For any person, a regular stretching routine can bring some surprising benefits. While you might think that stretching right before activity is beneficial, it needs to be done on a regular basis for a minimum of 10 minutes in order to bring some major changes to muscles and tendons. Research shows that people with the least flexibility have increased chances of injury…
It’s no secret that our bodies feel tight and stiffer if we don’t stretch, especially as we get older. If you invest most of your exercise time into strengthening your muscles or working on your cardio routine, it’s easy to forget about stretching.
Challenge your truth.
Do you wonder where your beliefs come from and why you believe certain things about life and the world to be true?
If not, that’s ok, but I want you to keep an open mind for me as you read this…
You see, many of the belief systems we have aren’t our own. They are imposed on us by parents, society, cultures, etc.
For example, what defines a successful life for most people is the traditional story: You go to school, get a great job, have a beautiful family, work hard until you can retire, then kick back and enjoy life.
Today more than ever that belief is being challenged. People are beginning to crave a different narrative. But that’s been the predominant one for over a century.
Another example more closely related to what I do is the common belief that people just don’t have time for exercise or preparing healthy meals.
Yes, we really do have time for exercise and preparing healthy meals.
But what’s true is that other people with just as busy of a schedule do find the time.
So, if the belief system around time was true, no two people with the same type of schedule should be able to find the time to take care of themselves…
Of course, the time belief system we are using here as an example is faulty and false.
I hope this is making sense.
Today I want to challenge you to challenge your truth.
Write down 5 beliefs that you have that hold you back from achieving the life you desire. Even if right now you believe the excuse or thought is 100% legit.
Then, ask yourself – “What else is possible? Is this really true?”
When your beliefs are deeply rooted by habit and by the people who surround you, it can be very hard to break free from them. But with effort, it’s possible.
Don’t hold on to false thoughts that keep you from creating the life and the body you desire.
Challenging your beliefs and the meaning you give them is the first steps to taking new action to create change.
So, what 5 beliefs did you come up with and how can you begin to shift them to create new, empowering belief systems?
Originally printed on Move Well Fitness blog. Reprinted with permission.
Maurice D. Williams is a personal trainer and owner of Move Well Fitness in Bethesda, MD. With almost two decades in the industry, he’s worked with a wide range of clients, including those with health challenges like diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, coronary artery disease, lower back pain, pulmonary issues, and pregnancy. Maurice is also a fitness educator with Move Well Fit Academy and NASM. He also serves as the Director of Membership Services for the MedFit Network.
How do you assess your clients’ balance? How can you adapt your training plan to deal with natural fluctuations in their balance?
Physical balance is complex and can change daily. Many clients will refer to how long they can stand on one leg when asked about balance issues, but how useful is this as a measure of their postural control or their risk of falling?
Many people who’ve had any kind of formal balance assessment have only done so after having a fall. New statistics show that falls are the leading cause of trauma room visits, across all age groups, and in the case of those over 65, 1 in 4 falls each year. Indeed, the number of deaths by falling is increasing, and yet there are many proven interventions to improve balance and avoid falls.
Many older adults are reluctant to discuss falls or balance issues with their doctors, some wrongly believing that falling is an inevitable part of aging and marks the beginning of the end for them.
Fitness trainers have a significant opportunity to help educate their clients in both the measurement and management of balance and balance issues.
Good balance is the result of the somatosensory, proprioceptive and neuromuscular systems working together. Each system is complex and can be affected by factors such as stress, quality of sleep, medications and exercise habits so understanding where your client is on any given day is helpful for optimizing their health goals.
Regular balance measurement can also be a powerful motivational tool, especially for older adults who want to remain independent and age on their own terms.
Dr. Katharine Forth is an expert in motor control, and conducted post-doctoral research at NASA, where she became the co-founder of Zibrio technology. The Zibrio SmartScale is a bathroom scale that uses artificial intelligence to measure balance and fall risk in a simple 60-second test. The product won an innovation award from the Consumer Technology Association in 2020, and was named by AARP as the winning technology to help ‘older adults stay in the game’ at their pitch competition at CES 2020, judged by Joe Montana. More information can be found at www.zibrio.com
Get your older adult clients ready for the rigors of tourism and active vacations with these training tips and pre-travel exercises.
Do your over-55 clients or class members want to travel for pleasure but need more strength, stamina and mobility? Do they worry they’ll miss seeing the world because they lack physical ability?
Have you ever wondered why a particular diet, workout routine or cleanse offers remarkable results for some people, but not others?
It’s because of bio-individuality and Metabolic Chaos®.
When it comes to health, there is no one size fits all! Each person is unique on a cellular and metabolic level. They have their own health strengths and weaknesses, or vital voids as Reed Davis, the founder of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® calls them. So, instead of treating symptoms, tests and/or assessment results, the key is to assess the specific needs of each person.
