by IcennaEmach | Nov 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
In these hectic times with banks failing, massive mortgage defaults, and market crashes, looking beyond our personal finances into the one investment we can’t live without, our health, is gaining traction.
Health and economics are now intertwined. Without robust health, we are personally bankrupt. Within 20 years many economists project our healthcare costs will bankrupt our economy if current trends continue.
Investing in our health should be similar to investing in a retirement savings plan. Contribute regularly over many years, and in our “golden years”years we have better health and happiness, more independence, lower medical costs, and a peaceful mind. Failure to make these contributions to our health account or regularly “depleting” our health savings through poor eating and exercise habits and we become weak and vulnerable to life’s ups and downs.
Most personal training clients I see today acknowledge the deep connection between their health and economic well being citing that it makes them more energetic, more work and family -productive, more optimistic about their healthy lives and keeps healthcare and pharmaceutical costs at a minimum.
This sentiment wasn’t always true. During my 10 years as a Personal Trainer at the Serenata Beach Club, focusing on the health benefits of exercise and eating right as the cornerstone to feeling good about ourselves and our healthy futures was not so apparent.
For the first eight of those ten years, I have felt like it was not what people wanted to hear.
Years later and mainly because of our changing times, the sentiment of Our Wealth Is in Our Health has taken hold. Looking good is still important, but even more important are the additional benefits of feeling good, being more productive in work and family life, cutting health care and pharmaceutical costs, and having the peace of mind knowing we are doing all we can to protect ourselves and our family’s future.
With staggering job losses seeming out of control, and many retirees having to stay in the job market, one would think that many more people would be seeking the assistance of personal trainers and health coaches. Why are we not doing so in greater numbers?
Making the connections a good personal trainer/health coach can offer are difficult. Many would benefit from the guidance of a skilled, trained professional-a health coach-to help them move forward in a positive way – even in the face of enormous external stressors. Just as we go to an accountant, a dentist, and other specialist when we want help, a trainer/coach is a skilled partner and the best antidote to the failure most people experience in trying to become fit, lean and healthy on their own. What do you think? Can a trainer/coach help you invest wisely for a better future?
by IcennaEmach | Oct 11, 2011 | Uncategorized
There is a story I’ve heard. And like many stories, the question is never whether it is real, but whether you can learn something from it. Here’s one such story that if you are aiming to improve your health and lose weight, you should read.
Picasso is touring a school with someone who wants to know why the institute of education is failing the children. Picasso asks a roomful of six-year-old children, “Who here is a painter?” All hands go up. “Who here is a dancer?” “Who is a singer?” All hands go up. “Who here is a storyteller?” All hands go up. He walks down the hall to where the seventeen-year-old children are taking classes and he asks the same questions. Few, if any hands go up. “There’s your problem,” says Picasso. “Schools train our children not to be painters, dancers, singers, and storytellers.”
The meaning of the story is something that we may relate to better in the midst of our careers, but it should have meaning to many of us, regardless of our ages, who are striving to improve the quality of our lives.
Few would disagree that we’ve become conditioned over time to believe that as we age, we must settle for less than optimal health. Like the older children in the story, we have become conditioned to expect less of ourselves and less of our physical bodies. I am not suggesting that we are ageless and this is not an article on how to live forever. This article is about living a healthy lifestyle that makes us look and feel our most optimal at any given age.
You Have What It Takes
When people tell me that they can’t lose weight and keep it off, I say that they most definitely can! What often happens is that most people buy into weight loss regimens, lose weight, and then gain it back. They buy products and weight loss tactics, that don’t appear gimmicky, but that are, and that lure them into believing they will lose weight, look good, feel better, and be happy.
It’s nothing new to understand that the role of promoters is to make us believe we can lose weight, keep it off, and live happily ever after. When this doesn’t happen, or if it does, and the weight soon reappears, dieters are left disillusioned in their weight loss abilities until… another book comes out, another product is marketed, or an improved weight loss tactic comes on the scene again, starting the whole dysfunctional process all over again.
