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Mental health Is Part of Holistic Health

I’ll be honest, working out nowadays is more about keeping my body balanced so that my emotions are regulated more than what it is doing for me physically. Yes, I have physical goals and areas that I want to keep working on and improving, but the regulation of emotions is the most immediate benefit.

I run a little fast am type A and because of it have anxiety. The good thing for me, I have always been active, so it never took me over. But I noticed when I got hurt and couldn’t move like I wanted to, my anxiety became palpable. When I started moving again, I felt the physical benefits, but more importantly, I felt a rush of tension leave my body, and a cooling calming effect sleep over my body. And this was only from a couple of stretches, so it wasn’t even long enough to be confused with endorphins. I got familiar with what anxiety felt like and how quickly doing the right exercises could get rid of it at the right intensity.

Your posture and mental health

I tell people that their structure dictates their function, and it is usually in regards to some physical issue or goal they have. But “function” has to do with how your organs work, how well you think, and the regulation of your emotions.

There are physiological reasons your thoughts and emotions may be off. Your sympathetic nervous system has extensions on the front part of your vertebral body.

So if you have bad posture and your spine is out of place, the sympathetic nervous system won’t function and affect your mental and emotions.

So when the stresses of 2020 combined with it being the holidays seem to be taking you over, incorporate a holistic exercise program to keep yourself moving correctly and regulate your thoughts and emotions.

A proper holistic exercise program combined with:

•          Meditation

•          Time in the fresh air and sun

•          Meaningful connections with others

•          Plenty of sleep

•          And healthy food and plenty of water

It will go a along way to keeping your mental health well. And never be afraid of seeking out help.


it’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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Just Running Doesn’t Get Your Legs Strong.

The Common Myth Of Running

I recently talked to somebody during a free consult, going over his goals, and he mentioned that he was good with his legs as he ran and hiked. Many people have the mistaken idea that running and hiking will get you strong legs. You see, the body will respond to the different directions that you move and the various ways you load it. To keep it simple: running uses one way of moving and one way of loading your body. This will lead to not fully training your body, overuse injuries, and eventually other injuries. If your goal is to fully prepare your body for a long and healthy life, you have to hit your body in many different ways.

What General Exercise Running Is

Let’s go over the above example and show you how. I am going to keep it simple, so all you nitpickers chill homie. Running is a global move done mainly in two planes of motion and can be done for endurance, some strength, and power. This means it incorporates all the body to move in one of the three planes of motion and 3 of the 6 bio-motor abilities (body actions).

Because it is global, it doesn’t target each muscle because to do so takes training that muscle segments and focusing on it. This is important. Because your body moves as one and because you are only as strong as your weakest link, if you have a weak or tight segment, it will compromise the entire movement and hence your whole body. To prevent this requires segmental strengthening and myofascial stretching of the muscles you need and then incorporating them together.

Running, walking hiking is mainly working in the sagittal plane and transverse plane but in only one type of activity. There are three central planes of motion and a tone of combinations. There are also 7 major primal moves, and your legs are used in 4, but this doesn’t count when you work the primal movements together. This is important because if you don’t work with all the available plains of motion and primal moves, you will be off-balance and increase (in a bad way) the gradient of strength between the weak muscles and strong muscles.

Check out the basic pics below of just the legs. They don’t show all the muscles of the legs nor the different directions each muscle can move, but we’re keeping it basic.

And finally, people generally do distance running, and that type of loading will mainly give you endurance and some strength. To get more complete strength, speed and power, different types of running speeds and different activities and intensities need to happen.

All these aspects need to be considered when thinking about “training your legs” or whatever area you desire. And the above list is not exhaustive. There is also proprioception work, circulatory work, respiratory work, and oh yeah, THE REST OF YOUR BODY.

I know this is a lot and is only slightly less confusing than the number of galaxies in the constantly expanding and contracting universe, but that is why you ask for help.

If you are interested in a free consult and want to talk to little (I’m not little) ole me, then use the link below. I will expound on this or any topic that you need to help make your program more well-rounded and hence better for keeping or getting your body in a place where it can keep up with the life you want to live. All I ask is to let me ask you a couple of questions to better understand my audience, exactly like a conversation.

https://calendly.com/ekemba_solcorefitness/ica-interview

This offer is limited, so if you are even thinking about it, book now. Have a great day!


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It is so easy to give up on our goals when they don’t give us immediate results.

It is so easy to give up on our goals when they don’t give us immediate results.

We have motivation. We “do what we’re told,”  but our body still isn’t to our liking and is holding us back from our life.

And so we get frustrated and either get mad at ourselves, react and jump to something different, or just stop altogether. 

The world we live in today is fast, which translates to us wanting immediate satisfaction.

Quick Fixes Don’t Work

But the dark side behind those “magic buttons,” “get rich quick,” “crash diet” techniques? 

They rarely ever work!

One thing I run into with so many of my clients is that they always ask me, “Ekemba, what is the one thing I can do to get some great reward?”

And I think that is one of the most disjointed ideas we have today about what it takes to take care of your body.

Everyone wants to live a good life and have their body not keep them down, but to help propel it.

But there is a big issue with the information that comes out. It’s all disjointed and designed around marketing first, and not about what it really takes.

You see, to really take care of your body, you need to have a plan…

When I began working out, it was for sports. The goal was to get good at the sports I played. 

Then afterward, I wanted to lose weight and gain muscle.

