Functional Fitness with Suzanne Andrews

Three Life Lessons

by Suzanne Andrews

What You Must Know to Get Through the Tough Times

I wrote this when my youngest son was little. It stemmed from a patient responding to my coaxing her to exercise, "what would you know, you've probably never been sick a day in your life!"  (Nothing could be furthest from the truth). 

My son is in college now, but the message is timeless and it can help you get through tough times...

The teacher who influenced me the most didn't produce a scholarly curriculum or carry out formal daily lesson plans. Even though he often wishes to, he is unable to assist me with my day to day operations. Yet, he motivates me day after day to reach beyond what I thought I was capable of and surpass it. Every new day, he continues to teach, to inspire and to influence my life in a way I never thought was humanly possible. He weighs a mere 68 lbs and proudly stands 4 feet 3 inches tall. He is my son, the child that several doctors predicted I would not be able to conceive.

Lesson One: A Ray of Light From Darkness

At the age of 10, I was placed in the terminally ill section of the children's hospital.  At the age of 20, I again overcame odds and beat a severe infection in my right ovary that affected my reproductive system. At the age of 24, my left ovary was removed and for the third time, emergency surgery saved my life. However, there would be one more emergency surgery and this one would bring great joy. My son's triumphant arrival by C-section on a memorable day in spring taught me to believe in the unexpected and to never give up hope.

Lesson Two: Appreciate the Little Things

To this very day, I marvel at my son's accomplishments and realize how important it is to praise not only his efforts, but also other people who come across my path in life. My son has taught me that the simplest joys in life; laughing, listening and loving are the best gifts we can give and receive. As he continues to discover life's daily events with sheer fascination, I feel privileged to have the opportunity to reflect on his newly acquired knowledge and see the sparkle in his beautiful innocent eyes. Each fresh new moment I spend with him offers the most enriching learning experience I have ever had. He's taught me to believe that I can be a compassionate mother, a loving wife, an inquisitive student of life and a better person who has the ability to make wise choices.

Lesson Three: Choose Healthcare, Not Sick Care

One of those choices is keeping off those extra sixty pounds that once wore on me like a backpack full of rocks adding stress to every joint in my oversized body. Now I'm not talking about being a size 2, I'm talking about being a size healthy. My dear son made me realize that "love thyself' is not just a cliché. By getting in shape, you are essentially saying to all those that love you, "I love myself enough to take care of my health and I want to be around a long time to share my life with you." When we commit to love our body, we make wholesome choices and feel free to discover the restorative powers of good health. From the moment you realize you love yourself enough - a paradise lost is regained. Those seeds of wholeness - given to you at creation are within you. When you are discouraged, just look at your creation, your little miracle, and know the motivation to make healthcare a priority is within you!

Keep those letters coming as you motivate me!

Healthiest Blessings,

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

10 Ways to Look 10 Years Younger

by Suzanne Andrews

Here are Top 10 Exercise Moves to Make You 10 Years Younger

Prevention is always the best cure, and by adopting 10 simple anti-aging exercises into a functional fitness routine to increase your strength, flexibility and heart health, you can reverse your age by ten years. These exercises target areas of the body that frequently suffer painful and debilitating degeneration if not properly stimulated -- especially knees, hips and shoulders.

A recent study conducted at the Lausanne University in Switzerland entitled "The Exercise -- Anti-Aging Connection" firmly concludes that "Regular physical exercise is a cornerstone in the anti-aging game."  Other studies prove that your cells actually get younger with exercise and it's a lot less expensive than plastic surgery!

