MY PHILOSOPHY - MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE (MiM)

 

As a fitness professional for more than 20 years, I have embraced a basic philosophy of approach for everything I do, whether it's personal training, cardio class instruction, or classes for Parkinson's patients and cancer survivors. 

 

To be healthy and fit requires regular physical activity. We hear it from our doctors at every office visit. We hear it on the news, as study after study points to the need for regular exercise being essential for quality of life and long life.

 

But it also requires a deeper commitment - a whole-body approach to wellness. It‘s a recognition that exercise alone is not enough. Good nutrition is vitally important, which reflects conscious decisions about what you eat, and how much you eat. And to maintain a long term commitment to both exercise and good nutrition, you must get your head in the game. You need a mindset where you’re driven to maintain a regular exercise regimen and good nutrition over the long term. Starting and stopping exercise, and diets of the month, are not long term commitments to being healthy and fit.

 

A vital key to success is recognizing that mind and body are not distinct. They are codependent. If you’re determined to give long term exercise and nutrition a chance, your body will respond in remarkable ways – and that, in turn, will reinforce your determination to keep going. You’ll see improvement in not just physical health but mental health as you feel better about yourself and see that you DO have the ability to effect positive change.

 

The opposite is also true. Lack of exercise and poor nutrition take a heavy toll on your body, especially as we get older, and that feeds depression, low self-concept, and a sense that there is no way back.

 

But there is a way back! Your body is remarkably resilient if you give it a chance. And it starts with, yes, getting your head in the game.

 

The goal for each of us should be to find a personal whole-body equilibrium that allows us to live our lives to the fullest, dealing with the day-to-day stresses that we all endure, and attain a quality of life that we can sustain throughout our lives. 

 

All my programs embrace this whole-body philosophy of approach, which I call Movement is Medicine (MiM). MiM embraces a number of targeted objectives:

 

Physical Health

• Improve muscle strength and bone health 

• Increase range of motion and balance

• Strengthen the immune system

• Increase your appetite

• Reduce fatigue and promote better sleep

• Improve cardiovascular fitness

• Lose weight

• Improve core stability

 

Mental Health

• Reduce anxiety and depression

• Elevate mood

• Foster a positive self-concept

• Reinforce a long term commitment to exercise and nutrition

 

Overall Objectives

• Sustainable wellness

• Improve the quality of life