Wholistic Fitness

Above, Fitness Warrior Karl leads an early morning Saturday Workout Group in the “off leash” area of his local area…this guy’s got the CHI, baby! At our WF Summer Retreat at Red Mountain Spa, last year, Karl was one of the PreDawn Warriors who got up and trained on our bikes before the “official” sessions began…

If i have told you once,i’ve told a hundred times; mark WF Devotee’s Karl MacPhee’s blog “KMP TRAINING SOLUTIONS” at:

http://kmptrainingsolutions.blogspot.com/

Karl, who is a fantastic Fitness Leader, offers a plethora of intelligent essays designed to inform and inspire those of us who understand the necessity of lifetime exercise. He is Canadian. He races bicycles. He loves hockey. So, well, i don’t TAF i need to say anything more about this beautiful man’s enthusiasm and choice to shine his Light as bright as possible.

An excerpt from his entry of today:

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We have all read books, watched television programs and have heard on the news the risks of not getting enough exercise. What makes this article different is that I am not going to tell you that you need to get 30 minutes a day of this and 60 minutes a day of that. I won�t preach about the percentage of calories you need to take in of a certain macronutrient (carbohydrates, protein & fat) and I will not tell you that you need to spend a ton of money on a gimmick or a gym membership that you won�t use. What I will tell you is that you do need to exercise, you will also have to consider making some lifestyle changes, and you will have to continue as long as we are no longer hunters and gatherers. Yes this is true, and for some of you it is unfortunate, but let me say this� it is also unfortunate to die early of a disease which you could have prevented through a simple plan of exercise, healthy eating and positive lifestyle choices.

In the book Total Body Transformation (Ilg 2004), Steve Ilg describes nutrition as something �you experience through your environment, occupation, relationships, posture, breath, hobbies, thoughts, fitness training, sleep and awareness�. By looking at �Nutrition� this way, we are then able to make positive lifestyle changes such as the job we hold, the people we spend our time with, the extra curricular activities we choose and the way we think and feel. Not only is this example of �nutrition� practical, it is also easy. Once you are in the habit of organizing your life around the positive nutritional choices, exercise will no longer be something that you have to do, you will choose to exercise!

Since we are on the topic of exercise, one of the excuses is that people don�t know what to do even if they did want to exercise. This is understandable, because in the past 20 years, the fitness industry has changed greatly. These changes are not only based on scientific research, they are driven by the consumer as well. Take for example Gyrotonic Training �predominately used by dancers, which combines Yoga, Dance, Gymnastics, Swimming and Tai Chi. For the average person, the ability to accurately and safely combine all of these aspects into one training program would cause mass confusion. It takes years to progress in Yoga alone, and now someone is expected to master four other aspects of fitness!

Another example of a fitness trend which is currently gaining recognition (although there have been people teaching it for many years) is that of a Holistic approach to fitness. This approach combines many different combinations of training into one program such as Strength Training, Cardiovascular Training, Olympic lifting, Meditation, Tai Chi, Martial Arts, Pilates, and so on. This again can cause confusion and usually requires someone to pay a fee to hire a qualified coach which of course is fine.

Two examples of coaches who are qualified and walk their talk are Steve Ilg www.wholisticfitness.com and Paul Chek www.chekinstitute.com .

I have featured both individuals numerous times and I have had the pleasure of meeting Steve Ilg �he is extremely passionate about his work.

The following list is an example of the top 10 fitness trends for 2006:

Sport specific training
Group personal training
In home personal training
Senior�s specific fitness programs
Simple, accessible exercise
Balance Training
Workplace fitness
Healthier restaurants
Mind/Body programs
Functional fitness

*Adapted from http://exercise.about.com/od/healthinjuries/tp/fitnesstrends.htm
Note that there have been individuals practicing such �trends� for many years, the only difference is that the consumer is now wanting the service more often for a variety of reasons.