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I remember the first time I enjoyed a bulletproof coffee. 

My friend was doing the keto diet and told me he was having butter in his coffee. I thought it sounded a bit gross but was willing to give it a go. It was surprisingly good. The trick, I learned, was to blend the hot coffee and butter in a blender before drinking.

Fast forward and I am almost one hundred percent vegan, have been for several years. My mornings are often very busy so it’s tempting to skip the morning meal. I’ve learned, however, the importance of breakfast for the success of the rest of my day (fasting until noon left me feeling fatigued and interrupted my workouts) so I needed something that was fast, supplied enough calories and protein to support a solid workout, and gave me the caffeine I like first thing in the day.

Protein Powered Hot Coffee Recipe

Here’s my protein-boosted take on the standard bulletproof/keto coffee. Let’s call it Tracey’s Protein Powered Hot Coffee Blast. It’s a staple in my weekly food plan. And it’s easier to get than sitting in a drive through at Starbucks.

You’ll need a blender (I use a Vitamix because they do pretty much everything and last forever) and a decent-sized mug.

Ingredients:

300ml fresh hot coffee 

1 scoop protein powder (I use a combination of Orgain unflavoured and Truvani plant-based chocolate protein powder. You could use whatever you have on hand)

2 teaspoon coconut oil 

Method:

Place all the ingredients in the blender

Blend on medium speed for about 20 seconds (make sure you hold the lid firmly while blending  as the steam can cause the lid to pop off – the coffee is hot!)

Once blended, pour into your mug and enjoy a fluffy latte-style coffee that will satisfy any coffee craving and give you fuel for the morning activities.

WARNING

You are blending hot coffee so you have to stay with the blender and hold the lid down. I am not joking here. Not suitable for children or people who can’t think straight before their Morning coffee!

When you get to the end of the cup, swish the coffee around to make sure you don’t miss the protein powder “dregs” that tend to sit at the bottom.

I hope you like it.

If you’d like to get in touch, check this out first.

Google Reviews

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First of all, let’s define self myo fascia release (SMFR):

Self (you do it to yourself);

Myo (muscle);

Fascia (the web of connective tissue that surrounds muscle, holds skin onto the body and essentially holds everything in its correct place inside the body, including your organs. Myo fascia is the fascia surrounding and holding your muscles);

Release (the act of letting go of tension).

These rules for doing your own myo fascia release are based on our observations and experience from over fifteen years of teaching people to release their muscular tension using a variety of self myo fascia release (SMFR) techniques.

SMFR has been one of our greatest secret weapons in helping clients handle chronic and acute muscular pain including back pain, knee pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip and ankle pain. Some of the results we’ve seen are nothing short of miraculous – being called a wizard or magician after helping someone release their nagging back pain in less than ten minutes is a faily common event. 

We recommend getting lessons on how to do self myo fascia release correctly. It’s a powerful tool only when it’s done the right way. 

Our rules are for people who have been taught how to do self myo fascia release to ensure they get the best results possible.

The Go Fit Now Rules for SMFR:

• Do it often, preferably daily. You brush and floss your teeth every day, right? Well, fascia is growing all the time (watch The Fuzz Speech video to understand how this works), so you get the most benefit by doing a bit of SMFR every day. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Think of it as daily internal housekeeping.
• Do some before physical activity – sports, running, cycling, working out with your trainer, stretching, dancing, whatever. It’ll increase your range of motion and prep your body for the upcoming event.
• Don’t forget the feet! They are holding you up all day long. You’d be surprised at the amount of tension throught the body that can be relieved just by doing a bit of daily SMFR on your feet.
• Your attention is an important component for good results. This is not something you just “go through the motions” and it magically works. You do need to mentally focus. Being able to put your attention into the area you’re trying to soften up – think of it as “melting the knots” – is a skill you can develop. Breathing and relaxing to create the release of tension as you use the pressure from the foam roller or other device. With practice you’ll find the tension will dissolve within a minute or so.
• If you notice discomfort while you’re mid exercising, STOP and do some SMFR around the area. This often handles the problem and you can go back to the activity. Don’t keep working on top of pain, your body is telling you something isn’t right.
• Make sure you are working soft tissue. Be careful of bones. For example, don’t foam roll on the front of your knee joint. Don’t use a softball on your skull or ankle bones. One area that can get tricky is the lower spine. This is where good coaching on tools and technique becomes critical.
• Going a little softer is better than going in too hard. The fascia will react back against too much pressure. Better to do it for longer and be gentle. Ideally the fascia will release under gentle pressure after about 90 seconds (that’s breathing in and out slowly and deeply about 15 times). As you get more skillful, it will take less and less time.
• Make sure you drink plenty of water after doing SMFR – when you release a knot, you also release toxins into the system and need to flush them out. Drinking enough water will help this process.

Learn how to do self myo fascia release

If you want to learn how to relieve your own pain and discomfort anytime, any place, Rudi and I have many techniques to share and have been helping people from all walks of life become proficient in these life-changing tools.

We can help you in person and virtually, anywhere in the world. 

Contact us today.

