Carla Fox RYT/PYT

​“I do not seek perfection. I simply seek to remember who and what I am everyday. I seek the people and places and practices that support the expanding of this awareness in my day, in my life, in my choices.” Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Over the past couple of years I have observed a seemingly growing portion of the female population experiencing over commitment in their lives. (To be clear, this is not exclusive to the female of our species, only that it has been observed more first hand in that sex by the writer. It is my hope, that this serves anyone who nods their head to any of this or thinks, “I have felt that!”, female or otherwise. This is for anyone who recognizes this and wants to do something about it for themselves and the world they live in.) The most interesting part of it is that the commitments are mostly external. Few, if any, are made to herself. There is a fundamental misalignment with the individual and their own personal path to joy of being or living in their spirit. The inauthentic gap we experience in our own lives drives us to cover up the emptiness with some kind of distraction or stimulation. (Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 – Vitality and Stress (Santa Cruz, NM: KRI 2008), 65.) Now, it may be said that this population has always been there, and that I started noticing it because I began to see and feel it in myself. What does it look like and feel like? Here is what I have felt, seen and come to understand as signs of this over commitment that takes one out of the dynamic balance so many of us are navigating toward:

Feeling so busy that there isn’t time for the things you know are “good” for you.
Doing everything else before allowing the possibility of doing what you love.
Feeling an ambiguous lack of ease or harmony.
Hoping that “catching up” on everything will make you feel at peace.
Feeling envious or judgmental toward others who seem to have/take time for themselves.
Good, old-fashioned anxiety.
Good, old-fashioned depression.
Hearing the running tape in your mind that everything is “great!” or “ok!” because you can’t pin down a specific reason to feel out of sorts.
Feeling like you must be the only one selfish or ungrateful enough to feel this way.
Feeling the need to apologize even when you’re not sure why you’re apologizing.
Fatigue
Insomnia
Addiction

It’s true that a lot of women live a life that is on the surface pretty great; decent health, a job, a family, friends. We live in an era where women have many more options than they used to, and there is a drive, internal and societal, to utilize ALL of those options now and to use them all well, to their fullest expression. No pressure. And still within all of that, there is this sense of something missing. There is a feeling of imbalance that is seeking its level. Often with the idea that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. That there is an action to be taken that will change it. That if one just does MORE. That there is something one must DO to feel better, to get better, to BE better. Often in tandem with that is the feeling that its out of one’s hands. That there’s nothing one can do about it, or that this is just life, and that’s how its supposed to be.

​“Living with depleted energy for years without end can result in high-grade levels of chronic stress; drained nutrients… and sometimes depression that won’t go away. By the time we reach our forties and fifties, sometimes we are so accustomed to fatigue, low energy and exhaustion that our bodies simply don’t know any other way of being.” (Nora Isaacs Women in Overdrive (California: Seal Press 2006), 10.) It is that which makes this state of being so ambiguous, because it feels almost normal. The American Psychological Association notes that 70% of people realize they could use help, but only 7% seek it out. (Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, KRI International Teacher Training Manual Level 2 – Vitality and Stress (Santa Cruz, NM: KRI 2008), 35.) Yogi Bhajan, the master of Kundalini yoga, called this cold depression. Living with a constant low to moderate level of stress as your baseline.  It has been my experience and observation that this all starts out quietly, and gets louder and more symptomatic.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna experiences a time where he is overcome with weakness in a moment where he needs to act. He is in duality about the circumstances of a battle where he has loyalty to both sides. Krishna steps in and reminds him to look into his own true nature and transform his consciousness instead of focusing on the external circumstances. Once this disconnect was healed, Arjuna was able to move with courage, integrity, and compassion in each action on the battlefield.
Herein lies that amazing irony of it all. It is by deeply relaxing into oneself that all of this duality starts to fall away. That it almost takes care of itself. All the potential for harmony already exists, it does not need to be made. It does not need anything to be fixed “first”. The other hilarity is that learning deep relaxation… is really hard work.

In western medicine, this can look like a million things. And it IS a million of those things. It is anxiety, lethargy, resentment, headaches, muscles aches, digestive upset, and so many other things. What we are talking about here is the overall source and at the same time overall effect from those million things that are diagnosed and treated. They are inextricable. It is said that when Native American medicine men talk to the sick, they usually ask three questions: When was the last time you sang? When was the last time you danced? When was the last time you told your story? That lack of each person's version of singing, dancing and storytelling is what we seek to address here.

More on this next time!