Then I HAD to train to correct my injuries and imbalances.

All those programs are different. But we are told that they are all interchangeable and are “tools in our tools box,” and thrown under the guise of “changing it up.” When, in reality, it is tough to fit them together, and takes time for each program to take effect.

Follow The Correct Path For You

It wasn’t until I was forced to take a step back to correct my injuries did I start to study the rules and philosophies designed to have the body function at its best did I see where the health and fitness industry was leading us astray.

It’s easy to feel like you are doing what you are supposed to be doing because you are active, and the workouts that you and everybody are doing make some sense.

But just because some of the information is correct doesn’t mean it is totally correct or totally correct for you.

Because now, the health and fitness industry is such a copycat industry…it’s easy to fall into a rut.

If you don’t really know what you’re doing, or if you’re only reference is that you are moving and working out…

Odds are you aren’t going to really achieve your goals. 

Usually, to get that satisfaction that you have achieved what you really want, you have to do what others aren’t. 

So that’s why I am building an online program where you can go through step by step and use stretches, exercises, and routines that are scientifically designed to have your body keep up with the life you want to live. These are not just the millions of workouts that you find on youtube.

I am in the preliminary stages and am looking for interviews to help craft all the material I know over the past 25+ years and fashion it into a program that takes you to your goals.  

This will allow for a user friendly and effective program.

This will allow YOU to get a free consult from a profession on anything you need.

Just go to the link below and choose a time. If you don’t see one, PM me and well find you one.

https://calendly.com/ekemba_solcorefitness/ica-interview


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The Conundrum Of “Working Out.”

Working out has been beat into our heads as a healthy activity. And since we are responsible adults, we go workout because we feel we need to. It is marketed in different forms, such as “being strong,” “flexible,” “balanced,” etc. etc. etc. And all those things sound good, so we join different activities, gyms, and classes that we are told will get us there.

But so often, we are left wanting with not really feeling like we want to or we get hurt, and the aches and pains don’t go away. It is frustrating because now you feel a little helpless as to what the next step is. This is definitely the feeling I had when I hurt my back. Yeah, the pain was terrible, but it was the frustration that I was doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing and still got really hurt, working out no less. And that feeling of I helpless compounded when all the different accepted popular modalities didn’t work.

Working Out Sometimes Doesn’t Work Out

I felt that I did something wrong (I did) and that it was my fault (not totally). I got bamboozled like most people into thinking if I did “X” workout/exercise because it gave me a “Y” outcome that I would be good. But what I didn’t know was that I was being misled during those years. And because I was functioning at a high level, and I looked the way I wanted (Another issue in hindsight) I had no reason to doubt that what I was doing wasn’t good for me.

It wasn’t until what was supposed to work didn’t do my outlook and paradigm crack. That “crack” led to feelings of helplessness and frustration but also to a deep quest to figure out why it didn’t work and what to do about it. This is how I came across the science and philosophy of osteopathy and how to honestly train/treat your body holistically.

Because unless you are an athlete whose sole goal is to win and improve their sport, you work out because you want a good and fulfilling life. Whatever your goals in life are, they will be accessible only if you put yourself in the best possible position to achieve them. It doesn’t matter if it’s just to be there for your friends and family or save the world  how balanced, strong, and functioning your body is will either enhance or detract from your desired life.

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To Reach Your Goal, You’ll have to Try New Things. This includes your exercise program.

New exercises for results

“Change yourself if you want to change your outcome.” You have more than likely heard this in many different ways throughout your life, and it is entirely accurate. You can’t expect to accomplish the more significant tasks in your life if you are not willing to change your outlook and habits. If you are trying to get a different outcome from your exercise program, shouldn’t you be ready to choose different exercises to get you there?

Yup.

This leads to another phrase everybody has heard from our lovely popular genus Einstein “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Now, these are not words to take in and agreeably node and say “yes” and then go about your day. Think about it and see how it applies.

Sallys losing exercise program

I’ll give you a typical example. Sally Sucker has been working out for the majority of her life and never quite reaching her goals. So she goes on with her routine of gym/classes, yoga, hiking, and biking occasionally. She will “get serious” twice a year and work out a little harder, but the outcome is the same and she is getting frustrated.

She is frustrated because she is not getting any closer, and in retrospect, she is getting worse. She doesn’t move as well, she is in more pain, and worse, she thinks it is because she isn’t working hard enough and is losing confidence and motivation. This little story just turned a bit depressing because the health and fitness industry suckered Sally.

She was suckered because she was told that if she just moved and did these activities that claimed to give the results, she was looking for that she would succeed. Sorry, Sally, it doesn’t work that way. You get the results when you tell your body EXACTLY what you want it to do with a PRESCISE health and fitness exercise program. Sally needs to take a hard look at how she’s tried to reach her goals and make changes that will actually help her reach her goals.

Use an exercise program like a science experiment.

A health and fitness program is like a scientific formula: a little bit of too much or little here and there, and it blows up in your face, but without all the burning of skin and fires. Each exercise is an ingredient put in there because it was designed to produce an exact outcome. And, to go back too thinking about exercises, the exercises you find that will give you these results will be a little foreign to you and will definitely be challenging. And not just sweaty breathing hard challenging, but challenging mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Let’s give Sally a nice ending because she has been through so much. So Sally saw the light and was brave and took the road less taken ( way too many analogies), and now Sally is seeing and embodying her accomplishments, and she is no longer a sucker but a superstar. Aww.

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