Fortunately, many health coaches, including myself have been gaining traction in helping people understand the right way to lose weight and keep it off. Our successes are increasing, and many people, even those once previously anxious for quick weight losses are realizing the compounding effects of losing weight smartly. Theyuse less medications, have more energy, more vitality, more confidence, more lean muscle mass, better health numbers, and best of all, they’ve created lifestyle changes that keep the weight off for life!
Below is an illustration of our differences. See if it helps. Also, see if it helps you get a better understanding of why programs that don’t engage you mentally in the decision making process/personal responsibility fail. Savvy health coaches bring awareness. They help their clients strategize a system to help them not just lose weight, but keep it off for life!
PROMOTERS SAY And What HEALTH COACHES SAY
It’s easy. No thinking involved It’s manageable. Let’s put a plan together individualized for you.
You will be sexy! Health is sexy! Continuing to lose and gain is not sexy.
Just buy these products. Just use your gray matter.
It costs only $2.00 a day. Reduction/elimination of meds is possible.
Eat whatever you want. Eating for enjoyment and health is possible.
You Have What It Takes
You are a singer and a dancer and a storyteller and an artist. You are all the various things you want to be. You might never play ball like you did as a child, but you look good – you feel good- you are a living breathing being, living at your most optimal level for who you are today! You might never play for the NBA but why should that keep you sidelined in silence?
You choose how your days are spent. You know in your heart that being your healthy best comes down to making solid lifestyle choices, using your gray matter, and changing your behaviors. You know that most lifestyle plans featured today are just diversional tactics, keeping you from doing the real work of being lean and fit. You know, that any “feeling good plan”, that does not engage you, challenge you, and question you, is not going to work. And you realize that like a young singer, dancer, painter, or storyteller, you can’t be seeking the nostrums of the promoters. This is your day though. What is it going to be?
by IcennaEmach | Sep 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
The seated cable row is a mid back exercise that once learned correctly can be adapted efficiently into most types of training programs. Great for the posture muscles and suited for those who aim to feel lean and tall, this exercise is a back to the basics must do. No pun intended!
For the novice exerciser it serves as an added challenge to the full body supported machines typically used in most gyms.
For the intermediate exerciser, it serves as a challenge in intensity as weight is increased, fully mobilizing body stabilizer muscles not typically used with many machine weights.
And for the advanced exerciser, the cable row can be used to build thicker and stronger latissimus dorsi muscles when various training techniques are utilized smartly.
Regardless of your experience level, proper form is essential. Once learned however, it’s almost like riding a bike.
Learn it well once and you’ll never forget it!
Here’s a few essential techniques to keep in mind and to get you looking like a pro. Of most importance is that you keep a flat upper back, hinge forward from the waist with a high chest and face forward/chin up position like my good friend and client Cynthia is illustrating in the picture.
Preparation
Sit slightly forward on bench or floor and grasp cable attachment. Place feet on vertical platform. Slide hips back positioning knees with slight bend.
Execution
Pull cable attachment to waist while straightening lower back. Pull shoulders back and push chest forward while arching back. Return until arms are extended, shoulders are stretched forward, and lower back is flexed forward.
Repeat with confidence and a little attitude as you get feeling grooved with this dynamic exercise!
Comments
Begin with light weight and add additional weight gradually to allow lower back adequate adaptation. Do not pause or bounce at bottom of lift. Do not lower weight beyond mild stretch. Full range of motion through lower back will vary from person to person. The illustration as demonstrated by my client above, is highly flexible in the lower and upper back regions so her forward flexion is advanced. Notice however that she keeps intact a high chest and flat upper back as shoulders are drawn down and back. A+ for her. And what about you? Got Posture?
Our Wealth is in Our Health,
Kim
by IcennaEmach | Sep 5, 2011 | Uncategorized
The most superb linguine and clam sauce I ever had was with John at Nobbs Hill Café in San Francisco. Its flavor was so amazing! I had enjoyed clam sauce at a number of wonderful restaurants both here and in Europe, and this was the most delectable clam sauce I’d ever eaten.
I asked the server to tell me what they did to bring out the beautiful mellow garlic flavor, because clearly it was magical. The chef very graciously came to our table to explain.
