I have not had a rate increase in five or six years. I can't even remember when it was. But I need to make the change. The change will begin on June 1st. However until that time, you may purchase as many sessions as you wish at the old rates. Even if you are an existing client with several sessions remaining on your last package, you may purchase more sessions at your current rate as long as you do so prior to June 1st.  

The new rates are listed below:

So you don't have to do the math, that's a $3 per session rate increase. All sessions are about an hour long. But remember, you can stock up now and save!

          If you are looking for an exercise that will help you both mentally and physically, here's a suggestion - dancing. According to a 21 year study of senior citizens, dancing is about the best thing you can do to ward off dementia. The study was undertaken by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and the results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

            The study determined that dancing reduces the risk of dementia more than bicycling, swimming, playing golf, reading, and doing crossword puzzles.    As a matter of fact, the results were not even close. Bicycling, swimming, and playing golf all had a zero percent effect in reducing the chance of getting dementia. Reading and working crossword puzzles did much better, reducing the risk by 35 and 47 percent respectively. But dancing far outperformed them all with a 76 percent risk reduction. Dancing, it seems, creates new neural paths in our brains because it requires dynamic and rapid fire decision making.

               But dancing also has other benefits. It reduces stress and depression and increases our energy. And like other exercises, dancing improves our flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance, as well as strengthening bones and boosting our cardiovascular health.

             So to stay young, vibrant, and mentally sharp well into your old age, take up dancing.

         It is important to vary your strength training routines periodically. Our muscles get used to being worked the same way, so it's necessary to change our workouts from time to time. We can do this by doing different exercises for specific body parts. For instance, if you've been doing lunges for a while, it might be time to do squats instead.

            Another way to add variety is do more advanced sets one day a week. There are several options. A few examples are super sets, slow sets, pyramids, negative sets, and drop sets. I can't cover all these in this newsletter, but let's briefly discuss pyramid sets today.   

         If I could give you only one piece of advice to improve your health and add to your longevity, it would be to exercise moderation in everything you do. A long-term on-going study recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, supports the concept of moderation with running.

            The study followed 1100 healthy runners between the ages of 20 and 86 for up to 12 years. The results were not what you might expect. The study found that high-mileage, hard-charging runners don't live any longer than channel surfing couch potatoes. On the other hand, joggers who log one to 2½ hours a week at an easy 11 or 12 minute per mile pace, do live longer on average than both sedentary individuals and extreme runners.

            Runners who hit paces faster than about 8 minutes a mile for more than four hours a week suffered mortality rates that were the same as their sedentary counterparts. The researchers speculate that long-term strenuous endurance workouts may actually harm the heart and large arteries. These conclusions correspond to other studies I have seen that show a dramatic increase in atrial fibrillation in competitive runners.

            As a personal trainer, I believe running is an excellent exercise, but here, as with everything else in life, moderation seems to be the key.

              Are you orthorexic? That's a new term for people who are obsessed with eating healthy. There's nothing wrong with eating healthy foods, but when it's all you think about, well, you've got a problem.

             Answer the following questions. The more 'yes' answers you have, the more likely you are to being orthorexic:

              If those questions define you, you're orthorexic. Stop it, will you? You're driving yourself and everybody else crazy.

              What is the best time of the day to workout? This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. The answer is simple: Whatever works best for you is the best time. Whether you workout in the morning, at lunchtime, or in the evening is a matter of personal preference.

              That said, there are some advantages to the morning. If you like to exercise outside, it's cooler in the morning. Research shows that people who exercise early tend to stick with their routines better than evening exercisers. That's primarily because work and social schedules don't get in the way as often.

              If achieving high performance is important to you, you might want to go with evening workouts. Flexibility, strength, endurance, and the ability to handle pain are all highest in the evenings. Another advantage is you tend to sleep better following evening workouts. Just make sure you exercise at least 2 hours before going to bed.

              For some people, lunchtime is the optimum time. Working out during lunch usually means you won't eat as much for lunch. It also energizes you for the remainder of the afternoon. To paraphrase Nike, it doesn't matter so much when you do it, just do it.

              A quote from Noureen DeWulf: "Yoga is the most boring exercise. It's for people who are too lazy to get on the elliptical. Bikram, where they heat up the room to match India's climate, is especially stupid. People in India are not skinny because they are doing yoga in 105-degree rooms; they're skinny because there's no food."