As I look back over the past year I realize that while there has been a strong focus on mask wearing, social distancing, and getting vaccinated, we have not received any information or health education on how to stay healthy and fit.
SB Downtown Business Spotlight Interview
I was honored to be a part of the Downtown Business Spotlight’s Virtual Interview Series along with Adrienne Smith, the owner of Power of Your Om, and Robin Elander, the executive director of SB Downtown Organization.
Exercise Is Essential
As a fitness professional, I believe COVID-19 is a serious threat and our response, as an industry, is a necessary step to help stop the spread, save lives, and eventually lead us back to normalcy.
5 Tips For Better Sleep
When it comes to your health, getting the right amount and quality of sleep is essential. Here are a few suggestions/hacks to help boost your sleep quality.
Become Stronger, Healthier, and More Resilient
We are living in uncertain times. But, what if we could turn all this negativity into something positive? What if we could use this pandemic as a growth experience to teach us how to become stronger, healthier and more resilient for the future?
Groundbreaking Research on Probiotics
Emerging research reveals a new category of probiotics creates major improvements in gut health, “spore-based organisms.”
The Super Nutrient Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin known as the “sunshine” vitamin because the body manufactures it after exposure to sunshine. Surprisingly, up to seventy-five percent of Americans are deficient due to indoor lifestyles and a lack of nutrient-dense foods.
Paleo and Osteoporosis
Breaking a bone due to osteoporosis is very common and happens to one in two women and one in four men in the United States. Unfortunately, most people only realize they have the condition once a bone fractures and it is too late.
BDNF: 5 Ways to Train Your Brain
With the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s expected to triple by the year 2050, it’s no surprise that research connecting exercise to brain health has taken off over the past few years.
What’s The Difference Between Paleo and Keto?
Paleo and Keto are two buzz words associated with rapid fat loss and healthier lifestyles. Both diets have overlapping foods and benefits, but what are the differences?
Your Microbiome and Circadian Rhythm
You knew that gut microbes could affect your digestion, your weight and even your immune system. But did you know that that gut flora can also affect your circadian rhythm?
The 7 Health Benefits of Infrared Saunas
In case you haven’t heard, infrared saunas are a recent hot topic in the health and fitness community (no pun intended). Infrared saunas can aid in detoxification, weight loss, relaxation, pain relief and even keep your skin looking healthy and young!
5 Reasons To Start Intermittent Fasting
Humans have been practicing intermittent fasting (IF) for hundreds of thousands of years. So it makes perfect sense that IF may benefit us in our modern lives as well.
Living Paleo in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is often described as a slice of paradise. From its sandy shores to the palm trees that line its streets, those who visit our beautiful home believe we live in a place of eternal summer. But to Santa Barbara natives, we know that’s not true.
My Primal Body
Growing up on the East Coast with two brothers was never easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I didn’t know it then, and I wouldn’t realize it for a long time, but those were the moments that shaped me into the person I am today.
What’s Your Excuse?
Excuses are easy. Following through on a fitness goal is difficult. With that said, being able to recognize what is holding you back, what your excuse is for avoiding exercise, is the only way you can begin to make the changes necessary for success.
Do You Have the True Ancestral Gene?
As a society, we are intrigued with knowing our origins – who our ancestors were and what they did. But what about our own genetics? What can our own genes tell us about our bodies, health, and lives? Though more to the point, what can we learn from our ancestors that can help us to lead healthier and longer existences?
5 Steps to Fitness Success
1. The time is now!
There is no time like the present. If you’ve been thinking about making a life change, been wanting to get back to feeling healthy, strong, and confident in your body, then why wait? The best way to achieve fitness success is to begin.
It’s Time To Rock and Roll: How Foam Rollers Can Help You
Before Elaine came to Fitness Transform, she had led an active life, one filled with some of her favorite activities like hiking, swimming, and running. She had always considered herself to be in reasonable shape.
On the Fast Track to Fitness: How Intermittent Fasting Improves Fitness
As someone who trains regularly, working out in my studio on weekdays and running bleachers on the weekends, I find that implementing intermittent fasting to be incredibly beneficial and natural to how I live.
Tools of the Exercise Trade, by Keith Hamm (Published in the SB Independent)
A quality life is a all about “moving well, feeling strong, and increasing longevity.” Check out this SB Independent article featuring Mikki Reilly on the best tools for maintaining a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle.
