Myths & Benefits of Drinking Coffee…

Some myths that have been associated with coffee that have been proven to be FALSE are:

• Coffee causes high blood pressure
• Coffee dehydrates you and doesn’t count as fluid intake
• Too much coffee gives you ulcers

 

Some health benefits associated with drinking coffee have proven to be:

• Coffee is rich in anti-oxidants with the average adult consuming 1299 mg daily
• Coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Parkinson’s.
• Coffee reduces risk of Alzheimer’s disease and studies
• Coffee increases alertness, enhances concentration and reduces fatigue
• Coffee cuts risk of type II diabetes by 28-54%.
• Coffee drinkers have up to a 52% lower incidence of colon and rectal cancer.
• Daily coffee consumption reduces the risk of liver cancer by almost half.
• Coffee consumption lowers the risk of developing liver cirrhosis by 71%-84%.
• Coffee lowers the risk of gallstone formulation by 40%-45%.

For help debunking myths and understanding health, to podcast this show or    simply for more fitness and health information, visit Totallyfitradio.com.

 

Encourage your Child to Exercise…

Start them while they’re young. All too often it’s easier just to let our kids play games, sit and text, watch T.V. and stay out of hair. But this is no way to neither be a positive role model nor encourage a long healthy lifestyle.

It is so important to get children involved in an active lifestyle at a young age. Doing so will create healthy habits and provide a long life of physical activity. Here are a few ways to offer positive influence in our kids lives:

Your Activity: Children are going to be influenced by the adults around them. That’s why it’s so important that you set a good example. If you aren’t getting enough exercise it will be hard to explain to a child why they need to keep up their physical activity. Start making changes in your own work out regimen and not only will you improve the chances of your child getting active to stay healthy, but you as well will feel the health benefits.

Exercise Together: A perfect way to implement the prior point is to plan physical activities that you and your child can do together. Not only will this give you quality time together but it will give you both a chance to get your heart pumping. It’s also sometimes easier to stick with it if there’s someone else to hold you accountable and enjoy the activity with.

Kid Friendly Exercise: Exercise for kids doesn’t have to feel like exercise. By choosing activities that are fun, getting your kid moving won’t be as much of a struggle and the duration of activity will likely last longer. Also try to incorporate activities that are new. This will keep your kid mentally involved as they learn something new and broaden their perspective on what can considered be exercise.

Reduce Sedentary Activities: Sedentary activities are those that require very little exertion and aren’t considered exercise. Things like watching television and playing video games fall into this category. So to improve your child’s chances of getting the daily physical activity they need you must reduce these activities. The easiest way to do so is to eliminate or limit the temptation by not having these electronics around or easily accessible.

For help developing your fitness and health program for you and your child(ren), to podcast this show or simply for more fitness and health information, visit Totallyfitradio.com.

 

How to stretch…

HOW TO STRETCH

Start with a warm up…Stretching is not warming up! It is, however, a very important part of warming up. Warming up is quite literally the process of “warming up”, or raising your core body temperature by about one or two degrees Celsius.  A proper warm up is divided into three phases: general warm-up, stretching and sport-specific activity

It is very important that you perform the general warm-up before you stretch to loosen stiff muscles.  It can also actually improve performance.  But it is not a good idea to attempt to stretch before your muscles are warm as it could result in injury.

It is important to note that active stretches and isometric stretches should not be part of your warm-up because they are often counterproductive. The goals of the warm-up are an increased awareness, improved coordination, improved elasticity and contractibility of muscles, and a greater efficiency of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Active stretches and isometric stretches do not help achieve these goals because they are likely to cause the stretched muscles to be too tired to properly perform the athletic activity for which you are preparing your body.

On the other hand, stretching is not a legitimate means of cooling down. It is only part of the process. After you have completed your workout, the best way to reduce muscle fatigue and soreness is to perform a light warm-down. This warm-down is similar to the second half of your warm-up but in reverse order.

 

Risky Stretches…The following stretches are considered risky due to the fact that they have a very high risk of injury for the athlete that performs them. This does not mean that these stretches should never be performed. However, great care should be used when attempting any of these stretches. Unless you are an advanced athlete, you can probably find alternative stretching exercises to perform.

