skipping breakfast and not eating anything until 4 hours later. By that time your metabolism will have reset itself into starvation mode, which is a low calorie BMR, and even small amounts of calories will be more than your body will be ready to burn so it will be more likely to be stored as fat. It really isn’t the calories that will hurt your goal, it is the lowering of your metabolism over time that is the sabotage that skipping breakfast will cause. Skipping any meal will hurt your metabolism because it get’s partially turned on by regular timing of your meals. Now, if one day you are really sedentary, you might be able to eat breakfast, and lie down and just read for hours on just a cup of tea. So, activity does play a key part in the timing and quantity of food you would want to consume. If you are having a normal active day, the four-hour rule is a pretty good one to be conscious of, meaning you should eat something every four hours, even if it is just a snack, in order to keep the metabolism charged.

The quality of the foods you eat is also vitally important to your health and to maintaining a healthy weight. The worst in terms of foods that hurt your metabolism are sugary ones, also known as simple carbohydrates. Breakfast again is the meal where people are the most neglectful of this. It never fails that most of the people who buy the glazed donut or super sized caramel mocha latte are overweight. Eating sugary foods for breakfast are the worst thing you can do to your energy system. They take the metabolism, by way of your glucose levels, on a roller coaster ride. Riding up for a few short minutes, then crashing down for hours afterwards. The best thing to have in the morning is protein, a little fat, and some complex carbohydrates. In terms of actual food, that could be 3- 4 egg whites and some whole-wheat toast with Smart Balance spread. You could eat an orange as well, or later as a snack before lunch. There is enough fiber in the orange pulp to help offset the sugar in the juice. But, just a glass of juice or a fruit based smoothie in the morning is not the best idea for a fat-loss lifestyle.

The end of the day is also a time to be mindful of eating. Generally, your metabolism slows down the later in the day it gets. Therefore, eating big meals really late at night is a lifestyle habit you should try to break. If you work at night, plan on eating an early dinner right before work, and then eating only lightly afterwards, like vegetables or salad. When we are tired at the end of a long day, our willpower is also tired. That means that fattening comfort foods and desserts start looking better the later the hour gets. Be conscious of this and just avoid the temptation by not having them around you and hitting the hay sooner rather than later.

Lack of sleep is a stressor, and like stress in general, it has a negative effect on the metabolism. Studies have shown that living under stress causes the body to release extra amounts of cortisol, which is a hormone that causes the body hold onto fat. More than that, studies on sleep deprivation show that being tired causes your body to lose its sense of “satiation”. Normally, after you’ve eaten, the body releases a chemical that tells the brain it is full, and this makes you no longer crave food. If you are sleep deprived, this chemical isn’t released so you never feel satiated. This explains why late night binging is so common in people with eating disorders.

So, in conclusion, to lose fat properly means to look at where you are in terms of current weight, activity level, diet, and lifestyle and making sure you pay attention to each aspect. Everyone is different in terms of what is best for his or her individual situation. However, there are common rules about the body that anyone can use to help lose fat and look leaner. To summarize, here are the steps you can take to get better control over your metabolism and body fat:

A. If possible, find out what your body fat % is right now. Many health clubs offer this free as a part of your membership, or you can ask a trainer to measure it for you. I personally prefer the Lange Skinfold Caliper measure. After that, use the formulas provided above to

figure your Lean Body Mass(LBM) and then calculate your BMR = 370 +(21.6 X LBMkg)

Then you multiply your BMR times your activity factor (see above) to find your TDEE, which is the number of calories you need to consume to stay the weight you are now. This is a good number to know just for your own information, and can help guide you if you start to measure your caloric intake for a weight loss program.

B. If you don’t know your BF%, you can still begin a sensible program to reduce your by following the specific exercise, diet, and lifestyle rules summarized here:

EXERCISE RULES:

1. Do aerobic exercise 4 – 5 days a week, start with one of those days being a longer workout of at least 45 minutes within your training heart rate, and then try to increase to two long cardio days each week. The other two days of cardio should be shorter in length (25-30min) with one being an interval speed workout if running, or interval incline workout if walking.

2. Do resistance training (strength) at least twice a week. The easiest plan would be to do a full-body routine each day, starting with large muscle groups (legs, back, chest) and then smaller muscle groups (shoulder, biceps, triceps). Hit your large muscle groups with two exercises each, doing one warm-up set and two progressive sets, meaning a little heavier each time. Hit your smaller muscles with at least one exercise each, two sets each. You also want to do abdominal exercises and stretching, which you can accomplish in a Pilates class!

DIET RULES:

1. Creating a negative caloric balance between what you consume and what you expend is of course essential to losing weight. However, if you weren’t exercising at all before, you will be creating a negative caloric balance just from that. Try just reducing your portions slightly (200K a day) and keeping healthy snacks like fruit, nuts, and non-fat yogurt around if you need an energy boost.

2. Make breakfast a conscious choice each day. Remember, you can exercise before breakfast as long as you can do that and still get to eating within two hours of when you wake up. Also, you will support your metabolism better if you choose lean protein as the main ingredient in your breakfast choice.

3. Stay away from sugary foods.

4. Don’t skip meals entirely. If you have a sedentary day of rest, you could eat lightly(small portions), but don’t let too much time go by with an empty stomach.

LIFESTYLE RULES:

1. Try to eat dinner earlier rather than later. The later it gets, the slower your metabolism is.

2. Learn how to cope with stress so you minimize its effect on your metabolism. Luckily, exercise is one way to combat stress, both physical and mental. Nevertheless, you may want to investigate meditation and lifestyle coaching to help you deal with persistent stress and its negative health effects.

3. Be patient. Remember that body fat is pretty stubborn stuff. You will probably start to lose it where you have it least (face, neck, back) and from your main problem areas last. There is no such thing as spot reduction, meaning you can do exercises for the back of your arms all you want, but that only works the muscles, possibly building them bigger if you do too much, and won’t touch the fat that covers them. Body fat, no matter where it is stored, is used for energy; it can’t be changed from fat to muscle. So, the best way to burn it is to up your metabolism, as described above.

4. Be consistent and enjoy yourself. Find friends to work out with, or even a pet dog. You can use music to motivate yourself as well. Keep the faith, you will succeed if you just stick to it.

For more on nutrition, please see my Seven Lifestyle Eating Principles under the Nutrition section in the Exercise and Tutorials tab on my website.

