Signals & Interpretations

So, here it is, three days after my first Z-Health R-Phase certification. If I could only describe my experience with one word it would be...Awesome!

When it comes to the human body and mind, we all view things differently. This is true for pain, pressure, temperature, level of exertion, etc. So, as coaches and athletes, how do we deal with these interpretations? When is too much too much, or not enough not enough?

Understanding how the brain works is one method to understanding these differences. Cognitive thinking is our ability to actively change the way we feel or perceive things to be. For example, just because soup is steaming in our bowl when we take it off of the stove, does not mean that the soup is too hot for us to eat. Or, because we see snow on the ground outside we automatically assume the temperature is freezing, right? Well, through movement and cognitive thinking, we can actually begin to change the way our body perceives movement and how our mind perceives our bodies.

Pain does not equal injury. Have you ever met anyone who has "a really high pain tolerance"? Initially, we don't know what to think, and then this person stubs their toe and we get a real insight to how high of a tolerance they really have. Does that mean their toe doesn't hurt? Absolutely not. The amount of pain that they are feeling is comparative to how their body and mind perceives the pain to be. Intensity, duration, etc. If someone else stubbed their toe exactly the same way, they might hardly feel the "pain" at all. So, how do we begin to change our perceptions of what really hurts and what doesn't?

This is where movement and cognitive thinking can come into play. An individual with great body awareness might hardly find their toe hurting because they have a great body map in which to interpret the pain. This individual might also be able to "talk to themselves" in order to realize that the pain they are feeling isn't really all that intense. Communicating to your own body, within your own thoughts is a great way to get started on increasing the body-mind-pain connection. Specific, controlled movement is the best means in which to get your body and subconscious mind working together. Building internal trust so positive affirmations can be held true.

When in doubt, do something! Do something intentionally with your body so that your brain will sub-consciously begin to trust your conscious brain and your everyday actions.

Good Luck and Great Health!

Awesome Gymnastics!

Check out this video of Hayden Henrioulle doing a double-double! (A double back flip with a full twist on each flip) Not the best quality video, but still amazing!

Great job Hayden!

Stranger Danger!

Safety first! In a world full of surprises, we never know what adventures, people, or experiences we will encounter throughout the day. Since I truly believe knowledge is power, I thought I would share with you some of the "Survival Signals" from Gavin de Becker's book, The Gift of Fear.

In his book, de Becker explains that in each of us is the ability to recognize danger, yet it is simply a matter of allowing those signs to shine through. Intuition. The sooner we recognize that it is possible to face danger first hand, the more likely we are to acknowledge it, and thus remove ourselves from the situation. Throughout his book, de Becker states specific examples of crimes and situations, and purposely relates these crimes as women being the victims and men being the attackers. This does not mean that only women are victims or only men are attackers, or that every stranger is a potential assailant, just that we all need to be more aware of our environments and open to our inner bodyguard.

1. No!
Never discount the word "No"! It is a simple, yet powerful word, that often times is ignored for many different reasons. Now, I'm not talking about a child asking to get something from the Ice Cream Man and ignoring Mom's no (because dinner is almost ready), but when a complete stranger for some reason won't listen when you say no. If, for example, a woman is offered assistance placing groceries into her car, and a complete stranger offers her assistance, then is it rude to say "No"? Absolutely not! According to de Becker, women should not be afraid to insult a possibly nice gesture in order to ward-off a potentially hazardous situation. Giving in or negotiating with a stranger opens the door to possibilities or places the stranger in control of the situation. And that is exactly what a potential attacker is looking for, control.

2. Promises, Promises.
Promises from a stranger (or attacker) display their knowledge that you aren't buying what they are saying. For example..."I'll put the groceries down and go. I promise." This suitor understands that they are not trusted, and therefore must make an attempt to calm his potential victim by reassuring that he is trustworthy. "Promises are used to convince us of an intention, but they are not guarantees."