Yoga plough

In this exercise, you lie down on your back and then try to sweep your legs up and over, trying to touch your knees to your ears. This position places excessive stress on the lower back, and on the discs of the spine. Not to mention the fact that it compresses the lungs and heart, and makes it very difficult to breathe. This particular exercise also stretches a region that is frequently flexed as a result of improper posture.

 

Traditional backbend

In this exercise, your back is maximally arched with the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands both flat on the floor, and your neck tilted back. This position compresses the spinal discs and pinches nerve fibers in your back.

 

Traditional hurdler’s stretch

This exercise has you sit on the ground with one leg straight in front of you, and with the other leg bent behind you, as you lean back and stretch the quadricep of the flexed leg. The reason this stretch is harmful is that it stretches the medial ligaments of the knee and crushes the meniscus. It can also result in slipping of the knee cap from being twisted and compressed.

 

Straight-legged toe touches

In this stretch, your legs are straight and your back is bent over while you attempt to touch your toes or the floor. If you do not have the ability to support much of your weight with your hands when performing this exercise, your knees are likely to hyperextend. This position can also place a great deal of pressure on the vertebrae of the lower lumbar.

 

 

 

Duration, counting and repetition…One thing many people seem to disagree about is how long to hold a passive stretch in its position. Various sources seem to suggest that they should be held for as little as 10 seconds to as long as a full minute or even several minutes

Some controversy surrounds how long a stretch should be held. Some researchers say 30-60 seconds; more recent research on the hamstrings indicates that 15 seconds may be sufficient. Whether the 15 seconds that may be sufficient for the hamstrings is also sufficient for other muscle groups is unclear.

A good common ground seems to be about 20 seconds. Children, and people whose bones are still growing, do not need to hold a passive stretch this long. Holding the stretch for about 7-10 seconds should be sufficient for this younger group of people.

A number of people like to count themselves while they stretch. While counting during a stretch is not, by itself, particularly important … what is important is the setting of a definite goal for each stretching exercise performed. Counting during a stretch helps many people achieve this goal.

Many sources also suggest that passive stretches should be performed in sets of 2-5 repetitions with a 15-30 second rest in between each stretch.

 

 

Breathing during stretching…Proper breathing control is important for a successful stretch. Proper breathing helps to relax the body, increases blood flow throughout the body, and helps to mechanically remove lactic acid and other by-products of exercise.

You should be taking slow, relaxed breaths when you stretch, trying to exhale as the muscle is stretching. Some even recommend increasing the intensity of the stretch only while exhaling.

The proper way to breathe is to inhale slowly through the nose, expanding the abdomen; hold the breath a moment; then exhale slowly through the mouth.

As you breathe in, the diaphragm presses downward on the internal organs and their associated blood vessels, squeezing the blood out of them. As you exhale, the abdomen, its organs and muscles, and their blood vessels flood with new blood. This rhythmic contraction and expansion of the abdominal blood vessels is partially responsible for the circulation of blood in the body. Also, the rhythmic pumping action helps to remove waste products from the muscles in the torso. This pumping action is referred to as the respiratory pump. The respiratory pump is important during stretching because increased blood flow to the stretched muscles improves their elasticity, and increases the rate at which lactic acid is purged from them.

 

For help with stretching, to podcast this show or    simply for more    fitness and health information, visit Totallyfitradio.com.

To educate our listeners on how to make a lifestyle change and take the necessary steps to improve the quality, as well as quantity of life. We provide them with the tools they need to improve their physical, physiological and mental well-being with the intent to enhance their overall health and/or performance. 


Chicago Tribune Article…

Chris Nelson writes for the Chicago Tribune’s Health section of the Sunday paper.  He interviewed me a couple weeks ago and wrote an article.  It appeared in last Sundays paper, but here it is for your reading pleasure…

Total-U Fitness executive practices what he preaches

OK, children of the 80s, think back to when Daniel LaRusso, Ralph Macchio’s character in the Karate Kid, injured his knee in competition. He didn’t go running off to the hospital or start on a steady diet of painkillers. Instead, Mr. Miyagi rubbed his hands together, hummed a little and put his magical palms near the injury. In no time, LaRusso was back on the mats.

