ReVibe Fitness and Wellness

10/31/2025

Just Move

Perhaps you have heard it before, perhaps not; Exercise is Medicine. Sure, exercise has many benefits, but movement is life, compared to constant rest. And the reason that moving is better than rest might surprise you.

I’m not here to tell you to go and exercise. We all know it will be good for you, but I want you to think a little differently about it. Rather than tell you that exercise is medicine, I want you to know that movement is medicine too. You might not know it, but the contraction of muscle, even at low intensity, even for short periods of time, is beneficial.

Let me tell you why. Now, going back into high school biology you learned about a tiny structure inside almost every cell called the mitochondria. These tiny structures make ATP, and ATP is life. In fact, if you run out of the ability to make ATP, you are dead. Get your attention yet?

On an extremely simple level activity forces muscles to contract and that prompts three processes. First calcium is pumped into the muscle so they can contract by taking the ATP made by the mitochondria. Then, as your muscle relaxes it pumps in magnesium, all the time depleting ATP. This process sets off a bunch of signaling pathways that force the cell to process glucose (blood sugar), and fat to make more ATP to keep you energized and moving. That action alone forces the body to absorb more glucose (sugar) from the blood, even without using insulin.

Why is that important? Because chronically elevated blood sugars cause inflammation. And chronic inflammation causes your body to produce more free radicals which ultimately oxidize cholesterol and promote plaque buildup. In addition, chronic inflammation has been found at the root of all disease. Did you catch the word all?

So keeping your inflammation down by keeping your blood sugar down is pretty important to being healthy.

That’s not all that happens of course. Because right in the middle of all this energy making, the body takes a key protein called AMPK, which acts as an energy sensor for ATP. As the ATP is used up, it stimulates something called PGC-1a, which is considered the master regulator of your metabolism. Yep, this PGC-1a increases your ability to burn fat, take sugar from your blood, and make more mitochondria.

A quick lesson on aging. As you age, especially if you are not active, and especially if you do not strength train, you lose 5-7 pounds of lean muscle per decade of life. This process generally starts around 35 years of age; and accelerates after 50. Along with that muscle loss (called sarcopenia), we lose the life-giving mitochondria. Add into the mix bad food choices (causing more inflammation and more free radical formation) and we have a recipe for rapid aging and increased risk of disease.

Now, back to PGC-1a. Activating it also activates the production of more mitochondria. If we exercise more, we also activate the mechanism that kills off bad cells and replaces them with fresh new ones, it’s called autophagy.

This whole process renews the mitochondria keeping your free radical production under control and your inflammation in check.
Did not know that activating muscles also activates proteins called myokines which actually control inflammation and stimulate the production of irisin, a myokine that tells your cells to burn fat, but only if you move.

Now, while some people exercise for an hour a few times a week to produce all the lasting effects of metabolic health, some of them go and sit behind a desk all day long, effectively undoing the good they have done. Muscle contraction, even on a low level, is paramount to your metabolic health. It keeps those blood sugars low (without the need for extra insulin) and keeps your inflammation under control (as long as you avoid too much sugar and processed carbohydrates).

So, movement is medicine. And yes, exercise does more for you, but constant movement is far better than inactivity, which increases inflammation and speeds muscle loss.

You do still need to keep your strength up though. After 50 you lose it rapidly without strength training, and by 75 your strength literally equals about half of what you had at 30. Don’t let that happen to you. Stay strong with your exercise and move more during the day. Muscle contraction is the deciding factor for keeping your body detoxed, removing excess sugar from your blood, building more mitochondria, and keeping disease at bay.

The average body is probably built to last at least 100 years. But what we do to it in that time, how we treat it, actually determines how long it lasts. It’s not so much that we die as it is that we kill ourselves with the lifestyle we chose to follow. Choose wisely, live a life of health.

10/22/2025

Did you know big pharma pays influencers $1000 per segment for talking out against the anti-vax initiative? Did you also know that doctors are paid more money by big pharma based on the percentage of people they vax? So, are they really advocating for health, or just a bigger paycheck?

10/22/2025

Life is good, live it to its fullest...but only if you take care of yourself! You see life will pay you in dividends if you are healthy, but not so much if you are not. Stop telling yourself you are getting older and that's why you hurt....Instead, see what fitness can do for you. After all what do you have to lose, other than your health?

10/17/2025

According to Tufts University strength training reduces arthritic pain by 43%

10/15/2025

Did you Know: Way back in 2009 a study revealed that people with stronger muscles were 40% less likely to die younger.

You were in fact 1.5 times less likely to die of any disease, 1.6 times less likely to die of a cardiovascular disease and 1.25 times less likely to die of cancer!

Why is this so?
Well, to start, if you strength train your approach to a healthy lifestyle obviously divorces you from a life of sedentarism. That part should be obvious.

