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It takes energy to change!

by Daniel Lucas …

Cultivating energy starts with our relationship to the food and fluids we consume. What, how and when we eat affects our digestion, which in turn affects how much nutrition we receive from our food and how well we metabolize it. Every cell in our body regenerates from what we consume–there is no substitute for quality nutrition and a positive relationship with food. Examine how you feel after you eat. Do you have a nice sense of well-being and satisfaction? Do you feel solid energy for the next 4 or 5 hours? Conversely, does the food you’re eating make you sleepy, leave you craving sugar or disrupt your digestion? If it does, than it’s clear that your eating habits need to change. Releasing body fat and eating well is not as challenging as people make it–what is truly challenging for people is creating the habits to support positive, conscious, healthy food choices. Take action now and use food to get a leaner, younger body.

Take the start of this year to become more aware of what you are eating, how you are eating and when you are eating and then assess the effect your food is having on you. Remember, food is our medicine!

Namaste,
Daniel

Know Your Body.

by Daniel Lucas

Do you know what “home” feels like for your body?

I’m talking about the place where you feel structurally in alignment.  Where you move with poise and feel relaxed. Whether we’re feeling “at home” or not often comes down to what we have done, or what he haven’t done, prior to being aware that we are out of alignment.  Being able to feel our bodies, and having checks and balances so that we can catch small disruptions in our joints or tissue, can save us from creating further dysfunction.

Here is a simple assessment that I got from my friend Sue Hitzman, creator of the MELT method. I love it and have used it on myself during my marathon training and with almost every client I have ever worked with.  It’s called a body scan, and it’s also great for starting a lying meditation.

After you assess yourself, you can perform any movement you wish and now you have a way to simply assess how it affected your body. For example, if you are performing a power move but your technique is off, you may feel a hip positioned differently then before. Remember everything changes when under load, so you can use this technique to see how the quality of your movement changes while in motion. Re-assess often! You’re simply using it to have an easy way get in your body and feel how your workouts are affecting how your body presents itself to the floor when simply lying relaxed. (For more information, contact Daniel and the Nimble Fitness team at info@nimblefitness.com).

Namaste,
Daniel

The Art of Recoveryn training

by Daniel Lucas

Here is an overview of some keys to success when it comes to the art of recovery. At its core, recovery is part of the discipline, patience and commitment it takes to perform at your highest level.

Whether you’re training for the New York City marathon, as I am, or just want to get stronger, all the magic happens in adaptation. We stress our bodies to new levels of fatigue, and our bodies repay us by becoming stronger, faster and more powerful. Muscle fibers shift and grow from these stresses over time. An effective, progressive program will include disciplined recovery periods, with the ultimate goal of being prepared and healthy on race day.

Here’s some tips for effective recovery:

1. Study! A little research goes a long way! Run with this list of tips and use the information you find to make needed changes in your program. If you find some more information that gives you a big YES in your mind, you can probably use it to your advantage.

2. Awareness. All the study in the world will not take care of you better than you. Be aware of everything when it comes to your recovery. Here’s a quick list to get you started: overall energy, mood, joint range of motion, muscle symmetry, aches and pains, bowel movements, sleep quality, caffeine and alcohol consumption.

3. Hydration. Pre, during, and post. We have all heard this song and dance before, but why do so many people compete dehydrated? Habits, addiction, and lack of consistency are the biggest culprits. My quick take on it is this: know your body, pee clear for a couple days before big events, use sea-salt in your water before a race, drink water between meals, limit beverages that dehydrate you.  On the other hand, over hydrating can be a problem too.  Hydrating prior (several days before) an event and using salt tablets for long runs is also something to consider.  Maintaining proper electrolyte balance can make or break your performance.

4. Nutrition. All of the above are important keys to success, but the food you put in your body is what your cells use to regenerate. So, give every training session the fuel you need to perform, and the nutrition you need to recover. This equation will be different for all of us—so be very aware of how your nutrition is serving you.