Hey, it’s only a movie, right? But it does raise a good point. There are other ways to get healthy than through modern medicine. Rather than running off to your doctor the minute you stub a toe, there are alternative methods of healing you can try.

Tony Myatt is vice president of Total-U-Fitness, Inc., a company that provides clients with a variety of certified personal fitness trainers, massage therapists and nutritional counselors who can meet in a home, office or gym. He also hosts a Sunday morning radio show, “Totally Fit Radio,” on AM 560 WIND. Myatt follows the ideas of Chinese medicines and believes that proper nutrition can help keep us healthy.

“Our bodies don’t understand modern, Western medicine,” says Myatt. “The body is designed to heal itself.”

Personal experience

Myatt practices what he preaches. In 1997, Myatt was walking down the street when a car going 47 miles per hour hit him.

“They thought I was dead on the scene,” says Myatt.

Turned out he wasn’t dead but he had broken his neck in three places. Because of Myatt’s excellent physical fitness, he and the doctor decided not to pursue surgery.

For six months, he ate right, saw chiropractors and followed Eastern therapies until he was healed. Then, in 2003, Myatt had a herniated disc. He started therapy on his own but still wanted to get it looked at. He went to see three surgeons and all three told him he’d need surgery. After three weeks, Myatt returned to the doctor and he said, “What did you do?” He no longer needed the procedure.

Open mind

Myatt made it clear that he doesn’t condemn modern medicine or hospitals.

“There’s a time and place for everything,” says Myatt.

But he feels like the today’s health care is focused less on what people need and more on what’s in their bank accounts.

“I really wish it was about the person and not the pocket book,” says Myatt. Instead of spending money on painkillers, Myatt suggests a more natural approach to aches. Take massage, for example.

“It certainly feels good,” says Myatt, but massage can have all sorts of other benefits. If an athlete gets a pre-competition massage, they’re not only warming their muscles up but they are also helping to avoid possible injury. When Myatt had his accident, he got better by using raindrop therapy, which combines the use of massage and scented oils for both muscular and neurological stimulation.

Myatt says that it’s time to get back to the basics. Getting healthy all starts with you.

“Too many people don’t want to do what it takes to be truly healthy,” says Myatt. “It’s about making a lifestyle change.”

For help developing your fitness and health program, to podcast this show or simply for more fitness and health information, visit Totallyfitradio.com.

If You Missed The Show/Body Balance…

If you missed the show on Saturday… we were discussing how to bring balance in to your life and physical training…and just how important but overlooked it is.  To share in this conversation with us, we spoke Paula Owen, author of “The Power of 4” about how to live a well-rounded life!

The wellness wheel provides a visual representation of the concept of wellness that demonstrates the need for “balanced” or “well-rounded” lives. To attain and maintain harmony and balance in our lives, we must pay attention to each of the four dimensions of wellness. To neglect or over-emphasize any of the four dimensions will result in an out-of-balance (out-of-round) wellness wheel.

Imagine the wellness wheel as a tire made up of four separate air chambers – each one representing a dimension of wellness. If one or more of these air chambers is either over-inflated or under-inflated, the wheel will be unbalanced and the road of life will be a bumpy one. We roll along through life more smoothly when our lives are “well-rounded” or balanced. These ideas are represented visually through the three following graphics:

Balanced/Round Wellness Wheel

This wellness wheel belongs to a person who takes responsibility for achieving balance in his/her life. As a result, this person is rolling along smoothly through life – for whom everything is going “just right”.

Out-of-balance/Out-of-round Wellness Wheel #1

This wheel could represent a person who is overly concerned with having fun and socializing (social dimension), and neglects the physical dimension (e.g., has a low-level of physical fitness, and/or is overweight, and/or does not have a healthy diet, etc.).

Out-of-balance/Out-of-round Wellness Wheel #2

This wellness wheel is that of a person who is obsessed with the physical dimension of wellness. He or she engages in physical activity for so many hours each day that there is no time for attending to elements of wellness in the other dimensions (e.g., meaningful relationships, reading).

Balance, Body balance

For help developing your well-balanced training program, to podcast this show or simply for more fitness and health information, visit Totallyfitradio.com.

