We all know how important fitness is to maintaining a healthy body and mind, but let’s face it, there are times when we all get stuck. Whether it’s that we have plateaued, or that we simply don’t know where to begin, workouts (or even the mere thought of them) can work up a lot of resentment. Recently I became aware of a whole new kind workout routine and to call it unique would be an understatement. Tension Fit Trainer (also known as TFT) allows its users to basically drop whatever it is they are doing, anywhere at any time and start working out. Curious to learn more about this fitness revolution, I sat down for a chat with fitness guru and inventor of TFT Dr. Tremaine Young (or Dr. Tre for short).

Dr. Tre, a professional engineer and licensed primary care physician created TFT with the goal of eliminating heavy duty workout equipment all together. “TFT is a 100% portable device that can be used anywhere; void of additional separate attachments,” Dr. Tre explained. “One of the major benefits of TFT is that it follows the strength curve of each muscle. As the users muscles get stronger during an eccentric to concentric contraction, TFT proportionally gets stronger throughout the entire range of motion. In using TFT you can change exercises seamlessly on the fly without needing to change weights or remove or add connecting accessories. Regardless [of whether] you are focusing on training chest, biceps, legs, back etc., when using TFT the users abdominal muscles will be engaged simultaneously. [So] …Say goodbye to doing regular abdominal crunches.”

Breaking the monotony of working out was one of the primary reasons Dr. Tre was inspired to develop TFT. His aim was to create a one of a kind workout system that would eliminate the bind of getting to the gym and working out the same muscle groups on a daily basis. Effectively Dr. Tre wanted to create a system that would allow users to stop, drop and workout. “I had used a multitude of products [that] claimed…[to be] …totally portable,” he says. “[But] all of those products [proved[ very limited in where and how they could be used. In the past, I also was not very fond of weight lifting due to the unsafe practices and the [destructive effect] that lifting weights [can have] on one’s joints. I desired a unit that followed the strength curve of each muscle in my body [and] the top suspension trainer and weights all failed.”

While a typical weight program usually involves a schedule of grouping two muscle groups together, TFT stands out in the way it engages the body to use different muscle groups in each exercise. Moreover, this workout regimen promises to help users preserve their joints over the long haul because it does not involve applying the same amount of pressure on the joints as typical free weight workouts tend to do.

But preserving the joints is not the only added value of TFT. Dr. Tre’s new routine promises users not only increased muscle strength, but a full body work out that can be done in a fraction of the time it would take to complete a standard workout circuit. According to Dr. Tre, there’s no need to spend hours in the gym daily to achieve the “perfect body.” In fact. Dr. Tre suggests using TFT for a scant 19 minutes per day, five to six times per week.

With that in mind, I asked Dr. Tre to recommend his top three workouts for anyone using TFT and here’s what he suggested:

“1.) TFT Run: One of the most highly effective exercises that one can do to gain great return. This exercise simulates a parachute run by having the user run against tension which causes the user to immediately run by using their abdominal muscles.
2.) TFT Squat and Lunge Jumps: Another effective exercise that eliminates loading the body down with weights…which causes postural and joint dysfunction.

3.) TFT Clap Pushes: A great way to build pectoral and abdominal strength together. TFT allows the user to transition from doing a regular push up to progressively doing TFT clap.”

With such a unique and fun product that can be utilized almost anywhere I couldn’t resist asking Dr.Tre about the craziest places he has ever “TFT’d” and he had some memorable stories; “The two craziest places that I have used TFT ..[would be]… in the Delta terminal waiting area [in New York]…[and] in the heart of Times Square,” Dr. Tre responded. “You see, TFT does not need anything to attach to and can safely be used by attaching two TFT’s together,” he continued offering yet another reason to celebrate the revolution this new approach to fitness just might herald.

One workout at a time Dr.Tre is proving that health and fitness certainly does not have to be boring or mundane. Armed with a goal of educating people about TFT and simultaneously promoting health, Dr. Tre, like his product, shows no signs of slowing down.

Find out more about TFT at www.tensionfitness.com.