But there's other reasons too, and a lot of them. The proposition in the study was because strength training drives down your insulin levels and exercise triggers apoptosis (programmed cell death), and it does all that and more.

Today we understand a little more about it. That is to say that high intensity strength training also triggers the release of myokines, an anti-inflammatory peptide that also retards cytokines, an inflammatory peptide. But that's not all.

If you exercise you sleep better, recover better, maintain your health better, Oh let me count the ways............

BMJ 337: a439; Ruiz, J. R., et al. 2009. Muscular strength

10/14/2025

Did you Know: Eating more fresh vegetables is one of the simplest choices you can make to improve your overall health.

A vegetable-rich diet can help protect you from arthritis, heart disease, stroke, dementia, cancer, and can even help slow down your body's aging process.

A recent study found that people who consume seven or more portions of vegetables and fruit a day have a 42 percent lower risk of dying from any cause, compared to those who eat less than one portion—and vegetables have the greatest impact.

But vegetables can also benefit you in some surprising ways. Did you know that certain vegetables can help reduce bloating, and others can give your skin a more youthful glow? They can even improve how you handle stress—and adapting to stress is critically important to your mental AND physical health!

09/09/2025

How many times have we been told that too much salt leads to high blood pressure? Yeah, if I had a dollar for each time…..ok, I won’t go there but here’s the thing, at it’s absolute worst, about 10% of the population are susceptible to developing high blood pressure if they take in too much salt, and that’s likely questionable. A study in the American Journal of Medicine 06;119(3)275, found that those who ate no salt at all or very little actually had higher cardiovascular risks. Now, about 77% or so of the salt in your diet comes from processed foods, and those are bad for your health and blood pressure, another 12% comes from naturally occurring salt in food and about 6% from table salt. That said, even if you go crazy with the shaker, but you avoid processed foods, you will be fine.

This means that the best way to avoid too much salt is to avoid processed foods, not table salt. But here’s the cool thing, if you ate more fruit and vegetables you would get more potassium and that would actually decrease any effect that salt has on hypertension!
But what if you crave salt? Ahh, then you might actually want to get your adrenals checked! Very often when they get fatigued, they fail to retain adequate amounts of salt in your body, and that’s why you crave it.

I would recommend sea salt or Himalayan salt over table salt because it’s minimally processed and contains other minerals essential to health; however, sea salt does not contain very much iodine, which your thyroid needs to remain healthy. Perhaps also I should mention that many additives such as fluoride (added to water) is an iodine blocker, which can lead to low energy and low thyroid function. But did you know that soybeans are also? Soy is often used in baby formulas, margarine's and salad dressings. You might also be interested to know that chlorine is also an iodine blocker. Wait, isn’t fluoride and chlorine routinely added to drinking water? Why, yes it is…………..

09/08/2025

09/05/2025

Did you Know:

Obesity is known to be an independent risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders, especially low back pain?

Nigerian scientists investigated the spinal curvature of 300 individuals of varying body shapes/sizes and found those with both an above-normal body mass index and waist-hip ratio were more likely to have greater curvature in the lumbar spine which contributed, along with the weight, to low back pain.

This suggests the spines of those who are overweight or obese have an increased curve ("sway back") to accommodate a greater load which the researchers speculate may increase their risk for developing lower back pain.

Add that to an unhealthy and weak frame and you have a trifactor that feeds into increased back pain.

Patient Preference and Adherence, March 2016.

09/05/2025

Do you have an unhealthy relationship with exercise?

The question is why? An article titled “9 Habits of People with a Healthy Relationship to Exercise” recently appeared in the Huffington Post. Some of their points may seem obvious—like avoiding exercises that you hate, as this virtually guarantees you won’t do them—but others may be less obvious.

If you aren’t making steady progress toward your fitness goals, then maybe it’s time to perform a bit of an inventory of your relationship with exercise.

How do you approach exercise? How do you evaluate your progress? Do you need to modify your goals and rewards? Do you even HAVE goals and rewards? How about, why do you avoid exercise?

By understanding a bit more about motivation and behavior, you may be able to make subtle changes that produce substantial and long-lasting effects.

Ok, so what do you need to do to be more successful? Let's start by asking the question would you prefer to be healthy or unhealthy? If you answered healthy, then you will need to find a way to allow yourself to do that.

Here's some ideas.

1. Don't start too hard, improvements in health come slowly but steadily, you just have to accept that today's exercise will not transform your body, but last years steady regular exercise will.
So, ease yourself into a plan that you can live with. A Revibe workout for instance usually lasts about 30 minutes, but it can start with a shorter approach.

Do you have 30 minutes to dedicate to your health? The first lesson then is that people with a healthy relationship to exercise know the difference between a good burn and true pain. But more so, healthy exercisers focus on how they feel when they are done, not how they feel about starting. That's a game changing difference right there.

