People have over the last few decades become detached from their intuition or inner guidance system as lives have, with modern technology, become easier and survival is no longer dependent on common sense. For instance, people have turned to logic and reasoning instead and are used to making decisions with their heads, allowing logic rather than co…

Health is not the absence of disease. Yet because disease, at least the treatment of disease, is such an enormous booming industry in this country, contributing billions of dollars to the economy every year, the national emphasis on health is not about health at all. Indeed, it is all about the absence of disease. One has only to turn on the TV to …

Barely a day passes without the media reporting that some food, we've consumed from the beginning of time, now causes cancer. Oh, that’s right. They seldom use the C-word as in causation, instead, they’ll say something more palatable; that is, it has been linked to cancer. But all too often these stories are based on only a single study or are base…

Nearly 99% percent of those making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or to change their bodies fail by January 25. That’s a fact. Just 25 days into the process they fail by their own metrics. Now some trainers will tell you that you’re a winner if you just start the process. But you and I both know that deep down inside you don’t get to feel l…

Given you some more straight fitness talk.

Breakdown of Beachbody and if it is something you should do.

Every Monday morning in America...There are more suicides, strokes, illnesses, and heart attacks. What goes unnoticed and unreported is the fact our bodies are trying very hard to tell us something about our lives, our jobs, our relationships, and our attitudes, and how such information affects our bodies and our health. I’m not going to delve into…

Have You ever heard of the PUSH-PULL Program? In the gym, it suggests working one muscle group while resting the other. In life outside the gym, it should mean the same thing. Look, I don’t know your abilities, your aspirations, your dreams, your insider trade secrets. But what I do know that there is surely something wonderful inside of you. I say…

Esther appeared to be doing everything right except the two most important fundamentals of her revision map— and that was hydrating and supplementing. For this reason, I have always emphasized to my clients both hydration and supplementation from day one. Because frankly, we live in a mineral depleted environment. Primarily because of the pervasive…

The human mind craves meaning. We look at our lives and do our best to create a meaningful narrative around it. We find evidence for our beliefs that frankly other people may find preposterous. Then when compare our lives with those of others. We all eat and breath love and seek peace— All universal thoughts and actions. Yet, we lose our frame of r…

Years ago, a client came to me with a little-known condition (at least back then) called fibromyalgia. In those days, doctors treated fibromyalgia as a psychosomatic illness that largely afflicted women. Meaning they didn’t believe for a moment that the pain and depleted energy these women were experiencing were any more real than the boogeyman. My…

Progress always begins with a seed of hope. But please note that hope can be a very destructive force, particularly when it is not backed by action. That is, you cannot keep telling yourself this year I'm going to— (feel free to fill in the blank)—Yet nothing ever changes. Never forget that failure is a soft tissue injury. It won't show up on an x-…

So, every year, you make a contract of sorts with your body and brain— You call it a resolution. And every year, you up the ante. For what? Let me see… Last year, you were going to run a 10K. Didn’t happen! The year before that you were going to lose 10 pounds every month (which, by the way, is reasonable), so that by the summer you were going to l…

The only problem I have with the new craze of bio-feedback devices is that they tend to do just the opposite of what they’re designed, and that is to motivate you through bio-feedback. The physical activity that one trains in is very specifically automated in the brain. So, to return to thinking, by incessant reliance on automated devices, even for…

It’s been a long time since you’ve worked out. Too long. Is it like they say? You know like riding a bike? You’re counting on it. Then again who are you fooling? At this point, even a bike without training wheels would be challenging. Two days ago, you couldn’t wait to get in there and get started. You had binged on the Rocky series all weekend and…

It’s human nature to doubt oneself, to avoid responsibility, to procrastinate. When we fail at something or do something wrong, it is common for us to hide in the corner or to bury our heads in the sand. So, we have become clever at even dreaming. We dream out loud and just big enough to receive the applause and admiration of our peers, while knowi…

Technology may have flattened the world, but it has also created greater distance between the heart and mind. The psychosocial-equivalent of an empty room. We are more connected than ever. Yet sadly, we are more indifferent to the pain and suffering of others. Emojis of hearts, hugs, and sad faces, have replaced real emotion and empathy towards our…

There's something inside of us that wants to make things better. This is why the changing of a calendar year is so exciting for us. It is literally the turning of the page. The beginning of a new chapter. A fresh start. 2017, left many people feeling as if they had no choice but to accept the changes that to all intents and purposes assaulted them …

According to dictionary.com, the word of the year for 2017 was complicit. The website defines "complicit" as "choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity." Little wonder why 2017 was such a turbulent year in America. Some would argue that America has never been so divided. Yet, it was the cli…

It has been said that through struggles come strength; that we must go through things to get stronger. I used to believe that. I used to believe that one must struggle to achieve anything of significance. But what I've since learned on my journey is that struggle though seemingly inevitable isn't what produces growth. What produces growth is learni…

What Must We Learn from Athletes Before 2018? What secrets do they know about staying in the game that we don't? Have you ever listened to an athlete interview after an injury? Have you noticed how they never even admit being injured? How they consider being unhealthy the inability to perform at 100%? There is no athlete who wants to be taken out o…