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Disclaimer: I am by no means an exercise aficionado. In fact, I have only exercised with what can best be described as practiced irregularity for the better part of the last decade and a half. In other words, like so many people I know, I have tried every new workout trend that has come round the bend. I am, after all, an Angeleno and when you live in Los Angeles you have to do something physical lest you run the risk of becoming a social outcast, shunned by every fashionable circle.

Against this backdrop, I have hiked, biked, cycled, and power walked. Tried yoga, kayaking (don’t ask), Pilates and Tae-Bo. And in the process endured every faddish diet imaginable, all to no avail. Okay, well not actually to no avail at all because eventually I realized that, to paraphrase the words of British comedian, Miranda Hart, if I simply ate a bit less and moved about a bit more, that would do the trick for me. But the question of finding a workout regimen that fit with my travel schedule and that I could actually engage with that did not make me positively suicidal remained. That is until I discovered Inform Fitness  (and even then I wasn’t so sure I had found the thing).

Billed as a ‘fitness revolution’, Inform Fitness is built around the concept that you can build more muscle with less hustle using the Power of 10 – a high-intensity, slow motion, resistance training workout that provides an entire week’s worth of exercise in just about a half-hour or so once a week, which even for a busy traveler is doable. That fact, at least in part, explains why the groundbreaking regimen which was first touted in the New York Times  bestseller of the same name written by Inform Fitness founder Adam Zickerman, has since developed a major following among a hyper busy roster of clients that includes celebrities (Barbara Walters and Leslie Stahl among them), Wall Street CEOs, executives, athletes, doctors, soccer moms, and professionals of every stripe and variety.

When Inform Fitness opened a Los Angeles outpost last year, Zickerman invited me in to try the workout and to be honest, despite my trembling post-workout muscles following that initial visit, I left still wholly unconvinced that this Power of 10 thing wasn’t the just the latest trendy option for simply “moving about a bit more”. However, because it was only once a week, and I wasn’t doing anything more physical than typing and ordering room service at the time, I stuck with the workout by telling myself that doing something once a week had to be better than doing nothing at all.

A few weeks in, and again, being completely honest, I still didn’t know if the workout was really working for me, but I loved the trainers and I liked going to gym and I did feel better after each visit. Moreover, I liked that I could make my visits work with my travel schedule and that I wasn’t plagued by the feeling that I had somehow failed when I missed a week because I was on the road (and what’s even better I didn’t feel like I had to work out when I was on the road!).

Still, it wasn’t actually until a few months into the regimen that one day I found myself standing in the mirror and what I thought was a miracle happened. I could have sworn that I saw a new pectoral muscle flex independently. At first I thought it was an illusion brought on by jet lag but it happened again. ‘Gadzooks,’ I screeched out loud as I pondered what on earth was happening with my body. Then, not to be too personal, I turned and looked at my posterior in the mirror and there was a new muscle there as well. From that moment, I must have spent the better part of the next hour wondering what I could have done to inspire such changes in my body before I remembered my workouts at Inform Fitness.

I had actually been enjoying them so much that I didn’t count them as consequential at that point. I had finally slipped into a workout schedule that felt routine without really trying all that hard. Now, a full year later, as I have watched my body slowly (emphasis on slowly) morph into the body I want with each passing workout I have become not only a believer, but a full-fledged evangelist. Not only that, I find myself eating better to maximize results and have sensed marked improvement in my metabolism and my general health. Most importantly, however, I have found a workout regimen that not only works for me but one that I look forward to doing and can stick with. So much so in fact, that when I was recently in New York, I visited the New York outpost of Inform Fitness because I had the shocking urge to squeeze in a workout between meetings and kind of surprised myself in the process. Me? Choosing to workout when I don’t have to? That never happens and yet it did. Which is not to at all suggest that this workout is a walk in the park because it is anything but if you do it properly.

“It may sound easy, but rest assured – it’s not,”  Zickerman explains. “The goal is to work the muscle to the point of complete exhaustion, by using high-intensity resistance and a focused, slow-motion technique – 10 seconds to lift the weight and 10 seconds to lower…until the point at which the muscles can no longer perform …[otherwise known as]… muscle failure.”

