On a steel plate on the wall of my studio, it states that in a sense everything in life is a journey: our religion, the profession we choose, marriage, raising children, our health, travel, etc. Along your journey, you will have choices in front of you that affect the path you take. These choices will include: how you choose to live your life and the friends you keep close, how you treat others, and what you give back.
I have always wanted to help others improve their health and well-being. But since the 1990s, society has increasingly gotten more and more obese. So now Americans carry more fat on their bodies than ever. When you look at pictures of people from the 1970s, very few people were overweight and this started to change in the late 1980s with more processed foods being produced. Since then, society has steadily been growing heavier and not in a good way. This added weight, which is fat stored as inflammation, and we don't realize what it's doing to our body because we have gotten used to having it or wearing it so to speak.
So, when we have health issues, we look for the first pill to take and fix it. While watching TV, we are told that there's a pill to fix anything. Which doesn't solve the underlying problem. The hardest thing for people to do is take care of themselves, knowing what to do and doing it consistently. People will take better care of their pets than they will themselves. People always join the gym to become a healthier version of themselves and then after a few weeks they start slacking off, so all that progress you made reverses itself.
After a few weeks, your body adapts to that new stress and you start to see a change in how you feel and how you look if you’re able to stay with it. If you're improving your nutritional habits, the benefits are even greater. These first few weeks are when a new lifestyle kicks in or gets kicked to the curb. I always try to talk to potential clients before they get to this point. The hardest thing for people to understand is that this lifestyle change cannot be a temporary change; it has to be permanent.
A lot of people struggle with the pain and complexity of change. This is a journey to becoming healthier and more energetic and it's very hard for most people to stick to even when the benefits outweigh the pain of change. Sometimes it's easier to coast along, but we never really commit to taking care of ourselves until something major happens with our health. Taking care of our health is always a necessity; it is not for you to wait until a doctor gives you notice to do so.
Things that usually make everyone take care of themselves are things like: heart disease, diabetes, joint issues to the point that we have to replace them.
Sometimes we take care of ourselves and these things still effect us. I've replaced or fixed 2 of my joints, which came from an aggressive lifestyle and being born with cerebral palsy. But I've always been healthy and very rarely sick. The point is to prevent the possibility of this occurring or to diminish the impact any health issue has on your body by making it strong in every way. Everyone ages and life takes us many ways, but we can control how we feel during these times and processes. I make it a point to eat good food, exercise, and get soft tissue work to keep my joints mobile and the knots out of my muscles.
There are lots of tools at our disposal to keep us healthy and mobile, such as hand massages and massage guns, soft tissue manipulation by a professional, flexibility work, and a vibration platform or table that most colleges have in their weight room to use with their athletes. I have both in my studio. Flexibility work is the one thing that most people hate to do because it can be one of the most uncomfortable, but it is one of the most crucial parts of muscle growth.
Another method of maintaining muscle integrity is the EMS. Electronic Muscle Stimulators are an outstanding modality for recovery and building strength. It can be used to increase strength and muscle mass without moving the joint, which is great for rehab. I've used it for both recovery and to rebuild muscles and joints. They're very affordable and most people should have one.
There's also a method called scraping. Your body is encased in a fibrous tissue called myofascial tissue. This fibrous sticky tissue can move and clamp down on muscles to the point of causing pain. Like when somebody's IT band gets tight. A metal device is used to break up the hold that this myofascial tissue has on the muscle. That's something you don’t want to do to yourself without some knowledge of what you're doing. It's not a very comfortable procedure.
There are so many things that we can do to make ourselves better. It is just making that commitment to take care of ourselves long-term and not short-term. As we age, we need to keep our muscles strong and eat lots of protein. So, weight training is very important as we get older to stay more mobile, more stable, and have an independent lifestyle.
Now is the time to make the commitment to better your health and lifestyle so you can age with grace and strength.
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