5 More Physical Losses You Can't Blame On Age

 

While no human or animal was meant to live forever, there are many negative attributes to the aging process  that truly don't have age to blame on age.  In the follow-up to last year's blog post, here are yet another five physical losses that you can't blame on age!

#1 - Slowed Metabolism:  Initially, metabolism was thought to lower as a byproduct of aging.  This mentality came about because sustaining metabolism is associated with sustaining muscle mass, which is rare in the elderly.  However, our bodies show no mechanical component which atrophies muscle tissue due to age.  Rather, most adults (even the very active ones) haven't crafted a wellness program that's scientifically sound.  This lets their muscle tissue atrophy and their metabolism fall unnecessarily.

 



#2 - Memory & Mental Clarity Loss:   Loss of mental ability and memory aren't a byproduct of aging, but of missing nutrient components and of less-than-ideal cardiovascular work.  Giving the body just what it needs for daily nutrition, hydration, sleep, and cardiovascular training while avoiding injury will generally prevent the loss of mental focus that people often blame on the aging process.

 

#3 - Poor Posture:  The muscles and bones of the spine do not contain a ticking timebomb!  Like all muscles, joints and bones, our spinal columns will maintain their abilities as long as our exercise, sleep, hydration and nutrition factors tell them to do so.  Missing vital components to maintain these areas will usually result in poor posture and other health threats during the aging process, but not because of the aging process.

#4 - Poor Balance:  While balance deficits can occur for those of all ages, they're usually more common in the elderly due to years of less-than-adequate lifestyle.  The muscles and systems that make up our balance abilities don't inherently wander off due to aging, but they do require consistent upkeep tp keep them from doing so.  While core exercise, vestibular development challenges, joint maintenance, daily hydration and spatial awareness can all be maintained throughout aging, they rarely are, making the elderly population usually more susceptible to losing their balance.  This is especially concerning because falls can be so debilitating or life-threatening.



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#5 - Loss Of Height:  While most Americans lose between one and three inches of height after age 40, this is another lifestyle-attributed problem as opposed to one that is a necessary part of aging.  Appropriate calcium and vitamin D, appropriate strength training for the right muscle groups, and the right quality and quantity of sleep and water intake will keep you from shrinking as the years go by. Additionally, you'll have stronger bones and better balance as a result, minimizing risk of injury.

 

Do YOU have a scientifically-sound strength & balance program in place?  Visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com for your free in-home consultation & wellness visit.

The Definitive 5-Part Body Toning Checklist

Getting toned can mean different things to different people.  Some presume that toning involves very heavy strength conditioning, whereas others believe that toning requires long bouts of endurance.  Below are the 5 things you absolutely must know to get toned and stay toned!


First, it's important to know that any unnecessary bodyfat should be burned off so that your muscles are better seen.  Even very thin people often have several pounds of fat that isn't necessary for their health, and that surrounds the muscles.

Secondly, it's unsafe to exercise only the muscles that you want people to see.  Your joints, bones, and gait rely upon total muscular balance to avoid injury and promote proper biomechanics throughout your days.  Aside from biceps, shoulders, calves and other "show muscles", be sure to properly condition the lesser-known and lesser-considered muscle groups as well.

And, while circuit training isn't the only way to get your body toned and defined, it is one of the quickest, and it generally comes with vast health benefits as well.  Minimal rest periods and smooth transitions from exercise to exercise, when monitored correctly, are just what the body needs to firm and define muscles while shedding pockets of fat that hide those muscles. Heart-rate, hydration, muscle responses, and other factors should be evaluated throughout each session.

A fourth item to keep in mind is that protein and dietary fat intake are also very important to the conditioning of your physique.  Without the right macronutrients at the right times, your muscles and metabolism don't open the doors to improvement that they could.  Speak with a PPT professional to determine what's best for you.

Finally, as is the case with any resistive conditioning, getting the appropriate intensity is crucial!  Too much can lead to joint injury, heart abnormalities, cramping, muscle tears, and other health issues.  Too little intensity won't produce results. For generally healthy individuals, 65-80% of a muscle's capacity is generally a safe and adequate exercise intensity for the muscles themselves.  Heart rate, breathing rate, and approximate exercise blood pressure should also be considered for ideal health.

Are you ready to make 2014 your year for fitness and body toning?  Just visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com to view our rates and request your free in-home or on-site consultation and fitness evaluation with a degreed and top-certified PPT health & fitness coach!

Call us at (877)698-3648 ext 0 with questions! We love to help :)

Action Plan: Your Five Steps to Fitness In 2014

Looking in the mirror doesn't always bring about the sense of pride that it should.  While some smile with confidence, others cringe with regret.  Often, people lose track of the very important fact that your physique is entirely up to you!

