inerTRAIN Blog
January 29, 2012
Straighten Up!
 Did you know that in LESS THAN ONE SECOND you can:
– reduce your waist by up to 2 inches?
– flatten your belly instantly?
– gain as much as 2 inches in height?
– lower your blood pressure?
– increase your aerobic capacity by as much as 25%?
– restructure the way your body looks?
– set your body to actually begin "spot reduction" of body fat!?
How? It’s simple!
STAND UP STRAIGHT! SIT UP STRAIGHT!
When you slouch, here’s what happens:
Your hips push forward and your lower back excessively curves inward causing your internal organs to push out as much as 2 inches (causing "tummy bulge"). The bottom third of your lungs compress and receive very little air. Your heart also compresses and has to work harder to beat. Your aorta becomes bent and compressed, so the heart has to beat even harder to push blood through it. Excessively poor posture causes your thighs to become disproportionately large. Your glutes lose their firmness. Your lower back muscles atrophy and upper back muscles become rounded and constantly tense, causing constant tension on your neck and shoulder muscles. Your shoulders fall slightly forward, causing your neck muscles to be constantly tense and your neck discs become compressed. You get frequent headaches, your head falls forward, and your chin tilts too far up.
The long-term effects of poor posture are terrible. You may suffer from lower back pain, neck pain, digestive problems, or respiratory problems.
Poor posture can wreak havoc on your appearance, too. People with poor posture do not typically have a confident look to them. Alternatively, lean, fit people with good posture appear confident, feel less fatigue while sitting and standing, ache less, and are aware of the effect their posture has on their health and their appearance.
A lack of flexibility—and to a slightly lesser extent, strength—is directly related to your posture. Poor posture leads to both tight hamstring and front hip muscles, and your lower back muscles can become tight, too. As your muscles become tighter, your posture gets worse. As your posture gets worse, your muscles become even tighter. It becomes a never-ending cycle.
So, how do you fix bad posture? Working on strength and flexibility is a good start, but, to improve your posture, you need to constantly be aware of it. Just like with eating, you have to practice good habits.
You will also need to retrain your muscles. At first, some of your muscles will ache and may be a little sore. This is a good sign—your muscles are learning new positions, and after a few days, your muscles will be used to the new posture. You will begin to breathe better. You will feel less physical fatigue sitting and standing. Eventually, your body will start to feel uncomfortable if you return to the poor posture.
Your body is a system of levers—a structural unit, like a building or a bridge. It has a system of balances and counterbalances that help it stand, sit, and move about. Change any part of that structure and it could fall apart. Fortunately, the human body is an adaptive mechanism. When poor posture occurs over a few months or years, the human body must balance itself according to that position. It will actually add fat and add or take away muscle to very specific areas, just like engineers have to add to areas of a structure that may be unstable to keep its balance. With poor posture your body will bloat the size of your thighs and remove muscle from your glutes (the cause of "saggy butt"), chest, and shoulders. It will add fat to your belly to counterbalance your hips.
Before, I mentioned that good posture could actually promote spot reduction of fat. This doesn't mean that you can choose where to lose fat, but it does mean that it might be easier to lose fat in certain areas on your body. Ongoing research in New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands, and Sweden has revealed that enhancing posture will actually reduce stored body fat in very specific areas like the abdominals, hips, thighs, and waist, while not changing other areas. Coincidentally, these are the areas with which people seem to be the most concerned when it comes to losing fat.
Observe the people around you that have bad posture. Look for common body structures. Then, try observing people that have good posture. They, too, have common body structures.
Are you sitting up straight right now? Practice this skill for a few months to feel and see the difference that good posture can make.
In Health,
January 25, 2012
Sportuality: a perspective on sport & competition
 This blog post is authored by guest writer Jeanne Hess, a member of the board of Perpetual Motion Fitness Corporation (parent company of inerTRAIN); volleyball coach, professor of physical education, and department chair at Kalamazoo College; and author of newly-published Sportuality: Finding Joy in the Games.
In January of 2009, I sat down at my computer and began to type out the skeleton of what was to become Sportuality: Finding Joy in the Games, which came out last week. I had thoughts about words commonly used in sport, that when reconsidered to their original root became more useful in teaching peace and joy in our culture.
One of the first words I thought about was ‘competition’, with its Latin root as ‘competere’ which means ‘to work with’. Not against. With.
What a paradigm shift to realize that those whom we often call enemy within sport are actually helping us work better, more effectively and to our highest potential. Imagine our culture if all who were involved in sport from the youngest ages of AYSO soccer and little league to the pro ranks understood and practiced working with rather than against.
Sportuality examines other words in the same way: community, communication, enthusiasm, religion, spirit, humor, education, holy, sanctuary, sacrifice and victory. In the end, hopefully the reader can reflect accordingly and adjust his or her thinking to thoughts of love, peace and joy rather than of hate and violence.
In this election year, we will hear several references to sport as we “war” with the other – or those who don’t share our views. For example, Barack Obama is in Sportuality, as being a community organizer who used basketball as a means of connections within his community, then on the campaign trail, and brought it to the White House.
I believe the ideas in this book are boundless; that one can use it as a tool for reflection and personal growth. It can be a workbook for teams or groups as a means to start positive conversation. Whatever it becomes, it is out of my hands and into yours. Use it for peace. Use it for love. Use it for JOY!
For more information on the book, please click here.
