A couple weeks back I competed in and finished the Santa Fe Triathlon, and boy did it teach me a lesson.

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Sep 07 2014

You don’t have to work out like an NFL player.

By the time this blog is posted, the NFL season will be on its way. YEAH! I love NFL football, and since moving to Santa Fe, I miss living close to NFL action.

But don’t think I’m going to ask you to work out like an NFL player. I know what an NFL exercise program is like and I know it’s not complete. But there is something to be said about the NFL player’s exercise routine, which includes consistency and pushing yourself a little beyond what you can do each time to get a little bit better each day.

Consistency, pushing yourself, and trying to get a little better each day — these are the keys to any exercise program. And that last part is something you will hear NFL players and coaches say all the time: “We’re just trying to get a little bit better each day.” It is cliché, but it is absolutely true.

How to put a little NFL and a little kaizen in your exercise program.

Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement in all areas of business practices and personal development. I preach similar principles to all my clients and the people I work with here in Santa Fe. Gradual, steady improvement is the only way to approach a long-term goal without driving yourself crazy. I wanted everything now, so this was a big, uncomfortable pill for me to swallow, and I still choke on it now and then. But the alternative — the highs and lows and the stress that it produces — is not worth it.

You need a laid-out, realistic exercise program in which you push yourself a little further than you are comfortable with. And uncomfortable comes in many different flavors — physical, mental, and emotional. For any success to happen you have to be OK with the uncomfortableness.

This means your muscles may burn a little more than you’d like, or if you live in a high altitude as we have in Santa Fe, you may be huffing and puffing more than you’d like.
This means you may have to put away your ego and what you think is right, trust in the program you have chosen, and do it.
This also means you will have to be OK with the feelings that come to you before and during your exercise program. Nothing comes for free; you’ve got to work it.

Say yes to your inner NFL player.

Scene: You standing at the mirror looking at yourself in the morning. “I’m just trying to get a little bit better today.”

Sounds hokey, doesn’t it? It feels even hokier when you actually do it…at the start. It gets easier and easier each time you say it. You don’t have to use that exact sentence. Keep the idea and find your own words.

From Washington, DC, to North Carolina to Los Angeles to Santa Fe I have used this with varying levels of consistency and with my own words. When I am more consistent in saying those words, they come true. Now combine that with a thought-out program and being OK with the uncomfortableness that goes along with it, and what do you have? Success. Meaning you are a success. Now go stand in front of the mirror and make yourself uncomfortable.
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Sep 02 2014

Use this 1 simple trick to skip “diet foods”!

How doing this one simple trick will let you eat the foods that you love and skip the “Diet Foods!”

Being a trainer I inevitably get asked questions like: “What do you eat?” “What are the best diet foods?” Or something along the lines of “You’re a vegetarian right?” Not…even…close! And every time I get asked this I know what they are thinking. They think I am going to tell them I eat diet foods, e.g., cottage cheese, chicken breast, veggies and protein drinks, all day long. My digestive system is annoyed just thinking about that. But the funny thing is that when I first “got in shape” after playing football, that’s kind of how I ate. That and an enormous amount of working out helped me lose 65 pounds or so in three to four months. But it wasn’t sustainable and was definitely not right for my body.

So when I tell people I don’t eat diet foods, that I eat French toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon (yummm!), lasagna, steaks, burgers (OK, I’m getting a little out of control), they look at me like I’m crazy, or they think my being in shape “just comes naturally.” I work really hard on my exercise program and I put just as much effort into what I eat—especially where it comes from.

How eating quality foods will allow you to skip diet foods

There is the trick if you didn’t catch it: eating “quality foods” means you do not have to eat diet foods. Where you get your food really matters! As long as I am eating for my metabolic type and not overeating or indulging, healthy foods keep me healthy and I am not overweight. The easiest way to do this is to eat organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, wild-caught, nonprocessed, pesticide- and herbicide-free food. If you do that, you are on the right track.

Our body does not know what processed food is. It gets confused. And when it gets confused it doesn’t process it as well. This leads to bloating and inflammation, which leads to feeling and looking like crap. So if you are buying and eating food that Monsanto “grew” (used really loosely), having a burger that was fed corn and by-products, or a chicken that “lived” (again, used loosely) in an overcrowded coop, that is what you are turning your body into. You are what you eat. Imagine that you were only allowed to eat junk food and had to stay in your room. How healthy do you think you would be? Well, when we eat conventional food, that is what we are ingesting.

This is overwhelming!

No, it’s not. It’s an easy fix. Start going to establishments and to farmers markets where they grow and support real food. Ask the managers, or better yet the farmers at the market, “Do you practice organic farming?” A lot of farmers do but are unable to purchase the organic title because it is so expensive and red-tape driven.

Also, start to track your food, and more important, how you feel when you eat. No need to calorie-track; it doesn’t work. Just start to realize what foods work for you and make them part of your diet. You will know when they are right because your weight will normalize (as long as you are exercising properly and enough), you will have more energy, your body will be less achy, and you will be more clearheaded.

There are many reasons to support and eat organically grown foods. And if for no other reason, do it to take care of yourself. Happy eating!
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Aug 23 2014

These 3 Motivational Words Will Put Your Exercise Program In Overdrive And Have You Looking And Feeling Better Than you Have In Years!

What three motivational words can you say to yourself that will put your exercise program in overdrive and make your fitness dreams come true?