Follow up to Salt Post

2011-02-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

I realize I left out another often overlooked source of sodium in the product category - hydration replacement drinks like Gatorade. Many people will buy drinks like this just like they buy flavored water, thinking they are the same. But they are not. Gatorade and its like have tons of sodium in them (110mg per 8oz). Unless you are sweating profusely in the hot sun for along time, you probably don't need sodium in your hydration drink. The biggest mistake you can make is drinking these drinks like water when you are just thirsty. They will make you retain water and bloat you. You can get all the electrolytes you need after a spin class or long run just from drinking real lemonade or other juice drink.

SALT - THE NEMESIS TO LOOKING THIN

2011-02-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

I have a weakness when it comes to snacks. Basically, I can eat an entire bag of potato chips in less than an hour. This is especially bad for me because salty foods make my blood pressure go up, as it does with many people. Lately, salt and it's chemical name sodium, has been in the news alot. The 2010 report from the USDA on Dietary Guidelines (http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-DGACReport.htm) shows that sodium intake is increasing for all Americans. It is especially high for young men, with an average of over 3,500mg per day. Considering the recommended amount is 1,500mg/day, we have a ways to go. Sodium is directly linked to increases in blood pressure and to cardiovascular disease, so don’t kid yourself, too much salt can kill you. But even if high blood pressure isn’t an issue for you, you could still be holding pounds of excess water weight due to high sodium consumption. Yes, I said pounds!!!

Now, I don’t really put much salt on my food – a pinch in the water when boiling grains or pasta. A little on my salad, and on meat, but I never use the salt shaker at meals. I even eat my egg whites sans salt. The truth is we don’t usually over salt our foods ourselves. The real culprits for our high sodium diet are packaged foods and sauces. Obviously, snacks are loaded with salt – chips, pretzels, crackers, even most dried nuts are also heavily loaded with sodium. It is also very prevalent in cereals. You think you’re being healthy by eating that high fiber cereal, but you’re consuming a ton of sodium in most of them. Grape Nuts for example has 290mg of sodium per half-cup serving. That is around 30% of the total recommended dietary daily allotment. Funny thing, on the website Livestrong.com, the so-called experts highly recommend Grape Nuts and falsely state that its sodium content is only 5% of total recommended amount. Even based on the old dietary value of 2,400mg of sodium per day, the nutrition label on the side of the cereal box says it is 12%, not Livestrong’s 5% of total dietary value. In any case, you have to read the labels and just know all those packaged ready to eat cereals have sodium added. One of my favorite morning meals is a bowl of Hodgson Mill MultiGrain cereal, which is high in fiber and also has flaxseed and soy. It is like quick oatmeal (ready in 5 minutes), only it taste a lot better and is even better for you. Oh, and its sodium content is ZERO.

The other main culprit in our salty diets is prepared sauces and soups. Look at the labels of any pasta sauces and you will see how high they are in sodium. And for you bean lovers, watch out for canned beans. I just looked at a can of black beans from Goya – 460mg sodium per serving. Soups are just as bad if not worse. For example; Progresso Light brand soups (endorsed by Weight Watchers and Livestrong) have huge amounts of sodium. The Progresso Light Chicken and Dumpling soup label says it has 690mg per serving. The sad thing is that people see the cover of these products and believe they are healthy. The actually believe the marketing hype and their mouthpieces in the media and that is why the overall health of our country is still getting worse.

The report by the USDA does acknowledge that changing our sodium intake will take time because of acquired tastes. They state that for the first couple of weeks, people on a restricted sodium diet craved salty foods. But, within a fairly short time, they no longer craved salty foods (8 weeks or less). I know from my own experience that if I eat salty foods one day, the next day I crave that flavor again. But, if I don’t eat salty foods, I not only don’t crave them, I find I start to taste more of the natural flavors in foods and appreciate the subtle flavors from other spices. Most cooks know that you can substitute lemon juice for salt in most foods and get the same taste bud effect. Although not recommended for children, adults would do well to “heat” up their food with cayenne pepper. The spice has been shown to help digestion, reduce inflammation and have anti-oxidant value. It is especially good to add to soups, eggs, and chicken dishes.

Lastly, I want to emphasize how much water your body can retain when you eat salty foods. I literally can gain 5 lbs in one day from eating salty foods and snacks, and it is all water retention in my cells. Sodium gets stored in your muscle and fat cells and sucks in water that ordinarily would be excreted out. I see many clients who look bloated after eating salty foods the night before. The only remedy for this is to drink water and do significant amounts of aerobic exercise (over 30 minutes) to get your cells flushed of the sodium as you sweat. Just sweating from heat exposure isn’t as good. Then, if you sharply restrict your sodium intake, within two or three workouts, your body should have lost the excess water weight.

For more nutritional information including my “7 Lifestyle Eating Principles”, please visit http://www.yogilates.com/ and click on Exercise and Tutorials. Best of luck to all of you and stay healthy!!!

Mobility for Living!

2010-10-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

As I look toward my upcoming birthday in about a month, I am more personally aware of just how aging affects the body. Every morning when I get up, right away I feel the stiffness in my joints. It takes a full ten minutes in the hot shower to get my body feeling normal again. As I dry off, I use the time to stretch a little, and then again before I put my shoes on, I do more stretches before I feel ready to face the day. Even though I teach Pilates and yoga just about everyday, I still need to stretch and practice mobility exercises as a part of my daily living. Most people my age, even those who exercise regularly, have problems with stiffness and restrictions in range of motion. In addition to stiffness, mature people often exhibit physical and mental sluggishness due to poor blood circulation. After years of working with clients my age and older, I have come to realize that we really need focus on staying mobile or the quality of life can suffer.