5. Anti-Oxidants. The waste created in our bodies from intense prolonged exercise creates free radicals, so consuming some high quality anti-oxidants can help balance that equation. Examples would be fruits like pomegranates or berries, and other vegetables rich in anti-oxidants.

6. Sleep. Getting high quality sleep allows your body to heal most of all! The important work of repairing tissue happens when you’re in deep sleep. The basic secrets to great sleep are: a consistent early bedtime, knowing what time you need to eat to sleep well, cutting caffeine later in the day, making sure your bedroom is dark and quiet.

7. Symmetry and Tissue Hydration. Flexibility is a big key to performing at your best. It’s a big part of maintaining symmetry from limb to limb, and being able to re-set tight, tired muscles. Also, hydrating muscles and connective tissue with myo-fascial release tools or massage is important. So you have a choice: Force another tight, challenging run or take care of yourself on a higher level?

8. Functional Exercises. Exercises that target postural muscles that are prone to weakness are an important part of any successful program.  Study up on corrective strategies, and include compound exercises that really improve your balance and integrated power.

Namaste,

Daniel

Exercise Your Emotions

By Daniel Lucas .

Have you ever had the sense that your old ideas and beliefs are not working for you? Do you feel like you need to let go of the energy that surrounds those old habits? You can start with your awareness—just being able to identify old ways or habits is freeing in itself. That self-awareness can help loosen the bond, especially if you’re able to trace your habits to their origin. Tracing these feelings back to their moment of purpose, and recognizing that the emotions you experienced there don’t define you, can be extremely liberating.

The big question is this: how do we let go? It can be compared to pulling a weed from a garden—if you don’t get the root, you know that weed will live and grow. If you do get to the root of old patterns in your life, you’ll create space that allows you to develop new intentions and beliefs that will empower you.

Here are some tips to consider when digging into to your old patterns and beliefs:

1. Awareness of your emotions, and how they align with your circumstances, helps a great deal. Is your emotion in a certain situation genuine and appropriate to what’s happening? If you’re over-emotional (or under-emotional), this is a sign that there might be a root belief that’s not serving you any longer. It might be time to go back and weed your garden a bit more.

2. Seeking to understand why you feel the way you do will help to know whether you’re acting in the present moment, or re-acting from an old blueprint.

3. Work on your ability to shift into the present moment and see the truth of each experience as it is. This is what we call consciousness!

4. Exercise! Researchers have found that there is a section of the brain that responds only to exercise. Moving your body will tap into your mind/body connection and assist you with letting go of old baggage. Recent research also indicates that the way we hold ourselves posturally is closely related to our moods and to our personalities. In other words, the way we move, or don’t move, is linked to the way we feel. Your body tomorrow reflects what you’re doing today.

5. Keep at it! You may not pull the whole weed at first, but being brave enough to look at your truth will eventually help you grow. Be your own best friend on this journey and allow your natural state of JOY to shine through.

Namaste

Daniel

Nimble Fitness on NBC

See the video clip below!

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You may already know that Nimble Fitness is the premier TRX training facility in Manhattan. Tune into NBC (channel 4) this Saturday at 7:30pm to hear Daniel Lucas explain why he feels TRX is the future of fitness and watch his TRX class in action.

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If you missed it, here it is…

Creating Mind/Body Space

After working intimately with clients for over 15 years, one thing that’s become evident is that old emotions and beliefs take up space in our physical being. Negative or “stuck” energy in our bodies can become stagnant, resulting in lowered creative energy, limited self-awareness and an inability to be truly conscious. Start this New Year by asking yourself this: Is there anything you say to yourself that’s limiting or negative, that needs a shift? Is there is a habit or judgment handed down from a family member or friend that you have been carrying around for a long time? Maybe there’s a judgment or belief you hold which is taking up space, space that could be used for personal growth instead. Remember, today–and everyday–is your opportunity to LET GO of old, negative energies and create new space inside yourself!

