Total Gym

Fitness Psych: Dieting = Gaining Weight

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

OK, let’s get serious. After all, it’s your life I’m talking about here. How much weight do you say you need to lose, and how much weight do you really need to lose? Often these two are a good ten pounds, or more, apart.

Not sure? Click here to calculate your body mass index. It’s one of a number of reliable indicators to screen for weight categories related to life threatening illnesses.

America is getting heavier and heavier. One conservative estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points to one-third of us being obese—not overweight—but obese. More troubling, they tell us that nearly 20% of children and teens are also more than just overweight—they are obese.

We are eating ourselves to death.

So if you are more than 20% over your “ideal weight,” or a man carrying more than 25% body fat or a women carrying more than 32% body fat, you are obese. OK we got past that. Now let’s do something about it.

Remember, healthy nutrition is king and exercise is queen. Want a healthy kingdom? You need both. That’s where full-body, functional workouts come in. You see, literally ANY diet will help you lose weight. That’s not the hard part. The hard part is keeping it off with genuine, healthy, lifestyle changes. Socrates had it correct when he said, “The rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live.”

Diet propaganda screaming about losing weight always reminds me of the magician who gets you to watch one hand when the other is hiding the card. Sure you can lose weight with any diet. The trouble is, at least as I have taught it to my patients over the years, diet=gaining weight, unless you have a post-diet plan. Even 20% of those who have bariatric bypass surgery regain their weight!

A Total Gym exercise plan can be an essential centerpiece of your post-diet healthy living plan, along with healthy nutrition and changing the way you think about yourself, your health and food intake. It’s important to manage your expectations and have a total-body game plan to increase a sense of being “able” to exercise, to avoid the feeling of “having to” exercise, and to erase the feeling of “learned helplessness” that comes from previous failed attempts at exercising.  The setting is all-important for comfort and self-esteem among those who may also face body-image issues.

A word about your readiness to get beyond just dieting. Mark Twain wasn’t necessarily attempting to motivate people to adopt a healthy life plan when he said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started,” though he may well have been. If you are reading this, you’ve identified yourself as contemplating, preparing or at the place where you are acting on establishing exercise as a habit.

You were designed for movement and activity and therefore it is essential in a post-diet healthy living plan to incorporate physical activity into your daily life. Still, half of those who begin exercise programming drop out within one year, and that means serious weight gain. Cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and mobility are all valuable for weight loss and maintaining health and wellbeing.  Working on stability and mobility before you move to more dynamic forms of functional exercise, which the Total Gym allows, helps prevent injuries.

When it comes to a Total Gym workout, keep in mind that the more muscles you recruit in any given exercise, the more calories you will burn during that workout session. A properly designed and followed Total Gym workout regimen will maximize your calorie expenditure in less time when compared to those machines that isolate only a single body part. You are able to fluidly move multiple body parts in different directions (side to side, rotating, front and back) on the Total Gym and therefore increase your calorie expenditure. Add to the fact that this type of workout involves your entire body, and you see why you burn calories at an even higher intensity.

Get moving on your Total Gym and get healthy. After all, as someone once said, “Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip.”

Here’s to a long trip!

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.

In PT with Jessie Carter – Do You Pee Pee When You Hee Hee?

By: Jessie Carter, Physical Therapist

When I first started treating women’s health issues, I advertised my services by putting flyers on the doors of women’s bathroom stalls. I thought these were the most professional, eye-catching flyers ever made. They explained that physical therapy could help with incontinence, pelvic pain, frequency (going to the bathroom a lot), and on and on. After all, I was passionate about these topics…wasn’t everyone else? I sat back and waited for the phone to ring …

Nothing. Evidently nobody looks forward to telling a stranger they have accidents. Then I started asking my patients, “How long did it take you to tell your doctor you were having bladder issues?” That opened the flood gates (no pun intended). I got answers ranging from a few months up to 20 years. Patients told me they thought leakage was normal.

I now make a point to talk to all of my patients (male and female) about how to properly perform pelvic floor contractions or Kegel exercises. These are the same muscles we use to stop the flow of urine. Ironically, contracting these muscles also helps recruit the inner most abdominal layer or transverse abdominis muscles. The pelvic floor muscles along with transverse abdominis are key core muscles. I encourage all patients to contract the pelvic floor muscles when exerting on the Total Gym to stabilize the spine and pelvis appropriately. While it may seem basic, this simple contraction can not only intensify the workout but have a tremendous impact on someone’s life.