You Got to Move It!
For mature people no matter what your occupation, there are some simple mobility exercises that I have found greatly help relieve stiffness and aid in getting the blood circulating and bringing alertness back. These 8 exercises only take 10-20 seconds each and can be done anywhere, anytime, especially to get the day started or as a mid-day pick-up.
1. Arm Breaths:
Stand in a neutral parallel stance and inhale as you lift your arms up from your sides. Exhale as you bring them back down. Repeat 4 times. Focus on inhaling and exhaling fully and feeling your arms long and loose.
2. Overhead Reaches:
Start standing with arms up, then reach one arm higher than the other for one second, then switch. Alternate these reaches 16 times. Focus on reaching through your whole side body as well as your arm, and spread your fingers as you reach to help stretch your hands.
3. Head Turns, Tilts and Half-Circles:
Standing with arms by your sides, turn your head from side to side in an easy, smooth rhythm. Repeat 10 times. Then tilt your head slightly to one side for one second, then repeat to other side. Repeat 3 times to each side using gentle force. Then tilt to one side and hold for 3 seconds, deepening into the stretch by exhaling and relaxing the jaw completely. Repeat 3 times to each side. Lastly, slowly circle your head from one side to the other, doing a half-circle in front, and repeat the other way. Avoid circling or dropping the head to the back. Repeat 2 times each way.
4. Shoulder Circles:
From standing or sitting, circle your shoulders 4 times to the back, and 4 times to the front. Leave your arms straight and loose and breathe normally.
5. Side Bends with Reaches:
Open your legs to a wide parallel stance with your knees bent. Reach up and over with your left arm to the right side, curving your torso over, and placing your right hand on your right thigh for support. Repeat reach up and over to the left. Alternate 4 reaches to each side.
6. Torso Twists:
Stand with feet a little wider than hip-width distance apart, knees bent. Holding arms in an easy bent position, twist torso from side to side while keeping hips and lower body absolutely still. Use an easy, smooth rhythm without using too much force. Repeat 5 times to each side.
7. Front Leg Swings:
Stand with your left side next to a wall (or a ballet bar). Lightly place your left hand on the wall or bar for support and swing your right leg up in front keeping the leg long, but not locked straight. Bring the leg back down and tap the toes in back. Repeat the leg swings 10 times, being mindful not to swing too hard or so high that you have to bend the standing leg or sense a collapse in the lower back because the hip is moving with the leg. Turn around and repeat the swings with the left leg.
8. Arm Circle Swings:
Stand in neutral parallel stance. Swing right arm up and around in as full a range of motion as feels comfortable. Let the arm feel pulled around by centrifugal force to really loosen up the shoulder socket. Repeat 8-10 times with one arm, then repeat with the other. Next, reverse the arms circle swings with each arm.

Corrective vs Postural Jargon Debate & 3 Postural Exercises for Everyday

2010-06-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

In my never ending quest to deconstruct the latest rhetorical trends in fitness, one of the newest trends is the use of the word “corrective” in front of an exercise. In the past, therapists and fitness professionals would call an exercise a “postural exercise” when it was designed to stretch shortened muscles so that a person could achieve better alignment of the spine, pelvis, shoulders, or other area of the body. Another postural exercise would be one that strengthened over-stretched or weak postural muscles to give support to the spine. Nowadays, the lingo is “corrective exercise”. Whatever, I personally don’t like to think that people need correction, except in parochial schools. I think postural exercise sounds better in that it doesn’t have any negative connotation to it, and really it is about good posture that needs attention to always, rather than just fixing a mistake. For most people, bad posture is an ingrained habit. It comes from lack of awareness and poor mechanics. You can’t correct ingrained habits just from doing a particular exercise. Many therapeutic modalities have been created, such as Alexander, Feldenkreis, Hanna Somatics, etc., to help deal with the subconscious roots of poor posture and improper mechanics of how we move and hold ourselves. As in my Yogilates method, it begins with awareness and relaxing of unnecessary tensions. I can’t fully describe the methods that these different techniques utilize, but my point is that they all include the deepening of the mind/body connection and are much more than just exercises. I believe that they are also more integrative than “corrective” in that one is encouraged to listen to their body and is informed by how their own body responds. True integrative fitness is one that empowers the client to own their body and the condition it is in, and encourages them to visualize for themselves how to achieve release from bad habits and maintain good form, and to see themselves in a more positive and healthier light.

The images at the top are for the following three postural exercises that I have found most of us can truly benefit from on a daily basis:
1. Wall Neck Lean:
Stand with your back against the wall. Place the back of your head against the wall making sure the top of your head and bottom of your chin are level. Keep you body in straight line and walk your legs away from the wall about a foot. Stay leaning in this position for 1 minute.
Benefit: Strengthens muscles in back of neck that get over-stretched and weakened from poor head position while working at computer. Helps mitigate forward head position.

2. Shoulder Blade Pinch:
Standing of sitting, clasp your hands behind your back and push your arms straight while you roll your shoulders back. You should feel your shoulder blades coming together and your thoracic spine push forward. Hold for two full breaths, then relax your shoulders back to neutral. Repeat and, if possible, reach the arms up for more stretch and hold 10 seconds.
Benefit: Stretches front shoulder and chest area and extends thoracic spine. This mitigates internal rotation of arms and hunched upper back.

3. Straight Leg Bridge on Box or Couch:
Lying on the ground, place your feet up on a 12 inch high box. You can also use the edge of your couch. Turn out your legs and keep the heels close together. Hold for 10 seconds, then roll the spine down. Repeat.
Benefit: Strengthens lower back and gluteal muscles which get over-stretched and weakened from poor posture while sitting for long periods.

Pilates for an Open Mind and Body

2010-05-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

The other day, a Pilates instructor friend and I were discussing the future of Pilates and our own inclinations with regards to where we see ourselves evolving as teachers. I related how lately I was looking at how to use Pilates principles and techniques in breaking down and re-creating powerful core exercises that would benefit athletes. In the fitness world, I've noticed a lot of interest in high-intensity exercises and full-body movements, and feel Pilates has alot to contribute to sports training in general. However, what I have seen so far, both in the gym and online, are lot of training to tire you out but little if any awareness of how to position the body or maintain proper alignment in the execution of these exercises. On the other end of the spectrum, my friend was talking about how she was leaning more toward discovering a gentler form of Pilates training, one that breaks down our reflexive patterns of how we move and through somatic (sensory) detailed exploration helps people learn to move with more ease and amplitude. Many people are carrying around huge amounts of tension and dis(ease) in their bodies and are mentally blocked from dealing with the root causes. I too am interested in this approach and have trained in the somatic sciences of Alexander, Feldenkreis, and Laban Bartinieff, and of course yoga. The question is how to reconcile the two widely different focuses? As you know, I am always trying to bridge differing camps and believe in a kind of utopian ideal where everyone of all persuasion can get along healthily and respectfully. It stems from my passion to understand and to see and share all the ways to achieve a higher state of being.

Anyway, Pilates has certainly come a long way from when I first started to study it back in 1996. Back then, I pretty much got the classical approach, focusing on the execution and routines, and not so much on the mental aspects of the practice. I’m sure there were already teachers exploring this aspect, but Pilates was still a few years from going mainstream and the integration of sensory awareness and mindfulness into the technique was idiosyncratic. We still are working at it, but it is much more acceptable now to discuss things like the breath and relaxation and visualizations when teaching Pilates then it was ten years ago.