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Exercise Adds Up to Better Health

Most people understand how exercise is an important part of good health. There are lots of reasons for this – one is that exercise involves movement and so helps the body remove lymphatic waste that would otherwise just sit there. Exercise can help improve bone density and hearth health and increase oxygenation of body cells and boost mood and help with weight loss and balance and increase muscular strength and… The list is very very long.

Exercise as a science gets a lot of research money, it makes sense. Professional sport generates a LOT of money. Elite athletes are expensive assets and it’s really important to keep them as injury and disease-free as possible so they can play consistently for as long as possible.  Tom Brady is a prime example of a professional athlete who has made good use of scientific research and he’s still winning Superbowls in his 40’s.

We, more regular people, can also benefit from all this amazing research that makes sense of why exercise is so powerful when it comes to attaining and maintaining optimum good health.

Role of Exercise in Combating Chronic Inflammation

Skeletal muscle (the muscles that we use for posture, movement and breathing) is the largest organ of the body (Pederson 2007). 

Scientists have recently discovered that muscle contractions from exercise increase the release of certain cytokines (cytokines are small proteins important in controlling the growth and acitivity of other immune system cells and blood cells. They help regulate the body’s inflammation responses).

How can this help you?

Cardio Exercise

Researchers found that moderate-intensity aerobic exercise done for 45 minutes 3 days a week was effective at reducing several pro-inflammatory proteins as well as increasing an anti-inflammatory cytokine – increasing it potentially to levels a hundredfold higher than resting levels (Goldhammer et al. 2005).

If you work with us at Go Fit Now, that would be cardio done at your personal effort of 5 to 7 out of 10 intensity – running, walking uphill, swimming, rowing, cycling, dancing, and anything else that gets your heart rate up.

Strength Training

As for strength training, it becomes anti-inflammatory when done over a long period of time and with sufficient intensity and volume. That means, if you make moderate intensity strength training part of your continuing exercise plan, you’ll definitely benefit. However, if you just do it briefly, it doesn’t have the same effect. You also have to do enough work in each session. Just doing one set of pushups once a day isn’t going to cut it to fight chronic inflammation.

How does all this exercise help you stay younger?

Chronic low-grade inflammation is a contributer to various age-related diseases, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis (disease of the arteries), cancer, etc (Sanada et al. 2018). Exercise in the right doses and done intelligently is an effective protector and treatment against chronic diseases associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. 

Bottom line: regular exercise protects you from the negative effects of chronic inflammation. It helps the body remain biologically youthful at a cellular level and is a potent natural “medicine” for all of us.

Not sure what type or how much exercise you need for optimim health?

Everyone is different so it’s very smart to get an exercise program that takes into account your physical strengths and weaknesses and includes a correct balance of strength, cardio and flexibility. The only way to do that properly is to get a complete exercise assessment BEFORE being programmed.

The American College of Sports Medicine certified Go Fit Now team is expert in exercise assessment and exercise programming so you get exactly what you need to win. 30 years and over 50,000 hours of professional coaching and training add up to a wealth of experience. 

Contact us for more information on getting your virtual or in-person exercise assessment.

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This recipe is so delicious, creamy and easy to make, I rarely buy ice cream any more. That’s saying something, as ice cream is my biggest food weakness but it usually leaves me in a sugar coma within an hour of eating it. Blurgh!

You’ll need a decent food processor or a Vitamix to make this ice cream. It takes about 5 minutes (not counting freezing the bananas before hand) to get two servings of icy deliciousness. If you’re making it for one, halve the recipe as it doesn’t store well (it freezes up very hard overnight and isn’t quite so good the next day).

INGREDIENTS

• 3 ripe bananas, cut in pieces, placed into a ziplock bag and frozen the day before (or longer)
• 2 tbsp nut butter
• 1/2 to 1 cup almond milk or oat milk (depending on how soft you like your ice cream)
• 1 scoop vegan protein powder (try the Vega vanilla or chocolate)

METHOD

Just put all the ingredients (except the milk) into your food processor. Slowly add milk as you use the tamper to make sure the ingredients blend. The mixture will be quite thick, it should have the consistency of a soft-serve ice cream.

You can serve right away, or put the mixture into bowls and pop into the freezer for about 10 minutes. Top with crumbled nuts, granola, fruit, or eat it plain.

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Achieving fitness goals, such as running faster and stronger, is one of the main reasons you hire a coach or personal trainer. A good trainer will help you achieve your goals and also make sure to address the areas of your body that may not be functioning correctly. It’s a balancing act of progressing towards your goals and pulling back to fix things that are holding you back or could end up becoming injuries.

Balance Achieving Goals and Doing Things the Right Way

Many potential clients don’t understand this balance and can have the mindset of achieving goals at any cost. They’ll throw themselves into a high-intensity cardio program with a restrictive diet to lose weight quickly, or rush through an exercise movement with poor form to get as many repetitions done as possible. One of the most important things we do at Go Fit Now is educate clients so they fully understand how to safely achieve long-lasting health and fitness success.

