Massage is up next to physical exercise when it comes to being in top mental and physical shape. Every day our bodies are going through many periods of tense situations whether we are conscious of it or not. While we stand we are tense, because our muscles are contracted to hold us upright. While we drive, to hold the wheel to step on the break, to turn our heads. Even when we think we are relaxed, we are tense.
It isn’t until we are on a massage table that we realize how tense we are. While we receive a massage, our bodies start to release the lactate build up our muscles have inside them. While this lactate build up is released, we tend to feel a sense of deep relaxation. This relaxation rejuvenates our bodies and further allows us to go about our day in a sort of trance-like state, almost in a state of Nirvana. Thereafter the massage, we are usually recommended to drink a bottle of water to flush out the toxins that were stored in our muscles and soft tissue.
This was just a short little article, but I will go much further into depth about the benefits of massage.

I would like to invite you to click the link under Health and Wellness if you would like to experience the best massage therapists Orange County have to offer, there in the city of Orange. The Ajasrika Wellness Center gives first time customers a discount on their first massage, which is more than fair from what I have experienced to be an entrancing and spiritual relaxation experience.

Sanja Oropeza, the owner and the best massage therapist I have come to know and to also know her, gives me a sense of peace being around her. As when you are in her presence you feel an ensuing sense of peace and a kind aura, and further having her transfer that energy into your tense muscles will make your experience better than that of any massage therapist in Orange County.

What science has told us is this. We eat to provide fuel for our body to perform basic functions such as a heart beat, breathing, processing information for our brains to work properly, to walk and talk, exercise (if we so choose). But what is the real purpose for eating? If eating was for these purposes only, there would be no reason for 72% of America being overweight. Why is exercise impacting society on a global level? Why do we exercise now? To feel good? To have a feeling of accomplishment? To increase physical performance? To get better as a sport? To know that you’re doing something great for your body, mind, and spirit? There are many reasons people exercise? While all these reasons are great, and many people do exercise for these reasons, none are the primary reason for exercise. Yep you guessed it, the number one reason is to lose weight, second to that is sports performance.

Don’t get me wrong, exercising to lose weight is fantastic and it’s an admirable decision. It takes determination, discipline, and old fashioned hard work. Again, we wouldn’t have to do this if we ate only what we were meant to eat. When I say we, I am not exempt I have eaten terribly before and what’s worse, I used to be a smoker. I was eating terribly, playing Russian Roulette with my life by pretty much asking to get at least one of hundreds, if not thousands of diseases relating to both eating badly and smoking. But I was exercising, so the eating badly was covered right? Wrong! Let me explain. When we are exercising we are placing stress on the body creating oxidation. Oxidation is when we take in oxygen through breathing normally or when we exercise, placing stress on the body at a cellular level creating free radicals which are used to fight off disease. Too many free radicals will overwhelm the body and can be potentially harmful, which may cause disease. I know, it sounds like “A damned if I do and damned if I don’t” situation, but it’s not if you eat correctly, I will explain. I’m sorry I go off in tangents it’s because I like to make sure everything I’m explaining is clear.

Exercising and eating properly go hand in hand. I’m sure you’re saying “yeah I know that.” My question to you is do you eat properly and exercise? Remember we as beings are supposed to eat because we need it as fuel for everyday life. But most of us don’t eat to live do we? ; ). No, we live to eat. Now obviously I’m not writing about something that hasn’t been written before, but I’m hoping to make it stick, so you think about it and make a CONSCIOUS decision to eat what will bring you closer to a healthy life style. But really when you drive how many restaurants do you pass? Fast food, bakeries, sit downs. I’m willing to bet at least 50-100. Everything around us is telling us to eat all the time. Did you know that serving sizes have doubled in size since 1984? I am all for eating, but I am all for eating properly. When we exercise, we get the notion that because we exercise we are aloud to eat more loosely.

