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Functional Fitness Tips & Motivations Now Posted!

Check out this week's Functional Fitness Motivational Moment!
Learn more Age Reversing Tips every Thursday here by Suzanne Andrews.

What Can Just 30 Days of Exercise Do to Your Body?

by Suzanne Andrews

There is no question today that a life of physical activity is a healthier life. In just thirty days you can improve the functioning of almost every system in your body, from the essential microscopic cells to the heart, joints, and muscles. It would appear that it is possible to slow down and in some case reverse the aging process by regularly exercising. Even for those who have never been very active physically before, a carefully planned program can make a significant difference in restoring youthfulness to your body. For those who have experienced injury, a physical therapist can help you get your strength and mobility back in a much shorter time than if you choose to just relax and let the aging process do its miserable work on you and your body.

Further Reading: The Cure for Lazy

New research from a British study of twins indicates that aging may actually be stalled within the cellular infrastructure by choosing to incorporate an active exercise regimen into your lifestyle. According to Prof. Tim D.Specter, in an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, tiny telomeres, little caps on the ends of your DNA that protect it from unraveling, seem to be snipped off a bit every time your cells divide. When they become too short to function and protect the integrity of your DNA, cell division stops and aging sets in. While young people have relatively long telomeres whether they exercise or not, by middle age, inactive adults have telomeres that may be as much as 40% shorter. However, those who exercise may have only a 10% reduction in length, which means that cell division is continuing quite nicely and aging is much slower. Younger cells really are possible with a regular fitness regimen.

Your heart also benefits from exercise. The American Journal of Public Health recently published a study that suggests that exercise, even in the short term can make a difference, especially in men. While young hearts beat about 190-200 times a minute, pumping 4-6 quarts of blood through the body, by age 80 that same amount of blood is only being pumped about 145 times a minute because of the reduced response of the heart to the brain’s repeated signals. Regular aerobic exercise can maintain your heart condition to that of a 30 year old, especially if you have practiced a lifestyle filled with exercise. (I see this in my patients that I work with - after a month their heart is rebounding much quicker and heart rate to that of a much younger person.) 

While resistance training increases your muscle strength and mass in as little as 30 days, it does it through stimulating muscle protein synthesis to prevent the typical loss of muscle that accompanies the aging process. According to Dr. Carl Freudenrich, Science Expert of How Stuff Works, regular exercise can create healthier neuromuscular junctions that increase your muscle’s youthfulness and strength.

Further Reading: 4 Ways Exercise Knocks Years Off Your Looks

Even your joints can benefit from 30 days of exercise. Once again, the aging process tends to affect the ligaments, tendons, and cartilage as you get older. Painful swelling, bony overgrowths, and stiffness can accompany your joints’ attempts to keep functioning under the normal activities of life. However, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends exercise to slow down, halt, or even reverse this cycle. The worst response is to give up and do as little as possible. Experts such as physical and occupational therapists are trained to help you regain your range of motion and to slow down or stop the aging damage without hurting yourself in the process. Warming up the joint’s synovial fluid so that you have good lubrication is important at any age, but especially as you age. 

Your entire body is affected as you age, but new research indicates that you can slow down the process significantly by regular exercise. In as little as thirty days you can introduce healthy changes and start to feel and see the difference. It’s your body. Don’t just sit there and let it wear out.

Get started with Cathe Friedrich, Kelly Coffey-Meyer, or Leslie Sansone! Or, view a list of all the instructors we offer!

New ASK GILAD Blog Now Up!

Gilad's New "Ask Gilad" blog is now posted.

Find it HERE.

