Get Fit from the Comfort of Your Home!
PRACTICAL NUTRITION AND FITNESS
The Secrets of Training for a PAIN-Free Everyday Life for Older Adults
FREE REPORT
By Nathan Simmers
Table of Contents:
The Body and How it's Connected
Pt. 1 Your Hips Lie
Pt. 2 If It’s Not Your Hips, It’s Your Ankles
Pt. 3 The Space Between Your Shoulders and Your Hips (the core)
Pt. 4 Shoulder the Burden, Burden the Shoulder
Pt. 5 Stronger Hands and Arms... At Your Fingertips? (wrist postures)
Pt. 6 A “Check-Up” From the “Neck-Up”... and Down (neck posture)
Nutrition and Mindset
Pt. 1 Planning For Protein
Pt. 2 Carbs and Energy
Pt. 3 Fats- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Pt. 4 Vegetables- It’s All in the Preparation
Pt. 5 Mindset- Mindful Exercise and Chasing Your Goals
(use the to skip to each section)
INTRODUCTION
Hello, my name is Nathan Simmers. And if you’re reading this because you’re workouts leave you in pain… I'm hurting too.
I’ve been in the fitness industry for several years. I went to school for Physical Education, and while working “the floor” in a local gym, I fell in love with training people individually rather than in large groups. I love sports and fitness. They’re a way of life and a passion for me.
But I also got into this because of PAIN. Sometimes it was tremendous pain, and other times it was nagging pain… but none of it seemed to have an explanation. Some of it was pain in my own body, and a lot of it was watching other people struggle with it.
As I put in my time in the gym, I noticed something really sad: pain forced a lot of people to give up things they loved.
When you work in a health club, you start to get a sense of “the regulars” - people who are serious about health and fitness. You build relationships with them, little by little. It was part of my job, as a personal trainer, to connect with people curious about working with a pro.
Over time, I also noticed the gym has a “revolving door.” People come and go like it’s an airport. Sometimes, it’s just that life takes them elsewhere. But most of the time, people who walk away from a fitness program do it because they get discouraged. Sure, some people just let laziness overtake them. But for others, it’s a much bigger loss of heart… because their discouragement comes from PAIN.
I also noticed something in common with people who came to me for help. They were almost always thirty to fifty years older than me. These men and women were getting toward the “silver sneakers” years. The age where you get a discount because you live on a fixed income. And when we’d sit down to talk about their goals, another pattern emerged: the same short shrift the fitness industry pays to everyone who doesn’t fit their mold.
See, what the fitness business focuses on, most of the time, is vanity. They make a product and a message for people much younger than you, who want to be featured on the covers of Men’s Health or the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. They assume if you sign up for a gym membership, you want to look like a Hollywood hunk or bombshell (A lot of people do… just not any of my clients).
If you want to train to be a bodybuilder or supermodel, most of what you’re about to read won’t help. I do offer nutritional advice, and my clients do get stronger and healthier. But my clients tend to have much bigger problems than winning first place in a contest. The clock is ticking, and many of them are in danger of losing very basic things they’ve taken for granted their whole lives, like going for a walk or household chores.
That’s why my company, Practical Nutrition and Fitness, offers training for living without pain as you age.
While all this was going on, I also dealt with pain issues in my own body. I grew up as a chubby kid, and our family had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart attacks. At age 16, the family doctor sat me down and warned that I’d be on medications and suffer from my family’s health problems if I didn’t change my lifestyle… ouch.
That moment changed me. I began to study nutrition and exercise, and took up running. It became one of those incredible journeys - I ended up losing over 100 pounds! It felt great to achieve such a feat at such a young age… but it also introduced some new problems!
It turns out, when you lose significant amounts of weight, that your body’s “center of gravity” shifts, and you have to learn new ways to move and balance. The body gets used to moving one way when you weigh 280 pounds, but when you drop down to 178, it needs to “recalibrate” to the new conditions.
I felt really clumsy during these days, especially because my arms and legs seemed to overreact to basic movements. To this day, my shoulder loves to “pop out” and tries to “take over” when I do exercises for my arms or chest. In fitness-speak, we call this hypermobility, and it’s just as dangerous as being stiff or unable to move like you used to. It was discouraging to think I’d lost so much weight, only to end up with a different kind of physical problem.
When I couldn’t get remedies or relief from doctors or physical therapists, I turned to researching something we fitness pros called “corrective exercise.” It’s just what it sounds like - training correctly… to train correctly! On my journey, I discovered that a LOT of my own physical pain came from training INCORRECTLY… because of the same kind of bad advice my clients get!
My clients come to me with pain issues and ask, “Do supplements work? Which ones should I take?”
I think to myself, “Er… how about NONE, until you stop hurting yourself?”
Or they think they have to drink more water... like that’s going to change anything! Do we tell golfers to “drink more water” to improve their swing?
Yet somehow, when it comes to working out - or any kind of physical work, for that matter - we’re supposed to believe you can “just do it” without paying attention to how your body works.
NO!
The REAL answer to injury recovery and living pain free is to learn how your body works. You’d think this would be obvious! Do we attempt to drive our cars onto trampolines, just so we can make the jumping experience more interesting? Of course not. We know that both the car and the trampoline would suffer DAMAGE if we did it, and we know that because we know how complex machines work.
Our bodies are the same - they are complex machines, more so than any car or trampoline. That’s why some people get RESULTS with fitness, and others end up in PAIN. Some of us take time to understand our bodies SCIENTIFICALLY, and others engage in “wishful thinking.” Because of the pain in my own body, I had to invest time to study how the body is designed. And what I learned… blew my mind.