12 Simple Steps To The Paleo Lifestyle in Santa Barbara
Are you curious about the “Paleo” lifestyle, but not sure how to put it into action? Here are 12 simple steps to get you started…
Paleo Lifestyle: Preventing Diabetes One Step At A Time
Does diabetes run in your family? Are you concerned that one day you too could develop diabetes? While diet is definitely a contributing factor, believe it or not, one of the most commonly overlooked risk factors is body composition…
Live to Be 100 and Die Disease Free in Santa Barbara
What if you could live to be 100 and be pain and disease free with all of your mental faculties in tact, would you want to extend your life and keep doing what you are doing?
Primal Lifestyle: 3 Things You Can Do To Eliminate Pain
Many people believe that joint pain is inevitable, something they must learn to live with as they get older. But as a fitness trainer with 20 years experience, working in the trenches with clients, I’ve seen hundreds of people reduce or completely eliminate pain when they implement three simple steps…
9 Fitness Tips for Surviving the Holidays in Santa Barbara
Wake Up Early and get your training in before family activities begin. If you’ve traveled out of town, find a space where you can do some bodyweight exercises like squats, push-ups, planks and burpees.
Product Review: The GRID Foam Roller at Fitness Transform Studio
Before I review the Grid Foam Roller, I want to let you know that I’m a big fan of foam rolling. In fact, I think the foam roller is probably one of the most underrated fitness tools available.
Edible Santa Barbara Magazine Features Your Primal Body
My book, Your Primal Body, was featured in the Winter 2012 edition of edible Santa Barbara, a community-based magazine that celebrates the local food, farms and cuisine of Santa Barbara County.
Getting Personal – A Moment with Fitness Trainer Mikki Reilly, by Victoria Woodard Harvey
Like many trainers, Mikki derives her sense of purpose from helping people get fit, and she is very good at it…
Is Eating Meat Good for the Planet?
Some people object to the Paleo Diet with its emphasis on eating animal products because they say it’s not environmentally responsible and therefore bad for the planet…
Strength Training at Fitness Transform Studio is Anti-Aging
In a recent study, scientists at McMaster University showed that certain kinds of exercise, specifically strength training, reversed a genetic profile to that of younger men and women.
What is the Paleo Diet?
For most of our evolutionary history, we were hunter/gatherers; we hunted animals, fished, and gathered plants for food. So our ancestors of the Paleolithic era ate a diet of whole foods found in nature, like wild game, fish, vegetables, wild fruits, eggs and nuts.
Flexibility vs Mobility
There seems to be a bit of confusion around the concepts of flexibility and mobility. So let’s begin with a couple of definitions. Flexibility is the ability to flex, extend, or circumduct a joint through its intended full range of motion. So we’re talking about the length of the tissues, nothing more. Mobility, or joint mobility, is the ability to …
Flexibility: the Benefits
If the idea of having supple muscles and smooth, fluid movements – movements that convey youth and health, regardless of age – sounds appealing, then add flexibility training into your life, if you haven’t done so already, so that you may begin to enjoy the many benefits. Flexibility is defined as the measure of a joints movement through a normal …
Stress Reduction Techniques
Meditation Meditation is one of the most popular forms of physical and mental relaxation. Some forms of meditation are based on religious beliefs, while others focus solely on breathing and relaxation. The meditative state involves a deep centering; a quieting of the mind, emotions and body. This state can be reached through a daily structured practice, or through an unstructured …
Stress, Cortisol and Weight Gain
Despite the abundance of information on diet and exercise in the media, Americans are continuing to get fatter. According to a recent analysis, an estimated 30 percent of adults – over 60 million – are obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, and, an estimated 65 percent of adults are overweight or obese, defined …
Should You Work Out With A Cold?
With the flu season upon us, one question I’m often asked is: should you continue to work out when you come down with a cold? A recent article in the New York Times addressed this topic and pointed to a couple of studies that were published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise about a decade ago. …
Set SMART Goals
Why? Because goal setting works. Research studies have shown a direct correlation between goal setting and enhanced performance in both sports and business. One reason is that goals act like a roadmap. They take you from where you are to where you want to be. Think of it as a long term strategy that can be broken down into a …
Exercise Reduces Inflammation
Here’s an interesting new study that shows how exercise reduces inflammation. It’s not the first study to suggest that your fitness level affects inflammation, but it is the first study to show the underlying mechanism involved. Researchers at the University of Illinois looked at the effect of heart rate recovery after exercise, on C-reactive protein (CRP), a blood protein that …
Track Your Lean Body Mass
I’m a big believer in measuring lean body mass. I think it’s the single best way to determine your level of fitness. To quote Art De Vany, “Your lean body mass is the metabolically active you. It is the tissue that allows you to function and think and live.” Lean body mass is defined as, “anything that is not fat …
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