The Safe, Healing power of the ROM Machine

I can relate to this testimonial I read from a fellow ROM owner. His name is Tom Caputo and he has been a ROM owner since 2003. I wanted to share this with you because it touches on things that all of us seem to go through as we age. His story speaks to situations many of us can relate to; the effects of aging and the increased risk of injury/ longer time for healing as we get older. Tom’s story struck a nerve with me because last week I heard an owner of a Cross-Fit center (somewhere in Florida) say in a news interview that there is “absolutely no exercise that you can do that is completely safe.” He was trying to defend Cross-Fit training and the (seemingly) higher rates of injury among it’s participants. I wondered…. Has this guy ever heard of the ROM Machine? I don’t know how you could injure yourself on the ROM…. assuming you operate it according to the inventors instructions. Melissa and I have used this exercise equipment for over three months now and neither of us has ever felt like there was a potential to be injured while using it. It is very easy and completely safe to operate. Using the ROM Machine does not have hard “impact” effects on the body (like running, jumping, lifting). As the following testimonial alludes to, exercise should heal….. not injure.

Tom’s Testimonial:

[…] It wasn’t until I reached my forty fourth birthday that the concept of aging had slapped me in the face. […] Even though my body was dropping subtle hints all along the way, it wasn’t until a freak surfing accident that reality set in. That day, I tore my left rotator cuff, something I never even knew I had. The prognosis was this; a 50% mobility loss in the damaged arm/shoulder combined with painful sleep deprivation. The orthopedic suggested immediate surgery to alleviate the pain. Being the type of person that doesn’t take well to the idea of surgery, my question was simple; Could I attempt recovery solely through physical therapy and then, should that fail, have the surgery without risking the success of the surgical outcome because of the time that had lapsed. The doctor was brutally honest. He said I could postpone the surgery without any anatomical risks but physical therapy would be a painful ordeal that he wouldn’t recommend or put himself through.

Fast forward through two years of religious gym visits focusing on the rotator cuff injury. My arm/shoulder was restored to 90% mobility; the remaining 10% gets awarded to some dull pain, minor sleep position issues and joint creaking/clicking. […] So back to the orthopedic I went and guess what he recommended, right, surgery. […] Frankly, I was angry! Forty four was not the point in my life I imagined beginning minor surgeries or a regiment of pills. Furthermore, I received mixed reviews on arthroscopic surgery from some close friends who had the procedure and were not fully satisfied.

Enter the infamous ROM ad. […] Well, long story short, I got the gold and my happy ending. Three years of ROMing later, my status = NSR (no surgery required). I get to workout with my thirteen year old son, kicking a heavy bag with both legs AND my arm/shoulder mobility is back 100%. Sure, I can give you all the infomercial rhetoric; all my friends can’t believe how good I look, I’m back to the weight I was in college, I look very different in the same clothes, but that’s all petty compared to being surgery free, prescription free and anatomically fully functional, approaching my fiftieth birthday (October 2007).

I like happy endings, don’t you?

To Good Health
Marco

Reaction to First Benchmark Results

The numbers are in…. and they look promising.

I have increased/ improved my stats in all categories that we are testing ourselves in. My weight has increased but that was expected. More on that in a minute.

The following improvements were made:
Amount of Sit-Ups in One Minute: A 24% increase
Push-Ups (total before stopping):  17% increase
Squats (total before stopping): 17% increase

One mile run: Reduced my time from 13:08 down to 12 minutes (which was my goal for now). A note on this…… I ran the mile in high school in under 5 minutes (for PE class testing). I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to do that again but….. we’ll see. At 46 years old I think I would be happy with an 8 minute mile. 🙂

Flex: Improved my flex (while sitting on the floor- the ability to bend over and touch my toes). On the first test in November I could bend over and reach 5″ from my toes. This time I was only one inch away from my toes. This one was important to me. It shows that things are “tightening up” around my mid section. The mid-section caliper measurement (percentage of body fat) showed this as well. My mid section reading was 28 before and now it is 25.3. That’s about a 10% decrease.

Lower body fat measurements were also noted at my arm and around my neck. My neck measurement went from 17″ down to 16 3/4″.

Now, about the increase in weight…… I gained 4 pounds in two months.

