Fluoride Not Recommended for Children

Recent study in China notes lower IQ in children drinking fluorided water.  The Fluoride controversy still lives!

I’m reluctant to come out directly for or against controversies using “black-and-white” language to state clearly my opinion.  That’s not always a good thing. I write with the assumption people are free to investigate and make up their own minds, so I present what I see, allowing you to make up your mind.

BLOG COMMENTS ASK ME TO BE COURAGEOUS

But a couple of comments last month regarding my article on fluoride in the water system to prevent tooth decay made me wonder whether my standing on the fence is a good approach.  Both commenters wondered why I hesitated to give a definitive answer to the question.  “Is fluoride dangerous to health?”

FLUORIDE, A TOXIN, IS A POISON

So, o.k. I’ll give you my opinion.  Fluoride is a toxin.  Because it is toxic it’s dangerous to health. John and I don’t use fluoridated tooth paste.

U.S. 1 OF ONLY 8 COUNTRIES WITH FLUORIDE

The United States is one of only 8 countries that adds fluoride to its water supply.

“97% of western Europe has chosen fluoride-free water . This includes: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland. (While some European countries add fluoride to salt, the majority do not.) Rather than mandating fluoride treatment for the whole population, western Europe allows individuals the right to choose, or refuse, fluoride.”

Europe believes citizens should pursue what they themselves believe will make them healthy.  That’s not the government’s job.

I took the former quote directly from the Fluoride Action Network’s website.  Read it for yourself at http://www.fluoridealert.org/

LOWER IQ IN CHILDREN WITH FLUORIDE

Fluoride is a neurotoxin which means it affects nerve cells.  A recent study of two separate villages in China correlated fluoride in water with diminished IQ in school children.

That study is also reported on the Fluoride Action Network’s website, http://www.fluoridealert.org/  It was pre-published by Environmental Health Perspectives, December 17, 2010.

“Fluoridated water should not be used or added to infant formula, foods, or drinks intended for babies 12 months of age or younger in order to avoid dental fluorosis.”  That’s also on the website.

We could talk about where this idea came from, that fluoride in water prevents tooth decay, but that’s not the point of this article.  No doubt someone benefits from the addition of fluoride in America’s water supply, but that’s not my concern right now.  I just know I want as little fluoride in my body as possible.

Each of us gets to decide. It is annoying to me, though, that someone, other than those affected, gets to decide what’s healthy and add it to America’s water.  I’m interested in your opinion.  I’m interested in what you think, so, leave a comment.

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We’re making Christmas cookies!    These are Peanut blossoms.

I suppose most families have traditional foods this time of year.  John’s family was famous for Christmas cookies: green spritz wreaths decorated with tiny red berries–real works of art, powdered-sugar snowy Mexican wedding cakes, red-sprinkled shortbread, peanut blossoms, and tangy lemon bars. 

Mexican Wedding Cakes

Made with butter!

I don’t bake as much as I used to, but when I take time to make holiday cookies I use butter.  None of the chemical concoctions manipulated to taste like butter.  I use the real thing or I don’t bother. 

Since this is a blog devoted to healthy living, (Healthylivingbeyondfifty.com/) why, you might ask, am I devoting an article to baking Christmas cookies with butter?  Actually butter is something we should talk about.

A couple of Michael Pollan’s rules for healthy eating, “In Defense of Food,” are

• Eat Food.  ”Avoid food products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than five in number…”
• “Avoid food products that make health claims.”

(You know Michael Pollan…”The Botany of Desire,” “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and “In Defense of Food.”)

Pollan means you should eat things your body recognizes as food, not chemical concoctions stirred up in a lab by white-coats who have never touched a cow, let alone milked one.  Processed foods make your liver work overtime trying to break up and excrete the toxins they contain.

Your body recognizes butter.  It knows what to do with it.  It’s just butter, and, hopefully, it’s organic without antibiotics or hormones which very often are part of the cow’s food and which are, once again, toxic to our bodies.

What about Pollan’s second point: health claims?  What’s wrong with health claims? 

Whole foods don’t come with written health claims. There’s no list of health benefits on the side of an orange or apple, ribe eye steak,  or an onion.

If it’s packaged with health claims on the side of the box it’s probably processed.  If it’s processed most nutritional value has been removed because nutrients are the part of food that spoils and shortens “shelf-life.”  Shorter shelf life means lower corporate profits.