Watch this video for an example of a Total Gym exercise to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.

If you’ve noticed leakage when you work out or jump on a trampoline, you’re not alone. Research studies differ but statistics show women may have as much as a 1 in 2 chance of experiencing leakage at some point in their lives and only 1 in 5 ever seek treatment. Men are not immune and may experience leakage after prostate surgery. Several studies have even looked at the incidence of leakage in special populations such as female soldiers and athletes – the incidence of incontinence may be higher in these groups.

The good news is that treatment is available. The better news is that conservative approaches (i.e. exercises, changing behavior, and retraining the pelvic floor muscles) have been found to be among the most effective treatments for incontinence. Don’t be a statistic – we all should be able to run without fear of wetting our pants and hee hee without the pee pee.

Happy Rehabbing!

Jessie Carter is the owner of High Pointe Rehab in Clarksville, TN, where she utilizes Total Gym for physical therapy and fitness training to offer the full continuum of patient care. Jessie is a 2001 graduate of the University of Evansville (UE) in Evansville, IN, where she earned both her BS and Master’s degrees in physical therapy. Contact Jessie at jessie@highpointetn.com with your questions or ideas for future topics.

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.

In PT with Jessie Carter – Knee Injury Rehab

Physical therapist Jessie Carter blogs about ways to live a healthier and more active lifestyle by promoting healthy movement. She offers tips to  reduce pain and restore bodily function.

Question:  I tore the meniscus in my knee and I’m hoping to forgo surgery. I’ve continued doing upper body exercises but was wondering if there are any rehab exercises I can do on my Total Gym at home?

Answer:  Meniscal tears come in all shapes and sizes and these factors greatly impact how your injury will heal. Some meniscal tears are managed very effectively through conservative methods, while others may require surgical intervention. I always recommend seeking the advice of an orthopedist you trust, who can talk to you about the advantages and disadvantages of surgery as they pertain to your specific injury. Depending on the location of the tear and the pattern of the tearing, exercise may be the treatment of choice.

Yes, there are specific exercises you can do on your Total Gym to help strengthen your knee.  Because the details of your injury are unknown, it would benefit you to work with a physical therapist who uses a Total Gym in a rehab setting. This will allow you to learn the exercises and techniques under a trained eye and transition this to your home machine. Your therapist will be able to watch your mechanics and provide feedback to prevent abnormal stress on your knee.

Squats, heel raises, and inner/outer thigh work are all appropriate when nursing a knee injury.  While you may have to modify the level of resistance and repetitions, these exercises can be performed safely. Just remember to listen to your body – if an exercise is painful, you should not continue.

Avoid these technique blunders that I see in the clinic:

• Don’t allow the knees to go over the toes when performing squat work. Make sure you position your feet appropriately to direct weight down through the ankle and to prevent the knees from going over the toes when bending down. Start out with a partial squat at a low level and progress as your knee allows.
• Another key area to focus on is your core muscles. Rehab professionals have started to recognize the importance of the hip girdle and abdominal musculature in rehabilitating knee injuries.
• I also encourage patients to contract their pelvic floor muscles (similar to Kegel exercises) with all Total Gym exercises. You’ll be surprised how this intensifies your workout. The glideboard itself helps recruit core muscles and the added Kegel will kick in key pelvic and abdominal muscles.

Hip muscles are also considered part of your core. Try using accessories such as resistance bands around the knees or lower thighs with squat work. Pushing out slightly on the band while squatting helps recruit hip muscles that are vital to overall lower extremity strength. Alternately, you can place a volleyball between the knees with squat work. Squeezing lightly against the ball during the squat sequence will again recruit hip and leg muscles that might otherwise go along for the ride.

Happy rehabbing!

Consult a doctor or physical therapist prior to starting/continuing an exercise program after injury or surgery.