And believe me when I say, hitting muscle failure is infinitely more trying than doing just one last rep. In fact just to verify my own experience, I invited my friend, fitness guru and YouTube personality, Davey Wavey, to try the workout with me one afternoon and even he concurred. “After trying the technique, I can certainly say that it’s intense,” he said. “Because each repetition takes a total of 20 seconds, there’s no help from momentum. There’s no cheating. And there’s no rest in between each repetition; it’s constant work for your muscles…[and] it’s exhausting.”

I guess the larger point here, particularly for business travelers, is that the Inform Fitness workout is efficient because it offers maximum fitness in a minimum of time.

A year ago, when I started at Inform Fitness, many of my friends snickered at the notion of only working out once a week saying it could never work because it flew in the face of everything we had ever been taught.

And, in all fairness, I agreed with them as do many people who try the workout for the first time. They are criticisms that Zickerman himself, a former athlete and lifelong fitness scholar and enthusiast, must tackle constantly because most people, just like me, find it hard to believe that less can actually be more. But, Zickerman, like me, would simply say to skeptics “try it”…because you can always go back to working out three or four times a week or even every day, but just think how great it would be if you didn’t have to?

Listen, if you have a psychological need to lift weights every day to clear your head for the challenges of your workday, this isn’t the plan for you. I wouldn’t even begin to say that. If, however, you want to work out once a week and sleep in an extra hour in the morning when you’re on the road or spend that hour doing other things like prepping for meetings or doing yoga or hiking, this might indeed be the very thing for you.

I’m not at all vain (okay maybe I am a little) but I can’t tell you the joy it brings when former skeptics ask me what I’m doing to stay in shape and I flex my new pectoral muscles as I remind them of that little once-a-week workout I’ve been doing for the last year. Tis the essence of pure satisfaction for me, so much so I almost want to keep it a secret, but I just can’t keep it to myself. Try it and I doubt you will be either. It’s like seeing an actual unicorn…could you even imagine not telling someone? Exactly.

Find out more about Inform Fitness at www.informfitness.com.

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Is your age in spiritual years at odds with the one on that pesky ol’ birth certificate of yours? Well Look the Age You Feel, a new book on grooming for men by author Henrik Vejlgaard, aims to help men avoid what he calls high “age elasticity”, which is the difference between our biological age and our self-perceived age. To that end, the style expert has created a comprehensive common sense, step-by-step guide with tips about everything from the importance of moisturizing and fitness to the subtle signals that a man’s clothes and even the heel of his shoe reveal about his age.

“When a man turns 50 years old, he may feel like a 25 year-old inside. To look like a 50 year-old is then troublesome. And although there are ways of taking years off your age, some simple preventive habits will give the best results,” Vejlgaard says.

Perhaps most interestingly, the book, while useful to men of all ages, takes special pains to prepare younger men for the ravages of the onslaught of time.

“Most men in their twenties and thirties do not think about how they will look in 20 or 30 years’ time. But they should.” Writes Vejlgaard.

“When we are young we typically do not have a lot of money to invest. But then we can invest in something else that will make us happy in 20 or 30 years’ time. Our look.” It’s the kind of advice that is money in the eternal beauty bank.

Find more tips at www.lookyoungermagazine.com.

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So you take vitamin supplements as much of the best research suggests you do, but how do you know that you’re taking the vitamins that are best for you? How do you choose one non-descript bottle from the next in the veritable sea of supplements available on the market today? And, perhaps most importantly, how do you distinguish the latest craze from good science?

After having successfully launched both a health drink company and a chain of low cost gyms that is now Europe’s most profitable and fastest growing health club, long-time friends and business partners, Christopher Coleridge and Walter Faulstroh, headed to Los Angeles with a mission to answer these and an array of other questions with the launch of Hum Nutrition – a revolutionary concept in the supplements biz that for the first time makes vitamins very personal. Not only does Hum offer a broad range of supplements that target very specific health issues, it does so in a way that is specific to each and every individual customer.