1. Toe Touches - Lift your arms above your head and slowly bring them down in a graceful arc until you touch your toes. Hold for 10 seconds. This helps you to increase and maintain your range of motion so you continue to bend down without pain. Repeat this exercise to increase the range of motion in your spine and legs.
2. Balance Exercises - Lift your arms above your head again, but this time rise up on your tip toes and stretch up as far as possible. Hold for 5 seconds. Gradually lower your arms to shoulder level while finding your center of balance. Then slowly lower your arms as you sink down on your heels. Repeat until you feel centered. This will help you maintain your inner balance and avoid accidental falls.
3. Shoulder Stretches - Stand up straight and extend your arms behind your back. Clasp your hands behind your back. By 'unlocking' the muscles in your shoulders, you have more flexibility to reach high shelves and remove objects without causing strain.
4. Hip Circumduction - Put your hands behind your back and stand on one foot while you raise the other a few inches and point it forward. Slowly rotate your foot in a circular motion. Stand on both feet again, then repeat the motion with the other foot. This strengthens the muscles that surround your hips to help protect against hip fractures.
5. Squats - With your hands extended straight out, do some simple squats to strengthen your torso muscles and improve your balance so you can easily get in and out of cars.
6. Resistance - Place your hands against a wall and lean your body at an angle while on your tip toes. Feel your calf muscles and your upper body strengthen. This resistance helps to strengthens bones against osteoporosis.
7. Shoulder Stretch - Rotate your shoulders in a circular motion to increase lubricant in your joints and decrease joint pain.
8. Tricep Extensions - Sit up straight in a chair, place your hands on the arm rests lift yourself up 15x to increase your upper body strength.
9. Plyometric exercises - Stand on one leg with arms slightly behind your body. Propel your body up as high as possible, reaching up your arms and springing from your legs. Perform 3 times in rapid succession, then lower your foot and repeat on the other side. This "Michael Jordan" move creates the kind of explosive energy boost that maintains the muscle power that we lose as we age and is good for carrying suitcases.
10. Core muscles - Now that all the outer muscles are warmed up and flexible, it is important to set the 'core muscles' that support your body's framework. Stand up very straight with your feel planted firmly on the ground. Contract your abdomen by imagining you are drawing your belly button down to the base of your spine. Once you have the bottom muscles set, imagine there is a cord coming from the center of your chest pulling your breastbone up. Naturally allow your shoulders to fall back as you look up. Breathe normally while you hold this position and tighten all of your outer muscles around your core muscles. Maintain full body tension as long as possible, then relax them all at once. Repeat numerous times, noticing how your body tightens a little more with each repetition.

Once you have completed your routine, rest for a moment and allow your heart rate to return to normal. Also drink a glass of water to help remove any toxins that your body naturally releases when exercising to further enhance the anti-aging effects of your functional fitness.

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

How to Stop Diabetes Now!

by Suzanne Andrews

Do you ever feel like you're the main character of a country and western song? Your rent is overdue, you hate your job, the truck broke down and now your doctor says you've got diabetes. Yee-Haw! No wonder we are stressed to the max.

Just to clarify- bear with me here - your body communicates with itself using chemical messengers called hormones. Several organs in the brain and body produce hormones that flow to other organs through the blood where these messages are received and the corresponding organ responds by producing another hormone that fixes a problem detected by sensors in your nervous system that alerted the brain in the first place.

Insulin is a hormone. It chemically dissolves sugar molecules in the blood so that they can be converted into the energy that powers the heart, organs and muscles.
Diabetes comes in two types. Type one is usually hereditary. The autoimmune system in your body goes haywire and attacks the cells in your pancreas that produce a hormone called insulin. Without the sugars being broken down you won't have much energy.

Type two diabetes is caused by the pancreas not producing enough insulin hormone even though the brain keeps signaling it to. If you have a faulty pancreas you are at a higher risk of type two diabetes and need to take steps now to not aggravate the situation. It is unfortunate to have either type one or type 2 diabetes, but if you have type 2, you are at an advantage because you can actually stop diabetes from attacking your body by implementing your own plan of attack. But first I'll explain why it is so vital that you pledge to take charge of your health from this day forward.  And because this is a serious disease that I treat in rehab therapy on a daily basis, I'm not going to beat around the bush because lives are at stake!  If I can help you know the facts, maybe I can help you.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of blood vessel disease and heart disease giving you two to four times higher a chance of dying from heart disease. Another shocking fact is that people with diabetes have a sixty percent higher chance of having one or both limbs amputated!

Thirty minutes of exercise a day is vital for your health and survival. Exercising with diabetes literally gives your body physical medicine as working out with diabetes actually helps to stabilize your blood sugar. Your body also has receptors in them and if you are overweight, the receptors that help normalize your blood sugars don't work properly. So weight loss and increased activity is a must. 

Own Your Copy of Stop Diabetes Now!

Side effects include more energy, stable blood sugar, improved circulation, longer lifespan and you get to keep your legs. In the case of diabetes, it really is use it or lose it. As an occupational therapy practitioner, I often find the biggest challenge is motivating my patients with diabetes to exercise. Sadly some don't take the advice and eventually I am called upon to teach them how to use a sliding board transfer from their wheelchair to their bed because they no longer have legs. Use your arms, use your legs, and get your circulation going!  I know this may not sound pretty, but it is heart breaking to see people who could have saved their legs if only they used them while they still had them.