​Adam Milligan, President EQUIVITA


For a few years there has been an increasing amount of support for the idea of increased protein consumption directly around resistance training exercise. Manufacturers have designed supplements specific for ingesting pre, post and even during exercise. The idea behind this push is that during resistance exercise you can cause muscular damage that will then need to be rebuilt stronger. And that there is an "anabolic window" for the ideal rebuilding which is right around the time of muscular damage.

Intuitively, this story makes sense. If you need building blocks to make the muscles stronger then having those blocks readily available should make the building easier. This story connects because it is believable.

If, however, you start to look deeper into the story you might begin to question its believability. During an activity where you are breaking down the muscle - which is another great story that we will save for another time and suffice to say that it doesn't happen nearly as often as presumed - you are not building. The rebuilding happens at rest, not during exercise.

So, why would so many studies indicate that post-exercise protein is so important? Aside from the obvious benefit to supplement companies and the psychological benefit to the individual, the answer may be found in the article, "The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis" (Schoenfeld et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2013, 10:53).

Through analyzing the data from protein ingestion studies, Schoenfeld concludes that "Any positive effects noted in timing studies were found to be due to an increased protein intake rather than the temporal aspects of consumption...". Total amount of protein ingested being the determining factor as opposed to when that protein was consumed.

So, how much protein should one eat? According to the literature, those consuming twice of the standard recommendation for sedentary people saw the greatest benefit. This puts the protein intake around 1.6g/kg bodyweight. Of course, if I were trying to tell a good story I would let you believe that all you need to do is increase your protein intake and your muscles would grow burn more calories and shed any unwanted body fat. I think you know that it is just not that easy.

As with any supplement or nutrient, your body will only realize a difference if it has an unfulfilled need. Consuming more protein will only make a difference if you are creating a demand in your body for those building blocks. Without the activity to create the need, that increased protein will just be used by the body as increased calories which could go to increased stored calories as fat.

Balancing your macronutrients (FAT, CHO and PRO) to ensure you are getting enough but not too much can be tricky and, no doubt, there will be continual research that will disprove things that we currently believe, but if you listen to your body you can find the balance that is right for you. Research and normative data are best used as guidelines and should always be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.

As always, let me know how I can help.
 
Adam

Cheryl Harris, Licensed Massage Therapist

It's getting to be that time of year again - if we can get through the next week of cold rainy weather - we will be seeing folks outside running, walking, cycling, just moving. Thankfully, warmer weather invites us all to do that more, and I love it! What happens when we get outside and move more? We are using energy, sure, but the energy doesn't just go away, it only changes form. 'For every action, there is an equal, and opposite reaction'. Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law can be applied in every day situations, but how does it apply to our movement? 
​
If we go outside and take a walk, a stroll, just to move and get some blood flow going in our body, there will always be forces at work - your feet hitting the pavement, the pavement pushing up into your feet, your arms swinging, your legs moving one at a time, one in front of the other. These forces always come in pairs. The direction of the first being opposite to the direction of the second. Super, right? Within the movement of walking, we typically swing our arms back and forth; it's what our body does, and we don't really think about it much, or have to tell our brain to move our arms back and forth while we walk. What does this motion do for us in terms of Newton's Third Law and dispersing energy? 

When our arms swing back and forth, it ends up helping keep our lower back 'happy'. Why? How? In walking, our feet hit the pavement and there is an energy transfer through our feet, up the leg, into the hips, low back and spine, all the way up to our neck. Think of it as a sort of vibration, or a ripple in a pond. When these ripples or vibrations happen, they have to have somewhere to go. They travel up the spine, for sure, but where do they go from there? That's where our arms come into play. When we swing our arms while we walk or run, the vibrations travel down our arms and out our fingers, changing into another form of energy, yet again. If we don't swing our arms, that energy can become 'trapped' in a way, and create tightness. That tightness can sometimes settle in the upper back, or lower back, and stay there.

Dispersing the energy is best case scenario, but often we find that folks don't disperse that energy as they need to, so what do they do? Massage, of course! Massage can help loosen the tissue that has tightened down from the energy being trapped in the spine. If we let the trapped energy build up, it can take a while, or multiple massages, to loosen the tissue and get it back to where we want it to be. If we get massages on a regular basis, the consistency can put our body in a great place and make loosening the tissue much easier. 

Energy is a fabulous thing, whether you feel it in the air or you feel it in your bones, and it can come in many forms. Remembering to take care of that energy, and ourselves, is an important part of life. Whether you already get massages, or have been thinking about it and not quite sure if it's a good thing, I'm here to tell you it IS! Massage not only deals with the physical, but the mental energy as well. We often don't allow ourselves to take time out and just be. Our energy is always changing forms and massage can help with the ever changing us. 

