Yay!

anyway, you might like to have a look at my new Gold Coast personal training web site and see if it suits your needs locally.

Cheers for now…

Nice pic yes?

Here is a link to the Fabulous Magazine Survey which gives us the true picture of how men view the women in their lives.

So just who is telling women to starve themselves?

I think this relates to an article on body shape I wrote at the Fitness by Phone blog.
Why can’t women see themselves as beautiful, instead of trying to reach some mythical ideal promoted by self serving interests?

What do you think of our ladies above?

Please leave a comment…

Live long. Live well.
Rick

Anyway my left shoulder got painful all of a sudden and I couldnt raise my left arm up above horizontal in any direction.

Sound familiar? Being left handed it became a real lifestyle bother.

This shoulder pain was very debilitaiting, so I went and did the usual things with my doctor and eventually we got an ulstrasound scan. The diagnosis was a mild tendinopathy (tendinosis) of the supraspinatus tendon.

This paticular tendonitis will occur in about 1/3 of us as we age, because of the way our shoulder blade is made. There is a spot where the supraspinatus tendon can pinch if it becomes inflamed or in my case, filled with too much calcium.

Anyway after some physio treatment which didnt work, I eventually discoverd a way to treat myself and it was a success. If you are interested in finding out a bit more then I recommend you go to shoulderpainfixed and see what they have to offer.

In addition to what they told me to do, I stopped taking anti-inflammatories and within 3 months my shoulder was back to almost normal. I say almost becauue although it is completely pain free, I have some small issues with range of movement, which I don’t think I can fix - too old and too bashed up.

Now three months may sound like a long time but consider the alternatives.
Cortisone shots, which damage the tendon tissue long term and weaken it substantially. Who wants torn tendons as they get older because of some pain killing shots? And the core problem is still there.
Anti-inflammatories, which may or may not help, but don’t treat the underlying problem either.
Imagine what long term use does to your stomach and system knowing what we know now of how dangerous they can be (remember Vioxx?).
An operation? For what, to remove some liquid containing calcium? I am not a fan of surgery, except if it is a last resort, or the only way to fix something. Plus can you afford it and the time off from work, plus the rehabilitation time?

No.

Some types of shoulder pain needn’t be a lifestyle problem if you are willing to put time and effort and education into taking care of yourself.

Live Well, Live Long
Rick

I was researching baby boomers and what results they expect from a wellness program.
During my research I discovered a survey that asked 25,000 people aged 40 and above (from around the world) what they wanted regarding a program and the professionalism of delivery of that program.

It seems hiring a personal trainer is definitely in fashion.

Here are the survey results in order:

1. Educated and experienced fitness professionals
2. Exercise programs for children to fight childhood and adolescent obesity
3. Personal training
4. Strength training
5. Core training
6. Special fitness programs for older adults
7. Pilates
8. Functional fitness
9. Swiss ball
10. Yoga
11. Exercise and weight loss
12. Spinning (indoor cycling)
13. Sport-specific training
14. Balance training
15. Group personal training
16. Outcome measurements
17. Comprehensive health promotion programming at the worksite
18. Reaching new markets
19. Worker incentive programs
20. Wellness coaching

From the above, and my own experience it seems that a lot of people are willing to get involved in exercise and wellness, but have had some sort of trouble in the past with trainers who are not in tune with their clients needs. You know the type - the young bloke or gal who are fit as a fiddle and have little idea of the sorts of problems us baby boomers can have…

This is one reason why I ask people to get a doctors clearance before they start with me.
And is the reason why we ask about any pre-existing injuries or conditions or things that may have happened in the past (like motor vehicle accidents) that may have left some underlying residual damage that will become evident if a gung ho approach is used.

As an example I went over the top of a vehicle from a motorbike when young, and it has left some shoulder damage which becomes evident only if I do certain exercises with heavy loads. Which then can cripple me for a few days if not careful. You might have something similar lurking in your back ground.

This is why I use a very graduated approach with every client (based on ten years of successful experience and application), and tell you why we are doing things the way we do, so you can understand how your body works, and how it uses fuel and fat.

I believe I can’t educate my clients enough about how a wellness program (or lack of one) affects them.

Stay well and live your life.

Fitness By Phone is expanding it’s reach and ability to communicate with clients all over the world because of technologies like Skype and the internet.

Now you have no excuses

Stay healthy.
Rick

So be careful of what you ingest. Never take anything for granted. Have a great day.

I had my caltrac on and my Polar 2000 heart rate monitor. The heart rate monitor is the key to these workouts, because together we have set some small goals over the scheduled 15 minute period. interval training is simply a situation where you train for a couple of minutes at a certain exertion level, then back off for a couple of minutes, then again at ever higher exertion levels.

The exertion is a 1-10 scale where 1 is no exertion and 10 is so much exertion you can hardly breathe

We were looking for an average heart rate of 65-75% of max, and a maximum heart rate of about 85%. And the perceived exertion was to be about 7 or 8 out of 10.

Pretty good - I averaged 79% and maxed out at 104%. With an exertion level of 10. I literally couldn’t breathe unless I consciously used my diaphragm a lot more than usual. LOL but I feel great.

BTW, I used 240 calories to do the 16 minutes of exercise, so I am on track to burn my 450 plus for the day extra through movement.

The more I use Fitness by Phone principles for my own health training, the more convinced i become of its usefulness to virtually anybody. You can’t help but win

Cheers

Anyway here is what it sums up as vital behaviour when losing weight.

“take care to focus on strategies that focus on behaviour, not outcomes. You already know what you want to achieve (weight loss and good health) - now you want to learn what to DO. Be leery of vague advice. people make mistakes and yet find a way to quickly get back on track. If you fail to follow your dietary and fitness plan one day it should cue you to look for where you went wrong so you can take corrective action - not to take a one time “failure” as a sign you won’t be able to succeed and thus give in to your cravings”.

How often has that happened to you? I still have to fight this thought process myself…

At Fitness by Phone we use a DAILY action plan, which shows you what to DO each day to lose weight and get fit.
Each day ads up incrementally. Every pound you lose is made up of ounces lost each day you behave in the correct fashion.

The Fitness by Phone motivational activity monitors show you if you are on track, every day. And if you do overindulge or miss an activity session, no big deal.

I was lost without my Caltrac (it fell off on a motorbike ride just before I left for the USA) and even though I thought I was doing OK, I actually gained 3 kg over 3 weeks of holidays and fun.

The more I use Fitness by Phone with my own FbP coach, and with my existing clients, the more impressive it becomes.
I urge anyone who has had trouble staying on a weight loss program to try it. The guarantee is strong, and has never been exercised in the 10 years Fitness by Phone has been in business.

Simply, Fitness by Phone works.

Cheers
Rick Rakauskas

Discover how to stop making feeble excuses that keep you fat, unwell, and shorten your life by decades.