Fitness Psych – The Happiness/Total Gym Connection

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., is a clinical and fitness psychologist living, working and loving life in San Diego, CA.

If you are reading this column, you are probably well on your way to increased happiness and, stated simply, that translates into longevity. Here’s why: exercise promotes better health and exercising on a Total Gym alone, or better yet with friends, your spouse or partner, with your children and grandchildren (kids love it, try it!), is pure FUN!

You already know the health benefits of using Total Gym for a full-body functional workout. But if you care about your physical wellbeing, you’ll be sure to add large doses of happiness to your workout as well! Adding happiness to your workout routine can add years to your life.

Here’s one of dozens of studies to ponder. Ten years ago, University of Kentucky researchers studied young women entering the American School Sisters of Notre Dame order and asked them to write a one-page autobiography. Years later, the researchers examined the contents of nearly 200 essays and found that those who filled their essay with positive emotions—happiness, love, gratitude, contentment—lived nearly 11 years longer than those who didn’t. This study, like so many others, demonstrates the happiness/health connection.

When exercising and engaging your positive mind, not just your muscles, you let go of chronic anger, worry and sadness—all highly related to heart and other disease.  Researchers coast to coast have documented that long-term positive emotions, especially when combined with the benefits of consistent total exercise, can actually reverse cardiovascular damage.

So next time you prepare yourself for a total-body workout, ask yourself these questions first:

• Is my life close to my ideal?
• Are the conditions of my life excellent?
• Am I satisfied with my life?
• So far, have I gotten the important things I want in life?
• If I could live my life over again, would I change almost nothing?

If your answers are not loud “yesses,” then give real thought to adding gratitude for what you do have, to bolster positivity in your everyday outlook and to build sensitivity to yourself and others. Research tells us you won’t find happiness in money and material things, youth or children. While children can be a source of joy, their daily care can be demanding and stressful.

It’s the ability to savor pleasure in your life, to be totally engaged (especially when “feeling the flow” when on the Total Gym glideboard), to enjoying healthy relationships, to see meaning in your life and in the value of exercise, taking pride in your accomplishments and in the achievements of those whom you love. These are the real ingredients of happiness.

Exercising, eating healthy, easing stress, smart dieting, controlling your spending, adding positive psychology, curbing your unhealthy habits—these are all areas to contemplate increasing in order to make true lasting lifestyle change. You’ll add years to your life and life to your years!

Michael R. Mantell earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Pennsylvania after completing his M.S. degree in clinical psychology at the Hahnemann Medical College, where he wrote his thesis on the psychology of obesity. He has served as Chief Psychologist of Children’s Hospital and Health Center of San Diego, and created and led the nationally recognized Psychological Services and Employee Assistance/Wellness program for the San Diego Police Department. He is a member of the Sports Medicine Team at The Sporting Club in La Jolla, California, maintains a private clinical practice in La Mesa, California, and writes and speaks for the American Council on Exercise.

Ask Dr. Salada – Is it a Cold or Allergies?

Q:  I have been so congested lately. How can I tell if I have a cold coming on or if it’s just allergies – and should I stop working out?

A:  That’s a very good question as sometimes it is hard to tell. Colds can often start with symptoms similar to allergies as both can cause a runny nose, watery eyes and even a sore throat and headache.

Often, however, a cold will leave you feeling more tired and run down and sometimes will give you a low grade fever. Over the counter antihistamines are helpful for both symptom relief and to help you determine if it is just allergies. I like the 24 hour preparations like Loratedine, rather than the shorter duration medications like Benadryl (diphenhydramine) because they are less sedating and last all day rather than just 4-6 hours.

If your symptoms are allergy related, you should feel better within a few days of starting the over the counter medications. If you have a cold, your symptoms may be more severe and will last longer.

Most colds run their course in 7-10 days and because they are almost always viral in origin, an antibiotic won’t really help much. As for working out, there is no need to curtail or lighten your workout for either allergies or the common cold, as long as you feel rested enough and drink plenty of water. If your condition is more serious such as those accompanied by a fever, you may need to shorten the intensity and duration of your workout.

If you aren’t sure how to classify your symptoms, then it’s a good idea to check with your doctor prior to working out or continuing a workout regimen. In the meantime, stay healthy, sleep well and keep working out on your Total Gym!

Until next time,
Dr. Salada

Dr. Salada is board certified in Internal Medicine and has been in practice in San Diego since 1996. She attended medical school at Wake Forest University where she received high honors in Family Practice and Internal Medicine. Her final training was obtained from Pennsylvania State University where she completed her residency in Internal Medicine.

Visit Dr. Salada’s website for more information: http://elizabethsaladamd.com/.

Core Golf Fitness – Power to the Legs!

