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May 2007 Newsletter
An Inspirational Quote
"Very good," Bono says, "is the enemy of great. You think great is right next door. It's not. It's
in another country."
Bono, lead singer, U2
The Total Fitness Quartet For Exercising Healthy Joints
by James Williams, james@totalfitness.net
We are all getting older - that's not a newsflash. However did you know that as we
age, exercising in a smart way is more important than ever?
How well you take care of yourself in the first 40 years of your life has
a huge effect on your quality of life and health during the next 40 years.
Whatever your track record has been, just know that starting today, you can
create a more healthful future by following the Total Fitness Quartet For Exercising Healthy Joints.
It's a sad fact that many people develop tight muscles through a combination of a lack of
stretching, sitting too long in one position, or not enough physical activity.
Your joints may be gradually pulled out of ideal alignment, increasing the wear
and tear on the articulating surfaces. When you couple this with a diet containing
alcohol and foods that inflame the digestive tract, your gut becomes perforated and
undigested food is sent into the body at every meal. Initially, the food settles in the
joints, triggering inflammation and later stiffness - the first sign of arthritis.
If not dealt with by a high level of self-care, you may experience chronic pain because
inflammation wears away the joints and their membranes. Dehydration makes joints more
painful, and insufficient sleep slows the healing process to a snail's pace. Often people
take ibuprofen-type medications for pain relief, however these create further gut inflammation
and perforation, making the arthritis a lot worse. The icing on the cake is when a person
falls and fractures a hip and can't walk properly, which eventually makes them bed-ridden with
pain and on a fast-track to death. OUCH!
To have a high quality of life in your mature years, what you stick in your mouth
and how you move your body make a HUGE difference. You'll find lots of information
about how to eat well in our previous newsletters and radio show broadcasts.
The old adage, If you don't use it - you lose it, is full of truth.
If we sit in a chair for several hours a day, the muscles around our joints tighten
to hold us in that position more easily. The muscle fibers gradually shorten and contract,
and our flexibility and joint range of motion are reduced. It's our body's way of
helping us - to make sitting easier next time around. This becomes a problem when we
sit at a desk for eight hours a day at work and then slouch on the sofa at home for three
hours watching television. Our muscles become tight and pull our joints out of alignment,
leading to pain and more wear and tear. So here's your Quartet For Exercising Healthy Joints:
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Every day, stretch the muscles that are known to be tight in your body for 10-20 minutes. Stretching the muscles that are already flexible is a waste of time and may lead to your
joints moving out of ideal alignment. This happens when muscles on one side of a joint are
weak and too flexible, and the others on the opposite side are strong. The strong ones
will eventually pull the joint out of alignment because they are held contracted for several
hours a day. This is a gross simplification, but explains what really happens inside our bodies.
When people fall on misaligned joints it results in greater pain and
injury than when their joints are in good shape. A well-aligned skeleton
acts like a shock absorber and the impact of a fall is distributed throughout
the body. Falling on misaligned joints results in a poor shock absorbing effect
because the energy that enters the body at the time of impact can't dissipate
fully across the joints and into the rest of the skeleton. It remains in the
muscles, causing significantly more tissue trauma and pain.
So how do you know which muscles are tight, loose or just right? Come and see
James and Catherine for a postural assessment. We'll give you a custom stretching
program that will take you out of pain and help you to be more flexible.
Most trainers just give out the same old exercises - what's unique about Total Fitness
is that our clients receive an individualized stretching and strengthening program
to correct individual muscle imbalances.
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Perform energy-building exercises. Include yoga, qi-gong and tai-chi in your
exercise program to restore your energy - especially when you feel stressed.
Including these activities as part of a varied, joint-friendly exercise regime
also improves your balance, which is a wonderful way to prevent falls, and
stimulate the healing process. If your muscles need to be a bit more flexible,
then Catherine's yoga class on Tuesdays and Thursdays here in Atlanta is the
perfect place to become more limber if you're free of pain. Pay particular
attention to the poses that benefit your tight muscles. The Qi Gong class held
at Total Fitness every Wednesday is an even gentler way of keeping your joints
mobile. Qi Gong is far simpler to learn than Tai-Chi and is a great way to
socialize, relax and feel more energized rather than adrenalized.