3. "Forced Teaming"
Forced teaming automatically places a potential victim and his attacker into a situation together. It portrays a shared experience when there has been nothing shared. For example, "We've got a hungry animal in there." or "Both of us are going to be late." The reason behind creating bonds with strangers can only be determined by the issuer, however, they should never be looked at lightly.

These are only a few of the "Survival Signals" de Becker uses in order to teach people how to protect themselves. To learn more, I highly recommend reading his book!

Good Luck and Great Health!

Perception Is Everything...

I watched this first video a while ago and was appalled at the reality of individuals "appearances" today. We hear rumors about the effects of photo-shop in professional images we see everyday, but we never get to see what really happens before the beautiful images come out on magazine stands, billboards, websites or professional photos. Here, we see first-hand how they change a person's natural image to fit the ideal image of perfection, which (by the way) is impossible!



This second video makes a great point about the uses of photo-shop and how if affects men and women of today. What is the reality of labeling photo-shopped images and how would their recognition affect our own self-image?



Hope? Is that what we as consumers really want to be getting out of photo-shopped images? Hope that we too can someday look as beautiful as these photos displayed on magazine racks, billboards, etc.? Assuming we use their products of course...



Unfortunately, I don't know many people who do not compare themselves or their loved ones to other people of the same gender. As an athlete and coach, I have seen firsthand what poor body image can do to a person's self-worth. We must remember that differences in our makeups (physical and emotional) are what make us unique to one another and beautiful in our own rights. I don't know anyone who wouldn't benefit from seeing these videos, so please feel free to pass them on.

Good Luck and Great Health!

Stress Free Living!

It’s truly amazing living life with little to no stress! I have been in Denver, CO for six days now, and I have a whole new feeling about me. I’m actually relaxed! And what a nice change it is. :)

Many of us don’t realize the amount of damage that stress can do to the body. Let’s look at these effects and how proper stress management can have a positive impact on your life.

Stress can most often be defined as a physical, mental, or emotional reaction to an external stimulus. The degree of stimulus and reaction is completely different in every individual, and can be handled in a multitude of ways. Results of chronic stress include (but are not limited to) interrupted sleep patterns, unnecessary weight gain, headaches, gastrointestinal problems and/or anxiety and depression.

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is what we call the “fight or flight” trigger of the body. Normally, when a situation is perceived to be stressful (regardless of it being a physical or psychological stressor), our body reacts by making us more alert, energized and focused. This reaction occurs from a release of hormones (including cortisol and adrenaline) into the bloodstream, raised blood pressure and heart rate, increased breathing rate and sharper senses. The physical changes occur, enabling us to quickly assess and handle any situation. Unfortunately, because the body does not distinguish between emotional and physical stressors, most individuals are under a high-stress alert all of the time. This is where problems arise due to the effects of chronic stress.

I love the way Rachel Cosgrove describes stress in terms of a “bathtub”, with different size faucets filling it up and not enough drains to keep the water level down. In her book, “The Female Body Breakthrough”, Rachel explains stressors to be numerous running faucets at different sizes and speeds depending on individual interpretation. (Stressors include financial problems, lack of time-management skills, family related situations, negative self-talk, unhealthy body image, etc.) With plenty of drains in our “stress-tub” we can manage our stress levels through Z-Health, exercise, meditation, social gatherings, personal time, etc.

But why exercise for stress? Exercising releases plenty of “feel-good” hormones into the body that may be the missing link in your fat loss goals. I highly recommend starting with Z-Health’s R-Phase series that will have your body feeling good and primed for all of life’s challenges. For more information on Z-Health or the R-Phase series please click on the appropriate term provided.

Good Luck and Great Health!

Let's "Fun" It!

Let’s have some fun!! How many of you dread doing certain activities because they are not fun? You dread these activities so much that you avoid them all together? Let’s face it, like our Mother’s have always said, when we don’t like something its like “pulling teeth” to get us to complete said task. So, what about taking those tasks and recreating them so that we enjoy them? Take fitness for example.

