Gym Juice: December

In this month’s edition of Gym Juice, an Ortho-Kinetics® Trainer gets engaged and TELOS Co-Owner and General Manager, Brent Darden, visits China for the China Fit Management Forum.

No time, No problem: exercise for those on the go

I have found myself in the lab again (reading and testing exercises out on myself), and I believe I may have found an anti-aging, growth hormone producing, non-time consuming new exercise that may be of huge benefit to everyone that reads this article. 

Finding Purpose: The Forgotten Secret to Achieve Your Goal

Are you frustrated about not being able to stick to your New Year’s Resolution?  Have you convinced yourself that it seems hopeless to try again at losing the weight that you need to lose?  Do you feel so tired and worn out from the whole work out idea?  So many people make resolutions to improve their health every year, and sometimes year after year, and yet never reach their goals.  

Butter In Our Brew- Bulletproof Your Day

I constantly find myself scouring the internet looking for new research or ideas on exercise and nutrition, and recently I ran into a concoction on coffee called Bulletproof coffee.  I was intrigued by the ingredient list: 2 cups fresh brewed coffee from organic beans, 1-2 tbsp grass fed butter, and 1-2 tbsp of either coconut oil or MCT oil.  I also add a little cinnamon and a drop of vanilla extract to the mix.  You put the fresh brewed coffee and the other ingredients in a blender or Magic Bullet, whip it up, and what you’re left with is a frothy cappuccino looking coffee drink chock-full of healthy fat, nutrients, and energy.

C.S.I. the Silent Killer

It is becoming more and more apparent in the scientific community that systemic inflammation lies at the root of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, stroke,  Alzheimer’s, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and many other immune disorders.  Increased systemic inflammation may also increase the aging process.

MAT vs ART

There are so many techniques out there that claim to “fix” every person’s problems.  There is acupuncture, reflexology, massage, and thousands more that most of us have never heard of before.  The two techniques that I will be discussing in this article are Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) and Active Release Techniques (ART).  Both are very powerful tools to help people in their pursuit of health and wellness and pain relief.

The focus of both techniques is to restore Range of Motion (ROM) to the client and or patient.  There is a high priority placed on ROM, because the lack of ROM is an “indicator” of decreased joint health.  This decrease in ROM often has a snowball effect to cause other joints to lose their ROM and increase in a feeling of “tightness.”  Once this snowball gets rolling, it can and does have devastating effects in one’s quality of life by decreasing their ability to participate in sports, hobbies, and activities of daily living.

ART
ART tries to restore motion by looking to alter the physiological state of a muscle.  That is, if I am lying on my back, and I try to lift my leg off the ground as high as I can, and feel that my leg is not being allowed higher because of the glutes and hamstrings.  This can happen because the glutes and hamstrings have become so tight, that the actual make-up of the muscle has been altered into scar tissue, and it is this scar tissue that ART is trying to “break up” to help restore motion.  This is done by a muscle specific “stretch” accompanied by the therapist applying a counter tension into the target muscle with his/her hands to further lengthen the muscle impeding the motion.

A Different Take On Aerobic Training

2013 is here, and like all the years before, the cardio/aerobic equipment is being used to its maximum potential once again for people trying to shed those unwanted pounds from years past.  Throughout my education process, I have learned of all the benefits that come with cardiovascular training.  It seems as though it is the one thing that has no harmful effects in the exercise world.

I have come across an article from Charles Poliquin that might make us less inclined to just rely on the treadmill and bike for our health and weight loss goals.  The article references test done showing endurance athletes had elevated cortisol levels when compared to non-endurance athletes.  This is important because elevated levels of cortisol can cause your body to add on fat instead of shedding it off.  The key area that fat will be added is to the visceral area of the body which is where our most important organs are located.  This increase in fat around our organs makes our heart, brain, gastrointestinal tract, and reproductive organs work harder which in turn can speed up the aging process.

Muscle… Does The Body Good!

My previous article touched on the extreme importance of muscle and a list of many of the important roles and functions that it plays is the body.  Today I will dive in to one of the topics and elaborate further.

Muscle and Metabolism

I believe there is a large misconception among exercisers that in order to lose weight and burn body fat that you have to do a lot of aerobic exercise and eat many small meals throughout the day to “get your metabolism going.”  If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a million times, “I have to get my cardio in.”  When it comes to burning body fat people have been incorrectly biased toward a heavy dose of slow intensity, long duration aerobic exercise.  Repeatedly biking, riding the treadmill/elliptical, and running our way toward trying to increase metabolism and have a reduction in body fat. Only, most of the time that doesn’t happen.  Why?