5 Free Personal Training Sessions!

I am offering the chance to win 1 of 5 free individual personal training sessions to people who can tell me~

1. What goal you are working towards?
2. Why you are working towards it?
3. Have you been successful?
4. Why/why not? 

Entries who need the most help will be the winners!

All you have to do is email your answers to myself at lachlan@balanserahealth.com

Good luck!!

Do you stretch?

TRX Suspension Trainer

The TRX Suspension Trainer is a bodyweight-based portable training tool that builds strength, balance, flexibility and core strength for people of all fitness levels. At Club 2073 we have the TRX system permanently setup and i use it with basically every client, every session. The reason for this is the versatility of the TRX. As mentioned above, the TRX can be used for multiple training disciplines with amazing results.

Because of the TRX's instability, exercises such as a push up or back row become much harder because of the extra muscle recruitment needed to stabilise your body and joints. What is so good about that? Here are just a few reasons~

1. Joints such as the shoulder, knee and hip have to use every stabiliser muscle it can recruit to complete the movement, resulting in stronger, more functional joints with less injuries.
2. Unstable training works on the core musculature. The core muscles provide the support for your body to remain upright and be able to complete ALL movements. Having a strong core will prevent injuries, improve posture and increase overall strength. 
3. Life is not meant to be seated! in real life our bodies are able to move to the side, backwards, forwards and diagonally. When we complete these movements standing up, are we stable? No, we are the exact opposite! That is why we should train in a way in which our bodies naturally move. The TRX  exercises do exactly that!

The TRX system is a revolutionary piece of equipment which has forever changed functional training for the better.  i highly recommend the use  of the system  as it has provided both myself and my clients with strong, flexible and functional bodies!

At Club 2073, the TRX system is reserved for personal trainer use only, but i am more than willing to give anybody interested a demonstration. If you would like to book in for personal training sessions to use the TRX with myself, please contact me via phone, email or at the club reception.

Lachlan Ainsworth
 

Phone: 0401960258

Email: lachlan@balanserahealth.com 

Stress. Is it killing you?

Stress is now an epidemic!! Unfortunatley, this fact is hardly surprising given the current  situation  of the world we live in. Many of my clients battle with some form of stress from time to time, and for some it is a constant. I can see the effects of stress right in front of me and it is very concerning. I have decided to write this entry to hopefully make people realise that there may be a problem, and there are ways to relieve it.

Stress that is not treated can lead to serious illness. A person who feels ongoing and unresolved stress may go on to develop significant medical illnesses or an anxiety disorder (which in turn can lead to a clinical depression).

Long term exposure to stress takes the form of general adoption syndrome. It occurs in response to long term exposure to the causes of stress. This phenomenon is commonly visible, both in employers and employees of the corporate sector, where new challenges emerge on a daily basis. Projects have to be executed in time. Sales targets have to be met. Statistics have to be presented in board meetings. This results in continuous arousal of the body. When this arousal becomes chronic, stress related problems appear.

Stress hormones that remain in an elevated state in the blood for long time can become toxic and affect the cells of the body. The level of fat also increases, causing cardiovascular problems. The immune system is emaciated and the body becomes prone to infectious diseases, including cancer. The moods go down steeply and physical and mental exhaustion takes over.

Stress occurs when the demands being made on a person are greater than their ability to cope. When stress turns into a serious illness, it is important to get professional help as soon as possible. 

There are many ways in which you can reduce your stress including~

• Exercise
  
• Meditation 
• Yoga
• Massage
• Tai Chi
• Aromatheraphy

Or just simply devoting time do doing something you love!

I hope i have inspired you to act if you have an unhealthy stress level and i am more than willing to help if that is what you need.

Stress less!!!


Lachlan

Are you exercising enough?

The recommended amount of exercise prescribed by the Australian Department Of Health is 30 minutes per day. Straight away i would recommend that amount needs to be doubled.

The human body was designed to be an exercise machine, yet our current lifestyle usually makes it the exact opposite- a sedentary machine. The daily movements we were designed for were not structured and they were usually occurring all day. These movements i am talking about are hunting and collecting, building, traveling, carrying, pulling, pushing, sprinting and walking. How many of us can say that we do all of those everyday? How long do you estimate it would take to hunt for something to eat, walk to get to a water source and maintain your shelter in one day? 30 minutes? i don't think so!! Ask yourself if you are even getting 30 minutes a day exercise..if not, why not?

Our current lifestyle is becoming increasingly sedentary and our bodies are becoming decreasingly functional. This is why i recommend that we need to be getting at least 60 minutes exercise a day. Without sufficient exercise, our bodies become weak, prone to disease and obesity and take ALOT longer to get back to the ideal state.

I hope i have inspired you to increase your daily exercise amount! you know you need to!

Are you really eating properly...?

I speak to so many people in the gym about both their eating habits, and it has become clear to me that most people think that they are eating right, but actually aren't.

Sometimes we get wrong information, outdated information, or we simply interpret information the way we see it and not the way it actually is.