Because we eat more loosely when we exercise we don’t give our body the proper nutrition it needs to fuel the process in which we are trying to achieve. While exercising we burn calories, this is obvious to many, and we also increase our metabolism which is actually unknown to many. Your metabolism is the process in which your body is breaking down (catabolism) and building up (anabolism). While we exercise whether it be cardiovascular or resistance, our body is in the process of catabolism. When we are eating and resting, our body is in the process of anabolism. These two combined are called metabolism. When our metabolism speeds up, we burn more calories (fuel) and lose weight. But what comes along with this increase, is an increased appetite. When we are hungry we tend to go for whatever is convenient, which most of the time is fast food. When we eat fast food, we are eating unnecessary calories, which will in turn be stored as fat, which is the main reason we are exercising for. If you have some knowledge of how exercise works, you will probably think to yourself, “it’s ok I’m going to burn it off.” But if you keep going through this cycle, you will gain weight. Why? Your body can only metabolize macro-nutrients (i.e. Protein, Fat, Carboydrates) at the rate at which is required. I can’t tell you what yours is because I don’t know, unless you’re my client.

Do you ever wonder why you’re told to eat 5-6 small meals a day? Since your body only processes so much at a certain time, you will be giving your body a more accurate amount of food. What is great about that too is it keeps your blood sugar stable, so there won’t be any dips in energy. So if you want a productive day, prepare some food in advance and take it with you. You will get to your goal in a faster and more efficient manner. And you will feel great knowing that you ate properly. I don’t know why, but it feels good to eat healthy, it gives me a sense of wellness.

I invite you to try it this way. Exercise and eat properly as I explained above and if you don’t feel great after 3 weeks of doing it diligently, then there is something seriously wrong with you. I’m just kidding : P. I am so confident you will do great I will offer 1 free month of phone guidance, and if you live near my studio, I will train you 1 month 3X per week for free.

Good luck with your new way of life because it will fulfill your soul. It will bring success in more ways than one. It will expand your mind to do great things with yourself and those around you.

All of what I do is for no other reason than Love.

Namaste

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Right now, what is your posture? Are you sitting upright with your shoulders down and back with your chin up as you read this? Or are you rounding your shoulders with your chin tucked in giving yourself a Rosie O’Donnell chin? The purpose of this article is to not only help you look better, but also help you feel better as well.

Let’s start off with the basics of posture. You first want to identify where the problem lies for you. For example, if you have a job or career that has you sitting down in front of a computer all day, you may have the tendency to round your shoulders and tuck in your chin looking down at your computer screen. Or you may be standing all day (ladies this one mainly applies to you) and you notice that you have lower back issues and you also notice that your tummy sticks out a little further too. Or your children (if you have any) are sitting down all day in the class room, wear a back pack to school, their tendencies lean toward slouching in their chairs, and when walking, lean forward with their feet chasing their head, while carrying a heavy back pack.

As you can see there are myriad of details promoting bad posture. The problem is, you do it day in and day out, not giving it much thought. Then you start to wonder (if you haven’t already) why certain areas on your body will ache more than others. But if you glance back at what you did that typical day, you will come to notice where your problem(s) lie.

For guys the main posture problem area lies in your lower back, and will also have slightly rouned shoulders, creating neck pain. For your back, it may be that you are overweight and your stomach is hanging over your waist line. The reason is this, imagine yourself standing at rest, odds are your shoulders are rounded and your stomach is just hanging there. If you could see an X-ray picture of your profile, you will see your lower thoracic and lumbar region (lower part of the spine) being pulled toward your navel (belly button) creating compression causing your muscles to tighten up to support the stress being placed on it from your own fat (I don’t mean to sound crude, but this is most likely to be the case).

As for your neck (ladies you as well) it may be from dropping your head forward to look at the computer screen, not noticing that your chin is also tucked into your chest again giving you that Rosie O’Donnell chin. Guess what happens to your cervical area (top vertebra of your spine). It starts to stretch and when this happens your body starts to adapt to it new position and again muscles tense, thus the neck pain you probably feel right now.

One more posture problem is prevalent in women. Men also have this, so don’t think it doesn’t apply to you fellas. This is when you slouch in a chair or stand (mainly in high heels, this is why I say mainly women, although now a days I shouldn’t be so quick to judge that only women wear high heels). As you stand in one spot for longer than 45 seconds, the top of your pelvis will have a tendency to tilt slightly backward pushing your butt underneath your spine resulting in what is known as “posterior tilt.” Why this effects your lower back as well (if you don’t stretch regularly, and if you did or do, you may probably not have this problem) is this, when you have posterior tilt, that causes your hamstrings to have a little slack, and over time, your hamstrings if not stretched properly, will tighten up. And when they tighten up, your lower back muscles will tighten as well.

So as you can see poor posture will effect you physically in that you will have pain in those problem areas. When you are in pain, more often than not, you are a little cranky. Poor posture will also lead to changes in your body language sending out signals you didn’t think you were sending out, and I will explain why?

