What is Pilates?

Pilates is more than just a work-out. It’s an understanding.

Learn how to improve your posture, prevent injury and strengthen your core.

What is Pilates?

Pilates is a form of exercise that combines breath and movement. Each exercise incorporates a challenge of strength and flexibility, targeting the muscles of your deep core. By strengthening these muscles through the patterns of pilates, the muscles of your abdomen and torso will firm up, and in most cases, reduce back pain, decrease susceptibility to injury, and improve your posture.

What are the benefits?

• Build strength without bulking up- The exercises performed in Pilates challenges both strength and flexibility, providing a long, lean muscle tone appearance.

• Improve posture and flexibility- poor postural habits can lead to undue stress and tension on your muscles, leading to pain and injury. By restoring your body’s natural posture, and increasing your flexibility, you will feel stronger and taller throughout your day.

• Strengthen the abdomen and back- the exercises in Pilates target the core, involving the muscles that sit closest to the spine: your pelvis, shoulder girdle and trunk. This will alleviate joint stress, enabling you to feel stronger and more relaxed in your posture.

Because Pilates is low impact, it’s great for:***

• Pre/ Post Natal***

• Balance Retraining

• Reducing Stress/ Improving circulation

• Improving Neuromuscular Coordination

• Improving Athletic performance

• Increasing overall functional Independence

• Reducing susceptibility to injury

***Consult with your Physician before exercising if you are injured, are pregnant or have any other pre-existing medical condition.

Jamie Howe Pittman is a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant and certified in Pilates through STOTT Pilates and Pilates Academy International. She has been actively involved in rehabilitation injured populations for over ten years and has been teaching Pilates since 2004.

Contact Jamie at (646) 220-6019

pilates.jamie@gmail.com

Located at

Maxim Health and Fitness

193 North 9^th st.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

www.maximhealthandfitness.com

www.CoreSolutionsnyc.com

Why Should I Hire a Personal Trainer? All the Exercise Information I need is in a book or on the Internet…

As a student of exercise science, I love that question. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I bought my first Judo book. I was convinced I could teach myself Judo from that one book! After all, every move was printed out with diagrams… just follow the dotted lines, practice & I’m a pro, right? My first day on a Judo mat taught me different! I was stuck in the mat like a lawn dart (remember those?!) again & again & again. It was a great class, staring up at the ceiling tiles…
I know what you’re thinking; exercise is much easier than Judo, dancing, tennis or skiing, but isn’t it the people who get some sort of formal instruction that excel in these sports? Why do people think fitness is any different? I love it when I see people at my gym walking around with some fitness book or the latest issue of Men’s Health & then ask me how to do some exercise they found in it. I mean, hey, I’m the owner & I’m happy to help all of my members whenever I can (try finding that at a franchise club!), but there are just so many things about fitness training you just can’t learn from a book, magazine or even a video.
You can’t see adduction of your femur in the eccentric phase of a squat. You most likely wouldn’t know what exercise to do if your ankle is everting in a rear lunge. You might not even know what all these words mean in regards to your body at all! Some things, like the necessary progressions, proper technique or corrective exercises to fix muscle imbalances, just need to be learned one on one.
Hey, I know that all these books, dvds, an information on the internet are getting people moving and I think that’s great! God knows people need to move more & eat healthier so take the motivation wherever you can get it! But if you aren’t sure about exactly what movements to do to reach your goals, it’s worth your while to look into an exercise professional. Think of it as an investment in your future.
Add life to your years!

Larry

A Weekend With The Masters

from left to right: assistant to Dr. Ed, Dr. Ed, Ken Blackburn, Larry Betz & Steve Cotter

I was recently asked by two friends Steve Cotter and Ken Blackburn to present a module at the IKFF Level 2 certification. What a great weekend and an unbelievable opportunity! Steve and Ken started the International Kettlebell Fitness Foundation this year and it has really exploded. They are presenting everywhere.