“Fresh garlic sautéed slowly in fine olive oil.”
What? Certainly he was not telling me his cooking secret!
He was however. Fresh garlic. Fine olive oil – extra virgin. Extra virgin . . . refined, so it would not break down as quickly when heated. Sautéed slowly. That was the secret.
The chef knew that even extra virgin olive oil will break down at temperatures above 225° F. and not only would their subtle phenols be destroyed, but the higher temperatures would add a degree of bitterness to what should be the garlic’s mellow taste.
He explained that no matter how hectic it might be in his kitchen, he would never cut corners by turning up the heat under his slowly cooking fresh garlic and olive oil.
His disciplined, simple approach to cooking resulted in the absolute best linguine and clam sauce I ever had.
Garlic and Olive Oil Simplicity
We humans tend to complicate matters. We tend to think there are deeper secrets than the simple actions others take to succeed. When people ask me what I eat for dinner and I say, 1 serving lean protein, 4 servings fresh vegetables, and one serving of a complex carbohydrate, they are often taken aback. “Certainly, you are doing something else and are not telling me! Where’s the protein powder? ” Where do you buy your fish? Do you really have a carbohydrate at night? Do you eat organic vegetables only? This can’t be! Eating is so much more complex!
Well Not Really
Simplicity allows us to appreciate the execution more than the cleverness of our plan. Complexity is mostly about being clever. Simplicity is about execution. In eating simply, and in eating cleanly, lays appreciation in the enjoyment of eating.
The only place for complexity is in the minds of the uninitiated. Surgery can be complex, but not to surgeons. Building huge structures can be complex, but not to architects and engineers. Rocket science is complex, but not to rocket scientists.
What you and I do at the dinner table and what we need to focus on is back to the basics of feeling good about what we enjoy eating that is healthful and diverse. There’s no room for complex surgery at the dinner table. There’s no room for building huge structures at the dinner table. And there’s no room for rocket science at the dinner table. There’s only garlic, good olive oil, and slow cooking. And hopefully a dollop of interesting conversation.
Don’t Misunderstand – Simple Isn’t Easy
Simple doesn’t mean easy. Telling the truth is simple. Telling the truth can be both difficult and painful. Being clear and helpful often isn’t easy either. Try writing instructions for tying a shoe and you will see that it’s not easy. And yet, shoe-tying is simple – for most folks.
Listening to people is simple. Actually doing it isn’t easy. It often requires self-discipline.
Apologizing is simple. Yet, sometimes it is the hardest thing in the world to do.
Letting go is simple but it is never easy.
Garlic and Olive Oil
The more times we can eat with the simplicity of garlic slowly sautéed in olive oil the better our healthy life becomes. The better our healthy life becomes, the more “happy normal” we become. Getting rid of food complexity and too many choices in our lives is far more valuable than devising a clever eating scheme that gets our attention briefly, but has no staying power.
For an interesting read that focuses on taking the mystery out of eating, author Michael Pollan in his book Food Rules: an Eater’s Manual, does an incredible job of helping readers apply 3 basic yet often ignored food rules to their daily lives:
1. Eat food (you’ll be surprised how what we often eat is not really food).
2. Eat mostly plants.
3. Don’t eat too much.
There’s little scientific research in his book stating that “humans haven’t needed nutrition science to survive in the past several millennia, and neither do we,” however, Dr.Pollan, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, does refer readers to his other book In Defense Of Food for the science behind his rules in his more recent book.
One Last Secret
Complexity is usually just a lot of simple things played out in a smart sequence.
So, what’s your garlic and olive oil?
Looking good, feeling good and performing great is central to good health!
by IcennaEmach | Aug 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
The work I am doing now requires more skills and discipline than I typically exert. It is especially taking more discipline because I’m working on a more concise writing style and my personal blogging deadlines are looming. At the same time, I am working with a renewed vigor on my training runs preparing for an upcoming 10 mile run. Eating well to run well is requiring more focus and discipline than I recently have been accustomed to.
All of this makes me think about discipline, and especially of the commonly held myths about discipline.