Diabetes is a silent killer and slowly attacks your body without you even realizing it. When diabetes advances even further, you can lose your eyesight. The choice is so simple. Eat right and exercise. Make sure to choose exercises that don't involve isometric movement - these are exercises where you tense up a muscle and don't move your joint. Whether you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, a fitness and nutrition plan is crucial.

If you have pre-diabetes you can make the right choice now to to not be one of the 800,000 new cases diagnosed in the US each year. That's 91 people every hour. The more you exercise with diabetes, the less dependent your muscles are on insulin, so even if your pancreas isn't producing much, that's OK, it doesn't need to. Working out when you have diabetes keeps your blood sugar and body in balance. Since exercise controls diabetes from attacking your body, exercise is a must when you have diabetes. I've never had a patient tell me they enjoy their blindness or amputation. But after you work out, you feel good!  And you deserve to feel good. Just make sure that your blood sugar isn't under 100 when you workout. 

So keep your mind on the bright side of things and don't become the subject of a sad country and western tune. You can live a full and active life after all. Yee haw! 

Healthiest blessings,   

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

Feta Cheese Salad

by Suzanne Andrews

Calcium Recipe: Feta Cheese Salad Recipe for Osteoporosis!

Thought calcium was just in cheese? Learn what other surprising foods have calcium in this Feta cheese salad to help you get stronger bones and beat osteoporosis.  Suzanne Andrews takes you into the kitchen and shows you all the ingredients in this calcium rich salad.  Bone appetite!

Suzanne Andrews, Occupational Therapy Practitioner/L

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

4 FABULOUS WALK MOVES for STRONGER BONES!

by Suzanne Andrews

Do you know that Osteoporosis is known as the silent disease because women don't know they have it until they get a bone density test which is usually done after they fracture a bone!  As important as it is to work out when you have osteoporosis, it's equally important to know what movements are safe for thinning bones. 

If you have osteoporosis, one of the things to remember is to make sure you don't round your back. Some of my patients that I have on my caseload fractured their back bending down in the shower.  Yes, if you have thinning bones, fractures are not always caused from a fall.  Fractures can be caused from the wrong move. You're better off investing in a $10.00 reacher so you can pick up items without rounding your back.  In the mean time, bone building exercises are vital for bone strength.

Since walking for bone strength is easy and fun, it's a good option for bone health. Sometimes those Spring showers can stop the best of intentions of going for a walk outdoors so if you don't have much space in your home, here's four fabulous walk moves for you to get stronger bones in a small space.  Enjoy!

Healthiest blessings,

Suzanne Andrews 

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

Tips To Stay Young

by Suzanne Andrews

1. After age 50, you lose 1 -2% of muscle strength per year.  After 60, you lose 3% a year, which comes out to about 4.5 pounds of muscle strength a year. 

2. Your legs get weaker three years before your arms start becoming weak and that's why you'll notice it's becoming difficult to walk like you used to. 

3. Your bicep muscles in your arms help you lift stuff and your triceps help you push up to a stand. 

4. Not all the muscles that are important to move your arms are located in your arms: your latissimus dorsi (located in your back) pulls your shoulders back and your arms to your sides.)  

While strong legs are important, strong arms are also vital for a fully functional life.  With strong arms you can lift your baby/grand-baby out of a car seat with ease, carry in groceries, get items of the top shelf and get in and out of the tub without injuring yourself. 
You don't have to let nature take it course. With Functional Fitness, one day longer is one day stronger! Fight Back with this Functional Fitness move...  

• Arm and Leg Strengthen and Stretch 

Place one leg forward as shown.  Place back leg on an angle as shown.  Bend your knees and make sure not to allow your knee to go past your toes. Raise your arms to shoulder level.  Hold this position for 5 seconds.  Release the position, stand up straight for 2 seconds and repeat 12x.  

• Suzanne Andrews Functional Fitness Tip 

Holding the position for 5 seconds recruits your muscle power and increases your strength quicker.  When you do exercises quickly, you work momentum instead of muscle. 

• Functional Fitness Challenge 

Too Easy?  Hold a dumbbell.  Start with 1 lb and workout your way up in increments of 1 lb per week as tolerated until you've reached 5 lbs. Bonus! This move will also increase your bone strength and is osteoporosis safe.  54 million people over the age of 50 have thinning bones (Osteoporosis)!  