There is a related issue to this discussion which has to do with letting go of hard, fast rules when it comes to fitness and nutrition. I need a lot of carbs in my diet because I burn a lot of calories on most days. On the other hand, I try to make most of the grains I eat whole grains, which ups the fiber in my diet and keeps me from having sharp insulin drops. Some people eat little if any carbs and they believe it has made them healthier. For many people, cutting wheat products from their diet reduces bloating and improves energy. Someone who is gluten-intolerant has to avoid breads, cereals and pasta, but can still eat rice and quinoa and beans. I know someone like this and I’m sure she eats far fewer carbs than a normal diet, but her energy is better than it was before. The fact is that everyone is different and no one diet is best for everybody.

The same is true with exercise. Some people believe they get all that they need from a fitness routine that doesn’t include any aerobic exercise. On a physiological level, I can’t find any basis for this type of fitness program. Nevertheless, I know a person who only does resistance training and she looks great. I also know some people who only do yoga or pilates for exercise, and who am I to say they need to change or add to their program. I am a firm believer in persuading others through example and not by lecture. One thing I've learned as I've matured, is that you cannot change someone’s mind just by arguing. Most people have too much invested in their own perceptions of their bodies to change their behavior just because someone tells them to. People will change when they are ready and when they have a compelling personal reason to do so.

All of the above being said, there does seem to be a consistent character trait with people who exhibit exclusionary behavior patterns (without medical reasons for it) like severe carbohydrate restriction or limit themselves to only one kind of exercise, and that is they tend to be less tolerant of others in general. Could it be that sub-consciously they feel deprived and this leads to intolerance toward people living more freely? Now, let me be clear that when I talk about exclusionary behavior, I am not talking about people who are just well disciplined. Discipline, as I talk about in my book on Yogilates, does not necessarily restrict freedom; rather it can give you more liberty by providing rational limits and motivations that make choices easier. If you have no limits you would have too many choices which can clutter the mind and stop you from progressing in life. Discipline is a good thing and means you still execute good decisions even when stressed, and you still work out even when you are tired or it is raining, etc. An exclusionary person, by contrast, bases their behavior on a belief rather than discipline, and that belief isn’t grounded in either scientific fact or personal experience. For example, a person thinks they don’t need to do any exercises for their feet even though they have back problems. They want to only do abdominal exercises thinking this will be enough. However, their reasoning is not backed by either science or by their personal experience, since they have never done footwork or know what the effect would be. That is an exclusionary mindset and is detrimental to the person's goals. In addition, this person has a very low tolerance for other people in general. They judge others quickly and unfairly and are openly prejudiced about many topics. These people are difficult to train and not nice to be around for much time at all. What a pleasure it is when a client walks in who is genuinely open to new ways of moving and feeling and understands and appreciates the different perspectives a mind/body approach brings to their way of being.
I recommend to everyone to try to do something new everyday. To resist from judging others or ideas too quickly. To practice seeing things from different point of views. We all could probably use a little more tolerance toward ourselves and to others. This will lead to more personal and universal peace. Hopefully!

Big Muscle Mystery - how does it happen?

2010-04-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

You may have seen the person walking around with huge calve muscles or with large trapezius muscles on the shoulders. Or how about the middle age person on the bus with the extra huge hip muscles. You might assume (wrongly) that they overdeveloped the area by lifting heavy things at some time in their life. The reality is that even with huge muscles, they may not be any stronger than someone with normal size muscles. The weird thing about hypertrophy (the process of muscle cells getting bigger) is that it can happen just from overuse and not necessarily from resistance training. In fact, it is actually really hard to significantly increase muscle size just from lifting weights once in a while. A recent article in the New York Times Science section this week pretty much validates what I have been telling women for years, which is, that lifting heavier weights will help them to tone their muscles and trim their bodies, not build them.
After we reach adulthood, the size of our muscles is largely determined by our everyday activity. Generally, people become less active as they get older and muscles will atrophy (get smaller) from this disuse. If you remain active, then muscle size and strength will remain as you age. If you stress the muscles regularly through exercise, then they will increase in density as they become stronger. However, only if you stress them intensely, and eat lots of protein, will your muscles grow in size. This is what bodybuilders try to do. It is very hard to actually gain weight from just lifting weights however, because as your muscle fitness improves, your metabolism increases. This means you will burn more calories even at rest. So, someone who lifts weights as part of their exercise routine will burn more fat than someone who doesn’t and will get leaner. That is why the women in the study who used heavier weights actually lost weight compared to the women who did lighter weights for more repetitions. Which is not to say that lifting light weights doesn’t have any benefit. Everyone should start with light weights to establish good form first before progressing to heavier weights. In addition, certain benefits and purposes are only achieved when the weight is light enough to allow the deeper intrinsic muscles to work properly. This is especially true for many Pilates exercises and also in general for circular and rotational movements. Most, if not all, people who only lift heavy weights for strength exercise are lacking in functional strength because of the neglect of the intrinsic muscles.

Getting back to the mystery of people who have large muscles, but not from lifting weights; the root cause is poor posture and inefficient movement. Let’s look at large trapezius muscles, which are the muscles on top of the shoulders going up the base of the neck from the back. These get overdeveloped when someone habitually lifts objects by first pulling up the shoulder. This habit becomes unconscious and even when lifting a pencil, the muscle firing sequence begins with the trapezius so that even when the weight is minimal, the muscle still gets contracted. Over time, the subject may even try to lift their body weight with the trapezius, e.g. when moving from sitting to standing, or when straightening up from a forward bend. The muscular imbalance is perpetuated by inefficient movement, excessive tension in the area, and is often combined with forward head posture and rounded shoulders. Learning to isolate and articulate the shoulders, and learning to release unnecessary tension through breathwork and stretching, are key to training the subject to bring more balance to this area of the body.

Another common area of overdevelopment of muscles is in the hip, primarily the medial gluteals, which are higher than the gluteus maximus and more toward the sides of the hips. The primary cause of this problem is a forward leaning posture usually stemming from an anterior tilted pelvis, and sometimes coupled with weak quadriceps. Leaning forward even a few degrees will shift weight bearing from the legs to the gluteals. Every time the subject stands or walks, they are holding the weight of their upper torso with the gluteals. This repetitive stress on the muscles will build them up, though without adding more strength. In fact, the strength of muscles held in constant tension is usually less than a normal muscle. For this person, corrective postural exercises for the pelvis, along with stretching and core work will hopefully bring down the hypertrophied area and lead to more efficient movement.

