Home » Fitness and Health
Category Archives: Fitness and Health
So, what do I hear from my Trainer?
Etruscan Art 520-510 B.C Terracotta and Pigment by Epiktetos – The Athletic Trainer
The forked stick held by this man identifies him as an athletic trainer. 
The ancient author Epictetus (A.D. 55-135) vividly describes the role of a trainer in an athlete’s path to victory:
[Athlete:] I wish to win an Olympic victory.
[Trainer:] (If so), you have to submit to discipline, follow a strict diet, give up sweet-cakes, train under compulsion at a fixed hour, in heat or in cold; you must not drink cold water, nor wine just whenever you feel like it; you must have turned yourself over to your trainer precisely as you would to a physician. Then when the contest comes on you, you have to dig in beside your opponent, sometimes dislocate your wrist, sprain your ankle, swallow quantities of sand, take a scrourging; yes, and then sometimes get beaten along with all that.
Common knowledge to the Spartan Running Girl, Marathon Man, Phidippides of yesteryears and today. (Courtesy of Wall Panel with an Athletic Trainer housed at the Getty Villa Malibu)
This is certainly no new fad, certainly to not to the athlete. Trainers have been telling us to “be quiet and get to work or you would not be in my gym”, for a very long time. (520-510 B.C)
This phenomenon is new, however, to 21st century people who:
- Sit in cars for what seems to be an eternity to go sit at computers all day.
- Sit in the same cars to go home and sit at another computer, or be entranced with television and video games..
- Inactivity is further compounded by the choice to eat mindlessly while doing these “activities.”
Take a break. Move, Sweat!
- “Champion” your effort to return to better health with no complaints. The consequences of inactivity are not pleasant.
- Dealing with physical challenges? Move to the best of your ability!
- Work best by engaging family, friends or joining a group of people who are facing the same physical challenge? Do that! There is power in numbers.
- Do what’s right for you. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist.
Submit to discipline, healthy diet, new hours, unfavorable weather, tepid water and lack of sweet-cakes or “donies” as they are called in our house! Train for the Good Life of Health to the best of your ability.
Albert Einstein, Gravity and Exercise
Weighted pant workout for increased intensity rebound work.
Albert Einstein discovered that the human body cannot tell the difference between the forces of acceleration or deceleration and gravity. No one cared about this finding until mirror resistant exercise or rebounding exercise began to hold the interest of those in high levels of the fitness community in the 1970s.
Rebuild balance, stability and strength in hip and lower body with squats executed in slow graduated drops or static holds at different heights. Fires the Glutes!
All forms of exercise depend on opposition to gravity to have any effect at all. If we have no gravity to hold us down we would not be able to walk upright, let alone exercise.
At the beginning of the space program, NASA took this into consideration when thinking about the astronauts’ health returning from space.
Their concern was the effect their space travel would have on their immune system’s suppression of white blood cells.
Why? When in space the lack of gravity hampers the flow of the lymphatic fluid in the body. It has no pump like the heart to move it along. Atrophy sets in and cells in muscles become weak. This flow can be compared to a great ship traveling through a lock. With no gravity or exercise, there is no need or desire to push to get to the next lock in the canal or level of fitness.
Video clip – Weighted Belt Workout for Upper Body strength, balance, stability and flexibility.
NASA utilized grueling exercise for the astronauts to achieve the rebuilding of the active immune system’s cells upon return to earth. On the other hand, the Swiss used a centrifuge to “fool” the cells into believing they were experiencing increased G-Force and the immune system automatically adjusted by becoming 3 times stronger than under normal earth gravity.
Every single cell in the human body responds instantaneously to the increased physical demands generated by the increased gravity caused by a simple mirror resistance/rebounding workout like that provided on Original SANDDUNE™.
Whose side is gravity going to be on today?
Seattle Seahawks or New England Patriots?
Who would Albert choose?
Cardiovascular Health
Beyond Vegetables and Exercise:
5 Surprising Ways to Be Heart Healthy
Sharing information from Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer of LiveScience.com
http://www.livescience.com/35470-five-surprising-ways-to-lower-risk-of-heart-disease-and-stroke-110210.html
Got Snow? Need Sand?
Too much snow, wind and ice for a workout in the fresh air?
***
Maintain or build your physical fitness, coordination and balance indoors with low impact exercise that jump starts your cardio as it simulates running, walking and exercising in the sand. How?
With Original SANDDUNE™ .
***
Call Cynthia @ 714-264-7896
Cardio Burst Short Demo 1:07
Portable, Easy to Store and Simple to Use.
The First Step of 1000 miles
The unique properties of Original SANDDUNE™ provide a cushioning, conforming platform ideal for use in the early segments of a rehabilitation plan. Its surface gently forces the foot’s muscles, tendons and ligaments to stretch as your weight shifts from one foot to the other. Simultaneously your whole body is adjusting to gain its Center of Gravity (COG).
“Toes Down” Stretch
“Toes Up” Stretch
Few balance devices allow the whole foot to sink down into their surface while offering the benefit of allowing your toes to stretch and work individually. Original SANDDUNE’s material and construction allow for these “Toe Cross Fit Workouts.”
