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IN THIS ISSUE

Meet Ally Ponte of Club Vibe

Make Your Dreams a Reality | By: R.I.P.P.E.D.

How to Improve Circulation | By: ROLLGA

Intermittent Fasting | By: Melissa Layne, M.Ed

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. | By: Julie Rosenberg, M.D.

8 Thanksgiving Recipe Swaps | By: Beachbody

Allyson Ponte is the founder and CEO of Vibe Fitness®, a dance fitness program designed to educate, uplift, and inspire participants of all fitness levels. Vibe classes offer a variety of styles that encourage the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Vibe Fitness® emanates a welcoming atmosphere, a sense of community and camaraderie. Togetherness is what makes the program so successful, and Ally couldn’t run Vibe Fitness® alone.

Kelly Schur is the COO of Vibe Fitness® and Ally’s “soul-sister.” Ally spends her time choreographing routines and Kelly runs the numbers. Together, these women created programming that takes brand new instructors and trains them to deliver the Vibe experience, which stands for excellence.

“We live to teach,” Ally said. “I’ve probably made every mistake in the book, but I became an education junkie, spent as much time as I could learning and growing, and found mentorship. We are all a constant work in progress. We’re teachers, but we’ll always be students.”

Vibe Fitness® is unique because Ally creates each routine herself with the goal to combine group exercise with functional training. So while some dance formats only cue visually, Vibe’s original choreography trains instructors to cue verbally and visually and encourages participants to stay motivated through the workout.

“I had always dreamt of bridging the gap between exercise science and functional training. People who would come to personal training wouldn’t do group ex and also the other way around. From the outside looking in, a group fitness/dance class can be intimidating. At Club Vibe®, everyone is a dancer. We tell everyone to feel the music, move your body. Yes, you are correct,” Ally said.

Club Vibe® is about impacting individual lives and building relationships. Ally starts every class by asking her participants to high five a stranger, find out their name, and make a new friend.

“We’re all just normal people and we’re proud of our accomplishments. We can celebrate that together.”

In 2017, Ally was diagnosed with breast cancer. She found a lump leading to a double mastectomy. Just four days after her surgery, an oncologist found the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.

“Being healthy and relatively fit, it was a huge shock to the fitness and Vibe community,” Ally said. “I only allowed myself 20 minutes to freak out and I got it together! I have a fighter mentality.”

Ally’s family has battled cancer; both of her parents were eventually diagnosed and her father passed away. From her genetic history, Ally assumed she’d be diagnosed in her adult life at sometime, but what she didn’t realize was how environmental factors had been influencing her health.

She began working with a holistic practitioner to heal her body. Taking control of her diet and exercise as well as mental and spiritual health makes Ally feel like a happier and healthier person — one who can continue to inspire and motivate Vibe Fitness® fans all over the world.

Ally receives tremendous support from her immediate family and the Vibe Fitness® community. She currently teaches multiple classes a week in clubs around the Atlanta area. While Club Vibe® has developed into a full-time job, Ally still finds time for her faith and family which have always been top priorities.

“I have a very strong faith and so the job is flexible with my family’s lifestyle. First is my faith, then my family, and then anything else!”

You can find Ally, Kelly, and Club Vibe® at SCW OnDemand and access their video “The Art of Cueing” now!
Visit: www.scwfit.com/store/?s=club+vibe. For LIVE instruction and more dance programming, come to an SCW MANIA® in a city near you!

BOSTON: www.scwfit.com/boston

 

R.I.P.P.E.D. – The One Stop Body Shock® was created by Terry and Tina Shorter. They created a fitness program encompassing all aspects of physical fitness. R.I.P.P.E.D. is an acronym for: Resistance, Interval, Power, Plyometrics, Endurance and Diet. You can try a R.I.P.P.E.D. workout at an SCW MANIA® near you! Visit www.scwfit.com/mania

R.I.P.P.E.D. began with Terry. He was unhappy with his current life working in corporate America, and knew he needed to make a change.

“I got to that point of disgust and I thought, ‘You know what, I need to change.’ And in order to change you need to simply make a decision, that’s the first step.”

In his home office otherwise known as ‘The War Room,’ Terry stared up at a white tri-fold board covered with photos of his family, beautiful places he plans to visit someday, and phrases like “Most Likely to Succeed,” and “Reaching Goals.” He called it his Dream Board.