If You Missed The Show/Golf Fitness & Performance…

If you missed the show this morning… we were discussing how to improve your performance in your given sport through sports performance training.  And specifically…we spoke with Dr. Craig Davies, author of ‘Golf Anatomy”, about performance training for the golf pro…or amateur so you can improve your swing…and lessen your score!

Sports performance training is designed to meet the needs of many different athletes, and can prove instrumental in their over-all success.  Amateur and professional athletes may have different goals, but both are learning to utilize the same tools.    Discipline, focus and intelligence can be found in any winning athlete, and these are the things which are taught in sports performance training.

A healthier approach to sports! This is especially important with young athletes who are developing the work habits that with stay with them for many years.  Sports excellence training teaches the athlete how to achieve proper balance in their lives – so that sports do not overshadow personal or family life.

A more disciplined approach to sports! Sports mental training can help athletes achieve excellence by designing customized practice regimens – and then giving the individual the cognitive tools to stick with the plan every day.

Enhanced focus on the field! Focus training is one of the most important elements in athletic excellence coaching.    Counselors and mental trainers can help identify those areas which are causing athletes to become distracted on the field, and develop solutions that “retrain their brain” and shift focus back to the athletic activity.

Better mechanics! When a golfer or baseball player loses their swing mechanics, they can see their career sink rapidly in decline.  Sports excellence training uses technology and therapy to help athletes rediscover their swing and maintain it through thousands and thousands of repetitions.

Measurable results! Sports excellence training programs provide instant feedback on the athlete’s performance.  As the program progresses, they can see how, specifically, their training regimen is affecting what they do on the field.  This kind of reporting helps individual focus only on those areas that need the most work.

For help develop your sport specific training program, to podcast this show or    simply for more    fitness and health information, visit Totallyfitradio.com.

If You Missed The Show/Specificity Training…

If you missed the show this morning you missed “DDP”…Diamond Dallas Page…Former Pro-Wrestler, speaker and Actor.  Michelle and I spoke with “DDP” about his new workout program, YRG Fitness and how various workout programs may be better suited for a specific portion of the population.  We are not all the same and as individuals, our bodies are changing.  So to compensate for that, we need to change the way we workout!

Physical fitness should be an important part of all people’s lives, no matter what their age or gender. A healthy lifestyle is something that will not only help you to live longer, but will help the years you live to be more enjoyable. Everyone needs good nutrition and physical activity to give their bodies the best possible chance of health and longevity.

Starting the habit of healthy eating and daily exercise in early childhood can help children grow into healthy teens that carry their good health habits with them into adulthood. Although we all need basic activity and nutrition, the amount needed can be different depending on our gender, or as we age.

Children have lots of energy. That is a great thing! It means it shouldn’t be very hard to convince them to get out there to run and play. The NIH recommends that children get at least one hour of physical exercise every day. When adults think exercise, they usually think of being in the gym with some weights or the stair master, but when talking about children, exercise means playtime.

As we grow into adulthood our bodies require a little more than just some time on the playground, however, many of the activities we enjoyed as a child are still great exercise as adults. Jumping rope, swimming and games like soccer remain excellent cardiovascular exercises. These exercises work off fat, build up our stamina and help strengthen our circulatory system.

The recommended amount of exercise for adults over the age of 18 is at least 4 separate instances of physical activity that lasts for a constant 30 to 45 minutes every week. This number remains the same no matter if you are male or female. One thing males seem to take time for in their exercises that many women seem to shy away from is strength training.

Working out with free weights has shown to be the best way to build lean muscle mass. Due to the higher levels of testosterone produced by males, they build larger muscles faster.  Muscle mass helps to burn calories while the body is in rest. It also adds strength and balance to the entire body.

Women lack the testosterone levels that men have to build muscle. A woman following the same weight lifting routine as her male counterpart would not grow large like the man, even if they did the exact same workout.  When women strength train, their bodies become tighter and more toned, the dense muscle tissue is more compact than fat, making the body appear longer and leaner.  All men and women should add strength training to their recommended physical activity levels.

As we continue to age into our golden years, physical fitness remains extremely important. It is suggested that seniors should make sure to get a variety of exercises for balance to help prevent fall, stretching to keep the joints flexible and limber, strength training to reduce age related muscle loss and low impact cardio to maintain cardiovascular health.

