It's January and a lot of individuals are on an exercise kick, aren't they? Where will they be in February? You and I know that many of them will be frustrated, in pain and giving up.

The average person is doing the exercise thing backwards because they are Exercising to Tune Up their muscles in order to get stronger and develop better muscle tone. What if they Tuned Up Their Muscles BEFORE Exercising? 

Regardless of age, some of your muscles have 'checked out' because of over-use or injury and are not pulling their share of the weight. This causes other muscles to do the work of their neighbours. If several leg muscles aren't working properly for example, one may be at risk of a knee injury, an ankle sprain, or an unexpected fall. In addition, the muscles that are doing all the extra work get annoyed and will often communicate their displeasure with pain signals. Common pain relief methods won't last very long if this is the case. This...

Someone recently  asked me how I seem to show up happy, stay organized, and get things done. I realized there are 7 top things that contribute to my being able to achieve that pretty regularly:

1. Waking up with gratitude to have at least one meaningful purpose for living today.

Appreciation and gratitude are powerful sources of energy. Having a purpose helps in completing things you start. 

2. Regular meditative activities and increasing my positive state

Many successful and happy people encourage us to take time for meditation. There are many forms of meditation. Explore, experiment and find a method that helps still your mind and access your innate talents.

In addition to meditation, I regularly take time to notice my ‘state’. I have learned a few ways to reduce negative states and nourish a positive state. I ensure I begin each day with an activity specifically intended to boost me up, put a spring in my step and add a sincerely happy lilt to my...

I was chatting with a contact today who mentioned something I did not yet know about the brain. She mentioned that multi-tasking has been proven to damage our mental health. She referred to the ways neural pathways are activated while multi-tasking. When you multi-task, the synapses that fire at these times are at risk of being affected by the similar changes observed in dementia patients. The reason for this is because our nervous system conducts regular synaptic pruning which is thought to be the brain's way of removing connections in the brain that are no longer needed. Whoops, you actually might have needed to keep some of these connections but they weren't fully developed and robust enough to be kept during the brains maintenance process!

Wow. I wondered if this is why it seems more women than men are affected by dementia. (Sorry guys, it has been noticed by some scientifically minded folks that most males are not as competent at multi-tasking compared to most...

If you do Lower Body workouts and notice sore legs the next day, you should rub these important reflexes before leaving the gym. I especially love using a narrow soapy loofah on these in the shower as soon as I get home. This activity helps push lactic acid out of your muscles and enhances the lymphatic flow for your thighs.
If you wish you could progress with your training faster and start doing more squats or pushing heavier weights in the hack rack, or simply get out of that chair more easily, rub these beforehand (yes, the effect will last long enough if you do this in the privacy of the rest room before going out on the floor!) #MuscleMondays #SwitchOnMusclesFirst

Be Strong. Be Confident. Be Tuned!

- by Denise Cambiotti 
© 2020  Muscle Tuners International Inc.

Are you affected by shoulder pain?

Many people develop shoulder pain at some point during their lifetime. While some discomfort can be a result of a sport injury or over-use, there are a significant number of people who simply seem to 'wake up one day' with severe limitation of their range of motion in one shoulder. 

This article is to provide the general public with tips that may help. We will be working with a few techniques for one of four rotator cuff muscles. The Supraspinatus muscle is considered the 'master key' that unlocks a lot of discomfort. If you are a wellness professional, you might like to know you can accomplish astonishing results by properly facilitating the coordination between the four rotator cuff muscles with techniques we teach in our Muscle Tuner® Specialist Program. We call the process: Muscle Tuning™.

How can you drain stress out of the shoulder area? 

1. First have a good sip of water or two....

Unbelievably simple, Incredibly powerful. Anytime you are stressed, do the following.

Have you ever noticed when you're stressed, you tend to place your hands on your forehead? That is an unconscious attempt to release some stress. Imagine if you did that action with purpose and knew the secret 'ingredient' to making it work really well. Find this ingredient in CAPITALS below...

There are acupressure points on the forehead that help release stress because they act as pressure release valves for emotional tension. Perform this technique for 30 seconds to 3 minutes to stop that stress from continuing to circulate throughout your body. Find a quiet place and remember to fully breathe throughout.

1. LIGHTLY place your hand or fingertips across your forehead while imagining a stressful situation for several moments. The specific points are halfway between your eyebrows and hairline on the 'bump' immediately above the coloured part of your eyes.
2. If you can visualize, what does the stressful...

We want the best quality of life don’t we? Are some of your objectives to maintain your independence, strength and mobility for as long as possible? 

As we age, many of us notice we are losing flexibility, followed by a progressive reduction of strength and stability. Perhaps we don’t have the same length of stride when we walk or ability to reach for things like we used to. When did it become difficult to pull on a pair of socks or put the groceries away?

Many of us care about avoiding or at least delaying these challenges so we pay attention to healthy diet and regular exercise. We invest time and money in activities such as stretching, weight bearing exercises, regular walking and maybe some yoga, tai-chi or dancing to keep our muscles and joints as healthy as possible. Are you one of the many though, who are frustrated when these healthy activities don’t yield results? Go ahead and blame it on age if you’d like. However, are you ready to consider a...

I was walking in the woods this morning while three joggers passed me.

It was interesting to observe them because each jogger's running mechanics was noticeably different from the others. 

The middle jogger was perky, upright, toes forward, shoulders back, making running look effortless.

The one on the right had her feet turned noticeably outward as she ran. 

The one on the left had completely different mechanics with her arms a-swinging awkwardly along with corresponding effort from her legs where the feet seemed to loop outward before each heel strike. 

What did this tell me?

The jogger on the right probably has flat feet and will likely develop foot pain from running. I say this because outward foot turn often indicates the anterior and posterior tibialis and peroneus muscles are not firing properly. These muscles support foot arch and ankles. There's probably also involvement from the lateral hamstrings, adductors...

Most people take breathing for granted. As Muscle Tuner® Specialists, we pay attention to breathing habits.

• Deep breathing is one of the best and certainly cheapest ways to lower stress. When you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then forwards this message to your body.

• Shallow breathing causes the body to produce adrenaline. There are enough other stressors in our day not to add one more, so learn to breathe correctly.

• Why punish our precious adrenal glands? When there's a good supply of oxygen, our adrenals in particular understand they are not required to prepare the body for 'fight or flight'.

• Deep (diaphragmatic) breathing properly oxygenates the body which is essential for numerous functions including metabolism and energy production
((= fat burning!)

• Dr. Sheldon Deal, D.C., says: "We live on the bottom of a sea of energy. When we breathe, it is a form of breathing in some of this...