“I Want To!”

Too often we approach our fitness routines with the thought “I have to,” and it produces a counterproductive attitude toward our fitness program. Say both phrases out loud (if you’re in a public place you can wait till you get home…or not) and pay attention to how it feels within your body. “I have to” produces dread and a “heavy” feeling. “I want to” produces an extra pep in your step and a joy associated with whatever you want to do.

How I used this phrase to help me.

I’ll be honest, getting myself to work out is not difficult at all. I just set a plan, follow it, and adapt along the way. It’s one of the reasons I became a personal trainer; it has pretty much come easy to me. But there are goals I have had that have really challenged me mentally and emotionally. In fact I am going through one right now.

Back in February I threw caution to the wind and hired a French teacher to, well, teach me French. I knew French back when I was a wee tike but lost it when we moved to the States. And ever since I could remember I have wanted to relearn it. So I started doing my research, looking for a teacher, and I found Sabine. Born in France, she has a PhD in French studies and is a teacher…DING DING DING! I stalked her down and got her to meet with me, and after a nice chat I knew it would work. So even though I was still trying to build my business, take care of a baby, and learn a new city, I committed. I told her I would be with her for at least a year, and we got started.

(P.S. There are a lot of really good teaching points in this last paragraph about achieving your goals. You might want to go back and reread it.)

This Santa Fe French teacher is kicking my butt!

I was so gung ho those first couple of classes, and I was feeling really excited about finally being able to speak French. And then I got hit smack in the face with reality. I remember it really clearly, that feeling of being overwhelmed and all the negative thoughts flooding into my head. “There is no way I can learn all this.” “You’ll never get this.” Etc., etc. I continued because I do not like to quit, but I was trying to power through these thoughts and feelings. I “had to” do this! Push Push Push!

Then the thought came to me, “I want to do this,” and I felt the calmness that came with it. Done. I don’t question things when they are this clear. So I started to approach learning French in this manner, and it has helped me tremendously. Do I still get frustrated and impatient? You bet I do! But I don’t let it become me. Because I “want to” I can now relax, have fun, and consequently learn more efficiently.

What’s running in your head?

Do you “have to” go work out? Or do you “want to”? If you “have to,” you are fighting yourself and it will make accomplishing your goals exponentially harder. If you “want to,” you are enjoying the process and it will allow you to get to where you want to go quicker. So add a little “want to” in your life.

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Jul 28 2014

What is a corrective exercise?

Just because it is called a corrective exercises does not mean that it is doing you any good!

Corrective exercise has turned into a term that many people use to describe movements that they think are beneficial to them but in actuality, they are not. Corrective exercise is right up there with “functional training,” “yoga therapy,” and “restorative yoga.” It is not what you call something that produces you the results that you desire, it is how they affect the tensegrity (balance) and bio-mechanical (movements) motions of your body.

A real corrective exercise will normalize (correct) an area of your body that is in essence “not doing its job!”

Lets take for example, the exercise: the “prone cobra” also called the Mckenzie press. It has been used for years, and in the case of yoga A LOT of years, to mobilize and strengthen the spine. For those of you who are not familiar with this stretch, it is when you lay down, on your stomach (prone) and you come up to either your forearms or your hands pushing your upper body up leaving your lower body on the ground. There are some slight differences depending of those who you talk to as whether or not the hips stay on the ground. For this example, it’s not important. The idea is that when you push yourself up, it will open the anterior (front) of your spinal joints and the disc will slide forward. And if you have enough space in your spine, then this is true…

Now, let’s look at how the body reacts to a motion like this. In the prone cobra, when you push yourself up your spine goes into extension (like if you were standing up and you arched your back) and now based on spinal mechanics the posterior (back) part of the spine pinches together.

So how is this a corrective exercise?

In short, this is NOT a corrective exercise! Most people who are performing this exercise have back pain, and are thinking that this will help. Now there a lot of reason why one could have back pain but for this example, let’s stick to just one. Gravity is constantly compressing us, and combined with too much sitting and not enough proper movements, causes improper loading and our spine takes the brunt of it. Many individuals have disc compression and they may not have any symptoms….yet, and for those individuals over the age of 50- they can almost guarantee that they too have disk compression, some degree of bulge/herniation/prolapse.

Now while have some disc compression and doing the prone cobra exercise, your spine is forced into extension and the posterior (back) part of the vertabrae is going to pinch the posterior (back) part of your disc even more. This will lead to further bulging/herniation/prolapse and cause a lot more back issues and pain.

So what is actually a corrective exercise for this?

As I stated at the beginning, a corrective exercise will correct and normalize a problem. When it comes to back pain and spinal compression….The #1….hands down…. best corrective exercise are ELDOA‘s. They are “stretch exercises” that pull one vertebrata away from another, providing much needed space. This space now allows your body to start to function better within that area. This means that your discs will now be able to start to rehydrate and regain their form and volume. Without compression, you will have SIGNIFICANTLY less pain. This means that you can start to live you life with more confidence in your body and be able to do the activities that you want to do.

SolCore Fitness has been successfully using ELDOA’s to relieve back and neck pain when other methods have failed. Our group class members in Santa Fe have gotten amazing results and now see this as an integral part of their fitness routine. If you are in the Santa Fe area and are looking for a corrective exercise program that will lay the foundation for a stronger, healthier, pain free you ….. then please contact us for a free consultation.

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