Functional training is “reactive” teaching muscles to “fire” in a pattern, with primary “moving” muscles and secondary “stabilizing” muscles working in sequence to execute movement. This integration engages strong, stable “core” muscles aiding in balance. The result? Your body attains equilibrium between strength and flexibility, between agonist and antagonist muscles, increasing functionality while reducing risk of injury.

The bottom line: you can either have a bulky, unfunctional body that is injury prone or a lean, functional one that is resilient. It also never hurts that functional training workouts are shorter, more effective, and more interesting than all those monotonous curls, leg curls, bench presses, etc.

Related posts:

1. The 4 Principles of Functional Training – Principle #3 Balance vs Bulk
2. The 4 Principles of Functional Training- Principle #4 Multi- vs. Limited Movement
3. The 4 Principles of Functional Training: Principle #1 – Isolation vs. Integration

Wellness is generally used to mean a healthy balance of the mind, body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being.

Therefore, we believe that wellness involves more than just being clear of the flu or other diseases. Wellness is rather a pursuit to be all that we were created to be in mind, body, and spirit.

No matter how sick or ‘well’ you currently are, our goal is to educate and guide you to better wellness.

So, what is Extraordinary Wellness?

We define Extraordinary Wellness as someone who has the following attributes:

• Super Energy
• Sharp & Focused Mind
• Incredible Fitness
• Banished Aches & Pains
• Healthy Back
• Healthy Heart
• Never Giving Cancer a Chance to Start
• Vital Living to 120!

So, are you Extraordinarily Well? If so, that’s great!! If not, don’t you want to be?

Transformation’s Extraordinary Wellness Mission:

1. ) Promote only natural non-invasive (no needles!) therapies, as God, through nature, has provided safe and natural remedies.

2.) Encourage a lifestyle that will enhance homeostasis and total wellness from the head down.

3.) View the individual as a whole person consisting of mind, body and spirit.

4.) Teach prevention, by promoting a healthy lifestyle that includes proper nutrition, rest, exercise, etc. while exploring those negative factors in one’s life that can prevent natural health from being achieved.

HOW TO GET STARTED:

STEP 1: Call (919) 845-6596 to schedule an initial Consultation. (Can be done in person, by phone, or over the internet)

Initial Consultations are Complimentary are basically a ‘Get to Know You’ session for information gathering purposes. After setting your goals and a plan of action, we can look at options that will best fit your needs. Rates are based completely on your specific program and needs.

STEP 2: Begin on Your Journey to Extraordinary Wellness!

Related posts:

1. What is Wellness?
2. Corporate Wellness
3. Set Your Course to a Healthier Lifestyle

Wellness is first and foremost a choice to assume responsibility for the quality of your life. It begins with a conscious decision to shape a healthy lifestyle. Wellness is a mindset, a predisposition to adopt a series of key principles in varied life areas that lead to high levels of well-being and life satisfaction.

A consequence of this focus is that a wellness mindset will protect you against temptations to blame someone else, make excuses, shirk accountability, or whine.

Wellness is an alternative to dependency on doctors and drugs, to complacency, to mediocrity and to self-pity, boredom and slothfulness.

Many wellness promoters, myself included, see wellness as a philosophy that embraces many principles for good health.

Related posts:

1. Extraordinary Wellness
2. Exercise Myth #2 – It’s Best to Train to Failure
3. TV and Your Health

Integration vs. Isolation -

Strength training on machines works muscles in isolation-although it’s rare that your muscles would be required to work in isolation in any other situation. Functional training, on the other hand, removes the support provided by machines, requiring the body to work multiple muscle groups in integration, as the body is intended to move, resulting in more balanced muscle tone.

Related posts:

1. Exercise Myth #1 – Fitness Machines Are Better than Functional Training
2. The 4 Principles of Functional Training – Principle #2 Reaction vs. Injury
3. The 4 Principles of Functional Training- Principle #4 Multi- vs. Limited Movement

1. They promote maintenance and improvement in Active Daily Living tasks
2. They promote spinal health and longevity
3. They mimic motor patterns that translate into daily tasks, recreational sports, and work activities.

Traditionally, when people exercise, they are working on “cosmetic fitness” – exercising to look good and working on surface muscles or those that we see. The problem with this is that it doesn’t help you in daily tasks. How often do you hear that someone hurt themselves reaching to the back seat of their car, turning quickly, or bending down quickly to pick up something? These are daily living tasks; therefore, it makes sense to train the muscles doing similar movements. You aren’t lying down most of the day doing crunches, yet your abdominal muscles are constantly working to stabilize your spine. So why not train them in a way that makes sense (i.e. standing, sitting, twisting)? That’s what core and functional training are about, and there are several methods you can use.