I hope this article was helpful and made you think a little. Please post your comments or thoughts.

Functional Forever

2010-02-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

Lately, the fitness world has been swept up in the latest “terminology” trend, which is functional fitness. Just a few years ago, it was the term “core” that had everyone rushing to learn side plank and other new(not) exercises that work on stability. The latest trend again co-opts from Pilates the idea that practiced movement should be related to how we naturally move everyday. Joseph Pilates studied moving images of how animals and humans moved and incorporated this into his philosophy of Contrology. All Pilates movements involve awareness of alignment and moving from your center. Yogilates adds to this the awareness of using the breath to release unnecessary tension before, during, and after movements. The result is not just functional exercise, but a functional mindset; one that transcends regular exercise and ingrains into our minds and bodies an efficiency and accuracy the leads to longevity in everyday living. This integrative adaptation to training only comes from a process that begins first with learning how to relax the mind and body into an optimal state for training. The relaxation response (The Relaxation Response, by Herbert Benson, Miriam Z. Klipper) is easy to attain in a Yogilates class through focus on the breath and clearing the mind of distractions. From there, one begins isolated articulations to learn to move body parts individually and sense gravity’s effect on the body in supine position. The next steps are stabilization through oppositional force and controlled momentum. This involves learning how various muscles work in concert to maintain the integrity of optimal alignment in the spine and joints of the body. Progressing onward, one gets to performing movements focused on the quality of the movement and whole body integration, meaning being aware of all of the body and controlling the speed, the range, the stabilizing forces, and the breath all at the same time. The lesson then returns back to simple isolations, but now with the body in new positions (supine, quadraped, sitting, standing, etc.), and repeats the progressive learning steps.

Here is where we see the big mistake of the functional promoters who start right away teaching multi-planar movements because they are more functional than other exercises. Doing multi-planar movements, such as torso twists with one-leg lunges, should be done to help range of motion and coordination, but only with great attention to control and alignment considerations, which can only be maintained if the mind/body is prepared for it. The movement itself doesn’t necessarily imbue awareness to the practitioner. The mind of the practitioner needs to know what it is supposed to be feeling, and that doesn’t happen automatically. As Joseph said about breathing correctly, “-this all important function requires individual instruction, not only by precept, but by example.” That can be said for all elements of functional fitness. Sadly to say, most instructors just don’t have sufficient background in teaching awareness based movement to know how to begin teaching by example.

Becoming truly functional in movement has to include this progression of learning, as it is the mind that must achieve awareness before the body is directed. Just putting the body into a position without first educating the person on how to maintain ideal alignment with optimal balance is pointless. So really, there are no such things as functional exercises without a functional learning process that precedes the movement. Another way of looking at it is that any movement can be made functional if one taps into the deep awareness of whole body integration when doing it. In Yogilates training, it is all about developing awareness and learning to use your senses to teach yourself beyond the examples of movement done in class and apply the process to everyday living. Take a moment each day to circle your arms, your shoulders, your hands, feet, hips. Feel reaching around in space and also the space inside your body, your joints and torso. Breathe deeply and notice how the ribs expand and release. Stand or sit tall and feel flexible in the spine and naturally supported from your core. This is all functional fitness, and it should feel right in your body and mind.

Intuitive vs Reactive - A New Learning Paradigm

2010-02-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

One thing that I think most people in this field will agree on is that you can continue to learn completely new ways of seeing, feeling, and moving no matter what age or experience you are. Lately, I have discovered in myself a newfound sense of equilibrium that oddly enough came from beginning rigorous strength training. Like many people, I had hit a plateau in my training and was feeling frustrated. In addition, I was experiencing pain and aches in my joints which I first attributed to aging, but my gut intuition was telling me I needed to change my routine. Stretching and core strength was great, but I needed to get stronger in an athletic way. When I do resistance training, I still bring all my awareness of correct alignment and centering to the workout. I listen to my body and constantly adapt the positioning and motion of exercises to maintain optimal form and control. Nevertheless, it gets pretty intense and I have had to push myself harder than I thought. Long story short, it may seem inconsistent for a Pilates and yoga instructor to use strength training to solve a training issue, but it actually made physiological sense. The ligaments and cartilage in my joints had been getting overstretched from years of doing my practice, and I needed the muscles to get stronger to support the joints. I'm sure that there are many people who have similar experiences, but it is not always easy to know when you are listening to your gut in an intuitive way, and when you are just reacting in reflexive manner.

By the time we reach adulthood, most of us have developed core beliefs about ourselves and our bodies and these ideas affect the way we move and hold ourselves daily. Often, we have ideas or beliefs about our bodies that influence our neuromuscular patterns, which are the way we unconsciously initiate movement and react to instructions. These ingrained reflexes can block the mind/body from connecting and may create inefficient movement and eventually lead to imbalanced development. This is almost impossible to recognize on your own and, even with the help of a trained professional, it can take months to relearn how to initiate movement in a different way. Even then, the changes won’t stick unless you can begin to let go of old beliefs and start to see yourself differently. In my years of training clients, I have often found that the people who have chronic back or joint problems are also the people who have the most ingrained negative movement patterns and have the most difficulty following basic functional awareness exercises. This observation has been proven in scientific experiments where they took two groups of people: one with a history of common back ailments, and the other without, and they gave each of them simple instructions on how to lift objects safely. The group without a history of back pain was able to follow the instructions correctly, where as the problem group totally failed to follow instructions. The conclusion of the study was that people with chronic back pain need training in basic motor skills (mind/body awareness) before therapeutic treatment. In my own teaching practice, I have found that some people have no connection to some parts of their bodies and have exactly the wrong instincts when it comes to moving efficiently. They push the abdominals out, they bend when they are asked to straighten, they hunch their shoulders, they hold their breath, etc. Again, these are the same people that have chronic lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, etc. So, we can't say that it is always wise to follow your instincts when it comes to training as, for some, it could mean following negative patterning coming from a deep lack of awareness.

