I recently heard reference to a university study of cat behavior that showed that cats stretch between 150-250 times per day.
What the heck does this have to do with you?
This is interesting because numerous studies in humans have shown that stretching reduces the incidence of a bunch of problems including: arthritis, osteoporosis, loss of mobility, low energy, even depression and low self-esteem.
The background reference also indicates that cats have low rates of aging complications and tend to retain their strength, mobility, and energy through middle/advanced ages better than many other mammalian species.
Would you like to retain or improve your levels of strength, mobility and energy as you advance in age?
If you’ve ever watched "fluffy" for any period of time you may have noticed that he stops to move his joints through a full range of motion nearly every time he gets up. Either stretching out through the paws or arching and extending his back, yawning.
He never takes a break for 15 minutes of stretching, but he moves every joint in his body at some point in the day without too much extra effort.
Give the cat’s method of stretching a shot. You don’t have to schedule it in, or sign up for a class. Just think about it and start today.
Every time you get up today (or any time you think about it) move an area of your body through it’s full range of motion. This could be as simple as a couple of head tilts or full extension of your arms and hands. Simple movements could easily add up to 100+ times a day.
Without too much effort you will find yourself with more energy, greater mobility and a significantly reduced chance of injury.
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Why do so many avid runners end up injured from this activity that they love so much?
This has been a question that I have been content to answer with something as simple as "don’t run". I really haven’t been much of a fan of running as a form of exercise given the number of injuries I’ve seen as a direct result of distance running.
Lately I’ve been thinking more about running….. There has to be a better way.
If the human body was designed to run, then we should be able to do it without getting injured.
The thought started when I looked at a picture of an American ultra-marathon runner in stride next to a Mexican Indian runner. I noticed that the American was wearing cushioned running shoes with his heel ready to hit the ground. The Mexican, in contrast, was wearing sandals (nothing more than leather soles tied to his feet)and in his very relaxed stride his foot was poised to strike the ground on his forefoot.
Which one was more efficient?
I found that there is a small movement of runners and scientists that are advocating a forefoot running style. The most prevalent of the bunch seems to be Dr. Nicolas Romanov’s "Pose Method"
that teaches what appears to be a very efficient technique for distance runners. A google search on
"forefoot running" will also yield a number of very interesting articles and debates.
My initial opinion is that the forefoot technique is a far better option for the body.
One of the best indicators in my mind is to take a look at the shoes:
A typical heel strike runner needs a heavily cushioned shoe that absorbs the shock of each stride and supports the muscles, joints and tendons of the foot.
The flatter,very flexible, lightly cushioned shoe of a forefoot runner (think of track shoes), allow the muscles, and joints of the foot to dissipate force and manage the load of each stride, utilizing the appropriate amount of muscle activation throughout the kinetic chain to actually adapt to the activity.
Bottom line, the foot works the way it was designed in conjunction with the body in a forefoot stride, while a heel strike stride utilizes the compensations of a shoe to make distance running possible.
As I have been playing with this myself, something else about a forefoot running technique that I have noticed….. It’s going to take more time to adapt to running long distances. The small muscles in the feet and lower legs need to be strengthened and thus, won’t allow for putting in much more distance than you are ready for. This more gradual addition of volume should prove more appropriate for the body and keep the process injury free.
Perhaps we simply need to take the time to learn the right way for each of our bodies to run. Running is one of the few activities that we tend to be pushed into practicing with more and more volume over a lifetime, without ever getting any coaching or instruction on doing it right. Practice does not necessarily make perfect.
This may be more of a question than an answer at this point, but take some time to think about it. There may be a way to run for a lifetime without pain or injury.
Let me know what you think.
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Take time today to appreciate the opportunities and freedom that you have available to you.
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles… but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."
Buddha
Continuing to be dependent on the past or the future, we cannot fully recognize the independence we have worked so hard to attain.
Live Today!