Happy New Year & Namaste!

Daniel

If you’re going to do it, love it!

Sometimes I hear new clients tell me they’re going to stop doing something they love. For example, I’ll hear “I’m never going to eat pasta again,” or “That’s the last desert I’ll ever have,” or even “No more wine for a year!” So often, the problem is not necessarily doing things that make us unhealthier or heavier, but ingesting things we love too much. This can shift our feelings when doing things to self-disappointment, shame or just being annoyed with oneself.

Ask yourself this: Am I acting in a way that I love what I do, the result of what I do, and myself? If the answer is no, maybe a shift is in order–maybe you eat pasta once a week, save the dessert for special occasions and the wine is cut down to a level that aligns with a feeling of genuine joy. The secret is to truly enjoy the wonderful pleasures of life; if we overdo it, we cross over into feelings of attachment or even addiction, which can affect one’s health. Change your perception, from denial to true enjoyment, and everything you partake in changes as well. If you’re going to do it, you might as well LOVE doing it!

FIVE WAYS TO STAY YOUNG

by Daniel Lucas

1. You are what you eat! Our food choices are some of the most important choices we make. Choosing quality food is vital to maintaining muscle tone, organs, your digestive system and overall body function. Whole, organic, nutrient-rich foods act as high-octane fuel for your body. Processed foods are calorie-rich and nutrient-poor—your digestive system will waste energy on trying to break down calories that it doesn’t recognize as food. Keep your digestive system young and running lean and clean.

2. Use it or lose it—but use it correctly! Modern life has all kinds of challenges. One of our biggest challenges is repetitive movement, whether it’s at a keyboard or on a treadmill. Be aware of how repetitive movement can overtax some muscle groups, making them tight and sore, while leaving other muscles underused and weak, eventually leading to misalignment. Add some variety to your movement and take breaks from repetitive movements to keep your muscles balanced. Too much repetitive motion in one direction results in stress and inflammation to the muscle tissue and joints. Speaking of stress…

3. Don’t hold on to stress—it’s unrelieved stress that makes us old. Very few people in this day and age can claim to have a stress-free life. It’s how we deal, or don’t deal, with stress that can either keep us young or take us out of balance. Not all stress is bad. When we ask our muscles to work, for example, we’re putting stress on the muscle tissue, tendons and ligaments to make them stronger. But we wouldn’t ask them to work 24/7! If you’re in the habit of internalizing stress and carrying it around, you’re making your system work overtime and decreasing your natural function. Develop the habit of reducing stress on a daily basis—exercising, taking breaks, moving your breath out of your shoulders and into your rib cage, drinking plenty of water—so you can be free of carrying stress around.

4. Play young! Go and do things that connect you to truly feeling young. Sometimes we all have to reach back to go forward. What activities make you feel young? Dancing, hiking, playing volleyball, riding a bicycle…all of these are responses our clients have given to this question. Ask yourself! And really try to embody that feeling of being young in your life each day.

5. Let go! Being young is being resilient. Consciously let go of the stressors in your life that you can’t control; let go of the negative language that accompanies those stressors and inhibits your abilities (“I’m too old for that”, “I’ll never get rid of my stress” etc). Let go of the illusion that you can’t feel young!

CREATING SPACE

I knew at some level that it was important to take my recent trip to Spain alone. I just didn’t know why. By the end of the first day in Ibiza, it had become obvious-there were old emotions about my father’s death that came right to the surface, and I had not yet had the opportunity to release them. I was still grieving emotionally and spiritually, even after all this time. The act of creating space for myself allowed this vital process to happen, along with giving me the space to feel immense appreciation for every friend, client, family member and living creature on the planet.

I understand that we all have many important people and obligations in our lives, but ask yourself this question: what can you do now to create space for yourself? Maybe you won’t have time for a trip to Ibiza, but take a long walk in the park, sit quietly on a bench or just take extra time to enjoy your meal. These small windows of time can give us an opportunity to let go of emotions or ideas that may be clouding our consciousness.