Intuitive learning actually means to be open for different ways of feeling things and seeing things and at the same time reflecting on what your body is telling you and what you have learned from past experiences. It means letting go of pre-conceived notions or expectations and taking your time to experience something new. That being said, the first time you try something, you need to also listen to your intuition with regards to what someone is telling you to do. Try to take into account the whole setting of where you are and whether you feel the instructor is acting on automatic or is connecting to you and the rest of the class. Many times I have seen instructors who think they are there to challenge the class to meet them on their terms. That can be ok if you are aware of this negative energy and stay within yourself. You might not have expected it, but sometimes staying within yourself can be the intuitive way to go. I highly recommend that everyone practice on their own. Not only does this develop independence, it allows you to fully connect with your intuitive guide. The more experienced you are, the greater the benefits from these solo workouts. During these times you can practice doing a different warm-up, one where you fine-tune into your body. You can do similar exercises you have done before but change qualitative focus, such as performing some things a lot slower or leaving the arms relaxed in standing poses. You will be certain to discover something new about your body and this could take you in a direction you might never have thought about before.

Next time, I'll talk about the reality that how you move determines the shape of your body.

The Most Often Asked Question in Fitness

2010-01-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

The Most Often Asked Question in Fitness
What is the best way to get a flat stomach?

Boy, if I had a quarter for every time I've been asked that question. The real answer to the above question is a three part solution: 1) Although you don't have to be super lean to achieve a flat belly, it certainly helps. So, the best way to lose fat around the stomach area, and the rest of your body, is by doing regular aerobic exercise. Contrary to what alot of trainers and infomercials for ab machines tell you, there is no such thing as a spot reducing exercise. So, to burn fat in one area, you got to burn fat in the whole body. And the best way to do that is with aerobic exercise. This is a fact that has to be accepted. Now, to get yourself leaner you will need to do cardiovascular exercise at least 4-5 times a week, with at least one of those workouts being for over 45 minutes at moderate intensity (65-70% of maximum THR) (heart rate calculator) to initiate greater fat burning as a percentage of total calories burned. See, studies have shown that up to that duration, the body's metabolism will still use carbohydrates in the bloodstream for the majority of the energy needed. After 45 minutes, the metabolism starts to shift to fat molecules for energy for the majority of energy needed. It is never 100% from fat, more like changing from 75/25% carbs to fat, to 30/70%. The difference is significant. The more often you do longer periods of aerobic exercise, the quicker the body will adapt to fat as it's preferred energy source for exercise. Highly trained marathoners can start to burn fat as their primary source of energy within 5 minutes of running.
The next part in planning your aerobic workouts is to make one of the other workouts include "intervals", which are several higher intensity periods of at least 1 minute in duration, at or near 85-90% Maximum THR* (see above). To do this, first warm up at moderate speed for 5 minutes. Then, increase the speed, incline, or resistance to a level where you can maintain it for 1 minute. After the interval, give yourself 2 minutes at slower speed to recover. Repeat three times. After a few weeks, try adding another interval. Then, after another few weeks, try increasing the duration of the interval 15-30 seconds. It doesn't matter what form of aerobic exercise you do although for fastest results, I recommend running if you are able to since it tends to burn the most calories per minute next to Cross-Country skiing. 2) Do Pilates exercises under the supervision of an experienced instructor. There is actually a technique of letting the abdominal sink in without force that will teach you to reflexively (unconsciously) draw the stomach in for natural support. All other forms of abdominal exercises are not taught this way and, while they may make your stomach area stronger and harder, they can actually make the area protrude out. You can check out the Yogilates video programs and New York Style Pilates programs for instructions on this technique. 3) You don't need to diet, just eat and drink moderately and sensibly. Two things that you need to watch out for are carbonated beverages, even diet ones, as they tend to bloat the stomach and put outward pressure in the intestines. The other is salt an salty foods. Salt makes the cells in your body retain water, increasing their size. Avoid packaged snack foods, especially chips, pretzels, crackers, and watch out for any canned or jarred sauces such as pasta sauces.
So there you have it. These three steps are the only sure way to get a flat stomach area.
Lastly, if you would like a more complete and personalized fitness and lifestyle program, feel free to contact me directly.

NEW New Years Resolutions: Diet vs Lifestyle

2010-01-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

The new decade is here, and I am amazed at how little things have changed. We are still at war, the economy still lags, cars are still running on gas, etc. In terms of health and fitness, never before have I seen so much attention being paid to losing weight. And I mean paid!! All the television talk shows have segments on it, and of course there is the hit TV show The Biggest Loser, and it's offshoots. In addition to this, there are the diet program wars, with millions spent on advertisements for each. Despite all this, here is the depressing fact: of all the people who will start diets this year, only about 2% will succeed at keeping the weight off. The reality is diets don't work and you will just be wasting your money if you buy into a program that puts you on one without looking at your life first and assessing the factors beyond calories consumed. These "lifestyle" issues are the real reason people have gained weight, and they have to be addressed systematically, individually, and objectively for any change to stick.

As a certified Lifestyle & Weight Management Coach, I have seen many clients with different weight issues and situations. Over the years, I have come up with a questionnaire that goes beyond the standard Health History form to ascertain critical information for evaluating a person's lifestyle and identifying practical, non-subjective, causes for poor weight management. This lifestyle questionnaire is key and shows individual parameters that guide the coach to offering solutions that will work for that person. Nutrition and diet books, programs and experts only provide basic information, but they can't, and shouldn't, presume their advice will work for all people because everyone is different. One of the main contributors to poor nutritional habits is stress. We know that excess stress, which can be either physical, mental, or emotional, can not only cause you to make bad decisions when it comes to what, when, and how you eat, but it also elevates the hormone cortisol, which has been scientifically shown to promote weight gain. What this means, is that even for people who are relatively only slightly overweight, it would help to look at things going on in their lives other than just how much they are eating and exercising. Sometimes, it is just a matter of being conscious of what is causing stress in your life, and then learning to be mindful of the way it makes you feel. Mindfulness is a skill one can learn to control your reactions to stress by basically not reflexively sabotaging yourself and instead allowing the feeling to subside and deciding to take a positive step instead. Common sense and mindfulness are the cornerstones of my integrative approach to lifestyle coaching and have the added benefit of leading to permanent changes in behavior and attitude.

So, with all that being said, I still would like to give everyone some general nutrition advice just so you can feel empowered to make healthy changes sooner, rather than later. Here are five common sense nutritional principles anyone can adopt:

1. To reduce water weight, where the cells of the body bloat with excess water, you should reduce your salt/sodium intake. The best ways to do this are to eliminate crackers, chips, pretzels, and any other packaged cereal products which are usually loaded with sodium. In addition, avoid canned, bagged, or jarred pasta sauces which are also loaded with sodium. Same for all frozen prepared foods. Yes, you may want to start making your own sauces, and instead of chips, eat cut up carrots and other vegetables that give you a similar "crunch".