Achieving your goals this New Year requires a solid plan of action, and we've taken out the guesswork and put together an action plan to ensure your success!

Step #1:
Have an appropriate fitness & risk assessment conducted by a top professional:  This generally includes an evaluation of joint health, cardiovascular fitness parameters, muscular strength & flexibility normalities and balance.  From here, you'll know what your starting points are and how to put together your plan.  There may also be reason to consult your physician prior to beginning, which will be uncovered in this first step.

Step #2:
Determine your schedule:  Time won't magically occur in your schedule.  Block off the time in your calendar from week to week for the next several months to ensure that time does not become a reason to fail.  Make these timeslots "definites" as opposed to "negotiables."

Step #3:
Determine accurate and appropriate goals with a top fitness & health professional: This is where many people go wrong, presuming the amount of weight that they'd like to lose is medically appropriate or failing to tangibly determine goals that are helpful to how they'd like to look and feel.  Goals should include change in body composition, muscular balance, activities of daily living, circumference measurements such as hip and waist, and joint health/comfort.  Reducing problems such as low-back pain, tight muscles, muscular cramps, sleeping issues, and other wellness factors are also helpful goals that will aid your fitness.

Step #4:
Plan and visualize your exercise sessions:  It helps people to know where they will be exercising, what kind of music or TV might be on during the exercise, and what kind of climate, equipment, shoes, clothes, etc are likely to be involved. Take the time to think about the experience and start relating to it mentally before you actually begin, keeping in mind its purpose and end results.

Step #5:
Program design:  This final stage before implementation involves the following decisions -

• Exercise selection
• Intensity decisions relating to pulse rate and resistance
• Prioritization (ie, the amount of time devoted to each concern)
• Warm-up methods, rest & recovery periods, cool-down strategy

There you have it!  If you're going to be successful in achieving your desired level of fitness safely, then these five steps should be followed before actually getting started.  For each of these steps, the value of a top-certified, degreed Perfect Personal Trainer (and the team behind him or her) is of paramount importance.  To reserve your free consultation and "Step 1" fitness assessment, just visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com

We're looking forward to your successes in 2014 and beyond!
 

Is Your Cardio a Waste of Time?

Happy holidays, clients and friends!

"Any cardiovascular exercise is better than no cardiovascular exercise" is a saying we sometimes hear.

But it accurate?  Is it always better to get something as opposed to nothing?

Exercise physiologist and PPT staff manager Brian Walters expains, "Cardiovascular exercise, like any form of movement, has both its risks and its benefits.  It is important to adhere to a healthy prescription so that you aren't wasting time or putting your body in jeapordy."

But how can cardiovascular exercise waste time?

Long-time director of operations and PPT health coach Val Fiott explains, "Many people choose methods of cardiovascular work that might be healthy for the heart, but that damage the joints.  Running is a great example, as it is often accompanied by an unhealthy dose of stress on the bones and joints, and tends to create muscular imbalances if the right strength & stretching program isn't in place. Elliptical work and swimming are generally safer cardiovascular exercises with less risk of joint and bone damage.  On another note, if the cardiovascular intensity is too low, then the health benefits won't accompany the work."

So, how much is too much? What should we be doing to enhance our health and lose the excess holiday pounds? 

Here are the steps:

• Know your medical history:  Lung obstructions and other pulmonary issues will change the way your cardiovascular system functions, and will thereby change the intensity at which you should be exercising.
• Once we determine an appropriate intensity and length of time for your cardiovascular fitness exercise, it is important to monitor your responses for changes to the plan.  Light-headedness, nausea, joint pain, poor posture, and other issues are reason to modify your program and track what occured and when.
• Regularly monitor your heart rate, breathing and biomechanics. There are usually clinical warning signs that you're either overtraining or undertraining, but they can be easily missed if you're not paying attention to them.

Are you not yet a client of Perfect Personal Training's?  Gain the benefits of regular fitness assessments, clinically-supervised wellness programming, and nutrition plans from a top PPT nutritionist and dietitian.

Happy holidays from all of us!  Let's make 2014 a year of safe and healthy decisions!

5 Physical Losses You Can't Blame On Age

5 Physical Losses

You Can't Blame On Age

 

We've been conditioned to believe that the aging process has to be accompanied by reduced comfort and quality of life.  But, what many consider to be common knowledge is actually an antiquated perception of what the aging process really is. Below are five of the most common complaints surrounding aging and physical loss that don't have to happen if we don't let them!