Healthiest blessings,
Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

Surprising Fitness Facts after 50

by Suzanne Andrews

One surprising aspect of practicing fitness after 50 is how it affects your endocrine system. That's the system of organs in your body that produce and regulates hormones in your bloodstream. Just like a thermostat signals your heating and air conditioning system when to turn on and off, so does your body. If you're going through menopause, you feel how important it is to regulate your hormones every time you get a hot flash. So what can you do besides stripping and throwing a bucket of ice water on you? First, and bear with me, I need to explain how your body works…

The pituitary gland in your brain produces growth hormone (GH) and that production is increased during aerobic exercise. This is vital for muscle tone and bone density and also helps strengthen your tendons, cartilage and ligaments which literally holds you together. So if you're having a mood swing that even chocolate can't fix and someone says, "Get it together," if you exercise, you can proudly claim, "I'm being held together quite nicely, thank you".

Growth hormone also communicates fat deposits to be used as fuel instead of blood glucose which helps you to stay energized longer while exercising, which is also why exercise is vital for people who have diabetes and why it helps to keep your metabolism running smoothly during menopause.

You've probably heard that the longer you exercise, the easier or less painful it gets. The pituitary gland also produces endorphins. This is one of my favorites because it sends a chemical signal to the brain to reduce anxiety, tension, decreases your appetite, blocks pain and gives you sense of euphoria known as "runners high" where you can exercise for longer periods of time with less pain. Now, you don't have to be a runner to experience this. An increased sensitivity to endorphins can be achieved if you've exercised for several months because it winds up staying in your blood for longer periods causing that "runners high" to last longer as well. Good stuff.

Testosterone is produced in both sexes, in the ovaries in women and the testes in men. Women have about one tenth the amounts of men but it still affects your metabolism by burning fat during exercise along with increasing muscle strength and tone, and producing a sense of self confidence. When you're healthy and strong you feel good! Testosterone can remain in your bloodstream at elevated levels up to three hours after exercise. In women it can also benefit the intensity of orgasms and that's never a bad thing.

Here's another reason to exercise. Another hormone that helps to breakdown unwanted body fat is estrogen. It increases your metabolism (burns fat as fuel), increases both your libido and your mood. The ovaries produce less of it as menopause is reached but exercising can elevate its levels in the blood for up to four hours after exercising so you feel sexier and happier. Now that's better than a valium and has much better side effects than any anti-depressant.

The thyroid gland produces thyroxine which again increases your metabolism in nearly all cells in your body. The increase induces a feeling of being more energetic, burns more calories which promotes weight loss. You get about 30% more thyroxine in the blood during exercise and it remains for several hours afterwards. The longer and harder you exercise the longer it flows through the blood even at rest. You can literally be burning fat stores long after exercising.

The adrenal medulla produces epinephrine (adrenaline) whose primary purpose is to signal the heart to pump harder and it also directs blood flow to the muscles being worked using the stored fat in those muscles as fuel/energy. While this chemical is flowing through your bloodstream it also activates the breakdown of carbohydrates (glycogen) in the liver and the active muscles. The higher the time and intensity of exercise the more epinephrine is released into the blood. But more is not always better. If you haven't exercises for a while it's best to start off with a beginner's fat burning program and progress as tolerated to avoid injury.

The human body is an amazing biological machine that isn't programmed so much as it responds to inputs we decide to place upon it. If you sit and eat, it responds by weakening, fattening and sickening. If you exercise and eat nutritious foods; it strengthens, tones and fights illness and disease. You ultimately choose the way your body reacts to the lifestyle you live. Exercising on a regular schedule causes the body to react with chemical signals that strengthen cells, burn fat deposits and increase blood flow to all the organs responsible for better bodily functions and health.

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

3 Weight Loss Tips for Success

by Suzanne Andrews

One of America's Top Nutrition Experts, Dr. Roy Vartabedian, Reveals 3 Weight Loss Tips for Success in this Video.

Dr. Roy Vartabedian, selected as one of America's top experts by PBS TVs Functional Fitness with Suzanne Andrews, reveals three tips for successful weight loss in this weight loss video interview. 

Suzanne Andrews founded Functional Fitness in 2008, the most popular fitness series for boomers and seniors broadcasting on over 159 Public Television stations throughout the US and Canada. Read Suzanne’s inspiring comeback story of how she survived a near fatal accident, From Deaths Door to Producing a National Fitness Series. Feel free to send Suzanne a message here.

5 Triggers that Cause Weight Gain

by Suzanne Andrews

I lost 60 pounds after giving birth and have been struggling to keep it off now that I’m in menopause, so I can relate with weight loss being a daunting challenge.  From yo-yo dieting to unrealistic goals and deprivation, people who struggle to lose weight often face an uphill battle. By identifying the triggers that lead to overeating and overcoming them, you will be well on your way to successful weight loss.