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CHICAGO — Is it OK for doctors and parents to tell children and teens they’re fat? That seems to be at the heart of a debate over whether to replace the fuzzy language favored by the U.S. government with the painful truth — telling kids if they’re obese or overweight. Read the Full Article Here
This is getting out of control… I am very particular about the words we use and the ways in which they effect our quality of life. But, the use of more "politically correct" words to soften a serious situation or spare the feelings of someone that has put himself in that bad situation, is not solving anything.
Obesity is a problem. It’s not too many years ago that activists fought to classify obesity as a disease. The good news about this disease is that it has a number of very effective treatments and cures.
Have you ever heard arguments over weather to tell kids they have cancer? "Maybe we shouldn’t call it cancer, because cancer sounds like a mean word" It’s ridiculous!
If someone is diagnosed with cancer, they are told honestly, given treatment options and then, in most cases, fight like hell to beat the disease.
Obesity should be dealt with in exactly the same way. If it’s a disease, it should be diagnosed honestly, treatment options clearly explained and then fight like hell to get better.
Here’s the big difference: If you’re diagnosed with cancer and sit around feeling sorry for yourself, you usually get painfully sick and die fairly quickly.
If you’re diagnosed with obesity and sit around feeling sorry for yourself, you can continue to live a relatively normal life until you develop other problems as a result of the obesity, which may be years down the road.
In terms of diseases, obesity is a pretty good deal. If it were approached like any other disease and fought with real commitment, it can be cured and many of it’s adverse affects can actually be reversed.
We really need to stop tip toeing around this obesity epidemic and start treating it like the problem that it is. Let’s be honest about it and fight like hell to make ourselves and our kids better.
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My wife and I went out to play golf this morning. We both tee’d off and hit shots that had less than desirable results. Since we didn’t get to the course in time to warm up, we both decided to take a "mulligan" and hit another ball off the tee.
We arrive at our playable balls in the fairway, when a woman drives up to us in her cart and exclaims "if you guys are going to be taking practice shots, then we are going to catch up to you and be "pushing" you, when that happens you will need to let us play through." (we were playing as a twosome and they were two couples playing as a foursome, which under almost any circumstance would make their play take longer. There was also a group directly ahead of us.)
Of course there is nothing wrong with asking a slower golfer ahead of you to let you play through, but the fact that she had made an assumption that we would be slowing their round and made the effort to voice her concerns in such a condescending manner, made me think…..
What benefit do any of us have in assuming a problem and spending time or effort to solve it before it materializes?
At that point the only thing you have done is put yourself in a mindset to look for problems.
If the problem never happens you have wasted your time and energy, and perhaps you have involved someone else in your negative views.
Have you ever noticed that as soon as you start consciously looking for something, you see it everywhere? Like that new car that you have "never" seen before, suddenly you see them all over town.
If you spend your time looking for problems, you will most certainly find them.
Given this choice, I suggest that you invest your time looking forward to more positive outcomes.
Remember, you tend to find what you pay attention to. With a positive focus you are far less likely to find yourself with problems at all. If you do run into something problematic, you will have the ability to quickly find a positive solution and move forward effectively.
Focus on what you want!
You will be much more likely to end up with exactly what you want, and you will certainly be living you life with much less wasted time and energy.
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Here’s another one of my simple nutrition tips:
CHEW YOUR FOOD!
Part of the trouble with the typical American diet is that people are in such a hurry that they simply don’t take enough time to actually digest the food they put in their mouth.
Up to 30% of the digestive process is designed to take place in the mouth and act of chewing actually sends signals to the rest of the system to begin the efficient metabolism of those ingested nutrients.
Your grandmother probably told you something like "chew your food 20 times" … That’s a good start. Or you may have heard "chew your liquids and drink your solid foods" meaning chew all foods until they become nearly liquid in your mouth and even chew a couple of times when taking in beverages to start the digestive process. Good advice in either case. For now, let me just suggest that you make an effort to chew everything twice as long as you think is necessary.
This will also slow down the pace of eating and may give you the opportunity to recognize that you feel full with less food.
Take the time to enjoy the foods you eat. Even if you don’t change any of the things you eat, you will make a significant difference in the way your body looks and feels by simply chewing the food completely.