2. To keep your metabolism on an even keep, try to eat your breakfast within 2 hours of getting up. I know a lot of busy professionals who eat late dinners and then skip breakfast. What they probably don't realize is that they are sabotaging their metabolism. Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories at rest. In the morning, if you don't eat something within two hours of waking, your metabolism will set lower, meaning you will burn less calories and store more in your fat cells. Remember, you don't have to eat right after waking up, and it doesn't need to be a farmer's breakfast (meaning eggs, bacon, toast, etc). It just needs to be within 2 hours and should be something healthy like an egg white sandwich on whole wheat toast, or a yogurt and an orange.

3. Substitute organic low-fat cheese and yogurt for milk and hard cheeses to lessen fat and cholesterol in your diet. Dairy products offer you the easiest and most readily available source of the vital nutrient calcium. However, whole milk products are not recommended for most adults because they contain high amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. Other than a few teaspoons in your coffee, you never need to drink milk. I personally haven't had milk as a drink for years. Adults can get all the calcium they need from organic low-fat yogurt or cheese and green vegetables.

4. Eating moderately is one of my "seven lifestyle eating principles", and to help you control the amount of food you consume, I recommend using small to medium plates to serve your food. Nine inches across is ideal and all of your meal should fit on that plate. Oh, and for people who may try to stack up the food, your height restriction is 3 inches and the weight should be no more than 12oz. Eating smaller portions is critical to successful weight management. Your stomach is not unlike a balloon. It can get stretched when you overeat. Then, after you have digested, your stomach won't feel quite full again unless it gets expanded the same amount. Here is where you have to train your stomach to be smaller again. Start by tricking your stomach by eating a large salad of basically calorie free lettuce and other salad vegetables (low-fat dressing). This volume will satisfy your stomach's size memory without adding to your fat storage. Then, over the next few days, gradually eat smaller portions at all your meals, while adding some low-fat snacks, like an apple or yogurt, in between meals so you don't feel real hungry. Eventually, your stomach will get accustomed to the less stretched size and will feel full on less.

5. Eat slowly. This is an exercise in mindfulness and research has shown that people who eat faster tend to eat more than people who eat slower. What eating slower does is it allows you time to be conscious of what you have eaten, the time you are eating, and how much you have eaten. Knowing how full you are is different from feeling like your taste buds want more stimulation. Practice eating six bites or spoonfuls (about 1 and 1/2 ozs) of whatever food your eating and chewing each mouthful completely. Then pause. Take a sip of water and try to gauge how full you feel. You may feel full already, or need only a couple of bites more to be satiated. Even if eating slower doesn't lead to eating much less, it is still a good exercise in mindfulness and can give you a greater appreciation of food and the time we spend nourishing our bodies.

Stretching For Your Brain (How stretching makes you smarter)

2009-03-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

Most everyone who knows me knows that I am big believer in stretching intelligently and regularly. Stretching is one of the key components in any balanced program for optimal performance. However, in addition to helping flexibility, agility, muscular balance, speed, stamina, and strength, did you know that stretching properly can also make you smarter? Just listen.
It used to be a common misperception that we only used 10% of our brain during daily living. It is now known that we in fact use all (100%) of our brain, meaning that there is activity in all the brain areas. Even when we sleep the organ does not shut off. What is important to note, however, is that we cannot consciously use all of our brain. See, every second the brain is responsible for controlling all the activities and tasks that your body has to do just to function. This includes things like digesting food, filtering the blood, releasing hormones and other chemicals, it also includes adjusting your vision from close range to far, or habitual actions like breathing. Using electrical signals, the brain controls all the other organs in the body, and also all the muscles of your body through the central nervous system. Thankfully, most of that activity happens automatically so we don’t have to consciously tell our bodies to do the millions of things it has to do so we function properly. As we grow from an infant to adult, the brain also learns how to accomplish many day to day movements in an automatic way. These learned motor functions include standing, walking, sitting or rising from sitting, speaking, writing, throwing, driving, etc. These are complex movements that involve coordinating or synchronizing multiple muscle groups together and they take time to practice. Once learned however, we start to perform them unconsciously and can fairly quickly “walk and chew gum” at the same time. Again, the brain is still controlling these movements, but on an unconscious level so we can consciously think about other things – multi-task if you will.

So, we know the brain is being used fully all the time, but how will stretching help me be smarter? The brain functions like an electric circuit. The signals it receives and sends are little electric charges that travel from the brain to the area of the body via the nervous system. Your body’s muscular system is basically a system of pulleys and levers that work together with gravity or against it to position itself and move. One side of your body has to evenly oppose the other side of the body for you to be in ideal alignment. In anatomical terms, we have muscles that function as either agonists or antagonists for different movements. If you have a tight muscle on one side of your body, it will pull on the opposing muscles and create an imbalance in your muscular system. Your brain senses the tight muscle and receives signals from the nerves that attach to that muscle. It then sends signals to the opposing muscle to resist the force so you don’t lose your functional balance. The circuitry of the brain is working overtime for this, and if you are feeling the tightness, it’s not just affecting your unconscious brain, it is also occupying your conscious as well. If you accept the notion that your brain is being used 100% all the time, than that means that there isn’t room to optimally perform tasks at 100% efficiency, while also regulating imbalances in your muscular system. So, having an excessively tight area in your body will prevent your body and your brain from operating at their best. The mind and the body are integrally connected.

Here’s another way to look at it. When we are performing whole body coordinated movement either continuously as in running or swimming, or in a series of connected movements like playing tennis or basketball, we have to rely on our unconscious brain to handle most of the activity in the body that allows this high degree of function. Reflexes and muscle memory take over so we can think instead of concepts like pace, rhythm, or competitive strategies. When we are in our zone, we can even let go of directing our limbs and just feel the moment and let our mind think of completely unrelated thoughts. In the book Spark by John J. Ratey, MD, he points to many studies that show a clear link between exercise (aerobic) and brain functionality. Basically, by exercising, we help keep the brain centers active and growing. When we stretch our muscles, we are taking time to listen to our body, to notice how it feels and moves. This enhances the mind/body connection which makes your smarter.

