In all my years as a Personal Trainer (10 years now) I have always been amazed at the significant difference between clients who work out versus those who never exercise. And in particular the senior clients or older adults as we refer to them. The difference between some of our 70 year old clients who do strength training versus a 55 year old who does nothing is astounding, you have to see it to believe it. The 70 year old will whip the 55 year old's butt at every exercise, have no pain, no limitations, and importantly no fear! It is apparent that while we are all eventually going to age, there is a big distinction between getting old healthily, and still be able to do many of your favourite activities late in life, versus aging with accumulated health and medical problems that severely limit your lifestyle. This means that we don't all age the same! While studies may report that particular parts of the body's physiological system declines on average 30% between the ages of 50 and 80 years of age, the actual range of decline among individuals may be as large as 10-60%. This means that a 10% reduction in one particular component, (for example balance), may have no significant effect on the individual, while a 60% reduction may cause significant problems and even lead to a chronic injury or disease. What is the solution? Medical drugs? Surgery? Change your lifestyle? None of these are good choices but unfortunately that is what many people resort to. The real answer is to use exercise and nutrition basics to develop these skills and prevent the rate of decline. And of all the exercises to have the most profound effect on the older adult it is strength training. In this article I will explain why.

There is so much confusion in the health & fitness industry these days especially when it relates to losing weight. Possibly the most frustrating and irritating philosophy that annoys me to no end is the belief that if you are skinny you are automatically healthy. There is an abundance of online apps, fitness centres, personal training studios, and gyms that market body transformation contests and challenges with a specific purpose to make you lose weight in a matter of weeks. The assumption is that once you have lost weight you are automatically healthy and the faster you do it the better. They do this by using a variety of fitness methods along with some form of calorie restriction diet. Often these methods are at the expense of your health. Let me ask you this question, what you would rather have? "A great body on the outside that is about to explode on the inside, or a body that is great on the outside and even better on the inside"? Once people realize that being skinny does not necessarily guarantee great health and that they need to apply a complete health model that tackles many of the deep rooted problems such as stress, sleep disorders, movement dysfunctions, lack of muscle mass, and most importantly the hormonal imbalances that result from this, will we see a dramatic reduction in chronic health problems. One of the biggest obstacles to tackle with weight loss is hormone dysfunction and in this article I will show you some important facts you need to know to get this under control.

ABC News€™ Vanessa Weber reports:

CrossFit is one of the most extreme workouts on the market, but one physical therapist is raising questions about the exercise program that has an almost cult-like following.

Eric Robertson, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Regis University in Denver, wrote an article this week highlighting rhabdomyolysis, a potentially fatal condition that can be caused by several factors, including severe exertion. Skeletal muscle is damaged, rapidly releasing proteins into the blood. It results in harm to the kidneys and can lead to kidney failure. In his article, titled €œCrossFit™s Dirty Little Secret,€ Robertson wrote: €œRhabdomyolysis isn'€™t a common condition, yet it i€™s so commonly encountered in CrossFit that they have a cartoon about it, nonchalantly casting humor on something that should never happen.