Feel free to ask questions if you have them, I'm happy to help. charris@equivita.com

by Drew Lizon, Transitional Fitness Trainer

When it comes to creating a plan and following that plan, it can sometimes be quite difficult to stay on track. Something gets in the way and alters the course of the plan, often putting the plan on hold (temporarily, we tell ourselves) and end up changing the parameters of the plan. It’s almost like everything and everyone around us are sabotaging us…like nobody wants us to succeed! Frustrating! But a lot of times, I find that if we look ourselves in the mirror, we’ll find the biggest culprit of all. We can be our own worst enemy. What’s holding us back is often times in our own control, and what we end up doing is make excuses for ourselves to cover the guilt, or redirect the blame for not staying on course.
 
Of course it’s difficult. No one ever said that it’s easy or that it gets much easier (people say it gets easier, but more on that in a bit) when it comes to following a fitness or dietary plan. It can be a rollercoaster ride of emotions, actually. You’ll have your ups, you’ll have your downs, you’ll have that point where you just want to hop off mid-ride because you just can’t take it anymore. But when you do quit, what makes you think it’ll be different the next time around? I hear from people all the time say something like, “oh, when I start back up, it’ll be different and I’ll do much better!” Ok, that’s great! But what makes you think you’ll do any differently than before? What has changed? There are still 24 hours in a day and you’re still busy as ever, so really nothing has changed except for your excitement for change. When you start a fitness program, a lot of times you’ll feel excited and motivated to change, but we all know that doesn’t last. Exercise and you can be a very difficult relationship. It starts off great, but the love and attention that it deserves starts falling behind and the next thing you know the two of you are “taking a break.” Sad.
 
I do hear people tell others that it gets easier and you just need to, “get in a routine and it becomes just part of your schedule.” Getting into a routine gives the illusion that it’s easier, but it isn’t necessarily easier. You’re still grinding the 9-5 and tired as ever at the end of the day, aren’t you? We all know that it’s much easier to plop down in front of the TV after work, or head out with coworkers to happy hour than to drive to the gym, whether exercise is on your schedule or not. Oh, you’ve been good lately so you’ll just skip the gym today and make up for it later? You’ll skip tomorrow, too? You have been good lately, haven’t you? Skipping a day or two is great. Mental and physical breaks are necessary, but once you get a taste of skipping your exercise, you have to make sure that it doesn’t derail your plans. You made a promise to yourself to go the following day, so make sure you do because it can easily fall apart from there.
 
Keeping the motivation is hard. Sticking to a plan is hard. As a fitness trainer, it’s assumed that we know all the answers to stay motivated and to make sure things don’t fall apart. But we have a hard time as well. We’re only human. So, I’d love to hear what some of you use to stay motivated and to keep kicking butt! It can be small things that you see or hear that tempts you to keep pushing on. I remember waking up one weekend with the sun shining on my face and thinking, “man, what a beautiful day! I’m going to get my run in early so I can enjoy the day!” Kind of cheesy, I know, but just seeing the sunlight got me motivated to do my cardio. So let’s hear ‘em, folks. Your ideas for motivation, big or small, just may help others who are struggling to find the light. Let’s help each other stay on course! Ready…go!

- Drew

by Tami Wise, Transitional Fitness Trainer

Welcome to the article-shorts, a vehicle to share little segments of big systems, in hopes that they make sense and perhaps provide a new or better understanding of the topic they cover.  Whether it be the American electoral process, a car engine, algebra, the energy efficiency of my old home, or the metabolism of the human body, I like to understand how the smaller systems work together to influence the greater network these systems support. Perhaps this is why I am a Transitional Fitness Trainer at EQUIVITA.  As a TFT at EQUIVITA, we consistently work to first understand the parts of the skeletal muscle system(tone, flexibility, awareness, posture, endurance, nutritional needs) and then once we have some data on a person’s individual expressions of this stuff, we start to design a program to influence that body system.(Sound intense?  Maybe, but the delivery system is so cool:  EQUIVITA Initial Fitness Review--roughly 2 hr appointment that breaks down your systems, and folds them back together to make a workout plan for you.)

The whole human body, and what to do with the damn thing, fascinates me.   
Currently, I fancy hormones and behavior:  behavioral endocrinology, IS the scientific study of the interaction between hormones and behavior. This interaction is bidirectional: hormones can influence behavior, and behavior can sometimes influence hormone concentrations(MEATY...YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION!).