One quick example: I’m an avid snowboarder. It’s how I relax - I go to the nearby mountains and feel the rush of racing down a snowy mountainside. But the more I did it, the more I noticed how the left side of my body (I’m left-handed) came home “formed” to the position I held while on the snowboard.
Because of what I’d learned, I decided to experiment… I taught myself to ride the snowboard on my non-dominant right side. You talk about the benefits of exercise on the brain AND the body… it was mentally stimulating to master something so awkward! Try writing, or an activity you normally do with your dominant side, using the opposite hand!
Practically, though, I was able to continue snowboarding and come home WITHOUT the discomfort on one side of my body. This convinced me I was onto something… we can get a lot more out of life if we learn to use the WHOLE body… not just the parts that do things most naturally!
I started testing out what I learned on some of my clients at the gym. Before you could look around, they too were getting RESULTS… even if they were fifty or sixty years older than me!
Then this funny thing called COVID-19 happened in 2020, and the gym shut down.
But my clients didn’t stop wanting my advice, and they didn’t stop referring family, friends and co-workers. So I took my business online, and discovered I could do assessments and train people over the internet.
That’s the reason I’m opening up the vault in this report, and letting you in on the SECRETS of how to get rid of “age-related” body aches and pains. I’ve trained a lot of people just like you… but why should they have all the fun?
I’d ask you a similar question. Why not you?
Why shouldn’t YOU be able to go for long walks, runs, lift weights or play sports?
Why shouldn’t YOU be able to do chores, maintain your home, work in the yard, shovel snow and remain independent, late into your life?
Why shouldn’t YOU also be free from injury-related pain, from a car accident or a fall?
Why shouldn’t YOU be able to play with your grandkids, getting down on the floor with them without worrying about how you’ll get back up?
Well, I’d say… you can.
These are the healthy habits that changed my life, but I’m a young’un… it was when they started working for my clients that I realized, “We have a winner.”
When men and women in their SIXTIES, SEVENTIES and EIGHTIES started getting results… who can argue with that?
What about you? Have you run out of patience for the cheap wisdom on the internet about drinking more water, or taking supplements?
Are you ready to do things DIFFERENTLY?
Do you want to learn the secrets to stay healthy and live without pain as you age?
If so, read on.
PART 1
Your Hips LIE!
Why It’s NOT Your Knees OR Your Lower Back
Every client I’ve ever worked with needs some improvement on how their hips move. If you think about it, it’s almost impossible to make any complex human movement without them. Either you use them directly, like when you dance… or indirectly, to support your upper body when you sit in a chair.
A note about the world we live in: most people work their entire careers in positions that contribute to this. We sit too much (in an office) or stand too much (on our feet all day, like wait staff or police officers walking a beat).
The only people whose jobs support flexible, healthy hips might be professional athletes and entertainers… but even THEY run into a lot of these issues from poor advisors and coaches!
That’s why it’s SO important to develop exercises to combat a sedentary lifestyle. Most of my clients work (or used to work) mainly in offices, sitting in front of computers for hours on end. That has a way of “molding” you - ESPECIALLY your hips.
Where Your Hips “Go”
I can tell a lot about the condition of your hips by looking at how you stand, or sit. The diagram below shows how most people lose correct posture, and the way they end up. People say “Well, that’s just part of getting old,” but I disagree. I have clients who put in the hard work to improve their posture, and it always involved working with their hips.
Do any of those postures look like you? Maybe you’ve seen yourself stand like that in photographs. But the failure of the fitness industry (and our culture in general) is they say, “Well, just stand up straight! You can do it!”
Sure… for a few minutes! Anybody can stand up straight for a short burst. I’m talking about regaining a healthy posture you control. Defying gravity, like an airplane or space shuttle. When you learn to take CONTROL of your posture, you start playing a different ball game.
So pay no attention to people who tell you “It’s just the way it is, get used to it.”
NO! It’s NOT “just the way it is.” You have alternatives. They might take more MENTAL work than you’re used to for a simple task like sitting or standing. But they’re worth it, because good posture isn’t just for sitting or standing.
When I went through my fitness transformation and lost over 100 pounds, one thing I noticed was that I had poor posture… while running. But here’s the thing: I thought the pain was in my knees and lower back! That’s usually where we start to feel pain, when we don’t properly train and stretch our hips.
I started going to physical therapy after I hurt myself running. The therapist I worked with gave me a lot of good techniques to build my hip strength and mobility. I took these and ran with them, and created my own routine for keeping my hips in tip-top shape.
Years later, I took some spills during a snowboarding trip. I worked with another personal trainer who helped me learn some injury recovery techniques. We worked on “core strength” and balance. Soon, I built these into my routine.
If you’ve heard fitness people talk about the “core” and you aren’t sure what it means, let me explain. Your body’s real “strength source” is counterintuitive. Most people assume it’s in your legs or arms. The limbs carry plenty of muscle, of course.
But the ability to use them effectively has much more to do with the connection between your brain and body… and how strong you are in your abdomen.
It’s not much use having strong legs or arms, in other words, if your torso’s too weak. And the central “hinge” of your entire body is in… you guessed it - your HIPS.
During our assessment phase, this is something I’ve learned to check on EVERY client. The odds are incredibly low that they have ideal strength and agility in their hips. If they have tired, achy feet, or knee problems, low back pain, trouble finding balance or poor posture… it’s a very safe bet they need to work on their hips.
Easy Ways to Assess Your Hips
As you can see in the video demonstration, you don’t need me to tell you whether your hips are internally or externally rotated. You stand up straight, and lift one knee off the ground until your thigh is parallel with the floor. You’ll observe, your foot and shin either turn inward (internal) or outward (external).