December 23, 2011
Happy Holidays from the inerTRAIN team!
December 20, 2011
The Restorative Power of Rest
 Technology is increasing the pace of our everyday lives and the length of the day. Thomas Edison believed that people didn't need as much sleep as they were getting, and he developed the light bulb with the belief that most people wouldn’t need to sleep. The Internet and our transition into the Information Age have expanded upon this idea. Our hustling lifestyle means that people are staying awake longer at night, getting up earlier, and getting less and less sleep.
A lack of sleep is not only counter-productive, but it is also dangerous. For example, more traffic fatalities are caused by someone falling asleep at the wheel than by drunk driving. Arming yourself with information about the importance of a good night’s sleep and applying it to your life can dramatically improve your overall health and well-being.
Have you ever…
- driven while drowsy or even almost fallen asleep while driving?
- felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue all day, many days in a row?
- had a lot of trouble holding your eyes open at work?
- made mistakes at work or school because you were too tired to think straight?
- been easily irritated with coworkers, friends, or family members because you're so tired?
If any of these are familiar to you, you are probably severely sleep deprived! How do you know if you are suffering from sleep deprivation? Easy. Do you need an alarm clock to wake you at your normal time in the morning? If so, you are sleep deprived.
Getting the right amount of sleep will do more for your life than any other health change you can make and is by far your most precious health habit. If you work on your sleep habits for three weeks you will say to yourself, “I never knew what feeling awake is actually like!” You will have much more energy throughout the day, will feel better, and will notice an improvement in your attitude. Plus, you will probably find that changing sleeping habits will be a bit easier than other habits you might want to change.
Here are some general guidelines to help you sleep:
- Know your most productive time. Are you a lark, or an owl? Do you like getting up early in the morning, or staying up late? Are you more productive in the morning or late afternoon and evening?
- Most people need at least 8 hours of sleep per night. Recent research has found that most people would do better on 10 hours. High school students should get at least 10 hours of sleep.
- Use your bed only for sleep and/or sexual activity. Don't watch TV in bed. Try not to even read in bed. Get your mind to associate your bed with sleep.
- Try to get to bed 15 minutes earlier each week. After a few weeks, you will discover how much sleep you actually need.
- Try to keep your sleep schedule on the weekend. Avoid “sleeping in.” Doing so causes the Monday morning blahs.
- Avoid napping. If you feel that you need a nap in the day, you are not getting enough sleep at night. Napping may actually interrupt your nightly sleep cycle. If you must nap, try not to nap for longer than 20 minutes.
The holidays are right around the corner, which can often be a stressful time of year filled with hectic travel schedules, frantic party planning, and shopping. However, this is also a great opportunity to take some time to unwind and work on getting plenty of rest. Go a step further and begin implementing changes to improve your sleep habits!
In Health,
October 10, 2011
Watering Your Fat Away
 Most everyone I have worked with is borderline or chronically dehydrated due to a gradual failing thirst signal. As we age, we basically dry out. Feeling thirsty is the last signal our bodies use to tell us we need to drink water. Many other signals will occur first: body aches and pains, headaches, fatigue, intestinal discomfort, and even depression are some symptoms of long-term dehydration.
If you do not drink enough water, your body will retain the water it does have. Kidney function can suffer and waste products can build up in the blood. Your liver is called upon to flush out impurities. If your liver is busy cleaning things up, it cannot burn fat (burning fat is one of its main functions). Fat buildup occurs, water is retained, and your body weight increases.
Staying hydrated allows your liver to work at its optimum performance. More water allows your body fat to be burned faster. Fat burning is a dehydrating process. Your body needs the extra water to keep the fat burning machine running at full speed.
Now, the next time you are going to eat, ask yourself . . . are you hungry? Or thirsty?
Most people are in the habit of heading for the kitchen as soon as they sense messages from their stomach that say, “I want something!” The next time you are hungry, try drinking water instead of eating. You may find that a drink of water will satisfy your hunger. If you are still hungry even after drinking the water, have something to eat. But first, put your hunger to the water test!
Extra Bonus:
You can maximize calorie burning by keeping the water cold. A gallon of ice-cold (40-degrees Fahrenheit) water requires 123 calories of heat energy to warm it to core body temperature (98.6 degrees). This equates to 1 pound of fat loss a month and 12 pounds in a year only from drinking ice water!
Superhydration Procedure:
Superhydration means working up to drinking at least 4 quarts of ice-cold water each day. Large amounts of water are important for efficient fat loss. Please do not make yourself miserable. Just make a conscious effort to drink more water between meals and just a little water during meals. You do not want to dilute the digestive juices in your stomach during a meal by consuming too much water. So, try to drink most of your water between meals and in the earlier part of the day.
Day 1-3
Consume 64 ounces (2 quarts)
Day 4-7
Consume 96 ounces (3 quarts)
Day 8- on
Consume 128 ounces (4 quarts)
Purchase an insulated, 32-ounce plastic container with a straw. Carry it with you throughout the day. Continuous sipping is more effective than gulping down a glass now and then. Understand that super hydration will initially cause you to visit the bathroom more often than normal. Soon, however, your bladder will adapt and you will urinate less frequently (but in larger amounts).
Caution: Don’t be surprised if you have to get a drink of water after reading this post. And you should! Water is your body’s most precious nutrient. It is not only essential for life, but also for efficient fat loss.
In Health,
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