Related posts:

1. The 4 Principles of Functional Training – Principle #2 Reaction vs. Injury
2. Functional Training
3. The 4 Principles of Functional Training: Principle #1 – Isolation vs. Integration

• If people are not active in sports or physical education (in other words doing something that challenges their stability and ability of muscles to react), they start to lose balance at the age of 15 or 16.
• After the age of 70, nearly 85% of people die from complications due to breaking their hip.

If those aren’t reason enough to incorporate core and functional training into your exercise program, perhaps learning more will convince you.

What is Functional Training?

Functional training is defined as “activity that trains movement” and includes: balance training, stabilization training, core training, and dynamic movement training. The result of functional training is agility – improved reactionary forces where your body has the ability to compensate for changes in your center of gravity and can move quickly and efficiently. In other words, if you’re falling or suddenly caught off guard, your body is trained to react quickly, meaning you are less prone to injury. Exercises promoting core strength and stability improve or maintain posture and alignment as well as challenging balance and equilibrium.

Core training is different than just training your abdominals. Although the abdominals are an important part of your core musculature, true core training is a more integrated approach; it combines strength, balance, agility, and flexibility of the muscles that control the entire trunk and spine. Regular conditioning of the core muscles is essential to prevent injuries, correct posture, and making you more efficient with all that you do.

Functional training is about QUALITY of the movement, not quantity!

Related posts:

1. Exercise Myth #1 – Fitness Machines Are Better than Functional Training
2. The 4 Principles of Functional Training – Principle #2 Reaction vs. Injury
3. The 4 Principles of Functional Training- Principle #4 Multi- vs. Limited Movement

Eventually, I ran across an article by an interesting Russian fellow named Pavel Tsatouline. I remember being challenged in my thinking to the very principles that I had been using for years in my training. Could he be telling the truth? But everyone seemed to be training the same way I was….surely, we all couldn’t be using the wrong approach. Is there really a better way to train that would incorporate strength, conditioning, and mobility all in one package?

Seven years ago, I began lugging in this strange contraption to various gyms in Raleigh getting the strangest looks and comments from people like ‘you’re going to hurt yourself with that thing.’  

What is a ‘kettlebell’?

‘A cannon ball with a handle’  is the often used description of the now popular Russian Kettlebell. They certainly are not so strange anym0re, as they are seemingly popping up in every gym in America. The kettlebell goes way back, it first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704 (Cherkikh, 1994). So popular were kettlebells in Tsarist Russia that any strongman or weightlifter was referred to as a girevik, or ‘a kettlebell man’. They are now considered by many professional trainers and coaches to be the ultimate tool for extreme all-round fitness. “Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as kettlebell athletics,” reported Russian magazine Hercules in 1913.

What makes a Russian Kettlebell so special? Some may say it is the kettlebell design that inherently makes it better than other free weight and machine training, but I say it is also the quality of the teacher and the training system that is equally as important and beneficial to the kettlebell trainees success.

 Join me in my next blog as I discuss ’the whos’ and ‘the whys’ of Russian Kettlebell training.

Related posts:

1. Exercise Myth #2 – It’s Best to Train to Failure
2. Functional Training
3. The 4 Principles of Functional Training – Principle #2 Reaction vs. Injury

Galatians 6:9  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Related posts:

1. Training Myth # 3 – Moderate Exercise Is Best for Weight Loss & Fitness Results
2. To Meet Your Weight Loss Goal, Don’t Forget The Brown Bag!

Throw away the junk food!

This may seem obvious, but a smart way to stay on top of your healthy lifestyle is to throw away junk foods and beverages that are not on your plan. Just like watching TV instead of exercising, having unhealthy food and beverages in the house that work against your plan (especially those items that you often crave) can be tempting enough to lead you down the wrong path. The same could be said for someone battling addictions of any kind. It is wise to put yourself in less tempting and safe surroundings if you hope to beat the addiction. So, if you want to have a healthy lifestyle, and reach your weight loss or fitness goals, rid the house of tempting food and beverages.

‘No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.’  – 1 Corinthians 10:13

Related posts:

1. Set Your Course to a Healthier Lifestyle
2. Vitamins & Minerals, a Healthy Body & a Healthy Mind
3. To Have a Healthy Mindset, Stop Focusing on the Problem

It is said that the average American watches 4 hours of TV per day! That is astounding! When is the last time that a television show changed your life for the better? The TV can be a huge distraction and can hinder your progress and dreams in any area of life. If you want to stay on track, avoid the TV during times when you could be exercising or being more active. Hiding the remote control, unplugging the TV, or even putting the TV in the closet can help lessen the possibility of avoiding your exercise, eating foods, and watching hours of TV instead. The fewer distractions and temptations in your home and surroundings, the better your chances are of reaching your healthy goals.

So, to sum it up -

Don’t let the TV (or anything else for that matter) keep your health and wellness dreams from becoming reality.

Related posts:

1. For a Successful Healthy Lifestyle, Throw out the Junk Food
2. What is Wellness?
3. Setting Healthy Goals for the New Year