BALANCE

In regards to fitness, we usually refer to balance in a physical way. Working on one's balance can mean being able to stand on one leg, or to maintain an upright, steady position when executing a lunge. In the bodybuilding world, balance refers to the symmetry of body parts--the calves and the biceps, or the chest versus the thighs as examples.

But when talking about our health, we need to look internally. Because without being healthy on the inside first, how we look on the outside doesn't necessarily translate to a better lifestyle in the long run. The foods we eat can be harming us from the inside, not just in the resultant extra body fat we visibly carry around with us every day.

Every cell in our body functions at its best within a certain pH range. pH is a measure of acid and alkaline (or base) content. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are considered acidic; over 7 is alkaline. And while different cells need to maintain different pH ranges, our body as a whole will do whatever it can to get to and maintain a strictly neutral overall pH level.

Foods can also be classified by their acidity or alkalinity, rated by their "potential renal acid load" or PRAL. Acidic foods have a positive (+) PRAL score, and base foods are negative (-). We need to keep things as close to zero as possible for optimal internal health. Here's a simplified overview of how food categories score:

Meats and meat products, milk, eggs, and dairy, grains and bread / flour products, nuts, and most processed foods are acidic (+) in nature. As you can see, these foods make up our typical Western culture diet. Vegetables, fruits, and fruit juices are alkalines (-). Legumes, oils, and beverages, for the most part, are fairly neutral (0). Chronically high acid levels result in what's called low-grade metabolic acidosis, a condition that often worsens as we get older.

Remember how we said the body will do whatever it can to keep it in a fairly neutral state? Well, one of our body's largest alkaline sources is calcium, a highly base mineral found in our bones. If our body is in this constant acidic state, it will pull calcium from our bones to neutralize the acids. Now our bones begin to get weaker. Add this to the increasing risk of osteoporosis as we age and it's no wonder debilitating fractures are becoming more common among the elderly.

If you want to know more about food PRAL scores, go to www.bitterpoison.com.

RESISTANCE TRAINING: FREE WEIGHTS OR MACHINES?

One of the most confusing aspects people encounter when joining a gym is wondering if they will ever understand how to use the wide array of machines these big box facilities cram into their four walls. But the 25 year old sales associate, whose primary fitness goal is generally to get BIG, puts the prospective member's mind at ease by telling them they will get a great workout, there is a machine to exercise every body part, and they're safer and better than free weights. And unfortunately, there are way too many personal trainers out there that agree.

Here's something you should ask yourself: "Does this exercise improve only itself in the single act I'm participating in (ie: leg extensions), or does it carry over into the sports and activities that I do?" In other words, does the exercise mimic a movement you do in real life? In the case of most machines, the answer is no.

When you sit at a machine and work through a fixed plane of motion, your nervous system doesn't really need to get involved. While the machine may work the primary muscles you're targeting, the stabilizing muscles, which in real-life activities must fire first, aren't being recruited. This is why many exercisers become injured outside the gym--their body hasn't been worked throughout all planes of motion or in a manner they use them in everyday life.

Working out on machines actually promote dysfunction in your body. They force your joints into unnatural ranges of motion, creating damage that often takes years to repair.We should focus on movement patterns first: squatting, lunging, bending, twisting, pushing, and pulling. Properly learning, or relearning, these movements are the real key to reducing your risk of injury. As highly-acclaimed physical therapist Gray Cook says, "Move better, then move more."