Let’s say we have two people, both are men, same height, same age, same body type. But one is walking into a meeting with rounded shoulders, slumped over slightly, chin slightly tucked into his chest, and his abdominal muscles are not contracted. Most of the people that see him will make a subconscious assumption of what they see.

Here is why we think what we think. The rounded shoulders suggest he has a lack of confidence, that is one negative aspect already not in his favor. Being slumped over points to the fact (not assumption) he doesn’t have strengthened muscle keeping him upright, suggesting he is a little older (even though he is not). Another aspect against him before has opened his mouth to speak. And finally having his chin tucked slightly into his chest suggesting he is submissive and passive, always looking down. For example, when wolves are in a pack, the leader always has it’s head up, never down. And when the leader turns around and steps on another wolf’s paw in the same pack, the one that got stepped on bows it’s head down in submission implying that it was wrong for being in the leader’s way. We as humans subconsciously think the same way. Although we are not a primitive species, our brains are wired similarly to all animal species in ways that we communicate.

That being said, it goes to show you that even though we have the ability to verbally communicate what point we want to get across, we still predominantly communicate with posture and body language, but more importantly posture, because that is how we hold ourselves all day most of our lives.

Earlier I wrote about how posture promotes pain free living, because if your poor posture is not effecting you now, it will later on. And if you have scoliosis (like myself) or OA (osteo arthritis) or even worse RA (rheumatoid arthritis) posture is that much more important for staying healthier physically and mentally. So again, be conscious of your posture RIGHT NOW!!! Here is something start you in the right direction. Every hour on the hour, sit up or stand up straight bring your shoulders up, back, and down, bringing your chin parallel with the ground (so you don’t have the Rosie thing going) tuck in your stomach keeping your abs contracted, and that is how your posture should be, and you will have appeared to have lost 10 lbs. in 30 seconds.

P.S. If you liked my article, please comment in the box below, or forward it to someone you think might benefit from it.

Many people have asked which one they should do first when doing an exercise program. I have found that training with weights first is always the best to do when training either for lean muscle or fat loss. Essentially, when you train to build lean muscle you will lose fat, but that subject is for another day. Back to which comes first, and why?

We get better results in weight training first because when we have more energy to lift with, we get more muscle damage and when we get muscle damage, our bodies respond to the stress placed on it by not only repairing the damage, but also building it slightly bigger than it was before (and when I say bigger, we’re talking a fifth of a millimeter) so it will be capable of lifting the amount of weight forced upon our body. And when we have more lean muscle, we burn more calories while being sedentary. Also chemically, we have energy stored in our body to help it perform certain tasks, whether it be a thought, a twitch, lifting and closing your eye lid, running, lifting your body weight and then some, all that we do has an energy source behind it. What mainly fuels our muscles while we perform physical activity is glycogen (sugar). About 95% of the glycogen in our body is stored in the muscles. In an intense exercise routine, we expel pretty much all of that glycogen. So whether we do cardio or weights, glycogen is used.

If we do cardio first, a good portion of that glycogen has been used, so that leaves little for the weights, where the main emphasis should be placed. Most of the time one should do weights first except when training for an event that directly involves cardio-specific training.

I look at exercise in this way, weight or resistance training is like a savings account. When you put money into a savings account you earn interest over time, and the more you put in, the more interest you get. The same goes with weight or resistance training, you burn calories while you are training, and you also burn calories at a higher rate while you are sedentary because your body is taking the nutrients you consume to fuel the process of rebuilding the muscles to an even greater size than before. The more muscle you have, the more calories are burned while being sedentary or less active.

On average 1 lb. of muscle will burn 50 calories per day. If you were to put on 10 lbs. of muscle over the period of 1 year, your body would be burning an extra 500 calories per day, doesn’t sound like much, but when you add it up, that comes to 3500 calories per week or 1 lb. of fat. Over a years time that is 52 lbs. of fat you are burning while being sedentary, talk about a savings account, that’s more like a hedge fund!!

Now don’t get me wrong, cardio is a necessity on a fat loss program. But it is better to do weight training. Cardio is like a checking account, while it is good to have that account it doesn’t give you return, but it does have it’s place. While you are doing cardio, you are burning calories, but when you’re finished, you’re not getting residual calorie burn as with the weights. Cardio is good to do to keep the heart strong and give an extra calorie burn at the end of your resistance routine.

