Me: “Don’t play with my wattle; you’ll only make it worse!”
Hubby: “But I love everything about you, and it’s so cute!”
Me: “IT’S NOT CUTE!”

Gravity is not our friend as we age. As a fitness professional, I know that exercising muscles in our bodies keeps them toned and helps keep the skin attached to the tissue underneath, so it makes sense to me that exercising facial muscles would do the same. However, exercising the face is tough for at least two reasons: there are a lot of small specialized muscles (43, in fact) and unlike most of the body’s muscles, most facial muscles have only a single bony attachment, and some have none at all. This makes contracting the muscles on command very difficult.

Early on in my social media experience, while still in Turks and Caicos, I connected with Cynthia Rowland of Facial Magic on Facebook and Twitter. Her products always interested me, but once the wattle incident occurred I really started to research these facial exercises, and once we arrived in Manhattan I emailed Rowland to see if she could help me lift my face and, more importantly, get rid of the wattle. “Of course!” she replied, and my Facial Magic kit arrived a few days later.

I received the basic kit: two jars of the wonderful Green Tea lifting treatment, several pairs of white cotton gloves (crucial for proper anchoring), an audio CD, DVD, and book outlining the exercises.

You start with two exercises held for a total of 35 seconds each, six days a week, building up by two exercises weekly until you reach the full 18 exercise series, which takes about half an hour to complete. Once you have achieved the results you want you can cut back to two or three days a week, but I continue the full six day routine as my face continues to lift. The exercises are not easy, and you need to be pretty exact in your positioning and faithful in your routine, but they really do work. Luckily Rowland’s instructions are clear, and the DVD and CD are very helpful for learning proper placement. Basically, you use your hands to anchor one end of the muscle in question, and then contract the muscle towards the bone.

Most “less invasive” cosmetic procedures, including injections, take several weeks to several months to show full effect, which was exactly my experience with Facial Magic. The major difference is that with injections and non-invasive procedures like Thermage you must return for more treatments at several hundred to several thousand dollars a pop, and as these are procedures that involve injecting foreign substances into the body, you do risk some complications. Once you learn the good-for-all and non-invasive Facial Magic exercises they are yours for life.

I was lucky enough to meet Cynthia Rowland and her friend, former radio announcer and voiceover specialist Jackie Silver, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Together these two vivacious ladies make up The Ageless Sisters, and to look at them you would never guess that Silver (on the right) is in her 50s and Rowland (on the left), who does not divulge her age, has kids who are older than I am.

Silver jokingly describes herself as “Cynthia’s stalker.” Once Silver started the exercises and saw some results, which were surprisingly evident even after a history of procedures such as injections, she started to follow Rowland to events and lectures. Years later they are close friends and produce a great radio show (tune in on August 16, 2012, when yours truly will be their guest), among other ventures. Plus, these Ageless Sisters practice what they preach! In fact, Rowland took me through the exercises with her own coaching, showing me proper hand placement and where to feel the contraction.

Rowland discovered these exercises for herself over two decades ago, when she sought a non-surgical alternative to an eyelift that she desperately needed but could not afford. She discovered a French ex-pat woman who was working out of a Denver, Colorado office teaching women and men these exercises, which also turn out to be useful for TMJ, palsies, and stroke rehab. Since then, Rowland has made it her mission to spread the good word.

Still skeptical? Here are some of my before and after photos — no makeup, no retouching. I am 45 years old and my eyelids have lifted, my lips are plumper, my cheekbones are more defined, my hairline has lifted, my chin and jawline are more defined, and my wattle, while not completely gone, is much smaller and tighter. Note that wrinkles were not an issue for me, so I do not comment on them. Hubby completely notices the difference, and he actually laughed when I first opened the kit and thought it would be a ridiculous waste of time. He sees how happy I am at the results of Facial Magic and supports what makes me feel my best.

My results are comparable to before and after photos I have seen for Ultherapy, Thermage, and even blepharoplasty. I am a believer! Look at my jaw line.

It is crucially important that you do all of the exercises in sequence. (Really, it is; Jackie Silver tried only doing the ones she felt were relevant to her face and did not see great results. Once she began the full program her face shaped right up.) Still, here are a couple of my favorite and most effective exercises for you to try at home. Follow as Cynthia Rowland and Jackie Silver lead you through the eye lift exercise and the double chin (aka wattle) exercise. You will feel these working and will see almost instant results. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHpGbdtDZ7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMo85HUsXA4

But I did have the best of intentions until life’s challenges took my time and energy. Dealing with depression in the family, with my 86 year old father who is so independent yet not, with getting suddenly much busier teaching Pilates, and with this damn cold in NY that won’t go away! 40 degrees every morning in April? Yuck!

While much of this has been good stress (especially the getting busier part), it has certainly been a stressful year of moves and big changes. I still don’t feel quite settled as yet.

