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The Critical Link Between Health and Success after age 50.

Have you ever found yourself putting in a lot of effort towards self-improvement, trying various techniques like coaching, therapy, and more, yet still feeling like something’s missing? Especially if you’re over 40 or 50, you might have noticed that the transformational journey isn’t as smooth as it used to be. This blog post dives into a game-changing realization: achieving your goals and finding peace and joy is intricately tied to how you treat your body.

The Turning Point: Resetting Your Approach

Despite all the inner work, a crucial factor often gets overlooked – how you nourish and care for your body. The foods you eat, the liquids you consume, and how you move your body play a pivotal role in your transformational journey. It’s no longer about age-old methods of pushing through; it’s about resetting your entire approach.

A Matter of Input: What You Consume Matters

What you put into your body becomes the building blocks of your energy and overall well-being. Over 40 and especially over 50, your body undergoes significant changes, making it far less forgiving of unhealthy choices. Processed foods, excessive sugar, artificial additives, and trans fats wreak havoc on your body’s delicate balance. These substances are foreign to your system and can lead to various health issues.

Exercise: More Than Physical Fitness

Physical activity is not just about looking fit; it’s about igniting your body’s natural rejuvenation process. As you age, circulation and metabolism slow down, making regular exercise vital. It’s not about running marathons; even simple movements can stimulate sweat glands, detoxify your body, and improve your overall vitality.

The Foundation of Transformation: Health

Picture your health as the solid foundation on which the house of your dreams stands. Just as a shaky foundation affects the entire structure, neglecting your health can hinder your personal development journey. Whether your goals involve relationships, wealth, energy, or well-being, health is the cornerstone. It’s the catalyst that propels all other parts of your transformation forward.

Introducing the 8-Week Health Reset Challenge

Imagine a program designed to empower you to take charge of your health, regardless of your lifestyle. Whether you’re a traveller, nomad or a camper-dweller, this program accommodates everyone. It’s not another impractical diet plan; it’s a toolkit for shifting both your body and mind towards positive transformation. By aligning your health with your goals, you’ll witness the layers of inner work peeling away faster than you thought possible.

Embracing Holistic Well-being

Chasing quick fixes and relying on chemicals (think pills!) can lead to more harm than good. Instead, consider the wisdom of holistic well-being. Your body has an incredible capacity to heal and balance itself when provided with the right conditions. One example is…Why resort to risky medications when you can holistically manage cholesterol and heart health by making simple dietary adjustments? The same applies to weight, hormones and energy

OK….what now?

Your journey towards realizing your goals and finding inner peace doesn’t have to be a complicated maze. By prioritizing your health, you set the stage for holistic transformation. The 8-Week Health Reset Challenge is your ticket to a revitalized mind and body, accelerating your progress in EVERY area of your life!

** Remember, transformation begins inside of us, and your body is more than capable of responding positively if given the right conditions. Don’t wait; take the first step towards a brighter, healthier, and more peaceful and joy-filled you in only a few short weeks.

Are you ready to go on this transformative journey?

Reach out to me now on social media or email at support@dianegudmundson.com to join the upcoming 8-Week Health Reset Challenge. It’s time to kickstart the mind and body cleanup process that will definitely lead to rapid and profound changes in every part of your life.

5 Reasons to Never Miss Leg Day (Seriously!)…OK 6

I was working these quads, hamstrings, glutes and abdominals early this morning… in a combination of deadlifts, squats and lunges…wow! Leg day is hard but I hear that it brings the most benefits over all other lifting routines so its worth the hard work!

Leg muscles are the largest muscle groups in the body, so they burn the most calories… did you know that your gluteus Maximus (ie your buns) is the largest muscle in the body?

OOH! Leg Muscles look Good!

Leg muscles are our big muscle groups, but they also look really nice. Strong glutes, athletic quads, healthy hamstrings and toned calves certainly look good in a pair of shorts. However, there are 5 bigger reasons to work those legs than just for the looks! …

Power and Endurance

Legs are powerful when they are strong and give us higher athletic ability to do other sports such as running, jumping or sports requiring speed! Having strong conditioned muscles also gives us more endurance so that we can move faster and for a longer period of time without getting tired!