Those of you familiar with the Kettlebell world will know Steve Cotter as an amazing athlete and terrific instructor. He and Ken are very generous with their knowledge and work hard to present. To be a part of this organization is quite an honor.

Dr. Ed started everybody off with Qi Gong, this set the tone with breathing exercises. Then Ken followed up with a warm up of the joints (Joint Mobility Module) and I continued with the Active Isolated Stretching portion. Steve’s ordering of the exercises is actually genius-starting internally (Qi Gong), then to the joints & muscles. By then the body was ready for Steve’s Dynamic Movement Module.

I would like to thank Steve and Ken for giving me the opportunity to present Active Isolated Stretching to the members of IKFF and look forward to working with them in the future.
Any time I get to spend with the top people in the fitness industry is always an amazing experience!

Larry

When you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, What else can you do?

“If you saw Atlas, The giant who holds the world on his shoulders if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders- what would you tell him to do?”
“To Shrug”
Ayn Rand

Dining out

The Williamsburg/Greenpoint area of Brooklyn is home to some of the finest dining in the Metropolitan area. All of the establishments have done an amazing job over the years of providing our neighborhood with a fabulous assortment of both continental and ethnic cuisines and spirits! It is all too common to move to the neighborhood, start enjoying the good life and add 5-10 lbs a year. So if you start at 25, by the time you are 32 it’s possible to have gained anywhere from 25-70 lbs EASILY!!!!!! As a fitness and nutrition coach, I’m often asked by my clients about what choices to make when embarking on a fitness/weight loss/diet exercise program (life style change)

While making life style changes, you can still go out to eat with friends and family- just follow some of these basic tips:

* If you know you are going out to eat, put in some extra time at the gym. Full body metabolic type training will work best.
* Before you go out, have a few glasses of water to help fill you up. Never go out starving- you will order to much food.
* No bread at the table
* No Soda or sugary drinks
* No fried food
* No desert
* Think Greens and a Beef, Fish or chicken
* Only 2 glasses of red wine. I know, this is where it all falls apart! But you must know calories from alcohol effect the body differently.
* Never let friends derail you from what is important to you
* Read the menu online before hand, if possible, and look for “healthy choices”

I have been posting my recommendations on my website, www.betzmethod.com and on the restaurants yelp page.

Enjoy
Larry

Muscle Activation Techniques

There many theories on how to increase a persons range. Increasing a persons range of motion is great, as long as they are stable in that position. Most injuries occur in extreme ranges of motion and when we are eccentrically loading a position (as discussed by Josh Henkin in his L.I.F.T. course)

I have spent some time studying varies stretching techniques from AIS, PNF, Static holding, all to “loosen tight muscles” Then there is the school of thought that the “fascia is adhering to the muscles or scar tissue has built up and this needs to be taken care of. So we use a foam roller or have a body worker “release” the fascia, scar tissue, or work on “trigger points”. If this has worked for you, great, my personal and professional results have been less then satisfactory. I am not saying they don’t work, they just didn’t work for me or several of my clients.

A few years ago I took a class given by the people From Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) called Jump Start, silly name I know but that is what it is called. Basically MAT looks at muscle tightness as being secondary to muscle weakness. We where taught a series of range of motion tests and from that screening we tested for positional weakness. We also discussed that, if we tell our bodies to do a job, it will do the job, but maybe all the muscles aren’t working? So lets say 5 muscles are required to do knee flexion and only 4 are working, eventually those 4 get tiered and start to feel tight. So then what do we do, we stretch, does it help? For me it didn’t.

I sent one of my clients to Troy Stallman, of All Systems Go, Troy is a MAT specialist here in NYC. This client had tried everything and was to the point where he couldn’t sleep at night, I finally convinced him to give Troy a try. He did about 10 sessions with Troy, and then he cam in for a training session with me. I was taking him through the warm ups and I noticed such a difference in the way he was moving, all of the movements had an increased range of motion and he felt great. Strong and stable.