Look at a package of breakfast cereal.  Natural, essential-for-good-health nutrients are removed so the cereal can sit forever on the shelf.  To sell you on buying it, though, the sides of the box will be plastered with health claims for the few chemical vitamins that have been added back to replace lost nutrients.

Some mis-guided advice tells us to avoid butter because it’s a saturated fat that will raise “bad” blood cholesterol and also cause weight gain. According to Dr. Mercola butter slashes heart attack risk in  half.

Gaining weight?  You’re more likely to gain weight on simple carbohydrate foods, processed foods containing simple carbs, and toxins your liver can’t break down for excretion. 

Natural saturated fats such as coconut and butter are stable.  Some vegetable oils, on the other hand, turn into unstable compounds that aren’t good for your body. 

Butter is especially good when it comes from cows eating green grass because it contains a compound that helps build muscle rather than store fat, and it has an excellent ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.  It contains many fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, K) and essential minerals difficult to get in our depleted western diet.  I always buy organic butter (Organic Valley brand) because it doesn’t contain those antibiotics and hormones.

Holiday baking is one of the fun things we do.  John is in the kitchen right now perpetuating the family tradition.  I think it’s lemon bars today.  Our two grandsons will be here next week, and they check out the cookie area where we stack the tins.  Father Daniel parses out the cookies or they’d finish them all in one fell swoop, I’m sure.

Have fun baking and sharing with friends and family. 

P.S.  Oh.  If you want to check out Dr. Mercola’s article on butter here’s the link.  More nutritional information that I quoted here.  http://bit.ly/hC84kQ

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The World’s Toxic.  Is Your Body Toxic, Too?

All of us are aware of poisons and toxins in our environment.  We hear about factory waste, car exhaust, polluted water, polluted oceans.  Not just T.V. and Radio.  It’s common knowledge for us who live in the 21st century.  It’s one of those ubiquitous facts of our lives.  Unavoidable.  Even children know.

What Exists in Our Environment Exists in Our Bodies

Many see the environment as separate, “out there.”  They don’t realize that what’s “out there” is also “in here,” inside our bodies, a part of every cell.

No matter how much we exercise, wash, shower, eat organic fruits and vegetables, our bodies absorb pollution because toxins are everywhere. 

In the bathroom, showering, fixing breakfast in the kitchen, driving to the grocery in the car, mopping, vacuuming, dusting the house. Every activity takes place in our toxic 21st century environment.  Poisons that surround us are also within us. 

Possible 116 Chemical Toxins in the Human Body

We’re walking, talking toxin carriers.  Toxins. We’ve got lots of them.  Some estimates put the toxic load in each one of us at over 116 chemical compounds. 

Toxins Are Present in Every Activity 

We wake in the morning wash face, shower, apply makeup and shave, brush teeth, drink water, and brush hair.

Unless you carefully read labels of personal products before you buy you’re exposing your body to toxins proven to increase cancer:

Parabens, PTH, pthalates, chlorine, mercury, aluminum, and fluoride in water, toothpaste, shaving cream, cleansing products, cosmetics, fingernail polish, and hair spray. 

Processed Food, Cleaning Compounds Dangerous to Health

Preparing breakfast you’ll encounter PaH PCBS, and nitrates in bacon and sausage, and antibiotics and hormones in meat and milk.

Cleaning the kitchen you’re using manmade chemicals DECA, BDE, PBDES, Phenols, Chlorine, Ammonia, and Formaldehyde which make up common cleaning solutions.  Many chemicals are impossible for the liver to break down and send to kidneys, skin, lungs, and colon for excretion.  They accumulate in the body in fat and water deposits

Products containing flame retardants, lead, heavy metals, Disphenols, Pthalates, PDBE, and BDE, all of which increase cancer risk, can be found throughout the house in furniture, paint, bedding, pajamas.

Driving the car, you’ll run into Triclocarbans, bisphenols, phthalates, phenol, and more chlorine, ammonia, and formaldehyde.

Fruits, vegetables, meat, soda, desserts add pesticides, herbicides, Dioxins, BHA, BHT, Phosphoric Acid, Bisphenol A (BPA), Preservatives, and Coloring Agents toxins to the load.

                   l

That’s you and your children.

