Marco & Melissa's Health & Fitness Journey

My wife’s Uncle had a heart attack last month. He woke up one weekday morning feeling pain in his arm/ shoulder. He thought he had slept in an awkward position. He soon realized it might be more than that. Not wanting to take a chance on waiting for an ambulance, he drove himself to the hospital. He had the heart attack while the doctors were examining him. Had he been anywhere else he probably would have died….. The doctors found that his “Widow Maker” artery was 99.9% blocked. Thankfully, he survived and is working his way through recovery. In fact, he was back at home within a few days after surgery.
Uncle Ronnie is in his early 60’s and never had any signs of any problems. By all appearances he was in good health. But you never know, huh?

Uncle Ronnie’s brother Mike (my father in law) was prompted by this event (and an insistent wife) to go get checked out. He had heard that heart disease is hereditary. He is older than Uncle Ronnie so he figured it might be a good idea to get some tests done. I don’t know all the details about the testing that he went through but one thing that happened sticks in my mind: he scored zero on a test that the doctors told him he wouldn’t score zero on. You see, zero was the best score possible. Nationwide, very few people had ever scored that low. Well, once the test came back that’s exactly what he had…. zero. The test was to determine plaque build-up in the arteries. There was none. The doctors said he is in excellent shape for a man his age.

Long story short…… My father in law is probably going to outlive all of us. I agree with the doctors. I’ve known my f-i-l for over 20 years…. He is in the best shape of pretty much anyone I know in their 60’s. And the testing they did on him confirmed it. So how does he do it? Does he exercise regularly? Well, maybe some. He plays racquetball but I wouldn’t say regularly. Does he eat “right?” Not really. He eats just about anything he wants (although lately I’ve noticed he’s eating smaller portions). He even drinks Cokes (and has for years).

What is it then? We already know he has some hereditary conditions to be concerned about….. No escaping that. Here’s what I think it is: He always seems to be happy. No matter what the situation is he seems to always look at the bright side of things. I’ve hardly ever seen him down. My f-i-l is pastor of our church and has seen some heartache over the years…. People that he loves and the situations they have had to go through. He tragically lost a very good friend back in 1993. Through it all he has remained steady.  And this isn’t just my opinion. Many others have commented on his continually upbeat attitude.

There is a scripture in Proverbs (17:22) that says “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” In other words, having a positive outlook can better your health.  My f-i-l is a perfect example of this. He is not a worrier and he seems to always be in a good mood. It has shown through his health. The tests have proved it.

So the lesson in all of this? Don’t worry…..be happy (I couldn’t resist). Maybe you, too, can pass those tests!

How does the ROM fit in with all of this? That’s coming in the next post.

To Good Health
Marco

There are a lot of different exercises and workouts that can achieve various results, from a great cardio workout that gets the heart pumping and the blood flowing… to an intense weight training workout that produces some serious bulk, and then everything in between.

The results desired through physical workouts vary from one person to the next regardless of gender.
However, to obtain true health and fitness that will afford you a long and healthy life, we all… no matter our age or gender, need to have a balanced exercise/workout routine.

Weight training by itself is not going to provide the vital cardio/aerobic needs of our vascular system just like a good cardio/aerobic workout is not going to produce any of the muscle building/toning benefits, like stronger bones and a metabolism boost.

A consistent daily workout routine (balanced with cardio/muscle building) cannot only boost your metabolism (increasing your energy), strengthen your bones, and promote a healthy vascular system.
It can also be used as a tool to combat certain diseases and health issues, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and the list goes on…

This is why we love our ROM Machine workouts…
We can get a full strength training (muscle building), cardio/aerobic workout, and stretching in just 4 minutes per day. Marco and I both have seen great improvement in our muscle tone, flexibility, endurance, strength and overall health.

You’ve only got one life to live… make it a long and healthy one!

Marco and Melissa

Snow Camp 2016

Every year (for the past several years) we’ve chaperoned our kids and several others from our church to a youth camp/ meeting up at Mount Charleston, outside of Las Vegas. It’s a three day retreat up in the mountains and is sponsored by the local Las Vegas church we’re affiliated with. They put on an outstanding camp. The kids have a great time and always look forward to the next year.

As we drove up the mountain this year, we noticed the snow level was way down from years past. The mountain looked pretty much barren of snow, except at elevations higher than the campground. That was on Thursday. On Friday everything changed. A terrific winter storm moved through the area and blanketed the mountain. We got the snow we were looking for…… over six inches of it.

The camp is at about 8000′ above sea level. We live at sea level. Going from one location to the other can pose some challenges. The camp is not on flat ground. You have to climb up from one side of the camp to the other. In years past I have definitely felt the effects of the higher altitude, typically throughout the three days. This mainly consisted of headaches and shortness of breath. This year I noticed an improvement. By the second day I was feeling a lot better than at the same point last year. Very minor headache one day and actually running up that hill at times.

A little background:
I am the song leader at our local church. This entails leading the congregation in songs and worship at the beginning of each service. Song service can get very lively sometimes. It can typically last for 15 minutes to a half hour, sometimes even longer. It takes a lot of energy to get through sometimes. In the last couple of years, I had been noticing that my endurance during these services was starting to drop off. I’d get out of breath a lot quicker than in the past (I’ve been leading song service for over 20 years). Since starting our workouts on the ROM Machine I’ve been noticing some improvement but I couldn’t really “confirm” this beyond a doubt. Like I said, these services vary in length and intensity.

That brings me back to Snow Camp. I’ve been asked for the last four years to lead song service for at least one service of the camp (there are five services total each year). Again, this is at over 8000′ and we’re coming from sea level. Every year it just about kills me (well, that’s how I’ve felt, anyway). I remember from last year how upbeat the service was and how lethargic I felt trying to get through leading songs. It wasn’t a good feeling.

Things were a lot different this year. Yes, I got out of breath at times. But that was to be expected…. the song service lasted for more than an hour. And that was on Saturday night. I had also led the service the night before (which also lasted longer than usual). This was the first time I had ever led two services of the camp. And I felt a lot better than last year after only one service. My increased endurance at that high altitude has made a believer out of me; the ROM workouts were helping me tremendously.

I’m amazed at how little time these improvements have taken. We’ve only been doing the ROM workouts since November of last year (and we’ve missed a lot of our these workouts due to vacations/ travel, etc….). I am getting exactly the type of results I was looking for….. I am feeling better. And I can’t wait for next years Snow Camp.

To Good Health