Relearning to press each toe, individually, into the floor and then into the SANDDUNE™, is a job many pairs of feet have not done since they were running around barefoot as kids. Try it right now and see how challenging it is! Don’t look down at your feet while you try! Among the select few who use their whole foot besides kids and a select group of athletes are:
- Gymnasts
- Dancers
- Runners in ” nature’s socks” like Abebe Bikila or Zola Budd
- Yoga devotees to name a few (sans yoga socks!).
Peeling The Heel
“Peeling the Heel” is an exercise that promotes greater flexion in the ankle arch, and allows the Achilles to tendon to stretch and strengthen slowly. This means greater ankle strength, and can increase the leg stride. You are now “firing the glutes” and learning to walk from the hip. And getting gentle trigger point therapy for the foot at the same time.
Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.“ Help your toes begin your journey today with Original SANDDUNE! Give them the “Boost of Balance” as your Holiday Season begins!
Sharing a Post – Weighted Medicine Balls are back!
https://www.yahoo.com/health/medicine-balls-are-ancient-fitness-tools-that-keep-99321740852.html
Challenge your Balance, Build Flexibility and Stamina
with Cardio Pumping “Weighted” Workouts
on Original SANDDUNE™!
Weighted Medicine Ball Workout on Original SANDDUNE
Weighted Belt Workout on Original SANDDUNE
Labor Day 2014 – Original SANDDUNE Celebrates Caregivers
Rehabilitation
Caregivers need to keep their Fitness and Vitality in check!
As more and more Baby Boomer age, their adult children are shouldering caregiving for parents, children and grandchildren simultaneously. As a result many tend to forget to take care of themselves. This holds true for Boomers opting to stay at home preferring care from family, usually the spouse who juggles responsibilities with the adult children.
Fitness and healthy eating become a thing of the past. Oftentimes it is the caregiver that everyone depends on who turns into the patient, becoming incapacitated and unable to care for anyone.
Pad & Short Burst Cardio
Original SANDDUNE™ provides a viable answer for many caregivers who are “home bound” and or juggling time between “generational” needs/demands with little backup support more often than not. It creates discipline and provides that valuable time for focus on fitness at home in a time frame that works even if flexibility is part of the equation. Its there, ready for action.
Senior Citizens
With assistance, the gentle low impact exercise that SANDDUNE™ offers, makes it a Fall Prevention exercise alternative to discuss with the doctor or physical therapist for the parents who are frustrated with reduced physical activity and mobility due to weight gain, surgery, illness or injury inclusive of diabetic neuropathy, Parkinson’s, aching knees, or drop foot.
Fun on the SANDDUNE
The unique benefit of Original SANDDUNE™ is created by its ability to provide “mirror” muscle resistance by simulating walking through loose sand at the beach and the light weight, portability and “squishy” surface make it fun and easy for grandkids to use.
Fitness & Train Low Workout
Begin your simulated “beach workout at home” today. Start slow with padding for 15 minutes twice a day and build from there to maintain or begin building that healthy lifestyle of core balance, muscle strength, fitness, vitality, eating and a brighter outlook on Life with Original SANDDUNE™.
Your Internal GPS
Experiencing weight bearing activity on a compliant surface such as the Original SANDDUNE™, engages use of proprioception otherwise known as your internal GPS. Exercise on this apparatus safely recruits muscle fiber without the traditional tearing that occurs on hard surfaces. This is why we suggest padding for at least 2 weeks to become acquainted with the Original SANDDUNE™’s unconventional surface.
This regimen is
a great alternative to letting the body rest after following the workout/fitness pattern of high intensity workout training without loosing the strength and stamina gained in the high intensity workouts.
Original SANDDUNE™ is also an alternative to beginning a regimen that can be part of addressing neuropathy, common in many with diabetes. It is easy on the feet facilitating and encouraging exercise.
Padding is simply walking but keeping your feet in continual contact with the surface. This is suggested for EVERYONE, including high functioning athletic types. Resist the temptation to jog. Why? Because you are retraining every muscle
and joint in your body including long and short muscles closest to the bone.
This is “mindful” centering with the somatasensory body (whole body meaning bottom of foot to brain) – a new way of educating and retraining the foundation of your physical body (neuro pathways) using Original SANDDUNE#™.
Simply holding on to a bar and learning to stand on one leg with your other foot raised slightly above the pad after you have centered yourself or just standing and learning to create small dime size circles clock-wise and counter-clockwise under your foot, noticing how the sensation moves up your legs into the trunk and into the hip sockets, will help you begin to retrain your foundation.
Learning the subtleties of how the body aligns and connects through the resistance option of both uphill and downhill positions teaches postural integrity. The uphill slope is higher and simulates walking uphill. The downhill slope is lower and simulates walking downhill.
Beginning these exercises slowly and building speed and momentum may not feel like much to start, but the results will definitely make themselves known or felt in a relatively short time as the muscle activation becomes stronger and the movement easier. Once you step off and resume walking on a normal surface, you will begin to notice subtle changes in your posture.
This is your new way of educating and retraining the foundation of your core balance, strength and coordination.
Original SANDDUNE™ 