Humans yearn for happiness, health, prosperity, love, and peace of mind. However, often we don’t believe it is attainable or it’s for others, but we can’t possible live a peaceful life because of _________ (insert reason here).
Warm Up. There are many schools of thought about warming up, however it is generally accepted that warming up muscles that will be used for a specific activity is a good way to avoid injuries such as muscle tears. A good warm up routine to use is to perform the activity you’ll be doing at about 1/3 to ½ the speed or intensity for 5 to 10 minutes.
This article was written with the intent to inform as well as inspire trainers, coaches and other practitioners who work with the aging population. As a gerontologist who studied the evolution of reflective wisdom, I am intrigued by famous quotes from years past. Henry Ford once said: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” The aging process should be an enriching experience that involves our appreciation of our personal significance. However for many, it is a time of loneliness, depression, isolation and purposelessness. Is this purely due to circumstances, our outlook, or a combination of both?
We have approximately 60,000 thoughts daily and 80% of them will be present tomorrow. Our thoughts and beliefs generate our feelings and emotions, our emotions drive our actions, and our actions create our outcomes. So there might be something to the statement – “Think positive and change your thoughts because it can change your world”. There are some studies looking at the possibility of meditation and gene expression. That in turn raises the intriguing possibility of dodging our supposed genetic destiny by changing our thoughts and attitudes which affect our mental and emotional stress. Positive emotions are an essential daily requirement for successful aging. Not only do they improve our physical and mental health, they provide a buffer against depression and illness. Science shows that people who are happy – live longer and have healthier lives. It was also noted that positive people are 50% less likely to have heart disease, a heart attack, or a stroke and that increasing positive emotions could lengthen life span by 10 years.
Even though Positive psychology has been around for 20 years, it seems to be absent in our conversations and teachings. Dr. Seligman did not want to focus on the negative issues but instead the positive. Positive psychology is “the scientific study of what makes life most worth living”, or “the scientific study of positive behavior and thriving on various levels that include the cultural, personal, physical, social, and comprehensive dimensions of life.” This way of thinking is concerned with “the good life”, consideration about what is our ultimate value in life – the factors that contribute the most to a well-lived and fulfilling life. Positive psychologists note many ways to cultivate happiness. Happiness can achieved with a productive and meaningful existence. Social connections with family, friends and networks become more important as we age. Physical exercise in numerous methods and the practice of meditation may also contribute to happiness.
Those who practice positive psychology use affirmative attitudes toward one’s personal experiences, and life events. The objective is to minimize negative thoughts that may arise in hopelessness, and instead, cultivate positivity toward life. This method encourages the acceptance of one’s past, enthusiasm about one’s future, and a sense of desire and gratitude in the present.
Margaret Lee Runbeck states, “Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.”
According to Andrew Weil, MD, healthy aging includes an ethical will which is pertinent to those of us “concerned with making sense of our lives, giving back, and leaving a legacy”. It is a way to express optimism for future generations. An ethical will could be in many forms such as a letter, card, book, project, etc. The ethical will includes:
Death is inevitable and aging wisdom is the process of our coming to terms with losses and changes. We must focus on the life in our years not the years in our life, as well as passing down our pearls of wisdom from our years of learning and experiences. This in itself gives us purpose.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand – strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming… WOO HOO!!! WHAT A RIDE!!!”
May you live all they days of your life and may your life live on forever.
Dianne McCaughey Ph.D. is an award winning fitness specialist with more than 35 years experience in personal training, group exercise, coaching, and post-rehabilitation. She is a master trainer for multiple companies and practices and teaches optimal wellness emphasizing the mind, body and spirit. She works with special populations and focuses on posture, gait, balance and corrective exercise programs for better function and health.
Her insurance benefits had just run dry, we were at a critical point in her rehabilitation and recovery following a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) from an automobile accident. “What should I do?” she asked me as we neared the end of a therapy session. “Why don’t we meet up and just keep exercising.” I replied and the rest was history.
There are countless other stories with other patients at the time that could have easily pointed me in the same direction. “I am being discharged with a home exercise program, but I want to keep working on my Stroke recovery.” or “I have been using a wheelchair for the past 20 years and I want to maintain my health and function as I continue to age but every time I go to a gym it just does not work out.” or “I wish there were a way I can be active besides adaptive sports.”
In my case, it was the former, a patient of mine with so much potential for continued outcomes was being prematurely discharged from physical therapy due to insurance limitations — the start of my personal journey into adaptive fitness began.
Up until the start of this journey in 2005, the majority of activities for individuals living with or recovering from disability was limited to adaptive sports… Wheelchair Basketball, Quad Rugby, Wheelchair racing, etc. The availability of fitness programs, group fitness, and even accessible gyms were very limited.