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor and creator of the “Core Golf Fitness” program.

Hey Total Gym Insiders and Golfers!

I have to congratulate Darren Clark for his victory at the British Open in July. What a classy competitor and class act.

One of the many things that Darren had going for him were STRONG LEGS! Strong legs = more distance and power in golf! If you want to do resistance training to improve your golf game, you want to work your legs and stay flexible to increase your range of motion.

Here is a great leg strengthener & hip stretch exercise series that I use with my clients on Total Gym. Any fitness enthusiast will benefit from this workout! Click the image to watch the video.

I’ll have more juicy Core Golf Fitness tips for you next month.

Meanwhile, I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below with any questions about how to utilize Total Gym to improve your golf game or exercise requests for my next blog post!

Until then … Hit em’ Straight!

JayDee

 JayDee’s Core Golf Fitness DVD offers on-course and warm-up exercises proven to help advance your golf game and is available for purchase at http://coregolffitness.com/.

Total Gym Weekly Workout: New Abdominal Exercises

We often get requests for Total Gym abdominal workouts, so we recruited recognized GRAVITY Master Trainer Michael Steel to create a challenging new ab routine!

Michael takes ab training up a notch with the SCRUNCH Accessory for Total Gym Sport, GTS and PowerTower commercial models – or you can use the Ab Crunch Accessory for the Total Gym XLS.  These exercises target the internal and external obliques, transverse abdominis (which helps stabilize the trunk) and the rectus abdominis (or the “six pack”).

Click here to watch the video on our YouTube Channel and find other great Total Gym workouts!

Total Gym Ab Exercise Routine:

*These exercises require the Total Gym SCRUNCH or Ab Crunch. Intensify your Total Gym training with these popular ab accessories!

Ab Crunch with SCRUNCH (8-10 reps)

Ab Crunch with SCRUNCH – Knees off the board (8-10 reps)

Ab Crunch with SCRUNCH – Pike (8-10 reps)

Ab Crunch with SCRUNCH – Obliques (8-10 reps). Switch sides. Advanced users can intensify the exercise by lifting their knees to complete 8-10 reps.

Total Gym: History of an Iconic Brand

This article will be published in the History of Fitness Journal (coming soon)…

As a case study for brand longevity, Total Gym has been moving its customers and driving innovation in physical therapy, home and commercial fitness on the iconic Total Gym incline bodyweight trainer for nearly four decades. Today, Total Gym generates over 24 million workouts every month worldwide. The Total Gym brand has catapulted into television history, and the company culture inspired by the owners, is driven by the desire to effect a positive change in the lives of the people it touches.

The very first Total Gym prototype

When Total Gym CEO Tom Campanaro designed the first Total Gym incline trainer in 1974, the benefits of exercise were barely a blip on the public radar. Campanaro and partner Doug Marino named the brand “Total Gym” while sitting on the beach in La Jolla, CA. They brought on business partners Dale McMurray and Larry Westfall in 1976 and the first Total Gym homegrown TV commercial hit the market. As the years passed, Total Gym began to make its mark as a credible fitness machine. It was confirmed by Syracuse University as a safe and effective non-compressive training device and named “best for training the torso” by Consumer Reports magazine.

In 1988, Total Gym moved into physical therapy, where rehabilitation specialists, professional athletes, coaches and athletic trainers quickly realized the benefits of partial bodyweight training on a calibrated incline plane. By 1994, renowned educators like Paul Chek, Olympians like Jackie Joyner-Kersee and professional sports athletic trainers like Larry Mayol were using the Total Gym incline trainer to move their clients, their competitive edge and their professional career.

This set the stage for Total Gym’s foray into a larger market—consumer fitness. Realizing the potential reach of TV infomercials, Campanaro sealed a deal with American Telecast Corporation in 1996 to produce the first Total Gym infomercial, featuring spokespersons Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley. Beginning in an empty Los Angeles warehouse, Total Gym emerged and became the longest running fitness infomercial in history. The infomercial has been broadcast to more than 85 countries with over four million units sold and is still going strong.

In 2003, Total Gym moved from homes to health clubs with the award-winning GRAVITYSystem^® fitness program, now available in 23 countries worldwide. GRAVITY offers fitness and wellness professionals a time-efficient, versatile and revenue-generating business model that puts Total Gym commercial equipment to maximum use. GRAVITY on Total Gym connects fitness professionals and millions of Total Gym home users, providing a safe and efficient instructor-guided workout that builds community and inspires results.

Originally incorporating as Total Gym Inc. in 1974 and then doing business as efi Sports Medicine^® since 2003, Total Gym announced the return to its roots in 2011—realigning the company and its functional training products under the Total Gym brand. To commemorate its return to Total Gym, the company introduced a new line of incline bodyweight trainers—Total Gym Sport^®, Total Gym GTS^® and Total Gym PowerTower^®—offering advanced features in line with the company’s mission to continually drive product innovation.