Eating correctly, to me, is simple. I eat according to my metabolic type, i eat what nature has NATURALLY provided as an intended food source- fruit, vegetables, meat, nuts, grains, water and I do not consume refined sugars and foods so my body can function the way it was intended.

Once you start eating foods which do not naturally occur such as chocolate and ice cream, your body will have a problem. Because the 'food' is not naturally occurring, your body will most likely have trouble digesting it and some of the partly digested remnants may be stored in your cells as fat. There are thousands of substances in pre-prepared foods which our bodies don't know how to digest, so they simply get stored in our body resulting in weight gain. Have you ever wondered why cellulite occurs....? BAD FOOD!

As i mentioned above, eating correctly is simple. If you need help or would like to know you metabolic type, which is extremely important to how your body uses your food intake, please come and see me at the gym or call/email me to book an appointment.


Lachlan Ainsworth


0401 960 258


lachlan@balanserahealth.com

Five Fingers

Some of you may have seen me wearing a weird pair of 'toe sock' shoes [that's what people have called them anyway!] They are called 'Five Fingers' and they are made by a company called Vibram.

This footwear is amazingly unique. They allow your feet to work naturally, how they were supposed to, resulting in leg, ankle, glute and hip strength, increased balance, stability and agility. My pair have greatly improved my leg strength and improved my ankle and foot problems. Below is a link for the Vibram website which has a large amount of information on the technology behind the footwear and an FAQ which is good for people who are concerned about their feet problems. Enjoy it!

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com

What sugar is doing to your body!!

As recently as 400 years ago, refined or simple sugars, with the exception of small amounts of honey, were not available to man. We ate only naturally occurring whole foods that provide complex carbohydrates, which convert to energy relatively slowly when consumed as natural food sources. About 100 years ago, the average yearly intake of simple sugars was only about 4 pounds per person. Today the average American consumes 150 to 170 pounds of sugar per year!!

I found this article from Nancy Appleton outlining the deadly effects of sugar. There are 146 of them, and it astounds me that big corporations are allowed to cash in on the worlds population of sugar addicts.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.

2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.

3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.

4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases).

6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you loose.

7. Sugar reduces high density lipoproteins.

8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.

9 Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.

10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.

11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.

12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.

13. Sugar can weaken eyesight.

14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.

16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.

17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.

18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.

19. Sugar can cause premature aging.

20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

21. Sugar can cause tooth decay.

22. Sugar contributes to obesity

23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.

24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.

25. Sugar can cause arthritis.

26. Sugar can cause asthma.

27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).

28. Sugar can cause gallstones.

29. Sugar can cause heart disease.

30. Sugar can cause appendicitis.

31. Sugar can cause multiple sclerosis.

32. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.

33. Sugar can cause varicose veins.

34. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.

35. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.

36. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

37. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.

38. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

39. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E (alpha-Tocopherol in the blood.

40. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.

41. Sugar can increase cholesterol.

42. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure.

43. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.

44. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein)

45. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.

46. Sugar causes food allergies.

47. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.

48. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.

49. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.

50. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.

51. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA

52. Sugar can change the structure of protein.

53. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen.

54. Sugar can cause cataracts.

55. Sugar can cause emphysema.

56. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.

57. Sugar can promote an elevation of low density lipoproteins (LDL).

58. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.

59. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.

60. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.

61. Sugar can cause a permanent altering the way the proteins act in the body.

62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.

63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.

64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.

65. Sugar can damage the pancreas.

66. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.

67. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement.

68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).

69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.

70. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle.

71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine.

72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.

73. Sugar can adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders..

74. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves.

75. Sugar can cause depression.

76. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.

77. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion).

78. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout.

79. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates.

80. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.

81 High refined sugar diet reduces learning capacity.

82. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.

83. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.

84. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness.

85. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.

86. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

87. Sugar can lead to the hypothalamus to become highly sensitive to a large variety of stimuli.

88. Sugar can lead to dizziness.

89. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.

90. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.

91. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer.

92. Sugar feeds cancer.

93. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.

94. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents.

95. Sugar slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.

96. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon. This can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.

97. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.

98. Sugar combines and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult.

99. Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer.

100. Sugar is an addictive substance.

101. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.

102. Sugar can exacerbate PMS.

103. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.

104. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.

105. The body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.

106. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.

107. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

108. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.

109. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.

110. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.

111.. I.Vs (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain.

112. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer.

113. Sugar increases the risk of polio.

114. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.

115. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.

116. In Intensive Care Units, limiting sugar saves lives.

117. Sugar may induce cell death.

118. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.

119. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior.

120. Sugar can lead to prostrate cancer.

121. Sugar dehydrates newborns.

122. Sugar increases the estradiol in young men.

123. Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.

124. Greater consumption of refined sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia

125. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the blood stream.