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Flex your muscles at least twice a week. Strength is like flexibility - if
you don't use it, you lose it. Regardless of our age, we need strength - to
lift up our grandchildren, play with our families, lift heavy boxes, shopping
bags, or the laundry basket. Performing free-weights exercises with proper
technique using dumb bells, bar bells, Swiss balls, medicine balls, wobble
boards and cable-cross machines is a great way to improve balance, reduce
the likelihood of falls, and make you stronger and leaner. These types of
exercises also give you real, usable strength - unlike fixed-resistance
machines. Weight training machines pull joints out of optimal alignment,
use fewer muscles per exercise, and greatly increase the risk of injuries
and falls. Make an appointment with Catherine or James to have us design a
custom weight training program for your body.
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Have great posture. Like my parents, your elders might also have told
you to sit up straight. Unfortunately, when your back is rounded after sitting and writing
at a desk for 10 years, your muscles develop uneven tensions, making sitting up straight
uncomfortable - and that's before you've left high school! Just imagine the effects of
another 40 years of bending forwards or crossing your legs, and how these pull your
spine, hips and other joints out of alignment. In addition to stretching, qi gong, yoga
and weight training, some people benefit from relearning how to have good posture with
the Alexander Technique. It can help to restore your full height, reduce or alleviate
pain and muscle tension, improve joint alignment, and help you rediscover how to walk,
sit and stand with more ease.
In Atlanta, we refer our clients to Ron Dennis, a well-experienced Alexander Technique teacher .
He can help you in around 10 lessons provided you practice what you learn. We at Total
Fitness like his work because some people perform their daily activities with little
awareness of how it affects their spine, repeatedly pulling their joints out of alignment.
The Alexander Technique teaches our clients how to become more aware of how they move their
body in every day life.
You can also ask Catherine and James to evaluate your posture sitting, standing and walking
for tips on how you might hold yourself with less stress and tension.
As a result of following the Total Fitness Quartet For Exercising Healthier Joints, you:
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Get lots of variety of exercise each week.
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Experience social interaction while you move your body.
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Reduce the likelihood of falling at any age.
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Improve your quality of life while you age.
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Improve your health and vitality.
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Feel younger than others who don't exercise as intelligently.
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Recover from illness more quickly than non-quartet exercisers.
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Stay leaner and experience less symptoms of arthritis.
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Experience the bumps of life's challenges with less stress and more peace of mind.
So what are you waiting for? Whatever your age, introduce the quartet gradually
into your schedule now. Call Catherine and James to get your custom-designed
stretching and weight training programs. To join our yoga and Qi Gong classes,
visit this link: http://www.totalfitness.net/classes.htm.
Additional Resources:
Alexander Technique in Atlanta: contact Ron Dennis on 770-454-1177
On the web: http://www.unique-technique.com/Main.htm
Client Success: Michael Martin, No More Hepatitis
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How did you feel before coming to Total Fitness?
I was very sick. In fact, I had never been more ill in my life. Since January,
I had been treated for kidney stones, prostate enlargement and finally, on
March 6, I was diagnosed with acute viral hepatitis B.
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What had you tried in order to be healthier before coming to work with us?
My treatment, as always before, was traditional western medicine under the care of my
physician and following a regiment of prescription drugs and rest. When my viral load
pushed my AST and ALT liver enzymes up over 3000 IU/L, my doctor basically said to stop
taking everything and rest. He indicated that chances are my system would eventually
eradicate the virus, but that I should expect 6 to 8 months of symptoms.
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How do you feel now? Better than I have in recent memory. On
May 10, I had a follow up blood analysis that showed my AST and ALT numbers
had dropped to 50 and 53 respectively (well within the normal range for healthy adults).
My system had completed eradicated the virus in two months.
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What have doctors, friends and acquaintances said about how much better you are doing now?
My doctor was astonished. He told me not to expect recovery for several months, and was
amazed at my rapid recovery.