In the bottom left corner of the board is a magazine cut-out of a man with a perfect physique: washboard abs, chiseled chest, defined pectorals, you name it. Above the image ran the title, “RIPPED from Head to Toe.”

Then it hit him. R.I.P.P.E.D. was an acronym for the kind of program needed to obtain a healthy lifestyle. (And for Terry to get those washboard abs.)

“It was like a message from God or something,” he said. “I called my wife to tell her this idea and how this came to me.”

To hear more about Terry’s story, watch this short video:

The first five components are taught in a 50 minute class, while the last component, Diet, can be found on their website. R.I.P.P.E.D. is designed for all fitness levels, allowing a gym novice and trained athlete to both feel an intense full body workout.

The R.I.P.P.E.D. class follows its acronym and changes up the workout every 6 to 9 minutes, allowing every muscle group to get a quick yet effective workout, thus the tagline – One Stop Body Shock. The ‘Body Shock’ doesn’t stop there, the R.I.P.P.E.D. workout is continually evolving through seasons. R.I.P.P.E.D. is currently in Season 29.

R.I.P.P.E.D. programming is making headlines! By 2015, R.I.P.P.E.D. had over 13,000 instructors worldwide teaching in over 1,000 gyms nationwide. These numbers only continue to climb due to the R.I.P.P.E.D. program’s immense popularity. Tina and Terry have been featured on PopSugar Instructional Workout Videos, multiple news programs, and at IDEA World Fitness Convention. In 2016, R.I.P.P.E.D. – The One Stop Body Shock®, announced their partnership with CBS Interactive.

R.I.P.P.E.D. is presenting sessions at SCW MANIA® in Boston! Register for Boston MANIA® and try sessions like “R.I.P.P.E.D®: REFORMULATED!” with Tina & Terry Shorter. Visit: www.scwfit.com/boston

Attend an SCW MANIA® conference in a city near you in 2019! Register online at www.scwfit.com/mania. Can’t make it? Try SCW OnDemand and gain access over 500 unique workouts: www.scwfit.com/store/on-demand/#subscribe! For more information about R.I.P.P.E.D. programming, go to (www..rippedplanet.com).

BOSTON: www.scwfit.com/boston

 

Rollga has one goal: helping people to move and feel better. Supported by extensive product research and created by a team of doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, and personal trainers, the Rollga foam roller is an innovative, patented tool designed to improve recovery and prevent injuries. You can try a Rollga Roller at an upcoming SCW MANIA® near you!

While there are many uses for foam rolling like injury prevention and recovery, Rollga rolling can also be a simple, easy and fast way to improve circulation naturally and boost energy.

Self-myofascial release (SMR) stimulated by foam rolling has become a popular alternative to static stretching, according to research from the University of North Carolina Exercise and Sports Science program. This research concluded that both static stretching and foam rolling for SMR increase range of motion and decrease muscle stiffness.

Foam rolling is a popular method for targeting sore muscles during recovery. Although it remains unclear to physiologists why muscle spasms form and occur, the most researched claim is that tension hinders blood flow to the area. Lengthening or stretching the muscle fibers allows more blood flow, improving circulation.

Rollga recommends placing your foot in Rollga Zone 3 and slowly rolling forward to just past the ‘big toe pad’ – there is a tender or sensitive spot called the ‘adrenal reflex zone’ – it’s great for boosting energy and increasing blood flow and circulation. This spot is known to help with cold feet.

You can find Rollga at the upcoming SCW MANIA® Boston, Dec. 7-9! To find an SCW MANIA® coming up in a city near you in 2019, head to www.scwfit.com/mania! For more information about improving circulation using a Rollga roller, visit rollga.com!

BOSTON: www.scwfit.com/boston

 

Humans have been fasting for thousands of years. It is not a new diet plan.

There was once a time when one couldn’t just get out of bed, walk to the refrigerator and take out a dozen eggs and a package of bacon. Humans had to hunt, gather or kill their food before they could eat. Ancestors participated in fasting whenever food was unavailable and feasted when food was abundant.

