Fitness

Running or “footracing” as it used to be called, ranks among the most popular of all the known sporting events. Some people run just to keep their weight down. Others pick up the pace to improve their aerobic capacity, lower blood pressure or reduce heart disease risk. But for the more courageous and daring of heart, running is a function of personal challenge and competition.

When's the last time you put your fitness to the test? If you're a competitive athlete or someone who's really up on preventive health care, maybe recently. But if you're like the vast majority of Canadians, the answer is...you never have. At least not since elementary school and I'll tell you why. Fitness is not a priority in this country.

As a naturopath and health consultant specializing in human performance and clinical sports nutrition, I routinely engage with a wide variety of clients who express enormous variation in body chemistry, origin of descent, body composition and knowledge in health, fitness and nutrition. On a one to one basis, my initial goal is to determine their present functional health status and physical condition.

They say that time is the fire in which we burn. "They" also say that our life belongs to no one except ourselves. Not so. In the end our life force terminates, disappears or departs from our physical body without our consent and there is absolutely nothing we or anyone else can do about it.

It’s not uncommon to think of lactic acid as an enemy. For decades we've been conditioned by teachers, coaches and personal experience to think of it as some kind of useless waste product; the cause of that “burning” sensation when you run fast or pump iron to complete failure. Of course almost everyone associates lactic acid with next-day muscle soreness, fatigue and stiffness.

This year (2012) I celebrate 43 consecutive years of weight training. I began lifting at age 12 (1959) when many believed that weight training at that age stunted your growth, enlarged your heart and made you inflexible. We now know this isn't true. Pumping iron is like magic.

Quick, in ten seconds or less, name the number one cause of stress. Smoking? No. Drugs and alcohol? Guess again. Divorce, aging or public speaking? Wrong. The most common cause of stress known is INACTIVITY… responsible for more disease and premature death than any other factor.

eTraining is a specialized method of exercise training I began teaching at Chi Camp Hawaii on Oahu. The idea began in 1969 when I received my first mail order lesson on Dynamic Tension from Charles Atlas. Little did I know at age 12 how such a simple, basic exercise program based on isometrics would evolve over time in my own life into my own dynamic method.

Ask a hundred gym members why they train and guess what they'll say? The overwhelming majority do it for the look. Sure, some will say it's for health; others will say it's because of how it makes them feel. A few even do it to improve their performance in sport or out of necessity for rehab or medical therapy. Others do it to burn off their habits of indulgence.

Rest is critical to recovery and healing. Adequate sleep is a must. But sitting for long periods when you’re well is counterproductive to good health. Our joints and lower back stiffen, circulation is impaired and metabolic waste slowly pools up causing fatigue and chronic pain.