A Complete Shoulder Exercise Routine Using a Bosu

Watch as I demonstrate one of my favorite exercises for working my entire shoulder girdle.  Standing a Bosu to perform this exercise also strengthens your core, and increases the intensity of this movement immensely.

Daily Accessing Your Spiritual Energy is Important For Your Health and Well-Being

There is more to your overall health and well-being than just taking care of your physical body. You are an energetic being made up of spirit, mind, and body. You exist as spiritual, mental, and physical energy. All three of these energies vibrate at different frequencies and must be balanced in order for you to live a happy, balanced, and fulfilled life. Thus, you have to have a fitness practice for all three aspects of your existence in order to live a fully. Most people focus mainly on the energies of the mind and the body, and pay little attention to the most important aspect which is the energy of spirit.

You are a part of the Eternal Divine Spirit which is the life behind all things. This is where the energy resides that orchestrates all life. It keeps the planets in alignment, causes the sun to rise, provides the air that you breathe and is the core of your very existence. This Loving Presence is always working on your behalf for It created you out of Itself. It contains the answer to your every problem, and it provides for your every need. It resides in you and all you need do is connect with this Loving Presence and It will guide you easily and harmoniously through life.

If you use this consciousness of Love as your starting place each day you will find that your daily tasks will flow easily and harmoniously with very little stress and strain. For this Loving Presence has unlimited organizing power to bring about results in your life with very little effort on your part.

In order to connect with your spirit and create harmony in your life you have to learn to quiet your mind and control your thoughts. You learn to control your thoughts through the regular practice of sitting in silence. Some people call this meditation, I call it self-contemplation. This is the most proven way to access your spiritual energy which is your true identity. Your spiritual energy will always reveal truth in your life, showing you errors in your thoughts and beliefs which materialize as inharmonious conditions in your life. Meditation is a top down approach to making changes in your life with the least effort.

Sitting in silence can be very difficult at first, because your mind is filled with chatter and you are constantly jumping from one thought to another. Thoughts are like little children competing for your attention, they say “look at me, look at me” and you have to train yourself to ignore them. Don’t get discouraged. The practice of silence is just like physical exercise, you get stronger and better at it the more you do it. Here are some techniques for learning to quiet your mind.

• Go to a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for about 30 minutes. Sit upright in a comfortable chair. Close your eyes, take deep controlled breaths, and slowly count backwards from 100 to zero. The counting will cause your mind to focus on the numbers and shut out any other distracting thoughts.

• While in your quiet place for 30 minutes, while you are closing your eyes and taking deep controlled breaths, think about your favorite outdoor spot. It could be the beach, the mountains, or watching a beautiful sunset. Imagine that you are physically at your favorite place. Hear the birds singing, feel the sun on your skin, experience the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. The object is to train your mind to focus on one thought at a time.

• Take a relaxing walk in nature. Listen to the birds sing, marvel at the beauty of the trees, flowers, and plant life. Again, the object is to train your mind to focus on one thought at a time.

• My favorite technique for quieting my mind is to read some inspirational passage and then to contemplate its meaning.

You will find that once you become efficient at quieting your mind, things will be revealed to you. It could be the solution to some situation that you’ve been struggling with, or the vision of completing a project. Whatever is revealed to you in these times of silence comes from the core of your existence and from your unity with the Divine. Trust that it is right for you.

What Are Probiotics? Benefits, Supplements, Foods,

Below is a very good article from WebMD about Probiotics, what they are, and why they are important to have in your diet.  I started taking a daily probiotic supplement about 5 years ago and found a marked improvement in my immune system and energy level. 

What Are Probiotics? Benefits, Supplements, Foods,

Dumbbell Presses on a Therapeutic Ball Strengthens Your Chest and Core

If you want to minimize the time you spend working out, try exercises that target two or more body parts.  One of my favorite exercises that strengthens and develops both your chest and your core is a dumbbell press bridging on a therapeutic ball.  Watch as I demonstrate in the video below.



You can find more of my favorite exercises at www.personaltrainerinraleighnc.com

Try Wood Chops on a BOSU to Strengthen Your Core

Having a strong core is important in everything that you do from squatting to pick up your precious baby to carrying the groceries into the house.  Watch the following video as I demonstrate one of my favorite exercises for strengthening and developing your core.



You can find many more of my favorite exercises that I do with my clients at www.personaltrainerinraleighnc.com.