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Using a similar movement, you can tell whether your hips more naturally flex (when you lift your knee) or extend (when you kick your straightened leg backwards, as you see in the diagram below). This is useful for activities like walking and climbing stairs.
The third movement for checking the condition of your hips is how they abduct (moving one straightened leg outward and away from the other) and adduct (squeezing that same leg together toward the other), as you see in this diagram:
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If you recall the old “Thighmaster” TV ads with Suzanne Somers, that’s what these exercises do.
So My Hips Are Tight (or Loose)… What Now?
I love simple “sayings” that help people skip the fitness-speak. I like to say, “Loose hips lead to sore knees, and tight hips lead to backaches.”
What most people do once they have this information is they try it out.... once or twice.
That’s not a winning philosophy. We’re talking about a MINDSET SHIFT here, away from thinking “I should be able to ‘just do it’ like I used to.”
That’s not enough at any stage of life, but especially if you’re getting into your fifth decade and beyond.
You can get back things that feel “lost” right now, but it’s going to take WORK.
And there’s always the chance the problem ISN’T your hips… it’s your ankles.
Well, we have an answer for that too, in the next section.
But in the meantime, I urge you to book a free consultation using this link:
PART 2
If It’s Not Your Hips, It’s Your Ankles
How to Build Strength and Find Balance In Your Feet and Ankles
Sometimes, I think it would be good if we “rolled” around, like our feet were wheels. It would make what I’m about to tell you easier to understand. If you’ve ever skated with roller blades or roller skates, you might get the picture.
Some cars and bicycles come with thin, lightweight tires. They’re built for smooth, asphalt roads in summer weather. This is where roller skates perform well. As long as you stay on the smooth cement, you’re good.
Other vehicles have thick, rugged tires that “hug” whatever terrain they’re crossing. Dirt bikes, 4x4 off-road trucks and snow tires are good examples. They’re probably a little slower on the asphalt, but you can hit the dirt road with confidence, and even go into the sticks without worrying about getting stuck.
These two types of vehicles tend to have different suspensions and reactions to changes in the ground, too. You can cause damage to a low-slung sports car if you go over a speed bump too quickly, while your 4x4 SUV is made to bounce on them like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.
I think most of us walk out our time on this planet and treat our feet and ankles like summer tires on smooth, flat asphalt. But that’s not the world we actually live in, even if you spend most of your time on hardwood floors and flat surfaces. The short answer to age-related pain from feet and ankles is to train them like off-road winter tires.
This will help you if you suffer from high or sunken arches, bunions or tired/achy feet. It will help you if you have difficulty in the gym with movements like squats or deadlifts.
Moreover, it will help you correct posture and support your hips. Yes, believe it or not, good posture comes from being like a tree, supported at the base by strong roots. If you want to learn some of the best exercises for an injured knee or lower back pain, you have to start all the way at the bottom.
Muscle Superhighway
From my injuries with running and snowboarding, I learned just how much feet and ankles affected other pivotal joints in my body, such as the knees and hips. One problem I ran into was tightness in my ankle, which felt painful when I tried to squat.
I wanted to do squats. They’re a great exercise for the whole body. Some research suggests they cause the body to naturally produce testosterone. But I had to get my right ankle to stop screaming when I did them.
It turns out, the ankle stiffness was actually connected to calf stiffness. As you’ll see in the video below, I couldn’t loosen the ankle without loosening the calf muscles in my legs. In time, I discovered that foam rolling my calves... also unlocked my hips!
Swaying In The Wind
Another issue for older adults is falling, especially into their eighties and beyond. The muscular strength in an average adult pair of legs declines... unless you work hard to counteract it.
But is that what you see when people teach balance exercises for senior fall prevention?
Well, I don’t see it. Just like with training weights in the gym, most fitness instructors want to skip building the foundations and get right to the dance or yoga movements.
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This is a bad idea, especially if you’re working with people who aren’t already into health and fitness!
The way I see it, we ought to teach older adults to be like trees, swaying in the wind. Have you ever watched footage of a tree in the wind? There’s one part of that tree that NEVER moves, and it’s called the “base,” or the roots and lowest part of the trunk.
I’m convinced, based on the RESULTS my clients get, that we could prevent a TON of senior falls, if we taught this properly.
We could also help a lot of seniors learn the best exercises for anti-aging... as in, the ones they did when they were younger! Running, squats, bench press, dead lifts, yoga, dancing - all in good time, by learning to strengthen the base.
Easy Ways to Assess Your Feet
In our case, the “base” is in the feet and ankles. In the diagrams below, you’ll see how our feet are DESIGNED to distribute our weight and gravity.
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Can you see how there’s a “triangle” of support points in our feet? If you’re one of those people whose feet get tired and achy after just a few minutes of standing... odds are, you haven’t learned how to spread the weight!
(Most people feel this discomfort in their heels or outer edges of their feet, or on the “ball” of the foot).
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How about being pigeon- or duck-toed? This is where one foot (or both) turn inwardly or outwardly, so you either trip over your own toes, or “waddle-walk”, respectively. If you have these conditions, there’s a good chance no one taught you how to flex and loosen your ankles!
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Then there’s the way your toes “naturally point”. Either they “claw” into the ground, “mallet” the Earth, or “hammer-toe” toward the ground. These three toe postures can become uncomfortable if left unchecked. This can stem from the opposite of “tired, achy feet” because there’s too much tension on the toes, and the arches aren’t being used properly.
OK, I’ve DEFINITELY Got Problems With My Feet and Ankles... What Do I Do?
I’d ask a similar line of questions... do you think there’s NOTHING you can do to change this?
Do you LIKE the idea of getting older and taking spills, and thinking, “Well, that’s life”??!!!