Raise your hands if you hate to exercise. Come on, don’t be shy. Like many of my clients, individuals I talk to on a daily basis don’t like to exercise. Why is this I always wonder? When we were kids I remember being outside for hours, swimming, riding bikes, playing baseball, hide and go seek... What has changed from those playful years of childhood to the “responsible adults” we are today?

Nothing. I know, I know, what about all of our responsibilities? How are we going to provide for ourselves and our families if we are not spending most of our days earning a living? To this I must reinstate, without health what does any of that stuff matter anyway?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling anyone to quit their jobs and start playing all day, I am just putting out to the universe that we need to get back to our roots. Start getting outside and moving! Go for a walk, take your kids or dogs to the park and shoot some hoops, ask your best friend to go on a bike ride. Find something you enjoy and do it!

How does this relate to fitness though? Isn’t exercise and riding a bike two different categories? We must go to the gym and use a leg press or do some hammer curls to get into shape right? Wrong. Find something physical you enjoy to do and do it! Take up a dance class, join a rock gym or a hiking club, sign up to walk a 5k for a fundraiser. The point is to find an activity that you can enjoy to do and to stick with it. You might be surprised at how much you’ve been missing out in life by sitting in front of the TV and “working” so much. Our bodies are meant to move, not sit around all day at a desk.

I was inspired to write this post because of a video my mom emailed to me. I thought it was an amazing video and felt it could relate directly to how we feel about physical activity and how we are motivated. Just because we don’t necessarily like something doesn’t mean we can’t find another way to go about achieving related goals. For example, growing up as a gymnast, I love to dance. So, when I sign up for a dance class do I sign up for it because I need the exercise? No. I dance because I love to dance, and if I get a workout at the same time, then even better!

Be creative, try different things. Kettlebells are a great way to get strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular exercise at the same time. Z-Health is a great way to prepare the body for any sport. Just get moving! Check out this video from TheFunTheory.com about how we can better ourselves by doing something for the fun of it and let me know what you think.



Good Luck and Great Health!

Same Path…..Wrong Direction…..?

Whether its fitness, nutrition, mental health, daily activities, or simply the way we clean our house, we always get good at what we continually do. The error in this consistency is that we achieve a lot of practice at repeating the same patterns in every aspect of our lives. Many continue along the same path forever, not even recognizing what it is that they are doing, yet still wanting something different. This leads me to the SAID Principle.

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. To sum it up, we get good at what we do. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on our goals and what we are doing to achieve them. For example, if you would like to get better at being more physically active, then you must practice being more physically active. We can’t just think about it and hope it will come, we must put into action what our minds want us to achieve.

How about becoming more physically fit? I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t like to be in better “shape” than they are in now, but the difference is how individuals go about achieving this goal. In Z-Health, we practice moving the body in all positions and directions, in order to get the body good at “moving”. Without starting at the basics how are we going to have a solid foundation to build on? I have noticed this can be quite a misconception when working with new clients. For instance, would it be a good idea to introduce sliding backward lunges to an individual who has never performed a single exercise in their life? Or what about someone who complains of constant back pain; is it logical to have them perform back extensions to make their back “stronger”? Or, one of my personal favorites, individuals who feel they need to do a lot of abdominal work on a medicine ball because someone told them they need to work their “core” more. Are we really focused on the right things here?

If we really sit down and think, it is fairly obvious that if we don’t move our bodies consistently we will lose the ability to move certain parts. We must practice what we have a hard time doing so that it’s not that difficult anymore. Yet, many individuals perform mindless exercises because they have been told these exercises help you get in shape. Well if you ask me, “round” is a shape isn’t it? So what sort of shape are we talking about here?

Like I said before, “Crawl Before Run”. Learn how to move your body so you can safely perform more challenging exercises. Create the new habits that you want to be habits, and practice “letting go” of those patterns that bring you “down” (figuratively or literally).

Until next time.....Good Luck and Great Health!