Gina Knows Fitness

10/18/2022

Most of us think of aerobic exercise when we think of adding years to our lives. A new study shows that strength training can be critically important as well.

07/25/2022

I am excited to announce that I will be hosting a Women's Weekend with my dear friend & colleague, Rhonda Mansell this September in Colorado. The weekend will be filled with hiking, yoga, great food, and great people. All levels welcome, this is not an intense fitness experience, it's the right blend of activity and relaxation in the beautiful Colorado Chautauqua Park. Message me for more details or check out our website: https://www.boulderfitnessretreats.com/

Boulder Fitness Retreats

05/10/2020

Gina Knows Quarantine- Article #07

Hello Friends & Family!

"Everything's right, so just hold tight."
- Phish 2019

"Waiting for the time when I can finally say, that this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way!"
- Down With Disease, Phish 1994

Music has been playing throughout our house for many weeks. The themes and threads of poetic phrasing that we are piping through the house speakers all day and night have provided a thick soundtrack to support our experience. "We will get by, we will survive".

Most of you know I like to have rules, order, answers and easy solutions. In our new world, the rules change daily, the order is indifferent without time, there are no clear answers, and solutions are wildly complex. The idea of feeling comfortable with this uncertainty has taken me a while to embrace. But here I am.

And here we are. All settled in. We have reviewed all the basics. We have given attention to the things in life that are really important, and if you have been tuned-in to this particular broadcast of mine, our walks together have been intent on change, on alchemy, on gaining power from destroying our old concepts of time and urgency. This is what it feels like to reorganize the expectations we have lived by for so many years.

IT IS TIME TO INTEGRATE.

Take a moment to reflect on the last 8 weeks by taking one deep breath right here...

Could you have predicted what 8 weeks of "stay at home" would feel like?

So many ups and downs. I never could have imagined the... CLICK HERE to read the rest: https://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles

05/09/2020

Gina Knows Quarantine - Article #06

Hello Friends & Family!

Ok, seriously...
When will all this end?
When will we feel safe again?
When will my urge to provoke fights with random strangers, on the bike paths for not wearing face masks and huffing their exhales into my 6-foot personal radius, begin to subside?

Ahh, the tension and release of pandemic update #06 from my POV to yours, cheers & hallelujah to ya!

It's all evolving, and we get to play our roles with reflection and integration as the backdrop unfolds, revealing our many changes. Like a cocooning caterpillar, that will somehow only emerge as another caterpillar, with deja vu, and maybe an extra set of weird eyeballs. We're not quite ready to trigger the full-on cosmic soup of the cocoon and then generate wing development & antennae, and emerge as the gorgeous butterfly we each hold inside our heart's mind. If that is an accurate measure of where we are at as a society in general, I can forgive myself for the time spent in frustration with those who are not wearing face masks on our walks & bike rides, just not ready to forgive the offending parties yet, still need more self-work to unlock that premium feature in my Gina Knows avatar.

Anyway, this week has me wondering about the experiences and processes that are keeping you uplifted in your worlds, or dragging you down into your own personal hells, or rewarding you for the various waypoints that you have made it to on the arc of your hero's journey (Joseph Campbell if you're savvy) . What are you defining as a success these days? Failure? Draws? No matter the circumstance, the basic human experiences we are all having as the outside world has been stripped of its reality tether, can be supported with everything I have covered and will continue to cover in these updates: THE BASICS.

Let's explore some more, shall we?

BACK TO BASICS

We've talked about water (H2O), breathing (O2), light (V), sleep (Zzz) and movement (Woosh).

We need to fuel ourselves with the right components to continue our evolution and provide the best cocoon ingredients for the transformations we need.

To read the rest, please visit my website: www.ginaknowsfitness.com

04/25/2020

Gina Knows Quarantine - Article #05

Hello Friends & Family!

As we tiptoe towards integration, I am filled with gratitude for this time. Over the last 6 weeks, I have spent every single day with my husband and kids. All day, every day, and we still love being together! Don't get me wrong, we've had our "bored in the house" moments, but we've laughed through those and embraced the joy in wasting time together. While I miss my the rest of my family, friends, clients, & coworkers, I will always remember these sweet times. What a gift!

In my email updates, I have talked so much about getting back to basics and leaving behind things that no longer serve us. With all the noise of our previous world reduced, my hope is that we each embrace the opportunity for a clearer vision to surface around what we want to bring forward. Here are a few observations from my POV... You can find the rest of the article on my website: www.ginaknowsfitness.com

Or just CLICK HERE: https://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles

I’m feeling more alive than ever these days, plenty of new energy to share with you, including updates on my whereabouts, how to get in touch, how huge my smile can get lately, & some more of the good stuff going around.

04/23/2020

Gina Knows Quarantine - Article #04

Hello Friends & Family!

We're doing it!
Another week of doing our part to stay healthy and help slow the spread.

And it appears our collective efforts are making an impact, good job!

Our lives have been stripped down to basics.

With no sadness in my tone of reflection when typing that last sentence, I am filled with gratitude for my health, my home, access to fresh air, fresh food, my loving family and a supportive partner. And, with all of those wonderful things filling my life, what more do I really need?

What is normal?
I've noticed a lot of people, commercials, and politicians using the phrase, "get back to normal". There's something I don't love about that phrase. It seems to me that "normal" wasn't working. At least not all of it. Our previous "normal" life got so busy with so many things that seemed to hijack our attention. This big pause to life fell upon us and told us that things needed to change. We've let go of a lot of the noise and expectations. I have definitely begun to enjoy the peace, and I hope you have too.