Here’s how it works: First, customers take a three-minute HUM Lifestyle Quiz that was developed by leading nutrition experts, Dr. Carl Keen and Dr. Robert Hackman of UC Davis. From there, one of Hum’s Black Belt nutritionists analyzes the quiz and creates a personal vitamin and supplement profile for each new client. Four weeks later, a personalized vitamin and supplement regimen arrives and clients are on their way to healthy with minimum effort and maximum results.

‘We wanted to…[create]… a one stop shop that first analyzes what you truly need and then ships a personalized solution to each of our customers,” explains Faulstroh. “Hum is really unique as it connects you with a personal nutritionist and incredible products.  All of our nutritionists are registered dietitians that have a science degree and [have] gone through a year of clinical training. They not only are the best when it comes to understanding micro-nutrients but also are fully aware of any potential drug interactions.”

Moreover, Faulstroh continues, “Hum products are formulated with the latest research in mind, have clinically proven nutrients and most importantly come from the purest sources.” In support of this assertion, the health and nutrition guru proffered an analysis of a most common dilemma with supplements.

“Let me give you a very simple example”, he says. “Most people consider taking a fish oil, though the devil really is in the details. First of all, you need to make sure that the fish oil contains the right amount of EPA and DHA, on which the positive research is based. You then need to make sure that it comes from the purest sources that not only provide these nutrients but also guarantees that the fish used are pure. We would never use a fish oil from Cod or Salmon as these are predators, high up the food chain and full of toxins. Our fish oils are made with small fish that only eat plankton, which they metabolize into the right amount of EPA and DHA. Furthermore, they are all encapsulated so there is no fishy aftertaste.”

Details indeed.  With customers in all 50 states already and a commitment to making people healthier with products that not only make sense but that their clients also love, the rumblings of Hum’s nutrition revolution have already begun.

And did I mention how infinitely more chic Hum products look in your medicine cabinet than their counterparts?  Well yeah, there’s that too.

Find out more about Hum Nutrition at www.humnutrition.com. And for a special  bonus with your first order click the following link and mention LivingWells Lifestyle:  http://humnutrition.com/livingwells.

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This month we celebrated the launch of LivingWells Lifestyle with “Passport to Beauty” an exclusive evening of cocktails and conversation hosted in collaboration with Dr. Navanjun Grewal of Rockstar Beauty in Beverly Hills. Songstress Elaine Gibbs sang as guests sipped signature “Rockstar” cocktails and nibbled on Smoked Salmon Curls on Pumpermickel Rounds with Creme Fraiche and Dill, Curried Chicken Salad in Endive, Brie and Fig Jam Bites, White Bean Crostini with Oven Dried Tomatoes and an assortment of mini-salted caramel brownies, mini lemon squares and mini fresh raspberry cheesecakes.

Adding to the fun, fourteen lucky guests won special prizes including Botox, Juvederm, Latisse, jewelry by Daniel Maltzman and memberships to Equinox Beverly Hills and Inform Fitness. That said, every guest at the event was a winner as each went home with gift bag of goodies worth more than $400.

Many thanks to the evening’s sponsors: L’Oreal, Juvederm, Inform Fitness, Troublefield Lifestyle, Hum Nutrition, Kind Snacks, Equinox Beverly Hills, The Daniel Maltzman Gallery and Skin Medica for their generous support. Also a big note of gratitude to Adam Emperor Southard for immortalizing the event with some great photos.

Speaking of which, check out pics from the launch here and don’t forget to visit the new and improved LivingWells Liifestyle. We’ve only just begun. Stay tuned for regular updates!

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What becomes a rock star most? Pert breasts? Full lips? Six-pack abs? Perfectly round perky buttocks? Or is it something far more intrinsic than all that?

On the surface, the notion of ‘rockstar beauty’ might summon up images of the overly taught, unnaturally immobile faces of some of the more notable names topping Hollywood’s A-list.  This may be particularly so if that notion is defined by a plastic surgeon with swank offices in the heart of the famed Beverly Hills Golden Triangle. However, just as beauty is only skin deep, you can’t judge a book by its proverbial glossy cover or, in the case, of Dr. Navanjun Grewal, judge a practice merely by its gleaming appearance and marquee-worthy name.