The recommended amount of activity is 30 minutes on most, if not every day. Seniors should follow the same diet as an adult but with added attention to getting enough servings of fiber.  With their regular diet, however, seniors need a bit extra of a few vitamins and minerals than adults under the age of 50. These vitamins are B12, B6, Vitamin D and Calcium. Healthy eating habits and physical activity play and important role in our lives. Although amounts of activity needed and amounts of vitamins may vary, the basics of good health remain the same for men and women of all ages.

YRG Fitness, Specificity Training, Core, Yoga

For help develop your specific training program, to podcast this show or simply for more    fitness and health information,  visit Totallyfitradio.com.

If You Missed The Show/Fun With Exercise…

If you missed the show this morning you missed an opportunity to feel like a kid again. Hey…jumping rope isn’t just for kids anymore! We interviewed jump rope conditioning expert and CEO of Jump Rope Tech, Buddy Lee about how jump rope training helps improve balance, coordination and performance. The reality is; it’s not only a great cardiovascular exercise, but it truly increases body awareness and develops hand and foot coordination.

It’s easy to get started. Just find some comfortable shoes and a good rope and you’re on your way.  The best shoes for jumping rope are either aerobic shoes or cross-trainers.  Make sure your shoes are reinforced and provide a lot of cushion for the balls of the feet and arch support.

Ropes aren’t what they used to be!   Some have weighted handles these are usually too cumbersome.  You should choose a light-weight rope with foam grips so it won’t slip away from you even if your palms get sweaty.   So here’s how to choose the right length rope:  Step one foot on the center of the rope and bring both handles up to the chest. The handles should reach about chest high.

Getting started:

•  Lightly grip the handles near the end closest to the rope.

•  Keep your shoulders relaxed and your elbows close to your body.

•  Your knees should be bent slightly.

•  Turn the rope from the wrist and aim to keep a smooth arc in the rope as it passes over your head.

•  Never hunch over. Keep your back straight and your head up.

•  Jump low to keep the impact on your knees and ankles to a minimum.

If it’s been a while since you jumped rope, don’t worry, nothing has really changed.   But what you need to know is that it’s one heck of a workout that can be really fun!  One way to make it fun is to turn on some high-energy music. Now once you have the basics down, try getting a little creative.  Jump backward or vary your foot patterns.  Try bringing your knees to your chest, scissoring your legs or twirling the rope from side to side.   But most importantly…stick with it.  If you do you will see results in cardiovascular strength and endurance.  And who knows…you might even feel like a kid again!

Jumping rope, Jump rope exercises, jump rope fun

For help building cardiovascular strength while having fun, to podcast this show or simply for more    fitness and health information,  visit Totallyfitradio.com.

If You Missed The Show/Organ Health…

If you missed the show just hours ago…hey, I’m a poet! Anyway, all too often people think that a body that looks good and feels good…is in good health. So not true! There are many factors that can cause organs to become toxic and potentially lead to failure. And to help us explain this very important fact this morning and what can be done, we spoke with Willa Lange, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation of America.

So let’s discuss what the major organs our, their function and how they work. The Major organs are the: brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach, liver, gall bladder, spleen, and pancreas and believe it or not, your bones and skin. I am pretty certain you already have a basic understanding of these organs, but here’s a refresher and hopefully a little additional information. So here is how the process works of creating your organ systems:

• Your cells are living units that making up your body.

• Groups of cells form specialized tissues.

• Groups of tissues form your organs.

• There are eleven organ systems that govern all of your physiological activities.

These organ systems are:

1. Nervous System

2. Endocrine System

3. Cardiovascular System

4. Respiratory System

5. Digestive System

6. Urinary System

7. Muscular System

8. Skeletal System

9. Integumentary (Skin) System

10. Immune System (includes Lymphatic System)

11. Reproductive System

Each of your organ systems are groups of organs that work together to carry out specific duties in your body. For example, your digestive system is an organ system that requires contributions from a number of organs, including your stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, and gall bladder; all of these organs work together to digest the foods that you eat, and transfer the nutrients in the foods that you eat from your small intestine to your cells. To find out how to pay special close attention to the function of your systems of organs, visit www.totallyfitradio.com and podcast the show.

For help protecting your organs, to podcast this show or simply for more    fitness and health information,  visit Totallyfitradio.com.