Choose Growth?
Let’s grow!  Let’s learn a little bit about growth hormone(GH).   This wee bijou,  growth hormone, has some very big ‘hot buttons!’  A quick internet search on growth hormone will pull studies showing that increased growth hormone can decrease body fat, while it increases muscle mass and bone density. Or peruse articles that discuss the impact of GH on raised energy levels, and improved tone and texture of our skin. Tied for other-first-place in the ‘growth hormone  popularity contest’ this hormone has been used by sports competitors since the 1970s and has now been banned by the International Olympic Committee and National College Athletic Association--interesting, it’s NOT entirely clear why...but we will investigate it!

WHAT GROWTH HORMONE IS...is a peptide hormone in our endocrine system(the other system working, with the nervous system, to regulate the synchrony of the human body networks, and their harmony with the external environment).  Growth hormone is created and secreted in the pituitary gland(pea sized gland at the base of the brain).  It is a major participant in the control of several complex physiologic processes, growth and metabolism.  In ‘growth,’ growth hormone stimulates the body, indirectly, by traveling to the liver to trigger the production of insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1)(enough mainstream articles are using this term--otherwise we might not go this in-depth) which triggers growth in bone tissues and protein synthesis in muscle and other tissues.  In metabolism, growth hormone interacts with how our bodies synthesize protein, break down fat, and assists other hormones in carb metabolism.  Growth hormone, is a team player in the game of maintaining our blood glucose within a normal range--glucose is the human body's key source of energy, found in the breakdown of carbs.
​
HOW GROWTH HORMONE MAKES US GROW.  Wait are we talking about METABOLISM, FINALLY?! Almost, we just need to understand how growth hormone works so we can understand how to BOOST IT!  Growth hormone is controlled by two hormones released from the hypothalamus, called somatocrinin or Growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), and somatostatin or Growth-hormone-inhibiting hormone (GHIH).  The unique thing about GH is how it’s released–in a “pulsatile” manner, which just means that your body will release it in bursts.  Throughout a 24-hour period, there will be times when your body is pouring out GH at very high doses, and then other times when it drops and almost none is released, a kind of peaks and valleys pattern.  Increasing GH is a matter of making the “peaks” larger and longer lasting, while minimizing the “valleys”.  

PEAKS AND VALLEYS...now we are talking about how to influence your metabolism, via your new or updated understanding of growth hormone.  WAIT! I’m experiencing a major valley!  I need to take some melatonin, and surely stop to grab a couple hours in ‘deep sleep’ since the largest pulse of GH, in both men and women, is released during the first deep sleep cycle of rest.  When Behave Yourself! returns we will learn how you can boost your metabolism through rest.  

by Adam Milligan, President EQUIVITA


"All generalizations are false, including this one." -Mark Twain
 
Each body has unique patterns and structures which must be taken into consideration when determining the most beneficial movement for the goal desired. I realize that the idea of structural differences like alignment of tissue, angle of tendon insertion or tendon length may seem too vague and not quite as easy to grasp as something like eye color, so let's do a simple test.
 
Bend your elbow at 90 degrees and flex your bicep. With your other hand, place a finger in the space between your bicep muscle and the crook of your elbow. Can you place more than one finger? If so, you probably cannot be a bodybuilder. This doesn't mean that you cannot lift and get larger muscles. It just means that your tendon is too long to achieve the appearance necessary for the bodybuilding look - the look where the muscles fill the space along the length of a bone usually requires less length of the tendon.
 
While you may not be interested in bodybuilding, this simple test should help to exemplify that there are physical differences in the structure of each of our bodies and those differences are the starting point for how our body will find easier ways to work as well as how the same exercises can yield very different results. Where tendon length might make a difference with appearance, the position where the tendon meets the bone can make a huge difference in the functional strength of the muscle. Just like levers, the position of the force (muscle) you apply relative to the fulcrum (joint) can drastically alter the amount of weight (dumbbell) you can move.
 
This is not new information (I think Mary Shelley even wrote about it), but since we are consistently fed the notion that we are all the same we tend to forget that we have differences. And in addition to things like tendon length and insertion angle, sometimes there are variances in the tissues themselves. An example of these differences, common differences that are not anomalies, is the psoas minor - a muscle which is estimated to be in about 50% of people. The specifics of this muscle are not relevant here, I am simply using it as an example that will hopefully disrupt some of the sameness thinking.
 
Certainly there are many similarities from one body to another, but the differences can be the reason why one person can get results from an exercise that another should not do. And why there are times when an exercise will actually work against your goal. The ideal care for a body is unique because every body is unique.