Total Gym’s history is a testament to the credibility of a fitness brand that has prospered with the test of time.

Total Gym Weekly Workout: Lower Body Training with Med Ball

The lower body contains our powerhouse muscles. You need to devote some precious training time to strength training the legs, which will help you perform daily activities more efficiently and stay injury-free!

Squats and hamstring curls on Total Gym are great ways to strengthen the legs. Spruce up your leg training repertoire with GRAVITY Master Trainer Michael Steel’s “Lower Body Exercise Series” that utilizes a lightweight medicine ball to add an upper body challenge and get the heart rate pumping!

Workout Outline:

Go for 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps for each exercise:

Single leg lunge w/ med ball overhead reach

Single leg lunge w/ med ball forward extension

Single leg lunge w/ single arm med ball shoulder extension

Single leg lunge w/ lateral med ball pass overhead

Plank w/ ab crunch (engages the core and challenges shoulder stability)

Plank w/ ab crunch – single leg

Single leg lunge (on the floor) varying foot position and legs w/ overhead med ball reach + side squat with med ball overhead reach

Switch legs and repeat

Ten Things You Can Do on Facebook Right Now

Have you utilized Facebook as a business development tool? Check out the article our Communications Manager wrote for the Gold’s Gym Franchisee Association’s blog  ”The Locker RooM.” Learn the “Ten Things You Can Do Right Now on Facebook” to attract and retain customers – or just spruce up your Profile page!

Posted on The Locker RooM on August 12, 2011:

Ten Things You Can Do Right Now on Facebook

1.      Have a plan. Organize your status updates by keeping a monthly Facebook content calendar. This ensures you won’t suffer an episode of Status Update Blank when Facebook asks “What’s on your mind?” A content calendar provides the proper framework to ensure your posts aren’t redundant, inconsistent or irrelevant.

2.      Create a custom URL. By default, Facebook pages have long, hard to remember URLs. I highly advise creating a custom URL for your page to enhance search engine visibility and allow your clients/members to find you more easily. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the simple steps to create your custom Facebook page URL.

3.      Complete your Info page. Make sure to complete your business Info page to provide your fans with comprehensive information about your business and product/service offerings as well as how to contact you.

4.      Use the 60/40 rule. 60% of the time post educational or conversation-inspiring content. For example, ask a question, “How often do you go to the gym?” The other 40% of the time you can promote your business—talk about new amenities, special offers or events.

5.      Create themed posts. Keep Facebook fans coming back to your page each week with a themed post – e.g., “Motivation Monday” or “Trainer Tip Thursday.” Write about what you know.

6.      Post photos and videos. Research shows that people like to watch videos and see photos (particularly of themselves) on Facebook. Posting photos and videos is an easy way to increase interactions and gain prominence in your fans’ News Feeds. Get my best practices for online video marketing in the September/October 2011 issue of The VoicE: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/5ee0f8e9#/5ee0f8e9/24.

7.      Get noticed by tagging. Utilize the tag feature (or @) when posting a status update that involves a friend or other business. This allows your post to be seen on their profile or business page and by their friends or fans, further increasing your visibility.

8.      Acknowledge negative feedback. Transparency is tantamount on social media; you cannot ignore or delete negative feedback (unless offensive language is used). Instead, utilize Facebook as a customer service tool and help solve the problem.

9.      Create Facebook Tabs. Facebook Tabs are a great way to personalize your Facebook page and generate buzz around a new product or service. Tabs can be used to encourage people to like your page or drive Fans to your website. The Hub Spot blog offers a simple 3-step approach: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6168/How-to-Create-a-New-Facebook-Tab-in-3-Easy-Steps.aspx.

10. Utilize free analytics. Facebook Insights allow you to track everything from new page likes, to the number of post views a day/week/month as well as user profiles broken down by gender, age, language, country, etc. Consider the data that means the most to your business and track it! This will help you identify what your fans like to see, whether it’s videos, photos or special offers.

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Twitter @totalgym
Total Gym Inside Blog http://blog.totalgym.com

For more information, visit www.totalgym.com or call (800) 541-4900.

Cassie Piercey is the Communications Manager for Total Gym® and a published fitness writer living in San Diego, Calif. She has executed strategic marketing communications for nationally recognized brands such as Sprint, Hostess, H&R Block, the American Council on Exercise and more. Cassie has placed her clients in major national media including Associated Press,New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com and the TODAY Show. Her background also includes work as a reporter and anchor for KOMU-TV, an NBC affiliate television station in Columbia, Mo.