You hear so much about the whole 'no pain, no gain' attitude but is it true or even necessary?

I think, in this case, we really have to redefine what pain is. Yes, you want to feel like your muscles are working, you want some fatigue, you might even relish your second-day soreness, but feeling discomfort in joints, or feeling so exhausted you just want to drop at the end of the day is not normal.

Pain can be serious, and pushing through could cause worse injury. People with a healthy relationship to exercise know when to say when.

2. Take a rest day!

No matter how much you love working out, there is such a thing as too much exercise, and the people with the healthiest relationships to exercise enjoy their off days. For strength training take a day to recover between each session. So three times a week is enough!
3. People who enjoy exercise don't exercise to eat, they eat to exercise. Big difference!

Exercising purely to "influence weight or shape" can be a slippery slope into obsession and disorder. For a healthy athlete or exerciser, food is fuel, not the enemy. Our bodies require a bare minimum amount of calories simply to survive, and we need to provide extra energy for physical activity. Rather than exercising "to allow yourself to eat, people with a healthy relationship to exercise eat to allow themselves to exercise.

Eating whatever you want just because you exercised today doesn't cut it either, even if you just want to maintain weight. Of course I would never say the occasional brownie was completely off limits, but "'occasional' doesn't mean every dinner warrants a dessert! Right?

Just remember that any sugar or processed carb eaten will replace the fat fuel you were going to burn! There is no point for your body burning fat if you continually give it empty sugar laden fuel.

4. Don't panic if you need to change your schedule. It happens.

On those days where a regular workout gets bumped from the schedule, keep things in perspective by focusing on other ways in which you are physically active. Even walking just a few more steps a day -- whether it’s by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or commuting by foot -- is still physical, and can help ease anxiety over skipping an exercise session. Of course don't get into the habit of rescheduling the workout either. Try to get your workout scheduled in your calendar and stick to it.

5. Do what you enjoy!

I know there's a "duh" moment in all lists and this is it. But, balanced or healthy exercise is exercise that you like, not exercise that you dislike.

Let's face it, If you're doing something that you hate, you're not going to keep doing it, right? That might mean running marathons for some and practicing Bikram yoga for others, but what's important is that you don't feel like you're torturing yourself -- and that you don't feel obligated to try every single fitness fad that's out there.

The same principle applies to exercise intensity. Some people love high intensity workouts and others will simply find moderate intensity movement more tolerable. We can do both at Revibe by the way.

6. Mix it up! Once a base has been established at Revibe we like to change your workout at least every 30-days. Of course, you can change it every time you workout to keep it interesting too. Let's face it, even the most hardy get bored if all they ever do is the same thing day in a day out.

7. Along with finding a fitness plan you enjoy, people with a healthy relationship to exercise also work out when and where they like. Yep, there are big benefits to a morning workout, like fewer cravings and greater energy, but it comes down to personal preference. Some people like to exercise in the morning, some people hate mornings. You don't have to force it, just do it.
Personally I like nooners!

8. Make it social.

Everyone has their off days, even people with a healthy relationship to exercise. Whether it's a lack of motivation to stick to healthy exercise or a compulsion to overdo it, one of the most effective safety nets is having a workout buddy, or in the case of Revibe 7 other buddies. It's harder to do the compulsive thing when you've got someone with you to encourage something a little more moderate, and it's a great motivator for others too. Of course, if exercise -- or lack of it -- is truly interfering with someone's health, it may be safer to consult a nutritionist, a physician or a mental health professional, or a mixture of all three. But be careful, medical doctors are not well trained in nutrition.

9. We know so much about the mental health benefits of exercise today, and yet many unbalanced exercisers only consider breaking a sweat helpful for altering weight or shape. For many, exercise is an effective coping method for stress, anxiety and depression, and healthy exercisers harness these powers for good.

So what's your excuse? Let's begin by making your health your goal. What's the first thing you will do? Here's to a better lifestyle!

09/04/2025

Did you Know: Black Raspberries May Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Those with Metabolic Syndrome?

It's true, black raspberry extract appears to significantly lower a key measure of arterial stiffness, which is an indicator of cardiovascular disease. This study compared two groups of patients with metabolic syndrome—a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. One group received 750 mg/day of black raspberry extract and the other received a placebo for twelve weeks. Those who consumed the black raspberry extract experienced increased levels of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which help repair and regenerate damaged arteries.

Further researcher is needed now to determine how black raspberry extract increases EPCs and how it could be used in the future to treat cardiovascular disease.

More on this later.

Journal of Medicinal Food, February 2016

08/29/2025

Many people have pain. They live with it every day. Most think that nothing can be done to reduce that pain, but that's not actually true.