Share with me and others in the comments below what YOU do to avoid toxic compounds.  What products do you buy? I have a few suggestions which I’ll share in a future post.

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John and I are over 50, and we don’t want to retire. There’s still too much to do.  We’re healthy.  It’s exciting being part of new developments that spring up almost daily.  This is a very interesting world that we live in today!

We do want to stay healthy, though, so

• We exercise
• We eat healthy whole foods and avoid processed when we can.
• We cleanse, clean out, our bodies on a regular basis, and
• We avoid toxins as much as possible.

Exercise, Move, to Keep Body Flexible

The exercise bit.  We stay active.  The week before and of Thanksgiving we got snow, a lot of it.  6 inches one day and about a foot another day.  John’s out plowing the drivway and the road to our house.  He has a plow that attaches to the back of the Durango and that does a good job.

I’m shoveling snow off the walk ways and porch.  It keeps us active. When you live in the “country” you have to keep active to function. Not everything is done for you out here.  I even hang clothes on the line…that’s actually a sore point because John thinks I’m crazy to not have a clothes dryer.  In Nevada, though, we get a LOT of sun so usually I’m pretty safe hanging them.  Not always, though.  When it’s snowing….This week the temperatures have been in the teens and below zero….I admit it’s sometimes a little difficult to hang cothes!

VARIETY, THE KEY TO REMAINING FLEXIBLE

John and I hike in the mountains often from Spring to Fall, when weather permits.  We’re only 30 minutes from the mountains, and in summer they’re full of wildflowers, birds, rushing water, moutain sheep and goats, and fresh air.

Hiking is excellent exercise because it mimics life.  In the grocery store you’re pushing the cart, dodging other customers at the corners, backing up, stretching to a top shelf, twisting to answer a friend’s “Hello,” stooping to grab the onions that rolled out of the broken plastic bag onto the floor.

You get the idea.

Life demands that we move in many ways, use our bodies fully. That’s why hiking over rocks and streams uses more calories (and, therefore, a  greater variety of muscles) than walking on a treadmill or walking in the mall, although that’s beneficial, too.

The goal to use all parts of our bodies for greater flexibility in the long run.

We started taking kettlebell exercise classes in town two months ago, and we both can feel the difference.  Difference in stamina, flexibility, and strength.

After every class I’m sore in one or two areas.  Then comes the next class and the first soreness disappears to be replaced by a new area.  Never bad soreness, just enough so I know I’ve asked a new group of muscles to respond.  It’s wonderful to feel my body take the cue and target areas for new strength.

My father was a great one for deliberately using his body daily.  He died 3 months short of 99, and the day before his final stop in the hospital he bowled.  He deliberately flexed his feet when walking, and moved with a spring in his gait.  He had a few exercises he did with his legs every night.  Throughout the day he’d stretch arms/legs and breathe deeply, calling on his body to respond.  He stayed pretty flexible up until October when he died.  He’s a great example.

Add some activity to your life.  Experiment until you find something you enjoy.  Perhaps walking with a friend.

See you around town, friend.  Keep moving!

P.S. Next time we’ll talk about eating whole foods; avoiding processed.  That can get pretty tricky these days.

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HIGHEST RATE OF ENTREPRENEURS, AMERICANS OVER 50

John and I are both over 50, but we’re not ready to retire yet.  We operate 4-5 businesses; we work from home.   What we’re doing, working from home, is more common today than it’s been in America for some time.

In America today more folks over the age of 50 are starting new businesses than ever before.

“‘The United States might be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom—not in spite of an aging population but because of it,’ the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation stated in a report last year,” U.S. News & World Report, “A New Wave of Entrepreneurs,” Oct 2010.

Workers over 50, with years of work behind them, may understand better how to deal in the job market.  They may have the benefit of business connections made during their work years to help them anticipate and deal with challenges that discourage younger workers.  Greater financial resources can also help them survive better than their younger counterparts.  And they may have more of a stick-to-it attitude in the face of problems.

The highest rate of success in entrepreneurship belongs to the over 50 age group.  With life expectancy increasing we may see entrepreneurs in the 70s age group in the future.

BUSINESSES STARTED BY OVER 50s MORE SUCCESSFUL

Not only are over 50s starting more businesses than younger counter parts, start-ups with older owners are more likely to survive:

“Firms surviving through 2008 were much more likely to have primary owners older than age 45,” according to the Kauffman study.