Holiday Weight Loss: Is it Possible?

by Suzanne Andrews

The holidays are upon us. So much excitement, visiting friends, buying gifts and eating and eating and eating…
Come January 1st, you’ve promised yourself you’ll get that weight off. But honestly – aren’t you tired of going on another miserable diet or being stuck at a plateau with weight that just won’t budge?
It may feel like you’re destined to never see the scale budge into the lower numbers. Sure, you’ve lost weight before. So many times you could be an advertisement for “how to lose 20 pounds and gain back 30.”
You wonder why that diet the celebrity was touting as the next sure thing just isn’t working for you. (Most celebrities get paid an average of 1 Million dollars to stick to their sponsors products. What would you do for a million dollars?!)
While you got results on your diet before, it was just too hard to stick to it. If it was a no carb diet, you felt run down and tired because the body needs carbs for energy. A diet with no carbs is like trying to drive a car without gas. Impossible.
If it was a liquid diet, you craved sinking your teeth into real food. So you’re doing real good until one day or night, you just can’t take it anymore, you’ve got to have food. Guess what? You’re normal. Your body was meant to consume food for energy, not liquid, not a crazy soup diet, or a fad diet that doesn’t give your body the nutrients it needs.
So now your holiday dress is too tight and your jeans are not as comfortable as they once were.
But you’re just not ready to buy bigger sizes. You see, I can relate because I’ve been there. First after having a baby and trying to lose the weight. I have to admit it was easier back then and I lost over 60 pounds. Now in menopausal age, the weight is glued to my butt and the extra weight causes hip pain.
So I do what I did before thinking that it was rough, but worth it. Only thing is, in menopause you have to work different to lose weight. Notice I didn’t say harder, I said different....

Click here to preview Beginner's Fat Burning Workout!

It’s time to try something different...
That means no high impact aerobics because you risk damaging your joints or starvation diets that make you feel like you could eat anything at the end of the day. You don’t need to move super-fast either, just at a fat burning moderate pace that includes weights integrated with breathing exercises throughout your workout. Adding weights and breathing exercises into your walking workout helps speed up your metabolism. Walking at a moderate pace helps you contract your muscles longer and firms you up faster with weight loss as the end result. This technique has worked on many clients and even myself. I just lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks alternating between The Get Stronger Bones DVD and the Total Strength and Conditioning DVD.

Order Total Strength & Conditioning on DVD!

Notice I didn’t say lose 20 pounds in 21 days! As a rehab clinician who understands how the body works, I just can’t fathom all those ridiculous claims. Part of my medical training included an oath to do no harm and some claims I see on the internet are harmful and misleading. Most people search for fast weight loss, but how is that working? People who try to lose weight fast only find themselves gaining it back with extra weight. Lose the weight safely and it will stay off. Thanks for taking the time to be with a very important person – YOU.
I lost 9 lbs of fat, one dress size and hip pain so far. Losing weight and losing fat are not one and the same.
Both workouts are not crazy fast for a reason. To help you lose weight, build stronger bones, get firm and tone with medically proven moves...

Preview or order Get Stronger Bones!

The key is consistency and variety. Make sure to workout 5 days a week if you want to lose weight. Use weights every other day as you need to allow your muscles the day in between to repair. If you feel soreness, that means your muscles are getting stronger. The soreness disappears and so does the weight.
Healthiest blessings!

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

Women's Weight Loss Bible

10 Commandments for Successful Weight Loss

Are you tired of feeling like you're literally weighed down and want successful weight loss? Get ready to lift your spirits and lighten up your body with these 10 'Commandments' to losing weight and keeping it off for good.  

Commandment # 1: Thou Shall Stop All Excuses

Three of the most common excuses for living an unhealthy lifestyle are:

30 minutes a day is better than days, weeks or months spent being sick and tired. Our culture has ingrained in us to do things the easy way. We live in a country where if we could we'd probably drive ourselves to the bathroom! 

As far as your genetics - most of the chronic disease today is linked to poor eating habits, smoking, inactive living, and stress. These are things that you can take charge of.

You just must commit to do it. 