Though his office is called Rockstar Beauty, Dr. Grewal’s approach to his practice is more organic than its moniker might suggest. Rather than encouraging his patients to appropriate the dominant rock star aesthetic of the moment, Dr. Grewal inspires his clients to emulate the underlying qualities that define rock stars.

“I named my medical practice Rockstar Beauty because I want to give patients confidence in their appearance,” Dr. Grewal says flatly. “There are plenty of rockstars who are not beautiful in the conventional sense, but they are confident in themselves. And that confidence becomes its own force that declares, ‘I am beautiful’ for the entire world to hear and see. I want patients to attract attention and feel comfortable in every situation.”

It was in fact out of Dr. Grewal’s desire to give patients on the fringes of life a chance at the kind of confidence referenced above that he entered the arena of plastic surgery in the first place. “Every physician has a defining moment – a moment when they realize what career path they will follow,” he recalls.

“I had my moment in a rural Guatemalan surgical clinic as part of a medical mission.  I removed the bandages from a child who had just undergone a cleft lip repair. This was more than a dressing change. I participated in the metamorphosis of the child. A child who, through plastic surgery had gone from being the village outcast – scorned, ridiculed and excluded – to a beautiful child filled with hope. More than just aesthetics, the new confidence the surgery brought to the patient made an indelible impression on me. The surgeon’s ability to correct form and to mold the emotions of his patient inspired me to pursue a career in plastic surgery.”

To be sure, the challenges faced by his clients in Beverly Hills and beyond are somewhat different than the ones faced by the tots in Guatemala that inspired him, but Dr. Grewal’s approach to those challenges remains steadfastly focused on the best outcomes for his patients.

“At Rockstar Beauty, we provide concierge-level aesthetic medicine,” he explains.  “We offer the latest treatments, procedures, and technology to help our patients gain confidence and improve their self-image. We believe a procedure is just the start of the process of total self-improvement. We encourage our patients to protect that transformation by maintaining fitness and having a healthy body. In addition, our patients have access to our private network of health and beauty specialists. Contrary to popular belief, very few of my patients are seeking perfection. Most of them just want to achieve more natural results that make them feel beautiful.”

And for the record, feeling beautiful, does not require “Extreme Makeover” level physical renovations according to Dr. Grewal.  Sometimes just a tweak or two will do.

“The new trends in plastic surgery include cheaper, faster, and less painful procedures to achieve desired results,” the good doctor explains. “Instruments have gotten smaller, which means incisions are smaller and heal faster. Similarly some new procedures don’t require any incisions.”

That said, if major surgery is required, rest assured that Dr. Grewal has the best and latest equipment and procedures at his disposal. Rockstar Beauty not only offers the state-of-the-art Vectra 3D imaging system so patients can immediately see an image of themselves as they will appear post surgery,  but Dr. Grewal was the first plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills with the REVENEZ 1 iPad consultation app which features informative procedure education videos, a surgeon’s sketchpad, and information about Rockstar Beauty.  Beyond that Dr. Grewal has developed signature Rockstar procedures that are unique to his practice.

“I have three trademarks procedures that help my patients create the self-confident image they want,” he offers. “The NaturalPlus Breast Augmentation^SM, a combination implant and fat transfer augmentation that artfully uses a patient’s own fat to sculpt smoother transitions between their body and their breast implant. The Southern Breast Lift^SM, a custom procedure to help women achieve that Southern “High and Tight” aesthetic no matter where they live. [And] finally, The SoCal Facelift^SM, a minimal scar technique with cutting-edge wound healing therapies and fat transfer volume restoration for natural-looking rejuvenation.”

With signature procedures, state-of-the-art technology,  a focus on client education and an approach to beauty based on each individual client rather than the “daily bombardment of the media’s unrealistic ideals” it is no wonder that Dr. Grewal can say with the confidence of a rock god that Rockstar Beauty genuinely helps its clients “own their self-image inside and out and make it rock.”