 EXPERIENCE IMPORTANT IN STARTING NEW BUSINESS

Anyone beginning a business is wise to stay close to his prior experience. Go after ventures that build on what you’ve already done, or what you’re already passionate about.  Hobbies, long-term interests promise more success than new schemes. What skills have you developed?  The old question, “What do you love?” can be a guide to a new path.

Older entrepreneurs may pursue a new business because of financial need, or they may simply love bringing something new to life, overcoming a challenge, and making something happen.

Many over 50 want to remain active.  They may not want to be seen as spectators at the game we call, “Life.”  They choose, rather, to be fully engaged. 

John and I aren’t ready to retire from everything yet.  There’s too much to experience, and too many new skills to learn.  We’re stretching to learn computer skills and new approaches to health.  New learning is part of what makes life interesting.  Learning from the mistakes we make, seeing progress.  That’s what keeps us going.

Janice

P.S. I’m learning now how to do videos.  Just finished the video for the Home Page, after doing and redoing it 5-6 times…At the tip top of this page click “Home” in the upper left corner and you should be at the Home Page with my new video.

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 In Russia you’re not considered a MAN until you can “snatch” a 63 pound kettlebell!

“Kettlebells started in Russia. At first they were farm implements, then used in the military. Somebody brought them to the community, then the military.  In Russia the military uses kettlebells extensively.  In America we use pushups, situps and pullups.  You’re not considered a “man”  in Russia until you can ’snatch’ a 63 pound kettlebell.

A kettlebell routine is better than a situp/pullup routine, although they’re good, too.”

I asked Raul why kettlebells are more effective than just sit ups and pull ups:

“The kettle is off center so it puts your body into a different plane.  The kettlebell works more of your body.”

(Raul picks up a kettlebell from the row along the wall and demonstrates proper form for a routine.)

“This kettlebell is 36 lb. They range from 4 lb to 105 lb, solid cast iron. I have kettlebells from 13 to 150 pounds in my Center.  The beginning basic movement works your entire body.  Get yourself in a basic squat position with back straight and squat, stand, squat, stand.  This movement right here works entire body. My heart rate raises, and I’m working my quads, front part of the legs, hamstrings, calves, and the bottoms of my feet because they’re flat on the floor.  My lower back, rear end, abs, shoulders, biceps, forearms are worked, along with the cardio vascular system, and coordination, and flexibility.” 

“You can do a whole bunch of exercises; swings, cleans, snatches, squats, with same motion, start oblique work, shoulder work, leg work, and shoulder press.  Hold it in front to work biceps, triceps, the lower back, and the obliques. I did all those movements. I worked my entire body without moving from my same little space.”

He makes it look easy, and it is remarkably “easy” to do when you follow Raul’s instruction.  The effort increases, of course, as you carry the heavier kettlebells which builds endurance.  Keep the back straight, bend the knees.  Don’t look down; look straight ahead, head up.  That’s all there is to it!

Here’s Raul:

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 I need a coach to help me use exercise equipment, to explain once again how to do a particular exercise.  Going to a serious “gym” is a new activity for me.

Raul has almost every piece of exercise equipment you can imagine.  Every time I enter this space to  exercise my body I’m really exercising my brain trying to remember how to do the exercises, how to use the machines, the balls, rollers, the weights. I know how to use a jump rope…

So, what’s most important to me is not the equipment.  It’s Raul.  It’s the coach. 

The coach makes the difference, not so much the equipment. I asked Raul to comment on the importance of having a personal coach.  “How important is the coach?” I guess I already knew the answer to that question. Without this coach I know where I’d be…probably running on the treadmill!

 If you’re looking for a coach you should sit down and ask the prospective coach questions.  look for philosophy in training; that’s more important than certification.  If the coach doesn’t have a genuine interest in working with someone, an interest in helping you achieve goals in the safest manner, that coach isn’t for you.  The coach must have your interest at heart.  He/she must be compassionate toward you and passionate about the work.  He/she must be interested in helping you.  That’s the primary motivation for a true teacher.  Look for that.

• Knowledge of how to train the body and
• How to work with individuals. Most of the time unless you’re exceptional you don’t push yourself enough. A coach watches to encourage you to do more than what you did yesterday. That’s his/her job. I like the word ‘coach.’
• And instead of “workout,” I say “training session,” since you’re training yourself in correct ways to move muscles, laying down habit patterns for your muscles.