The idea that there was a trainer that was performing one-on-one fitness training with an SCI client and that the individual was excelling to the point that once therapy resumed, newer goals could be addressed by the therapists leading to better outcomes, spread throughout the rehabilitation halls and soon more folks wanted this type of training in addition to therapy.
What initially started as a temporary fix to aid a patient in need, has led to redefining my own career and sharing through experience and education what adaptive fitness is and how adaptive fitness trainers can bridge a huge gap.
Adaptive Fitness has really blossomed and now (thanks to social media) Adaptive Fitness Trainers, clients, and facilities are able to share training experiences to the public.
Wheelchair users can highlight their fitness workouts, PRs, and other fitness trends and challenges. Facilities can highlight client success stories, and brands can and have sponsored wheelchair athletes.
For the purpose of this article, I would like to highlight education and standards as I identify what adaptive fitness means to me.
Group Exercise, Virtual Group exercise, Seated Exercise, Adaptive Crossfit, one-on-one personal training can all be identified as Adaptive Fitness and really anyone can lead a group exercise class for any and all abilities… but should they?
Understanding the needs of a participant who is living with Multiple Sclerosis, Transverse Myelitis, Cerebral Palsy, Stroke and SCI in the same group class is extremely important for the safety of all individuals and should not be taken lightly.
Adaptive options presented to one participant may not work for another. Some folks may need specific cueing to maintain safety while others may be able to accept any challenge without adaptive needs.
Understanding risks, precautions and limitations to maintain safety in the group class setting but still make it an effective class is vitally important, and is why having the proper education to lead such classes is a must.
Working one-on-one with an adaptive fitness client who is focused on neuro recovery following a neurological impairment is not a cookie cutter type workout. You can use exercises you may know of, but the set and rep schemes differ entirely and blow traditional routines with 4 sets of 10 reps out of the water. There are specific strategies that can be utilized to effectively challenge someone working on improving neuroplasticity, but how you implement those strategies is dependent upon the individual, the diagnoses, and the strategy being utilized. Having an understanding of all of the above is imperative to your success as an adaptive trainer and their success for their outcomes
The same can be said for an adaptive client working on functional mobility. If floor transfers or stair climbing is a challenge then working on movements and exercises to improve those abilities is a must, but it’s important to have an understanding of how to guard, how to support, how to transfer, how to use your adaptive trainer body to aid your adaptive client in successful progressions toward achieving the movement they are working towards.
An understanding of adaptive training, adaptive accessories that can be used, equipment that can be modified, and strategies that can be used to make an adaptive client successful in the pursuit of their goals should be your goal as a Medical Fitness Professional. So that you become that trainer that should be leading adaptive fitness classes/session and not the trainer that is leading the classes/sessions but shouldn’t be.
Become an Adaptive Fitness Specialist
The Adaptive Fitness Specialist online course is designed to provide the knowledge needed to safely and effectively design and implement adaptive exercise programs for individuals living with or recovering from a physical disability or disease.
Devon Palermo is a leading authority on Adaptive Fitness for those living with or recovering from a disability. He is the Founder and Principal director of DPI Adaptive Fitness, A company focused on safe and effective adaptive fitness for individuals living with disabilities. With over 15 years of experience in both fitness and rehab, He is the go-to resource for clients, therapists, and doctors in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area looking to maximize the benefits of adaptive exercise to improve strength, balance, function and abilities. dpiadaptivefitness.co
July 22 recognizes World Brain Day. The research is conclusive. Combining physical activity and cognitive exercises helps to rewire your brain. Incorporating some new and different styles of exercise will improve brain health.
Roasting, boiling, baking. One might use these words if they are providing cooking instructions. For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, these might also be some words you are using to describe your current relationship with the weather. Maybe even adjectives for your internal atmosphere.
For some, summer signifies increasing daylight. While others, summer indicates an excess of heat. Between last issue and now, perhaps you have been practicing how to maintain an awareness of and appreciation for the strengths gleaned in darkness, while simultaneously allowing the lengthening of days to unfold in a way that is calm, reflective and appreciative of what is present now. What did you learn in winter that can serve you now? Beauty in breath? Beauty in darkness? Beauty in coolness?
Between now and June 21, for those in the Northern Hemisphere, days will continue to lengthen. Heat will increase. The digestive fire will burn. And muscles will contract. Although we must not forget the importance of the cool, the rest, and the relaxation.
As I introduced in the previous article, the month of March can evoke bodily rhythmic awareness. For respiratory, digestive, muscular or cardiac system, or any other bodily function – you may be feeling the heat. A balance of the fire is necessary.