Look, I get it... there’s no such thing as “100 percent fool-proof.” You can have the strongest legs in the world and still lose your balance.
But who wants to be losing their balance ALL THE TIME, when you could do something to reverse the decline?
Who wants to have to slouch in a chair all the time, because standing is TOO PAINFUL?!
There’s so much more of life my clients get to enjoy, because they’re willing to do the hard work and continue to GROW.
The social and emotional benefits of exercise are SO MUCH MORE rewarding than taking another breather, because you can’t stay on your feet.
Book your free consultation using the link below. There’s LIFE out there, you can still access and LIVE it, when you know how to train for it!
PART 3
The Space Between Your Shoulders and Your Hips
Why You Need to Be Strong “To The Core” As You Age
Modern life, where most people spend significant parts of each day sitting in chairs, parked in front of keyboards, does us a huge disservice for fitness.
The muscles in our abdomen, which we call “the core,” don’t get stronger the same way they do on our limbs. You can’t “push” or “pull” with them to move weight. And for far too long, the fitness industry has failed people of all ages in teaching how to train them.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way - if all you need to do is MORE sit-ups, crunches or planks, then EVERYONE who does higher numbers should have stronger abs, right? Well, if that’s true... why doesn’t every single member of the military have six-pack abs?
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I mean, let’s face it - we don’t have to look to know that the average soldier is generally in better physical condition. They’re used to running for miles, and doing all kinds of physically demanding work.
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But it turns out, they can be as WEAK in the core as anyone, even if they do THOUSANDS of sit-ups every week! Even when it’s REQUIRED, traditional abdominal exercises are clearly NOT the answer - whether you’re concerned about strength or looking good, or both! So don’t start thinking, “Oh boy, here we go... he’s going to get on my case for not doing enough crunches!”
Crunch On This Instead
For starters, as you’ll see in the video below, sit-ups and crunches work ONE PART of your core. Doing those two exercises and saying “I worked my core” is like hitting golf balls on the range and saying, “I played eighteen holes.”
In other words, it’s time for a new definition of training your core, and I’m happy to be the one to help you understand it!
As I’m fond of sayings, I think this one’s appropriate to explain what happens when you don’t train your core properly:
“If you squeeze a tube of toothpaste in the middle, the contents go in both directions.”
Do you get the idea of what I just said? By failing to train your core, or training it very poorly, gravity kicks in and gets to decide how pressure distributes across your body.
So this is good for your upper body, if you have posture issues like swayback and hunching.
But it’s also good for your lower frame, if you’re pushing that weight downward, and the hips work harder than they should. Just like we’ve covered with the feet and ankles, there’s a good chance you’re not using some of these built-in, powerful, supportive muscles. That means the muscles that you ARE using are overtaxed.
But don’t hit the floor just yet! Sit-ups and crunches might not do you any harm... but they won’t do you any GOOD either, if you don’t understand how to ACTIVATE the rest of your core. Have a look at this video, to see what I’m talking about.
As you can see, buried between your head and your hips is some truly sophisticated engineering! You’ve got several layers of muscle there, and guess what? THEY’RE NOT THERE JUST FOR SHOW.
I mean, sure, they look good on athletes... but people I work with are far more likely to wonder, “Why is it PAINFUL to do such a simple thing like stand up straight?” “Why do I feel like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the older I get?”
Muscles You DO Use... Just Not The Way You’ve Used Them!
The other good part about training your core “slings” as we call them is how you work your muscles a different way. You’re going to use large muscles in your back and your behind... but in new ways that stimulate growth and flexibility!
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As you can see, the muscle “network” in your back uses a lot of major muscles you’ve used your whole life. The lats, which cross from your spine to your armpit, are important, as are the glutes, located in your buttocks.
When I assess clients, I usually watch how they walk. I can tell a lot about how well someone’s core works from watching them do basic activities where these muscles should interact with each other. People who walk stiffly, or appear to severely favor one leg over the other when walking, often have issues with these systems.
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On the front side of your body are muscles that don’t get used much, if all you ever do for your core are sit-ups and crunches. In fitness-speak, we call them internal and external obliques, transverse abdominis, and adductors.
These are the muscles underneath your chest, under your arms and spread across your sides (except the adductors, located near your inner thighs). They move differently than your stomach muscles, which is why they stay soft, weak and flabby for most people.
ESPECIALLY if you’re sitting in a chair typing on a keyboard eight hours a day. Most people have NO IDEA how they work, and most fitness trainers DON’T TEACH people how to work them.
But you probably know - just because you choose to ignore something, doesn’t mean it goes away. These muscles are meant for us to discover how to use them! Once we know the techniques that ACTIVATE them, we’re in business.
Well, I’ve Never Tried This Before! How Do I Know I’m Doing It Right?
If you’re one of those people whose normal fitness routines aren’t working anymore... OR you’ve never been into exercises, BUT your quality of life is beginning to decline...
Maybe we should talk.
I mean, let’s face it - there ARE things that are much easier to do when you’re young.
When’s the last time your grandkids worried about getting hurt if they played on the floor?
What 20-year olds do you know that worry about working in the yard, cleaning the house, walking the dog or walking a trail in the woods?
In my time, I’ve noticed most people my age DON’T APPRECIATE those things... but YOU do!
You’ve made it this far... why would you want to stop LIVING now? Wouldn’t you WANT to know the best exercises for anti-aging?
At the risk of repeating myself... it’s time you scheduled your FREE 30-minute assessment with Practical Nutrition & Fitness.
PART 4
Shoulder the Burden, Burden the Shoulder
You CAN Reach That Top Shelf... It Doesn’t HAVE to Hurt!