 

#1.  Arthritis: Let's start with the most prevalent.  As we posted in a recently on this blog, preventing arthritis comes down to having a strong exercise science and nutrition plan in place, providing the joints with just what they need to stay healthy.  Sleep, stress, and hydration also play vital roles, but with a personalized PPT wellness plan in place, your joints' integrities will be well-guarded against arthritic pains.  Generally healthy living isn't quite enough (and often involves decisions that worsen arthritis rather than help it), but a calculated program will protect cartilege and keep the muscle function around them strong.

 

#2.  Dementia:  While this may surprise you, dementia prevention very greatly involves cardiovascular conditioning at the appropriate intensity and duration, a solid nutrition science protocol, and an ACSM-driven strength program.  As with arthritis, sleep quality, sleep quantity, and Additionally, regular massage care and daily flexibility conditioning help to eliminate toxin build-up and improve circulation, keeping the mind healthy.

 

#3. Muscle Loss (Atrophy): No, losing significant muscle tissue is not part of the normal aging process.  While it's true that hormone changes make it more of an effort to sustain muscle, the truth is that most Americans don't adhere to the kind of wellness program that will keep muscles from atrophy.  If you're not yet a PPT client, then your muscles are missing out on helpful opportunities to grow strong and stay strong.

#2.  Bone Loss:  Osteopenia and osteoporosis (also called "brittle bones disease") are costly, painful, and risky to one's health, and are often the precursors to fractures and loss of mobility and quality of life.  They are also barriers to more productive exercise for heart conditioning and other important wellness factors.  What many lose sight of is that loss of bone mineral density is only "normal" because we let it be.  An appropriate strength program, accompanied by proper sleep and nutrition, will prevent bone mineral loss.  PPT's rich history has seen many clients reverse their osteoporotic conditions smoothly and safely, even in their 70s and 80s.  Why risk a fracture when you don't need to?

 

And, of course, we have the big one:

 

#1.  Weight Gain:  Scientifically speaking, storing more body fat is not a normal part of aging physiology.  While our hearts and other organs can't last forever, our muscle-to-fat ratio does not have to change if the right strategy is firmly in place.  Many tend to let their muscle tissue, resting metabolism, and other physical factors deteriorate due to a lifestyle that isn't necessarily "risky" but that isn't very productive either, which slowly gains body fat (usually about one pound per year, on average, for most adults) unnecessarily.  Regular body composition assessments and a clinically-crafted personalized PPT regimen will keep your bodyweight in a healthy range for the rest of your life!

 

There is a lot of information here that we'd like to help you understand on a more precise and personalized basis. Are you not yet a PPT client? It all starts with a free in-home consultation and fitness assessment from a top Perfect Personal Trainer and health coach.  Request yours today at http://perfectpersonaltraining.com/signup.php

See these insightful PPT Videos from our Youtube channel!

Metabolism at Any Age : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDOmwI_ATRo

54-Year Old Weight Loss : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3EYW3_5KiU
In-Home Chair Massage : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ZDbfHH3SE

 

Learn more and purchase your holiday gift certificates at http://perfectpersonaltraining.com

Questions?  Comment below or simply call us at (877)698-3648 ext 0

 

 

 



Find The Motivation! Perfect Personal Trainers Weight In On Staying The Course

We've all heard it 1000 times:  The hardest part is getting started.  The hard work falls into place well once we put our shoes on and get through those first few minutes of our warm-up.

But, this is often easier said than done.  For some, it's easy to find distractions and lose that self-starting drive that is so important to achieving fitness and weight loss.




"Staying the course involves finding and keeping intrinsic motivation," states PPT staff manager Brian Walters.  "When all the social outlets and external voices are no longer driving you, you need to hear your own voice that wants and needs you to succeed.  That, along with the right combination of exercise intensity and strategy, is what brings it home for people."

Client service director Val Fiott had this to add:  "Our most successful clients and the most successful fitness stories of all time all come from the same root:  The subject always remembered the sweet joys of success as well as the feeling of failure.  How do you feel when you stray from your meal plan and see yourself looking and feeling less healthy?  It's not a good feeling, and remembering those downfalls is as important to success as remembering the successes and celebrations. They all shape our drive."

"Measurable short-term goals are a large part of the equation for a fit body and mind," explains Aaron Dunn, longtime Perfect Personal Trainer, scheduling manager and exercise physiologist.  "Unless you have something realistic to shoot for, you're likely to lose sight of what you're working so hard for."

Kinisiologist and PPT weight loss coach Ian Sherman had this to add: "If [an exerciser] fails to see why the program is so crucial for the long-run, he or she will surely quit."

"The key is to help them keep their eye on the prize", confirms Val, "but with attainable benchmarks to remind them, 'you're on the right track, and here is the proof.' These benchmarks are a big part of why we conduct fitness testing.  Clients sometimes feel like their efforts are being tested, but it isn't an assessment of how hard a client is working.  Rather, it helps us, as physiologists, determine how the clinical programmatic pieces need to change and what we need to look for. It also reflects information regarding the psychological factors involved and how we can affect them positively."

