By Christine Graf

When it comes to working out, consistency is key. A person reaps more benefit from exercising regularly over a long period of time than from performing periodic extreme exercise routines. 

“Many people have this all or nothing mindset,” said Mike Sirani, co-owner of Capital District Sports and Fitness in Round Lake “They think that if they start working out that it has to be five days a week for an hour every time and that they have to go really hard every workout. But, when you have a busy schedule, that can be difficult to stay consistent with.”

It is for that reason that Sirani said it is important to be realistic when setting fitness goals. 

“It’s about finding a routine that fits into your schedule and one that you can consistently do every week. You need to do an honest assessment of where your life is at. The most important thing in order to see progress is being consistent.”

Taking that scary first step is something Ryan Carpenter, owner of Simple Strength and Conditioning in South Glens Falls, experienced firsthand. The former Marine started going to the gym in 2015 at a time when he weighed 335 pounds. 

“I got sober in 2012, and when I stopped drinking, I replaced the alcohol with sugar and food,” he said. “I was super heavy, had aches and pains, and was feeling like crap. That’s when I decided to make some serious lifestyle changes.”

By Paul Post

John Jacobs has just the thing for Baby Boomer cycling enthusiasts who find uphill climbs a bit more daunting than they used to be.

 Velotric e-bikes allow people to keep pedaling their way to health and fitness with help from modern technology that takes the strain off tired muscles and achy joints.

 Inside Edge in Queensbury has three different models that have been leaving the store as quickly as Jacobs can stock them, he said.

 “I had no expectation that we’d be selling these as fast as we have,” he said. “A lot of ‘snowbirds’ with second homes up here have been coming in. They live up around North Creek where there’s hilly terrain. They like to ride, but they’re getting older. These bikes are all designed to assist you. What they really do is smooth out the hills. It allows you to go somewhere fairly quickly, still getting some exercise but not struggling against a big headwind or steep hill. You’re going to go right through.”

 Jacobs is director of sales and development for Inside Edge’s parent company, Reliable Racing Supply, an industry leader in ski racing equipment founded by his late father, Tom, a 1952 Winter Olympian and National Skiing Hall of Fame member.

By Mary Beth McCue

Healthy life-style and trauma work are simply “life work.” Where have we been, where do we want to be, what are the options to getting there?  

Preferably all for the better of humanity, and the best path for ourselves. We all interconnected with these factors in the human quest for a peaceful purposeful and joyful existence. It can and should be achieved from within.

When we experience trauma, a series of neurological events occur in the body leading to negative mental and physical impact. Trauma is our unique response to experiencing a stressful event. Depending on how we process it, or not, will determine health, and everything in our lives. 

The amygdala area of the brain can (generationally) hold events, including the intensity and impulse of emotion that comes along with these memories. Many neurological series of reactions connect to the GI, but potentially all areas in the body. Discovering the areas of stress and trauma, and how they feel in the body are significant to lifestyle changes and healing. 

A colleague and teacher of mine psychiatrist James Gordon, MD, founder of The Center for Mind Body Medicine (cmbm.org), shares great points in his many teachings and trainings on the role of nutrition and healing trauma.  The mental and conventional health fields have generally been slow to recognize the role nutrition can play in every persons life. 

This all has been changing over the last couple of decades as more and more research and clinical practice’s like functional nutrition become widely accepted and demanded from the consumer.  The Smiles trial  and the Helfimed study are two of many examples of how diet plays a significant role in treating depression, which is based in unresolved trauma. 

Many studies have found that a functional nutrition approach to eating is foundational to health and healthy aging, along with nutritional supplements which have been proven to significantly reduce or resolve anxiety, depression, PTSD symptoms, and support the recovery of addictions.