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A training session doesn’t always need to be a structured event that happens around specific exercises. With a little creativity, you can make some of your everyday activities into training sessions by simply applying an addtional purpose.
For example: I needed to get the cars washed today and didn’t have time to fit in my energy system training and wash the cars before my appointements for the day. So, I decided that if I put on a weighted vest and washed the cars as normal, I could get both things done at once. Wow! What a huge difference taking care of a normal task with an extra 30 pounds on my body. It felt great to be burning some extra calories and getting work done at the same time.
Look around. Could a few extra trips up and down the stairs make a difference? How about walking to the grocery store?
Get a little more involved in playing with your kids, that’s an easy way to get the heart rate up.
Walking through the mall? Throw on a back pack with some heavy items in it.
Carry your golf bag around the course today, instead of using the cart. Add a squat each time you need to pick up your ball.
Be creative, move a little more, just have fun with it and be proud that you have taken definite steps toward better fitness.
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I took a little road trip up the northern California coast this past weekend in an attempt to escape the temperatures in the valley that were pushing 110 degrees.
During the drive at one point I became fixated on something in the rear view mirror…Now, I can’t remember if it was one of the stunning vistas of that stretch of coastline or one of the huge trucks threatening to run us down and devour our little car…. In either case, my attention was drawn away from my course of travel. Finally, I look glance back toward the road, adrenaline rushed through my body as I stomp on the brakes and narrowly avoid disaster….
A big brown cow had wandered onto the middle of the highway! That’s certainly something you don’t expect.
Had I not been fortunate enough to look up when I did, the event of hitting that cow, at that speed, on that stretch of road, would have been potentially fatal for all parties involved.
The thing I realized after this experience is that many of us spend most of our life fixated on the things in our own “rear view mirror”. We have been told by many an “expert” that the best indicators of the future are in the past. We validate who we are by the performances of the past. Look for the reasons we are who we are by the things that happened to us as children. Spend countless hours trying to figure out what went wrong with this or that.
If we spend so much time fixated on what’s happened in the past, how can we have a clear picture of where we are going?
If it happened behind you, it’s behind you and there’s nothing you can do to change what’s already happened. I don’t care how many “experts” have told you different, you cant’ change the past.
The only place you have control is in the road ahead. Had I been looking forward I would have seen the cow, I definitely could have avoided her and perhaps would have seen something remarkable in the process.
Stop fixating on the rear view of your life! If something doesn’t go as planned, let it go. It was just a result.
You will avoid disaster by seeing the unexpected up ahead and You can change the result of the future by focusing on what you want that lies ahead of you.
Drive forward!
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I just looked outside my window and noticed three birds sitting on my fence.
If one of those birds decided to fly away, how many birds would there be on the fence?
I ask a question similar to this very often. About 98% of the time I get the same answer… "There would be two birds left on the fence"
I’m sorry! Try again.
The answer is… All three of the birds are still on the fence. I said that the one bird decided to fly away, but the mere decision to fly doesn’t mean that he actually did anything about it.
This is an important distinction because, all to often, we decide to do things and then think that we have failed when we don’t get the result we wanted. When in reality there was no action taken that could have moved you closer to the outcome you wanted.
How about this situation….
You decide you’re going to go on a diet and lose some weight this month. End of the month comes around and you really don’t see the weight loss you were expecting, so you tell yourself that diets just don’t work.
If you look back, you will probably find that your "decision" was followed by weak actions that lasted no more than a day or two.
Good decision does not equal a better outcome. A Good decision plus committed action creates a successful outcome.
Practice making better decisions by realizing that a decision doesn’t mean anything unless you actually do something about it.
In my book STOP WORKING OUT!
I explain this process in detail as well as some specific actions that you can take toward your decision to create a healthier, better looking body.
Never leave the site of a decision without acting upon it!
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Summer officially started this morning at 5:26 A.M. PDT.
Today will bring us 14 hours and 47 minutes of sunshine… Get out and enjoy some of it.
Sometimes Fitness is just about taking the time to appreciate what our world gives us.
Make today a great day!
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