I will give the ROM Machine people some credit here. They have been available for consultation every step of the way since we acquired their machine. They specifically said that there would be an increase in our weight in the first few months of doing these workouts. This is also noted in some of their promotional materials. Think about that for a moment….. A fitness company that actually tells the truth about the results you will see. Anyway, they explained that what is happening is that you start building muscle first. And muscle weighs more than fat. The great part is that muscle starts “eating away” at the fat if there is regular/ consistent working out of the muscles. I hope my muscles have a big appetite. Lol. Weight loss is expected in the next few months. My goal is to lose 20-30 pounds.

Some final notes……
I haven’t really changed my eating habits through any of this. In fact, the recent holidays may have been, umm, shall we say somewhat “detrimental” to my fitness efforts. Kind of hard to curb your appetite when food is one primary focus around this time of the year. So that makes me even more happy with the results I’m seeing. Add to that the fact that we’ve missed many days of working out on the ROM Machine due to being out of town….. And we’ve still gotten some good results.

I’m really getting convinced this fitness program is working. The ROM Machine does what they say it will do. Even when four minutes a day is all that’s required. The bottom line is that I truly am feeling better. That’s what it’s always been about for me.

To Good Health
Marco

The Life of the Flesh is in the Blood

Homework….
Everybody hates homework, right? Well, unfortunately, I have some homework for you to do. There is an article here on our blog referring to Plasma Circulation. I want you to read it (if you haven’t done so already). Next week we’re going to reveal the health and fitness program we’ve been doing since November 1st. This article will help you understand why what we are doing is so powerful and unlike most other programs out there. What we are doing is one of the best ways to promote blood circulation.

A little story to bring me to my point…..
Back in the 15th century there was a prevailing belief that the world was flat. As people stood on the western shores of Europe and looked out across what we now call the Atlantic ocean, they believed that the horizon was the end of the Earth. Voyage by sea was the primary means of long distance transportation back then. There was a belief that sailing “over” the horizon would mean sure doom. This is a concept that seems silly today.
A man by the name of Christopher Columbus (you may have heard of him) had done some reading of historical texts to “gear up” for a voyage across those forbidden waters. There was a great desire to find out what, if anything, was beyond those waters. Much of that desire was influenced by greed and a need for raw materials. Much of it was from man’s innate drive for discovery. The bottom line is this….. discovery of new lands was accomplished. I’m not going to argue whether or not  Columbus was the first to discover the America’s. I’m only concerned about what convinced him, in particular, to set out on the voyage that he did.

Here’s the compelling part of the story (to me, anyway)….. I have read that Columbus was strongly influenced by one historical text in particular…… The Bible…. and specifically one passage of scripture. There is a scripture in the Bible, Isaiah 40:22, that says “it is He that sitteth upon the circle of the Earth….” The circle of the earth. Columbus must have thought “If the earth is a circle then it’s not flat, right?” According to history, this scripture was written many hundreds of years before Columbus’ day. To believe in this scripture was truly a leap of faith for Columbus. He may have even thought it was a matter of life or death. We all know it worked out well.

Now on to my main point….
There is another scripture in the Bible that I find extremely interesting, and it has to do with the body. Leviticus 17:11 states “for the life of the flesh is in the blood.” This is another scripture that was written hundreds and hundreds of years ago. I’m not here to argue religion. In this forum I am only using the Bible as a historical document. Whether or not you believe it’s content, there are some pretty fascinating concepts in the Bible that appear to have stood the test of time. This is one of them. I have read enough from other more “modern day” sources to become a firm believer that, indeed, “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” It was the key to good health hundreds of years ago and it is still the key to good health today. Take care of your blood and you’ll take care of your entire body.

Think about it. Just about every major disease plaguing mankind today is related to issues with the blood. Heart disease- the number one killer in America. Cancer/ Leukemia. AIDS. I could go on and on. It doesn’t take as much faith (as Columbus needed) to believe that if we can help our blood/ circulation system, we might be able to take care of some of these threats to our bodies. It’s all about the blood…. and how well it is able to do what it was intended to do.

Our fitness program was never intended to be just about improving our looks. Melissa and I wanted something that was going to prolong our lives. We wanted to find something that was easy but hard. Something that took little time but also be something that we would want to do for a lifetime. Sounds contradicting, huh? Next week it will all come together.

Remember your homework!