If all of your muscles are working, there is less chance of injury.

” Man can only become what he is able to consciously imagine”  Dane Rudhayer

L.I.F.T.

Last October I went through Josh Henkin’s L.I.F.T. program. The course covered so much material, I needed to do it again. It was a great weekend with the crew out in Long Island and a old friend John, who I met when I did a internship at the institute fro human performance. Really long forward to incorporating Josh’s principals into my coaching.

The Betz Method Complimentary Consultation!

Before beginning any diet and exercise program it is critical to know where you are starting. So after you have gotten clearance from your doctor, I am offering a FREE 30 minute consultation to help get your program going on the right foot.

This consultation will include:
1. Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR)
2. Body Mass Index (BMI)
3. Percentage of Body Fat
4. Your Lean Muscle Mass
5. Your BioSignature Modulation™
6. Daily Protein Recommendation
7. Calculate your recommended caloric intake and brake down how many grams of carbohydrates, proteins and fats you should take in every day (this is crucial to optimize your physique augmentation).
8. Daily hydration requirements
9. Height
10. Weight
11. Resting Heart Rate
12. Blood Pressure.
13. Circumference Measurements: arms, legs, abdomen, chest.

For more details on these procedures visit our website www.betzmethod.com and click on ” Complementary Consultation”

Make your appointment today and receive a free nutritional manual to help jump start your progress. This information is priceless to anyone starting any form of nutrition and exercise program.

1. Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR): The energy used (measured in calories) by your body to perform basic functions including internal energy expenditure, breathing and body temperature. It is the number of calories your body would expend if you performed no physical activity throughout the day. We calculate your BMR using multiple factors including height, weight, age and gender.

2. Body Mass Index BMI: A reliable indicator of total body fat, which is related to the risk of life-threatening disease.The score is valid for both men and women, but it may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build. It may also underestimate body fat in older people and others who have muscle mass.

3. Body Fat Percentage: By measuring subcutaneous fat in specific areas of the body and applying these “skin fold” measurements to specific equations, an estimate of body fat can be made.

4. Lean Body Mass: This is the muscle, bone, essential fat in the organs, nervous system, and bone marrow. Once we have determined your percentage of body fat, we will know how much lean body mass you have.

5. BioSignature Modulation™: This is a highly specific, non invasive, science based approach to hormonal balance. BioSignature™ goes beyond standard body fat testing and reveals your personalized needs for protein, carbohydrates, fats and supplements. Using this information, combined with a proper training program, you can yield faster results.

6. Protein Requirements: Protein is essential to your progress in the gym and vital to muscle recovery. Macro- nutrients help build and maintain muscle when combined with diet and exercise.

7. Caloric Calculation: Depending on your goal to gain muscle or loss fat will determine what you need. Using all the information from above and adding in your activity level, this produces a value that represents your total daily calorie requirement. We then brake it down into the amount of carbohydrates, protein and fats.

8. Hydration Requirements: We all know we should drink more water, but what is good for you may not be good for someone else.

9. Height: This is needed to calculate the other indexes.

10. Weight: This is one of the necessary bench marks to make all the calculations.

11. Resting Heart Rate: The amount of beats per minute (BPM) that your heart performs while at rest is a reflection of cardiac workload. Since your heart is composed of muscle tissue like any other muscle, it may become stronger as a result of work. Consequently, the stronger the muscle, the less beats per minute it will need both at rest and during activity.

12. Blood Pressure: Your Blood pressure has two numbers, Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure. Systolic blood pressure represents the highest arterial pressure reached during Systole-the contraction phase of your heartbeat, specifically the ventricles (bottom chamber of the heart). Diastolic blood pressure readings are taken when the heart is in Diastole, which occurs during dilation of the heart cavities as blood returns through the circulatory system.

