What constitutes good or bad form? Most of you understand that keeping a proper line and engagement of your core or back muscles, as well as how you bend your knees, neck or elbows in specific exercises, rather than swinging wildly and throwing your back out, seems the way to proper exercise. At the same time, those working with kettlebells may look to others like they indeed are doing what normally "seems" to be bad form (if you don't undertstand the mechanics of the movement). The single most important aspect (because the two previous examples deal with different approaches to training: body building vs. wild limbic movement patterns) to focus on is: GRAVITY.

Gravity is important to your muscular development as much as your diet, exercise, the air you breathe, and the water you drink. Without gravity, you'd lose your motor skills, lose muscle mass, experience fluid redistribution, and lose cardiovascular function as well as bone density. Think of astronauts that spent too much time outside of the gravitational field. Over time, you'd look like a misshaped balloon! So, ultimately, proper form has to do with keeping your load in line with your base of support. When you lift weight over your head, your base of support is on the ball of your foot. When you perform the action of pressing overhead, the weight needs to remain in line (an imaginary straight line) with the ball of your feet. For push-ups, maintain your shoulders in line with your wrists (support). Support, Action. 2 simple words for good form. The alignment of the knee, or elevation (or lack thereof) for a squat, for instance, has to do with flexibility and individual range of motion. But, as long as the weight (think traditional body building squat with a bar) stays in line with the base/line of support, your form is good and probably allows you to load more weight than if you tried to keep your heels on the floor. The form here can be argued based on what is asked of you. But if your goal is to lift heavier, bringing your heels of the floor is technically not incorrect.

Digging deeper into human anatomy and movement systems, such as looking at the evolution of the human knee, scapula, spine and pelvis can shed a lot of light as to how exactly we are supposed to move. But that is a whole other series of newsletters! I will attack each of the aforementioned body parts every month. Until then, remember the following: Support (where is your base in relation to the load, a.k.a the weight you are lifting?) and Action (are you keeping your line with your base as you perform your movement?)

Here are the basics between a carnivore's digestive system and that of a herbivore:

Carnivore: strong stomach acid, small stomach, short large intestine (colon) and fast transit time (i.e. quick excretion).

Herbivore: salivary carbohydrate enzymes (chewing/ruminating, like cows vs. no chewing like lions), weak stomach acid, large stomach, long large intestine where the food is held a broken down, using bacteria to break down indigestible fiber, slow transit time.

The human system is closer to that of a primate, who has a slightly longer large intestine and shorter small intestine. But both share attributes of both systems:

• Salivary enzymes (to start digesting carbs) herbivore trait.
• Strong stomach acid (to digest meat), carnivore trait.
• Short large intestine carnivore trait.
• Fast transit time carnivore trait.
• Use bacteria to breakdown indigestible fiber in the large intestine (herbivore trait).

In our modern environment, STRESS can affect your digestion in the following ways:

• Reduction of saliva production, thus, less breakdown of carbs in your mouth.
• Reduction of stomach acid production, leading to heartburn/GERD (thus you don't have too much acid, but rather NOT ENOUGH to break food down).
• Reduction of protective mucus in your small intestine, leading to ulcers.
• Reduction of protective mucus promotes alkaline bowel, leading to an inflamed colon, (irritable bowel syndrome, colitis).

The next section will address stress reduction, perception and what factors contribute to stress.

200,000 years as hunter-gatherers
Ratio of 65/35 plant/animal based food intake, dependent on geographic location.
Minimum of 30% of calories from animal proteins
Minimum of 30% of calories from animal fats
Minimum of 600mg of vit C
Minimum of 100g of plant fibre
4:1 ratio of potassium to sodium intake
Overall ‘alkaline’ load to body rather than ‘acidic’


100 years as industrialized (zoo) humans
Processed, refined foods with altered fats/proteins and added chemicals and synthetic hormones that increase toxic load to body Overall acidic load to body
Reversed mineral balance of sodium:potassium (high blood pressure)
Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome X (diabetes and obesity) and cancer
Gut Dysbiosis: imbalance of gut bacteria due to antibiotics in food chain and lack of ‘prebiotic’ foods (fibre). 10-20g per day

How we view what is stressful is individual. The idea here is to better identify what stressors are so you can manage your stress better. One of the key things is to change your environment. If that is not possible, you need to change your PERCEPTION. Let's define what perception is: it's the process of using our senses to acquire information about our environment. Put yourself in a friendly environment (nice exotic beach for me), and you'll feel better. Go in the subway at rush hour, or get stuck on the 405... You get the picture. The organ of perception is the mind. Scientific studies and experts have come to the conclusion that we perceive only 40 bits of environmental perception per second consciously, whereas the subconscious mind perceives 20 million! The subconscious mind "programs" the conscious mind.

People see what they value or what they fear, and that is set by your subconscious (like your training session with me! You fear what I'll do to you, but value what you get out of it). Which is why people fail at exercise programs, even with a good trainer, because they become what they picture, rather than what they desire (fear). The anxiety of what one looks like creates a disconnect from the mental image one has of oneself, which engenders a self-fulfilling prophecy. Picture yourself as fat and you will become that. Picture an exercise to be painful and you will experience pain. Instead, you want to focus those 40 bits of conscious perception by doing something positive, and slowly you will reprogram your subconscious.

Identify your stress. All of the following are factors stress, and ways to manage them:

1. Lack of sleep: go to bead earlier if you can. Whether you are tired or not, that "me" time is healing time. Or, take a catnap, enjoy some aromatherapy, lie with your eyes closed and focus on the scents, the sounds...
2. Noisy apartment: you think you may have shut it down, but the urban noise is still registered by your subconscious and it eats at you, unbeknownst to you. Try some earplugs, noise canceling headphones, or retreat to more pleasant sounds (forest, surf) once in a while to "reset".
3. Children: yes, you love them. But, they can be a handful. Schedule some "me" time, quiet time.
4. Annoying co-workers/boss: it's good to take it out on the heavy bag, but sometimes, if your stress levels are too elevated, you're actually promoting more stress with a tough workout. How you can tell whether a tough workout did the job, vs. something mellow, is by checking your heart rate. Do it first thing in the morning. If it remains consistently higher than your normal, you need some chill time rather than "tough ass-kicking" time.
5. Identify your own, make it a game, and see what you can come up with to manage it.

Here are 3 moves for total stretching, engagement and development of the muscles:

• "Wild" push-up: Start chest on the ground, arms at your sides. Peel your chest off the floor, then your knees (2 step process), then lower yourself back to the ground at once (1 step, not breaking it down on the knees). It'll feel easier, you will do more and in the process focus on the eccentric (or negative) phase of your push-up (or press-up as the folks in the Commonwealth say), which is where strength, elasticity and stretch are most developed.
• Hip Pump: Start in a downward dog (yoga readers), or modified push-up position in that your rump is way up, so you look like an A-frame. Lower your hips (without touching the ground), keeping your elbows locked, and look up with your head. So, in essence, go from an A-frame to a suspended bridge look. It'll work your glutes, stretch your abs and hip flexors, hamstrings, low back, chest, shoulders, all the while strengthening them when you perform the opposing motions (one works one set, while the other stretches the other, and vice versa).
• Burpees: Start standing, lower yourself till your hands are on the floor, shifing your support from the ball of your foot to the ball of your hand (base of fingers). At once, jump your feet back (keep the weight on your hands, shoulders above wrists) to keep the legs light. Bring the legs back, lift yourself back up into a light jump, and repeat immediately upon landing (no pause, go right into it).

These 3 moves will keep you limber, strong, agile and toned.