Currently viewing the tag: "physical fitness"


From Couch Potato To Fitness Dynamo In 7 Expertly Guided StepsEvery January I write out my goals for the year (I told you all about it here). One of my missions for 2014 was to find a way to get my wealth of knowledge on exercise physiology and technique out to more people. I have been deeply involved in the sports injury world for the last fifteen years, exposed to and trained in the most cutting-edge sports rehab practices available today. I have worked with professional athletes and dancers for over a decade. And for the last five years I have been able to share this knowledge with a select few thousand professionals—mostly in the chiropractic reeducation arena.

But one thing I was able to do rather effectively within my practice was to create simplified programs that I could teach to anybody; athletes, yes, but also everyday people—stressed out entrepreneurs, professionals with little time for the gym, stay-at-home moms, people who had never exercised a day in their life, elderly folk who thought it was a laugh that I would even suggest exercise to them—would be amazed at how simple and effective my programs were. And because these programs were progressive, the farther my client would want to go, I would have another graduating level for them, and their strength, endurance and flexibility would expand.

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So as I do every year, I read and reread my goals, and lo-and-behold come summer I was approached by the UK based company, mer-ka-bah, whose mission it is to provide hi-quality, self-empowering, life-changing online courses taught by a group of international instructors for a world-wide audience. After discussing the company’s purpose and direction, I knew my exercise programs were perfect for the mer-ka-bah mission: To provide tools to support people in implementing and sustaining life-long, positive behavior change…“Tiny Habits” coaching in how to build new, sustainable habits leading to life-long behavioral changes…As they told me, “Small Steps – Big change.”

From Couch Potato To Fitness Dynamo In 7 Expertly Guided StepsIndeed! And that matched perfectly with what I have to offer in the form of exercise programs. I envisioned taking people from the ground up, from the level of the smallest, most fundamental stabilizer muscles to the complex muscle movements we call compound movements, with the idea that anybody taking the program could be assured gains in strength, endurance and flexibility with the lowest risk of injury. It was a simple thought to me: One of my most common client-type is the injured amateur athlete, and those injuries are usually a result of three things:

  • Poor form
  • Deconditioned stabilizer muscles
  • Hyper-contracted and tight muscles

My mer-ka-bah course, From Couch Potato To Fitness Dynamo In 7 Expertly Guided Steps, addresses and corrects these issues while teaching the viewer fundamentals of stretches, strengthening contractions and cardiovascular activity. Watch the video below to understand exactly why you should take this course, and then sign up for the most cutting-edge, scientifically proven exercise technique program you will find on the web.


Good news for active adults–brisk walking improves memory by increasing the size of a brain region directly responsible for processing information to be stored.  This has promising implications for preventing age-related cognitive degeneration seen in Alzheimer’s disease.

The hippocampus region of the brain grew by 2% in study subjects that walked briskly.  The study, led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, looked at 120 sedentary people, aged 55 to 80.  They were divided into two groups: Half began a program of walking for 40 minutes a day, three days a week to increase their heart rate; the others only did stretching and toning exercises.

Memory improved in both groups, showing that physical activity in general has cognitive effects.   Preliminary studies have shown that aerobic exercise leads to reduce brain atrophy in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients, and that walking leads to slight improvement on mental tests among older people with memory problems.

The hippocampus is known to shrink slightly in people as they age, and this is, in fact, what happened to the stretch-only group.  The brisk walk group, though, did show increases in hippocampal size, leading researchers to believe this physiological effect sustains memory.

Kirk Erickson, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and thepaper’s lead author, said in a statement, “The results of our study are particularly interesting in that they suggest that even modest amounts of exercise by sedentary older adults can lead to substantial improvements in memory and brain health.

So get up and start walking, folks.  It’s never too late.  What you do today might just preserve your marbles for another couple decades.  So just do it–walk!..for the health of your hippocampus.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.