Structural Fitness

What is it?

Everyone knows you need to exercise to be healthy. Most folks immediately think sweaty, time consuming, and strenuous cardiovascular exercise is the answer to well being.

While cardiovascular exercise is important (read my past blogs on this subject for more info) it is not the only piece of the fitness puzzle.

Structural Fitness is functional fitness with medical considerations. The main things I look at when I first start working with someone are: medical history, posture, functional ability, range of movement through all joints, static and dynamic strength, and connective tissue health.

Seem like a lot? That is because it is. All of the pieces of our bodies are attached. You can't move one part without affecting the rest of them. Body builders have made isolating muscle exercises mainstream for years at the expense of some really important bio-mechanical realities.

Sign that you are not structurally healthy:

1. Chronic pain

2. Frequent headaches

3. Osteopenia/osteoporosis

4. Poor posture

5. Difficulty sleeping

6. Muscle cramps

7. Limited range of movement in shoulders, hips, and back

8. Weakness and inability to carry out routine daily tasks

9. Poor concentration

10. Inability to manage stress

Your biggest red flag is if you need medication to assist you with any or all of these. Putting that band aid on the problem prolongs it and makes it worse in the long run.

Getting structurally fit involves:

1. Stretching and lengthening tight muscles and connective tissue (fascia and tendons)
2. Strengthening weak and underdeveloped muscles
3. Releasing bound up fascia
4. Maintaining or building healthy bone density
5. Correcting postural deviations through body awareness and proper mechanics

There are a multitude of exercises and techniques to accomplish the above considerations. Be sure to consult a professional who is well versed on them. They should have several years of experience and credentials in corrective exercise.

Good health is about quality of life. Getting through the day feeling great and getting things done should be top priority. Structural fitness is a key component to this end.

Wake up tomorrow better than you are today!

Fitness Jerny philosophy:

It is your God-given responsibility to improve yourself daily. Your body is your temple. Your mind is the altar. How are you treating it? Taking care of yourself means taking care to honor your physical self as a precious gift. You only get one body, you only get one chance. You are the end result of your choices. How is that working for you? It is never to late to make changes. It is never to late to turn back time. Why waste another day wishing things were different? Behavior change is hard, but a stroke is harder. Ask anyone who has had one.

You choose your destiny, your genetics are not to blame...your lifestyle is. Get off of the couch and into the game. Your children and grand children thank you!

Jerny Rieves is a popular fitness and wellness professional in the greater Phoenix area. She has twenty eight years of experience "in the trenches" helping people get healthy and fit. As an instructor, trainer, coach, and writer, she has motivated thousands of people to better their lives through behavioral changes and education. Jerny's passion and desire to share her knowledge is driven by the belief that a strong nation is built on solid information that inspires families and individuals to take better care of their physical, emotional, and spiritual selves.

For personal training, structural therapy, performance coaching, and metabolic prescription,

contact Jerny at mindyourbody@cox.net.

What does it take to motivate a nation?

This was my response to a post on Linked In that posed the question:

How do we (as health professionals) reach the majority of the population that is not currently active and are at risk for life style related diseases?

After reading posts from world renowned health professionals from across the country...I figured I would go on record with my answer...I posted the following...

What I find interesting is that we all have the same goal...reach the majority of the population that is draining this country's bank account due to poor lifestyle choices. The solutions are long term and complicated.

First of all, we need to focus on the kids. The nation's teenagers are on the fast track to lifestyle related disease in their LATE 20's! Unless pop superstars start getting on TV and saying "stop eating crap!" this country is in big trouble.

With that being said, educating parents on how to raise a healthier generation also starts with media attention. There is way too much conflicting information and sadly we are a "quick fix" society with a herd mentality. It needs to become "cool" to be healthy and "uncool" to eat junk.

In addition, back in the day in suburban Chicago, hospitals had wellness/fitness centers that funneled the lifestyle related disease population into the cooperative fitness centers and were personally addressed by well qualified trainers. When the economy tanked, apparently so did this concept. Out in AZ where I am now, there are no hospital based fitness centers at all. Ditto on corporate fitness centers. Insurance companies as the driver? It very well could be...

Regardless of economic or social standing, unless young children are educated on human body basics, parents are educated on how to healthfully feel a family on a budget, and our baby boomers are given consistent and correct information by reliable sources, we can chit chat on forums all day long.

As professionals, it is time for us to coordinate and mobilize in unity. President Clinton has an initiative already started, Beyonce is showing up in gym classes, the possibilities are within our reach and it is the fitness industry's responsibility to grab that brass ring (and be ready!)

Anyone care to add to this??

3 days ago

The pictures you see!

Everything about fitness that you hear in the media involves weight loss and sure fire ways to get that beach body ready. Products and packaged programs designed to make it simple for you to look like the models paid to pose for the pictures!

Why do we believe as a society that 6, 8, 12 weeks is enough to transform you body into looking like someone else's? I have numerous friends who are fitness competitors and models. Each and every one of them has exercised consistently for 10, 15, 20 years now. They don't eat packaged crap, they moderate alcohol consumption, and the live and breathe a healthy lifestyle. They deserve your respect and admiration.

They are committed to helping you do the same. These men and women are inspirations and their bodies did not come from the luck of genetics. I know meso-endomorphs, such as myself who have to work a lot harder to stay lean, however it is possible.

I have short legs, disproportionately long torso, and a tendency to carry fat in my arms. My genetic lottery ticket wasn't a winner, but I learned early how to embrace what God gave me and learned how to train to make my body healthy, stopped eating my children's food, and therefore look great.

Those of you still looking for the magic bullet to look perfect in a swimsuit, I say this...

Relax, eat healthfully, manage your stress, drink lots of water, make fitness a hobby, and stop expecting to look like the models you see. (Yes, they get airbrushed for pictures too!) There is a happy life available without looking perfect, I PROMISE!

I spend my life surrounded by girlfriends who look amazing and men who make women swoon.

I am just so proud of them and the message that they carry.

Looking for the easy way out doesn't work. Lifestyle does! The health benefits long term can no longer be ignored, you are the product of your choices...what are you going to do about it?