Here's 18 natural remedies to try: this list of course is in no way meant to represent all of the approaches available; they are simply some of the best strategies I know of. If you are in pain, please try these first, before even thinking about prescription painkillers, steroid injections, or surgery of any kind, but if the pain is significant, seek professional care through a competent chiropractor or physician.

1. Chiropractic Care:

This should be your first step in assessing the need for care. From the chiropractic office you can determine the need for possible chiropractic care, medical referral, therapy referral or other things that might help. Misalignment is often a cause of muscular spasm and pain, and also degeneration of a joint. The medical field has a place when it comes to infection, surgical needs and disease, but chiropractic should be the place you go for pain assessment first.

2. Whole Body Vibration Therapy (WBVT).

WBVT relieves muscular spasm leading to muscle pain and subluxation. A good therapy based center such as Revibe can help reduce chronic pain. Every day Revibe has been able to reduce chronic and acute pain, or refer to sources that can. And since we work with the chiropractic and medical communities we can get you referred if necessary.

3. Eliminate or radically reduce most grains and sugars from your diet.

Avoiding grains and sugars will lower your insulin and leptin levels and decrease insulin and leptin resistance, which is one of the most important reasons why inflammatory prostaglandins are produced. That is why stopping sugar and sweets is so important to controlling your pain and other types of chronic illnesses.

4. Take a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat such as krill oil.

Krill oil or wild caught fish oil contains highly absorbable phospholipid-bound omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fats are precursors to mediators of inflammation called prostaglandins. (In fact, that is how anti-inflammatory painkillers work, they manipulate prostaglandins.).

5. Optimize your production of vitamin D3 by getting regular, appropriate sun exposure, which will work through a variety of different mechanisms to reduce your pain, supplements help too and become necessary if we are in the winter months. Low vitamin D levels are associated with joint and bone pain. If you supplement make sure you take K2 also.

6. Astaxanthin is one of the most effective fat-soluble antioxidants known.

It has very potent anti-inflammatory properties and in many cases works far more effectively than anti-inflammatory drugs. Higher doses are typically required and you may need 8 mg or more per day to achieve this benefit.

7. Ginger:

This herb has potent anti-inflammatory activity and offers pain relief and stomach-settling properties. Fresh ginger works well steeped in boiling water as a tea or grated into vegetable juice.

8. Curcumin/Turmeric:

In a study of osteoarthritis patients, those who added 200 mg of curcumin a day to their treatment plan had reduced pain and increased mobility. A past study also found that a turmeric extract composed of curcuminoids blocked inflammatory pathways, effectively preventing the overproduction of a protein that triggers swelling and pain.

9. Boswellia:

Also known as boswellin or "Indian frankincense," this herb contains specific active anti-inflammatory ingredients. It works well with many rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

10. Bromelain:

This enzyme, found in pineapples, is a natural anti-inflammatory. It can be taken in supplement form but eating fresh pineapple, including some of the bromelain-rich stem, may also be helpful.

11. Cetyl myristoleate (CMO):

This oil, found in fish and dairy butter, acts as a "joint lubricant" and an anti-inflammatory. It is rubbed on the affected area.

12. Evening primrose, black currant, and borage oils:

These contain the essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid (GLA), which is useful for treating arthritic pain.

13. Cayenne cream:

Also called capsaicin cream, this spice comes from dried hot peppers. It alleviates pain by depleting the body's supply of substance P, a chemical component of nerve cells that transmits pain signals to your brain.

14. Medical cannabis has a long history as a natural analgesic.

At present, 38 US states, 3 territories and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for medical purposes. Its medicinal qualities are due to high amounts (about 10-20 percent) of cannabidiol (CBD), medicinal terpenes, and flavonoids.

But varieties of cannabis exist that are very low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the psychoactive component of ma*****na that makes you feel "stoned"—and high in medicinal CBD. The Journal of Pain, a publication by the American Pain Society, has a long list of studies on the pain-relieving effects of cannabis. It should be pointed out that CBD masks pain, like most pain killing drugs. CBD does not address the root causes of pain.

15. Hot and cold packs, and other mind-body techniques can also result in astonishing pain relief without any drugs.

16. DMSO, has an anti-inflammatory affect when rubbed on the affected area. It can be purchased as a cream.

17. Stretching. That's right, plain old simple stretching. Health care professionals, including physiotherapists, kinesiotherapists, physical therapists and exercise physiologists, often prescribe exercises that include stretching to reduce pain.

It has long been accepted that stretching provides pain relief by increasing range of motion and decreasing muscle tightness, which often equates to less pain.

18. Take magnesium glycinate.

While the muscles require calcium to contract they need magnesium to relax. Sometimes when the calcium-magnesium ratios are off we sustain muscular tension and spasm. Magnesium relieves this.

Make sure if your pain is intense or unusual to seek medical care if it persists, and please don't try all of the above together!