One of the worst things I see happen to people is losing their ability to use their shoulders, sometimes above shoulder height.
People are shocked to discover how pivotal the shoulders are. But if you think about it, we’re talking about a “hub” joint area where the collarbone, scapula, upper arm and ribcage all converge. There are a TON of muscles weaved in between these bones... and most of them, sad to say, we haven’t learned to use.
I can spot people with shoulder imbalance from across the room. Usually, one of your shoulders will be slightly “higher” than the other. Sometimes, both of them will be “stuck” in an elevated position, like a permanent shrug. Or it can be the opposite; they can be depressed. This often makes your shoulders look like steep downhill slopes as they move away from your neck, and your upper back can look swollen.
If they don’t go vertically, they can be “rolled forward” too much (creating a hunch) or “pulled back” too much (causing your chest to jut out). They can be squeezed too close together, or pulled too wide apart. These are complicated machines we’re walking around in, and NOBODY teaches us how to use them properly!
Look, let’s get real here. If all it took was “chest out, shoulders back, head held high” like they used to say, EVERYBODY would do it. One of my clients, a gentleman in his seventies named Bob, had a pinched nerve in his shoulder. He tried to “power” through it, just like they’d taught him during his military days.
Well, maybe that works when you’re in your twenties in the military. I’m in my twenties and I KNOW it doesn’t work for me, military or not. I don’t see the point of hurting yourself to prove your strength. Why not do it the other way around? Why not prove your strength, and not get hurt?
Snap, Crackle, Pop
Have you ever been to a chiropractor and had them do that “head snap” adjustment? I haven’t, but people tell me it feels funny... like they’re about to break your neck. But then, next thing you know, you feel like you can stand up two feet taller.
I’ve had several clients start doing exercises to loosen up tension and stiffness in their shoulders, and they hear a “pop.” (A good pop, in case you’re wondering). The muscles in this part of your body are interconnected and layered close to the spinal column, which is where the “pop” comes from.
Chiropractors will tell you that your body starts sending itself the wrong messages when your spine is out of alignment. It sounds sort of like what happens during shoulder training. And all of a sudden, they stand up a lot straighter too.
But you can do better than feeling light and loose in the shoulders.
Do you remember what I said in the beginning about MY shoulders? After I lost all that weight, my shoulder started “popping out” when I’d work out, and I trained with a great physical therapist to fix it. I learned to engage and "pack" the shoulder better.
This was huge for me, and it helped me connect the dots between injury and poor movement. Up until then, I understood something we fitness pros call the “cumulative injury cycle,” which is what happens when you do something repeatedly for long periods of time, like sitting at a desk typing on a computer.
But not everyone who sits all day has bad posture, do they? Some people sit correctly, while most people sit poorly. If sitting was the problem, we could fix it by... not sitting anymore! But it’s not whether or not you sit. It’s how you sit that matters.
The training you see in the above video helped my client Bob, who’d just about given up on doing bench press in the gym. It was his favorite exercise, but he had such sharp PAIN from a pinched nerve that he thought he couldn’t do it.
It’s only when you train those “supporting” muscles that surround your shoulder, that you discover how much extra muscle you have back there.
The shoulders are small muscles, compared to big ones like your legs, or the glute muscles in your rear end. But the way we’re designed, these smaller muscles are surprisingly STABLE.
So, why do most people’s shoulders get stiff, weak and PAINFUL to use?
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Do you see how all those extra muscles get TIGHT, and “pull” your shoulder blades in a certain direction?
Well, if you learn to “unwrinkle” those muscles, your problems with PAIN and POSTURE are suddenly “up for grabs” again! Once Bob learned to foam roll and relax his shoulders and use his stability muscles, everything changed for him on the bench press.
I’ve Never Thought of It That Way... What Should I Do?
This is one thing if your shoulder’s okay, and another if you’re in PAIN. I don’t recommend trying to fix it without help.
You might be wondering if there’s a chance you could reach that top shelf without pain, or lift your grandbaby up in the air while they giggle.
I’d say there’s an EXCELLENT chance, if we look closer at working together.
If you’ve read this far, there’s also an excellent chance you have some DISCOMFORT when you do certain things with your shoulders.
Or at the very least, they’re just STIFF, and don’t move like they used to... and you can’t get them UNSTUCK.
That’s why you need to book a discovery call with me. Click here to schedule your FREE 30-Minute Assessment with Practical Nutrition and Fitness!
PART 5
Stronger Hands and Arms... At Your Fingertips?
Fixing Pain In Your Forearms and Wrists
Most of my clients spend plenty of time in front of computers these days. It’s the way of the world, even if you don’t work in an office. The muscles in your wrists and forearms do thousands of reps as you sit and type... so much so that they feel PAIN when you try to do anything else!
This causes PROBLEMS for people who used to be able to do push-ups, crawl around on all fours with little kids or enjoy working with their hands, such as with gardening or home improvement.
Have you ever got down on your hands and knees to dig a hole to put a new plant in your garden? Usually, you use your dominant hand to work the shovel... but your non-dominant hand, the one that “props you up,” gets tired, stiff or painful... quickly.
Or let’s say you enjoy woodworking .. or you USED TO, until your hands and wrists started cramping! You try to hold that 2x4 board steady with your non-dominant hand, but you can’t apply pressure, because you get PAIN SIGNALS!
It’s tempting to think, “Well, there goes another thing I enjoy doing!” So long, hang up your tools, and sell or give them away.
DON’T GIVE UP! This kind of pain is NO DIFFERENT from any other problem we’ve talked about... it’s just that nobody’s teaching you to undo bad habits!