Occasionally someone asks for our help who is most interested in doing things right, who is willing to dig deeper to enhance understanding and address weak links. Kendall is one of the most outstanding we have seen in a long time.

I first noticed Kendall at the gym we train clients from because she worked out hard and was often helping other friends with their workouts. She was new at that gym and was obviously a very keen fitness enthusiast. Her friendliness was impressive and I liked her right away.

Within a couple of weeks Kendall reached out for some pro coaching. She wanted to be sure her weight training form was correct in order to lift heavier. She had some specific goals for herself that didn’t involve getting hurt and she had recently qualified as a Spartan Elite Athlete so was keen to get stronger and faster for upcoming events.

Running Faster in the Face of COVID-19

Then the gyms closed due to COVID-19. All races were cancelled. This could have been a great reason to stop an take a break. Instead of giving up, we came up with a plan to continue training outside of the gym while maintaining hygienic distancing and here is what happened…

Last weekend, at the end of six weeks of quarantine in Los Angeles (that’s six weeks without any official runs), Kendall  ran a 10k timed “race” and earned a new personal record (PR). From a previous PR of 54 minutes, she was down to 49:52. And that’s without dedicated running training or a gym environment.

I encouraged her to stop timing herself and to switch her focus to sprinting intuitively for 10 to 15 minutes. She started focusing on how hard she felt she was working, rather than basing her progress on a pre-made (AKA cookie-cutter) model.

Along with her 10 to 15 minute intuitive runs, she was hitting the weights, doing a bunch of conditioning work including kettle bell training and, most importantly, addressing areas in her body that were out of ideal alignment based on our initial and ongoing assessment.

Kendall – Agent of F.I.T.

Kendall is a true Agent of F.I.T. (Fitness Intelligence Training). She shows up, listens, applies what she learns and encourages others via her Instagram @kendallrosenberg. She is a total bad-ass with a giant smile and a huge heart.

Pay attention, folks, you’ll be hearing more soon!

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Solving Shoulder Pain

Solving shoulder pain is one of our specialties at Go Fit Now. We have some amazing techniques we teach our clients so they can easily resolve shoulder pain, and if they need more specialist attention, we know of some excellent physical and massage therapists who are great too.

Stephen had a barrier in his shoulder that caused difficulty doing things like bench press and push-ups. Within a few minutes, he completely handled this and this shoulder pain of several years was completely gone! With this handled, his exercise posture improved dramatically. Here’s what he has to say about this.

Steven:  Good afternoon everybody.

Rudi and Tracey have been amazing. I just had a workout with Rudi. I had a shoulder injury 20 plus years ago in my right shoulder. Every time I did a push up or a sit up after that injury, I would feel a lot of pain and knots here. Just through Rudi’s program I’ve been able to release a lot of that pain and now later today during the workout, I was able to work out pain free in my right shoulder. It’s been a huge relief. I haven’t had that kind of relief in over 20 years, so I’m really happy.

RM: That’s awesome. Now, how many minutes did we spend on it?

Steven: It’s insane, three minutes. Three minutes or less, it could have been two minutes. All I know is it’s better than spending a hundred visits to a clinic to get it fixed when when you have an expert like Rudi and Tracey, they triangulate and figure it out pretty quickly.

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Foot Pain

Foot pain can be something that totally stops a workout, as it stops all kinds of activities like running, dancing, ice skating and even walking. It can feel like someone is putting a hot poker under your feet and if you’ve ever experienced it, it’s pretty unforgettable.

Stephen suffered from this pain but he was determined to get back into shape. He tried ignoring it while doing exercises like burpees and stair runs, but after a while it became pretty impossible.

Luckily he was working with Rudi Marashlian, Exercise Physiologist and exercise pain relief specialist. Here is what he had to say recently about his foot pain and how easily it was handled.

 

 

 

RM: Can you tell us what we did with the feet.

Stephen: So with the feet, my kids well, would love to go ice skating and I never have been able to go ice skating with them because I would have a lot of pain on the bottom of my feet. And through Tracey and Rudi’s techniques of releasing those muscle tissues at the bottom of my feet, I feel very confident that I can go ice skating, probably for the first time, for a long time with my kids. And I never have been able to do that because of the pain that I would have at the bottom of my feet, wearing ice skates. So I’m really excited about taking them to a skating rink and checking it out.

RM: That’s terrific. And then the first time we’ve used the balls, the lacrosse balls on your feet, underneath your feet. How long did it take for you to notice the little changes? How long were you on the ball?

Stephen: Just being on the ball for five minutes made a substantial change. It felt like I had a week’s worth of foot massages. And now I really look forward to taking it off my shoes and rolling the balls on the bottom of my feet when I feel a little bit of a foot cramp.

So if you ever feel any tension at the bottom of your feet, Rudi and Tracey will be more than happy to show you those techniques, to help treat that release of tension on the bottom of your feet. It’s been incredible for me.

RM: Thank you for sharing that.

Stephen: Thank you, Rudi.

 

Suffering from Foot Pain?

You can reach out to Rudi and Tracey to find out about this simple technique to handle it for good.

 

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