In today’s modern world of an overabundance of food, fasting is not considered normal, and may seem strange to many. What is research saying as it struggles to catch-up to our ancestors who knew of this secret?

Intermittent fasting requires followers to fast anywhere from 12-20 hours daily which results in a cutting of calories. Basically, it is an extended duration of minimal to no caloric intake. There are many different types of intermittent fasting and each requires a different time pattern and allows different liquids within the fasting period.

Fasting protocols vary from eating once a day as on “The Warrior Diet” to fasting for 14-16 hours as on “Time Restricted Fasting.” Technically, this is not a diet because there are no rules as to what you can and cannot eat but is more of a timing tool. Common sense tells us that when we are not in the fasting period, it is not wise to choose outrageous amounts of empty calories or processed junk food.

Rodents have been studied for years to see what effects this eating pattern has on insulin sensitivity, inflammation, body composition, the aging process, metabolic health and cell biology. However, it is important to remember that a rat’s hormones do not identically match the hormones of a human being. Rats have a shorter life span of only a few years, so intermittent fasting for 12 hours would be similar to starving a person for a couple of days.

There are a limited number of human trials to date that study the health benefits of intermittent fasting.

The earliest research on caloric restriction, which began over 75 years ago, shows that it may add years to your life. Cutting 25% of your daily calories has a long list of benefits such as a reduction in blood pressure, inflammation, triglycerides, cancer risks, and LDL levels. It also shows an increase in lipolysis, HDL levels and improved body composition.

By far, the biggest changes are seen in insulin signaling pathways which increase the rate of lipolysis, the breakdown of fat for energy. Intermittent fasting reduces your blood glucose levels for hours at a time which increases your insulin receptors’ sensitivity when you do eat. Insulin resistance is a widespread problem in today’s world thanks to an overabundance of refined fats, too much refined and simple sugars and a diet low in minerals such as chromium and magnesium.

Insulin resistance occurs when the insulin receptors on the outside of the cell wall do not recognize even a simple amount of insulin floating in the blood stream, so the pancreas continues to pump insulin into the blood until the amount registers with the receptors.

Insulin resistance basically causes lipids to be stored in cells that aren’t meant to contain fat. These tissues are mainly the skeletal muscle tissue and the liver. When you restrict all of your macronutrients during intermittent fasting, your body has no choice but to start metabolizing accumulated fat since there is nothing flowing through the bloodstream to use as an energy source.

This fat may be intramuscular, adipose or even from a fatty liver. As cells give up their onboarded fat, the insulin receptors become more sensitive to the hormone because they are now looking for an energy source as the amount of fat held in the tissue decreases. In simple terms, insulin is the hormone that determines how rapidly we metabolize fat. When insulin levels are low, the body knows that carbohydrates are absent and fats need to be metabolized. When insulin levels are high, carbohydrates can be easily metabolized and the body’s ability to breakdown fat decreases.

Elevated blood sugar levels are dangerous to the walls of our arteries and also increase our blood pressure. Whenever insulin is high due to elevated blood sugar levels, lipolysis is decreased. Increasing the sensitivity of insulin receptors creates a situation where the insulin is better at disposing glucose, either into the muscle cell or the fat cell (which is even better).

The liver does not have insulin receptors, but this phenomenon of increased lipolysis allows the liver to be more efficient in its many processes including using cholesterol to make vitamin D, bile and steroid hormones. This leads to many positive vascular changes.

When the liver uses cholesterol to make necessary substances like bile, it decreases the amount of LDL in the arteries through a process known as reverse transport. In reverse transport, the healthy HDL cholesterol which we make when we exercise flows through the bloodstream scavenging for the unhealthy sticky LDL cholesterol. Removing the sticky LDL from the arterial walls improves the elasticity of the blood vessels so hardening of the arteries becomes less of a risk. Through reverse transport, HDL returns LDL to the liver where it is used to make bile for emulsifying fats, produce the vitamin D from hormonal substances and create steroidal hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and cortisol.

As reverse transport occurs and LDL levels drop in the blood, a drop in blood pressure and inflammation decreases the risk for heart disease. A decrease in inflammatory cells in the body also decreases the risk of cancers which thrive in an inflamed acidic body.

So think of intermittent fasting as taking a break from food which will do wonders for not only your health, but also your waistline!