As usual, a lot of people in the fitness industry don’t think about problems like these, so the best thing they can think of is to tell you to do wrist curls in the gym!
Well, wrist curls can be useful. I teach people to use them... but NOT by themselves! What you need to fix in your wrists and forearms follows the same idea we used with your feet and ankles. You’re using TOO FEW of the muscles in the area.
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You don’t have to be a doctor to see that your forearm, wrist and hand have muscles ALL OVER, on both sides, and everywhere in-between. I believe it’s part of our design. What other creature does as much with their hands as we do?
Just like with the shoulder or ankle, we can “pack” strength into the forearms. Wrist curls are a great way to do it. I even teach clients that they can do them using ordinary household items, like a can of beans!
But before you do the muscle-building work of wrist curls, you have to remember that the wrist and forearm muscles are connected. In other words, if you attempt wrist curls without loosening up your forearm and stretching your wrist muscles, you’re going to run into PAIN.
Mighty Are The Digits
I was SHOCKED to discover the role our fingers can play in activities like push-ups, or any others that involve creating downward force with the hands. Most people - including fitness pros - score waaaay low in body awareness.
What most people do is drive all that weight and force straight into the “heel” of the hand, or the bottom of the palm. This avoids the softer, more fragile regions of the hand, such as the fleshy palm or fingers.
Here’s the dirty little secret: you’re MEANT to spread the load across your hands, just like we learned with your feet. If you can learn to use the entire hand to support your weight, instead of just one part of it, you DON’T have to give up things you love!
See, when you begin to do these movements by spreading the load across your hand and “cupping” it a little, it’s magic. You’ll stop feeling that strain in your wrist on the backside of your hand, or soreness in the heel of your palm.
Check out this video where I teach you how to fix this problem, using nothing but tennis balls and cans of baked beans!
Do you see how this works? Your forearms aren’t working... because you’re NOT working your forearms! You have all these incredible muscles to support doing things you love. But we’re CONDITIONED not to use them!
I’m In! My Wrists and Elbows Have Dogged Me For YEARS!
I get it, especially if you love working out or doing labor tasks that require that downward pressure.
But don’t go straight to doing standard push-ups with your hands cupped just yet. In fact, there’s a good chance you might need to back off and start lighter, depending on how stiff those muscles are.
But, can you IMAGINE being able to do exercises and work like you love, WITHOUT PAIN?!
What if you COULD teach your grandson or granddaughter how to use table tools to cut wood and build something?
What if you DIDN’T have to sit back and watch your garden deteriorate during the spring, because you knew you could tackle the work?
Don’t let natural decline set in! Learn the right exercises to combat a sedentary lifestyle, and you’ll EXPERIENCE what it means to have your strength renewed!
It’s time to take a closer look, with the right set of extra eyes to identify the real problem! Click here to schedule your FREE 30-Minute Assessment with Practical Nutrition and Fitness!
PART 6
A “Check-Up” From the “Neck-Up”... and Down
Computer Neck, Text Neck and the Importance of Deep Breathing
You want to know what’s funny about watching people crane their necks to stare at computer or smartphone screens?
The funny part is we can all see the BAD posture, plain as day... yet most of us don’t think that we look the same way when we’re doing it!
It gets really funny when you go somewhere that’s boring, like the DMV. Have you tried that lately? EVERY SINGLE PERSON sitting in the waiting line is staring at their phones.
Seriously, we sit there hunched at a computer desk, or over our smartphone, and we’re oblivious. But if you put your phone away for a second and look at everyone else who’s doing it, you think, “Wow, they’ve got bad posture!”
Anyway, I’m here to help you FIX that problem, so there’s no need to go on a rant.
But just so you know, when we’re talking about computer or text neck, EVERYONE does it to some extent. Like the old “No Trespassing” signs... this means you.
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As you can see, we’re rounding the spine and bending the neck when we sit this way. Muscle groups in the front of your neck get tight, your shoulders get more rounded, your chest gets mechanically shortened and the muscles in the back of your neck get stretched and become underactive.
It’s important to remember that your head weighs something - usually 10-12 pounds. It’s not light, and it isn’t just floating there above your shoulders.
But NO ONE really teaches us about how our heads are supported, so if we’re not careful, our bodies usually go the path of least resistance - whatever feels the most comfortable in the moment.
The problem with this is that sooner or later, the “most comfortable” position in the moment also becomes uncomfortable.
Many people who sit at desks or stare at phones all day report lower backaches. Well, you should expect that, if your neck and chest muscles are pulled tight and you don’t use the retractor muscles in your back and ribs!
Roots of a Tree
If you can picture your head as the leaves and branches of a fully grown tree, then you’ll understand how your core, chest, spine and neck muscles combine to form the trunk and roots.
Unlike trees, however, we try to make one side of the trunk work, while the other side relaxes (and the roots check out). Would any tree YOU know stay up for very long that way?
Have a look through some of the exercises I use and teach clients in this video:
Take A Deep Breath
Breathing in and out is so fundamental to life, I’m surprised by how we need to keep learning to do it properly.
But come to think of it, most people end up doing SOME fundamental human thing wrong, don’t we? Breathing, walking, eating, standing, sitting - I’ve done them all since an early age, and found that some get more complicated as I grew up.
Especially if you think you’re doing them right, and you’re actually wrong. As a fan of sayings, I love the one that goes “Human beings solve zero percent of problems they DON’T think they have.”
What about you?
Would you be open to the idea that BREATHING, that most basic thing we need to do to live well... needs some training?
(Don’t worry, this one’s on the house. But it’ll work wonders for you if you decide to become a client).
What People Get Wrong with Breath
The average person survives on what I call “half-breaths.” They inhale half as deeply as they can, meaning their lungs don’t get enough oxygen.