In short, these three pieces of advice should help anyone aiming to lose excess bodyfat and achieve fitness success:

(1) One should have a long-term end goal, but short-term benchmarks to also reflect the smaller successes along the way (ie, "lost four pounds in my first three weeks"). 


(2) The program needs to be clinically-sound, preventing injury and physiologically designed to enhance appropriate change
(3) One needs to hear his or her own internal voice and remember how good success feels and how negative it can feel to stray from the plan

Are you not yet a PPT client?  Visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com and click SIGN UP to request your free in-home consultation and fitness screening.  This will determine risk factors for illness and injury as well as biomechanical advantages

Already involved in a PPT program?  Aside from working with your PPT exercise professional, check in with your assigned health coach often to re-assess and update your nutrition & lifestyle.  This will keep adherence high and identify risks.

5 Natural Arthritis Solutions That WORK!

Too often, we assume that our aches and pains are a permanent byproduct of life, and that as the years take their toll, we're condemned to accept these chronic conditions.

In fact, even some MDs believe that "getting old" is part in parcel with new muscle and joint problems; making the pains greater while our movements lessen every year.

If there is one thing that holistic health science has taught us, it's that the symptoms we accept as "normal aging" are not truly "normal", but rather the results of health opportunities which we have missed along the road of life. We'll address muscle pains and other forms of damage in a future blog posting. Below, however, are the cutting-edge, fitness science ideals, as presented from PPT's clinical wellness team, that you need to know to reverse and prevent the most common form of joint pain:  Osteoarthritis (OA).

OA is the actual breakdown of cartilege (the joint's "cushion"), which often eventually leads to the painful "bone-on-bone" action.  This creates pain through an inflammatory response and through other channels as well.

There Are Five Powerful Corrective Actions:
#1: Give the body (and therefore, the joints) high doses of antioxidants to combat destructive free radicals:
Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of antioxidants, as are zero-calorie over-the-counter supplements such as CoQ10 and Resveratrol. Even more beneficial tend to be many natural compounds such as glucosamine and chondroitin, which are effectively used to rebuild damaged cartilege.  Other effective, zero-calorie solutions are healing herbs such as parsley, astragalus, and boswellia, all of which contain antioxidants that have demonstrated an ability to help damaged & inflamed joints heal.

#2: Build muscular strength, balance & flexibility in the joint's surrounding muscles:
PPT's strength-training programs have a much greater ability to improve muscular structures than exercise classes or less-personalized fitness trainer approaches. The reason is that our resistance and programming selections are particular to clinical norms for the improvement of muscular synergy. For many with arthritis, tight muscles with poor ability to contract properly are putting an unhealthy pressure on the joint. By creating healthier muscle tissue around the damaged joint, there is a greater ability for the lost cartilege to rebuild and to reduce inflammation.

#3: Stimulate the rebuilding of cartilege through well-crafted resistive/strength exercise:
Above, we discussed how having healthier muscles can improve a damaged joint.  But the actual act of strength training, when performed approriately, has its own ability to stimulate cartilege re-growth. The movements must be very natural, and the execution should be against the proper resistance for the proper amount of time, with the proper frequency of occurence. When all variables are correct, the action of strength training will actually improve the integrity and life of the joints that are conditioned.

#4: Hydrate the body throughout the day:
Water plays a vital role.  Consume adequate water throughout the day and rely on foods in your diet that are of a higher water concentration.  Your PPT health coach had specific and personalized answers for you.

#5: Avoid abrasive, impactful movements on your joints:
Many popular exercises and sports involve harmful and aggressive movements that wear down the joints. Conversely, there are smooth, steady movements that improve the joints, as described in #3 above.  Keep your daily activities free of pounding motions. Or, if your favorite sports involve these types of movements (ie, hard running, squash or tennis) then plan to trade some of that athletic time for more constructive, clinically-appropriate exercise. The end result will likely be a more pain-free life of richer, more healthful mobility.

Also Helpful: NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are commonly used to mask symptoms of pain, but these can also have some serious side effects. NSAIDs have been clinically-demonstrated to decrease the protective lining in one's stomach, which can easliy lead to ulcers in some users.  One study found that in the US alone, over 100,000 hospital admissions and more than 16,000 deaths each year are due to intestinal bleeding caused by NSAIDs. We recommend the five natural solutions above as opposed to taking NSAIDs.

If you're not yet a client of PPT's, then find out how personalized & preventive our action plans really are:  Just visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com and click Sign Up for your free in-home fitness and wellness assessment.

We look forward to your incredible successes!