So, you’re fifty-three, fifty-eight, somewhere in there. And you look every bit of thirty-something while your high school classmates look like senior citizens. You remember back to high school. You were the ugly duckling. Kati was the beautiful one. The cheerleader that all the boy’s flocked to. Now she looks like she could pass as your mother. Th…

We tend to think of our sports heroes as super heroes.But often, they don’t even measure up to mortal men...For example, one would have to go back to the days of the Negro Baseball Leagues, in the 1920’s, to find a single professional athlete who has lived to the age of 100. Centenarians are rare for the general population but even more rare for pr…

There are people out there, millions of them in fact, who are terrified of making food and dietary choices for themselves. They don’t eat sugar, because, of course, we know how awful that stuff is. They won’t eat bread or any kind of grains. They refuse to eat butter, eggs, drink a glass of milk, or eat a piece of meat because they’ve been convince…

I’ve had clients who were hundreds of pounds over-weight, and because they were brutally honest with themselves and me, met all their fitness goals over time. I’ve also had clients who were only a few pounds over-weight but blamed the world for everything. So, no matter what exercise or menu program I introduced, they never met any of their fitness…

The ancient Greeks believed in three goddesses, more powerful than any others. Sometimes they were depicted as a maiden, a matron, and an old hag. Three days after a child was born, they would arrive at the cradle to determine the course of the baby’s time on earth. The first goddess spun the thread of life. The second determined the length of the …

As I began to study this philosophy called Veganism it struck me as strange how people, on the one hand, could be so passionate about the rights of animals, while on the other, could be so utterly dogmatic and ideologically irrational about my right not to eat Vegan. No disrespect to Descartes et al, but I’m not a believer in the “Mechanistic” worl…

In 1974, the Swedish Government introduced the first food pyramid. The goal was to educate the populace on the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day from each of the basic food groups. Nearly two decades later, in 1992, the United States adopted the Food pyramid and introduced it to the American public through its Department of Agricultur…

Whether we want to admit it or not most of the time we live inside our heads where we are the main character. Everything we experience is through this lens of Me-ism. We like to think of ourselves as free, open-minded thinkers, but in reality, our lack of awareness of the world around us is rooted in self-centeredness, which oftentimes gives us tun…

When you listen to the life stories of centenarians, for example, besides walking and dancing, you seldom hear anything about a workout or a fitness regimen. If you listen very carefully, you will hear seeds being planted. See, they don't speak in terms of how many steps they've walked in a day or how many reps they performed at a gym nor do they s…

Why do people age so differently? Why are some people mentally sharp, energetic, and still excited about life while other people, much younger, are sick, exhausted all the time, inflamed, and always foggy? What’s going on? Sure, we are all born with a set of genes, but the way you live can influence how your genes express themselves. In many cases,…

Most people are afraid to talk honestly about their health because they have been sold on the idea that they could lose it at any moment. If they lost their fitness they could simply go back to the gym or the track. But where do you go when you lose your health? You’ve guessed it. Most people would immediately think to their doctor or perhaps the c…

People tell me all the time that because they work out they can now drink alcohol or eat fast food or decadent desserts or splurge every weekend. And they can. There is no law stating they cannot. At least, no written law. Still, they justify their vices with working out as if working out is all the body needs to maintain health. They believe that …

Are you emotionally healthy? In a technology-driven world people feel less relevant and expendable. They go to a job they hate. They're stuck in a relationship that's meaningless. They take care of a home where they feel unappreciated. They have children that feel entitled and take every loving gesture for granted. And at every turn, they're remind…

The longer you live, the more you become aware that you are not here forever. That in the grand scheme of things, you are only here for a limited time. On the average, 33,000 sunrises and sunsets is all the time you have to contribute to the story of humanity. Thus, the time and energy you use while here will either add chapters of blessings or pag…

You've been lied to! There is nothing magical about the gym. Going to the gym or running a mile doesn't change you. The only thing that happens in the gym or during your run is the stimulation of biochemical processes; that is, the potential for change. And that potential isn't realized until hours after you leave the gym or end your run. It doesn'…

Master Trainer TiAja goes deeper in Part II, Are You Free To Be Fit by challenging all conventions regarding what it means to be healthy versus fit. Indeed, who doesn't want a nice small waistline anchored by a six-pack of abs or nice toned legs or head turning muscular arms or a manly or feminine chest or a nice physique in general? Who doesn’t wa…

Language distinguishes us from other species, but it is also the very thing that controls us. Like a rat who learns to press a lever to obtain food, humans too can be conditioned to operate solely to produce rewarding and reinforcing behavior. Thus, the very idea of personal freedom is likely an illusion. Even our idea of health and fitness is pred…

Master Trainer TiAja hosts UrbanEx Fitness, the inaugural broadcast which asks the question: Is the health & fitness industry making you sick? The powerful weekly broadcast aims to provide insights, not only into the health & fitness industry as a whole, but will also assist in empowering the public by sharing TiAja's 30+ years of health & fitness …