Discipline is Not Willpower
I remember reading a story about a guy who wanted to practice his guitar more. He put sticky notes on his calendar to remind him to play the guitar. Yet, after a busy day at work, he would come home, sit down, relax and watch TV, forgetting to play the guitar. One day, it dawned on him. He realized that the reason he wasn’t reaching for the guitar was that it was in his closet. He took his guitar out of the closet and placed it between the couch and the TV. He could not watch TV without moving his guitar out of the way. Pow! Instant improvement. He practiced the guitar every evening.
Discipline is Not Willpower
Discipline is setting up the perfect environment to achieve the goals you have.If you want the perfect book for this, read Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath. Switch tells us that it is so hard to make lasting change because there is a conflict that’s built into our brains. Our minds are ruled by two different systems—the rational mind and the emotional mind—each competing for control. My rational mind wants my body to be a fit, lean, running machine. My emotional mind wants to relax with a good book poolside and enjoy the rest of the day after a busy workday with clients.
If you have already read Switch but still haven’t changed your environment to accomplish what you want to do, then read it again.
Success Breeds Success
Start by finding something moderately challenging. Build the appropriate environment to succeed. Once you get into a steady flow of daily activities, you begin to expand your goals to accomplish something more.
The key is to put just enough pressure on yourself so that you feel challenged, yet not so much that you feel overwhelmed by the tasks. Gradually, without thinking about it much, you begin instinctively to make plans for more accomplishments. And this is what we call the beginnings of lifestyle change! I’m not referring to the tasks that are set initially that are contrived (such as with our guitar player whose goal it was just to practice daily). I am referring to the intricate webbing, endless adaptability, and fascinating transformations that takes place inside our heads when we accomplish what we set out to accomplish thereby automatically desiring to do better! For a fascinating read on the gap between science and self-help, Norman Doidge, M.D.in his book, The Brain That Changes Itself, expands in great detail on the stories of personal triumph and how the science of the brain can be utilized to better ourselves.
Back To the Guitar Player
Remember that guitar player? He had an original goal to practice more. He set a time to practice. He practiced his guitar. He stopped. No pressure – just doing the time. What we don’t see going on in his brain is the increasing desire that builds as he practices daily. Hmmm… “Maybe I can buy another song book tomorrow after work?” Hmmm… “Maybe I can take a few lessons on Saturday afternoons?” You get the idea. Our guitar friend started with setting up the right environment by placing his guitar in the living room next to the TV. After a few weeks, his visions were greater. His desire was greater. His motivation for more intricacy was greater.
There is one other thing our guitar friend did that I didn’t tell you about. In the early stages of playing, he rewarded himself for practicing his guitar. He watched TV after he practiced his guitar. Guess what happened after a few months. His guitar playing became his own reward, and he stopped watching TV completely after work.
Does this sound a little hokey? It does. I admit. But, it’s called changing lifestyle, and you can apply this to bettering your health. I am confident that when you feel great about moving more and being in a solid exercise flow, you will feel more inspired to eat better and to train more.
This approach requires inside out thinking – going within yourself to determine What Matters, as discussed in the About page of BodySmartInc. In the case of our guitar playing friend, he determines that practicing the guitar is What Matters to him.
What is it that Matters to you?
Discipline is the Ladder
Discipline is the ladder that will get you from where you are to where you want to be. If you desire to be more active, set a time and minutes per week to engage in an activity. Don’t worry about what is the best activity, just do what you like. Specificity will come later, as our guitar playing friend can attest. When you can do the minutes without flinching, increase the frequency and let the intricate webbing of your mind unfold and stir excitement. This is the “trick”, although not a trick at all, to making your health a lasting lifestyle change. This, is the “happy normal”, you can obtain.
Discipline is the ladder you can set against the wall that is between you and what you want. It’s not something to be longing for; it’s something you can accomplish by starting small, setting up the best environment, being consistent, rewarding your accomplishments, and then building on your successes.
Where do you want to place that ladder? What is the wall you want to climb over so you may have a “happy normal”?
Looking good, feeling good and performing great is central to good health!
Kim