2. Less Injuries

When our legs are strong, joints are optimally supported and there is much less likelihood of having certain injuries especially during sporting activities

3. Burn more Calories

With conditioned leg muscles, our whole body will generally have a higher metabolism. Those larger muscles require more energy and therefore your metabolism 24 hours per day will be higher! Aha! Weight loss!

4. Less Back Pain

Less back pain will be there if we have strong lower body. The glutes take a lot of the strain off the lower back when we are standing. If we sit all day, we are more likely to have short hip flexors and weak hamstrings (leading to sore back)…. Stretching those hip flexors and working on strengthening the glutes, hamstrings and abdominal muscles can make a dramatic difference in reducing back pain.

5. Practical strength

With strong legs, even if you are not an athlete, it will help you with day to day activities without getting hurt. Things such as moving around heavy items, carrying groceries, moving furniture are easier if the legs are strong because your body will have the strength to squat and hinge at the hips. This way, when we use our strong legs, we can much easier lift heavy items without hurting our back!

LEG WORKOUT TIP

With leg exercises, it is important to start low and gradually increase the weights. Do full range of motion slowly, with abdominals in to support the back and slowly increase the depth of your movements. It is very important to use proper form to avoid hurting the knees so be sure to research this or get a coach (like me) to help you out.

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Muscles Pump You Up (In More Ways Than One!)

There is something about working those muscles hard and having that feeling of being totally pumped up afterwards!! I just love that feeling!

The muscles feel swollen and full as the blood surges through them after the heavy burn wears off.. if you have never felt it, you may not know what I mean.. but if you have done a good lifting routine…you will know exactly what I am talking about here…???

This morning, I feel compelled to talk about what goes on inside the muscle to make it feel this way and how that gives us benefit, conditioning and a sense of well-being. Its totally changed my life to do resistance training and I am certain it would change yours as well.

It may sound weird, but the action of lifting weights actually depletes muscle building nutrients in the body and causes microscopic tears in our muscle fibres. Its only after the workout is over that our bodies work to repair the damage we inflicted on it and then the muscle growth starts to happen. Immediately after a workout, the body gets to work by increasing blood flow to those muscles causing them to feel bigger and more full. This increase blood flow and high rate of repair happens for up to several hours after a workout.

How to make sure our muscles repair and stay with us…

Its important to regularly have small meals with carbs and proteins after the workout to help keep the growth and repair process moving forward. During our sleep time at night, our body runs out of repair nutrients while we are sleeping (fasting) and this is why having a bit of extra protein at bedtime can be helpful to keep this repair process working well while sleeping. If we have prolonged periods of fasting, our body goes into what is called a catabolic state where muscle breakdown occurs. We definitely do not want to get into this state as it will reduce our muscle mass…so be sure that muscle is well fed and don’t allow your body to go into prolonged fasting periods.

WHY build muscle anyways?

Lifting weights (resistance training) is important to build muscle strength, but it also strengthens the surrounding connective tissue as well (tendon, ligament). The stronger the structures are, the less likely it will be that you will experience a strain, dislocation or tear around a joint or a muscle injury while in motion!!

The health benefits to having conditioned muscles are so amazing, that it is an important activity to incorporate into your life ASAP! Having muscles improves our physical appearance (more toned, nice shape, less fat), gives us more energy, increases bone density, increases power and strength, reduced injury, makes recovery from injuries faster, slows down aging and improves hormone balance, increases HDL (good cholesterol), improves our balance, lowers blood pressure and resting heart rate. The list goes on and on… so many benefits!

Oh and one more thing! Conditioned muscles typically do not cause us chronic pain! Yes, we will have some sore muscles from lifting at times especially when increasing weight or intensity, but in general, conditioned muscles at rest do not cause us pain! HUGE BENEFIT that improves quality of life! I suffered from chronic body, muscle, neck and knee pains for years and getting into shape completely transformed my quality of life and I am not in pain any longer! Its so worth the work!

If you would like to find a professionally designed resistance training program to get started with, please contact me and I will help you out.

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Benefit of Planks (It may look easy, but…)

If you have never tried doing a plank, it may look rather easy, but this is deceiving. Holding this position takes a LOT of endurance in your abdominal muscles, back muscles and core. This morning, I was working on core workout and was having aching in my shoulders, so figured a checkup on my plank form was in order… this is the beauty of having photo and video on our phones… its easy to take shots of ourself doing positions and analyze it to see what we are doing wrong!