126. Sweet food items increase the risk of breast cancer.

127. Sugar is a risk factor in cancer of the small intestine.

128. Sugar may cause laryngeal cancer.

129. Sugar induces salt and water retention.

130. Sugar may contribute to mild memory loss.

131. As sugar increases in the diet of 10 years olds, there is a linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients.

132. Sugar can increase the total amount of food consumed.

133. Exposing a newborn to sugar results in a heightened preference for sucrose relative to water at 6 months and 2 years of age.

134. Sugar causes constipation.

135. Sugar causes varicous veins.

136. Sugar can cause brain decay in prediabetic and diabetic women.

137. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.

138. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.

139. Sugar ingestion by pregnant women increases neural tube defects in embryos.

140. Sugar can be a factor in asthma.

141. The higher the sugar consumption the more chances of getting irritable bowel syndrome.

142. Sugar could affect central reward systems.

143. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.

144. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.

145. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.

146. Sugar can cause liver tumors.

Other names for sugar-
barley malt
beet sugar
brown sugar
buttered syrup
cane-juice crystals
cane sugar
caramel
carob syrup
corn syrup
corn-syrup solids
date sugar
dextran
dextrose
diastase
diastatic malt
ethyl maltol
evaporated cane juice
fructose
fruit juice
fruit-juice concentrate
glucose
glucose solids
golden sugar
golden syrup
grape sugar
high-fructose corn syrup
honey
invert sugar
lactose
malt syrup
maltodextrin
maltose
mannitol
molasses
raw sugar
refiner's syrup
sorbitol
sorghum syrup
sucrose
turbinado sugar
yellow sugar

Flu-how to combat it this winter!

Influenza, better known as 'the flu', is a highly contagious viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. The virus enters the bod'ys airways through mucous membranes in the nose, eyes or mouth.

Up to 36,000 Americans die each year of influenza, with approximately 200,000 hospitalised. There are more than 200 different strains of the virus and they are constantly changing, so vaccinations against influenza have only been partly successful in preventing the disease. I don't really agree with the vaccination because they inject the actual virus into your body so it can build an immunity to it.

Th symptoms of influenza begin much like those of a cold- body aches, cough, fatigue, headache and hot and cold sweats. Colds last for about one week to ten days on average, but the flu lasts much longer- up to twelve days or more, followed by a week or more of residual coughing.

If you do come down with the flu-

• Consume plenty of fluids, especially fresh juices, herbal teas, soups and quality water to prevent dehydration and help flush out the body.

• Avoid dairy products, which are mucous forming, and sugar.

• Buy a new toothbrush- toothbrushes can harbor viruses and prolong the illness.

• Take vitamins!! As your appetite will usually decrease, it is important to keep getting the nutrients your body needs, especially whilst fighting a disease.

Nutrients needed especially during the flu-

• Vitamin A- a powerful antioxidant and immunity booster.
• Vitamin C- strengthens the immune system by increasing the number and quality of the white blood cells.
• Garlic tablets- has antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Considerations-

Antibiotics are useless against viral illnesses like influenza. The best way to get rid of the flu or any other infectious diseases is t tackle it head on by strengthening the immune system. When the body is getting, or already is sick, it is under stress, and stress taxes the immune system. Researchers have linked vulnerability to colds and flu to psychological stress!

I hope you don't have to put this information into practice this year, but if you do, at least you wont be as sick!!

Lachlan

Power exercise No. 1 - Cable pull

The cable rack is one of, if not the most versatile pieces of equipment in the gym. It has interchangeable heights, directions and weights.

The advantage of the cable rack, like free weights, is that no part of your body is fixed and you are not locked in one plane of motion. Your body works much more effectively in this situation. For example, when out hunting for food 10,000 years ago, people would get their exercise and strength training climbing, pulling, pushing, twisting and walking on unstable terrain. They definitely did not have a machine every 10 meters to work out on! The human body is very capable of lifting, twisting, pulling and bending whilst in an unstable, unfixed environment. Take surfing for example. So as you can see, our bodies will not work effectively in a fixed position doing exactly the same movement!

The cable pull is an excellent entire body integration exercise, meaning there are hardly any muscles not working and your muscles have to work together. So whilst your upper body is doing the pulling work, your mid section is doing both twisting and stabilising and your lower body is doing the stabilising.

As i just mentioned, the cable pull is a whole body exercise, but i will break it down and explain the main muscles.

Upper body

• Forearm flexors
• Biceps
• Anterior, middle, posterior deltoids (shoulder)
• Teres major, minor
• Rhomboids
• Upper traps

Mid section

• Rectus abdominus (abdominals)
• Internal/ external oblique
• Transverse abdominus
• Erector spinae (lower back muscles)

Lower body

• Gastrocnemius/ soleus (calves)
• Quadriceps
• Hamstrings
  
• Gluteus medius/ maximus

So as you can see, the cable pull is a big workout utilising major and minor muscles!

Welcome to the Balansera blog!

Welcome to my blog!

I know you will gain valuable information from this and can hopefully put anything you learn into practice!!

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