Namaste,
Daniel

GET YOUR BODY ORGANIZED

by Daniel Lucas

If you’re someone that runs, bikes, lifts weights, plays in a league, does any kind of consistent training, and lets not forget the non-sport of sitting at your desk you should think about having days in your exercise program dedicated to getting or keeping your body organized.  Whether it’s the repetitive nature of different sports or the destructive effect of sitting for prolonged periods of time, committing a little time to your structural alignment will pay major dividends.

What does it mean to have an organized body?

It’s when the structure of your bones, muscle, neuro-fascial tissue and organs are functioning in a balanced, energetic way. You feel strong and flexible, have natural poise and your movements feel light, not heavy or sluggish. It’s when your body and mind are functioning together at a high level—where you can run, jump, squat, lunge, push, pull, lift or twist with strength, power and flexibility through a full range of motion, without disruption or injury.  This organized scenario creates an optimal environment for joint health, organ health, muscular development and emotional flow/release.  So how do we get there?

Here are some Nimble tips for getting organized:

1.    Give yourself permission to have deeper body awareness! This takes a little bit
of courage, but bringing your awareness inside your body, to feel how your body is moving and holding itself together, is extremely valuable.  Assess yourself–no one knows how your body feels as well as you do! Identify where you’re tight, where you’re weak, where you’re strong, and then get to work. Use your “organization day” to focus on strengthening weaker muscles, opening up tight muscle tissue, and addressing imbalances in your system.

2.   Ask yourself this question: Is my exercise routine helping me with my posture or training me out of good posture?  I’ve watched people training for hours at a time with hunched shoulders, misaligned lower backs and strained necks. I’ve even seen people read a book while walking on the treadmill! Doing this hinders our natural gait and our functional lines across the body, which in this case run from the latissimus on one side to the gluteus on the other. Examine your own training habits—are you enhancing your posture with your exercises, or working into deeper imbalance and strain?

3.    Be open to how integrated and intelligent your body naturally is. Your body was designed to function harmoniously, whether moving or at rest. That harmony is your ultimate goal. To move towards that goal, you can start with isolated movements, but be sure to end in a fully integrated, functional way. For instance, you can train your postural stabilizers (the “core” muscles) first, and progress into the integrated compound movements. A simple example of this progression would be starting with the plank exercise, which engages the core stabilizers, and continuing on to the traditional squat.   Functional training prepares you for lifting your heavy bag of luggage, squatting to pick something up from the floor or simply giving someone a big loving hug.

4.    Identify where you are prone to tightness, and be consistent in stretching/resetting those muscles. We touched on this already, but stretching muscles helps to keep balance and symmetry in your body, and improves neural flow and oxygen delivery to your tissue. Be aware of the imbalances in your system and address those. If the right hamstring is a lot tighter than the left, for example, give it a little bit more time in your stretching. This will not only help you feel better, but help you function better.

5.    Strengthen weaker muscles–the other side of flexibility. Activating weak muscles and strengthening them through a proper exercise progression will also lengthen opposing muscles and assist in proper joint function.

6.    Get some professional eyes on you!  The earlier statement we made that no knows your body better than you do is only partially true.  Working with a trainer/practitioner/coach will help you to understand your strengths, weaknesses and imbalances, and improve your program to achieve more.

A little bit of practice and dedication to these key points will pay major dividends.  Having an organized body is the path to longevity!  It’s your journey, so I encourage you to trust the guru within.

Namaste
Daniel

WORKOUT ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

by Daniel Lucas

Here are some Nimble tips for effective training, whenever and wherever you are:

1) A workout doesn’t have to be an hour to be great! If you’re pressed for time, pick a couple of compound moves that use multiple muscle groups and get your heart rate going. *Tip: For example, try a squat to press, which works the entire body, or jumping rope.