One last perspective on the subject: In our lifetime we will expend a great deal of energy both physically and mentally just by living. Just like in society with regards to our environment, we want to expend our energy wisely and efficiently. If we have tightness that goes unaddressed in the body, it will require us to use more energy in both the body and the brain to function. The first time I started to stretch, I couldn’t believe how much effort it took. After just a few minutes stretching, I was sweating like I’d been running in the desert. It exhausted me. The next time however, it was still hard, but I wasn’t exhausted afterward anymore. Instead I started to feel more energy. I didn’t understand why, but I felt as if I had taken an energy drink. Now, it all makes sense to me. My body was wasting a lot of energy on the tight muscles in my legs and back. Once I loosened those areas up by stretching, all that energy was now available to me for other activities. It is a good thing I started dancing professionally so I had an outlet for all that energy, otherwise …. I might have started jumping off of roofs or something. If you have never really stretched to change your flexibility, you won’t understand what I’m talking about. But, if you decide to start you will quickly see what I mean.

Let the Stretching Controversy End!

2009-03-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

It seems like almost every month I see another article written about the benefits, or lack thereof, from stretching. Most recently an article in the NYTimes Play magazine(Oct. 31, 2008) related the “new” science behind dynamic stretching, which is just a new term for calisthenics without the toe touching, and includes marching and something they called the “scorpion”. This kind of warm-up stretching is of course better for athletes than just starting with static stretching, at least when it comes to the legs and arms of runners and pitchers. Because of the “golgi reflex” or neuromuscular inhibitory response to static stretching, there is a reduction in a muscle’s ability to contract for up to 20 minutes afterwards. The article also related the results of another large study that found that static stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of injury.

I’ve always said that the best time to really stretch your muscles is after you are fully warmed-up, such as after your cardiovascular exercise. That’s when you can really take your time and feel your muscles lengthening. By concentrating on long bouts of passive stretching after my training, I personally completely changed by flexibility from not even being able to touch my knees to being able to place my head comfortably on my shins while hugging my feet in about one year of effort. That being said, I always do pre-training stretching, which includes some dynamic stretching and some short bouts of static stretching for specific areas. Contrary to the premise that is so often cited in all the articles about stretching, the reason I, and I believe most professional athletes and dancers, stretch before training is to improve performance. The effect of stretching for performance has been studied and results show it does have a positive effect. There are more studies going on, believe me, but if you ask athletes for whom flexibility is required to execute their sport effectively, they will unanimously tell you that stretching is an important part of their training. But again, the reason isn’t to prevent injury, it is to improve performance. Why don’t any of these scientists who want to study stretching ever ask actual athletes or professional dancers whose careers require flexibility, why they stretch. Instead, it is like they heard some old coach in a gym class say you should stretch so you won’t get injured and they assumed that is the only reason why. It is just a dumb premise and I wish they would look at the other, more obvious benefits of stretching and at the other things athletes can do to prevent injury.

Now, the question I think that is very interesting is just how does stretching improve performance. On a simple functional level, more range of motion and flexibility will allow someone with good coordination to exhibit greater agility and mobility. These skills usually translate to improved performance in most sports. It has also been shown that if a muscle is tight, it will have less strength, or be able to produce less force, than if it was normal. Furthermore, one excessively tight muscle can prevent the optimal functioning of a group of muscles, thus reducing performance in activities that require activation of several muscle groups at once. This is where I would argue for a little static stretching before training if you have a particular muscle that is tight to begin with, either from lack of use or from overuse. A muscle that is tight is already pre-exhausted. In addition, it’s opposite muscle, or antagonist, is working a little in the opposite direction to bring the body in balance. This creates an inefficient system and wastes valuable energy that could otherwise be used in performance. Therefore, if my calves are really tight because of hill training a couple of days ago, I’m going to spend a little more time stretching them before my training just to get them to feel loose. Granted, I hold a static stretch before training for no longer than 10 to 20 seconds, whereas after training I might hold the stretch for up to a minute or more. Nevertheless, it isn’t high kicks or jumping jacks that will help this area get loose. The pre-training stretch routine you do should be relevant to what your body needs, not what some scientist says is best. Who knows what they were calling stretching in the first place – did they use good form, did they breathe, did they listen to their bodies? I doubt it. The fact is, there isn’t just one way to do things. I remember one study that took a group of Olympic weight lifters and had half add a basic pole stretch for their chests to their pre-lift warm-up, while the other group just kept training as usual. After 5 weeks, the group that trained as usual saw no improvement in the amount of weight they were lifting, whereas the stretching group improved their maximum weight lifted by 5-10kg, which is pretty significant at their level. So, contrary to the recent study that showed reduced strength (force) in a muscle from static stretching, this study showed increased strength. I would speculate that the weight lifters probably had excessively tight pectoral muscles from steady training which was impeding their performance. Bringing a little more flexibility to the muscles before training allowed for greater circulation both in the vascular and nervous systems. It also allowed antagonist muscles to be more relaxed and for their muscular system to be more efficient and balanced. This would allow for more energy to be directed at executing the movements required for their sport, thus improving performance. I don’t know for how long the participants held the pole stretch, maybe they only held it for a few seconds at a time, like the way I do, and maybe they didn’t push really hard in the stretch as common sense would tell them not to do, so it didn’t create much of the neuromuscular inhibitory response. In any case, they didn’t do the dynamic stretches codified now by so many experts, yet they improved performance.

MANA AROGYAM: SO YOU WANT TO FIT…

2009-02-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

MANA AROGYAM: SO YOU WANT TO FIT…
Wonderful article. Thank you for your unbiased report on Yogilates. For those who would like more information, please visit www.yogilates.com.

Fitness myth busted

2008-07-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Here it is 2008 and we still are getting lied to by people and companies regarding basic facts about exercise and nutrition. One of my goals for this blog is to inform the public about these common myths regarding fitness and health and empower you to have the knowledge and willpower to make your body and health the best they can be.

One of the most common myths regarding exercise is that if you have a trouble spot on your body (meaning an area you store fat like the back of the arms, the thighs, or the stomach area) you need to do exercises for that area to get it to trim down. This myth is called "spot reduction" and it doesn't work. Your body stores fat in the adipose layer under the skin. Depending on who you are and how much fat you have, your body may store more fat in one area than another. Unfortunately, how your body burns fat from those areas is not controllable. Most often, it will use fat from areas where we have least fat first, and from the trouble areas last. This is because our bodies store fat for long term survival, so it will try to hold onto it for as long as it can. In any case, targeting one area of the body with extra exercises will only build up the muscle under the fat, while burning calories that may or may not help burn fat from the body. The thing is you have watch your diet and burn more calories than you consume, and do this for awhile before you will start to see fat deposits reduce. There is a long way, hard way to do this, and there is a shorter, easier way to do this. I'll let you know the difference in my next post.