Reminding myself of proper plank form here and analyzing the mistakes I made, so I will share them with you

Hold elbows directly under shoulders and place wrists in line with elbows.(I need to avoiding placing my hands too close together, this creates internal rotation and can cause instability at shoulder joint)
Push body up into upper back and hold chin close to your neck (like you are holding a small apple between chin and throat). I need to to tilt my chin more towards my chest to reduce strain on my neck and allow me to more fully use my abs and pull my belly button in)
Hold abdominals tight, contracting them, squeeze your buttock muscles and thigh muscles at the same time while breathing regularly (don’t hold your breath)
Hold plank 20-30 seconds, rest then repeat (I was trying to hold the plank too long and was losing my form…I learned its better to do short planks several times, than trying to do one long plank with loss of form!)
Start doing plank using elbows and toes (drop to knees if needed) and progress to high plank when you feel you have developed the necessary strength

These are hard! …What do we need to do planks for?

Reducing back pain! Planks help back pain because they strengthen your core which helps to reduce back pain. It especially helps lower back pain and because there is minimal movement in the exercise, the chance of injury is very low.
Improve balance and posture! Having a strong core helps posture and balance. There are various types of plank exercises which work the core from all angles such as side planks as well.
Tone up core! Planks are good for working on the deeper core muscles that give a good foundation for tightening up those abs!

There are many benefits to doing work on our core which I wrote about in another post in the recent past…take a few minutes to check that out…I posted a video and tips to help you get started on building your core on that post.

For today, I am glad I took the time to learn about how to improve my plank form and will build on this moving forward. I typically do plank work almost every day, so having proper form is so important so that I do not injure myself! I hope that you found this helpful and will take some time to work on your core strength each day. Every 20-30 seconds you put in doing a plank will make a difference and will be worth it!

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How to get Agile and Lose Weight (Yes it is Even Possible for Grannys!)

Being fit is far more than just big muscles and strength! It’s about being able to move, twist, jump, maneuver, run…and more …all without getting injured! The MMA fighters need to do more than just fight to keep up their fitness level, and so should we?. My agility power and a core workout were done this morning with sweat pouring and after it was over I was all smiles because it felt so great! Was a tough workout though!

As we get older, meaning over 40 and beyond, it is incredibly important to work on strength and agility training to maintain our strength, balance, coordination and joint range of motion. Walking is good exercise, but it really is not enough since it doesn’t work the essential muscles or the mind in the ways that agility training does..

Reaction time and coordination slow down as we get older, but we can fight that with only 10-15 min of practise every day. Agility skills help us to react faster, reduce risk for falls and this type of exercises puts pressure on the muscles and bones which help to keep them healthy and strong. With agility training, our posture improves, giving more upright walking stance and confidence and have less discomfort in our back.

The benefits of Tai Chi, yoga, Tai Cheng (take a minute to watch the video) with their slow controlled movements also really help to increase range of motion, balance, co-ordination and flexibility. If you don’t have time or feel comfortable going out to a class for this type of exercises, we have this type of program available on DVD or digital streaming and it can be used at home.

Dancing is also another good exercise to improve agility. It can be very fun and social activity as well, which is a bonus.. Dancing benefits not only our physical agility, but also our mental agility and reduces cognitive decline (BONUS!). There are many kind of dance available and if you would rather dance at home, there are country dance programs that can be done at home as well!

Remember as a kid we used to play hop scotch? Just that little bit of hopping, balancing on one leg really trains the brain and builds agility. Consider playing with your kids or grandkids and reminisce about those fun times and enjoy!! It will feel more like fun than exercise for sure. This morning with my workout (check out my current core blasting fighting program!), we did something called “Hop Squatch” which is very similar to hop scotch, but only with squats between single foot hops! LOL

By being consistent each and every day and working on agility to some degree, we have better posture, strength, balance and even energy! This will make us even more active in other activities, promote weight loss and a higher level of positivity and self-confidence. It is definitely worth working on and no matter what your age, there are exercises that will help! For more assistance finding a program to suit you, contact your local senior services, or contact me about some effective and fun home based programs that will help you out.

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