Functional lab testing is the best way to analyze a person’s specific needs on a deeper level. The comprehensive data obtained through lab testing can be used to inform and guide a health-building program, to get real results that last a lifetime.
Reed Davis, the founder of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition®, worked for over a decade as a certified nutritional therapist and case manager perfecting lab testing and resources. And now for over 10 years, he has been sharing his knowledge through the FDN course with a mission to empower as many people as possible to help as many people as possible to get well and stay well naturally.
After helping hundreds of clients, Reed discovered that while each was unique in their health challenges, they also had much in common – H.I.D.D.E.N. stressors.
Through clinical work, Reed identified 5 foundational lab tests essential for in-depth insights in order to uncover a client’s H.I.D.D.E.N. stressors and reveal their true healing opportunities to build their health.
Having access to lab testing, knowing how to properly interpret the results and use the data to guide a health building protocol is what makes certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioners so successful in getting their clients real results.
Like you, most of our FDN practitioners started off as health coaches, personal trainers, nutritionists, nurses, homemakers or were in non-health related fields and changed their career because they were inspired by their personal health journey.
No matter what their prior profession was, all of them have these 3 things in common:
FDN’s complete methodology has empowered over 3,000 trainees in over 50 different countries to help people get well and stay well naturally.
Learn more from Reed Davis. Watch his MedFit webinar…
Reed Davis is a Nutritional Therapist and has been the Health Director and Case Manager at a wellness clinic San Diego for over 15 years; he is the Founder of the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Certification Course.
One of the greatest concerns for the aging population is cognitive decline which leads to loss of independence as well as an extreme burden on the caretakers. Individuals worldwide are fearful of being diagnosed with any of the various cognitive issues: Dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other forms of cognitive debilities. In 2015 there was an estimated 47 million people living with dementia and this number is expected to triple by 2050. In 2014, the Alzheimer’s Association reported that they believe there is sufficient evidence to support the link between several modifiable risk factors and a reduced risk for cognitive decline and sufficient evidence to suggest that some modifiable risk factors may be associated with reduced risk of dementia. Specifically, that regular physical activity and management of cardiovascular risk factors (diabetes, obesity, smoking, and hypertension) reduce the risk of cognitive decline and may reduce the risk of dementia. The Association also believes there is sufficiently strong evidence to conclude that a healthy diet and lifelong learning/cognitive training may also reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
Positive association between aerobic exercise or CV fitness and executive functions is highly consistent but cannot determine causality. Aerobic exercise (AE) has shown moderate to medium sized effects on executive function and memory. Resistance Training (RT) has improved executive function and memory. Combined AE and RT has the biggest (potentially synergistic) effect. It has been proposed that the physical and cognitive exercise might interact to induce larger functional benefits. Larger benefits on cognitive test performance were noted for combined physical and cognitive activity than for each activity alone. “Claims promoting brain games are frequently exaggerated and at times misleading. … To date, there is little evidence that playing brain games improves underlying broad cognitive abilities, or that it enables one to better navigate a complex realm of everyday life (Consensus statement, 2014).
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize and rebuild itself by forming new neural connections. The more neural pathways you have, the more resilient your brain is. Neurogenesis is the process of creating new neurons (brain cells).
Contrary to popular belief, neurogenesis continuously occurs in the adult brain under the right conditions such as with exercise. Substantial benefits on cognitive test performance were noted for combined physical and cognitive activity than for each activity alone. It was also noted that the physical and cognitive exercise together might interact to induce larger functional benefits. “We assume, that physical exercise increases the potential for neurogenesis and synaptogenesis while cognitive exercise guides it to induce positive plastic change” (Bamidis, 2014). To maximize cognitive improvement, combine physical exercise with cognitive challenges in a rich sensorimotor environment that includes social interaction and a heaping dose of fun.
Brain health is becoming extremely important as individuals live longer. Today there is much more information available on how to train the aging brain.
Some great resources are:
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.
Cody Sipe, PhD, has an extensive background in the fitness industry with 20 years of experience as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, program director, exercise physiologist and club owner. He is currently an Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Research in the physical therapy program at Harding University. He is the co-founder and vice president of the Functional Aging Institute (FAI).
Is getting healthy at the top of your to-do list? If you’re looking to improve your overall wellness but you’re not sure where to start, a good first step is to see a chiropractor. Chiropractors are licensed medical professionals…
If you read my blogs or follow me on Social Media you know I am not one to swear or use expletives to get my point across but for this blog’s title I am literally taking the words right out of my students’ mouth. The idea for this blog came from the Breathwork class I taught last Monday night at The Den Meditation Center…