2) Workout smarter, not just harder. Knowing a bit about how to manipulate variables in your workout program can give you a much bigger exercise toolbox to work with, and help keep your results flowing. *Tip: Changing the order of exercises in your program, changing the tempo, adding instability or cutting rest are all examples of how you can manipulate your program for greater intensity.

3) Know how to get it done anywhere. Prepare a bodyweight resistance/yoga routine that you can perform anywhere. The body resistance workouts can actually be your most challenging, and the combination of strength and yoga is great for your body. *Tip: Take a beginner’s yoga class or two and start to work on some of the basic poses. You can also pick up some great tools for exercising anywhere—resistance bands, a jump rope, etc.

4) Take it outside! Walking, running or hiking can be done absolutely anywhere and will definitely give you a high-intensity workout, plus a tour of the area you’re visiting.

5) Eat clean. With food, closer to nature is our golden rule. To train at your best and recover effectively, you need great, naturally produced food and proper hydration.

If you’re consistent with your workouts, you’ll gain more and more confidence to challenge yourself wherever you are!

Law of gestation.

In prior newsletters, we’ve spoken about the universal law of setting your intention to produce the results that you want. The idea is that our reality is first created by thought, then by our actions. This month, I want to talk about another universal law – the law of gestation. This law states that for any vision or intention to be realized, a certain period of gestation and development is required. This gestation period could be a week or 10 years, depending on the scope of your vision. A child, for example, is conceived in an instant, but takes many, many years of growth and nourishment to reach their full potential. How do we apply the law of gestation in our own lives? The secret is to be consistent in your words and actions over time-to consciously follow through in your daily activities to manifest your personal vision. Believe and trust in your journey of conscious action, and the universe will deliver what you want.

Namaste
Daniel

Do you speak to your soul?

Do you take the time to listen from within yourself for answers? Communicating with our soul is best achieved with a quiet mind. In order to hear the soul our minds need to be clear so that we can receive the answers, which often come in a much gentler way than the strong thoughts of the ego. For example: when you feel the answer to an important question without thinking about it. You just know in your heart it’s true. Quiet time, rest and meditation are vital to having this healthy connection.

Set aside time to allow yourself to stop thinking from the outside and you will have a greater opportunity to hear a deeper truth. Think of it this way: It’s not about working out, it’s about working in, meaning meditation, Tai Chi, a walk in nature or anything that you find empties your mind.

Namaste.
Daniel

“I’m too busy!”

Namaste
Daniel

How strong is your FOUNDATION?

Sitting on my couch on a Sunday in February, I wept. Not because I worked 160 hours in the last two weeks, or that a flood ruined our new bamboo studio floor. I was watching images of Haiti on the morning show and they hit me hard, like they probably hit most of you.

These images made me think about many things; one thing that resonated with me and connects to our health was how important it is to have a strong foundation. The energy of a strong foundation resonates from one’s inner self and vibrates outward. This vibration is married to your values & beliefs, your friends & family, life cycles (sleep/food/movement), your soul and the health of your body’s system.

Our society is looking for the fountain of youth around every corner. In so many cases, people simply have a weak foundation to their health. If you’re getting stronger and more flexible, more organized structurally, gaining power and letting go of limiting ego thoughts, then you are continually building a strong foundation. Yes! There is much more I could add to this. Everyone is different, but we can all use the same building blocks for success.

Build your foundation and witness the new strength, power and flow of your mind, body and spirit.

Namaste,
Daniel

HAVING A POWERFUL “WHY”

One of the first questions we ask in Nimble is this: what’s your why? Why do you want to be stronger, lighter or more flexible? What is motivating you to take up an exercise program? We all get inundated with so much information about how to stay healthy that it can cloud our why, which ultimately slows the process of creating life-long healthy habits. Weight loss, for example, is a crucial reason for many people to exercise, but is losing weight the true inspiration? Or is losing weight a path to feeling better and more active in your own body?