Research shows that subjects who fasted from 6pm until 10am the next morning cut 300 calories from their diets on average. With 3500 calories in a pound, doing this every day (300 x 7= 2100) will show weight loss of over half-a-pound per week or two-and-a-half pounds each month.

That’s over 25 pounds a year!

To find out more about the role of adiponectin and the process of “protein shifting” during intermittent fasting be sure to attend my session “The Pros and Cons of Fasting” at select SCW MANIA® conferences in 2019! Visit www.scwfit.com/mania

You can find video titles from Melissa Layne OnDemand! Get access to:

• Aqua Soft Fitness Fusion
• Aqua Bits and Pieces
• Targeting Hypertrophy
• Dietary Diversity
• Caffeine, Creatine, & Coconuts
• Hot Topics in Nutrition… and more!

Visit our website to subscribe to SCW OnDemand and access over 500 unique workouts 24/7 at your fingertips! Visit: www.scwfit.com/store/?s=layne! Watch Melissa present LIVE at an SCW MANIA® conference near you!

Melissa Layne, MEd, is a professor of Kinesiology and Exercise Science at the University of North Georgia. She holds a masters degree in Exercise Physiology with 30 years of experience in the fitness industry. Melissa is the author of WATER EXERCISE (Human Kinetics 2015), a member of the educational faculty and a DVD featured presenter for SCW and ACSM.

BOSTON: www.scwfit.com/boston

 

Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul” who died earlier this month at age 76 and is being laid to rest today in a celebration of her life in song, was not only one of the most commanding and influential vocalists of her generation—she was a personal hero of mine.

Aretha’s powerful voice provided the soundtrack to my youth. Growing up as a child of the 70s and a college student of the 80s, I listened to her music on repeat. As I grew up and moved toward my professional goals, her song lyrics resonated in my head. I was a young woman who wanted to become a doctor before it was fashionable for women to do so. Although I knew that I was capable and driven, many around me believed that such a choice would interfere with any desire that I may have had to marry and start a family.

As I thought about creating a life and a career that I wanted for myself—in defiance of those external doubts and disparaging comments—that song would play in my mind:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care, TCB

Oh! (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)

A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)

Aretha had taken the original Otis Redding song and flipped the genders to make it about a woman boldly demanding the respect of her man. But showing and receiving respect is critical in all aspects of life. If you ask anyone in any kind of relationship—whether romantic or platonic, whether at home or at work—about the way they want to be treated, the desire to be treated with dignity and respect will likely be at the top of that list.

We know when someone respects us, and we also generally know when they don’t. We all want to receive respect, but not all of us are practiced at showing it. How can we be better at demonstrating our respect? Here are five tips:

1. Be kind and gracious in interactions with others and treat others the way you want to be treated. It’s not only good for them but it’s good for you, as kindness eases anxiety, reduces stress, and boosts serotonin, a feel-good hormone.
2. Ask others for their ideas and opinions and really listen to what they’re saying. Listen with an open mind and heart and make sure they are fully done with their point before you chime in with your thoughts.
3. Don’t attack. Avoid criticism of someone’s ideas, even in jest.
4. Don’t just talk the talk; walk the walk. Pay attention to your body language and tone of voice. Make sure you are physically mirroring what you are saying to demonstrate your sincerity.
5. Say “thank you.” This seems like common sense, but many people either fail to say thank you or else they don’t say it like they mean it. Give people credit for their ideas and contributions, and go out of your way to make sure that people know you appreciate them.

If you want your relationships—whether in your personal life or in your team or your organization—to prosper, remember these three basic principles for success: mutual respect, kindness, and gratitude.

And, as for me, I made it through medical school and learned the life-long value of respect for myself and others. Thank you, Aretha! Long live the music, the voice, and the spirit of the Queen!

Is music on your mind? Time Saving Tools for Digital Music with Jeff Howard, Manuel Velazquez, and sponsored by Yes! Fitness Music will give you the guidance you need to bring a positive and motivating change to your group exercise classes! Attend this session at SCW MANIA® Boston December 8! Register for Boston MANIA® at www.scwfit.com/boston! Find SCW MANIA® in a city near you in 2019! Go to www.scwfit.com/mania

BOSTON: www.scwfit.com/boston