13. Circumference Measurements: Along with weight and body fat percentage, circumference measurements are necessary to gage where you may be losing or gaining size.

Contact me to schedule your FREE CONSULTATION today!

Larry Betz, CSCS
917-992-1101
lbjmaxim@gmail.com

Can We Live Forever?

Well the answer to that is obviously no. No matter how well we eat, exercise and supplement we are all going to die. But how well we do all of the above can have a large impact on the quality of our life and how well we age.
Scientists have found that we all have certain genes in our makeup that we are born with that we cannot change, but how we age is primarily up to us. Our environment, our tendencies, our activities and our interactions are what matters. As a matter of fact, our inherited genetics account for less then 30% of all aging effects and the importance of genetic inheritance matters less and less as we age. By the age of 80, behavioral choices account almost entirely for your overall health and longevity.

There is no single cause for ageing and the subject is a matter of intense research and debate. We just know are bodies were designed to grow old. Here are the seven major theories on why we age. All of them have some credibility.

1. Our genes program ourselves to divide a certain number of times and once this division has reached the maximum number our bodies will begin to fail. This is the Telomar Theory. These are genetic elements that are controlling the number of allowable cell divisions.
2. The general degradation of the neuroendocrine system. The neurological and hormonal systems that regulate the body finally wear out and make us susceptible to a host of diseases.
3. Our body builds up many toxins and other waste products that our system begins to shut down. This toxic waste build up can even affect the structure of our genes.
4. The ‘wear and tear’ theory states that living itself causes our joints and body parts to wear out.
5. The free radical damage of aging. The body builds up free radical oxidants that damage our organs and our DNA causing us to age quickly.
6. The glucose toxicity theory, which also has to do with waste build up, and the poor utilization and control of glucose within our physiological system.
7. This theory derives from the law of entropy which states that there is continual movement in the universe from order to disorder and that our body’s movement is marked by aging.

How you react to environment biologically, psychologically, emotionally and socially have a direct effect on how young you stay. Living and working in a hazardous environment obviously has a negative effect upon your health. Maintaining increased mental and physical activity, becoming a life long learner and having personal relationships with a few great people that you can laugh and cry with are all great ways to stay young. Develop a passion for something, so that when you get out of bed in the morning g you can say to yourself “God, I am so lucky to get out of bed every day and do what I love”.

The Health Benefits of Chocolate

There are numerous studies supporting the health benefits of chocolate. We need to be clear on what this statement means. Snickers, 3 Musketeers, and M&Ms have no health benefits. Many mainstream candy bars can be contaminated with lead during processing and only contain 20% cocoa butter; the rest is made up of sugar and fillers.

Most research has pertained to dark chocolate which, unlike white chocolate, is made with at least 70% cocoa content. It also contains a compound called falconoid that helps keep blood clots from forming as well as reducing fatty deposits on artery walls. Cocoa and chocolate contribute to trace mineral intake, which is necessary for optimum functioning of all biological systems.

Below are a few benefits of dark chocolate:

• Associated with improved insulin resistance/sensitivity and decreased systolic blood pressure (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)
• Chocolate high in cocoa solids (cocoa powder/butter) contains a small amount of vitamins A, B1, C, D and E along with trace amounts of minerals including iron, calcium and potassium. Chocolate is also a source of magnesium and contains some fiber and protein (The Washington Post)
• The stearic acid (1/3 of the saturated fat found in cocoa butter) in chocolate does not increase LDL (bed cholesterol) levels in the blood stream
• The 70% cocoa content in dark chocolate is a mood elevator as well as having antioxidant properties
• Evidence is mounting to support cardiovascular health benefits from the consumption of flavonol-rich cocoa (Dept. of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School)
• Flavonoid-rich dark chocolate improves endothelial function and increases plasma epicatechin concentrations in healthy adults (Laboratory of Cardiovascular Physiology, University of California)

A super food to look at would be raw cacao (raw chocolate), which has similar benefits to those mentioned above.