People Say Your Gym is Hard!

 I think Raul was surprised when I made my next comment, 

“The word around town is that your center is hard. Your workouts are hard. 

“I’ve found, though, that you watch and guide me to not jump into something too much for me.  You don’t overly stress competition, either, although I’m sure there are some individuals where competition enters the picture. It’s mostly, though, competition with myself.  I’m trying to do more for myself.”

Raul answered with a smile: “I do like to work people hard because I like to work hard myself.  Working hard is the only way I reach my goals, and the only way you improve.  An invidual  may not work extremely hard when he first comes in, or be able to.  But within a 6 week period he’s very surprised at how much he can do.”

Kettlebells work the whole body from head to toe. Just the simple swing of a kettlebell works your entire body: the cardio vascular system, the back, the arms, the chest. As we get older obviously we can’t do as much as when we were in our teens or thirties, but that doesn’t mean we can’t put in as hard an effort as we did back then.

I asked Raul, then, “Why don’t you demonstrate kettlebells for us?  Show us how you use kettlebells to work your whole body from head to toe.” 

And he’ll do just that…In the next video!

See you in about five days,

Janice

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TREADMILL MAYBE NOT BEST CHOICE IN THE GYM 

If you’re aiming to be healthy beyond fifty forget the Treadmill.

First thing I suppose I think of when someone talking about starting an exercise program is a “gym.”  Is that the best choice, though?  Many over fifties go to the gym. We’ve heard we need something to challenge the cardio-vascular system and we need weight training for stronger bones.

But weight training is hard for many of us because we don’t know how to use the equipment that’s in a gym. The only thing that looks familiar is the thing you walk and run on. so we end up running on it–the treadmill. 

I went to a gym for a while where you go from one machine to the next.  The person in charge showed me briefly what to do on the machines, but I never really understood.  She didn’t come back, check on me, or offer suggestions.

LITTLE INDIVIDUAL COACHING IN A GYM

Raul: “That’s exactly it.  A lot of people don’t know how to use the equipment, and that’s when they get injured.  I started this facility because I wanted to teach people how to use the equipment. I wanted to work with people so they won’t get hurt and won’t be afraid.  I want to work with people.

When you go to a gym you won’t get individual teaching, coaching. You just won’t get that at a gym.  It’s not there. I don’t want people afraid to work out on the equipment, be afraid to move, to exercise.”

RUNNING ON THE TREADMILL, WASTE OF TIME?

What about running on the treadmill?  Seems to me that’s what a lot of people are choosing when they go to the gym.

Raul: “You’re talking to an individual who doesn’t like the treadmill. I’m sorry if I offend people, but treadmills are for lazy people.  They don’t want to go outside  and do something.” 

“Go outside and move.  In our everyday lives we don’t always move straight ahead. We move in different directions. I tell people to go to the park, go outside and move.  Move around obstacles, walk around, climb.”

“On a treadmill you’re always moving straight ahead.  When you go to the grocery store you’re not moving straight ahead. Set up an obstacle course for yourself, move around objects.  A lot of people don’t put effort into it, not like they would if they were walking up a nice steep hill.”

I think the treadmill is what the majority of people do when they get older.  They walk the treadmill because that’s what they’re able to do.  They’re able to do it, and they have noone to help them learn something else.

Raul: It’s great to have a walking partner.  It’s much more fun and you’re be able to stick to a routine and stick to a plan if you have a partner. You can challenge each other.  It’s much more fun.  If it’s not fun, if you don’t come closer to your goals you’re not going to stick with it.”

So true, Raul.  Thanks for the encouragement.  I’ve never enjoyed treadmills.  boring, no fresh air, no flowers, no birds…

I’ll take hiking in the Ruby Mountains any day!

P.S. Next video: I told Raul what the word around town was about his Fitness Center…

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CHANGE IT UP!  DON’T KEEP DOING THE SAME OLD THING

Exercise for over fifties should incorporate variety because we want to keep muscles flexible for everyday living, and everyday living uses many different muscle systems.  If we allow ourselves to develop bad habit patterns of moving, muscles you don’t use will atrophy, grow weak, from disuse.  Raul recommends variety in exercise routines.