Also when you do cardio, first, the first 20 or so minutes, you are burning glycogen, not fat. usually at the 30 minute mark is when you start to burn fat. When you do weights first, most of the glycogen is depleted and right when you start the cardio, not only is your heart rate up, but you are in the aerobic stage of the energy process. When you are in the aerobic stage, oxygen is used and when oxygen is being used, fat that is stored under the skin, which is called subcutaneous fat, is being burned off, and the better and more effective the cardio will be.

I hope I didn’t lose you, you may comment or ask me a question if you need clarification. Anyways that is what I found to be most effective when trying to decide which to do first, Weights or Cardio? If you found that the other way works better for you, kudos, like I say if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. ; )

What is it about a smile? How many days, and lives have been changed, just from one simple, sincere smile?
One person I would really like to commend for this one is my Mother, Laurie Kittredge. In every day life my Mother has always said, “let me see those pearly whites.” Always when she said those words would I smile (even though I would try not to). And also what words still I remember her saying like it was yesterday, ” now, don’t smile, don’t smile, are you smiling?!” I couldn’t help but to throw a huge smile out there, because she genuinely wanted to see my happy, and I got that at such a young age, but never thought about it consciously.
To me, and I’m sure many others would agree, my Mom is beautiful and when she smiles at someone, always, and I mean always, they would smile back. How many days were brightened because of her smile? It is so easy to do, yet some people will remember that for a life time. Like laughing, it’s contagious!
When one smiles, if it truly sincere, how many times do you think you will get a negative response? I am not going to tell you, because it is so needed it would be better for you to experiment and find out for yourself. People now are so scared by the media, that in their own minds they think (and again I have been guilty of this myself) “every one is looking at my. . . whatever it is that they feel insecure about. What most don’t realize is that nobody cares about you!!!! Everyone is always worried about themselves and think the whole world is looking at their insecurities.
Keeping that in mind, if you want to make someone else’s day brighter, SMILE! Nothing says I’m happy, I like you, lets be friends like a smile!! I will bet that people will be able to tell that you are smiling even over the phone.
Try this, get it in your head, no matter what, that you are going to smile at everyone you see that day. If you are unhappy, force yourself to smile. The feeling will follow the action. When you smile at someone (and this isn’t rocket science, although it may be if you don’t do it often) it will make them feel acknowledged and to feel acknowledged is to feel important and that they see nothing wrong with me, in fact it makes me feel they like something in me. How does it make you feel? I would imagine along the same lines as myself.
All of what I had just written was not from me (atleast the idea). It was by an author with the utmost influence in the world, Dale Carnegie. He had it down, so much advice to give, but so far, that is my favorite. Because instead of just taking his word for it, I do it myself, everyday no matter what.

P.S. If, you meet me, and smile at me with sincerity, it will change my life only for the better, never worse.
P.P.S. I always enjoy reading your comments, it makes me smile!

Keep in mind, I’m not an English major so if it seems a little mis-matched, it’s my ADD kickin in, so bear with me.
In society today (and I don’t believe I’m letting some big cat out of the bag) we tend to want what we see in advertising, i.e. the perfect smile, amazing hair, soft skin, a great body, lots of money. We believe that this is going to make us happy because everyone in the pictures is smiling appearing to have a good time. But in reality when I do see most of these people, they don’t look that way. When I smile at them, a good portion of the time, (and I have been guilty of this in the past) they avert eye contact and they aren’t smiling, tell me if I’m wrong, but does that point to happiness? It seems more like insecurity. We get it in our heads that the world is looking at us and this is a problem because in reality no one cares. We all want what someone else has, and it ends up becoming a vicious circle. Sorry to be so frank, but that is how it is. Why is that? I honestly couldn’t tell you, but what I do know is that way of thinking and being doesn’t have to be. We are always thinking about what the problem is. Where did it come from? Why do I think this way? Instead of living in the problem, live in the solution. For example if you do find out what the problem is, and it’s not what you thought it was, would you be able to face it in your current way of problem solving? Let me put it this way. If your house caught on fire (knock on wood), and during the fire would you say “now what could have started this fire?” Duh!!! No!! you would call 911 and have them first put out the fire. Then later find out what caused it. Trust me, I had to find this out the hard way. And don’t waste time planning what to do. ACTION is the key word here. This is a quote that I really liked from this guy named Steve Hochman. “It is better to make 1000 mistakes than do 0 things perfect.” He has a really motivational site called Stevehochman.com. Anyway, what I’m getting at is the only way to get into the state of mind I believe is the way to be in is to LIVE IN THE SOLUTION and that is why I choose fitness and wellness, because I want others to feel as I do…..FREE. How sweet is that word? Fitness helps a lot with that because it promotes health, and when you have your health, you have everything you need to take on life and be FREE. Live how you want to live and be how you want to be, with no one but yourself telling your mind how to think and how to problem SOLVE. Just food for thought.