Here is what a good fat burning fitness program does for you:

1. Reduces your risk of getting heart disease
2. Increases your level of muscle strength
3. Improves the functioning of your immune system
4. Helps you manage stress
5. Helps you lose weight
6. Improves the likelihood of surviving a heart attack.
7. Helps relieve tension headaches
8. Improves your body's ability to burn fat
9. Decreases injury risk
10. Increases bone density
11. Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure
12. Increases levels of healthy cholesterol
13. Reduces your risk of developing non-insulin dependent diabetes 

Commandment #2: Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Childs Food

Are you a member of the clean plate club for yourself, your children and everyone else sitting at the table? Do you feel compelled to finish off juniors food because you don't want it to go to waste? You can change this by changing your thinking to, "I don't want juniors' leftovers to go to my waist." Those extra calories add up to increased inches on your waistline. 

Commandment #3: Thou Shall Not Eat Poisonous Fatty Fast Foods

Do you eat fast foods because you're in a hurry and don't have time to make something? By taking the time to prepare your meals you'll add years of time to your life and save yourself a lot of money both in the short term with immediate food bill savings and in the long term with medical bill savings. 

Commandment #4: Thou Shall Love Thyself

Love thyself is not just a cliché. By getting in shape, you are essentially saying to your partner and all those that love you, I love myself enough to take care of my health and I want to be around a long time to share my life with you. When we commit to love our body, we make wholesome choices and feel free to discover the restorative powers of good health. 

Commandment #5: Thou Shall Make Time To Exercise 5 - 6 Days a Week

Whether you feel you don't have the time to exercise, or you feel you get enough during the day - to lose the weight you first need to lose the excuses. In order to burn fat you need to do at least 30 minutes of sustained exercise and get your heart rate pumping. 

Commandment #6: Thou Shall Learn How To Manage Stress

If you eat from stress, you're not alone. A large majority of my clients eat out of stress and this causes weight gain which causes stress which causes weight gain... and a cycle is born. A stressful day can be dramatically transformed with purposeful exercise. Learn to exercise and stay mentally focused on your muscles being worked. By spending time on just yourself and letting go of responsibilities, even if just for 30 minutes, you will take years of stress away from your mind/body and spirit. 

Commandment #7: Thou Shall Have Patience With Thy Weight Loss Plan

Weight is not gained overnight and it won't come off overnight either. By falling for every lose weight quick scheme you are only cheating yourself from having the healthy, shapely body you will have by following a sensible diet and exercise plan. Have patience with yourself and you'll have a far less likely chance of becoming a patient.

Further Reading: Stupid fitness questions you’re too afraid to ask

Commandment #8: Thou Shall Not Halt Thy Weight Loss Plan Because Thou 'was bad.'

Let's face it, we're not perfect and we all have slip-ups. During a taping of one of my exercise shows for television, I slipped on wet grass and decided to keep it in just to demonstrate that you don't have to be perfect or beat yourself up if you fall. Just get right back up again and keep going. 

Further Reading: Ask Gilad: Overcoming Setbacks

Commandment #9: Thou Shall Be Strong For Thyself

There will be times when you are around people who mean well when they say, Oh come on, just try my delicious cake, it won't hurt. True it won't hurt - them, but you yes, it will hurt your goal to arrive at your destined weight. In those moments of weakness when there's that little guy on one shoulder saying, "come on, have a bite, just one, it won't hurt, or you can exercise tomorrow," you need to be strong for yourself and keep your vision on your goal. 

Commandment #10: Thou Shall Make Conscious Choices

What is consciousness? It is you. You are consciousness. It is this very consciousness that tells you innately who you are and what choices you need to make. It is your deeper self, your greater self. Call it what you will. The important thing is that it is within you.  It is your world. You can't see it, smell it, touch it or hear it. But you can, and do, feel it. Being aware of yourself and your actions gives you the ability to make healthy choices.

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series.

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love Now Available!

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love is now posted.

Read it HERE.

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love Now Available!

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love is now posted.

Read it HERE.

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love Now Available!

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love is now posted.

Read it HERE.

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love Now Available!

Love Notes Blog by Jari Love is now posted.

Read it HERE.

New “Fit Forever with Kathy” Blog Now Posted!

The latest blog from Kathy Smith is now posted!

You can read it HERE!!!

Thanks!