So I am leaving that post up as a reminder to everyone that we can be gentle on ourselves when needed. If I had held myself to that April blogging challenge I would not have had the energy to handle everything else that arose in my life this month. I gave myself a gift.

I highly recommend giving yourself a gift. Even letting go of one small obligation can help free up your energy for something bigger.

Thanks for reading.

It amazes me how little people like to share about their bodies to the very people who need the information most. A personal trainer can hurt you if s/he is not aware of any limitations.

So I am not surprised that LA Fitness works the same way, as seen in the Guardian article, “LA Fitness and the running battle with an octogenarian“. Basically, a retired man in his 80s who had paid monthly for an on the go class only membership which was easily canceled, went in to see if they would offer him the same kind of structure for daily access. The important part was that it be easily canceled. So of course they signed him up for a two year membership that cannot be canceled. He didn’t read the fine print.

Be very careful when you sign up for gym memberships. Read the contract before you sign it and make sure to have any questions answered.

Image via Wikipedia

The NY Times recently ran an article stating that kettlebell training was good for relieving back pain, specifically back pain from sitting too long at a desk. As you know, I am a huge fan and a certified kettlebell trainer. I often taught kettlebells in my cross training fitness classes at Parrot Cay, and every once in a while someone came in with back problems. They always felt fine after the workout.

Kettlebell training can look scary because it relies on controlled momentum – swinging, snatching, cleaning. But you learn to move properly and use your ab, back, and butt muscles for support (yes, your core, and specifically the posterior chain which we don’t use while sitting doing Google searches. If you live in NYC and are interested in learning more about kettlebells, let me know.

I love doing suspension training with my TRX® at home. It works even in my studio apartment!

You may have done some TRX Training with me at Parrot Cay or in NYC, or you may have experienced my Vertical Pilates class using the yoga ropes for suspension. Either way you know that this is an intense functional strength and cardio core-focused workout!

Just use the code “TRXTRAIN” at checkout through Monday November 28 and the discounts will be applied automatically. Link:
25% Off YOur Entire TRX® Training Order Plus Free Shipping & Bonus Gift

Enjoy!

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Last week I had to make a quick run into Bergdorf Goodman to buy a tube of Elemis SOS Emergency Cream (a must have product in my house – helps heal psoriasis, rashes, burns) and on my way through the cosmetic counters I was accosted by salespeople who all stopped when they got close to my face. You see, I wear no makeup at all. Nothing.

A couple of years ago I decided my eyelashes weren’t thick enough and I didn’t feel like dying them anymore. So I tried several different eyelash growth products, which actually worked very well. The problem is you have to keep using them and they did cause a bit of redness and irritation, which I wasn’t willing to deal with long term.

So many fitness professional wear tons of makeup, have cosmetic procedures, and generally put out a look and vibe that for me is antithetical to health and fitness. I refuse to go there.

The best way to work on your balance is to try balancing. Work on sitting down and standing up (aka squats) with a solid chair behind you and a person or object in front of you to assist if necessary. Work on standing tall and balancing on one leg near a wall or solid chair so you can grab if necessary. But seriously, if you feel like your balance is going start to stand up more and exercise – use it or lose it!

OImage via Wikipedia

If you are like most of my clients, you have precious little time to exercise. With so little available time it is crucial that you get the most bang for your buck from any time spent in the gym. As an exercise instructor I help other people exercise all day long and one of last places I want to be during my time off is the gym, so I too spent years struggling to find the extra hours for the gym, the class, the dvd, the run, or the long walk.

Basically, at this point in my life I refuse to do any personal workout that takes longer than 20-30 minutes per day. I do not have the time, the energy, or the attention span to go much longer. Yet I still want a heart, muscle, and bone strengthening workout that will increase my heart’s capacity to pump while also keeping me strong, toned, and flexible. I also have other dislikes (I am a picky fitness diva). Cardio equipment such as the treadmill makes me feel like a rodent on a wheel, yoga just annoys me, and weight equipment never seems to quite fit.

Luckily I discovered High Intensity Interval Training a couple of years ago. HIIT goes by a number of different names, such as the Tabata protocol, but the basic concept is that you only have to exercise for a few minutes if you work intensely at 90-95% of your maximum effort. To give you an idea of what that is compared to a standard workout, most treadmills suggest a fat burning zone that is about 70-75% of maximum.

Scientists at the K.G. Jebsen Centre of Exercise in Medicine in Sweden are currently conducting clinical trials of the HIIT approach. Their research to date shows that “for people who are in poor shape, just one 15 minute workout per week is enough to make a difference,” as long as that that one workout involves 4 minutes of high intensity exercise.

So whether you love to run, bike, swing kettlebells, hang from your TRX®, or hop on that pilates reformer just make sure to get some short bursts of high intensity training in and enjoy the rest of your life.

Originally published for Fitness Sanity at The Morton Report