1. Stress

People have to deal with stressful situations every day. From hectic work schedules to strained family life and the pressures of the daily grind, stress can wear out even the strongest person. Some who struggle with weight loss use food as a way to ease the stresses in their life. This leads to weight gain, which leads to more stress, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to break. You can’t get away from stress, but you can learn how to react in stressful situations.

2. Culture

One of the main obstacles to people trying to lose weight is pressure from family. It can be very difficult to eat healthy meals when the family members are snacking on high fat and diet busting high calorie foods. In some cultures, it is a badge of honor to be overweight. Family gatherings such as holidays and celebrations may also lead to the pressure to overeat. Have an apple, soup (not creamy soup) or salad as an appetizer. This will help fill you up so you don’t eat too much.  

3. Time of Day

Does the clock dictate what goes on your plate? Many people eat not because they're hungry, but because they are accustomed to eating at a certain time every day. Others fail to listen to their body's cues and allow social pressures to dictate what they eat. Visualize yourself at your goal weight before ordering your food.

4.  Place

Studies have shown that where you eat has a huge bearing on how much we eat. When you sit down at a table to eat a meal you tend to eat less than if you're sitting on the couch. Eating while doing other tasks such as working at a desk can lead to overeating and weight gain. When eating a meal or a snack, focus on eating only. Attempting to multi-task while eating can cause you to lose track of the amount you're eating and take in too many excess calories.

5.  High Expectations

There is no pill or potion that can make you lose weight.  As a practitioner of Occupational Therapy, I cringe when I see those hyped up claims, “Lose 30 pounds in 30 Days!”  Be accountable and responsible for what you put in your body.  Combine that with exercise and the weight will come off.

Suzanne Andrews is a licensed Occupational Therapy Clinician with 30 years exercise expertise. Airing to over 49 million on Public Television, Suzanne Andrews, a licensed Occupational Therapy Clinician, (they specialize in function) creates evidenced based fitness programs for specific health conditions. Originally created in 2008 with it’s first run on WDSC TV, Functional Fitness with Suzanne Andrews broadcasts on 113 Public Television stations.

5 Types of Urinary Incontinence

by Suzanne Andrews

Did you Know There are 5 Types of Urinary Incontinence?

Find out Which One You Have to See if You Can Treat it At Home!

1. URGE INCONTINENCE: you have this if you have involuntary large leaks at unexpected times, including sleep. You also have a strong urgency to void. This can be treated naturally, providing you don’t have a neurological condition like dementia, multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injuries.

2. STRESS INCONTINENCE: if you leak small amounts of urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh or jump you have stress incontinence. (Very treatable without drugs or surgery provided you don’t have a neurological condition as mentioned above). The most common causes are:

• Weak pelvic floor musculature.
• Pregnancy

3. MIXED INCONTINENCE: if you have a combination of urge and stress you have mixed incontinence. Most common causes are:

• Disuse atrophy of the uro-genital anatomy (weak pelvic floor muscles).
• Sedentary lifestyle.
• Non specific engagement of muscle innervation. (Not doing specific exercises correctly for this area).

This is highly treatable without drugs or surgery.

4. OVERFLOW INCONTINENCE: Sudden leaking because of a full bladder. This happens without physical movement. Causes are:

• Fecal Impaction - dry stool that cannot pass out of the body. Caution: this can cause death so see your doctor immediately if you suspect this!

• Weak Detrusor Muscle: ( A muscle that forms the wall of the bladder). Highly treatable with 30 Day Bladder Fix. 

5. FUNCTIONAL INCONTINENCE: Leakage due to inability to reach a toilet because of physical disabilities and/or dementia and tramatic brain injuries. This type is not When a patient has functional incontinence, they are the ones who need adult diapers and pads. 

If you have one of the treatable types of Urinary Incontinence mentioned above, there is no reason you should be flushing your money down the toilet. The average person with Urinary Incontinence spends $4008.00 a year on pads, creams, laundry, soiled clothing, soap and doctor’s visits. Start saving money and preview what 30 Day Bladder Fix can do for you.

Suzanne Andrews is a licensed Occupational Therapy Clinician with 30 years exercise expertise. Airing to over 49 million on Public Television, Suzanne Andrews, a licensed Occupational Therapy Clinician, (they specialize in function) creates evidenced based fitness programs for specific health conditions. Originally created in 2008 with it’s first run on WDSC TV, Functional Fitness with Suzanne Andrews broadcasts on 113 Public Television stations.