Keep in mind that 4oz. of dark chocolate can have 500 calories, so if you’re on a weight loss program, that 4oz. serving could be 1/3 of your caloric intake for the entire day! The health benefits on a smaller serving would be little to none, but knowing that a little treat is pushing you towards better health can be helpful.

Larry Betz, CSCS

Antioxidants And Fighting Free Radicals

Free radicals are unstable molecules that have lost an electron, are unbalanced and seek to replace the lost electron by randomly attacking nearby molecules and extracting desired electrons. One free radical can damage a million or more molecules in a chain reaction (referred to as radical propagation).  Free radicals that exceed the body’s antioxidant stores are the cause of oxidative stress.

Uncontrolled oxidation is very destructive. Oxidation in our body by free radicals is thought to be responsible for extensive muscle damage, premature aging, wrinkling of the skin, hardening of the arteries, stiffening of the joints, formation of cataracts, the initiation of cancer and much more.

We are constantly exposed to free radicals from the air we breathe, water we drink, the food we eat and even exercise. Exercise has numerous benefits such as increasing oxygenation of tissue and improving insulin sensitivity but there is a down side. Every breath we take has us using oxygen to aid in the process of converting carbohydrates, protein, and fats into energy, which in, turn, create unstable oxygen molecules. Exercise uses 12-20 times more oxygen, which ramps up free radical production.

To increase your antioxidant protection, start by rebuilding your diet around green leafy vegetables and dark berries. Because free radicals are generated in different areas or compartments of the body, and because antioxidants vary in their ability to penetrate these compartments, an array of antioxidants is necessary to keep free radicals in check. These protective nutrients work synergistically, patrolling different but overlapping territories within the body.

Vitamin C for example, is water-soluble. It hangs out primarily in the water compartment, or the blood. Vitamin E is fat-soluble, so it stakes out the cell membrane compartment, which consists primarily of fats. Coenzyme Q10 and glutathione positions themselves next to the mitochondrial membranes, where they field the barrage of free radicals that’s released as the mitochondria converts food into energy.  Since different antioxidants have different functions you want to make sure you’re getting a broad range rather than just one or two.

Vitamins C, E, glutathione, n-acetyl cystiene, beta-carotene, lycopene, grape seed extract, alpha lipoid acid, CoQ10, selenium, resveratrol, and zinc. These are some of the best and should be taken with meals through out the day.

Larry Betz, CSCS

Post-Workout Shake

I would like to share with you some information that I have gotten from a fellow trainer, Mark Diaz (http://www.physiqology.com/index.htm), on post-workout nutrition.

Drinking a shake after your workout restores muscle glycogen-the energy source your muscles need in order to operate up to fifteen times faster than if you just left the gym and got a meal. It lowers cortisol, the hormone released by spiking insulin levels when you are under stress (these two hormones are inversly related). High cortisol levels are linked to higher body fat around the waistline, so drinking a shake post workout can actually help you become leaner faster.

A post-workout shake should consist of:
30-60 grams of a quality Whey Protein
20-45 grams of Glutamine
5-20 grams of Glycine
0-100 grams of carbohydrates, preferably from an organic-juice blend

These amounts are dependant upon the body composition of the individual, the desired aesthetic goal and the type, intensity and duration of the exercise program.

The best way to incorporate a post-workout shake into your routine is to start at the lower values for each nutrient, and titrate upwards as you monitor your progress. Do not use additional carbohydrates unless you are at the low end of the body fat spectrum (10% for men and 15% for women). If the post workout shake makes you groggy or you develop gastric distress, you may have a dairy allergy. If you exhibt symptoms, try a different kind of protein, such as:

Goatein, from Garden of Life
Ultra Protein Plus-protein from yellow peas
Rice protein concentrate from Biogenesis.

Larry Betz, CSCS, Holistic Health Councelor