P.S. I would really like you to comment. I learn and grow from your feedback.

Let’s face it there’s no way around training abs. Ab training is essential if we want a well rounded physique, and if you’re like me, doing ab-specific exercises is usually not in the “whoopdeedoo” category. In fact, the best way to develop a well rounded physique(specifically a stronger core) is to do exercises that involve the entire body. I will give you a routine that is going to directly stimulate muscle growth and kick-start your metabolism into overdrive to show off your hard earned results.

Start off with a light warm-up, jog in place or pretend jump rope for 3-5 mins. A light stretch in areas you have noticable tightness would be good as well. This routine is going to be a circuit so no rest will be involved unless you feel you queezy or light headed.

1. 30 body wt. jump squats
2. 15 regular push ups or 20 modified
3. plank on toes for 20 seconds (make sure you suck in your belly button to your spine)
4. for this one try to knock the wall over (using yourself only! push against it and hold for 30 seconds)

Repeat circuit 3 times.
After you finish, you will be toast, and will feel great! Enjoy!!!

Working your legs will use significantly more calories than other body parts due to there size and the time it takes to recover. Since your legs take longer to recover, your metabolism will be raised for a longer period of time. Finally, your body is a very intelligent machine, it does like to have imbalances. If you start to develop a lot of lean body mass on your upper body while your legs maintain the 12 year old girl look (unless that’s the look you’re going for), your body is going to recognize this. To prevent your body from developing muscular imbalances your body can and will prevent you from retaining any more lean body mass until your imbalance has been corrected. And for you men, no matter how hard you train and no matter much protein you eat, you will not put anymore size onto your body. Not to mention the fact that your potential upper body strength will never be reached. One of the most successful men and one of the most hardcore bodybuilders I have ever met said “you want a bigger bench you need to squat, you want a bigger back, you need to do deadlifts.” Those are words of Chuck Williams. You can see what he used to look like in his prime on www.youtube.com, this was back in the 1984 Mr. Olympia. I also asked him what he thought the most important muscles to train were. Big surprise, “gotta train wheels baby!”

Here’s what you do; chocolate! Easy huh? I’m just kidding (I mean, that would work temporarily, but it’s not recommended and you would have another reason to be depressed). Planning out a diet isn’t easy, and when you’re not motivated it’s a little harder to do. There are calories you need to count, you have to cook the food, plan when you’re going to eat it, what you’re going to eat. It’s frustrating! But the benefits far out weight the preparation frustration. I suffer from depression myself, but getting on a clean and organized diet and exercise program eliminated that fairly quickly. When people say “cleanliness is next to Godliness” they aren’t lying! To me that is so true. Not just organizing my diet, but everything, taking inventory of my life, i.e. car, bank account, bathroom, kitchen, bedroom. keeping track of clients, family, fun in my life, EVERYTHING!!
You want a diet rich in complex carbohydrates such as: oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain, sweet potato, vegetables. Reason being, carbohydrates are your main energy source and precursors to seretonin (a happy chemical in your brain). Also protein is important for your brain, muscles, hair, nails, skin, and Liver. Foods that have high amounts of protein: fish, chicken, turkey, beef, pork, beans, nuts, and whole grains.
Ideally you want to space your meals out 3 hours apart. That will stimulate your metabolism and regulate your blood sugar (blood sugar affects your mood and energy level). A good way to find out how many grams of protein you should eat for your body weight is to multiply 2 by your weight in kilograms (1 kilogram=2.2 lbs). Example a 175 lb man should consume 159 grams of protein per day. And for your carbohydrates, multiply your weight in kilograms by 4.5. As a general guideline, that will vary on your weightloss or weight gain goals. Divide the numbers you come up with by 5 and that is how many grams of each you should eat per meal throughout your day. A piece of chocolate here and there won’t hurt either! Remember that 85% of the way you look and feel is through your diet.