Tapping into your true motivations will help fuel your success. Here are some other motivating whys that can help cause profound transformation:

*More Energy
*Confidence
*Body/Mind connection
*Overall Preventative Health Care
*Better Sex Drive/Better Sexual Health
*Clearer Skin *Being able to do what you want to do – whether it’s climbing those stairs or climbing a mountain.

Have a powerful why and it will help you take daily action towards your goals.  Here’s the way we describe that path at Nimble Fitness:

Movement is an opportunity for profound transformation, which stimulates self-discovery and energizes the spirit. The journey it offers is made by sensing, feeling and being. It’s unique to each person.

Namaste,
Daniel

Education & Learning

I love learning from great teachers!  I just spent four days diving into the neurofascial system with Sue Hitzman, the creator of the M.E.L.T method.  What Sue has done is organize more information than I can express into a system that just makes sense.  I’ve mentored with several great body workers and learned a great deal but Sue is really bringing it all together with effective language, a simplistic approach to her method and a passion for making it achievable for everyone.

Awesome!

If you want to elevate your performance and overall body awareness, Nimble Fitness will be holding these M.E.L.T. workshops in the near future.   Keep a look out for our calendar schedule coming soon.

Namaste
Daniel

Time to grow.

It’s Wednesday, November 4, and Nimble Fitness is shifting in to a new level of being, one that elevates the size of our space, our services, and our potential to offer more to our community. We just signed the lease for our new studio space, located street level on east 12th between University and Broadway in New York City. Our current home has served us well, but now its time for us to grow personally, professionally and spiritually. This move is about more than our growth, however. We’re moving with the intention of changing the planet with the change in ourselves.

In many ways, our new studio has already been created, even though it is still under construction. Life has presented this opportunity to us, and many amazing people in our lives have rallied around us to help make it happen. Being fit is much more than just moving around- in essence, it’s an exploration of body, mind and soul. Work out with an intention of love for your body-mind-soul, and amazing things happen.

Join us in this new journey of self-exploration and personal development. We welcome you to be a part of our amazing community and invite you to visit the new space.

Namaste,
Daniel

Quiet Your Mind With The Zen Swing

In the Nimble Guide to Feeling Great in last month’s newsletter, I discussed having a dialogue with your soul, which can be a liberating and life-changing experience. (review here) Receiving information from the soul can take many forms, from unconditional love, to God, to universal energy. To be able to speak effectively to your soul, however, it is necessary to first quiet your mind. This takes some practice, but there are many movements and breath techniques that tap in to your body’s natural ability to relax. For example, check out the Zen Swing—it is a relaxing, natural way to calm your system and rebuild your chi, your natural life energy.

Keys to the Zen Swing:

1. Keep a long spine.

2. Use your hip as a hinge. (i.e.-don’t tuck your butt under and roll your lower spine.)

3. Let your arms completely relax as they swing side to side.

4. Keep your eyes forward.

5. *Find a smooth and even breathing pattern. Inhale as your arms go up and exhale as your arms go down.

6. If your spine doesn’t feel like its moving freely, relax, breath and release the tension with the movement.

7. Go for 5, 10 or even 15 minutes.

A little practice will go a long way-enjoy!

No more pain killers!

It’s been four weeks since I crashed at Bear Creek and honestly it’s been quite a journey. Many things have changed in my life in these past few weeks. For the most part, all of the changes have been good. I’m taking this time to slow down and meditate several times a day. I believe everything that happens in one’s life becomes a guiding force to realize your dreams. It’s just what is and how you perceive it.! The quicker you’re one with the experience, the quicker you’re aligned with source/life energy. Source being god, nature or what ever you call the flow of life. A place without worries or fear. Yesterday was my first day off of the painkillers I was taking and I was worried I may feel pain. The truth is I did feel pain but knowing it was going to pass and using my mind to allow it to happen was the key. It’s great to have your very own super computer! Love your mind.. D

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