In what ways can you locate spaces, in June and among the continually unfolding hot Summer days, where the appreciation of coolness you cultivated in winter may gently breeze in? Neurologically, the exhale induces the brain to relax and feel calm.
I invite readers to consider finding spaces where you can allow your breath to exhale. How might you channel the winter of the breath to serve you in summer?
Let’s engage in a 1-minute practice of honoring the internal fire and welcome a cool breeze.
Where you are right in this moment is the perfect place to practice. You have everything you need.
1. Locate the breath: say, “Hello breath. Thank you for respirating today.”
2. Create a comfortable breeze: Tune into the coolness of the exhale.
3. Discover the coolness within: Focusing on the exhale creates a lowered body temperature.
4. Carry your awareness: Maintain an awareness of coolness.
Repeat steps one through four.
Dr. Adrienne Ione is a cognitive behavioral therapist and personal trainer who integrates these fields in support of people thriving across the lifespan. As a pro-aging advocate, she specializes in the self-compassion of dementia.
Website: yes2aging.com
Guided Meditations: insighttimer.com/adrienneIone
Facebook: silverliningsintegrativehealth
All the B vitamins are key for energy and metabolism, from B1 to B12, but certain B vitamins also have other super-powers, helping us to relax, sleep better, burn calories, and to absorb other crucial B vitamins.
Balance is the body’s ability to be pulled in the right direction at the right time. The central nervous system (CNS), composed of the brain and spinal cord, accomplishes this task for us. This system is in charge or activating and relaxing the needed muscles with precise timing. The CNS is overstimulated every second of our lives, but has the multitasking power to take in information, be able to process it, and then apply accordingly for the task at hand.
This information comes threefold from the eyes, ears, and sensors throughout the body. When it comes to balance, the eyes communicate what surface the CNS is working with. The vestibular apparatus, which is the inner ear, communicates where the head should be to the CNS. We also need our limbs, joints, and muscles for balance which our feet and skin take care of this communication to the CNS. All of this is signaled at once and has to be sorted and processed very quickly.
The efficiency of this central nervous system’s information processing is what dictates whether a person has good balance or not. If a person were standing up and started to lean over the right, the right foot would tell the CNS that pressure to the right foot is increasing while the pressure to the left foot is decreasing. This shift is then “seen” by the eyes and the ears would become aware that they are not level with one another. Now those sensors in the muscles are told it’s time to wake up and pull the body back towards the left side until balance is achieved.
We can be proactive and help keep our balance be kept in good condition. Exercise fanatics often focus on aerobic and resistance work, neglecting balancing activities. Many don’t worry about their balance until it is noticeably lacking. Balance is a “use it or lose it” operation, in which the machine becomes rusty if left alone for a long period of time. After about age 30, the very muscles we use just to stand become weaker. With age, we slow down, and midlife can bring the onset of instability. Falls can occur and this can lead to hip fractures or serious injuries.
Balance is about control. We try to balance our checkbook and time but we also should make keeping our body in line a priority. Think about a toddler learning to walk. Once they are able to balance in the standing position, they have gained the control for movement. This involves body awareness.
We can practice our balance to keep the system sharp. This can be done be making the surface we stand on smaller. Standing on one foot is the most basic form of balance practice. You can change the surface by adding a dyno disk. You can squat down (bend down) on one leg pretending to pick something up. Different tools stimulate proprioception.
The reaction time of the central nervous is critical for keeping the body in balance. From a professional athlete to the average person, we can all benefit from this control. Think of a goalie in soccer. The better they are able to react to a ball, jump to one side, or balance to stop the ball without falling in the process, the better their performance. Falls and injuries with age are damaging to the body and our sense of independence. Stand tall, don’t sway, and balance your life physically and mentally for your health.
Dr. Megan Johnson McCullough, owner of Every BODY’s Fit in Oceanside CA, is a NASM Master Trainer, AFAA group exercise instructor, and specializes in Fitness Nutrition, Weight Management, Senior Fitness, Corrective Exercise, and Drug and Alcohol Recovery. She’s also a Wellness Coach, holds an M.A. Physical Education & Health and a Ph.D in Health and Human Performance. She is a professional natural bodybuilder, fitness model, and published author.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK97342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885846/
https://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/adultfalls.html
Recently the FDA announced plans to grant Leqembi, a new Alzheimer’s drug, full approval in July 2023.
With an annual cost of $26,500 USD, you would expect the drug’s effects to be dramatic. And researchers were thrilled to report that Leqembi… slowed cognitive decline by 27% over 18 months.