The body will become better at whatever you do, or don't do. If you don’t move, your body will make you better at not moving!

“So move, everyday, like it’s your job!

Three Pillars of Essential Movement

Resistance Training

If you have limited time this is the biggest bang for your buck. Combine strength training with some walking everyday and you’re on the right track!. Resistance training is essential to longevity as it stimulates all important growth hormones to build and maintain lean mass. Ask me how to safely incorporate resistance training exercises that target large muscle groups. Learn how to squat, deadlift, lunge, push and pull properly and you’ll get super strong while revving your metabolism. If you’re not ready for weights, we’ll talk about using body weight as resistance, like holding a plank pose etc. There is always a safe place to start!

Yoga

I’m still in love with yoga after more than 25 years.. That said, I did yoga exclusively for too many years. We need muscle confusion and yoga certainly provides that but we need more as we get older. We all know that yoga improves strength, balance and flexibility, strengthens the core, eases arthritis and back pain, benefits the heart and lungs and relaxes you. It’s an elixir for mind, body and soul but it is not the only practice we should focus on.

High Intensity Interval Training

Study after study shows that the key to optimal health, longevity, and fitness is muscle strength, building and maintaining lean mass. We need short, intense movements to stimulate BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which is like Miracle-Gro for your brain. These short, intense workouts done 1-2 times a week, in as little as four minutes, are rounded out with lots of slow moving walks and other more simple ambulatory movements like walking up the stairs, bike riding, housework and gardening. That 3 mile chronic cardio run is just nonsense when you can train your heart muscle to rise and fall with HIIT training.

“A relationship exists between stress, blood sugar and belly fat. In the face of chronic stress, insulin increases. This drives the relentless metabolic dysfunction that leads to weight gain, insulin resistance, high blood pressure and damage to your brain’s memory center.”

— Mark Hyman

 

Why This Method is a Proven Winner.

Essential Movement is a combination of practices to signal the body to turn on and turn off particular genes. It turns out that getting 30 minutes of steady-state cardio to get strong and burn fat could actually be doing your body more harm than good. Besides wearing down the heart and other muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones, chronic cardio elevates cortisol, the stress hormone.

While movement builds muscle and has beneficial effects on hormone expression it is ineffective for weight management. Exercise should be paired with a healthy diet, adequate sleep, stress management, safe sun exposure and social contact with friends, family and loved ones.

My program inspires you to start moving without damaging your joints or spiking cortisol. Even if you don’t exercise I’ll teach you how to begin, the right way! I’ll meet you where you are and make it easy. If it’s easy, you’ll do it. If it makes you feel good, you’ll do it. If it’s not sustainable it’s a waste of time.