Jessie Carter is the owner of High Pointe Rehab in Clarksville, TN, where she utilizes Total Gym for physical therapy and fitness training to offer the full continuum of patient care. Jessie is a 2001 graduate of the University of Evansville (UE) in Evansville, IN, where she earned both her BS and Master’s degrees in physical therapy. Contact Jessie at jessie@highpointetn.com with your questions or ideas for future topics.

NEW! FitnessPsych – Your Inner Voice

Welcome new Total Gym Inside contributor Fitness Psychologist Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

There’s a great deal of psychology to becoming and staying fit. An important part of this is knowing yourself. I’m not talking about deep self-psychoanalysis. I mean knowing your personal preferences and mental filters—those traits that impact the way in which you perceive information. Use an ill-fitting approach, or allow yourself to be pushed in a direction that doesn’t fit you properly, and you’ll find reasons to avoid working-out.

A simple example: do you prefer the privacy of your home or like the idea of getting together with others out of your house? It’ll determine if you’ll find more motivation in individual or group exercise at the local gym or if you are more likely to stay with a home-based exercise program. If you don’t tailor your preferences to how you approach your exercise, you will find excuses for not exercising and end up feeling lazy. Sort of like an ill-fitting dress or suit—you just won’t want to wear it. You need to think about what fits your style and preferences and follow your inner voice. A more home-focused person won’t feel comfortable in the midst of a busy gym and similarly, if you like lots of people around, working out in your bedroom won’t do it for you.

Are you someone who moves “towards” things rather than away from things? You will find more motivation discussing the advantages of exercise with words like, “accomplish,” “achieve” or “goals.” If you are an “avoider,” then your motivation comes from “steering clear of,” “eliminating” or “avoiding” problems associated with poor health. Same goal, different path.

Let’s say you are someone whose inner voice is “internal.” You believe deeply that you know what’s best for you and are less likely to turn to, or listen to, others as to what’s best for your exercise routine. On the other hand, if you are more “external,” knowing what the experts say or what the latest research is becomes important to you before you jump in. Same goal, different path.

It’s all perspective. That’s your inner voice. Knowing your style will lead you to better controlling your approach to exercise and making the most of the time you can give to being active.

There’s no right or wrong, better or worse, it’s all personal style and preference. The key is to know your filters and how to use them to your advantage in your quest for better mind/body fitness.

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.

Have a question for Dr. Mantell? Leave us a comment below or email TotalGymBlog@totalgym.com.

New Total Gym Inside Contributor!

To make Total Gym Inside your one-stop resource for everything health and fitness, we’ve added a new contributor to our line-up. Please welcome Jessie Carter, physical therapist and owner of High Pointe Rehab in Clarksville, TN. See what Jessie has to say about the importance of maintaining correct posture:

Jessie Carter, PT, owner of High Pointe Rehab

Are You a Donald Duck or a Pink Panther?

Posture affects most everything we do from performing our jobs without pain to exercising efficiently. But most Americans fall short of the optimal posture mom always wanted us to have. We more closely resemble cartoon characters than the upright model with a book on her head.

Pink Panthers are those individuals whose shoulders and heads are forward, upper backs are rounded, low backs are flat and rear ends are non-existent. Donald Ducks have other issues. Their heads may still be forward but the low back has too much curve inward. Pinks are always pulling their pants up while Ducks have ample tail feathers.

The problem with both of these postures is that they fall short of what is considered normal. Everyone’s normal is a little different but some general guidelines follow:

• When looking at the body from the side, the ear, shoulder and hip should all line up in a straight line when sitting or standing.
• The shoulders should be level and pulled back slightly, not slumped or rounded forward.
• The low back should have a slight curve inward at all times. If you sit as tall as possible with your chest up, this posture should happen automatically.

To correct your posture, start by trying to sit up straight as often as possible. Sit on your “sit bones” with your feet flat on the floor and your bottom as far back in the seat as possible. Pull your shoulders back and lift your chest up slightly to develop the curve in your low back, mentioned above.

At first, your muscles will not be strong enough to keep your posture in perfect form all day, but as you begin using proper posture more frequently, it will become easier and easier. Your Total Gym will help you to strengthen key back and core muscles to maintain the posture mom wanted you to have. Total Gym uniquely requires you to maintain straight spinal alignment while also recruiting core muscles to balance on the sliding glideboard while performing upper body cable exercises. Here are a few Total Gym exercises to help improve your posture:

1)     Reverse Fly (sitting or kneeling) – Emphasis on pulling shoulder blades back and down as opposed to shrugging.