If that’s not enough, shallow breathing actually impacts coordination between your muscles. As you can see in the diagram below, the muscles around your pelvis, lower abdomen and lower spine move along with your breath.
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When you inhale, the diaphragm (right below your ribcage) pushes down on the abdominal muscles. In turn, that makes your pelvic floor pull down and hold tension, while your lungs fill with air.
Then, when you breathe out, those muscles travel in opposite directions and contract. Just like any other exercise you’d do with your mid-section, this helps you learn to “prop up” your upper body and takes the weight off your spinal cord.
I’ve found, with several clients who complain of poor posture, swayback and bad pelvic tilt, that proper breathing is more important than training muscles in the gym. Remember, we’re as concerned with how to build mental strength as we are about back pain relief exercises and stretches.
Well, think about it! One of the reasons so many people swear by activities like yoga, Pilates and meditation is that deep breathing has neurological benefits. How could it not, if you’re sending much more oxygen-rich blood to your brain!
"You Are What You Eat"
Nutrition For a Healthy Life
Part 1
"Planning For Protein"
Why You Don’t Need Powders and Shakes to Get The Good Stuff
When you hear the word “protein,” what do you think?
If you’re like many of my clients, you instantly picture some meathead pouring heaps of powder into a bottle. You’ve probably seen one at the gym.
He stalks around, shaking his bottle to make a mixture that looks more like cement than edible shake.
I’m not saying the protein mixes on the market are bad. But sometimes, they’re not the “fix” you’re looking for. They can get expensive, too. Protein shakes work in some scenarios, and not in others. But try telling that to fitness industry marketers!
The “gurus” say you can’t build muscle or recover from workouts without extra protein. They say you have to gulp down 30-40 grams of protein after every workout if you want to gain muscle at all.
But honestly, you can get all the protein you need from ordinary foods at any grocery store.
As with all the macronutrients we’ll cover in the rest of this report, it’s important to get proteins from different sources. Remember, variety is key whether we’re talking fitness or nutrition!
There are some obvious sources like chicken, beef, and pork. But there are also some “hidden gems” when it comes to protein.
Remember those powders we talked about earlier? As much as people can overuse them, I really do believe in their value. I myself use a pea protein powder. Can you believe that?
Science has advanced so that the humble pea can be broken down for parts. Prepared properly, this powder packs a punch!
Below are more favorites to help you get your fill of this important nutrient:
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Eggs
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Greek yogurt
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Tuna
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Quinoa
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Brussels sprouts
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Nuts such as almonds and peanuts
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Soy products such as tempe and tofu
With all of the amazing, natural sources of protein, we can see that protein is essential. If it was just a “nice to have,” I doubt it would be so naturally abundant.
Turns out, nature is right once again.
Most adults need a lot more protein than they think!
While many shy away from it, you must embrace protein as you age. Even those with the most sedentary lifestyle desperately need protein, believe it or not.
The recommended amount of protein can vary depending on your level of activity. But even the minimum amount of protein you need may surprise you.
If you weigh 180 pounds, you should consume 60 grams of protein each day. For every pound of body weight, you should be consuming AT LEAST a .36 to .45 grams of protein!
And that’s just to maintain. Think about what you need if you want to live more actively. Whether you want to garden or play with the grandkids, you need fuel to keep up. A healthy, balanced diet will help you.
I want to help you create and maintain the right one, so you can enjoy your golden years!
Part 2
"Carbs and Energy"
Use THIS Nutrient to Fuel and Refuel Your Body
Are your stores of energy constantly depleted?
Do you feel sluggish throughout the day?
Do you feel like you’re eating healthy, yet not experiencing the vibrant life you were promised?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you might be neglecting carbohydrates. Plenty of people do this, as many fad diets label carbs as “the enemy.”
While you should know how many carbs you regularly eat, they’re not the enemy. In fact, carbs provide essential fuel for physical activities.
If you can time your meals one to three hours before going for a walk or working in the yard, you’ll find yourself filled with energy for the duration of the activity. Provided, of course, that you give your body the right mix of carbs.
First, let’s talk about how many carbs you should eat each meal. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to read every word on your food label or buy a complete set of measuring cups. All you need to measure any food group is your God-given hand.
The average person should allow one to two cupped handfuls with each meal. Fruits and grains are easy to measure using this method. One piece of fruit fits in your cupped hand. Grab another source of carbs for that meal and away you go!
Carbs do go a step further in their level of glycemic index. With any index, foods will fall somewhere on the scale from low to high. Foods that are high on the glycemic index will provide a quick spike of insulin. Some examples are:
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White bread
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Potatoes
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Sports drinks
That’s why you see athletes drinking Gatorade during competition. The sugars provide a quick jolt of energy, easy for their bodies to use. This is the same reason you don’t want to drink these drinks when you’re not burning energy. If gone unused, these sugars will turn to that stubborn fat that becomes almost impossible to get rid of.
To get the most of your day and the foods you consume, you’ll want to eat some foods that are low on the glycemic index as well. Foods like:
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Green vegetables
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Most fruits
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Raw carrots
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Kidney beans
These foods provide more of a “slow burn.” They release energy for your body to use for the next few hours after you consume them. They usually contain fiber and other nutrients that are good to keep your body well-regulated.
You see? Carbs are your friends! They provide the building blocks for rapid and sustained energy so you can get out and do the things you love most!
Part 3
"Fats"
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
We’re getting towards the end of this report, but there’s one major macronutrient that I need to cover. I would feel like I failed you if we didn’t cover this one.
I’m talking about fats. This nutrient gets a bad rap, but it’s essential to a healthy and active lifestyle at EVERY stage of life.