Now, we get to thoughtfully choose what we want to add back in to our lives. We get to take the time to think about what really brings us joy, and it might not be what we thought or have been told previously. Maybe we just need to adjust some things so they work better for us? We have the opportunity to re-arrange our schedules, re-align our commitments, and release prior expectations.

As we prepare to move forward, consider what you would like to add back in to your life when we reboot.

Who will you invite back in to your life?

What will you leave behind in your previous routines?

How will you prioritize self care in your life?

I encourage you to discuss this out loud with someone, or with the mirror if there is no one else around.

BACK TO BASICS (continued!)

We've talked about water (H2O), breathing (O2), and light (V) so far.

Your next mission is... CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE: https://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles

04/22/2020

More information about the importance of getting lots of sunlight!

Vitamin D is made from LDL cholesterol when it is activated by 312 nm UVB light. LDL sterol then become a innate immunity secosteroid which turns on over a 1000 genes in your body to fill your blood plasma with over 1000 immune chemicals that format a proper innate immune repsonse. This is how and why sunlight becomes nature's ultimate vaccine against invading pathogens. Vitamin D is a natural antiviral/antibiotic that assists WBCs in clearing infections. It does this by stimulating immune cells to make a protein called cathelicidin in our skin. This does not happen well in our gut, but works like a charm in our skin with UV and IR exposure. People forget that the most T cells in humans are found in our skin awaiting to be activated by sunlight. This is why most viral infections respond to sunlight. This protein is found on T cells within our skin, macrophages, neutrophils, and on our epithelial cells in our guts and respiratory system. It actually helps defend us from viruses and bacteria all the time when its optimized. In our gut linings, it also activates the T regulator cells to protect the intestinal lining and the GALT that lies right behind the brush border. It is critical in optimizing Macrophages to avoid diseases like secondary HLH.

Vitamin D and the innate immune system are how the body builds herd immunity. This of course assume's the herd has their skin in the game. Few do in the modern world and that is why we are seeing certain subgroups die off from C-19. They carry the greatest risk of not having T cells programmed properly by sunlight.

C-19 alters mitochondrial biology to innactivate COX's heme protein to cause massive light release that leads to cytokine storms ... C-19 knocks the hell out of the inner mitochondrial membrane in cells of the immune system called macrophages, T regulator, and NK cells. Therefore these cells liberate more ELF-UV light due to their mitochondrial failure and they cannot work properly. This change is inducible in those immune cells because of defects in the uncoupling proteins and poor utilization of oxygen. This leads to more ROS and more ELF-UV light release. These cells become overactive, causing too much inflammation = death in those people you don't expect based on the data you gained in round one of C-19.
This is how kinetic proofreading of light goes awry in diseases linked to low Vitamin D levels like HLH.



The light required for this activation may come from the prokaryotes in our gut microbiome who naturally release large amounts of light. Our enterocytes have to contain DHA in their cell membranes to decipher the signal properly. It now appears that low vitamin D status in the gut maybe a huge risk factor for the development of simian viruses, Coronaviruses, and HIV general infection.

Another major immune affect of Vitamin D is that is has the ability to block intracellular signals of NF Kappa beta and of TNF alpha. Both of these chemicals are part of the machinery that causes up-regulation of the stressful cellular response mechanisms in many pathologic diseases like sepsis, multi-organ system failure, HLH, cancer, autoimmunity and in obesity. This is why people with comorbidities are being attacked by this type of virus. The people in the tropics have a huge advantage if they get their skin in the game.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-stunning-chart-shows-the-coronavirus-spreading-slowly-in-tropical-countries-2020-03-17

04/21/2020

Gina Knows Quarantine - Article #03

Hello Friends & Family!

How are you?
What are your silver linings?
What are you grateful for?

Alright, so let's get BACK TO BASICS.

We've talked about water (H2O) and breathing (O2).
Pretty essential basic stuff, right?
But as many of you responded, these basic things deserve our attention and this is the perfect time to honor that need.

Next up is LIGHT. Einstein's (V) before it was (c).

Spring brings us a great reminder of the importance of sunlight. Just like all living things, your body receives vital information from the sun, including our active & rest periods, aka, our circadian rhythms.

ABSORPTION
Those of us in Colorado know that we are lucky to live in a place where we have access to lots of sunshine. However, we tend to wear sunscreen, sunglasses, and clothes to block our body's absorption of beneficial full spectrum sunlight. There is good evidence that daily absorption of full spectrum sunlight can have anti-inflammatory benefits... CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST: https://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles

04/19/2020

Gina Knows Quarantine - Article #02

Hello Friends & Family!

I hope you are navigating a path through the chaos around you. We're finding our groove with loads of patience and deep breaths.

Getting BACK TO BASICS

Last post I challenged you to drink more water. How's it going? Staying hydrated is one of the simplest things you can do to maintain your health. Have you noticed your skin looks better too? Maybe we'll all come out of this looking younger!!

Our next Back to Basics tip is BREATHING. OXYGEN. THE O2.

I know this brings up some anxiety for a couple of you (I have special directions for you below). Hang with me. You need to breathe. You're all doing it autonomically already. So why do we have to talk about this one?

Our lungs need some exercise too. You might find you get a release of endorphins when you exhaust yourself with a run or tough cardio workout. That's great! That is one way to train your lungs. There are other ways we can train our lungs, too... FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE: https://www.ginaknowsfitness.com/articles

04/15/2020

Great information about how you can gain some control of your health.Thanks for posting Jed Glass!
Tucker Collins, your intuition wins again! Yes, this is a great time for fasting!