SAME EXERCISE ROUTINE OVER AND OVER MAKES YOU PLATEAU

Change is good for training.  Stay with only one routine and you’ll plateau really quick.  Once you plateau, unless you change your training regime, you won’t improve.  

I’m interviewing Raul Lopez again about exercise routines, especially for us beyond fifty.  He’s a big proponent of change, not keeping with the same exercise routine.  Here’s Raul:

“People come to my center to better their lives.  We all know that day-to-day we move in a variety of ways.  Good training touches all body systems to support the variety of actions we need for everyday chores. Using a variety of muscles challenges your body to strengthen many different areas.”

“It’s important to build evenly so muscle systems remain balanced.  Using variety keeps the body balanced. Performing a movement incorrectly makes you more susceptible to injury.  I don’t want you to
develop incorrect patterns.”

INCORRECT EXERCISE CAUSES INJURY

 
“Everyone has personal goals, and it’s my responsibility to help everyone you reach you goals. 
I don’t want you hurt.  You won’t reach your goals if you get hurt.  Exercises done incorrectly develop muscles the wrong way. When you train muscles incorrectly, build muscles wrong, you’re more likely to get hurt. The best way to get hurt is to do an exercise incorrectly.  Performing a movement incorrectly makes you more susceptible to injury.  I don’t want you to develop incorrect patterns.

“It’s important to train smart, not excessively heavy.  Many of us believe when we go to the gym we need to work hard, train hard, punish our bodies to make progress.  That’s not correct.  Correct muscle movements that still challenge, develop more evenly. I push you, encouraging your muscles to always do a little more than you did last time.

Remember: Train smart, not excessively heavy.” 

Thanks, Raul,

P.S. What very common piece of exercise equipment is nowhere to be found in Raul’s Training Center?  Why isn’t it there?  Check out the next video…

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REGULAR EXERCISE ESSENTIAL FOR HEALTHY LIVING BEYOND 50

Healthy Living Beyond Fifty doesn’t happen without regular, varied exercise. What kind of exercise?  I’ve been walking mornings, and I love that, but I’m afraid walking uses only certain muscles and uses them over and over again leaving other systems without the stress required to grow new tissue and keep my bones strong.

REGULAR EXERCISE ESSENTIAL FOR AN ACTIVE LIFE

One of my passions is health which includes the following:

• Proper nutrition
• Natural whole foods
• Cellular cleansing to help body rid itself of toxins AND
• Regular exercise

I started in September going to a kettlebell class, and it’s really good.  Mostly really good because of the man who coaches us.  He makes sure we don’t do the same exercises two days in a row.  We never know what he has planned when we walk in the door at 6:00 a.m. In class we go from kettlebells, to free weights, to jumping rope, to balls, to jumping jacks and squats, which I suspect is his favorite. Not mine, but I’m getting better. So far I haven’t experienced the same routine any one day.

POWER-LIFTING TO COACHING

Raul Lopez’s dream for years was to own a training center. Two years ago he acted on that dream and opened “Raul’s Strength & Fitness Systems,” Railroad Street, in Elko, Nevada.  He turned his power-lifting hobby into a full-time occupation and is trainer in his own Center. Power-lifting?

“It’s different from Olympic lifting you see on T.V. Power lifting includes the free lift, squat, bench press, and dead lift.”

A VARIETY OF MOVEMENTS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYDAY LIVING

I interviewed Raul one morning last week.  I asked how he started using kettlebells at his Center.

“I checked on the InterNet for something to supplement my training and ran into a power lifter who used kettlebells. I became intrigued and curious so after researching further on the InterNet I ordered a few along with DVD demos. I enjoyed them very much and began to use them in the college classes I was teaching at Great Basin College in Elko.

Kettlebells were originally used in agriculture in Russia. They migrated into cities, and are today used extensively by the Russi

an military. Our military uses sit-ups, and push-ups. Russians use kettlebells. I like many modalities in my Center because I like a wide variety of methods. Life demands we move in many directions. During a day we’re squatting, twisting, and moving in many ways, so I like to incorporate that variety of movement in my training here.”

Raul is going to “talk” to us about remaining healthy beyond fifty, so I’ll feature several videos of him talking about exercise programs for us. Watch for further videos, but this one is the first.   Next video he’ll talk more about why variety is important in an exercise routine.

Janice

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