Fats promote brain function, hormone balance, and thermal regulation. Put simply, they help your body maintain healthy levels of hormones and a desired temperature.
There are some essential vitamins that are fat soluble, meaning they can only be absorbed by the body with the help of fats. These vitamins are vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E.
Vitamin A helps your vision and immune system. Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy. Finally, vitamin E also helps with vision. Want healthy blood, skin, and brain cells? Vitamin E has your back!
Some of my favorite sources of HEALTHY fats are:
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Avocados
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Eggs
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Dark chocolate
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Nuts and nut butters
I always keep these items on-hand for easy access to healthy fats. If I portion them out beforehand, I don’t feel tempted to overdo it.
Just because they are considered healthy fats, doesn't mean you can be willy-nilly with them. The issue that many run into when it comes to fats is taking in too many, particularly those saturated fats.
Most fats, even the healthy ones, are insanely delicious and satisfying. This makes it super easy for us to overeat.
The reason fats can be dangerous is because they’re so dense in calories. Most servings of fats have 2.25 more calories than a similar serving of other foods.
This means we have to be disciplined in our consumption. A simple way to measure your fats is to use your thumb. This is particularly useful when measuring oils and butters.
Remember your hand measuring system? It’s helpful here too, although you don’t use your whole hand to measure fats!
All you need here is your thumb. Is the serving you use larger than your thumb? If so, cut back! The thumb is small enough so you don’t consume too much fat.
For all the good fat can do, it’s important to keep an eye on how much you’re eating. To avoid cardiovascular problems down the road, be sure to watch your fat intake closely.
Part 4
"Vegetables"
It’s All in the Preparation
Often when I bring up vegetables, people say, “I don't really like vegetables.”
I usually reply, “Do you do anything to make them taste better? Do you use spices, or combine them with other vegetables or things you'd like to eat to make them more flavorful?”
More often than not, the answer is “No.”
What a shame. A lot of people simply don’t know HOW to prepare vegetables to make them more palatable. While you can eat veggies raw or heated up without spices, they taste much better when seasoned correctly!
Don’t be afraid to try new things when it comes to vegetables. When you think of veggies, you probably think of stalks of celery, heads of broccoli, or carrot sticks. That’s totally fine, but it’s a limited scope of this amazing food group.
What about eggplant, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, and peppers?
Don’t forget spinach, tomatoes, and potatoes.
My point: you have many different vegetables at your disposal. Do some research and you’ll be amazed at the number of options you have.
Because of the number of options, I find it easy to include two to three vegetables in every meal. We need to get a good broad spectrum of colors in what we eat, so that we get a good amount of phytonutrients and vitamins.
Phytonutrients are natural chemicals or compounds produced by plants. Phytonutrients also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can help support a healthy human body.
My quick tip about this? Eat the rainbow. Get a good spectrum of colors. You should be able to add greens, reds, oranges, yellows, or purple to every meal.
For example, I regularly consume stir fry. I use some broccoli, celery, and carrots. When I add this to the carbs and proteins in my stir fry, I know I’m getting a power-packed meal that will give me everything I need.
If you still struggle to think of what will go well together, I encourage you to explore dishes from around the world. Foreign chefs have done wonders with the natural foods available there. A quick Google search will lead you to a wide variety of meals to try!
Perhaps the biggest benefit of eating a mixture of vegetables is how you feel. I love the way I feel when I eat healthy. When I don’t, I feel run down, tired, foggy and lethargic. But I want to feel productive and good all the time. Wouldn’t you?
With that in mind, it should be no brainer to eat the things that give you better energy!
Implementing veggies and an overall healthy diet is a practice - it will take time and focus, so don't rush things. Remember, being better today than you were tomorrow is the main objective. Better is better.
Part 5
"Mindset"
Mindful Exercise and Chasing Your Goals
We’ve talked about the ins and outs of your physical body, but I’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss the mental side of fitness and nutrition. As you start a new journey, feed and exercise your mind, too!
Prepare yourself, and commit to a lifestyle change. To give yourself the necessary boost, create a powerful and compelling reason to better yourself. I know mine.
A doctor once told me that if I didn’t make a change, I’d have issues later on - terrifying issues! With a family history of disease, I didn’t want to go down that path. This was, and still is, my reason for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
What’s yours? You may decide you want to play with your grandkids, and be around for their graduations, weddings, and more. You may decide that you want to continue looking after your yard, or playing golf, or taking walks well into your 80s or 90s.
Whatever your “why” becomes, cement it in your mind. Believe me, the motivation you feel right now WILL fade. When it does, you’ll need a strong reason to continue your new regimen.
You’ll also want to make sure your mind doesn’t get bored of your exercises. Every now and then, introduce new movements into your fitness program. This provides new stimuli for your body to react to, keeping things fresh.
You want to look forward to your workouts. If you get bored, you will probably find something else to do instead of strengthening your body.
You also need to set realistic expectations so you can maintain your motivation. If you start out by thinking you HAVE to lose twenty pounds this month, you will feel disappointed when you don’t quite get there.. Don’t get me wrong, some people do lose a large amount of weight right away, but the weight often comes back.
Think of the tortoise who beats the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. The tortoise kept putting one foot in front of the other, determined to finish HIS race. You can do the same thing and WIN!
By staying present during your workouts and focusing on your body in new ways, you will create strong habits to enhance your daily life. This enhancement stays with you, long after you leave the gym.
I fully believe in you and want you to achieve your goals. I know achieving these goals will lead to a healthier and happier life for you and those around you! If I can be of service, please let me know.
Click here to schedule your FREE 30-Minute Assessment with Practical Nutrition and Fitness!