Recently I attended a great lecture by Pamela Peeke, MD, best selling author of Fight Fat after Forty, Body for Life for Women and Fit to Live. She told us that while running to her gate through the Dallas airport, a woman in her mid-30’s had fallen beside her. She stopped to help and realized this woman couldn’t get up without assistance. She had no upper body strength to lift her obese frame off the ground. Sad story right? But is it your story? And worse yet, if you or someone else’s life depended on your strength or stamina, are you fit enough to survive the challenge? Many people who died in the devastation of 9/11 simply couldn’t get out of the building on their own! And they certainly were in no position to carry someone else out. Put yourself in the following scenario: you are driving along and all of a sudden the car in front of you skids out of control and lands in a ditch. You pull over and get out to help and the car in the ditch catches fire. There are no cops on the scene yet. The driver is unconscious and trapped in her car. She weighs about 150 lbs and if you don’t get her out of the car, she is going to die. Can you do it?? What if that person were your child, your spouse, a close friend? And the scenario could be anything, a burning house or office building, a victim drowning.
Realize this – your body is designed to be a fine running machine. It might not look like it while you stand naked in front of a mirror, but indeed your body is designed perfectly. Perhaps we need to attach a more serious reason as to why we need to get and remain fit. "My daughter’s wedding" next year might not be a strong enough reason. What if you were called on to use your physical strength to save your life or a loved one’s? COULD YOU DO IT? I’ve got a real simple test for you. Can you do 10 pushups and not girly ones on your knees, but real pushups? And can you do 10 squats standing in place. If the answer is yes, bravo. If the answer is no… well then you know where to start… GET DOWN AND GIVE ME FIVE (you’ll work your way up to twenty).
Dr. Peeke’s seminar was awesome and she had lots of fine wisdom. She said the following, "if you aren’t weight training, you are a fool. This is a non-negotiable item." And I agree with her. So my suggestion is to simply start. Maybe it’s just pushups and lunges in your bedroom and maybe it’s joining a gym or coming to our center to work with one of our personal trainers. But take the first step ladies and gentlemen, because someone’s life might just depend on YOUR strength one day.
215/752-1420 WWW.WSCENTERS.COM
Dr. Denise Chranowski, along with her twin brother, Dr. Dane Donohue, and Dr. Jerry Agasar, are the owners of Wellness Solution Centers. Located in New-town, this Wellness Center has all the tools and resources to dramatically improve your health, including chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, personal training, and nutritional counseling. www.wscenters.com