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What do you feel that we did that was especially helpful for you?
Contrary to the traditional medical approach to the treatment of hepatitis, which was
rest and fluids for several months, Total Fitness took an aggressive, holistic approach
to the state of my health. Catherine and James worked with my physical, emotional,
and spiritual health to identify the roots of my recent illnesses. They put a multi-
faceted plan of action into place and monitored and coached me through a nutritional
lifestyle change that included cleansing and detoxifying supplements, herbs and essences
as well as physical conditioning and energy healing methodologies. They also prescribed
regular, focused massage and colon hydrotherapy.
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What would you say to other people who are considering working with us?
I think you only ever get out of anything what you're willing to put into it... that being
said, Total Fitness helped me get the energy and interest to put my whole self into my
healing, and have been great guides to help me get to a better physical and emotional
place than I've been in years. I'd have to say, if you're serious about a quantum change
in your current situation, run - don't walk - to Catherine and James at Total Fitness.
Greek Beef Salad by Nina Lynn, nina@totalfitness.net
Ingredients:
1 lb. organic beef top round steak, cut into 1 in. strips
6 cups torn organic romaine lettuce
1 medium organic cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 small organic red onion, cut into thin wedges
2 tbs. crumbles organic feta cheese
8 organic Greek olives
Marinade:
2/3 cup fresh organic lemon juice
1/3 cup organic olive oil
2 tsp. dried organic oregano
sea salt and pepper to taste
Marinate beef for 6 hours in the refrigerator. Save extra marinade. Broil
beef in your oven for 17 to 18 minutes, turning once. Remove from the oven
and let stand for 10 minutes. Carve into thin slices. Combine the salad
ingredients with the beef and toss with the reserved marinade. Sprinkle
with cheese and olives and serve.
Grass fed organic beef is the healthiest way to consume beef which is high
in the amino acid Methionine. Methionine aids the body with blood sugar
regulation. Olives are high in vitamin E which is the body's most powerful
fat soluble antioxidant. Feta is made from goat milk and is easier to digest than cow dairy.
We invite YOU to become a famous chef. Every week, we feature a new,
healthy recipe on Total Fitness radio show. Please send your delicious,
healthy recipes to Nina Lynn or Catherine Carrigan. To find more Total Fitness
recipes, visit: http://www.totalfitness.net/nutrition recipes.htm.
Upcoming Guests, Total Fitness Radio Show
Tune in every Friday at 7 a.m. PST/10 a.m. EST for the latest edition of Total
Fitness. Have your fitness, nutrition and healing questions answered for FREE by
Catherine and James and our guest experts by calling toll-free, 1-866-472-5792,
during the LIVE broadcast.
Afterwards, listen to the archives for FREE, 24/7, by visiting this link:
http://www.totalfitness.net/radio_show_past_shows.htm
June 1 : Dr. Mark Beiner, DDS,, author, Whole Body Dentistry, "How Our Teeth Mirror The
Health of Our Thoughts, Emotions and Body"
June 8 : David Dorian Ross, Tai Chi master - "The 5 Mind-Body Types"
June 15: Ellen Kamhi, author, The Definitive Guide to Weight Loss - "Boost Your Thyroid, Lose Weight"
June 22, Bernie Siegel M.D., author, Love, Medicine and Miracles - "A Recipe for A Healthy Family"
June 29, Lynn Elliot-Harding, founder of T-Tapp - "How To Delay The Aging Process"
Yoga and Qi Gong Classes in Atlanta
Yoga Classes: Every Tuesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Holy Spirit Catholic Church
4465 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA.
$15 per class or $65
per calendar month.
Qi Gong Class: Every Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. 1951 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA. $15 per class.
Booking appointments with Total Fitness
To schedule an appointment to find out about a personalized fitness, nutrition or healing program that will help you get results, please contact us:
In Atlanta
Catherine Carrigan catherine@totalfitness.net
James Williams james@totalfitness.net
In California
Nina Lynn nina@totalfitness.net
You can also visit us on the web at www.totalfitness.net
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