Dumbbell Row Using a Theraputic Ball, One of My Favorites

A strong back and a strong core equals great posture.  Watch below as I demonstrate one of my favorite exercises for developing and strengthening both you upper back and core.

Strength Training and Increased Protein Intake is Key to Good Health as You Age

Research is now revealing what life-long weight lifters have always known, and that is maintaining your muscle mass is key to staying healthy and strong as you age. The importance of muscle mass, strength, and metabolic function in the performance of exercise, as well as the activities of daily living has never been questioned. However, the role your muscles play in whole-body protein metabolism is less recognized.

Your muscle plays a central role in your whole-body protein metabolism by serving as the principle reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis (growth and regeneration) in vital tissues and organs in the absence of consuming enough protein in your diet. In other words, if you don't get enough protein in your diet, your body breaks down your muscle mass in order to make the necessary amino acids you need to survive.

Additionally, new research points to a key role that muscle metabolism plays in the prevention of many pathologic conditions and chronic diseases. Loss of muscle has been associated with weakness, fatigue, insulin resistance, fractures, and frailty. Thus, many of the degenerative conditions that are associated with aging are caused by poor muscle health.

The natural loss of muscle mass as a result of age is called Sacopenia, and it can begin in your 30s. Left unabated this condition accelerates with time as your body starts tearing down old muscle faster than it can build new muscle tissue. The good news is you can slow and in some cases reverse muscle loss as you age through regular weight lifting exercise, and getting the right amount of protein in your diet.

Scientific research is showing that weight lifting is one of the most effective ways of building and maintaining muscle mass as you age and here's why. Lifting weights is a method of overloading your body through exercise with a resistance that you are not accustomed to handling.  In response your body adapts to this overloading process by building stronger muscles to accommodate the new demands. Research says that by the time you reach middle age you should start lifting weights at least 2 times per week to retain your muscle.

Getting the proper amount of protein in your diet to maximize the results of weight lifting adds to the effectiveness of building and maintaining your muscle mass as you age. Protein is a necessary part of every living cell in your body. Next to water, protein comprises the greatest portion of your body weight. Protein substances make up your muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, glands, nails, hair, and many vital body fluids. Your body uses the protein you eat for the vital functions of survival first before it devotes any for muscle building and repair. Thus if you are not consuming enough protein in your diet optimal muscle building and repair is impossible.

While 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight has been the old the normal recommendation for daily protein intake, new studies show that 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight may be more beneficial in building, maintaining, and reducing muscle loss. The goal of protein consumption should be to optimize muscle growth and repair and studies now reveal that consuming 25 to 30 grams of protein at each meal is necessary for this to take place.

Change the Way You Think and You Transform Your Life

A good mental practice is just as important and I believe more critical to your overall well-being than physical exercise alone. For, you are always creating the circumstances and conditions of your life via your thoughts and beliefs. What you believe to be true will always manifest in your life as a condition or circumstance. Behind every condition and circumstance in your life is an underlying thought and belief.   For example, if you truly believe that you are weak and sickly, then you attract conditions in your life to reflect that belief. On the other hand, if you believe you are strong and healthy, you attract conditions in your life to prove likewise.

If you want to know the sum total of your thoughts and beliefs, just look at the conditions and circumstances presently in your life. This is a very sobering exercise, but you must accept it if you want to create the life that you desire.

Most people allow their mind to aimlessly wander and so they allow random thoughts to be planted in their mental garden. Some of these thoughts are constructive and they bloom into constructive conditions, while others are destructive and they blossom into undesirable conditions. Consequently, most people believe the conditions and circumstances of their lives just randomly happen. They get some things that they want and other things they don’t want.

Thoughts are things and when you give a thought your attention you give it energy by allowing it to be planted in your mind. The more attention you give the thought the more you nurture and energize it until it becomes a belief and blossoms into a condition in your life. You are always thinking, and thus, always creating something and herein lies the problems and the solutions in your life.

You have the inner power to create the life of your dreams. The key to accessing this power is mastery of your mental activity and you can only do this through a conscious effort to filter which thoughts you allow to take root in your mind. I do this by a spiritual practice of sitting in silence periodically during the day and monitoring the thoughts that come into my mind. I allow the constructive and uplifting thoughts in, and I discard the negative and destructive one. I urge you to try this mental exercise for 30 days and see how your life is transformed.