Warning! New Health Risk Identified!!

As a follow up to my KGET appearance this morning about the new heart risk factor.  I've included part of my book "Healthy Family Evolution:  Mom's Strong!" for more information.

“In addition to outlining basic recommendations and their scientific reasoning, the ACSM position also clarifies some additional points: ‘Though exercise protects against heart disease, it is still possible for active adults to develop heart problems. All adults must be able to recognize the warning signs of heart disease, and all health care providers should ask patients about these symptoms. Sedentary behavior—sitting for long periods of time—is distinct from physical activity and has been shown to be a health risk in itself. Meeting the guidelines for physical activity does not make up for a sedentary lifestyle.’ So getting healthy is not only about increasing activity, it’s also about decreasing periods of inactivity.”

“I don’t think I follow you about the inactivity part,” said Tracy.

“Somewhere along the way, we started equating exercise with ‘going to the gym,’ instead of just being more active. We now know that long periods of inactivity are actually very harmful to the body, and it’s the thing that scares me most about our youth these days; the long hours spent playing video games or on their phones, without interruption. We need to be moving more throughout the day, not sitting around for 10 hours, with 1 hour of all-out movement.”

 

“I guess I never thought about it that way but, when I’m at work, I have to get my job done,” replied Tracy. “I don’t think my principal would like me going on 10-minute walks, several times a day, leaving my kids unsupervised.”

 

“Of course, and that is the case with everyone’s job,” answered TJ. “There are certain restrictions, but we also know from research that movement actually improves our mental functioning. Just a few minutes of movement can significantly activate our brains so is there a way to interject some fun activities into your classroom? It would help you reach your goals and also help your students increase their activity levels, even their mental performance.”

 

“That’s an interesting idea,” said Tracy, nodding her head. “But, with all this talk about complexity and levels, I think I need to learn more before taking on that challenge.”

 

After Tracy completed her program for the day, she realized that TJ had the different components of aerobic, strength, and flexibility built in and even had a couple of functional movements added in. She thought about the simplicity of some of the exercises and the ones that actually ‘felt good.’ Maybe, there were some she could incorporate, while teaching. She realized there was a lot more to learn.

"Healthy Family Evolution:  Mom's Strong!"  is available at all TERRIO Therapy locations and on Amazon.  Also, check out www.myTERRIO.com for more information about our comprehensive wellness program for all abilities and ages. 

 

 

Top 10 ways to Injure yourself working out!

Terrio’s Top Ten Ways Men Can Injury themselves working out!

There is something magical about our “Y” Chromosome, the resultant high levels of testosterone and its effect on our mentality when it comes to working out.  After 35 years of working out and 25 years of putting people back together I present my top ten list of sure fired ways to assure you will get injured working out…

10.  Consider a Couple Arm circles adequate warm up before lifting weights. 

While quick in reality our bodies are primarily fluid and as such function better when warmed up, to avoid injury do 5 minutes of cardio to increase your core body temperature before you launch into your program. 

9.  Quantity over Quality

One of the biggest mistakes men make it to think more is better when it comes to exercise and sacrifice proper technique for more repetitions or more weight.  Poor technique leads to compensations which leads to increased stress on other tissues.

8.  Hitting the Wall

If your goal is to improve overall fitness then you need to know your target heart rate zone (60-85% of Max Heart Rate).  The closer you get to Max Heart Rate the less time you can continue the exercise.  Warning if you are on Heart or BP medications check with a medical professional about appropriate level of intensity and how to track it.

7. Occasional Exerciser

Lack of consistency in working out does not allow your body to adapt to the stresses placed upon it and thus no improvement.

6. One Trick Pony

Strong people like to lift weight, flexible people like stretching and then there’s the endurance junkies.   If there is something you don’t like, that is probably what your workout needs to focus on. 

5.  We’re not in Kansas anymore (40 is not 18)

News flash!  As we age our body’s change, just because you could bench press 300 lbs in high school doesn’t mean you still can. 

4. Keeping up with Jones

The amount of exercise your body can tolerate or amount of weight you can lift is a gradual progression built up overtime not dictated by the guy next to you in the gym.

3. Mirror Training

Just because you can’t see them when you look in the mirror doesn’t mean you should neglect the muscles you can’t see. 

2. 0-60 in 5.0

Men love acceleration but our bodies don’t.  Going from the couch to a high intensity workout is an excellent way to get injured.

1. Pop goes the tendon, when the tendon goes pop!

If you skip past the first nine and decide to relive your youth with the right amount of stress at the right speed our tissues will be stressed beyond their limits and will break.  Our bodies don’t come with a rewind button so stick with the principles of conditioning and avoid injury!

Using or Wasting your Talents?

"Do you remember the Parable of the Talents?”

“I think so,” answered the boy. “Is that the one where the landlord gives each person a different amount of money and then leaves?”

“That’s it,” replied Grandpa. “That’s my favorite parable, and something that has been one of the driving factors in my life. Like anything, you’ll find that there are a lot of different ‘interpretations’ of the parable but, years ago, when I was talking to a priest, he told me that he believes that, when we get to heaven, we’ll be asked two questions: ‘Did you love me with all of your heart, mind, and soul?’ and ‘What did you do with what I gave you?’

“In the parable, the landlord gives one person five talents, the next person two, and the other person just one. The talents referred to in the parable were a lot of money at the time. The first two went out and used the talents to make even more, actually doubling their amounts. The third one was so afraid that he would lose the talent, he buried it. When the landlord returned, he was very pleased with the first two servants, but he chastised the third one for hiding the talent and not doing anything to increase it.

“I believe that this is what God expects from us, during our lives. I believe he has given every one of us everything we need to fulfill our purpose here on earth, but the only way you can truly find your purpose is to go out and put your talents to work, grow and develop them. Nowhere does it say that they just sat and prayed for the talents to increase. The first two went out and did what the third one couldn’t fathom; they put their talents at risk. The third one was paralyzed by fear. What if the risk failed, and they lost what they were given; what would have happened to them, then? But the first two didn’t let this fear stop them. They went out and made good decisions and were rewarded for the risk they took.

“It’s just like the flat earth we talked about, most people limit themselves to stay put out of fear. God gave us all free will and, with it, the chance to choose. He also gave us guidelines for how he wants us to live our lives, but he left it up to us to choose how we live and what relationship we maintain with him. Most people pray for things they want, money, fame, or some relationship, and I’ve always thought God must just shake his head and think, ‘It’s all there for you, just go make it happen.”

 

From my first book, "Life Pioneers:  The Edge of Possibility!" 

The Forgotten Area of Wellness

 

Total wellness must include not only our physical wellbeing (activity and nutrition) but also our mental wellbeing.  There is another area that is vitally important and yet sadly forgotten in this age of distraction and our need to be constantly entertained...