2)     Surfer Lat Pull – Emphasis on full upright back extended position at end of contraction, again pulling shoulder blades back and down and avoiding shrugging.

3)     Plank position on SCRUNCH with Shoulder Protraction/Retraction – While maintaining the forearm plank position on the SCRUNCH board, pull shoulder blades back and down (pause). Then push up on forearms moving shoulder blades away from each other (pause).  Repeat for duration of plank hold (e.g., 30-60 seconds).

If you find it painful to correct your posture or you continue to have difficulty after 6-8 weeks of self-correction, a physical therapist can assist in identifying your specific deficits and design an exercise program to address your issues.

Whether you are a Pink Panther, Donald Duck or something in between, you have the ability to improve your health and posture with stretching, strengthening and corrective body positioning.  Despite popular belief, you can teach an old duck new tricks.

Jessie Carter is the owner of High Pointe Rehab in Clarksville, TN. Jessie is a 2001 graduate of the University of Evansville (UE) in Evansville, IN, where she earned both her BS and Master’s degrees in physical therapy. Prior to transferring to UE, she attended Murray State University in Murray, KY, where she majored in biology. Contact Jessie at jessie@highpointetn.com with your questions or with ideas for future topics.

The Total Gym Workout Date: It’s More FUNctional Than You Thought

Today’s post comes from guest contributor Dr. Michael Mantell, a clinical and fitness psychologist in San Diego. Dr. Mantell regularly writes for San Diego Magazine and has appeared on “Oprah,” “Nightline,” “Larry King,” and “Good Morning America.” Dr. Mantell is a Total Gym user and sits on the Sports Medicine staff at The Sporting Club – a Total Gym GRAVITY facility in San Diego.

A couple of years ago, a series of studies came out that showed that couples who work out together increase their chances of sticking to their exercise program more than 90%! This can’t be ignored and it got me thinking about couples I treat for relationship problems. Maybe they ought to go from a therapy session to their gym, and they’ll not only stick to their exercise program, but also stick together.

The friendliest total body workout that offers couples a chance to exercise together in the privacy of their own home is certainly the Total Gym. It offers couples the opportunity to spend quality time with each other, the chance to discuss mutual goals and fitness levels, build a shared commitment to well-being and health, create mutual motivation, develop a deeper bond with each other, and when done right, it provides couples with opportunities to celebrate each other’s successes in a non-competitive way.

For many couples that do belong to a gym, he goes his way and she goes her way. The Total Gym is an up-close, even intimate, work out in which instead of exercising apart, husbands and wives are right next to each other doing the same exercises at different bodyweight levels, each achieving the same type of gains.

Matters of the heart beyond fitness benefits are only some of the rewards you can look forward to with a Total Gym couple’s exercise date. Remember, there are studies that show that men and women who exercise regularly report better and more frequent sex with their partners—so how much more enjoyable can exercising with each other be on a machine that promotes the right kind of movement for all activities of daily living, personal and otherwise?

It’s been well known that FUNctional exercise is good for the body, soul and mind. Now, we can add, it’s also good for our relationships. Why not use the Total Gym to fuel and fortify not only your physical fitness, but your physical and emotional relationship as well?

Here are five Total Gym “workout date” ideas:

1. Learn how to stretch each other. Gently helping each other with a pull or push can ease each other’s muscles before and after your workout.
2. Build total trust with each other simply by serving as each other’s spotter. And there’s nothing like saying “thanks” to help a relationship.
3. Eye contact and communicating while exercising offer chances for intimacy building that can extend to other activities that are, well, a bit more intimate.
4. Celebrate each other’s achievements and successes. Working out on Total Gym is not about competing, but succeeding. You’ll both work at your own level and speed, and of course, bodyweight, so you both win!
5. Want to give each other a real gift of love? Create 20-30 minutes several times a week to help each other lose weight, burn calories, build muscle and core stability, tone up, build body strength and change body composition.

There is nothing like this love-building, home-based, full-body exercise machine that I can recommend with such confidence for couples who want to build their bodies and their relationships.

Michael 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.