For many years the model has been to identify the ideal care for every body. The thinking seems to follow with the notion that we are all the same and as such we should be treated the same. This is simply not true. And now, finally, there is research that is being done that demonstrates that different people need different things. From diet and exercise to the care of your total health, that which is right for you is only right for you. I am not suggesting that norms and comparisons cannot provide a baseline. Our modern day ability to accumulate vast amounts of data can provide valuable insights, but it is just far too easy to give them greater value than they have.
 
Keeping an open mind and paying attention to your body's response is not easy, but it is the best way that I know to find what is best for you.
As always, let me know how I can help.
 
Adam

by Cheryl Harris, Master Licensed Massage Therapist

Today the sun was shining and it was actually nice outside for an Ohio day in the middle of winter. I have seen so many folks out and about walking, running and sometimes biking lately-it's great! I also have some clients and friends who have made some goals for themselves for the coming months to be more active, and get stuff done-myself included! With these goals comes more movement, more stress to your body, more sore and tight muscles, but also more success, feeling better and conquering some of those small goals that perhaps you've been striving to meet for a long time. This is all wonderful, however, there are some things we should think about when it comes to more movement, and one of those is your shoes. Why should we worry about our shoes? Why is a Massage Therapist telling me about shoes? Well, I can share with you my experience of shoes through the different careers I have pursued and the things I have learned from some shoe professionals as well. 

I have had many jobs over the years, from a restaurant to a hospital, all of which required me being on my feet for long periods of time. Doing this for several days a week was enjoyable for me as I loved what I was doing, but it also took my feet having pain for me to take another look at what I was wearing on my feet. What did I do? Well, my husband is a runner, and one day we ventured to a specialty store for shoes for him. I got to thinking about folks who run marathons and are on their feet for hours at a time and thought, "Couldn't some of these shoes work for me, too?" So, I explained to the folks working there what I did, and what I was looking for and here came the shoes!!! I probably tried on 5 or 6 pairs and eventually picked one that I thought worked and felt the best. These worked for a while, but when they started to wear out, I was ready for another pair. This time we went to a different specialty running and walking shoe store. I have to say, my experience here was much better and they were more detailed and thorough than the first place. Why? Well, they took time to ask me questions, what I wanted, what I was doing, and they watched me walk! They watched how my foot was moving with my body and from that, they were able to determine what kind of shoe would work best for me. I tend to roll my ankles out and walk on the outer part of my foot, so this meant that I needed a shoe with more support on the outside of the foot, so I wouldn't roll quite as much. Hooray! Finding out this information was kind of cool to me, if only because I had never thought of it. I look at people's bodies all the time, and even though I knew my feet did this, I had never had the idea to seek out a shoe specific to this need. ​

Why does this make a difference for us? Well, for starters, it can put us into a more biomechanically sound position. Why is this good? If we are moving in a better position, it can help us not have quite as many aches and pains. This isn't always true and each body is different-in the way they move and respond to changes that we make with them, so each case is going to be different. What is my point? The support we get from either a new pair of shoes, or those that are fitted to us, and what our feet and body need, can make a difference, especially when we want to be more active. Increased activity is a good thing, for sure, but being smart in it, is even more important. Most folks couldn't go out tomorrow and run a marathon without having serious side effects-some being their shoes and some being their body. Some folks are going to need shoes more often than others - myself being one of them. Some of us carry more weight than others, have heavier steps, or move slower; there are SO many factors that affect how your shoes wear and how fast they wear. I bet if you take off your shoe right now, and look at the bottom, you might get an idea of how your foot is moving, simply by looking at the wear on the shoe. Suppose you didn't have any cushion in your shoe, but went out for a 5 mile walk. How would this affect you and your body? Your feet would probably hurt, and perhaps your low back and hips would have some pain in them. Buying shoes that fit your feet for what you want to do can help this. If you want to walk or run longer distances, you will probably want shoes that have more cushion. If you want to be fast and go for a personal record, or simply be speedy at shorter distances, you might want a thinner, lighter shoe that may not have as much cushion. There are so many varieties of shoes out there for people who want to do just about anything. 

Not only do the shoes make a difference, but we can also help make a difference with massage. In being more active, with our new shoes of course, we get aches and pains, and soreness in places we didn't even know we had! I noticed when I changed the type of shoe I was wearing, that my legs felt different. I felt a little bit of tightness in my calves that I had not noticed before, and the next few massages I received were a bit more painful. Again, this isn't true for everyone, but there are subtle changes that can happen in our bodies when we get new things and adjust to them. Just like some folks getting new glasses and being able to see more clearly, the shoes and massage can help our body see more clearly in our activity. Working on the new aches, pains and tightness with massage can help immensely when moving into more activity levels and I highly encourage it! 

I'm happy to answer questions if you have them, so feel free to send me a note at
​charris@equivita.com