Find out more about Rockstar Beauty and Dr. Navanjun Grewal at www.rockstarbeauty.com

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Have you been KIND to yourself today?  Well if you haven’t, you should be

KIND Snacks, in addition to being one of my favorite new discoveries on the planet, are also what you might call a triple threat in the best possible way.  Not only are they healthy and singularly delicious, the folks behind the award-winning line of foods have spawned the KIND Movement, an effort to make the world a little kinder that has inspired hundreds of thousands of acts of kindness around the globe.

Personally, I am addicted to KIND snack bars which come in outrageously amazing flavors like Dark Chocolate Chili Almond, Maple Glazed Pecan & Sea Salt, Blueberry Vanilla Cashew, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Madagascar Vanilla Almond, Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Pecan and Cashew & Ginger Spice.  As if that weren’t enough, like all KIND snacks, KIND snack bars are all natural, gluten free, low in sugar (5g or less), non GMO and low in sodium. Also high in fiber with around 6 grams of protein and less than approximately 200 calories or so in each bar, I keep these bars on hand as a bonafide daily treat and occasionally as a ‘tide me over’ on busy days when I find myself skipping a meal or two.

Points on the nutritional scoreboard aside, I have to say the best thing about KIND snack bars is that I’d eat them even if they weren’t good for me.  They’re that good!  I’ve waited my whole adult life to find a treat that is truly satisfying (and by satisfying, I mean as good as any candy bar I’ve ever loved) and simultaneously healthy and in KIND I’ve found that.

In addition to snack bars, KIND also produces a line of 100% whole grain granola (KIND Healthy Grains™) with all the healthy properties and utter deliciousness that have come to be the hallmark of the fast-growing natural foods brand. So you can now start your day with a bowl of KIND product and snack on KIND products throughout the day and feel perfectly fine about it.  LivingWells and feeling great…that’s what it’s all about.

Find out more about KIND Snacks at www.kindsnacks.com.

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Watch the news, read a newspaper or turn on any number of health advice shows these days and you’ll get the message loud and clear – germs and bacteria are everywhere. Got it!

That’s the fact. Now what’s the solution?

The steady drumbeat of news and information about the spread of germs and bacteria has not only awakened a burgeoning nationwide obsession with hand washing and hand sanitizers, it has also spurred a well-founded, if moderately overheated, paranoia about laying hands on anything public, be it a door handle or the railings along walkways. All of which is good news for the most part, because after all, knowledge is power and as both Maya Angelou and Oprah are fond of saying, “When you know better, you do better.”

Bu what about the air we breathe? Air is the one element with which we have the most contact and yet it is also the one over which we exert the least amount of control. You can control what you touch, what you eat and even the cleanliness of your environment. But air? Well that’s a trickier affair.

Up until recently, my only experience with air filtration systems had not proved particularly impressive. Every example that I saw was either too huge, too loud, too cumbersome to deal with or just too plain ugly.  And given that I am of the school of thought, that a healthy lifestyle and a stylish existence need not be mutually exclusive, none of these former examples would ever do.

Then one day, I tuned into a segment of Ellen and found myself transfixed as she talked about the air purifier that she uses in her studio. It’s called Airocide and it’s neither bumbling nor clumsy looking. In fact, it’s quite chic. Not to be overly dramatic, but as soon as I laid eyes on it, I almost felt like the heavens had opened up and delivered a miracle.

Slim and sleek, with dimensions and design that allow it to blend seamlessly with any décor, Airocide resides comfortably at the intersection of function and fabulous. Add to that the fact that Airocide was developed by NASA, approved by the FDA and has been shown to substantially reduce the presence of bacteria and mold (up to 75% in households) and the stylish solution to fixing that tricky problem with all the particles and gases that pollute the air we breathe daily became pretty obvious to me.

And did I mention that Airocide also fights odors…particularly pet odors? Well yeah, it does that too, all while it basically eliminates the gases and particles in the air that make life for asthma and allergy sufferers such a challenge.

Stylishly cleaner air? What’s not to love about that? Now that you know better, it’s time to do better.

Find out more about Airocide at www.airocide.com.

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